The Crown Prince and Sylvester didn’t get along well—even more so than what was described in the book.

Sylvester, who supported the second prince, did not like the return of the prince, so he intervened in every way he could. However, the Prince was still gradually gaining support from the Emperor, so to Sylvester, he was an eyesore.

But then I appeared. I, who was crazily in love with the Crown Prince.

‘Crazy Ophelia.’

With my appearance, the prince’s position was jeopardised and the affair between him and the heroine came to light, attracting the attention of high society. When the emperor ordered him to end his relationship with the heroine, the prince hated me for being the catalyst of all his troubles, to the point where he wouldn’t mind killing me. Not only that, the heroine was constantly harassed by me, which cemented his hate for me even further.

But thanks to my actions that weakened the prince’s power, Sylvester turned a blind eye to my obsession for the crown prince.

But, apparently, that alone was not enough.

Seduce the Crown Prince. 

Turn him over to our side. 

If you do that, I’ll give you a divorce. 

Was what he said. 

When the Crown Prince falls for me, Sylvester would try to destroy him using our relationship as an excuse. It was a situation where the outcome would be obvious.

‘But I wanted to divorce you because in a fight between a shrimp and a whale [1], nobody would support the shrimp! The whale is obviously going to win’

I took a long breath, burying my face in my hands. Then Sylvester, who was sitting opposite of me in the carriage, slowly lifted his head and said, “The floor will give out.”

He folded the newspaper he was reading. “Why the hell are you sighing so much?”

‘Why? Isn’t it clear?’

“I’m sighing because of you.”

Sylvester lifted his shoulder to my answer. “What about me?”

“Because you won’t divorce me!” I adjusted my posture and leaned down toward Sylvester. “I can’t. How am I supposed to seduce the Prince and make him come over to our side?”

“Are you trying to save face now?” Sylvester gave a ridiculous look and spat out a laugh. “Who was the one that hid behind the palace’s bushes and chased after the Crown Prince?”

“…I wonder who…”

“Who grabbed the necks of the women that invited the Prince to tea parties?”

“It’s me, who else?”

“Who was the one who dared to wield a pocket knife to pluck out the eyes of the Prince?”

“Stop, I get it.”

‘Aish’

I guess I’ve done all sorts of things. “That was then, now is now. I won’t be able to do it anymore.”

“Don’t lie.” I meant it from the bottom of my heart, but Sylvester didn’t even listen to me. “You didn’t think I’d know that you’re going to chase after the Crown Prince the moment we divorce?”

‘I don’t know? My heart is— I don’t know very well—’

“If you’re going to chase after him, do it when you have the status of the Duchess of Ryzen, since it’ll be beneficial to me.”

“What are you talking about?” I didn’t understand Sylvester’s words, so I asked.

“You know.”

“What ‘you know’? No, I don’t know.”

Sylvester was a very tricky character, he is a figure who cleverly twists and turns through conversations. There’s no way a person like this would say anything to me.

I looked up at him slowly. “Are you trying to use me?”

Sylvester smiled instead of answering.

“You really want to use your one and only wife in your own schemes? Well, what are you going to do?”

“I won’t tell you. It’s a secret”

“How petty.” 

I stared at Slyvester as hard as I could, but despite my burning gaze, he replied with a shrug. “How can you chase another man when you have this one and only husband? That’s much worse.” He refused to lose against me.

“You really make me speechless.” I used the most sorrowful, most upset voice I could let out and muttered, putting my face in my hands. I really felt like ditching everything to run away, but I couldn’t do that. 

‘Cause if Sylvester and I don’t get divorced, it would be hard living alone.’

This Empire was also very behind the times, so there had to be a reason for women to live alone; divorced, bereaved, family’s death before marriage, etc. If you live alone for no reason, you would definitely get caught and thrown into jail.

‘Does that even make any sense?’ It made sense. It was how this world works, so I had to get that divorce somehow and I knew it wouldn’t have been easy.

My eyes darkened by the vague reality I was stuck in and I sighed again.

“You’ve changed.”

It was Sylvester. I glanced up at him questioningly. “What?”

“Well.” Sylvester eyed me from head to toe as if he was observing me, but strangely, I didn’t feel too bad. In fact, I felt a bit bashful at the attention.

I jumped up in my seat seeing Sylvester reach out to me. “Look, you’re not even paying attention to your hair despite how messy it is.” His cold fingers tucked the hair behind my ear gently and my heart skipped a beat.

Badump

But…

“Are you going for the crazy woman concept? Well, as long as you catch the Prince’s eye, I guess.”

‘You piece of sh—’

I dropped my head, ashamed for actually feeling something from that interaction.

*******

Our destination was the Imperial Palace and attended the ball for the first time in forever.

The Crown Prince will definitely attend.

Sylvester’s words from before we stepped in echoed in my head.

You know what you have to do, right?

‘I don’t know, you crazy b—.’

Instead of answering, I stared at him and inhaled. He went into the hall, leaving me alone; there were a lot of people, but when I showed up, everyone kept their distance and made way for me. ‘I must have been well known as the crazy woman.’ Feeling the brunt of all the evil deeds Ophelia has done again, I slowly moved on. 

There was no need to search for the Crown Prince. He stood at the center of the hall; platinum hair, dark gray eyes, toned body, commanding aura—Callian Von Regenne. He was the Crown Prince. 

“Ehem,” I cleared my voice, preparing to greet Callian. But then—.

‘Ah, eye contact.’

Callian’s eyes were on me, and instantly his face crumpled into that of disgust as if he just witnessed something dirty.

‘Excuse me?’ ‘I don’t like you either, I have preferences’

“How ridiculous,” I mumbled.

Callian’s lips twisted, “Just the face was enough.”

‘Me?’ I pointed at myself and Callian frowned further. 

He immediately signalled for the guards. “Get rid of her.”

‘I didn’t even do anything—?’