Congratulations on Your Engagement
Canna had no intention whatsoever of fighting Juhwa.
She would rather get along with her. If they became friends, they could be soulmates in the truest sense.
They would need no words between them. They would need no time to learn about each other. A single glance, a single expression, would be enough.
Juhwa and Canna knew each other completely.
Each other’s bodies and hearts, the lives they had lived—there was nothing they did not know.
That’s why I know Juhwa will never become my friend.
Juhwa must know it too.
That Canna Addis never forgave anyone who tried to harm her and always repaid them in kind.
Yet she still tried to kill me.
Canna closed her eyes.
Juhwa meant to fight her. Most likely with her life on the line.
The attempt to kill her through Yeon-woo this time had merely been an appetizer.
Besides, Juhwa was not alone. She was working with the Black Apostles.
That fool was abusing alchemy and tearing cracks into the world itself.
Canna let out a laugh that sounded like a sigh.
The peaceful days are over.
Now that they knew “Tatiana” was Canna, they would keep pulling tricks like the Yeon-woo doll.
The people around me could get hurt.
There were many precious people around Tatiana Evgenia.
The respected Queen Yekaterina, Princess Yoanna who was practically a friend, Prince Lorenzo who felt like a younger brother, and Alexei.
“I don’t want to leave them.”
Canna muttered gloomily.
For now, she would confess everything to Alexei. He had the right to hear her story. They truly cared for each other, after all.
If he said he wanted to stay with her even at the risk of danger…
Then she would also take that risk and consider a future with him.
The next morning, Claude came to see her early.
“My lady, may we speak?”
“Who are you?”
“Don’t pretend now. You told me to get lost, remember?”
Claude scowled, but Canna merely tilted her head with perfect composure.
“You must be confusing me with someone else. In this world, there are at least three people who look alike.”
“Good heavens. You’re really going to keep this up?”
“My name is Tatiana Evgenia. A pleasure.”
“You should have introduced yourself before ordering me to disappear.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
When Canna shamelessly played innocent, Claude finally let out a heavy sigh.
“Very well, Lady Tatiana Evgenia. In any case, I’m glad to see you alive.”
“……”
“And I must say, it was a spectacular escape. Everyone was completely deceived.”
This time she could not keep up the act. Feeling a twinge of guilt, Canna pressed her lips together.
“Enough with the greetings. Let me get to the point.”
“Go on.”
“This morning, Lord Orsini and the Addis knights went up to the royal palace.”
“……”
“I intend to remain here and attend Lord Kallen. Though he himself still refuses to accept that he is Lord Kallen…”
Canna let Claude’s words wash over her.
Orsini had gone up to the palace?
Leaving me behind?
The man who had threatened to torment Alexei and Lorenzo if he left her side had simply departed?
What is he scheming?
Suddenly she remembered Orsini from the day before.
He had come reeking of blood, dragged her to him without permission, then shoved her away and fled as if escaping.
Now that I think about it, he was especially strange yesterday. Did something happen with my doll?
She had meant to ask anyway—what exactly Juhwa had done using her doll. Yet he had left before she could.
…If I run away from here again, can I truly hide?
Should she discard the name Tatiana Evgenia and disappear? Just this once, she could use alchemy for her own sake.
If she hid somewhere none of them—Orsini, Claude, Ren, or the Black Apostles—could find her and started over…
…Then if they catch me, I run again, start over again, get caught again, run again…
Three years ago, Canna had chosen escape. Her mind had been that cornered.
But not now.
At least the ground she stood on was no longer the edge of a cliff. And there were people she wanted to protect.
“Ren will go up to the palace with me. Did Ren agree to travel with Sir Claude?”
“He told me to obtain your permission first. The client’s wishes are important, he said.”
Claude gave a crooked smile.
“But I must follow Lord Kallen even if it means trailing him in secret. So if you could take pity on me and simply allow it, I would be grateful.”
Canna pretended to consider it for a moment before nodding.
“Very well.”
Since he already knew her identity, there was no point in refusing.
“I look forward to working with you, Lady Physician Tatiana.”
