CH 22.6

Lucas glared coldly at Theobald, who sat across from him, and Theobald’s eyes were just as fierce.

Their scents clashed fiercely.

“I hope you didn’t think I came here to congratulate you.”

Theobald spoke first, and Lucas chuckled.

“Do you think I’m such a fool?”

“What?”

Even if they were members of the same royal family, there was a difference between a crown prince and a duke. And to disrespect him?

“How dare you!”

“Don’t you dare make fun of our family. No matter how much of a crown prince you are, you can’t just disrespect me.”

“Ha!”

The proud Theobald sneered.

“The Royal Father is very disappointed in you. Yyu won’t get away with your excuses this time.”

“Lila is my fiancée and soon to be my wife. You’re not someone who can meddle in our affairs, Theobald.”

“This…!”

Theobald shouted at the increasingly agitated Lucas.

“I see you don’t want to take the estrus potion.”

Lucas felt a rush of pleasure as he watched Theobald pull out his prepared threats. Each time, his family had failed to escape that threat.

But this time was different.

It was his own mate who had given him the chance.

Lila…….

Lovely as she was, she gave him endless affection and the courage to face his trials.

Lucas stretched his lips. It was something he’d always wanted to say.

“What if I don’t need it?”

It had taken him so long to say those short words.

Theobald stiffened in embarrassment. Holding the leash of House Montefeltra with the estrus potion had always worked.

But what the hell is going on now? What did he just say?

Lucas bared his teeth at him and laughed.

“I wonder how many doses of the estrus potion you’ve tried…”

Theobald glared at the sarcasm.

“You really don’t want to receive it, do you? Well, I guess you wouldn’t understand the value of the potion since you’ve never gone without it. But it wouldn’t hurt for you to learn something new this time.”

“Well, go ahead, it’s none of my business.”

Theobald, who recognized the false sarcasm, looked at Lucas with a quizzical expression as he refused to budge.

“And you’re mistaken, just because we’re a family doesn’t mean we don’t have something to threaten you with.”

“What?”

Lucas’s mouth twisted at the memory of the emperor taking a ridiculous amount of the magic stones every year.

“Where did you think the magic stones came from? You didn’t think they came from mines owned by the imperial family, did you? If so, is it right to have you as crown prince when you’re so unqualified……?”

“…….What on earth……”

As he spoke through gritted teeth, Lucas coldly retorted.

“What if I told you that all of the magic stones your imperial court distributes came from mines owned by Montefeltra? Would you still blackmail me with an estrus potion? I thought you weren’t like the emperor, who had an insatiable desire for things, but I guess I was wrong.”

Lucas smirked, watching Theobald’s expression twist grotesquely.

It was arousing. Lucas was always the one who had to back down, even when it was unfair. But not now.

He remembered the Emperor treating the Montefeltra magic stones as if it were imperial property. Lucas pressed closer to the crown prince, unwilling to let his scent overpower him.

Theobald was shocked, not realizing that his scent was being pushed away.

“All of the magic stones belonged to Montefeltra?

He hadn’t known that, not even when he had authorized its distribution. Even his father, the Emperor, hadn’t told him.

He was speechless at the sudden truth. Lucas gave him a knowing look.

“Don’t think you know everything.”

Feeling deeply defeated, Theobald could barely breathe in his humiliation. He stared at Lucas, whose freckled face had turned pale.

Something was wrong, he couldn’t help but realize.

“There’s no way your empire can hold my family back anymore. And besides, I intend to break an old oath and make my territory independent. And I don’t need the emperor’s permission, so…….”

Lucas’s voice dropped to an explanatory tone.

“Don’t you dare think that you can interfere with our marriage.”

Lucas’s scent wafted in as he spoke, and Theobald’s breath caught in his throat as if he’d been strangled.

His words had a fragrance, like a force of some kind. It was as if an intangible force was weighing him down.

In undeniable defeat, Theobald fell to his knees.

Meanwhile, Heinrich wandered the halls looking for the missing Charlotte.

“Why do you disappoint me?”

He hoped Charlotte was resting in her room. There was no way he couldn’t see her eyes darting around.

Despite this, Heinrich still held onto his last hope. He hoped that she would give him her trust.

Ignoring the greetings of the employees, Heinrich made his way out to the sponsorship area. He pushed away a servant who tried to stop him from opening the door to the guests, and hurriedly moved forward.

Then he heard a scream from around the corner.

“Kyaaah”

“What’s wrong? If you do that, it seems like I have to beat you up.”

“Are you crazy?”

“Why am I crazy? You are the crazy one.”

“Alfonso Lou Beniere!”

Charlotte shouted in a high-pitched voice. Alfonso, who was holding onto her hair and not letting go, grinned.

“Why are you calling me?”

It would have been better if he had a fierce expression. Unlike the hand that twisted her hair without mercy, his face and voice were innocent.

