Not yet. Actually, it kind of amazes me that her reputation is so miserable, from what I've seen of what happens in the story. That's going to be hard, because apparently the translator just announced they want to drop the series.
The translator announced that they officially drop it, can't blame them tho, 30 chapter, and not much happening. Do you have the MTL?
Then, it's officially dropped? Too bad. The novel has so much potential. Personally, I quite like the pacing, considering I've read Remarried Empress which also took 80 chapters to explain how things unfolded leading to the events in the prologue chapter. Furthermore, the story is currently focusing on Roxana dealing with things politically, so I don't see the issue with romance taking a backseat. And I like that. So, can a kind soul spoil in detail what entailed to Claire needing saving from the CP, which resulted in a fed up Roxana officially declaring the dissolution of their engagement for good?
Spoiler: My Thoughts on this People aren't blaming them, but I have to say it's not a good look when most of the chapters that did make it to being translated were sponsored at $4 a chapter. If the translator was doing this just for fun for free and didn't make any money off of it, then I wouldn't say anything, but when they're charging money, they have more of a responsibility to continue for the people who are actually enjoying the story enough to pay them 40x the price of just purchasing the chapters on Series (most serialized novels on Series are roughly 10 cents per chapter - if they're more than that, it's usually because there are illustrations). I personally don't have the MTL chapters because I do purchase the chapters from the original source and just MTL them using Papago. I can tell you what happens since they're not continuing. It has to do with the two tea parties I mentioned before and Roxana's nanny, and the Duke's congratulatory banquet. Spoiler: The Incident So, Claire and Roxana get invited to a tea party by some Count's daughter. During the tea party, all the other women proceed to harass Claire because they're jealous, and invited Roxana to basically point fingers at her as the "cause", that is she's their shield. Eventually, Claire gets up and storms off to leave, when while she's out of sight and Roxana is scolding the other girls, there is a scream. They all rush over to find Claire with her maid, and Claire has "fallen" down the stairs. Roxana is wondering why, when she sees a Royal Carriage at the entrance and fears for a second it's the CP. Apparently, Claire thought it was also the CP and was using this opportunity to frame Roxana - but it turns out to be the second prince (I think his name is Payne?). He asks Roxana what happened because Claire's maid is blaming her, and Roxana gets mad, thinking the maid really doesn't respect Roxana's station (the maid interrupted the talk between Roxana and the 2nd Prince), so Roxana says the 2nd Prince should let the Count take the maid into custody and interrogate her, and the 2nd Prince sides with Roxana and does so. Later, Roxana is invited to a tea part with the Empress, the CPs mother, who plays nice with her. After the tea party is over, she has Roxana go visit the CP. Roxana arrives to find Claire asking the CP to save her maid from the Count. The CP eventually asks Roxana if she was responsible, and Roxana gets offended saying she was with the other girls the entire time and to take it up with the Duke if he thinks she's responsible. The CP backpedals and in order to make up for falsely accusing Roxana, he agrees to let Roxana and the Duke's people take the maid to interrogate her themselves. Claire is shocked the CP isn't taking her side. Claire declares war on Roxana for the loss of her maid, saying if she loses a trusted maid, then so should Roxana. She then happens across Roxana's nanny on the streets, and invites her over. The nanny is in dire straits because of her ungrateful children (her daughter ran away to get married and stole the severance pay the nanny got from Roxana as a dowry, and her son has vanished because debt collectors are looking for him), so she teams up with Claire. They plot to try and frame one of Roxana's maids during the Duke's congratulatory party. The Duke comes home and the party arrives and everything is going fine, but Roxana is definitely giving the CP the cold shoulder by this point. She refused to ride in the carriage to the party with him and refused the first dance with him, and he had given her a tiara to wear (which symbolizes royalty in the story), and she doesn't wear it (it comes back later in the story as part of their breakup, lol). But then, at one point, Roxana sent Annie off to get something only to go looking for her and finding she has been accused of stealing a bracelet from Claire that was given to her by the CP and throwing it in a fire. The nanny comes in as a witness saying she saw everything and Roxana decides to out her as a thief and a liar (the nanny is shock Roxana just aired this out, but the nanny was teaming up with Claire to get even with Annie who got her fired), at some point Elvin (the ML) comes in and says that he saw Claire's maid and the nanny hand off the bracelet and offers proof. So both the nanny and the maid are taken into custody and then someone points out that Claire said her maid was with her all day, so Claire gets caught in a lie and is taken too. Because all of this happened in the Royal Palace, they all get thrown in prison to be interrogated. This is where the CP comes in. Basically, the Emperor told him he can't use power to save Claire, so instead, he arranges to have both the nanny and the maid killed so that they can't testify against Claire. And this is the huge red flag for Roxana because if he can kill her nanny the woman who raised her, separated or not, for this girl, she thinks it's only a matter of time before the knife will be in her back next. And he doesn't even seem to feel any remorse for it, so she gets the willies whenever they're together after that. She eventually uses her birthday gift from the Emperor to have him investigate what happened, even though she already knew (I think the plan was to put the CP in hot water with his father), and used that proof as a reason to break up with the CP. Later, during a charity auction, she puts the tiara she received up for auction and when the CP buys it back and is like, "You should take better care of this." She basically tells him that she won't take it back and that she wants to break up the engagement, handing him an official letter. So that's what happens
Thank you. Now I can relax without dying to know about what's going to happen next. I agree with you on this. They should've notified few chapters before for people to stop donating.
