Chapter 2 

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

“Goodness, I still haven’t gotten an answer.”

Before I could even blink, hic… no, the woman disappeared. I had more or less figured out that she was a mage, but apparently, she wasn’t an ordinary one.

‘If she can use teleportation magic right in front of me, she must be at least an advanced mage.’

Ivan vividly recalled the woman’s face.

There had been confusion magic cast over her face, but such a paltry trick couldn’t fool Ivan’s ‘eyes.’

Beneath those transparent, reddish-orange eyes that seemed to reveal everything she was thinking—clearly searching for a way to escape—her frightened pink lips had been trembling ever so slightly. She had a rather interesting appearance, but it was a face he had never seen before.

As the Crown Prince, Ivan had to deal with countless nobles, so he could easily remember the appearances of most young noble ladies. Yet, for some reason, the woman he had just encountered was a complete stranger to him.

‘That peculiar-colored hair… It looks strangely familiar.’

Peach-colored hair with deep violet hues seeping through here and there. Hair of such an unusual color was, naturally, exceedingly rare.

“……There was someone among the Imperial Palace mages with similar hair.”

Leon Astell, the eldest son of the Count Astell family, a renowned family of magic, was an unprecedented mage who had displayed extraordinary talent from a young age, graduated from the Magic Academy at the top of his class, and gone on to simultaneously hold the positions of a high-ranking mage of the Mage Tower and an Imperial Palace mage, making a name for himself throughout the empire.

“Did that family have a daughter…?”

Normally, a witness deserved to die, but if that person was one of the few advanced mages in the empire, then the situation was different.

Above all else…

‘I’m curious how she managed to find me in the first place.’

No matter how advanced a mage was, finding Ivan while he was ‘working’ was impossible. At times like this, even the shadows assigned to guard the Crown Prince from close range couldn’t follow him, making it all the more impossible.

‘Perhaps I’ll postpone killing her for now.’

After thinking for a moment, Ivan soon flicked his fingers with an impassive expression. The night looked like it would be a long one, so it was about time he returned to the Imperial Palace.

“P-Please, spare me!”

Gasp!

After a desperate sleep-talk, my eyes snapped open, slowly taking in the familiar ceiling above me. Ah, this is my room.

“This is driving me crazy. I’ve been having the same dream every night since that day…!”

Ever since the day I had barely managed to escape from Ivan, I had been plagued by the same nightmare every night.

In it, a monster with green pupils endlessly chased after me, and I always woke up just as the bastard caught me.

‘Still, at least today I woke up right before I got caught, so it’s fi—’

…not. It’s absolutely not fine! My heart is still pounding!

“Still, there’s no way Ivan could know the name of some extra from the frontier, so at least that’s reassuring.”

Besides, I had even cast confusion magic over my face to make it difficult to recognize me.

Unless Ivan was an exceptionally high-ranking mage, there was no way he could dispel my magic—which was at an advanced-mage level—and recognize me.

‘In the original story, Ivan wasn’t a mage. Since it’s an ongoing novel, I can’t say that for certain, but the chances of him being a mage of a higher rank than me are low.’

Moreover, at the various parties I had attended to see Ivan during that time, I had never once spoken to him. I had always simply watched him from afar with the heart of a devoted fan.

‘There aren’t many people who even know me in the first place… There’s no way Ivan could find me.’

Immediately after possessing this body, once I understood the situation, I chose to live quietly like an extra should.

Of course, as the second daughter of the Count Astell family, one of the empire’s renowned magical houses, it was difficult to completely hide my existence. Fortunately, I had an older brother named ‘Leon Astell,’ who possessed extraordinary talent.

‘Since childhood, I’d been completely overshadowed by Leon’s talent, so as his younger sister, I was practically nonexistent in people’s eyes.’

I also rarely participated in outside activities, using my frail health as an excuse, so people generally thought that only Leon existed in the Astell family. Whenever someone happened to learn of my existence, they would be surprised and ask, ‘That family had a daughter?’

And I was quite fond of my existence being practically nonexistent.

‘Thanks to that, I could freely do whatever I wanted without worrying about what anyone thought.’

Best of all, I wasn’t registered with the notoriously strict Mage Association. That was largely thanks to Leon, who held a high position in the Mage Tower and had pulled some strings for me.

As someone born into the Astell family, I had naturally been registered with the Association at birth. But thanks to my peculiar ability to blend into the background like air, no one noticed even after Leon removed me from the records.

Ordinarily, every mage registered with the Mage Association was obligated to report their magical activities.

But I was researching an ancient dimensional-transference spell that had been banned long ago. If I reported that, I would be sent straight to prison.

‘I have to conduct this research if I want to return to Korea, so I can’t help it.’

I was just about to get out of bed and head to my laboratory when, all of a sudden, the door flew open without even a knock.

“My lady—!”

“Gah! You scared me…!”

My personal maid, Hannah, suddenly appeared with an unusually excited expression.

“A marriage proposal has arrived for you, my lady!”

“What?”

I immediately questioned her in disbelief, but quickly regained my composure.

