Chapter 31

***

Raphael raised his hands in front of him and quietly stared at them. He was like a scholar who was facing a profound problem.

He looked at his hands, not realizing that the strongly brewed tea on his desk was cooling. He was so focused that he didn’t even notice Jeremy looking at him weirdly from the side.

That was just how much it had affected him.

He went through a life-changing event today and was deeply troubled.

‘The contact was not unpleasant.’

For Raphael, that statement had great implications.

It was the first time that he felt something like this, and the person who had made him feel that way was Princess Cayena.

‘Am I better now?’

Could it be that he no longer had a revulsion to touching people?

He experimented right away.

“Jeremy.”

Jeremy, who was looking at Raphael’s unusual behavior with suspicious eyes, was caught off guard.

“Y, yes! Go ahead.”

Raphael stretched out his hand toward Jeremy.

Jeremy tried for a moment to interpret what that hand meant.

Hm. He had no idea.

He gave up on coming up with an interpretation and asked, “…What do you want me to give you?”

“Hold my hand.”

Jeremy was disconcerted.

In the study, the two were alone. His master’s weird behavior, and his peculiar request…

Jeremy carefully reached out his hands. The two men held hands. Anybody who saw the scene would think it strange.

“……”

Raphael felt like hives were breaking out all over his body.

He pulled off his hand as if he couldn’t hold on.

Jeremy, who felt somehow mistreated, bitterly took away his hand.

It was the first time that Raphael had asked him to hold his hand since he became his assistant.

‘Why did he suddenly do that…?’

There were often times when his master acted on a whim. It was definitely because he had a weird side to him.

‘Did something happen with Her Highness?’

Jeremy had heard that Raphael escorted Princess Cayena.

Jeremy turned to Raphael, wondering if he would see some pink, flowery atmosphere around him, but his master was as dry as usual.

There was no sweet excitement of a boy’s first puppy love.

Black hair, red eyes, and a perfectly polished, practical face.

A mouth without the hint of a smile. It looked like an extremely dry desert.

Baston had repeatedly insisted that there was something between Raphael and Cayena.

Jeremy shook his head.

‘It can’t be.’

Raphael in love? He couldn’t even imagine it.

“Jeremy.”

Then, Raphael called him.

“Yes, sir.”

He wouldn’t ask for a hug this time, would he?

Jeremy waited quietly for Raphael’s next words.

“Do you know anything about Henverton Gillian?”

“Henverton Gillian?”

Of course he knew. Henverton Gillian was the son of one of the Kedreys’ vassals and the next successor to the Gillian viscounty.

“Yes. He’s the eldest son of Viscount Gillian. I hear that he’s taking lessons to prepare for succession these days.”

“Is he single?”

“He is. He had a fiancée, but they broke up about two months ago. That was probably after he danced with Her Highness Cayena in the banquet hall…” Jeremy said. Then, he frowned.

‘I’d also heard that the Gillian heir acted discourteously to Her Highness today.’

He never really looked kindly upon the Gillian family in the first place.

Viscount Gillian was known to be shameless, with more than five mistresses.

And his son, Henverton, was known to mix with bad company.

“Find out more about that man.”

It was unexpected, but Jeremy soon replied, bowing his head.

“I will heed your order.”

It was natural that Raphael needed to know about Henverton Gillian, the successor to the duchy’s vassal.

Of course, Raphael never ordered him to investigate someone for no reason.

‘What the hell did Henverton Gillian do?’

Raphael could not forget the expression of fear that Cayena made today.

He also remembered the reassured expression that she made after seeing him.

“……”

Something inside his body felt itchy.

***

Cayena was very tired after being outside for a long time. It even rained, so her body more exhausted.

“I will go prepare a bath.”

Vera saw her exhaustion and left to draw the bath water and get the products.

Cayena leaned against the sofa and touched her forehead.

A sharp memory related to Gillian crept up.

‘Let’s not think about useless things.’

It was better to forget bad memories.

Anyway, she intended to never get involved with him in this life. She was going to create and marry an illusion, then leave behind her position as the world’s main villain.

Viscount Gillian’s family had great influence in the empire because they produced warhorses.

She couldn’t touch Gillian if she wanted Raphael’s cooperation.

‘But if I had to, I could take him down.’

In the very short time when Cayena lived as Viscountess Gillian, she discovered several problems with the family.

‘I don’t want to increase the time I spend in the palace by doing such a thing, though.’

She just wanted to live the rest of her life quietly in the countryside, where the scenery was calm and the sunrise and sunset were beautiful.

She’d been through too many things.

In an empty bedroom, Cayena looked over the tapestry on the wall and said in a slightly choked voice, “Why don’t you stop now, Rezef?”

***

After Cayena collapsed after eating a nut cookie, Rezef was ordered to stay in probation indefinitely and was locked in his bedroom.

Knights had been stationed from the drawing room to the hallway to prevent him from leaving.

He recalled the eyes of the Emperor, who looked at him and thought him pathetic.

“Someday, I’ll kill them all!”

“Your Highness! Saying that kind of thing…!”

Rezef couldn’t overcome his anger. He began to yell and destroy the room.

“Ahh!”

One after another, servants fell as they were hit by the objects he threw.

Rezef didn’t care at all. They were expendable, anyway. Only those with noble blood could be treated as humans.

That was what the Emperor had taught him.

“Y, your Highness! Please compose yourself!”

With varying degrees of injury, the wounded servants continued to pour out of Rezef’s bedroom.

However, a new servant was pushed in to replace them each time because the prince’s room could not be left unattended.

The people around them even told the servants to leave a will, just in case.

“If His Majesty hears of this, things will only get worse.”

It was the first time Zenon saw the prince go crazy like this.

As it is, the possibility that the prince he supported would be deposed by the emperor could not be ignored. It was something that should never happen.

“Shut up!”

Rezef was aggressive and violent. There seemed to be nothing that could stop him.

‘He’s acting like some sort of pathetic beggar…’

Zenon went outside to summon the nobles.

Rezef barely calmed down after everything became messed up. The servants who were holding their breaths began to clear the room.

‘What the hell went wrong?’

Should he have assassinated Emperor Esteban before, even if it was unreasonable?

He didn’t have a speck of affection for his father. That was why he did not hesitate to think of something so cold-blooded and cruel.

Shortly after, though, his indefinite probation was reduced to ten days.

“They say that Her Highness is kneeling in the middle of the castle to petition the Emperor,” said Zenon, who had access to Rezef’s chambers.

He also said that soon after, the authority over the internal affairs was temporarily transferred to Cayena.

As if everything had been arranged, it was all progressing in order.

His position was shrinking.

“The Emperor…!”

The forces that he built up were not an illusion.

Still, the Emperor treated Rezef as if he had no power.

If he was truly his son, he wouldn’t do this. He was treating him as the product of a dishonest act, but wasn’t the Emperor himself the one who made the mistake?

The emperor’s eyes were always cold.

He despised him. Rezef couldn’t understand when he was just a child. He had no intention of being understanding now.

‘I don’t even have to wait. I’ll take the throne myself.’

A day passed while he was locked up in the room.

He heard the news that his sister came to visit him.

‘Yes, of course. Cayena can’t be without me.’

Now, she would say that having power over the internal affairs is too much.

She would be the candle that burned to light up Rezef.

However, Cayena did not give up her authority.

It was weird. She would never have done that, would she?

~~~