No. every novel, every chapter in rainofsnow is completely free. The readers donated out of their good hearts and the translators appreciated. Those other sites which have blocked chapters with coins that’s what you call it charging . At rainofsnow, we don’t charge anyone anything unless the readers want extra chapters then they can donate. So please get your facts straight before making assumptions
Yes, that is true, they do donate freely - the term that I used was wrong, so thank you for pointing that out. But I do believe that they would be disappointed to donate so much for a particular series only to have it be cut off because the translator is bored. They offer those donations out of respect for the time the translators take to translate the story, but on the same side, I think respect should be given to them for the fact that they were enjoying the story enough to actually give money to read it. I freely admit that this is my opinion, which is why I originally hid it behind a spoiler tag because some people won't agree or don't care. And I'm not saying that RainOfSnow should stop the practice of allowing donations for chapters if people are willing to donate.
I do agree with you. When you say it is donation, but I dont feel that way since there is a set price to donate. At 4 $ is also very high. But this story is very tedious for me too. I stopped after the first 20 chapters because I could not take it. Paying Naver at 10 cent a chapter still pissed me off when the content is about eating cookies only and no progress.
So about the translator dropping the Novel, the original note on that chapter's update announcement was the TL saying they wanted to drop it, and asking readers to sound off on the server with their opinions. We had a good discussion about it for a while, but the consensus among the readers was that the Novel was dragging on and while we wanted to read more, we were fine with the TL dropping it. Especially since asking them to keep going with something that was boring them for another 40 chapters before plot started happening again seemed a bit excessive. They had already completed all the sponsored chapters we had donated for, so they had already completed any sort of obligation they may have felt to continue the series because of our donations. At the end of the day, it was the TLs choice whether to drop this novel to focus on something else they wanted to do with their time or not. They don't owe us more chapters of a novel that they are translating as a hobby just because we liked their work and gave them tips. However, they still went and asked all of us how we felt and said that if we wanted it, they would keep going. Offering to keep working on a novel they didn't want to work on just because the readers wanted to find out what happens next? If that isn't showing respect to all the people reading the novel for free, I don't know what is. RoS is the best, and the TL is great since they care about the readers opinions, and not just the donors wallets. Sources: me, I was part of the discussion to drop the novel.
Spoiler: Romance, Part 1 She doesn't wind up dancing with anyone, because in that society it's not proper for her to have the first dance with anyone but her fiance. So she just spends the event wandering around. My previous updates were more about the political maneuverings, but I'll fill in the romance parts this time. Also, I forgot about Claire's birthday party - this happens before the tea party where Claire tries to frame Roxana. Claire invites the FL to her party, but naturally the FL suspects a trap. Basically, Claire has one of the CPs handkerchiefs and she sends it to Roxana before Roxana is supposed to arrive at the party, and she also invited the CP to the party. It was all a setup to make Roxana angry again. However, on the way to the party, Roxana's carriage breaks a wheel and while she's waiting for a knight to get help, a carriage arrives and it's the CP. He seems suspicious that Roxana did it on purpose, but when she says she was invited to a different tea party and asks to be dropped off at the shopping district because she won't make the party and she might as well complete an errand, the CP agrees and offers to accompany her to the shop - but before they go, he has one of his aides send his present to Claire (the present was the bracelet that Claire later uses to try and frame the maid Annie). They have an uncomfortable conversation about how Roxana has basically given up on their relationship, which the Prince acts hurt at. The shop she goes to is the jewelry store where she ordered a congratulatory gift for her father on his return and when they arrive, the shop owner is busy with another customer. They decide to wait, and while they're in the waiting room, Elvin walks out of the office. When he sees Roxana, he's acting very friendly and familiar in greeting her, and the Crown Prince gets upset and jealous, so Roxana makes them stop posturing and the ML leaves. When Roxana picks up the gift for her father, she also picks up a ruby brooch. The CP notices that while she only needs one gift for her father she picked up two, and when he asks her who the other was for, she thinks it's rich that he's curious about it after sending a gift to Claire and basically tells him it's for someone she wants to thank and who that is is not his business. Then, after the tea party where Claire tries to frame Roxana for pushing her down the stairs, Payne, the 2nd Prince, takes Roxana home in his carriage and she lends him a handkerchief because it had started raining and he let himself be rained on so that she wouldn't get wet while waiting for her maid to fetch an umbrella - he says he'll wash it and return it to her. In the days after, the CP tries to cover up the incident to hide Claire's duplicity and the Empress invites Roxana to talk about her own birthday party, which she offers to host at the Imperial Palace, Roxana agrees because she still doesn't want to catch the Royal Family's ire at this point. The Empress then has Roxana visit the CP and when she arrives his knights are rude to her, saying he's busy but when she knocks he immediately invites her in and is embarrassed because Claire is there. Roxana says she didn't know he was busy she just wanted to thank him for a gift and this is when he indirectly accuses her of being responsible for Claire falling down the stairs and lets her take Claire's maid for interrogation. He eventually asks Claire to leave and invites Roxana to go for a walk, which Roxana agrees with. He needs to wrap some things up, so Roxana waits outside and there is a confrontation between Roxana and