CH 16.11

Lucas tilted his head sharply, not bothering to hide his sneer.

“Now, now, Your Highness, it doesn’t look good for you to be hanging on to my wife.”

“What!”

Theobald’s stomach had been churning the entire ball because of Lila’s words earlier, and he couldn’t help but feel sick to his stomach watching the two of them.

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t put himself behind Lucas. He didn’t know what he’d done to his face, but he did know that it was full of freckles.

After a moment’s hesitation, Theobald chewed his words mockingly.

“With a face like that, you and Lila have no business being together. If you have a conscience, you should let her go now.”

“Haha…”

Lucas, dumbfounded, shook his head in disbelief, and Theobald, who seemed to be laughing at him, shouted harshly.

“My flower. Not your flower, my flower!”

As the line between dream and reality became more and more blurred, Theobald could not contain his anger, feeling that something that belonged to him had been taken from him.

“You should know your place! How dare you cross my flower!”

Not taking his gaze from the wildly rippling red eyes, Lucas merely turned his head lazily to the other side, as if in defiance.

Lucas had a gentle smile on his lips, but there was a sharpness in his eyes.

Lucas watched in silence as Theobald’s eyes widened with excitement, then slowly parted his lips.

“’My flower?’”

Despite his calm expression, Lucas’s anger rose to the top of his head. Barely able to contain his rising anger, he wiped the expression off his face.

Then he muttered again.

“My flower…”

“How dare you talk back to me now!”

Theobald fiercely shot at Lucas, who dared to speak back to him. But Lucas ignored him entirely.

“My flower. I don’t see why my lady should be Your Highness’s flower. Though I would have wondered why even if she wasn’t.”

Lucas looked directly at Theobald, his eyes cold.

“Your Highness has never shown the slightest interest in Lila el Este, my wife. No, not just no interest, but disregard and contempt for her in front of others, and certainly not at the last hunting tournament, so why you’re calling her ‘my flower’ now is beyond me.”

Theobald was speechless at Lucas’s words. He was not wrong in the least, but while he could understand them in his head, he could not admit them in his heart.

Theobald’s eyes widened at the emotion he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

Moreover, Lucas’s vicious glare, which he found amusing, only made Theobald’s eyes wander.

Lucas raised the corner of his mouth sneeringly.

“I don’t like the term ‘my flower’ at all. I don’t know how you could have thought of her as a flower, to be plucked like a bunch of flowers in a garden…”

Lucas shook his head slowly, his expression expressionless at first glance, but not without momentum and intensity.

There was a chill in the air that threatened to sweep everything away. Theobald, pinned down by his momentum, pursed his lips in bewilderment.

Lucas chuckled, and then spoke in a tone so cold that the temperature seemed to plummet.

“Since you dare to speak of flowers, I will tell you this: do not think of uprooting a flower that has already taken root in my garden, and do not think of my wife as anything more than a flower to adorn a vase.”

Theobald could not hide his confusion as Lucas bowed politely after speaking. He let out a short gasp and Lucas strode away.

Part of him wanted to punch him in the face with his fist, but it bothered him that they hadn’t been married yet.

While he was thinking about leaving the capital as soon as possible and getting married, he heard harsh words that rang in his ears like a scream.

“You can’t be the one! You’re supposed to be the eternal ugly one!”

At Charlotte’s venomous words, Lucas began to walk faster and faster, then to run.

The door to the greenhouse was wide open, and people were standing around, shuffling their feet. Not to mention the courtiers.

Pausing at the entrance, Lucas looked at Lila on the floor with unrealistic eyes, then at Charlotte on top of her.

Lucas stared at her as if he were going to tear her limbs off, but Charlotte quickly raised her hand.

Lucas grabbed the raised wrist and threw Charlotte down hard.

“Gah!”

Charlotte landed hard on the floor and looked up, her face full of panic.

Lucas knelt down and examined her.

“Wife?”

Lila’s face was bleeding profusely from the first blow, but her eyes were steady.

“Lucas.”

She answered casually, and Lucas scrambled to his feet, reaching for a handkerchief with a trembling hand.

“… What the hell is this…”

He felt like he was being annihilated before his eyes. He could understand the saying that when a person is so angry, the sight would go black.

A trickle of blood from her face soaked the nape of her neck. Lucas gasped involuntarily, as if it were blood running down his throat.

Unlike Lucas, who was helpless, Lila was glaring at Charlotte. The other nobles shrank back from the piercing cobalt eyes.

“Charlotte Pinatelli.”

Lucas could barely compose himself at the sound of her low voice.

Charlotte had fallen to the floor and was struggling to get up, but then her cobalt eyes met his.

“I will hold you accountable for what you have done to me. Do you think my father is just going to sit back and do nothing about it?”

The others shook their heads in disbelief as Charlotte shouted ferociously, unwilling to consider her own faults.

Having seen Charlotte hit Lila with her own two eyes first, no one wanted to get involved with her this time.

Lila didn’t bat an eye at Charlotte’s one-sided comment.

“Really?”

Forgetting her current state, Lila strode towards Charlotte with a graceful stride. Standing in front of her, Lila bowed slightly and raised her hand.

SLAP, SLAP, SLAP, SLAP!

Lila bit her lip tightly as she slapped Charlotte’s cheek.

SLAP-!

After delivering the final slap with all her might, Lila let out a deep sigh.

