I Will Not Accept It — Since He Said He Would Demote Me to Second Queen for the Sake of His Own Love, I Will Break the Engagement - Episode 1

From the moment I was born as the daughter of the Rosewell ducal family, my path in life was predetermined.

As the Crown Prince’s fiancée, I received the appropriate education. I wasn’t allowed the freedom I desired, spending every single day being educated to become the queen. From posture and speech to politics, economics, and international affairs. The lessons continued from morning till night without rest, exhausting and painful.

Still, I accepted it as my destiny. For the kingdom’s better future, I would endure the present and grow step by step, steadily.

Though exhausting and painful, I didn’t hate it. I could feel the daily changes and growth. To become more beautiful than yesterday, wiser than yesterday, more worthy of being queen than yesterday. That was precisely what was necessary for me, born as nobility. I had resolved myself to this being my life.

For the people, for the kingdom’s future. I believed that the education I was receiving and the role I would eventually fulfill were all correct.

But the Crown Prince, who should have been my partner, apparently didn’t feel the same. He lacked that effort, resolve, and passion. I learned this for the first time today.

No, perhaps I had noticed it before. I had been turning a blind eye. But I could no longer overlook it. Not after what he had done.

It happened one day in a conference room where key figures of the kingdom, ministers and nobles had gathered.

It was a tumultuous period for the kingdom, about a month after the king had collapsed. Government affairs were stagnating, and concerns were arriving from all regions. Amid this, Crown Prince Cariotte had gathered the senior statesmen, saying he had important news. And I had been summoned too.

The conference room, surrounded by heavy doors, had a more tense atmosphere than usual. The ministers’ expressions were stiff too.

Perhaps, precisely because of these difficult times, he was thinking of moving up our wedding date. Maybe he wanted to hasten the celebration to reassure the people who were anxious about the king’s illness.

While I was making such predictions, the Crown Prince arrived accompanied by an unfamiliar woman.

She had chestnut hair and large brown eyes—a simple, approachable beauty. She possessed an unadorned, natural beauty that contrasted with mine. Her clothing, while certainly not cheap, was clearly different from that of nobility. I could tell at a glance she was likely of common birth.

She nervously looked around at the ministers, nobles, and finally at my face, one by one. I could see her clenching her hands tightly, perhaps from tension.

Why did he bring such a woman to this conference room? Who is she? He said there’s important news, but is it alright for an unfamiliar woman to hear it? Is she involved somehow?

Harboring these doubts, I looked at his face—the Crown Prince. He had a more cheerful, flighty expression than usual. A bad feeling stirred within me.

“Thank you all for gathering,” Crown Prince Cariotte began, puffing out his chest with a confident voice.

“I have decided to make this woman my official wife!”

My fiancé, the Crown Prince, declared this suddenly.

The conference room buzzed with murmurs. One of the ministers started to speak, “Your Highness…” but lost his words and stopped mid-sentence.

“……”

It was too sudden to comprehend. My mind went blank. The gathered ministers and nobles were also dumbfounded, everyone falling silent. Silence dominated the conference room.

In the oppressive quiet, only the Crown Prince and the woman he said would be queen wore happy expressions.

In that situation, the Crown Prince continued speaking without regard for the atmosphere.

“Her name is Carla. From the moment we met several months ago, my heart was captivated by her.”

The person the Crown Prince declared would be his official wife was indeed a commoner. He explained that he and this woman, whom he’d met months ago, had fallen in love, and he could no longer suppress his feelings. That’s why he wanted to make her his official wife, he passionately declared, one-sidedly.

I couldn’t understand.

“Carla is beautiful, pure, and loves me from the bottom of her heart! There’s no other woman like her!”

The woman named Carla blushed and looked down. It was a gesture like that of a bashful maiden. But I didn’t miss the clear glint of ambition in her eyes. Was he seriously with such a woman?

“Prince Cariotte—”

“Wait. First, we must discuss my former fiancée, Mylenna.”

One of the ministers tried to speak with a heavy tone, but Cariotte raised his hand to stop him.

His gaze turned toward me.

“You heard, I assume. You understand, don’t you, Mylenna?”

“…If you intend to make that woman your official wife, what do you plan to do with me, your former fiancée?”

Finally managing to open my mouth, I asked him. I focused desperately, trying to keep my voice from trembling.

“I want you to accept the position of Second Queen. Of course, I promise I won’t treat you poorly. I’ll guarantee you treatment equivalent to the queen’s, so please accept this without complaint.”

“……”

It seemed the Crown Prince had already decided this. I felt there was no room for discussion, that he had no intention of listening to my opinion from the start. Arguing would be pointless. Still, I thought I’d make one last effort.

“Could I not remain the First Queen, with that woman as the Second Queen?”

When I said that, he glared at me. It was a cold, severe stare, the kind one gives a nuisance. Indeed, our relationship hadn’t been good. Merely an engagement. A relationship where, without it, we would have had nothing to do with each other. But this was the first time he had ever looked at me like that.

“I love her the most!”

“Yes! I also love Prince Cariotte with all my heart!”

Carla continued, her voice trembling with emotion. Her voice was filled with unmistakable happiness.

For a while, the two gazed at each other, then he turned his severe stare back to me.

“As you can see, she loves me too. Ours is a mutual love, bound by true feelings. To lie about those pure emotions and make her the Second Queen, I could never do that!”

After declaring this, he again turned his gaze toward the woman he claimed to love most, wearing a melting smile. Almost as if to flaunt it to me, he deliberately created an intimate atmosphere right before my eyes. From his world, my existence was completely excluded.

Everyone else in the conference room watched this scene with complicated expressions. The ministers were perplexed, the nobles whispering among themselves.

Ah, I see.

This man had never considered me at all from the beginning. Regardless of his given responsibilities or status, he acted solely on his emotions. He showed no signs of thinking about the country or its people as the next king.

Still, I was the fool for harboring the sweet expectation that he might care about me, even a little.

He felt nothing for me. He treated me as a nuisance. As if my heart had never existed from the start.

“…I understand.”

“Ghk!”

When I said that, he looked momentarily surprised, then showed a genuinely happy smile.

“R-really?! You accept it?! As expected of my former fiancée, Mylenna. Thank you so much for understanding. As I said earlier, I won’t make your position bad at all. I promise.”

“No, that’s not it.”

I slowly shook my head, clearly denying his words.

“I cannot accept any position other than the official queen. Therefore, please break off our engagement.”

“W-what?!”

The Crown Prince’s face visibly paled. The blood drained from it, and his mouth opened and closed wordlessly. The surrounding ministers and nobles began to murmur.

This was good. This was my answer.

It was the moment when the feelings I had suppressed for so long finally overflowed and came to the surface.