It All Began With a Name
“I thought that after we met at the guild that time, we’d never cross paths again. So when you called me by Everett’s name, I didn’t bother correcting you.”
His cautious excuse brought a particular scene flashing through my mind.
“Thank you, Mr. Rohas.”
“Did you just call me Rohas?”
It was a question laced with quiet bewilderment.
“Was that wrong of me?”
“I get the general idea of what happened. It doesn’t really matter.”
“Pardon?”
“No—actually, if anything, call me Sir Rohas.”
The moment I realized this entire farce had begun from something so trivial, I felt as hollow as I was furious.
It was like being plunged into cold water right after boiling over.
Some people grow strangely calm in extreme situations.
I’m one of them.
My head, which had been a tangled wreck of every negative emotion imaginable, slowly began to clear.
Only then did it hit me that we were standing in the middle of Indar Street—an area packed with imperial officials—at an hour when people were still out and about, discussing something that should never be overheard.
If I had been in my right mind, I would have told this Fake Everett that his excuse was pathetic and sent him packing.
After all, deceiving someone about your identity is just as rotten as two-timing them.
But if what he claimed was true, then this time the only real victim was me.
The shock of learning he had a child with another woman while stringing two people along had been so devastating that the identity lie felt almost tame by comparison.
Honestly, the moment I saw Fake Everett’s face, my resolve had already started to crumble. I’d been desperately trying to steel myself by thinking of the crown princess.
Once I became aware of it, I could feel the eyes.
Gazes were gradually gathering around us.
Far more windows than usual were open in the townhouses lining the street.
When I glanced around, I caught shadows hastily pulling back from those windows.
‘Mom… it looks like your daughter really is a total pushover.’
“First, I… need to hear exactly what you’re trying to say.”
Using that as an excuse, I brought Fake Everett inside my house.
The only sound as we climbed the stairs and opened the door was the cold echo of our footsteps.
I’d always imagined that bringing a lover home for the first time would feel softer than this.
Instead, the atmosphere was unmistakably that of an interrogation.
I smiled bitterly to myself and slipped off the necklace artifact that allowed short-range teleportation, clutching it in my palm.
Fake Everett made a point of pretending not to notice.
Since I lived alone, the sofa was only built for one. I sat down and jerked my chin at him.
“Sit.”
I meant for him to grab one of the dining chairs.
But Fake Everett dropped to both knees at my feet as if I had commanded him to kneel.
Startled, my eyes snapped toward him.
He looked up at me with a heartbreakingly earnest face.
It was almost the first time I’d ever looked down at him, yet even now he was devastatingly beautiful.
“Give me a chance to beg for your forgiveness.”
Like a squire attending a noble lady, Fake Everett—tense to the point of rigidity—leaned forward to press a respectful kiss to the back of my hand.
“Whether I give you that chance or not is for me to decide.”
I pulled my hand away before his lips could touch it.
He couldn’t hide the raw hurt that flashed across his face at the repeated rejection.
What exactly do you think you’ve done to deserve forgiveness?
It was better than two-timing, but it still wasn’t a mistake that could be easily forgiven.
“What’s your real name?”
I couldn’t keep calling him Fake Everett forever.
“Ed.”
I hated how my mood lifted just a little at finally knowing one proper name.
Edwin had been born a crown prince.
After his father relinquished the right of succession, he had lost the title of crown prince, but he remained first in line to the throne.
In other words, he had been a noble existence from the moment he drew breath and had never once knelt before another person in his life.
Until today.
Having decided to reveal the truth to Lina, Edwin had steeled himself.
He would do anything if it helped her forgive him.
Yet until the moment he stood before her, Edwin had doubted whether he could actually pull it off.
Lately he had been acting strangely—trying to look good in her eyes, swept up in emotions he had never experienced before.
But Edwin knew himself.
He knew he possessed a rather arrogant and stubborn side.
His resolve, therefore, was a warning to himself: do not let ugly pride make the situation worse.
Yet the moment he stood in front of Lina, he realized all his worries had been unfounded.
Lina speaking to him in casual, even insulting tones was… new. Edwin knew he shouldn’t be thinking such things in this situation, but it was simply novel.
Her fierce rejection, pushing him away… he could endure it, knowing he was paying the price for deceiving her.
When she grew angry and swung her fists, his only concern was whether her soft hands might hurt against his own hard body.
Kneeling was nothing.
If Lina would only forgive him, Edwin could have kissed the tops of her feet like a slave.
Because right now he wasn’t Edwin, Emperor of Regencia—he was simply Lina’s “Ed.”
Even so, there was one thing Edwin couldn’t withstand.
Lina’s tears.
Looking into her eyes, he had to watch helplessly as tears welled up in those violet irises that resembled pansies.
It felt like his heart was being carved apart.
This was the price he paid for deceiving her.
“Don’t cry.”
Edwin’s voice was desperate.
It was closer to a plea.
Yet the tears in Lina’s eyes only gathered faster.
They shimmered, on the verge of spilling over.
Edwin reached out to wipe them away, then froze.
She wouldn’t want him to.
While Edwin wounded himself with that judgment, a single tear finally slipped from Lina’s eye and fell.
To Edwin, the instant that tear hit the floor felt like an eternity.
Lina blinked several times, letting the rest of her tears fall.
After a long, hesitant pause, she asked in a faint voice.
“You’re really not going to marry the crown princess?”
The tiny opening she offered, Edwin grabbed with raw desperation.
“I’m not.”
“How can I believe that? You’re a liar.”
Lina pouted, her tone sulky.
“I’ll bring the real Everett Rohas. And the crown princess too.”
Edwin hesitated a moment, ears turning red, then added.
“I… am pure.”
The probability of him having a child was zero.
In his life, there had only ever been Lina, and there would only ever be Lina.
If he never received her forgiveness, Edwin had already decided he would simply live alone, cherishing her memory.
Who cares about an heir?
If Edwin hadn’t rolled around battlefields like a dog, the empire would have fallen long ago.
He sincerely believed he had already done enough simply by buying the empire time until his death.
Surprisingly, declaring his purity with reddened ears proved far more effective than kneeling.
Childish as it was, my anger seemed to cool a little.
I had thought of the crown princess as the greater victim of his two-timing, yet deep down I had still been jealous.
All he did with me was kiss, yet with her he had a child.
It felt like the piece she held was so much larger than mine.
If this had been someone else’s story, I would have condemned them for being out of their mind.
That was how base my thoughts were.
But the fact that I could now admit how base my jealousy was only became possible after learning that Everett wasn’t Everett.
The emotional storm had been so fierce that only after the reason to be jealous of the crown princess disappeared could I finally acknowledge it.
It was nearly equal to the sense of betrayal I felt toward “Ed.”
Once one of the two emotions that had been holding me upright vanished, I collapsed weakly in its place.
The wall I had built so firmly came crashing down.
After the wall—constructed of pride, stubbornness, guilt, and the like—collapsed, what emerged was me, blinded by love.
He’s mine.
The timing of realizing just how deeply I loved Ed couldn’t have been worse.
My emotions were tossing like a ship caught in raging waves.
In the space where jealousy had been, possessiveness now took over.
I wanted to possess this man completely, even if it meant throwing myself away.
“Do you love me?”
I asked right before I threw my entire being into that single emotion called love.
I told myself I would decide based on his answer, but the conclusion already seemed set.