ASPB 5

Chapter 5

“What do you mean by that, Otilie? Breaking off your engagement all of a sudden?”

Her mother’s face showed even greater concern and shock than when she had first entered the drawing room.

Her father and older brother also looked surprised, but for now, they remained silent and listened to her.

“I know it might sound childish, but… my feelings for His Highness the Crown Prince have faded. I don’t think I can spend the rest of my life with someone I don’t love.”

Otilie continued speaking quietly, then paused for a moment before adding,

“So I asked him to break off our engagement today, but His Highness refused. I’ve been thinking about what to do next.”

She glanced at her family, watching their reactions, then gave them a small smile.

No matter how much she thought about it, it was difficult to come up with another convincing reason for breaking off her engagement with the Crown Prince.

At this point in time, the Crown Prince loved her so devotedly that he seemed willing to give her everything, as if he were her loyal servant.

Ever since they had become engaged at the age of fifteen, he had always pretended to love her that way, right up until he suddenly declared that he wanted to break off their engagement.

In the end, this was the only explanation she could give her parents.

Besides, her feelings really had faded, so it wasn’t entirely untrue.

“So, you want to break off the engagement because you don’t love him anymore?”

Her older brother, Collat, frowned as he looked at her.

His deep green eyes, which were exactly like Otilie’s, showed irritation and confusion.

“Yes. I know it might be difficult for everyone to understand… but this is my decision. If I spend my whole life with someone I don’t love, I think I’ll end up unhappy.”

Otilie lowered the corners of her eyes slightly and put on a sorrowful expression.

Her naturally gentle-looking face seemed even more delicate and sad with that brief expression.

“Yes, happiness is important.”

Her older brother, Collat, murmured in a low voice as if agreeing with her, but soon shook his head.

“But Otilie, the Crown Prince hasn’t accepted the broken engagement. We can’t unilaterally break off an engagement with the Imperial Family.”

“Yes, I’m well aware of that.”

Otilie gave a slight nod as she looked at her brother, who had subtly taken her side.

A faint smile remained on her lips, but there was something heartbreaking about her expression.

‘Is that really the expression of a woman who changed her mind first and asked to break off her engagement…?’

Collat briefly wondered to himself, but soon let the thought go.

After all, Lily seemed sad.

“If you really want to break off the engagement that badly, Lily… I’ll speak directly to His Majesty the Emperor.”

Duke Albrecht, who had been sitting quietly until then, spoke up.

His face showed his firm determination to help his daughter.

“No, Father. You don’t have to go that far.”

Otilie shook her head.

“I spoke with His Highness the Crown Prince today, and he told me… to try free dating.”

A faint smile appeared on her lips, but her expression was so sorrowful that she looked just like the heroine of a tragic love story.

“Free dating…? Good heavens.”

Her mother, Violetta, was so startled that she gripped the armrests of her chair.

“Yes. He said that if I tried free dating and still wanted to break off my engagement with him, he would listen to me then. So… Father and Mother, you only need to support my decision when the time comes.”

The Crown Prince had never said anything about agreeing to break off their engagement, but Otilie added a small lie and smiled.

She didn’t want to make her family worry.

“What do you mean? The Crown Prince’s fiancée dating someone else!”

“Yes, Otilie. If that is truly what you want, we won’t force you to stop… but free dating, of all things.”

Violetta slowly shook her head and muttered,

“Young people these days…”

“But Otilie, is there someone you can date?”

Collat suddenly interrupted.

“Everyone in the Empire knows you’re His Highness the Crown Prince’s fiancée. Who would dare to date his fiancée?”

As if agreeing with him, her mother and father slowly nodded.

“Yes, Otilie. Considering the… obsession His Highness has shown toward you all this time, I don’t think anyone would readily agree to date you.”

Violetta carefully added.

The Crown Prince’s abnormal obsession with Otilie was already widely known among the noblewomen.

“Don’t you remember what happened last year? The eldest son of the Marquis of Kars asked you to dance at a ball… and a few days later, he was demoted to a remote territory on charges of attempting to assassinate the Crown Prince.”

Duke Albrecht’s voice carried a heavy tone.

“After that incident, I heard that noble families even began teaching their children the phrase, ‘Never even look at Otilie von Falkenberg,’ as if it were a rule of etiquette in high society.”