Claire, where Claire tries to argue that her maid is innocent and Roxana rubs the fact that both the Emperor and Empress favor her and they don't like Claire. As they separate, Roxana notices someone might have been watching them and goes to search for the person, only to suddenly meets Elvin who was waiting for her. They say some brief greetings, Elvin is still a little flirty, and Roxana admires his appearance. Just as they are talking, the CP arrives and is like, "Since when were you two so close?" He's seems upset that they are talking to each other. Elvin takes his leave of Roxana immediately, ignoring the CP as he walks away. As they walk in the garden, the CP questions Roxana about her relationship with Elvin, and he's upset because she was showing a happy expression after talking to Elvin. After the walk, the CP tries to take her home but she brushes him off. Roxana tells the butler Stephen everything that happened with Claire and the CP when she gets home, because the only reason the CP was able to get away with treating her poorly before was because she never told anyone about it. Claire is frustrated because the CP keeps brushing her off to give Roxana attention and favor and I think her desire to regain it causes her to escalate her attempt to get Roxana in trouble. Also, Claire had to sell some of the dresses and gifts the CP gave her to bribe Roxana's nanny. Surprisingly, Claire's maid doesn't confess to anything, so Roxana, mad about what Claire tried to do and the cover up, goes to the MLs information guild while also deciding to finally return the pendant she found. At some point, we see the ML interacting with his father and step-mother, who he doesn't get along with. He tells his stepmother that she's not his mother and his father hits him hard in the face. When Roxana finally heads to Hermes to return the necklace she found to the ML, she is still pretending that she doesn't know who the guild leader is, but she shows up and he refuses to see her because of the bruises on his face. She also offers to pay him to spread rumors of the tea party incident around to the public. When she asks the MLs aide to return the pendant, and it's handed over to Elvin, he opens the box to find the pendant, which he had been search for since the banquet because it was a memento of his mother. Under the pendant is the ruby brooch Roxana had commissioned at the jewelers. He agrees to take on the request on spreading the rumors even though it will cause issues with the Royal Family. There is an uproar and news in the papers about how the CP isn't this perfect prince and how he has a mistress who causes problems. This also reflects badly on Roxana herself, but her reputation is already bad enough that she doesn't care about it. Need to step away for a bit, so posting this, but I have more later.
Spoiler: Romance, Part 2 - Congratulatory Banquet, Part 1 The duke returns and he and Roxana discuss what has been happening. He offers to step in and make the CP kneel in apology to her but she tells him to let her handle it- she knows she could ask him to handle it, but he suddenly reminds her of her father in her other life and how he is a good man to his daughter and she doesn't feel like she can take advantage of him. At this point, she realizes that she doesn't have to play nice with the CP and decides to figure out a way to separate from him, but she wants to do it in a way that leaves him at fault, rather than her family. The banquet to celebrate her father is held and the maids choose a dress that was a gift from Hermes she forgot she had received - it's white and blue and she feels a little weird about wearing it but decides she probably doesn't have an acceptable substitute. She and the duke travel to the banquet together, when they arrive, Roxana, who has two maids with her, sends Annie to get the Duke's gift from the carriage. The duke confronts the CP about "unsavory rumors" and the CP can't defend himself and gives Roxana a look to help him but Roxana refuses to step in. During this conversation her father keeps physically stepping between Roxana and the CP to show his anger at the CP for how he treated his daughter, and finally the CP asks Roxana to talk privately and she agrees. While they talk, Roxana throws out a fake rumor that he's planning to toss her aside and make Claire the Crown Princess to judge his reaction, because the Imperial Family would never accept someone of Claire's station as Crown Princess and he acts shocked, and grabs her wrist hard, protesting he would never do that to her. She tries to get him to let her go because her wrist hurts and suddenly Elvin shows up to take his hand off. The CP get's upset because he's interrupting but Elvin points out her red wrist and the CP apologizes, and Roxana throws some shade by saying it's fine because this isn't the first or second time he's done it. She asks Elvin what he wanted and he says he wanted to thank her for returning his item and then he complements her dress, saying it looks good on her before leaving. The CP asks her if she and Elvin have met before and she lies saying she just returned his item through someone else. She tries to walk away, and he stops her saying he knows he doesn't have the right to say this but he tells her his "rain" is her and no one can replace her. Roxana laughs, which makes him upset at the ridicule, and then tells him that the bracelet Claire is wearing tonight is really beautiful. She thinks both of them are disgusting because he's whispering words of love to her and then giving Claire gifts and Claire is just constantly flaunting the gifts she's received in front of Roxana. She tells him that she's been trying to understand him but as far as she can tell, he remains the same and she's done with his excuses. He then asks her to dance, and she tells him she's not feeling well so she won't accept, and she has already decided she doesn't want to be Empress so she doesn't need considerate of him anymore and try and save face with maintaining a good relationship in front of other people. Part of that is because her life in the Duchy is actually really nice, even though the original Roxana didn't think it was a good place, but also because she shudders at the idea of having to deal with him as Emperor and still having Claire by his side. She leaves the CP and returns to the Duke and he tells her that if anyone treats her badly, he'll take care of it for her. Her feet start getting sore so she goes to a lounge to sit for a bit with other girls (who don't like her and try to stir up trouble between her and Claire) before returning to the banquet - on the way back she