Chapter 1

<The Lovely Grand Prince>

When he was young, Prince Lionel Blanc, our Young Master, was more often than not called by that awkward nickname rather than his own name.

As the only successor to the Grand Duchy where offsprings were precious, he received various kinds of expectations ever since his birth and easily met them.

“The Grand Prince must be a genius that only comes around once in a thousand years! It’s unbelievable that you’ve acquainted yourself with not only the Imperial language, but also foreign languages and a variety of disciplines…”

The best teachers that were attached to Young Master Lionel praised his brilliance unanimously. 

“To be honest, I don’t know if there’s anything else that I can teach you.”

The swordsmanship teacher, a former commander of the Imperial guard, admired the Young Master’s extraordinary talent every time.

The prince had also displayed excellent ability in administrative affairs. He was only eleven when he reorganised the capital of the Grand Duchy to prevent the spread of the epidemic that swept through the Empire. 

The young Prince, who hasn’t even held his coming of age yet, is… What is it called?… Yeah! He’s a ‘fraudulent character’.

However, when a person was too outstanding, controversies would arise. 

When dangerous rumours of him becoming the next emperor began to emerge, the Grand Ducal couple paid special attention to prevent rumours of their son from leaking out of the Grand Duchy.

The efforts were overshadowed, and soon after, the Prince became known throughout the Empire. The reason he became famous is none other than…….

It was because of his handsome appearance that was even called the sun god appearing in the flesh.

The day after the Young Master’s first appearance at the Imperial Ball, the capital square was filled with requests for a portrait of Prince Blanc.

“If you don’t have any Young Lady to communicate with, would you be willing to exchange letters with me?”

“When would I be able to see you again? I’d heard that you have a full schedule while you’re in the capital. Can you invite me to the Grand Duchy next time?”

From Young Ladies of the same age to heads of families, annoyingly persistent attention followed him throughout his stay in the capital.

It must have been very annoying, but the kind prince had always treated others with a smile on his face.

However, since ‘That Day’, the ‘Lovely Grand Prince’ became a completely different person.

“Shouldn’t you be telling me what ‘That Day’ was? You’re so nasty and unkind.”

A youthful woman, perhaps still a girl, opened the bookshelf with an indifferent gaze and let out a sigh filled with annoyance.

However, knowing the enemy and yourself would get you unscathed through a hundred battles. To know more about the enemy, she could only endure this irritation.

As the woman shook off the dust that was covering the edge of the book, she continued to read.

“Kill.”

That was the speaking habit of Young Master Lionel, who became an adult. ‘Kill’, and countless lives were lost by the words that were casually uttered.

“If only Mr. Lionel would give an innocent smile once more as he did before.”

After the useless wish, the diary ended there with no further entries. As Atalante closed the old diary, she let out a light sigh.

That tyrant had laughed innocently like an angel when he was young, so the dog that’s passing by laughed.

As scornful laughter resounded, she took a sip of pink coloured tea.

Verik tea, which was good for children. Although I had never wanted to have children, Atalante didn’t hesitate to drink the tea, which had an obvious purpose.

It takes two hands to clap and make a sound, so if they don’t live as a married couple, how can a child be created?

“This was taken out of Lionel’s study with much difficulty, but there isn’t much content to it.”

Tsk. As Atalante lightly clicked her tongue, she placed her chin in a hand and turned her gaze towards the well-decorated garden.

She found the roses that bloomed everywhere, resembling her red hair, very pretty. The problem was that unlike the beautiful scenery, Atalante’s wasn’t in a good mood.

Today marks exactly a month after she became the Grand Duchess and started living in Blanc Castle.

Which meant that it’s been more than a month since she had held a weapon.

The hands that were trapped in gloves woven with delicate lace felt very empty. Revolver, musket, rifle, it doesn’t matter which, as long as she could fire a shot once…

It was a chicken instead of a pheasant, but Atalante stretched out her hand and shot the bird that was sitting on a tree with her finger.

“Bang!”

Even though she had accurately fired a finger gun at her target, the bird shook its head before flying away leisurely. It was a matter of course. There’s no way a bullet would come out of her fingertips.

As she sighed, a familiar scent reached the tip of her nose.