“…….”

Frightened by the gap, Charlotte remembered being held captive by him. She couldn’t help but shiver.

Alfonso watched in fascination as her slender body shook with fear. He sighed with satisfaction that radiated from his toes.

The more Charlotte squirmed, the more he found it arousing. He grabbed her tightly molded hair and crushed her head.

“Argh!”

Charlotte, who was forced to kneel due to exhaustion, shed tears. Shedding false tears that did not reflect her true feelings was an easy task for her.

“’I, I was wrong.”

“What?”

Alfonso, who was pressing her head hard against his lower body, asked with a voice that was soaked in laughter.

Charlotte, who had to answer something, looked up with a pitiful expression.

“Everything.”

He could easily anticipate the answer he wanted. It was a skill she had learned while being confined in his house.

Sure enough, Alfonso whispered with a very satisfied face.

“What should you do if you get it wrong?”

Charlotte swallowed her saliva as she felt his hardened lower body. She thought of him who had stimulated her sweetly unlike punishment.

Her desire to refuse and her already twisted instinct collided. She remembered the way he’d stimulated her, so sweetly, so different from corporal punishment.

Alfonso quickly noticed that she was lost in thought and punished her.

“Charlotte.”

Like soothing a child, a gentle voice fell into Charlotte’s ears. She raised her hand to her cheek and looked at Alfonso with a bewildered face.

Alfonso, noticing her gaze, added,

“I think the previous punishment was too weak, so I increased the intensity. When I punished you lightly for your weak heart, you ran away, didn’t you?”

His eerie obsession-filled sky-blue eyes stared satisfactorily at her blushing white cheeks.

As he gently stroked her cheek with the back of his hand, Charlotte trembled. Even that pleased Alfonso, and his smile didn’t fade.

“Don’t be surprised. It’ll be okay once you get used to it. When you receive punishment, there are always rewards that come along with it. Sweet desserts, or dresses and accessories you wanted. Since I’ve increased the intensity, I should give you even better rewards, right?”

Whispering as if he knew how to pacify her, Alfonso spoke. Charlotte’s lips trembled without even thinking about how unfair it was.

She knew she had to answer quickly.

“Yeah, I unders…”

“What are you doing now?”

Heinrich, who had been observing their relationship, intervened belatedly. It was unbelievable. How did he treat Charlotte? How did he protect her…

But what on earth was this situation?

“Duke Frederick.”

Alfonso called out with a smirk. He turned his head towards Heinrich, who was glaring at him as if he would kill him, and said,

“Why did you think I did all this? What would happen if you dared to take what’s mine so casually? It’s audacious enough that you escaped alone. How dare you hide behind Duke Frederick. If you wanted to hide, you should have hidden well. Not bring it here.”

Heinrich gritted his teeth at the sarcasm in Alfonso’s voice.

“What kind of nonsense are you spouting, Marquis? How dare you lay a hand on anyone!”

Charlotte was surprised at Heinrich’s new side, as he’s always speaking politely and with a gentle voice.

Alfonso, as if it was not a big deal, shrugged his shoulders and grabbed her hair.

“Kyaaa!”

“Charlotte, you shouldn’t be deceived by that act. Sometimes you act so stupidly that I wonder if you’re really a noble. When you act so naively like this.”

“Stop it!”

As she shed tears of pain and grabbed her own head, Charlotte saw Heinrich rushing towards Alfonso.

Alfonso laughed as if he was going to die, amused by the fact that Heinrich was so pitiful. He grabbed him by the neck, but that was all.

“You’re a mess. I’ve seen many people who are blinded by love and ruin themselves.”

Alfonso smiled as he recalled the huge secret he had thrown at the Duke of Frederick.

“Once a bastard, always a bastard. As long as you can’t get rid of that, you’ll forever be a failure in the noble society!”

“Shut up!”

Heinrich swung his fist. Charlotte, who was watching the two fighting with clenched teeth, suddenly came to her senses.

She barely stood up on her wobbling legs and walked unsteadily. She was only filled with the thought that she had to get away from those two.

Now that she had taken over the role of the protagonist from Lila, she was supposed to be the mistress of this place.

The words ‘giving the protagonist position’ clearly meant giving up the position of the Duchess.

Before she could change her mind and call her a liar, she had to meet Lucas. In fact, he would understand her.

When Charlotte, who didn’t even know what she was thinking, tried to enter the mansion in a hurry, a dull sound rang out.

At the same time, her vision turned black. Charlotte felt a hot liquid covering her forehead in a situation where she couldn’t see anything in front of her.

“Ah…”

Pain rushed over her like fire. She grabbed her head and collapsed to the ground.

At some point, her crimson hair fell on the spot where Lucas had once protected Lila.

Out-of-focus golden eyes rolled chaotically, then disappeared into her eyelids. No one knew her condition.