sees her nanny running around suspiciously. She arrives back in the banquet hall and Annie has returned with the gift. Also, she sees Claire surrounded by people, claiming she lost her bracelet after being bumped into by a maid, and Roxana feels like they're looking at her. Roxana notes that the CP has spent the whole banquet pretending Claire doesn't exist. While she's sitting around, Roxana is drinking wine and she eventually gets a little tipsy, so she sends Annie off to get medicine and water. When Annie doesn't return after a while, they go to look for her and find her being tied up by Imperial knights while Claire and the Nanny accuse her of stealing Claire's bracelet and throwing it in a fire. The whole confrontation scene happens, with the ML helping Roxana, and Claire, the nanny, and Claire's maid are arrested. (As she's being arrested, Claire looks all sad and pathetic and people sympathize with her, and this place is supposed to be cruel and heartless but they're all being sympathetic?) Roxana knows that the prince will eventually ride in to save Claire. The knights apologize for disrespecting Roxana as they prepare to drag Claire away, and Roxana stops them for a minute, just long enough to slap Claire across the face. She then points out that it's weird that this is the second time Claire has lost a maid to a self-imposed play, and wonders how long Claire will manage to survive with the help of others. Spoiler: Romance, Part 3 - Banquet, Part 2 Roxana and Elvin talk a bit before they leave, where Roxana promises to pay him back and he jokes about what she'll give him. Then he thanks her for the brooch and asks her if she picked it out personally. Roxana just says it was recommended and they say their farewells. Roxana leaves with her maids, and Annie winds up swearing her loyalty to Roxana. Roxana's other maid, Joanne, speculates about why Elvin helped Roxana when he didn't have to and concludes that maybe he likes her? Roxana thinks about how beautiful Elvin is, and even Roxana, who is beautiful can't match him. As she is pondering this, she runs into the CP again. He asks her to talk in private and when she asks him what he wants, thinking he's going to scold her for having Claire arrested because he seems angry, he surprises her when he tells her that he was worried about her after hearing about the incident in the lounge. When he tells her isn't it normal to be worried about your fiance, she thinks he's only worried because he needs her for the throne. He seems to realize what she's thinking and says that what she's thinking is useless and tells her she's the only one he loves. Surprisingly, he comes off as sincere when he says this but she can't believe him and he notices, feeling disappointed and telling her he's been trying to do better. He tells her he's sorry he wasn't there to help her, and she's completely stunned because she can't feel any sort of arrogance from him. He mentions that he was angry that Elvin was the one to help her instead of him and he doesn't want her to get close to Elvin, so if something happens again, he wants her to ask him for help instead. Roxana thinks he might be dying for a moment, because he's suddenly changed so much. After his sincere entreaty, he offers to escort her back to the banquet and she accepts. They get back for the start of the ceremony, where the Emperor awards him a medal and treasure. When that's over, Roxana gives him her gift, which I think is a sheath that has jade and other jewels embedded in it. The Emperor praises the gift and then reminds Roxana she has her own gift waiting and she should make up her mind. She asks for more time to think about it. As she watches the festivities, she makes eye contact with the 2nd Prince, who comes over to talk to her. He sits down next to her, which is very awkward because they're seated in front of everyone, and hands her a small box. Inside the box is her handkerchief, on top of which is a pair of beautiful earrings. Roxana tries to reject this because it's not proper, and it looks bad in front of everyone, but he tells her it is an early birthday present. He leaves right after she takes it. The banquet finally ends and Roxana goes home to sleep. After leaving the banquet, Elvin orders Noah to try and get people to infiltrate the Imperial Palace in order to protect Roxana's nanny from being killed. Claire is trapped in prison with Mrs. Willis (the nanny) in different cells. They're both wondering when the CP will come rescue Claire and Claire is thinking it's best if the maid and Mrs. Willis die to protect her. Mrs. Willis is thinking that if she's going to die for this girl, she's going to take Claire down with her. Spoiler: Romance, Part 4 - Post Banquet The Crown Prince is thinking about Claire in prison, and a servant asks the CP if Claire was really guilty. Apparently, they all think she's sunshine and lollipops because she's so sweet and nice when she visited. The CP tells him to stop asking about that and he leaves but Baron Cheston, the CP's main aide, comes in to report he hasn't found "something" but the CP tells him to keep looking. Baron Cheston also asks about Claire and if the CP is going to leave it alone. The CP says that it's not that he doesn't want to help, it's that he can't help because the Emperor warned him not to do anything, and the only thing he can do is keep it from getting bigger. He also mentions the warning he gave her before and how she didn't listen to him, so he doesn't think it's a bad thing for her to experience the result of her actions. Baron Chester thinks the CP is getting more ruthless if he's going to leave her in there and he's starting to lash out at people. After Baron Cheston leaves, the CP is thinking about how stressed he is and while going through a drawer, he finds a handkerchief Claire personally embroidered for him for his birthday and thinks about how much he liked the sincerity of it - more than the gift Roxana gave him. But it also reminds him that he can clearly remember Claire's face on that day, but has no idea of what Roxana looked like, and he makes a complicated expression. Next day, the nanny is dead. It's being reported as a suicide with a suicide note - part of it apologizing to Roxana about what she did. Her body was immediately cremated and the Duke's household were sent her ashes because no one can find her children. Roxana has them respectfully buried. Roxana decides to go somewhere. Elvin is mad because they weren't able to save the nanny. He also can't understand why the CP would risk doing this when Claire is in such a low position and the battle for the throne is getting more