* * *

The murmur of the guests, puzzled by my imposing appearance, clearly reached my ears.

Simultaneously, my insides felt like they were burning to a crisp.

‘This is driving me insane…! I’m going to get caught at this rate!’

As tension threatened to burst, I bit my lower lip hard.

Then, suddenly—

Crash!

The emperor, standing on the podium, collapsed with a heavy thud.

“Kyaaa!”

“Your Majesty!!”

The sharp scream of someone split the air, and the orderly ceremony instantly descended into chaos.

The guests, who had been tilting their heads curiously at me moments ago, now had all their attention on the fallen emperor.

Those seated leapt to their feet, their faces frantic as they tried to make sense of the situation.

Those standing scrambled to manage the disarray and control the flow of panicked people.

To make things worse, armored knights waiting outside the venue surged in, causing frail noblewomen to shriek and flee.

‘Ugh, I need to take off this veil. It’s stuck so tight!’

With the emperor collapsed, I had to follow Asel and Anna’s instructions to get to Baek Yigang.

But the cursed veil wouldn’t come off, and I couldn’t see where he was.

‘How am I supposed to move when I can’t see? Who ties a ribbon this tight? This is insane…!’

Adding to the chaos, people began to pack the space between me and Baek Yigang, terrified and trying to escape without understanding the situation.

Someone’s scream made it clear they believed the emperor had been assassinated.

Honestly, I couldn’t blame them—I’d flinched at the sudden shrieking myself.

Desperate, I fumbled with the veil, my hands flailing around my head.

That’s when I remembered: the wedding dress had a magic feature that made it impossible to take off without help.

…Wait, does that apply to the veil too?!

Nobody said anything about that!

As the horrifying thought crossed my mind, the grinning face of that wretched orange-haired mage, Regi, popped into my head, laughing, ‘The veil and dress are a set!’

‘That damned wizard! If I ever see him again, I’ll make sure he regrets it!!’

Seething with rage, I wrestled with the veil amid the chaotic crowd.

Suddenly, someone grabbed my wrist.

“Ah…!”

Startled by the unexpected touch, I hesitated.

But whoever it was ignored my reaction and skillfully led me through the throng.

‘Is it Baek Yigang?’

In this mess, there was no one else who’d come for me, so I let myself be led, feeling a momentary sense of relief—until something struck me.

‘This hand is warm…?’

Something was off.

Baek Yigang’s hands were never this warm.

The Baek Yigang I knew had no warmth.

Sure, I’d described it metaphorically before, but in reality, his hands felt almost lifeless, like ice.

The warmth of this hand, radiating real heat, was unfamiliar and unsettling.

Which could only mean—

‘This person isn’t Baek Yigang.’

Realizing the eerie truth, I yanked my hand free from the unseen person’s grasp.

At that exact moment, the veil—impossible to remove no matter what I did—suddenly slid off.

It must have been the contact with another person, breaking the magic’s condition.

“Where did they go?”

Now that my vision was clear, I looked around, but there was no sign of the person who’d been holding my wrist.

No matter how much I scanned the area, they had disappeared without a trace.

I was certain—

‘…It must have been Piel.’

If I was right, I had planned to dismiss it as a petty attempt.

The Piel I knew would have used this chaos to push harder, maybe even attempt to kill Baek Yigang.

But instead, his target had been me.

And that didn’t make sense.

Shaking off my unease, I quickly scanned the surroundings.

The emperor had been carried away by knights, and Baek Yigang was nowhere to be seen.

The hall was emptier now, but still bustling with guests murmuring about the collapsed emperor and the abruptly canceled engagement ceremony as they hurried outside.

I joined the flow of people exiting, but the crowd was too dense to spot Baek Yigang.

‘Wait… why does this scene feel so familiar? Where have I seen this before?’

Then it hit me—this felt like the scene at a sale corner in a department store, with people scrambling to grab bargains.

This wasn’t the time to laugh, but I couldn’t help letting out a small, helpless chuckle.

“…Dowoon!”

Amid the noise of the crowd, a voice rang faintly in my ears.

“Cheong Dowoon!”

Even through the overwhelming commotion, the voice sounded clear as day.

“Cheong Dowoon, snap out of it!”