And so Canna returned once more to the capital.
When they reached the royal palace after several days of travel, she was quite surprised by the unexpected crowd.
It seemed an event was being held; dignitaries from various countries had gathered.
“What is happening?”
An international occasion of this scale should have reached her ears.
“Did you truly not know? It is His Highness Crown Prince Alexei’s engagement ceremony.”
“……”
Canna slowly turned her head.
What had she just heard?
Seeing her genuine ignorance, even Claude looked startled. He quickly amended his words.
“…or so I heard, but I don’t really know the details.”
“Tell me.”
“No, I truly don’t know much.”
Ren, who had been watching with a displeased expression, cut in.
“Excuse me, client. Aren’t you His Highness Crown Prince Alexei’s mistress and the royal physician? Even a mere mercenary like me knows about it. How can you not?”
“……”
“His Highness the Crown Prince of Yalden is betrothed to Her Highness Princess Amelia of the Aslan Empire.”
It felt as if a hammer had struck her skull.
Canna parted her lips in shock, yet no words came. She closed her mouth again.
Engaged? To Amelia? Alexei?
It made no sense. There was no way.
How could something like this happen so suddenly?
At that moment, she recalled the words of the late Sergei, the younger brother of the Lord of Bryzk Territory.
“I heard His Highness will be engaged soon.”
Canna swallowed. She was so stunned that her fingertips had turned ice-cold.
Without answering them, she continued walking.
She asked a servant to prepare the rooms beside hers for Ren and Claude, then entered her own bedchamber alone. She sank down onto the bed.
So that’s how it is.
She stared at the wall in silence.
Very slowly, her reeling mind began to sort itself.
Orsini didn’t come here only because of the Black Fog.
He had come to represent the Addis family at Princess Amelia’s engagement ceremony.
Everyone worked together to deceive me.
Queen Yekaterina, Alexei, Yoanna.
The people around her, the palace staff, even those from Bryzk Territory—they had all hidden it perfectly.
Whose idea it was needed no guessing.
It had to be Alexei.
Just then, the window opened and a man vaulted into the room.
“Tatiana, why did you come back so soon?”
Alexei’s hair was wildly disheveled. He must have rushed over the moment he heard of her arrival.
Canna looked up at him quietly, then curved her lips.
“Congratulations on your engagement, Your Highness.”
“Tatiana!”
Alexei shouted her name as if rejecting the words. He strode forward and seized her hand.
His hand was trembling.
“Tatiana, you are the only one I love. So please don’t misunderstand.”
“Your Highness, I am not misunderstanding anything.”
At those words, Alexei’s face brightened with relief.
“Then our relationship remains the same?”
“No.”
“What?”
“You will soon be engaged. Naturally, we must end things.”
Alexei’s lips quivered. The hand gripping hers tightened painfully.
“End things?”
“Yes.”
“Are you serious? How can you say something so cruel?”
“Cruel?”
“A royal marriage is not a union of love. It is a transaction for the sake of the kingdom, nothing more. This marriage means nothing to me.”
Alexei appealed to her with desperate sincerity.
“I swear it. Tatiana, I will take you as my concubine and cherish you and our children.”
Concubine?
Was he saying he would make her his second wife?
“The child born between us will become the next king. I will share no relationship with Princess Amelia. I swear it on my name.”
Suddenly the Emperor of the Aslan Empire came to mind.
The man who had loved only Concubine Teresa his entire life. His pure devotion was a famous tale.
Yet even that Emperor took Teresa as his concubine. He chose the daughter of a powerful family as his empress.
Alexei was right.
Royal marriages were business. Transactions. There was simply no room for love.
“Tatiana, please.”
Alexei’s face twisted with fear. Sweat gathered in the palm that clutched her hand.
“Please, just this once, understand my position. Yield to me just this once. Then for the rest of my life, I will yield to you in everything.”
“I refuse.”
“Tatiana!”
“It would have been better if you had told me about the engagement beforehand. I am disappointed to learn of it this way.”
“If I had told you!”
Alexei exploded.
“If I had told you, you would have left me! Just like this!”