fierce. He compares Claire to his stepmother and thinks at least his stepmother is smart but that Claire is severely lacking and just hiding behind a clumsy mask. He thinks about how Roxana reacted to the news, and if she's upset over it, but then is surprised when Roxana suddenly shows up. He meets her with another mask on, giving a little smile before they meet. Roxana thinks the refreshments they are serving her are getting better and better. Roxana is asking Elvin to find out if the Nanny committed suicide, and he asks her what she'll do if she didn't, because the more she knows the faster she'll die. Roxana says she has enough self-discipline to hear the answer, and he tells her the nanny didn't commit suicide and the maid died mysteriously too. Roxana then goes, "Ok I've heard enough." and gets ready to leave which surprises Elvin because she doesn't want to know who did it, to which she replies, "You just said the more I know the faster I'll die." Elvin is embarrassed. Roxana offers him money and he refuses, saying he won't accept money in the future either. Instead he mentions he wants a closer relationship with her, which she confuses for romantic feelings before realizing he isn't looking at her like that, and he says he wants to be friends. Roxana asks him what he wants from her and why he's helping her, and he says he doesn't really have a reason, he just wanted to be closer to her. She agrees to be friends. Roxana goes home, the Duke apologizes for hiring and abandoning her to the nanny who betrayed her, and then he asks her what she wants for her birthday. He mentions last year she wanted a tiara, but she says she is fine with jewelry or whatever for her birthday to end the conversation. The butler returns after burying the nanny and Roxana thinks about how the original Roxana would react if she knew that her fiance murdered her nanny for his mistress, and she feels sick thinking about it. The second prince learns about how the CP murdered Roxana's nanny, and wonders what to do about it. He knows that Roxana is not as cold a person on the inside (or at least the original was) as she looks, and feeling conflicted about how she'll feel about this, he decides to hide the murder from Roxana to protect her. Claire, who is still in prison, is traumatized after witnessing the murder and being left with Mrs. Willis' dead body all night. Roxana then receives an invitation for tea from the Empress, possibly to talk about business investments that the Duchy has been making to the CP's own business ventures. Before she goes, she decides to tell the butler that the family should no longer be responsible for subsidizing the CP's business and tells him to pull all of their financial support. Spoiler: Romance, Part 5 - Roxana's Birthday Roxana then goes to see the Empress for tea. This time the Empress is less welcoming and she basically threatens Roxana into keeping the engagement, saying she (the Empress) had to deal with other women at her husband's side but that she had benefits from being Empress and Roxana will learn to do the same. Roxana is pretty much like, "Uh huh, yeah, ok." As she leaves, the Empress tries to get her to visit the CP again and Roxana is like, "I have a previous engagement with my father." to get out of it. On the way out of the palace, she runs into a wrecked Claire fresh out of prison, who gives her glares and doesn't show the proper respect, which Roxana chides her for. Roxana's birthday arrives and the CP has sent her a beautiful dress and set of jewelry to wear to her birthday banquet. Along with the jewelry is a tiara the CP sent to her. She decides to wear the dress and jewelry and the CP shows up to escort her in a matching outfit. But he frowns when he notices she's not wearing the tiara. Before he can really say anything, the Duke physically interjects and is like, "Oh, the Crown Prince didn't inform us he was coming. We're so sorry but we'll have to ride separately." And Roxana and the CP ride separate carriages, which is immediately noticed by the other attendees, especially when Roxana doesn't even let him help her out of the carriage or escort her to the hall. He eventually convinces Roxana to have the first dance, and she agrees, and while they're dancing he asks her about the tiara, which Roxana says doesn't suit her. As they dance, she just feels the creeps looking at his face. Claire is watching from the sidelines and getting jealous. There's a young gentleman who appears to have a crush on her trying to cheer her up, but she's just upset that the CP is neglecting her. She eventually runs out into the gardens to cry, where the gentleman finds her. She convinces him she's so innocent and pitiful. Roxana is being bombarded with dance requests, one of whom is Elvin's younger brother. During the dance, he tries to convince her that if the CP and Claire are lovers, then maybe she should take her own lover. Roxana, after a bit of thinking, says she likes his idea since the CP cheated first, so she should also take a lover. And then she leaves him after thanking him, because she doesn't mean she'll take him as her lover. Apparently, the ML heard everything and he jokes with her about taking a lover, asking her who she is going to choose, and she says its none of his business. He then offers her a jewelry box, with a flashy bracelet. He has to leave immediately, and Roxana immediately tries on the bracelet. As she returns to the banquet hall, someone trips a nearby waiter and he spills a bunch of wine on her dress. Everyone in the area is secretly laughing at her, and she eventually realizes the source is a certain young man who has feelings for Claire. The Duke shows up to help her and they agree she should go and change her dress, but before she leaves, she confronts the young man about what he did and then pours wine over his head. On the way to the lounge she meets the 2nd Prince who offers her a handkerchief and asks her what happened. She says a bunch of righteous people decided to take revenge on an innocent person they've branded a wicked woman. The 2nd Prince actually agrees that he doesn't think she's wicked, which surprises her. The CP shows up and shoos off the 2nd Prince, and says that Roxana and the 2nd Prince seem close. When she refuses this, he says that it seems like his fiancee has a lot of secrets. She refuses an offer from him to change at his palace, but he follows her to the lounge where she will change. He says he's going to rest in the room with her. He notices her new bracelet, which she says she got from a friend. When the maids arrive, she asks him to leave so she can change, and the maids bring in a dark