The End of First Love - Chapter 2

“Prince William, what do you mean by breaking off our engagement?”

“Just as I said. Elizabeth, I am annulling our engagement and will instead be engaged to Maria, who is sitting beside me.”

The moment she laid eyes on her fiancé, who appeared boldly with an unfamiliar woman in his arms, Elizabeth had a bad feeling. It was rare enough for William to meet her even at official engagements, so for him to personally summon her to his private chambers was, under normal circumstances, unthinkable.

(I was a fool to believe the letter and come to the castle so eagerly. I knew his personality all too well.)

Elizabeth, the daughter of Duke Baker, had been engaged to Prince William, the second prince, since she was ten years old.

At a garden party held at the royal castle, she was introduced to William as her future husband, and the sight of him sent a shock through her heart.

His golden hair shone under the sunlight, and his blue eyes were as clear as the sky. The moment she saw his graceful smile as he extended his hand to her, Elizabeth fell in love. When he placed a chaste kiss on the back of her hand, her entire world changed.

She was certain—William was the one she had been searching for.

She became infatuated with his every move and devoted herself to becoming a lady worthy of a prince. The path to marrying the man she longed for was filled with thorns, but that did not matter. And yet, and yet—

“Prince William, surely you must be joking. You’re merely teasing me, aren’t you? Ah, I understand now. The Queen Dowager must have scolded you. It’s all right. I will smooth things over.”

“Elizabeth, are you under some kind of misunderstanding? My mother is aware of this engagement annulment. So is my father, the king. This is a decision made by the royal family.”

“No… That can’t be… This is impossible. My engagement to you also serves to maintain the balance of power among the noble houses. Are you truly willing to disrupt the equilibrium among the Four Great Dukedoms?”

William and Elizabeth’s engagement had been arranged by the royal family to maintain the balance between the factions of the queen and the concubine.

In the Kingdom of Glutenburg, there were four ducal houses with absolute power: the Schwein Duchy, the house of the queen’s birth; the Rosanne Duchy, the house of the concubine’s birth; the Resch Duchy, which remained neutral under the king’s sister; and Elizabeth’s own Baker Duchy.

These four families kept each other in check, maintaining a fragile balance. But when the queen gave birth to Prince Cain and, a few years later, the concubine gave birth to Prince William, everything changed.

With both the Schwein and Rosanne families backing different candidates for the throne, the nobility split into factions—one supporting the crown prince and the other supporting the second prince.

At first, the two factions managed to maintain a delicate equilibrium. However, as the princes grew older, their differences in capability became evident.

Cain’s exceptional talents drew more nobles to his side. Sensing the shift in power, the second prince’s faction pressured the king, through the concubine, to arrange an engagement between William and Elizabeth, the only daughter among the ducal families at the time.

“What balance? It’s already clear that my brother will be the next king. What does it matter now? As the second prince, I’m nothing more than a spare. And yet, because of that title, I’ve been forced to live a caged life, without freedom. At the very least, I want to marry the woman I love.”

“The woman you love… You mean the lady sitting beside you?”

Elizabeth’s voice, lower than she expected, made the pink-blonde-haired lady clinging to the prince’s arm shudder. She cast an apprehensive look at Elizabeth, her blue-green eyes welling with tears.

What a pitiful sight. A scene designed to evoke protection, no doubt. Elizabeth felt her stomach churn in fury. To them, she was surely the villain.

Seeing the lady on the verge of tears, Prince William glared at Elizabeth, his expression filled with open hostility.

(If anyone should be crying, it’s me.)

Elizabeth swallowed her raging emotions. She had to remain calm. She couldn’t lose hope just yet.