“Pass this on to Count Pinatelli.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Lila turned her back on Lucas.

Charlotte wrapped her hands around her face, wincing at the searing pain.

Even more distraught than before, Charlotte spotted Monaca standing there, looking alarmed.

“You, come over here and help me up.”

Monaca narrowed her brow in displeasure at the sight of Charlotte calling out to her with a jerk of her chin as if it were a matter of course, then burst out laughing.

“Ahahahahahah!”

It was so hilarious, she couldn’t hold it in any longer.

Starting with Monaca, the others covered their faces with fans and hands and giggled.

Among them, Alfonso was already holding his stomach and laughing.

“What the hell is this!”

Theobald, who had just arrived, bellowed. He hurriedly checked Lila and was horrified by the blood on the nape of her neck.

“Lila, there’s blood…”

Before he could finish, Theobald remembered the scene from his dream. No, the real Lila was superimposed on the dream Lila.

The dream Lila was slumped over his bed, soaked in blood.

A throbbing, unbearable headache suddenly came over him, as if someone had hit him head.

“Keuhk.”

As he held his head in his outstretched hand, courtiers rushed in.

“Your Highness!”

“Crown Prince!”

Theobald felt the pain of someone’s hand on his head, whipping it around. His stomach churned at the pain he could barely contain.

“Ugh.”

Not only the courtiers, but also the nobles around him were stunned into silence.

Heinrich hurried to support the Crown Prince’s body.

“What is the chamberlain doing!”

At the sound of Heinrich’s urgent voice, a courtier rushed forward, and the chamberlain surrounded the Crown Prince.

The nobles, who were usually in the Crown Prince’s faction, followed. In an instant, silence descended on the chaos.

The ladies and gentlemen hurriedly left the greenhouse, guided by their courtiers.

“Wife… for now, cover it with your handkerchief.”

Lucas, who had come to his senses by now, used his own handkerchief to staunch the bleeding on Lila’s cheek.

“Lucas…”

Lila’s body shook from the anger that still lingered.

“It’s okay, I’m here.”

With a look of regret on his face, Lucas planted a small kiss on Lila’s forehead. Then he lifted her gently to her feet and hastened his steps.

Charlotte, still sprawled on the greenhouse floor where everyone had left her, looked around in dismay.

No one had helped her to her feet. Just like Lila at her coming of age last year.

Charlotte had secretly pushed Lila aside and watched the spectacle. It couldn’t have been any more ridiculous to see her flailing about in her dress, unable to get up on her own. But…

She couldn’t believe that she was on the floor in such a state of disbelief.

“W, who…?”

She asked in a plaintive voice and heard pounding footsteps in her ear. Charlotte had no doubt it was Heinrich.

With tears in her eyes, Charlotte turned and froze when she saw Alfonso stop in front of her.

Alfonso blatantly swept his eyes over her. From her hair to her dress to her swollen face, he took it all in, and then he grinned like a child.

“Yes, I knew you’d look good.”

With that, he slowly dropped to his knees.

Charlotte stared up at him with fluttering eyes, his hand moving naturally to her cheek.

Crushing her faint hopes that he would treat her the way he always treated her, binding her wounds, Alfonso dug his nails in.

“Ow!”

Charlotte tried to shake off the firm pressure of his hand on her swollen cheek, but she couldn’t open her eyes to the sensation of a vicious grip on her chin.

It hurt so much. For the first time, she was afraid of Alfonso as he probed her back for a sore spot.

“Hmph…”

Charlotte forced her eyes open to see him snorting. She couldn’t let him get away with this.

She hadn’t paid the price yet. She didn’t know what would happen if she didn’t.

She’d earned this life, and she couldn’t let it go to waste.

“Hmph, hngk.”

Charlotte clung to Alfonso, blinking back tears.

“Alfonso, I’m so sick. I, I need you to take me home.”

He didn’t look like himself, but she knew he would help. Their families had been close since childhood. He was a childhood friend, so Charlotte was hopeful.

“Are you sick?”

“Yes, I’m so sick. You saw how she treated me, that Lila!”

“Well?”

“You saw it, she hit me in front of everyone!”

Charlotte could no longer speak as he shook his head as if he really didn’t know.

Without taking his eyes off Charlotte’s blood-red cheeks, Alfonso asked nonchalantly.

“So what can you do?”

Charlotte nervously tried to blurt out the words, when her coyness didn’t work.

However, she shed tears from her heart at the touch of pressing again as if he was digging through the wound again.

“Do you think Duke Frederick will take this lying down, after all you’ve done to me… Aahh!”

But again, she burst into heartfelt tears at the pressing touch, as if to probe the wound.

“Argh…”

She wanted to cover her face with her trembling hands, but was restrained by Alfonso.

Alfonso looked into her face, his eyes blurred, as if he were looking at something beautiful.

“…That’s a big deal.”

There was a trickle of blood on her puffy cheeks from the constant squeezing. Alfonso deliberately pressed harder. His fingertips caught the trickle.

Feeling his heart beat wildly, he looked deeply into Charlotte’s face once more.

His mouth dropped open for a moment, as if he had realised something, and then he grinned.

“Yes, I’ll take you home.”

Taking his hand, Charlotte rose to her feet and cursed under her breath. She moved on shaky legs, determined not only to get to Lila, but also to Alfonso.

If she had known how sinister his eyes were, she might have preferred to remain seated.