In the forest near the border between the Foren Kingdom and the Crusell Kingdom, a group of armed men were searching for a certain individual.
They scoured the path that the exile had supposedly traveled, but not a single footprint could be found.
At the time, snow had been falling, and the muddy ground was marked with the clear tracks of wagon wheels.
No matter how light a woman may be, it should be impossible to disappear on a snowy path without leaving any footprints behind.
Moreover, the woman who had escaped was a powerless fool who could not even use magic—
“Why can’t we find her?”
They had thought that finding the woman who fled would be easy.
But as their search dragged on in a forest where Magical Beasts might appear, impatience began to show among the men.
Likewise, the person who had hired them was also beginning to feel anxious.
“Damn it, what are they doing…!?”
Receiving the search report in her own room, Leona’s goddess-like beautiful face twisted with irritation.
After finally securing her engagement to Richard, she had obtained the seat of future Queen.
There was no way she would let some useless extra stand in her way.
Leona had always lived her life firmly believing she would become Queen.
From birth, her parents doted on her, and she was always the center of the world.
She believed there was no one else who could become the most revered woman in the kingdom.
And yet, she learned she was not the only candidate for the Crown Prince’s fiancée.
Moreover, among the most talked-about candidates in society, Leona’s name was nowhere to be found.
At soirées and tea parties where the fiancée candidates gathered, she had never once managed to be alone with Richard.
Even at the Academy, their schedules rarely matched, as Richard was a year ahead.
It seemed he was being careful in choosing a fiancée, following the current Queen’s instructions.
How could she capture Richard’s heart?
Leona decided to gather every piece of information she could about Richard.
Then she learned that his ideal Queen was, in fact, quite simple.
‘My fiancée must be someone with a kind heart, and without prejudice.’
When she heard that he had shared this with those around him, Leona suddenly remembered a useless classmate with no magical power.
Sharon Sdulc.
She could use her.
So Leona decided to approach Sharon.
She didn’t even have to do anything—everyone bullied Sharon on their own.
And by extending a hand to Sharon, Leona’s mercy stood out all the more, and rumors about her began to spread.
Leona would never stoop to fawning over the Prince.
She didn’t want to be seen as a woman who was easy to get, and she had confidence she was on another level compared to other young ladies.
Just as she had planned, Richard heard the rumors and spoke to Leona.
She somehow managed to become his fiancée, but now another wall blocked her path to marriage.
Apparently, the Queen, worried about Richard choosing a fiancée so suddenly, had said she didn’t want them to marry until she was certain.
How infuriating.
Now, being watched, she had to keep pretending to be friends with Sharon for her whole time at the Academy.
To think she, from an Earl Family of lower status and, on top of that, without magical power, had to be friends with such a fool—it made her sick.
She vented her frustration by harassing Sharon behind the scenes, taking a twisted pleasure in watching her suffer.
Sharon genuinely thought she and Leona were friends.
Her disgust and anger grew by the day, but on the surface she kept up her act as the merciful friend.
‘Do I have to keep this up until the wedding is set…?’
The thought sent a chill down Leona’s spine.
She couldn’t stand it.
She had to do something—somehow make the Queen approve the marriage.
And so, Leona began to scheme.
She had to force Richard into marrying soon, so she could stop pretending to be friends with Sharon.
The plan she came up with was, in her own opinion, brilliant.
She would paint Sharon as a villainess, and cast herself as the tragic heroine.
Her plan to condemn Sharon succeeded, and Richard’s protective instincts grew even stronger, persuading the Queen at last—or so it should have been—
But at the crucial moment, Sharon disappeared from the carriage.
The carriage itself was unharmed, which meant no Magical Beasts had attacked during transport.
No one knew if she was alive or dead.
What Leona wanted was for Sharon to die.
‘I have to find her before the Royal Knights do…’
If she’s found, it must be as a corpse. If Magical Beasts had devoured her, that would be fine.
But if she’s alive—
Leona, irritated, bit her thumbnail.
She had shown her true nature to Sharon, thinking the girl would be killed by Magical Beasts.
If her real self was ever exposed, all she had built would be lost.
“Hurry up and disappear from this world…!”
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