“Oh, dear. Someone must have sent it to the wrong person again. Tsk, tsk.”

Something like this had happened before. I was Rine, but sometimes marriage proposals meant for Rina would be sent to me instead…

“It came from the Imperial Palace, though.”

“What……?”

Without realizing it, I shot to my feet and strode over to Hannah, taking the sheet of paper she held out to me.

[The Erzette Imperial Family]

At the bottom of the golden letter I had just received was, indeed, the dark-red Imperial seal. The proud emblem of the golden lion representing the Erzette imperial family made the letter’s origin unmistakably clear.

‘No way. Ivan found me?’

My belief that he didn’t know me wasn’t merely a guess. I was certain of it. After all, Ivan and I had never met before.

‘And I deliberately cast confusion magic over my face, so how on earth…?’

It had barely been any time since I had escaped, and already I was caught. The thought sent a chill down my spine, especially because it felt exactly like the nightmares that had been tormenting me for the past few days.

“My lady, I thought it was strange that you hadn’t said a word since returning from that party…”

Hannah suddenly grabbed both my hands and continued with a deeply moved expression.

“So that day, you and His Highness really promised each other your love, didn’t you?”

“Lo, what…?”

“Otherwise, there’s no way a marriage proposal would suddenly arrive like this! Eeeek!”

Hannah bounced excitedly on her feet, convinced that the Crown Prince had fallen in love with me at first sight.

“W-We did meet, but…”

It wasn’t the kind of meeting you were imagining……

“My lady, you’re going to reply, right?”

Stars sparkled in Hannah’s tree-colored eyes, which were filled with anticipation. If I merely nodded, she looked ready to bring every sheet of stationery in the entire mansion right away.

“…What happens if I don’t reply?”

“Hmm, in high society, it’s usually taken as a rejection.”

“I see. Then…”

Riiip—.

“I’ll consider the proposal declined.”

“Gasp, my lady…!”

The bright yellow sheet of paper was torn to pieces in an instant, fluttering through the air. It looked almost like the fur of a proud golden lion drifting away.

‘After everything I’ve done to protect this quiet life, I can’t let Ivan ruin it.’

If I became engaged to him, my name would become widely known throughout the empire. Then my insignificant presence would suddenly attract attention, and… Ah, don’t even think about it. Absolutely not.

Besides, I had already lost my favorite character overnight. In a situation like this, why would I have any reason to stay here?

Of course I didn’t.

My determination to complete the dimensional-transference magic as quickly as possible only grew stronger.

“But, my lady, I think you still have to send a reply.”

“Why?”

“Well…… because it was in the newspaper.”

“…Huh?”

Hannah held something else out to me. This time, it was a newspaper.

“The article’s already out. A public proposal, no less. His Highness must truly be serious about you.”

From the very front page, there was an enormous headline so absurd that I couldn’t even bring myself to laugh bitterly.

[Erzette Crown Prince Publicly Proposes to Rine Astell, Second Daughter of the Prestigious Mage Family, House Astell!]

[The two are said to have confirmed their feelings for each other at a recent social gathering held by Count Anasia……]

[Rine Astell, the Once-Unnoticed Daughter, Secretly Catches the Eye—and Heart—of the Empire’s Star… Everyone Wants to Know Her Secret!]

Wow, they’re really going all out, huh? Somehow, I had a feeling that simply tearing up the marriage proposal wasn’t going to solve this…

‘My quiet life is already over…….’

When I tore the newspaper apart with dull, lifeless eyes, Hannah gave an awkward smile and shrugged.

“Tearing this up won’t do any good, my lady. The Count has already bought a hundred copies.”

“What? Why?!”

“Well, it’s your first scandal ever, my lady. And the other person is none other than the Star of the Empire!”

Ta-da! Hannah excitedly gave me a thumbs-up, insisting that this was something we absolutely had to keep as a souvenir.

“No……”

Despite my desperate cry, the marriage proposals kept arriving the next day, the day after that, and the day after that, as if each one were shouting ‘Yes!’ while being torn apart. This was insane.

‘The fact that he keeps sending nothing but marriage proposals without saying a single word proves he’s completely out of his mind.’

It was the behavior of someone who knew all too well that I couldn’t keep refusing forever.

‘By now, I’m already being branded as an incredibly rude woman who dares to remain silent in the face of the Crown Prince’s proposal.’

In that sense, this wasn’t really a ‘marriage proposal’ at all.

It was more like a warning declaring that he had found me and, now that my name was known throughout the empire, I had no way of escaping him.

In other words, it meant: show yourself before I come looking for you.

‘I haven’t even managed to properly run away yet. There’s no way I can let myself get caught like this.’

I couldn’t keep this insane situation going, so it was time to make a decision.

“Hannah, I’m leaving the house.”

On the morning when I tore up the fourth marriage proposal, I conveyed my decision while watching Hannah carefully gather the shredded pieces of paper into her hands.

“What? All of a sudden? When?”

“Three…”

“Ah, three months from now?”

Even if Ivan came looking for me, it would be fine as long as I wasn’t home, right?

“Two, one, now.”