Chapter 6

I’m the Only One Who Knows That the Male Lead Is the Mastermind Behind Everything

After finally calming down and sitting back down, Ivan spoke with an expression of absolute certainty in his eyes.

“Lady Astell. If you lend me your power, I will grant you anything you desire.”

“…Anything?”

At my dubious question, he nodded lightly. Apparently, he had roughly figured out that I was a Filth and summoned me because of it. So that was why he had said there was something we could negotiate.

“Anything you want. Everything.”

If someone else had said those words, they probably wouldn’t have meant much to me. But having just realized that he was actually a demon, I somehow felt as though he truly could make anything happen.

“I can even put you at the very pinnacle of power.”

Ivan’s long fingertip pointed toward the Diamond Palace, which stood not far away. Wait, wasn’t that where the emperor lived?

The look in his eyes practically said that, if necessary, he would kill the current emperor and put me on the throne instead. Wow. That was extremely disrespectful.

The current emperor was healthy enough to have joined the army of conquest and gone personally to the front lines.

“…I’m not interested in power.”

“Hm. How unusual. Every human seems to desire wealth and honor.”

He frowned as if I were strange. No matter how much of a demon he was, wasn’t the emperor still his own father…?

“There’s only one thing I want. To go to a world called ‘Korea.’”

“Are you talking about dimensional travel? You seem unaware that it is a type of magic forbidden across all dimensions.”

“I know it’s impossible. That’s why my request is for you to help me with my research.”

“Research?”

Ivan narrowed his eyes, as though he found that unexpected. I supposed it made sense. I was turning down power and asking for nothing more than research. But this wasn’t ‘nothing more than research.’

“I’ve been researching dimensional magic for a long time. Since it’s an ancient forbidden form of magic, I’ve been conducting my research without the knowledge of the Mage Association… But because of that, my progress is slow, and there are limits to the information I can obtain.”

Ivan listened quietly, then rested his chin on his hand, looking intrigued.

“Do you know why it’s forbidden magic?”

“Um… Because it’s dangerous?”

“Correct. It is magic that is difficult for humans to withstand. Even if you are lucky enough to successfully complete the spell formula, your body could crumble during the casting, or your mind could die.”

It sounded similar to the side effects I had read about in the magic books. He had certainly lived a long time as a demon, so it seemed he really did know something about it.

“Even so, I have to do it. There’s somewhere I absolutely have to go.”

“You said it was called ‘Korea’… What reason could you possibly have for being willing to risk your life to get there?”

“Hmm. Let’s just say there’s someone I absolutely have to meet.”

My mother, my father, and my mother’s son. Since my entire family was in Korea, it wasn’t technically a lie. There was no need to tell him that this was a world inside a novel and that I was a reader who had possessed the heroine’s body, so I decided to keep my explanation vague.

“I can certainly help with the research, but are you truly not interested in becoming emperor?”

“Not at all.”

At my firm answer, Ivan shrugged as though disappointed. Well, he shouldn’t be disappointed about it when he was already a crown prince…

“I’ll help you, so let’s get engaged. We’ll have to meet frequently from now on for our collaboration.”

He certainly had a point. If an unmarried man and woman met privately, there was no telling what kind of rumors would spread. Especially since high society was extremely conservative.

Come to think of it, if dimensional magic was forbidden even to demons, shouldn’t Ivan be prohibited from helping me so casually?

“Are you really allowed to help me?”

“I’ll probably receive some punishment, but that much is nothing.”

Ivan smiled calmly, as though there were no problem at all. With that, our negotiation was settled.

“The condition is that we break off the engagement once the work is finished.”

“Agreed.”

Since he had just publicly proposed to me, we already had more than enough justification. He probably hadn’t proposed with this situation in mind, but either way, things had worked out well.

As soon as our agreement was finalized, Vanel, who had been standing behind Ivan, hurried over and presented the proposal document he had been carrying to me.

Seriously, how many copies of this proposal document had that guy prepared? Why did they keep coming out endlessly?!

“Oh, and while we’re engaged, I’d prefer there to be no scandals for the sake of maintaining our dignity. With men, of course, but women as well.”

“Don’t worry. Keeping a low profile is my specialty.”

He even kept an eye out for members of the same sex. Was this demon more open-minded than I’d expected(?)?

Whatever the case, I was confident that there wasn’t a single young lady in this land who had lived as quietly as I had. I’d been so quiet that I practically had no presence at all.

