Kneel Before The Villain

His confession rendered me speechless.

I had roughly guessed what Payne would say.

But hearing his declaration shook me.

He looked straight into my eyes with sincerity.

But time changes many things, and none of them are as changeable as the human heart.

“You know what I wish for?” (Rox)

“Anything. Anything I can do, I will try.”

“It is not difficult. What I want is to no longer be involved with the imperial family. I have no desire to enter the imperial palace.”

The Crown prince and Roxana were once on good terms.

However, as she fell in love with him, their relationship ended in tragedy.

Of course, Payne might keep his word.

But it was impossible to fully trust him.

And now that I had no emotional baggage, there was no need to marry someone I didn’t love.

You can’t bet your life on uncertain things.

Entering the imperial family was as glorious as it was dangerous.

At my words, Payne’s face turned pitiful.

However, as if he had already expected my answer, he did not show signs of disappointment.

After a few minutes of silence, he looked at me with a complicated gaze and opened his mouth.

“Unfortunately, the Emperor will not let it go so easily.”

“What does it mean?”

I frowned.

Payne said with a calm face.

“I think the Princess knows about the Grand Duchess of Croix who died a decade ago.”

You will know too.”

Of course, I knew.

Because Elvin’s mother, the Grand Duchess of Croix, had a close relationship with the deceased Duchess Lillian (Roxana’s mother).

I didn’t know what Payne was going to say, so I waited in silence for his next words.

“Because of that incident, a big wall was created between the Grand Duke of Croix and the imperial family, and the Grand Duke also retired from politics and is currently managing only the territory. Because of that, the power of the Grand Duke’s family has greatly declined and is not the same as before.”

“…”

“Just in time, the Duke of Lillian is strong and has wealth, honor, and even military power. From the point of view of the imperial family, there is no chess piece as good as that of the Duke of Lillian, so there is no way His Majesty will let go.”

“You mean your proposal was to help me?”

Instead of denying it, Payne added with a bitter face.

“If things were a little better, I would have found another way. However, His Majesty is concerned that a rift will widen between the imperial family and the duke’s family due to the princess breaking off the engagement with His Highness the Crown Prince.”

My heart was beating wildly and fast.

At first, I thought it was just for the purpose of completely suppressing the crown prince by using Payne’s marriage with me.

The most incomprehensible thing was that the emperor, who cared about his image, brought up the marriage conversation first, which was sure to cause great confusion.

But now that I heard Payne, I understood.

“Even if the Duke doesn’t have other intentions, the Emperor is always suspicious. In addition, the Duke has enough power to threaten the imperial family. Sooner or later, His Majesty may try to suppress the Duke.”

He looked at me silently and sighed lightly.

“The best way to stop this is for me to take over the marriage.”

Every single word of Payne’s words fell heavily on my ears.

For a moment, it felt like my eyes were going far away.

The duke was obviously a good father.

He did not, like other nobles, use his daughter’s marriage to benefit his family.

However, just because the duke was not like that, how could I be sure that others were not like that too?

The Duke’s authority was high, but it was a double-edged sword.

Didn’t they say that an angular stone is easy to hit?

In addition, the duke’s status was certainly high, but it was not that there were no people higher than him in the world.

Like the emperor, for example.

I was a fool for being relieved that the engagement was over.

I thought I was out of the wind, but it turned out that I was still in the middle of a violent storm, and if I took one more step from where I was standing, I would be swept away and thrown into the unknown.

“I understand what Your Highness said. But you did it unnecessarily. You don’t have to make such sacrifices because of me.”

“It’s not a sacrifice.”

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