purple dress that was a gift from Hermes(Elvin) before. The dress apparently makes her look more mature, and when she walks out the CP doesn't seem to like the way it makes her look, at least not as much as the previous dress. Finally, Roxana makes her wish to the Emperor, which is to have him investigate her nanny's apparent suicide - he agrees when she tells him she won't do anything no matter what is found. The Duke is surprised by her request but says he'll support her. Later in her room, Roxana seems to be developing a fever. Spoiler: Romance, Part 6 - Post Birthday Later, Claire shows up at the CP's palace because he asked her to come. Then he makes her wait two hours while he does work, and she starts to worry because she realizes that the treatment she's been receiving from everyone there is getting worse. Eventually, someone reminds the CP that she's been waiting for a while, but while the CP is heading to meet with Claire he sees Elvin. He doesn't think much of it before noticing a familiar brooch Elvin is wearing. It doesn't remind him yet, but as he returns to his palace, and while he and Claire are having tea together, she starts acting cute, saying she missed him and hugging him, and then she tells him her father is going to try and marry her off to some man 20 years older than her, and she wants him to help her because she only cares about him. He seems pretty unaffected that she might be marrying someone else aside from telling her he'll make sure she doesn't marry that particular man (he pats her on the head and tells her to eat some cookies the cheer up, like she's a child or some pet, lol). Then, he suddenly remembers that the brooch was one that Roxana purchased and refused to tell him who she was giving it to. He tells Claire he has to go, and he angrily runs off to the Duke's house to confront Roxana. When he shows up, Roxana tries to get him to go away because she thinks he's there to talk about the sponsorship she stopped giving him, so she tells the maids to tell him she's sick, but he won't go away and finally forces his way into her rooms, where he's like, "So you're sick, huh?" She then is like, "Well, I know you're here to talk about the money, but I don't think my family should be responsible for your business anymore." and he's kind of surprised because he didn't know about the money. He questions her about their relationship, asking her if she has another man, and she's like, "How can you insult me like this?" She reminds him that the Duchy only supports him because he's her fiance, and he asks her if she's threatening him. Finally, he asks her what she wants from him and she's says she won't ask him for anything, not even love. She says she won't force her family to suffer when they're going to break up anyway. CP is stunned she thinks their marriage isn't going to work out, asking her how she can say that. Eventually, Roxana and the Duke make him leave, and he agrees, saying they were both emotional and saying things they don't mean.
Crown Prince is starting to lose it... Spoiler: Romance, Part 7 - Break Up, Part 1 Roxana has a meeting with her father and tells him she's going to break the engagement. After the discussion, the Duke has the butler do an investigation about who she's been meeting because he's suspicious that she's acting so differently. Eventually, the CP finds that someone has rummaged through his office while he was out seeing Roxana, and he flips out. He thinks it's the 2nd Prince and is enraged by it, but before he can do anything, the Emperor calls him and presents him with the evidence that was found that he had Mrs. Willis killed to protect Claire. He chastises the CP saying that he's so besotted with some useless girl that he's tarnished the royal family and managed to earn the Duke's anger. The Emperor then says that if a foolish man like him inherits the throne, the future of the empire is bleak and reminds him that he's not the only prince and when the CP says that the position of Emperor is rightfully his, the Emperor tells him he has to stop clinging to his mother's skirts. The CP is angry and humiliated, and he trashes a room in his palace, thinking about how he never got affection from his father. He thinks that the 2nd Prince told the Emperor. Roxana heads back to Hermes and finally calls out the ML's mask, saying that it doesn't hide anything. Elvin removes it easily and they talk about friendship. He says he wants the usual friendship, but they have to be closer than other friends, which confuses Roxana a bit. The Emperor calls Roxana to give her the report. He asks he again what she'll do, and she says she won't make it public or anything, she just wanted to know, which makes him happy. He gives her the proof that the CP killed her nanny, and she leaves. As she walks out of the palace, it's raining and she almost walks into a confrontation between the two princes, but Elvin suddenly grabs her and they hide while the two princes fight (or rather the CP beats up the 2nd prince). There's more flirty conversation during this before she returns home. She starts to shiver before Elvin gives her his coat and offers to take her home, but she declines saying it won't be good to be caught in a scandal, and hands his coat back, he shows a bitter face at this but lets her go. In the 2nd Prince's palace, he's taking care of his wounds. He realizes something set the CP off but doesn't know what, but he also thinks this is good because the CP is being sloppy recently and he wants to take advantage of that when it happens - especially now that the CPs relationship with Roxana is going sour. He then has his aide check and see if Roxana entered the palace that day because he thought he saw her during the confrontation with the CP. (The aide still thinking the Duke and CP are working together, so is confused by this). Roxana gets an invitation to a charity auction, which she always goes to. She intends to attend this time too. The Crown Prince has started acting like a crazy shut in, lurking in the dark in his office, which makes his aides nervous. Baron Chester brings up that Roxana removed their sponsorship so he recommends that the CP try and make up with her and get her to resume sponsorship (lmao, this guy is terrible - up until this point, he's been going on all about Roxana is a terrible person and Claire is so lovely, but now they're in dire straits because they all acted like that and he's upset she turned her back on them). The CP refuses and the come up with another plan to finance their business venture. Baron Chester brings up the idea that Roxana did this, which the CP doesn't believe. She winds up