I lifted my head abruptly, and there stood Baek Yigang.

He looked slightly disheveled, the top two buttons of his shirt undone, as if frustrated.

“I sent out search parties, thinking you might be wandering outside. Turns out you were here all along.”

He sighed, pressing a hand to his forehead.

After checking me over to ensure I was unharmed, he finally let out a relieved expression.

“Your buttons…”

“Your veil…”

Despite the chaos, we both pointed out each other’s flaws simultaneously, locking gazes.

It was absurd how we both overlooked anything normal and only zeroed in on oddities.

“I didn’t bother fixing it. Who am I trying to impress?”

“I… ran into someone and it got pulled off, I think.”

We exchanged explanations, though I wasn’t entirely sure if the person who grabbed my wrist earlier was Piel.

So I glossed over it for now.

“You’re safe; that’s what matters. Let’s go. The engagement is over.”

With a cold, detached look, Baek Yigang took my hand and led me out of the hall.

His hand felt icy, like the middle of winter.

‘Cold… So it’s really Baek Yigang.’

But as I followed him, I realized we were heading deeper into the palace rather than toward the crown prince’s quarters.

Eventually, we arrived at a secluded corridor devoid of guards.

At the end of it stood Anna and Asel, waiting for us.

As soon as they saw me, they bowed with tense, complex expressions.

“Dowoon, please wear this first.”

“Huh? What’s this?”

Anna and Asel handed handkerchiefs to both Baek Yigang and me, their faces already covered.

“I told you it’s unnecessary.”

Judging from his words, Baek Yigang must’ve refused earlier.

No wonder he came to find me empty-handed.

“Please, just this once, comply. Regardless of your usual stance, this is non-negotiable.”

When Baek Yigang hesitated, showing annoyance, Anna firmly shook her head.

Reluctantly, Baek Yigang wrapped the handkerchief around his face with an irritated expression.

Not understanding the situation but feeling the tension, I quickly covered my nose and mouth as well.

Only then did Anna and Asel bow deeply.

“We apologize for not bringing you sooner, Dowoon.”

“Due to the sudden spread of poison powder, there wasn’t much time to act.”

“Poison powder? What do you mean…?”

Their response, delivered with troubled expressions, was more alarming than I anticipated.

“The Second Prince scattered Aquila powder throughout the imperial palace. While it’s just powder and not immediately lethal, the toxicity level was designed for trained elite knights. For ordinary individuals, exposure can be fatal.”

“What? Just powder can do that?”

I asked again in disbelief, startled by Anna’s calm explanation.

Asel quietly nodded and replied.

“Aquila itself is highly toxic. The powder was created by enhancing its potency.”

“But everyone in the banquet hall seemed fine…!”

“Since it’s powder, it takes some time to absorb into the body. Prolonged inhalation disrupts normal cognition, and once someone loses consciousness… their life is in grave danger.”

…I take back what I said earlier about Piel’s antics being insignificant.

This lunatic has truly lost it, scattering poison indiscriminately at innocent people!

“When the Emperor collapsed, we intended to head to you immediately, but once the poison powder was confirmed, ensuring Your Highness’s safety became our priority. My apologies.”

“No, don’t apologize. If Baek Yigang were harmed, it would be exactly what Piel wanted, and we can’t allow that.”

Anna bowed her head again.

But there was no need for an apology; their actions were the right course.

If Baek Yigang had collapsed as Piel intended, everything we had built up until now would’ve been for nothing.

If that happened, I might as well be dead too.

“We’re still unsure if the enhanced Aquila will affect Your Highness, but it’s a possibility we must consider.”

Asel’s face was heavier than ever as he looked at Baek Yigang.

While Baek Yigang had a natural resistance to ordinary Aquila poison, the enhanced version—whose development process remained a mystery—could pose a significant threat.

“For now, we’ve distributed handkerchiefs for guests to cover their mouths and noses, but the crowd is so large that it’s taking time to provide them to everyone. Furthermore, there are reports that several nobles with pre-existing health issues died immediately upon exposure to the poison.”

Anna, providing a detailed report, had eyes darker than usual.

Her grief at witnessing people succumbing to the poison without being able to help was evident.

* * *