Are We Still In love?

Early morning. Cecilia slowly opened her eyes.

She lay in the same position as when she had fallen asleep the night before. Afraid of waking Eden, Cecilia merely fixed her gaze quietly on his face.

His skin was paler and younger than she remembered. A jawline caught between boyhood and manhood. She already knew how beautiful those blue eyes would look when his eyelids lifted. There had been a moment—no, moments—when the beauty of this man had been fatal to her.

“……”

But now, her heart did not waver. She simply looked at his beautiful face and thought.

Would it be so wrong to kill him right now?
To ensure it never happens again—
To stop this man from betraying and killing me and my father?

Unknowingly, her hand clenched the pillow tighter. Sitting up, Cecilia gripped it with both hands. Slowly, deliberately, she lowered it towards his face, as if to press it down and end it all.

“No…”

But she couldn’t follow through. The Emperor, with his immense power, shielded Eden. And as long as Eden was alive, even Aster—the next in line to the throne—cherished him. Killing Eden on impulse would only provoke their fury, and with that, bring ruin upon her family.

No, killing him here, without a plan, was not an option.
Cecilia lowered the pillow and stared at the man who slept so still he could’ve been mistaken for dead.

I wanted to kill you too.
Her thoughts rang clear.

Eden had to die. But it must be in a way that appeared natural, without any connection to House Rain.

So then, how, in this life, could she preserve the honor of House Rain… while driving a dagger through this man’s heart?

“I don’t want it to end like that…”

In truth, the best solution would be to forget everything—and run far from Eden. But that would only be an escape. She wasn’t some borrowed soul living in another’s body. She didn’t want to forget or flee.

And above all, it was unfair—
Why should she be the only one to suffer, to bear the pain, and simply accept it all as the end?
There was nothing fair about that.

“Eden…”

Cecilia reached out and gently cradled his jaw and cheek, brushing them softly with her fingers. Like a dog seeking affection, he nuzzled his face into her palm.
Watching him, another face came to mind.

“I shall take my leave now.”

Aster, Eden’s half-brother, who resembled him like a twin.

Like Eden, he had brown hair and eyes the color of water. Though one might expect a Crown Prince to be wary of his siblings, Aster had shared a close bond with Eden.

“Congratulations on joining the Imperial family, Grand Duchess Burnett.”

His smile had been kind, and his manner—gentle and polite. His handsome, soft features radiated warmth, yet the strength that sometimes surfaced in his gaze gave people reason to trust him.

Had he lived and ascended to the throne, it was easy to imagine that everything in the Wyatt Empire would have unfolded in peace and stability.

“The Crown Prince died in the year 278 of the Imperial Calendar.”

Cecilia began tracing her memories. She had married Eden in the year 276. Eden had been twenty-one, and Cecilia, twenty.

At that time, no one could have imagined the storm that would sweep through the Empire. No one had foreseen that it would swallow the Crown Prince, or overturn the entire line of succession.

“Laner Island…”

It had all started with a long-neglected island. Neither Wyatt nor its neighboring nation, Benia, had given it much thought—just a tiny dot on the map.

In reality, the island was occupied by Wyatt, and its inhabitants were all subjects of the Wyatt Empire. Benia had shown no interest.

“Is this… gold dust?”

Everything changed when a gold vein was discovered. Gold—valued by every nation—was power.
As soon as Wyatt learned of the vein, it began mining without hesitation.

“Laner Island doesn’t belong to Wyatt—it belongs to Benia!”

Benia then raised its voice in protest, claiming historical ownership of Laner Island.
That was the spark that ignited the war.

And that war… led to Crown Prince Aster’s death.

Crown Princess Isabella, devastated by the loss of her husband, miscarried the child she carried—the next heir—and died shortly after.

“Eden, you must become Crown Prince.”

And so, the Emperor decided not to name Damon, his third son by the current Empress, but instead chose Eden to be Crown Prince.

Yes… There had once been Aster Lobana Wyatt.

Had he lived… Eden would never have become Emperor, never seized the kind of power that shattered House Rain.

As this thought struck her, Cecilia’s eyes shimmered—like summer leaves glistening beneath the sun.

