Chapter 91

Zagnac glanced at Sylvia’s dress and shoes, and the fan and bag she was carrying. All of them were expensive items that could not be easily obtained.

“Furthermore…”

“….”

“Isn’t the new Madam pregnant? Is Count Todd going to abandon your new Madam, who is pregnant with a child? Well, it’s not a bad choice.”

“….!”

Hearing the word pregnant, Daniel’s face quickly turned red with shame. He didn’t even think that Zagnac knew about that.

On the other hand, Sylvia’s face darkened noticeably. The words ‘abandon the new Madam who’s pregnant with child’ were a blow to her. She got out as the mistress, and now Daniel would abandon her now that she was barely a Countess? She bit her lip.

“Oh my gosh, such a scoundrel.”

“Miss Vellista is so pitiful.”

“In this day and age… is it still a time when employees get punished like that.”

“That wasn’t enough, he killed a servant she loved. Just thinking about it…”

“Is he going to abandon a pregnant woman again? How shameless.”

Everyone agreed and blamed him. Daniel lowered his face with a look of helplessness. His head turned white.

It was then.

“Oh, I was wondering what the fuss was about…”

It was the party’s organizer, Crown Prince Chises, who appeared among the commotion. He appeared with a glass of champagne in pure white clothing like the main character. When he appeared and smiled, everyone took their eyes off Azela and Daniel’s matter and gave him a pretentious smile.

“Crown Prince.”

“Thank you for the invitation, Your Highness.”

“Thank you for hosting a party like this, even though you must be busy with your successor education, Your Highness.”

After leaving everyone’s greetings behind, he stood between Azela, Daniel, and Zanyac with a heavy footstep.

Chises, who turned his head and looked to his left and right, drew a bright smile on his lips.

“This happened at my party, so I must be responsible.”

“Greetings, Crown Prince.”

“…Greetings, Crown Prince.”

“It’s okay to refrain from greeting in this situation. Now that everyone is aware of this, it would be best to point it out clearly.”

Saying so, Chises looked at Daniel and Azela alternately.

Azela furrowed her brows at the serpent-like gaze. She thought he would change, but none of him changed.

“I think talking between the parties will be the quickest way, so I think it would be better for Count Todd and Miss Vellista to have a conversation.”

“Crown Prince.”

As soon as he had finished speaking, Zagnac stepped forward and called him. Perhaps, Chises had expected it, he uttered while reaching out his hand and holding Zagnac back.

“Don’t worry, Duke Ferial. Are you worried about your escort knight? I’ll be by her side, so nothing bad will happen.”

“She is my escort knight. If she goes away from my side, I feel I am in danger…”

“This is a party I host, and it’s my villa. I acknowledge Miss Vellista’s swordsmanship skills, but those with better swordsmanship than her are guarding this place. Are you sure you don’t believe me?”

With Chises’ obstruction, Zagnac stopped as if tied in place. It was because that was the way it was… It was because the human ‘Duke Ferial’ could not object to his words as the Crown Prince.

“Come on, Count Todd, Miss Vellista, follow me.”

Daniel looked bright. It seemed he was very grateful that Chises had cleared up this situation. However, it wasn’t with Azela at all. She took helpless steps, like being dragged into prison, with a displeased expression.

At that moment, Zagnac grabbed Azela’s wrist as she was about to pass him and pulled her behind him. It was a sudden action. When she looked at him with astonished eyes, he, too, looked at her with a surprised look, wondering whether his actions had not been planned.

“…Duke Ferial?”

Chises stared at Zagnac with a frown, flustered at his sudden action. Still, he did not let Azela’s wrists go.

“It looks like Duke Ferial is not very trusted.… Or, are you a man who can’t do anything without a woman?”

Chises shouted loudly and mocked him so that the nobles who had deliberately gathered at the party could all hear him. The nobles covered their mouths with their fans with ridicule and laughed at Zagnac.

Meanwhile, Sylvia continued to drag Daniel and persuaded him to return. Of course, Daniel didn’t heed her.

“…Zagnac.”

Azela whispered softly so he could hear it, and shook her head. She wanted to say she would be fine, and she didn’t want to hurt him with her matters. Nevertheless, Zagnac did not let go of her wrist. She just clenched his lips and tightened the hand that grabbed her wrist without saying anything.

“I told you last time.”

He closed his lips and lowered his gaze, then turned his head to look at her. Azela tilted her head to the question, which only she could hear.

“I’m worried that my calculating logic will apply to you as well.”

“Why are you talking about that now…”

“Congratulations, I think that… my calculating logic does not apply to you.”

“…What?”

Azela asked back in an absurd voice. She didn’t understand why he brought that up all of a sudden as she looked up at Zagnac, who had a mischievous smile, and he turned his head and looked back at Chises.

“Yes.”

He nodded his head in a brief response.

“I must have become a man who could not do anything without her.”

Zagnac’s remarks were shocking.

Chises, Daniel, and even Sylvia wrinkled their faces. However, with the exception of the three, the rest of the party just gazed at Zagnac with ecstatic faces. For them, Zagnac and Azela’s story was a wonderful romance that made their heart flutter on this boring day.

“Duke Ferial.”

Chises called out to him in a voice trembling with anger. His plan to comfort the wounded Azela after talking to Daniel was thwarted. It was because originally, Zagnac did not appear in the plan. Azela was looking at Zagnac, not Chises, with a surprised look.

Seeing her red cheeks, his fists trembled in anger.

“Isn’t the Crown Prince, like me, a man who hangs himself with women and can’t do anything because of one woman?”

“….”

Zagnac smiled languidly. His smile was so beautiful that the women watching him blushed and covered their mouths.

“If you don’t mind, I’ll go back first.”

As the gossip around him gradually grew, Chises said nothing. There were many eyes watching, so he couldn’t act recklessly. He invited many nobles because he thought Zagnac would not be able to act recklessly in front of them.

Regardless, in the end, his scheming turned back on him.

Because Chises was the same, he was different now from his childhood. Now, every action he took would support him as the future Emperor, so these were the people who would empower him when he became Emperor. They couldn’t see him fighting in the mud because of just one woman.

“….”

“I think you have allowed it.”

Besides, he was in the midst of becoming the protagonist of the rumors, so Zagnac used it in reverse. Chises didn’t answer anything and just gritted his teeth.

In the end, Zagnac, with a teasing smile, grabbed Azela’s wrist and walked past him and exited the party.

“Wa, wait…”

Could she just go like this…?

As she was dragged away by him, Azela glanced back. The envious eyes of the women who looked at her were stinging. Even more stinging were Chises’ anger-filled eyes, Daniel’s tearful gaze, and Sylvia’s gaze that looked like she was going to kill her.

* * *

Chises looked helpless in anger and stomped his violent steps forward. No one could stand in his way. Everyone knew If they were in his gaze now, they would die.

Chises, who had been walking for a long time, stopped in front of the tightly closed door. The knight standing there hurriedly blocked the way as he tried to open the door without knocking with a rough hand.

“Crown Prince. I will tell her inside.”

“…Move.”

“Inside, the Princess…”

“Out of my way.”