falling sick in the days before the auction and tries to recover before the auction. Her father worries that this all might be having too much stress on her and wonders if they should keep the engagement. Eventually, she recovers enough to attend and they all go to the charity auction. She arrives at the charity auction and people flock to her. She's wearing the bracelet Elvin gave her and people ask about it, so she gives his business an endorsement. When she actually sees Elvin, she's a little hurt because he's acting like they don't know each other. Roxana feels uncomfortable because the CP is also here, so she goes to the terrace, only to overlook the garden where she finds a bunch of people mocking Claire. She just sits to watch while the other girls mock Claire for her canceled engagement (to the man who is 20 years older than her), and eventually Claire slaps one of the other girls. The girl tries to slap her back when the CP suddenly shows up to stop her. Roxana is like, "where's my popcorn?" and decides to watch the play. Claire suddenly starts crying and hugging the CP. The CP is coddling Claire when he suddenly seems to sense Roxana's attention, and he spots her on the terrace and is immediately embarrassed and he drops the hold he has on Claire. Roxana laughs at the two and the CP tries to explain but Roxana just gives him a cold look. From the CP's point of view, he just went to the garden after Claire asked to speak with him but finds her being harassed by Marquis Flynn's daughter and he's outraged she's always harassing Claire. Just then he suddenly notices Roxana and realizes this is really bad timing and that Roxana won't believe him if he explains, and she walks away before he gets a chance. He immediately chases after her (he feels his heart drop at her cold look), and can't find her next to her father. He suddenly remembers that Elvin is also at the auction and is suspicious that they're both missing at the same time. He eventually finds them in a quiet hallway and they seem friendly, with Elvin showing an uncharacteristic playful smile and Roxana laughing - the CP realizes that he hasn't seen her laugh in a long time and it's being directed at another man. When Roxana spots him, her smile disappears and she gives him a cold look. Spoiler: Romance, Part 8 - Break Up, Part 2 Back to Roxana's POV, right after she left the terrace she runs into the 2nd Prince. He asks to talk with her. He leads her to a greenhouse where they talk about the flowers for a bit, the crown prince knows the flowers because he has a bunch in his palace garden which his mother used to keep. When they finally get to the reason he called her out, he brings up the death of the nanny and tells her that the CP thinks he was the one to tell the Emperor. He's explaining to her the fight she saw that the palace the other day. She apologizes that he was caught up in it and promises to pay him back. He says it was just unlucky for him and it hasn't been the first time. He is still a bit suspicious of her but he cautions her to not walk around along and to always have an escort. He then tells her his name is Payne, and asks her to come visit his palace to look at flowers if she wants to pay him back. Roxana is suspicious about why he's inviting her when she's his brother's fiance and they don't get along, and he says he wants to be friends. She says no but he doesn't believe her. Finally, she tells him she's going to break the engagement with the CP and it would look weird if she visited him, and he said he wouldn't have invited her if he cared. She agrees to go visit. On the way back to the auction, she runs into Elvin in the hallway. Elvin is pretty cordial to Payne, greeting him, and they exchange a few pleasantries. Elvin asks to speak with Roxana and after Payne leaves, he jokes that she's already buying new friends. After joking for a bit, Roxana asks what he wanted to talk about and he gets a little nervous before saying that he wanted to say goodbye before leaving. He tells Roxana that he has to go somewhere for a while, and that she can get help from his aide Noah. Then he hands her a gift. Inside is a bunch of fairly simple jewelry, and she tries to refuse it but he calls it a gift to congratulate her on her broken engagement. He tells her that a number of the pieces are safety devices (like a safety whistle in the necklace, or a small knife in the bracelet, or a hairpin she can use to stab people). He uses the hairpin to clumsily put up his hair. He is just worried something will happen while he's gone. He teases her some more about being gone and making new friends before she asks how long he'll be gone and he says it could be several months. She tells him to be careful before turning to see the Crown Prince looking angry. The CP seems to immediately notice her change in jewelry but Roxana is saved by a maid telling her the Duke is looking for her because the auction is about to start. The CP tries to stop her, saying they need to talk but she says she will meet him after the auction because she has something to give him and walks away. She waits nervously as the auction progresses and finally something gets put out - it's the tiara the CP gave her earlier. The bids on the tiara skyrocket before the CP finally shut them down with a bid of 1 million pounds (apparently enough to buy a castle) and after the auction ends, she gets up to go meet the Crown Prince, who looks pretty angry. He asks her why his gift wound up in the auction, and then tells her to take better care of it in the future, but she says she can't take it. He asks her if she was disappointed in the thing that happened with Claire earlier and she says that if someone is disappointed, then there must first be expectation and she doesn't expect anything from him. He replies that if she wants to blame others, then she shouldn't be acting the same way. He then brings up the brooch and asks what her relationship is with Elvin. She says this has nothing to do with him and her relationship with Elvin is not for him to interfere in. CP replies that she will be Crown Princess and then Empress in the future, and if she continues he might break up with her. Roxana is like, "Okay, let's break up." And he's like, "What?" CP is like, "why do you keep saying we're breaking up?" and Roxana thinks he was the one who brought it up first. He asks if this isn't because of Claire and Roxana replies it's not just because of that, doesn't he know why? CP replies he doesn't know, so she says that when he sent assassins to murder her nanny to get Claire out of jail, he must have been at least this determined, because once she told him