“But does this condition apply to Your Highness as well?”

“Of course. I’ll become a lover who looks only at you, so you can look forward to it.”

“…Ah. Yes.”

I didn’t need him to be quite such an enthusiastic fiancé… But whatever. It was probably better than letting a scandal arise or having people discover that our engagement was contractual because we seemed too indifferent toward each other.

Putting on a reasonably convincing act as lovers would help maintain our relationship, so I gave a small nod to indicate that I would cooperate.

“Then I’ll take my leave.”

I had signed the document and cleared up the misunderstanding, so it was time to go home.

Once news of our engagement spread, I would probably be somewhat busy for a while, but as long as I could continue my research without trouble, there was nothing to worry about.

“I’ll show you where you’ll be staying.”

“Oh, yes. Thank you….”

When I stood up, Ivan held out his hand with a kind expression. Thinking he was going to escort me to my carriage, I instinctively took his hand—only to realize a moment too late what he had said.

…Show me what?

“Pardon? Where I’ll be staying?”

“From now on, the Imperial Palace is your home.”

“Why…?”

My actual home was perfectly intact in the capital. In fact, I had two of them.

…Although one of those had become unlivable because of someone, but still.

“Did you really think I would simply let you go after you learned my greatest secret?”

Ivan looked at me calmly, as though I had just heard a secret more classified than a state secret. Facing those unreadable eyes, I involuntarily swallowed hard.

“B-But you never said I couldn’t go home!”

“I showed you my trust, but you haven’t shown me yours yet, have you? You only have to stay until you prove it.”

Ivan lightly tapped the back of his hand and smiled gently. I couldn’t exactly lock my own mouth shut, so this put me at a huge disadvantage!

“But you said you wouldn’t keep me under surveillance….”

“Surveillance? I hope you’ll understand that I’m merely concerned for the safety of my fiancée, who will soon receive the attention of the entire empire.”

Along with his plausible sweet talk, countless stars sparkled brilliantly in those forest-green eyes.

‘Ugh, there it is. My favorite’s brutally beautiful-eye attack…!’

But I wasn’t someone who could be easily swayed either… No, that’s not what I mean! I have no intention of falling for it! None at all!!

‘As it is, I’m about to become famous because of this engagement. If I stay in the Imperial Palace on top of that… then I’ll never have a quiet life again. This time, I’ll be completely finished.’

Moving into the palace right after becoming engaged would make it obvious to anyone that there was something unusual about our relationship. Above all, there had never been a single case in history of a future crown princess entering the Imperial Palace before her wedding ceremony.

“It’s unfortunate, but I don’t think there will be a suitable place for me to conduct my research in the Imperial Palace.”

“There are plenty of empty rooms. I can prepare one for you.”

“It would be a problem if the Mage Association found out about my research.”

“Then I can restrict the number of times members of the Association are allowed into the palace.”

“I need access to a lot of books, so I have to live near a bookstore!”

“I’ll grant you access to the Imperial Library.”

…Wait a second. The Imperial Library? The one only members of the imperial family could enter? The one filled with forbidden books and ancient magic texts?!

‘That’s cheating…… I can’t refuse this too.’

If he was going to give me everything I wanted, wouldn’t refusing to move into the palace actually be a loss for me? It felt like I could hear the devil whispering in my ear.

Ivan was a demon, so that wasn’t exactly wrong.

More importantly, there was obviously going to be an enormous amount of information I wanted in there. How could I possibly refuse…?

Only members of the imperial family or a select few people approved by them were allowed to enter. Even being the future crown princess wouldn’t normally be enough to gain access, which made the offer unbelievably tempting.

“May I show you your quarters now?”

“Please….”

I lost.

As I closed my eyes and groaned inwardly, Ivan gave a low laugh and tightened his grip on my hand. Then, as though he had forgotten to mention something, he turned toward me and cheerfully began to speak.

“You’re the first person to remain alive after learning my true identity. Congratulations.”

“…Ah. Yes.”

“You don’t seem very happy.”

For a moment, Ivan’s green eyes curved into narrow slits. Just like they had on that day when everything had been drenched in red.

“I-I’m just so overwhelmed by the honor that my throat caught for a moment….”

“Exactly, right?”

The corners of his lips curved smoothly upward, and the smile was unbearably alluring.

The greatest saint the world would ever know and an angel, my ass. This man was nothing but a demon itself…….