CH 12

“How shameless of you, I didn’t even invite you to come.”

After the memorial service and before the feast, the entire royal family had gone in to rest and freshen up. From beneath the black veil, the Empress’s bitter words leaked out.

“Mother. You may enter first.”

Prince Ethan put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“How can you come here, when our princess has gone because of someone.”

Her tone was very low and cold. Her appearance was so cold that she was labeled as an ‘Ice Beauty‘, and with just a few words, the temperature around her dropped.

The crown prince listened expressionlessly. When he was younger, he might have gone pale from her words, but now, no one can read any emotions on his face at all.

“Empress.”

“Your Majesty, don’t you pity our princess, how can you let her die?”

“She died of an illness. Yet you still say such things.”

“Why would our princess have an illness?”

“Ethan. Bring her inside.”

“Your Highness, I do not allow you to set foot in this palace ever again. I do not wish to see your face, I do not.”

“Empress. The crown prince is risking his life to fight for the Empire.”

“Others are risking their lives as well, Your Majesty.”

“Mother, please come in.”

The prince took the empress into his arms, almost hugging her. She tried to say a few more words, but her son’s insistence forced her inside. She leaned slightly against the prince as she entered, in what anyone could see was an affectionate gesture.

“Your Majesty,” he said, “I suggest we go to another room.”

“Yes, we should.”

The emperor then stared at the crown prince’s direction.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I think you could use some rest.”

“Yes. Your Majesty.”

The Emperor looked at Shane, his eldest son and the Crown Prince of the Empire. Despite his height, he could feel his presence growing with each passing day. Even his peculiarly emotionless expression had the power to make others take notice. He wondered if he had possessed that level of power in his youth as well, but the answer was no. He doesn’t have the power to control the space surrounding him just by standing still.

‘That power will ruin the Empire, Your Majesty. You must listen to me.’

The Empress was extremely wary of his power, even though he was her son. She believed that the empress was weakened by the crown prince’s power. She was afraid that the power that could kill people at birth might turn hostile to the Empire.

Life in Einfork would be even harsher than she had imagined. The number of demons is growing, and they are even spreading beyond the expected area. The only person he could trust in this situation was the crown prince, who never once questioned why he was sent to such a place. Despite being royalty, he was no better off than the other knights.

The Emperor knew this, and yet he neglected him.

His pride in his son and his wariness of his power were always in the balance. The diagnosis that he would not live long made him feel the same. He felt pity for the loss of that kind of power and a relief that it would be short-lived.

He was the Crown Prince of the Empire, his son. The emperor stared at the crown prince, who bowed to him, then he stepped inside. The empress and the prince were still waiting for him.

⚘

“Seth, where are you going?”

“Uh, just a moment. My body aches.”

“You can’t go far.”

“Uh, I know.”

I left a worried Eva behind and ducked between the pincers where no one was looking. Eva was tired, too, so she closed her eyes and dozed off. I actually wanted to take this moment to rest like her, but I had somewhere to go. I closed my eyes and feverishly recalled the place I’d already seen. If I were discovered inside the palace, I would be dead. Nervousness made my palms sweat. As soon as I felt a cool breeze, I immediately bent low and crouched down.

“Ha. Ha.”

The smell of rich grass. There was a small grove in the garden with flowers that reached up to my waist. That was the place I had planned to hide today. It was perfect because I could get down on my stomach and not be seen.

‘Huh?’

After I caught my breath, I could feel the smell of air. I could see the hem of a dress trimmed with black lace through the grass. I sidled up to them, trying to be as discreet as possible, calculating when the wind would pick up.

‘The two main protagonists.’

There they were, in front of a wall of flowers. As expected, they stood together, a beautiful scene in itself.

The crown prince in his jet-black uniform, and his lady in her black dress. They look even better together, as if they were dressed to match. So this is what a good man and a good woman talk about when they see lovers like this. They were people who live in a completely different world than me, I crouched in the bushes. For a moment, I was troubled. What the hell am I supposed to do as a slave?

“I was wondering how you were doing.”

They’d been engaged since the Salt Island explosion, and their love should have been ripe by now. The female lead would be under pressure to kill him, but she’d be trying not to lose it in front of the male lead, the crown prince.

“How are you?”

It’s a push of love that no one should hear. I feel guilty. The crown prince’s voice was low and resonant, and it always seemed to stick in my ears whenever I heard it.

“Thankfully, nothing happened to you. I feel at ease, Your Highness.”

Even if I didn’t know the original, I could tell it was the voice of a woman already in love. It was dripping with sweetness.

“And the answer to my letter?”

I felt a brief chill. There was a desert-like dryness in his tone. He should be in love too, but I didn’t hear it.

‘Ah.‘

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you, but as soon as I greeted you… you were relentless.”

I must not have been the only one who sensed the relentlessness in his tone, because a feeling of discomfort crawled up my skin.

“You were also relentless in sending me a letter requesting a divorce.”

My head spun. A request for a divorce, not a request for marriage? My ears, am I hearing this right?

“The engagement will be broken up in the way the princess wants. It doesn’t matter to me.“

“What if I want to keep this engagement?“

“I would have told you. I don’t mind you dying any time.“

“Aren’t you worried about being left alone?“

A spring breeze whistled past us. It chilled me, as if it were blowing into my heart. I understood the words but not the meaning of their conversation. They weren’t talking about marriage, they were talking about divorce. Why? According to the original story, they should be in love by now.