she knew what he did, their relationship is over. CP is shocked because he immediately realizes she was the one who got him in trouble with the Emperor. She's like, "So you want to blame me for killing my person for Baroness Dana and letting people know about it?" Then she hands him an envelope and tells him it's a break up notice when he asks what it is. She set this up on purpose because there are likely a lot of people around them who heard what she said, so he can't hide the break up. CP asks Roxana how she could do this to him and she asks him isn't this what he wanted? Now he can be free to be with the person he really wanted to be with. When he tries to approach her, the Duke and his knights arrive to block him and he tells her that she's the only one he wants to be with. Roxana laughs at him, saying she doesn't believe him and she doesn't care because she doesn't love him anymore. As she turns to leave, he says to her that Mrs. Willis had already betrayed her and he just took care of it and he's wondering why she's angry. She asks him if he's claiming he did it for her, and he says it's not completely true. Roxana says he's crazy and then they're interrupted by other party goers and she uses that as an excuse to leave. The Crown Prince threatens the people who interrupted or he caught in the area to keep them quiet about what happened, because he doesn't want the break up to become public knowledge, but there are a couple of other people hiding in the bushes nearby. One of whom, is Mrs. Willis daughter. I'm gonna keep this brief because not a lot has happened since: Spoiler: Post Break Up Roxana falls sick again. Mrs. Willis' daughter tells what she heard to the daughter of a Marquis who supports the 2nd Prince. The 2nd Prince calls her in to have her detail what happened. She tries to make it sound like she heard it because she promised not to tell anyone it was her friend, but he calls her out on it. He doesn't seem surprised about the news of the breakup but is surprised to hear that the Crown Prince was accusing Roxana of being in a relationship with Elvin. Payne has someone investigate the rumors. The Empress hasn't heard about the break up but she does hear that Roxana is sick again. She hears from her friend, Elvin's stepmother, that it's really nice when a woman's husband takes care of them when they're sick, so she decides to call the Crown Prince in. The Crown Prince is brooding over the break up, staring at the tiara. Count Chester is freaking out because the budget was severely drained to buy it back at the auction and now they'll be at a loss even if they sell it, because it cost a lot to buy it in the first place. While he's brooding over it, Claire shows up and invites him to spend time together and as he's leaving his office, she sees the tiara. She becomes pretty obsessed with the tiara, and asks him who that's for and he tells her it belongs to no one. When she continues to ask about it, he looks at her suspiciously and tells her straight up that it's not for her and she shouldn't be concerned about it (he's basically telling her that he'll never marry her, and she'll never be Crown Princess/Empress) and she's shocked. The Crown Prince then gets called to talk to the Empress. When he arrives she notices that he's lost weight and has dark bags under his eyes, and she tells him that Roxana is sick, She basically wants to send him to be a caregiver to make their relationship grow.
Thank you so much for your hard work. The story keeps getting better and better. Somehow the CP is jealous and hurt when Roxana is happy with other man. But when he does flirting and kissing Claire he thinks nothing of Roxana's feelings at all. If he really loves Roxana he wont do something that could hurt her. He knows that she loves him but maybe because of that he's confident she will never leave him. I am really hoping for those two (CP & Claire) to get married and suffer with each other's company. Once the CP's dreams crumble one by one let's see how he will regret his actions and how will he treat Claire. Claire must respect herself and think clearly despite the desperation to escape poverty and her father, poor girl.
Thank you for posting spoilers. I thought that dissolution of an Imperial engagement usually required the consent of the Emperor. Was I wrong? Also, how does Roxana discover that Hermes leader is Elvin? Claire's actions are understandable considering her family plight. However, no matter how pitiful she may be, nothing can justify her actions of dragging down Roxana to disgrace. I mean, when Roxana first discovered CP's affair with Claire, though angry she didn't call him out for it when she saw how happy he was. Even when Roxana caught him kissing Claire during the festival, she retreated with a broken heart. Roxana would've kept the grief and hurt to herself had Claire not acted provocatively towards her. Things escalated to the point where Claire's schemes and CP's indifference finally drove Roxana to give up on life, and the poor girl passed away silently without anyone knowing. Claire wasn't wrong in wanting to climb the social ladder, and secure a safe and prosperous future for herself, but she clearly became too greedy, wanting to snatch Roxana's position as the Crown Princess. No matter how much of a sob story her background is composed of, her actions led to Roxana's death, and none of her miserable circumstances can justify a loss of life. So, I don't pity her for being bullied by the ladies of high society. As for the CP. He's simply a scumbag. Whispering love when he had use for Roxana while tossing her aside and flirting with Claire when she lost her use. From the CP's knights and aides' disrespect towards Roxana, one can judge how CP treated her. After all, if he really treated Roxana as his fiancée back then, then his subordinates wouldn't only see her as a tool for the CP to get the throne and not give her the respect her station warrants. A girl who has no consideration for innocents to achieve her goals and a cheating jerk who keeps on whispering his love to the MC, yet not recognising Roxana from MC. Hell, even the Duke who had been negligent towards Roxana realised she was a different person, entirely. What can I say? CP and Claire are a match made in Heavens. Whatever retribution they receive in the future will be the result of their own undoing and when that happens, I won't pity them a bit.
Yeah I agree with you regarding Claire's deeds. She shouldn't be pitied if she suffer the consequences of her bad actions. I just pity her on the fact that despite being blessed with beauty comparable to Roxana, she seem to be stupid.