Good grief.

He clicked his tongue lightly, still unable to believe it even after thinking back on it.

If even the Duke, who had little interest in high society gossip, had heard such rumors, it meant the incident was practically known throughout the entire Empire.

At his father’s words, Collat recalled that day.

Deep wrinkles formed on his delicate face, which resembled Otilie’s in almost every way except for their hair color. He had the same leaf-green eyes and smooth, porcelain-like skin.

He had been a witness to that so-called ‘attempted assassination of the Crown Prince’ incident.

After that ball ended, the Crown Prince invited Collat, the eldest son of the Kars family, and several other young noblemen to a hunting gathering.

No noble would dare refuse a friendly invitation from the Crown Prince, so they all went to the hunting grounds together the following day.

There, the Crown Prince fired several shots around the eldest son of the Kars family as if it were nothing.

He pretended they were accidents, but everyone present knew they weren’t.

The Crown Prince had been called a genius in every martial art since childhood, including shooting and swordsmanship. There was no way he could make such a beginner’s mistake over and over again.

When the Crown Prince once again aimed his gun at the eldest son of the Kars family, the startled young man instinctively struck the Crown Prince’s gun barrel away with his own rifle.

The Crown Prince could have dodged at that moment, but he deliberately didn’t.

And then—

The young man was immediately arrested on charges of attempting to assassinate the Crown Prince.

Collat and several other young noblemen who had been present testified, staking their honor on the fact that the eldest son of the Kars family had never intended to harm the Crown Prince.

However, the court ultimately ruled in the Crown Prince’s favor.

At least there was one small mercy. They hadn’t stripped him of his title or wiped out his entire family.

The incident was settled by simply demoting the man himself to a remote territory with nothing there.

In other words, the Crown Prince hadn’t even bothered to hide the fact that he had framed the young man on false charges and had him demoted as revenge for asking his fiancée to dance.

After hearing all of this, Otilie gave a small understanding smile and nodded.

“That’s right. I understand why everyone is worried about me. That’s why I’ll meet a man of such high status that even the Crown Prince won’t be able to act recklessly toward him.”

She smiled sweetly, like a delicate wildflower.

“Who could possibly have such a high status? Ah!”

Violetta had briefly wondered aloud, but suddenly let out a small gasp as someone came to mind.

Watching her mother, Otilie gave her a bright smile.

“That’s right, Mother. Duke Rotvin de Altenbrick.”

At Otilie’s words, her family stared at her with wide, shocked eyes, completely speechless.

It was that Duke, who was infamous for being cold, rude, and utterly ruthless.

Every member of her family looked troubled and tried to talk her out of it again and again, but it wasn’t easy.

Otilie seemed to have already made up her mind.

“Why does it have to be him?”

Collat asked in frustration as he looked at Otilie, who refused to change her mind.

Otilie took a short breath before answering calmly.

“Just because. There isn’t anyone else of such high status.”

“My daughter, he isn’t someone you can simply date based on his status. If your goal is to break off the engagement… I’d rather speak to His Majesty the Emperor myself.”

Duke Albrecht was genuinely beginning to worry about his daughter.

The Crown Prince’s obsession with Otilie was almost pathological. The only reason he had never faced any serious consequences for it was that he behaved like the gentlest man in the world whenever he was around her.

‘Of course. A man should know how to behave like a well-trained hunting dog in front of the woman he loves.’

That was why Albrecht had secretly thought that the Crown Prince wasn’t such a bad choice for a son-in-law.

But Duke Altenbrick?!

Albrecht felt a headache coming on.

Having lost his parents, the young man had inherited the position of Duke at the tender age of thirteen. In response to the worries and ridicule of those around him, who wondered whether he could properly manage the family, he had impressively expanded the Altenbrick family’s businesses and continued to rise in success.

There was no doubt that he was a brilliant young man with an exceptional mind when it came to business and managing his territory.

However, that intelligence… seemed to be completely useless when it came to social skills.

The Crown Prince’s rough temper and arrogance could actually be considered qualities befitting a future Emperor.

Moreover, he knew how to control his behavior in public, and he knew when not to act inappropriately.

Above all, his reckless and tyrannical nature only appeared when something involved Otilie.

But Duke Altenbrick was not like that.