“Princess.”

But the crown prince’s tone was too stiff for love. She had never heard him speak in such a nonchalant manner.

“Go inside and rest. That’s an order.”

Even when he gave orders to me, he didn’t sound as cold as he did now. Compared to this tone, he could even be called sweet when he spoke to me. The temperature difference was so great.

“Your Highness. I’m not ready yet. Give me a little more time, just a little more.”

“How much more?”

“Your Highness, if I were to say that I was in love with you, that would make me–.”

“Let me know when it’s ready.”

“…You won’t regret it later?”

Despite her smile, Cesaria’s voice trembled violently. Any woman could tell. She sounded hurt.

“I hope your reply won’t take too long.”

The crown prince turned his head to the side as he spoke. Someone was approaching.

“It’s you.”

It was the prince. What the hell was going on now? This was supposed to be a situation where the prince and the lady would have to meet first and then he would threaten to kill her in front of the crown prince.

“You seem to have forgotten something. I’ve come to return it.”

In the Prince’s hand was a sword. Presumably the crown prince’s sword. No one was allowed to carry weapons at today’s memorial service. He had brought what the crown prince had put down for a moment.

“What are you doing?”

The prince held the sword to the side of Cesaria’s neck. He measured the angle this way and that, like a man scrutinizing a bull’s-eye. The sharp blade reflected the light, leaving a glow on Cesaria’s face.

“I thought I’d raise the alarm, since the people seem to be desensitized to danger.”

He wants people to know that the crown prince is dangerous. This line seems to be back to the original.

“If you cross the line one more time.”

The crown prince takes a step, and with that single movement, the sense of menace radiating from him grows immense.

“I thought you said you’d cross it with me.”

His voice was devoid of emotion. There was no anger, no irritation, none of it. It sounded dry. But that made it all the more threatening. Crown Prince Shane stepped forward and swiped the blade pointed at Cesaria away with his bare hand.

“I told you, brother. Listen to your mother.”

The prince seemed to withdraw his sword, but this time he brought it to his own throat. He had a mischievous expression on his face, but his gaze was cold, and in those eyes he resembled his mother, the Empress.

“That’s dangerous.”

The prince from the original was someone who would gladly harm himself with that sword. He would cut himself if it meant getting the crown prince into trouble. This is when the prince lowers the sword to his shoulder and angles it slightly. His body leapt out, not as a thoughtful action, but as a single-minded determination to stop it somehow.

He tried to bump into him, to make him squirm, but he was one of the heirs to the empire.

Wham.

He was about to slash himself when he felt a blow from behind him, and without looking, he swung his sword backwards, and I dodged, but the speed with which it came out meant that my arm was grazed by it.

“Seth!”

The smell of blood hit me hard.

“What the hell.”

I could hear the crown prince’s voice in disbelief, and I was glad I’d managed to keep him from cutting himself, for surely if he was hurt, the empress would be clamoring to have the crown prince locked up immediately. There was a good chance she’d have the crown prince banned from ever setting foot in the palace again for attempting to murder a member of the royal family.

“Ugh.”

Ah, but this was not the development I wanted. I glanced down at my arm and saw a red gash. It would hurt too much to look at it properly, so I only glanced at it at an angle. I could practically feel the blood trickling down my fingers.

“What the hell. Where did this slave come from?”

“This slave had sinned, I’m sorry. I was looking for the path.”

It was possible to get lost in the garden. But my excuses didn’t improve the prince’s expression. Please don’t say you’re going to punish me. Please.

Oh, but it hurts so much. It’s been so long since I’ve been whipped, I can barely breathe from the unfamiliar pain.

“Your Highness, what are you doing–”

Cesaria covers her mouth in surprise. The crown prince was sitting on one knee in front of me, examining the wound, his expression so grave that I feared I might become a grave.

Wait, wait, wait. I didn’t know what to say, so I just breathed. The crown prince was unbuttoning his uniform with one hand.

Zap.

He ripped open the buttons of his uniform and tore off the white shirt underneath. Cesaria’s and the prince’s faces were a blur as they turned to stone in shock. I don’t want to cry, not here, not now.

He used the torn shirt as a bandage and wrapped it tightly around my arm. I could see the fabric quickly turning red. I shuddered with a dull pain as the wound was compressed.

“I, Your Highness. I’ll get someone.”

Cesaria tried to stop him, but he didn’t even look at her. My body lifted into the air as I felt a warm arm behind my shoulder.

“I, uh, I’m fine…”

“Hang in there.”

My heart leaped out of my chest at the sound of his low voice. He was holding a slave with a cut arm, and my head spun in confusion.

“Your Highness!”

I heard Cesaria’s voice, then the voices of strangers, then his own. The shoulders and legs he was supporting were so steady that I didn’t feel uneasy being lifted.

In conclusion, it’s good that he wasn’t trapped right? So it must be a good thing, right? But his chin, which I can see from below, was set very hard.

He looks handsome from this angle.

I felt embarrassed and confused, but also pleasant and happy. He looked genuinely concerned about my injuries. When he told me to hang in there, I could tell he meant it.

I could hear my heart beating louder than the pain in my arm, and I could smell his distinctive body odor, which made me feel safe.

“My Lord.”

“Your Highness.”

“Your Highness?”

I desperately wanted to faint while listening to the sounds around me, but my mind gradually became blurred. It was difficult to manage my expression when I was being shown around in the arms of the crown prince. But I guess It was a relief.