“…He was meant to die.”

If everything flowed according to fate, then he was destined to die anyway.
There was no need to feel guilty about using and hurting a good man. He was already a man marked for death. It was a situation too convenient not to take advantage of. One could hardly say prolonging his life was a sin.

First and foremost, if she wanted to protect House Rain, she had to save Crown Prince Aster and ensure he became Emperor. Power must never fall into Eden’s hands.

But how?

In her previous life, Cecilia had paid little attention to politics before becoming Crown Princess. She could recall the broad strokes of the conflict surrounding Laner Island, but not the finer details. Eden, too, had rarely appeared in central politics in support of Aster.

“If Wyatt could claim ownership of the island in advance…”

Cecilia murmured softly as she tried to untangle the thoughts swirling in her mind.

If the ownership of the island could be clearly established as Wyatt’s, and the dispute resolved before it even began—then Aster would not die in war. The only real drawback would be the awkward position it might place Eden in.

“But you never wanted to be Emperor anyway.”

Her gaze shifted to Eden, who slept peacefully, unaware of the thoughts passing through her mind.

“Isn’t that right, Eden?”

Of course, even if it wasn’t, it didn’t matter. Cecilia withdrew her hand from his face without a trace of hesitation.

But even if Aster became Emperor, it would all be meaningless if Count Nova raised rebellion. If they once again exposed fabricated corruption within House Rain, and Eden harbored resentment toward her family, it would be over.

That… must be stopped.

“First, an investigation…”

The first step was to investigate Count Nova. The evidence of the so-called corruption had come from the very ledgers he had handled.

Curtis hadn’t even noticed the financial discrepancies, nor where the missing funds had disappeared to. There was no way all of it was unconnected to Count Nova.

However, sending an audit without cause was bound to be rejected by Curtis. Besides, Cecilia wasn’t even the head of the family—it wasn’t her place to act.

“In that case…”

What if she resolved the matter regarding Laner Island first and won the favor of both the Crown Prince and Eden, then planted the seed of suspicion about Count Nova’s greed?
What if she could push Eden into personally investigating Count Nova’s family, and their corruption was revealed through that?

Of course, the evidence wouldn’t conveniently be scattered about for easy discovery. What if she couldn’t find any proof?

“…Then I’ll fabricate the charges.”

What was there to hesitate over? Cecilia’s expression was blank, devoid of guilt. She had already lived through the complete destruction of her house in a past life.

The Countess of Casper had shamelessly pledged loyalty to Eden’s concubine. Illina Nova had ruled society as both his mistress and queen of the social sphere. Count Nova had stolen the title of Duke Rain. And House Rain… had lost its title, its honor, and its future.

“I won’t let that happen again.”

Who in their right mind would want to go through that twice?

Of course, it wasn’t just Count Nova she intended to destroy. Cecilia had no intention of forgiving the humiliation she had suffered from the Countess of Casper, Illina’s deceitful performance, or the betrayal of Count Nova.

She would shatter everything they loved—drive it all into ruin. And afterward…

“Your Highness.”

…she would kill him too. The man left alone, bereft of love, friends, or family.

Cecilia’s gaze turned toward Eden. The desire to strangle this defenseless man in his sleep was overwhelming—but she still needed him. At least until Aster became Emperor and survived. No—at least until she crushed Count Nova, she needed Eden’s favor and trust.

“Your Highness, wake up.”

Cecilia called to him in a sweet voice. Eden stirred with a faint groan, beginning to wake.

His eyelids trembled, and soon eyes the color of the sea beneath a clear sky were revealed. Still heavy with sleep, they appeared a deeper shade than usual.

“Cecilia?”

Their eyes met, and he called her name in a low, drowsy voice.

“Did you sleep well?”

Cecilia smiled gently at him as she asked. The corners of his eyes crinkled slightly in response, soft with the trace of a smile.

“Yes. Did you sleep well too, Your Highness?”

Cecilia smiled sweetly at Eden, who had just woken. And silently, she thought—

Yes… no need to be impatient.
Someday, I will have your life in the palm of my hand.
If it ends too easily, it wouldn’t be satisfying anyway.