“Someone... wants to kill me?”

In the howling cold wind, Muen’s heart clenched tight. That blurred voice was like an omen before calamity, instantly casting a shadow across his chest.

But when he turned his head, Lawrence was already far away. The words just now felt as if they had been his own illusion.

Was that... meant as a warning to me? Or...

Muen narrowed his eyes. Thinking of Lawrence’s identity, countless possibilities flashed through his mind.

Unfortunately, a possibility was only that. With the information at hand, all he had was one line—someone wanted him dead. Hard to derive anything more.

Even so, based on recent developments, Muen could faintly trace the outline of events.

Looking at Lawrence’s departing figure, Muen’s lips curved slightly, and he chuckled.

“Heh, looks like some people finally can’t sit still anymore?”

...

“I am Muen Campbell.”

After turning the corner, Muen faced two palace guards built like giants, battle-axes crossed to block the door. He spoke softly:

“I must trouble you to announce me.”

“...”

After a brief silence, a cold gaze slid out from the gaps in the armor. A deep voice like a war drum rumbled from within the metal shell:

“Please wait. His Majesty is seeing a guest.”

“All right.”

He did not ask who was inside. Standing before the door, he waited patiently.

Roughly half an hour later, the heavy doors opened slowly, and a figure stepped out.

It was a refined-looking middle-aged man, dressed in a gentleman’s suit that didn’t quite fit. He wasn’t that old, but gray streaked his temples.

When he saw Muen, he seemed unsurprised by his presence. With a smile, he nodded in greeting. “Young Master Campbell, go on in. His Majesty awaits.”

This man...

Looked somewhat familiar.

Muen studied him deeply, sure he had some impression of him in memory.

But this was no time to dig deeper. He simply nodded back and walked into the chamber.

His eyes blurred for a moment before adjusting to the brighter light within. Then he saw him—the man seated opposite on the wide chair, crown upon his head.

The supreme ruler of the Leopold Empire—Emperor Aldrich III.

“Your Majesty.”

Muen quickly bowed with a hand to his chest, respectful.

“Eldest son of the Campbell family, Muen Campbell, answering your summons.”

Silence.

Aldrich sat as if asleep, not replying.

But Muen didn’t dare to lift his head, only counting his own heartbeats as he quietly waited.

The air seemed to congeal. He could hear nothing but his own slightly heavy breathing.

“So you came, Campbell brat.”

At last, Muen heard the sovereign’s voice. Not booming, yet carrying an authority impossible to oppose.

“Raise your head.”

“Yes.”

Muen lifted his head, though not daring to stare directly, only glancing by the corner of his eyes.

Only then did he notice—the Emperor was taller than expected, leaning on one arm as if drowsy, yet the weight pressing down was like a mountain, suffocating.

Hard to imagine such a man had a daughter as small-framed as Celicia.

Could it be this Emperor likes lolis too...

The original novel had said little about this Emperor. All Muen could do was throw around these absurd thoughts.

But thoughts were thoughts. He betrayed nothing outwardly, only holding his breath and waiting for the Emperor’s next words.

“Come here.”

Half-asleep Aldrich suddenly reached his hand toward him.

Muen paused, then obediently walked over.

Aldrich lifted his hand and patted Muen’s shoulder.

“Last time I saw you, you weren’t even half this tall. A few years, and you’ve grown this big. That face—now that it’s matured—you look so much like that old bastard Lorne. Just your looks alone could probably make a fair number of young girls swoon.”

“Your Majesty is still as wise and valiant as ever,” Muen smoothly laid on the flattery.

“Heh, last time your tongue wasn’t half so sharp.”

Aldrich III’s abyssal gaze bore into him, as if to strip him bare. Muen’s scalp tingled until, at last, that gaze withdrew and the man slouched back into his drowsy air.

Muen was just about to breathe out in relief when the Emperor suddenly said:

“How was the chocolate?”

“Cough—! What?”

Muen nearly choked on air.

“That chocolate... Your Majesty had it made?”

“Not me.”

Aldrich III said, “But I gave tacit approval. Nothing leaves my palace without my eyes on it.”

“Tacit... approval?”

Muen stared, dumbfounded.

There’s a father who’d screw over his own daughter like this?

“Too many things have happened recently. Some can’t accept the current outcome, so they tried to play crooked tricks.”

Aldrich gave a cold laugh. The chill at the corner of his lips looked almost identical to Celicia’s when she was angry.

“So I went with the flow, just to make them give up once and for all.”

“Then... did Your Majesty’s goal succeed?”

“...”

Aldrich III looked at him, smile not a smile.

“Though I don’t know the details, I imagine you saw her show her only weakness—her disgraceful side?”

“Uh...”

Muen gave an awkward smile.

“At that moment, Celicia was still breathtakingly beautiful.”

“Heh. With Celicia’s temperament, for you to witness such humiliation and still be alive, standing before me—what better outcome could there be?”

“...”

Damn it.

So you not only screw over your daughter—you screw over me too, don’t you?

Muen’s lips twitched hard, irritation flickering inside him.

But soon, the irritation melted into a small triumph.

Fortunately, though the result was humiliating, the process had been beautiful.

Even if he’d been played, it wasn’t really a loss.

But now, Muen could clearly see the waves beneath this “accident.”

It was simple.

The moment news of his engagement with Celicia a few months hence spread, those unwilling to see a Campbell-royal union had naturally taken action.

And since the engagement was decreed by the Emperor himself, it was nearly impossible to alter.

But there was one will powerful enough to sway it—Celicia’s.

For she was the most renowned princess of the nation, the Pure White Witch admired by countless. She embodied immense public opinion.

Not just that—she wasn’t a mere pretty face. Her terrifying talent and the qualities she displayed made many already predict she could become the youngest Crowned-tier powerhouse in the Empire’s history.

The will of someone who combined both status and strength could not [N O V E L I G H T] be ignored—not even by the Emperor.

Thus, just like in the original novel’s course, when the original host’s attempt failed and was caught by Ariel, opportunists fanned the flames and turned it into a tidal wave even the Campbells couldn’t withstand.

The original host’s tragic end was deeply tied to those hidden manipulators.

And this time was the same. Their aim was simple: to make Celicia... despise Muen Campbell, openly resist the engagement.

Best-case? For her to personally kill Muen Campbell.

In that scenario, not only would there be no marriage alliance, but a complete rupture between Campbell and the royal family was possible.

That was why they acted in such haste, seizing the moment when attention was still on the great incident just ended—to ensure everything went “smoothly.”

Thus, under Aldrich’s cold gaze, that special box of chocolate reached Celicia and Muen at just the right time.

But nothing ever goes perfectly.

Those schemers, no matter how intricate their plans, would never have imagined—

That by some twist of fate, the pig’s plowing of the cabbage came so quickly.

Though the cabbage had not yet been fully uprooted, the long-frozen icefield had at least begun to thaw, hadn’t it?