Chapter 35

Chapter 35

“If it’s all right with you, I want to stay as close with you as before, Countess.”

Azela, engrossed in Chises’ words, lifted her head and looked at him sitting opposite her.

He was beautiful.

He shone worthy of the title of Crown Prince, and many women wanted to stand next to him. However, he always insisted on Azela. Just like she, at that time, was always sticking to Daniel.

“Because the Count brought in a mistress… There is nothing that the Countess can’t do.”

Chises’ cheeks were dyed.

The first heir to the throne of the Empire was now saying that he would become the Countess’ other man. It was something that should never have happened. Still, he looked full of anticipation.

Azela furrowed her eyebrows and replied.

“Obviously I said that years ago…”

“….”

“I never want to have a deep or shallow relationship with the Crown Prince.”

A deep shadow was cast on Chises’s face at the rejection he had experienced for the first time in a long time. Had she been like everyone else, they would have been startled by the shadow cast on the Prince’s face. Nonetheless, Azela was calm.

This hadn’t happened just once or twice.

When he turned his head with a grim expression, Chises also erased his dark face as if he had never done it and smiled broadly.

“That hasn’t changed at all.”

Even her rejection seemed joyful to him.

The carriage, which had been running for a long time, arrived at Zagnac’s mansion on the outskirts. Azela disembarked from the carriage, and Chises followed naturally.

“Your Highness, how far are you going to follow me?”

“Today I have no plans, so I’ll be with the Countess…”

“Crown Prince.”

Cutting Chises’ words lightly, she held out the papers in her hand in front of him.

“I have a very, very busy schedule today. This is a business-related matter, so it is difficult for me to speak to you.”

Azela spoke briefly and bowed her head politely towards him. She was saying, ‘I’m very busy today, so I don’t have time to play with you, so stop following me now.’

As if he had expected her reaction, Chises smiled broadly without being offended.

“I understand the Countess’ will. I came to see you on my own accord, so I must fit into the Countess’ schedule.”

He nodded his head with a pleasant smile, then turned behind and got back into the carriage.

After confirming that the carriage carrying Chises had disappeared in the distance, Azela turned and entered Zagnac’s mansion.

She felt embarrassed because it seemed like anyone could see that she was upset with her unknowingly pounding footsteps, though she could not completely erase this unpleasant feeling. When she followed the butler into the study, the first thing that caught her eye was Zagnac at work.

“Hmm?”

Zagnac saw Azela as she entered the study and smiled a welcome, then tilted his head as if something was strange. Putting down the pen he was holding in his hand, he asked her.

“Why are you so upset?”

Even though she was annoyed with Zagnac, who guessed her condition at once, she felt a little better that he recognized it. Azela held out the report in her hand to him and pouted her lips. It was very slightly squished.

“Upset? Me? Nonsense.”

“So, you didn’t come in with the momentum to smash the floor?”

Receiving the report Azela had handed him, he got up from the chair and approached her in a playful tone.

It was unknown how long he had stayed in the study, but Zagnac, who came closer, smelled faintly of paper. The scent that reached the tip of her nose was not so bad that she could even forget the unpleasant feeling she had felt before.

As if he had read Azela’s mind, Zagnac asked with a gentle voice.

“Are you going to see the ground leveling work today?”

“That’s right.”

“I’m also on my way to get some fresh air, so let’s go together.”

Zagnac simply read the report she had given him. Putting it down on the desk, grabbed his hat, and left the study. Azela, who was about to follow him after he left, unknowingly glanced at Zagnac’s desk.

Since then, there may have been no correspondence from the Princess, although nothing other than a pile of papers on the desk. Azela, who saw this, unknowingly exhaled a breath of relief, turned and followed him out of the mansion and boarded the carriage.

As she climbed up with Zagnac, he exchanged a few words with the butler, and the carriage departed.

“Now, tell me.”

As soon as the carriage left, Zagnac clenched his chin. The smile and purple eyes gazing at her seemed to see through everything, so she glanced out of the window. Azela, who was holding her finger on her lap, opened her mouth with a cracked voice.

“…His Highness Crown Prince Chises has visited.”

“Oh, dear.”

As though he had understood Azela’s situation immediately, Zagnac erased the smile and raised a hand to cover his own eyes before letting out a sigh. With that, the silence subsided for a moment.

He lowered his hand that had covered his eyes and looked at Azela.

“You deserve to be angry.”

“I wasn’t angry. I was just a little uncomfortable.”

“I didn’t tell him everything about you.”

As he spoke seriously, Azela turned her head and stared at him. He always smiled no matter what — when she cried, when she was angry, and when she was dying. But now, unlike usual, a small smile did not spread on Zagnac’s face.

That was why Azela couldn’t take her gaze from him. It was a rare look.

“I met Crown Prince Chises the last time I visited the Imperial Palace. He asked about you.”

“….”

“I told him that Count Todd had a ‘Mistres,’ and you were rotting.… To be honest, I will admit that when I saw Crown Prince Chises showing interest in you, I had a great desire to tease him.”

Zagnac raised his hands high and spoke with a sincere look. He was just telling the truth, not making any excuses. Azela didn’t say anything as he looked completely different from anyone else.

“I’m sorry.”

With a still serious face and expression, he said with all his heart. Hearing the words, it felt as if everything in this situation was nothing. Azela got embarrassed again by his apology so honestly, she avoided his gaze and nodded her head.

The unpleasant feelings were now completely gone.

Meanwhile, the carriage arrived at the site, and the two looked at it together. In fact, it was the first time Azela did something like this, so all she had to do was follow him and watch him do it. Zagnac was engrossed in asking the workers various things and writing them down.

It was quite enjoyable to learn new things. At least, while concentrating on business, there were no Daniel and Sylvia, and also Irene, whom she always remembered in her heart.

It was even better that she didn’t remember anything. It was a time when she could only exist as ‘Azela,’ not ‘Countess Todd.’ This time gave Azela a lot of satisfaction beyond what she had expected. That was why she was so absorbed that she didn’t even know the sun was setting.

Before the sun completely set, the two of them were able to return to Zagnac’s mansion together after finishing all their schedules.

“…I have two requests for you.”

After finishing everything and before she got into the carriage to return to Todd mansion, Azela opened her mouth, looking at Zagnac.

He nodded his head calmly.

“First, I want you to proceed with the business you are doing now with me of the ‘Vellista family’ rather than with me of the ‘Todd family’.”

“That is if you want.… Anything else?”

“Secondly, it’s okay if it’s just occasionally, so I want you to teach me how to read the accounts and other things.”

Zagnac, who readily accepted her first request, did not lightly nod his head at her second request. His eyes twinkled with an intriguing expression, and he stroked his chin and chuckled.

“Where are you going to use it after you learn something like that?”

“The power, wealth, and honor that Daniel has were all things I have given him. I have no choice but to let go of the title, although I want to take everything I gave him.”

Azela replied with a stern expression. Her eyes were different from when she first ate poison. There was life in her eyes, who said that she would take it all with her will.

‘If this is enough, it should get rid of the bitterness.’

Looking at her expression, Zagnac stroked his chin satisfiedly. After thinking for a moment, he nodded curiously.

“Sure, I can give you anything you want. But, you know?”

“What?”