As Navia stepped out of the prayer room and made her way to the chapel, she tilted her head in puzzlement.
"By now, a courtier should have come to assist me."
Navia turned her head towards the door in wonder, only to notice the courtiers gathered in one place.
It meant someone of a higher status than Navia had appeared.
Soon, she spotted the instigator of this unusual commotion among the courtiers.
Ashen hair and distinct pale eyes.
A visage inherited evenly from the beauty of Emperor Ulrich and Empress Diana.
Ares Duffman.
The trash, who had been her fiancé in every regression.
If Creed was like a perfectly sculpted statue, this boy was more of a neatly chiseled impression. But Navia knew all too well how vile this boy was.
"I'm going to be your husband, Navia. So you should be my dog. Why can't you leave Agnes behind? Really... it makes me angry."
He coveted Navia's appearance.
He desired her blindness.
He yearned for a beautiful hunting dog that would only look and yearn for him.
That's why he actively sowed discord between Agnes and Navia.
He incited Wood to beat her up, tempted Vivian to isolate her, and indirectly made Navia miserable without getting his own hands dirty.
Navia, having been brainwashed to be loyal to Agnes, never gave her heart to Ares, no matter what he tried.
She never once needed his love or recognition.
‘Disgusting.’
He had always been the same, whether as a child or grown up.
Even now, reading the Bible under the sun like a sincere and pure boy seemed not the least bit funny.
'The Empress wouldn't have left me and Ares to run into each other.'
Then this meant he had come here, defying the Empress's will.
When Navia stood still, holding Cesare, Ares finally lifted his head.
With outstanding beauty from his parents, Ares's face, as he lifted his gaze from the book, seemed like the first love of many girls.
Even more plausible, given his status as a prince.
"Hello?"
Ares's soft voice echoed gently.
Since he had come to her so openly, she couldn't ignore him.
Navia blinked and tilted her head in confusion.
'Who?' as if asking with her gesture, Ares chuckled softly.
Thump.
The Bible was just an excuse, as he carelessly threw it to the floor.
He rose from his chair.
"Navia, right? You don't know me?"
Navia feigned a puzzled expression and glanced at the courtiers.
The courtiers thought it was natural for Navia not to recognize the prince since she was seeing him for the first time.
"His Highness Prince Ares."
"Oh...!"
Navia finally pretended to recognize the boy's identity and hastily showed respect.
"Navia Eseled meets His Highness the Prince."
"Eseled..."
Ares rolled Navia's changed name in his mouth for a moment.
"Hmm, I still prefer it when you were Agnes."
At his words, Navia bowed her head and twisted her lips into a smile.
'Of course, he would.'
Ares knew how to wait to get what he wanted.
What's so great about that?
'He's just a nine-year-old, after all.'
Not a regressor like herself, but born as cunning as a snake.
Navia smirked cryptically.
"Is that so?"
Watching his eyes softly fold, Ares suddenly laughed lightly and then said to the courtiers.
"Everyone, leave the chapel until I call you."
The courtiers were quite startled.
With a smiling face, Ares looked at them.
"Don't inform my mother. You understand what I mean, right?"
It was a threat that if Diana appeared and interrupted him, they would not be safe.
The courtiers bowed their heads.
"We will follow your command."
When only the two of them were left in the chapel, Ares quickly closed the distance with Navia.
Thump!
He grabbed Navia, who tried to step back.
Navia almost couldn't maintain her expression and almost hardened it coldly.
"You don't know how long I've waited for this moment, Navia."
Ares's smile and tone were consistently sweet as honey.
Like Diana, who smiled like a flower and bit like a viper, how could he be so similar?
"Let go of me, Your Highness."
At Navia's request, Ares instead tightened his grip.
It wasn't enough to leave a bruise, but the discomfort was what mattered.
In fact, Ares' obsession was just beginning.
Given more time, he'd likely force her into his arms and press his lips against hers.
Navia's eyes grew cold.
Unaware of her true feelings, as Ares was deceived by her well-crafted expression, he did not realize this.
He gazed at Navia's silver hair, red eyes, and her naturally perfect features with a mesmerized look.
The most special toy in the world.
He viewed her as a toy he wanted to possess and play with at his whim.
He continued in a low, calm voice.
"When a toy I thought would obediently come to my hand suddenly turned into a silly six-year-old girl, I was really angry."
Indeed, he almost stabbed her innocent face with a fork during their first meeting.
If it hadn't been for Vivian being Agnes, he might have actually done it.
Ares whispered to Navia, who was looking at him with lips sealed.
"I like you."
It felt like she was going to be sick.
This abnormally twisted obsession was so disgusting she felt like going mad.
Treating people like bugs, or toys, both Wood and Ares were despicably low and vulgar.
Navia smiled coldly with a chilled expression.
"Why do you like me?"
Ares replied.
"Because I fell for you at first sight."
Nonsense.
Navia chuckled.
Interpreting this as a positive sign, Ares continued.
"When I first saw your portrait, I fell for you at once."
Because she was the ideal, most beautiful toy he had ever sought.
Ares could not read the meaning behind Navia's expression.
He just assumed she was smiling because she liked him.
He looked down at Navia arrogantly.
'This is why children are easy to handle.'
Ares was quite mature compared to his peers.
His way of thinking and actions were deeper than a boy five years older.
To his eyes, children of his age were insignificant.
Puppets that cry when made to cry, laugh when made to laugh.
Ares saw Navia as an ordinary eight-year-old, no different from other children.
He brought up what normal girls would find thrilling.
"Don't you want to become the empress?"
"...Pfft!"
Navia couldn't help but laugh.
An empress?
She laughed so hard her shoulders shook, and tears almost formed in her eyes.
Meanwhile, Ares' expression slowly hardened.
He felt that Navia was mocking him.
How dare she.
"I don't understand why you're laughing."
At his words, Navia, still with a hint of a smile, replied.
"How could I dare to dream such a vain dream? Please take back your words."
That he would dare offer her such a trashy position.
"...Interesting."
Ares twisted one side of his lips upward.
"You're really interesting, you know."
He thought she was just a perfect match in appearance, but it was more than that.
Instead of releasing Navia's arm, Ares now held her chin and leaned in closer.
"You're different from other trivial children."
His heart raced at her intense gaze, fiery like flames.
The twisted smile on her lips, not befitting a child, sent shivers down his spine.
Her indifferent expression, the dry atmosphere.
All of it was 'real'.
"You are worthy to be my wife, Navia Eseled."
That's why she was worthy of being his wife.
But to Navia, Ares was of no value at all.
'You might not find me trivial, but I find you trivial.'
What to do?
Ares, merely nine years old, already possessed every contemptible thought, from bloodline obsession to privilege consciousness and elitism, all wrapped up in authority and arrogance.
Yet, he wanted to appear cultured, which was even more disgusting.
"Become mine. That honor can only be yours."
Navia thought she needed to shut this child's nonsensical babbling mouth.
So she twisted her head and whispered in his ear.
"I don't want to marry you?"
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