It was a fragrance that was stronger than all kinds of precious flower fragrances… To Atalante’s knowledge, there was only one person in this world that would smell like this.

“Wife.”

‘As expected.’

With that thought in mind, Atalante turned her head toward the source of the voice.

Brilliant silver hair shone under the sunlight. Thanks to that, it had even caused her to feel like her eyes were stinging.

“Atalante.”

As she looked at her husband, who appeared in an unnecessarily splendid manner, Atalante frowned inadvertently.

“You don’t have to check my hearing, as my ears are working fine. Why do you always call me twice?”

Atalante grumbled annoyedly, but her husband, Grand Duke Lionel Blanc, smiled happily at the sound of his wife’s rebuke.

“I like calling you both by ‘wife’ and by your name.”

“What did you just say?”

“To me, it wouldn’t be enough to call you as such for the rest of my life. Neither the title of ‘wife’, nor the pretty name ‘Atalante’.”

After whispering affectionately, he lowered his head and made eye contact with Atalante. He then gave a deep smile once again.

A small faintly shining dot protruded slightly underneath the sky-colored eyes.

His features were so beautiful that she would sometimes forget that he had a mole on his white cheek. But in many ways, Lionel’s appearance was too white.

Her least favourite colour was white. Atalante preferred a pitch black colour.

For example, something like a gun.

Atalante pushed his shapely forehead with her index finger, and gave a warning in a low voice.

“I told you not to say anything cheesy.”

“Which part made you cringe? If you’d let me know I’ll fix it right away, wife.”

Atalante, he didn’t forget to add her name, and looked up at his wife with an apologetic expression.

‘That’s to say, it’s that part.’

After Atalante swallowed down the words on the tip of her tongue, glanced at the opposite seat. It meant to go and sit down.

As soon as she blinked, Lionel seated himself in the place designated by his wife, and glanced at Atalante and smiled. It was like he’s a puppy waiting for a compliment from its owner.

She would be unaffected, even if he looked at her with sparkling eyes though?

“I’ve told you many times, everything that Your Highness says makes me cringe.”

Those words also meant for him to not talk to her. But the Grand Duke didn’t seem to have been affected by her words, and replied with, “Is that so.”

“Ah!”

Soon after the odd exclamation, the Grand Duke suddenly began to flap his hands.

“What is he doing?”

As Lionel repeated the strange gestures in front of her eyes, it offended Atalante as much as him talking nonsense.

How could a person’s every gesture get on her nerves so much, to the point where she felt that he was unswerving from start to finish?

Atalante stared at the Grand Duke, who was fumbling with his mouth and waving his hands, and eventually lifted the white flag.

“Just say it.”

When her permission was granted, Lionel opened his mouth as if he had been waiting.

“I love my wife very much.”

“Si…”

Atalante, who had almost spoken vulgarly, barely managed to control her mouth.

It was such an unreasonable act for the Grand Duke of Blanc to be smiling helplessly and confessing his love to his wife. No wonder that there were rumours claiming that the Grand Duke has gone insane.

‘It’s the truth that he had gone insane. The reason why that man is acting like that is because of the medicine.’

Love potion.

The reason why Lionel had blindly fell in love with Atalante was due to that unamusing medicine.

There wasn’t any contact between the two of them until that medicine was ingested. As the life they were leading was completely different.

The only similarities that they shared were that both of them, who were notorious in their respective positions, had the nickname of ‘villain’.

The fact that a villain as remarkable as her loved her so ardently was… In summary, it sucks.

“Have you grown fonder of me today?”

Lionel, who didn’t miss an opportunity to pour the tea, asked this question as often as a wife would normally say her greetings. He asked it every single day without fail.

He asked if I had grown fonder of him today.

Of course, his wife’s answer would be the same every time.

“Not at all.”

Lionel was not disappointed even though he heard a rather hurtful answer. Rather, he was beaming brightly and looked at Atalante with an affectionate gaze.

“Without a doubt. you’d be fonder of me tomorrow.”

The following words from the Grand Duke were very confident, she couldn’t bear to answer with a negative.

Instead, Atalante stretched out her arm towards Lionel. At the end of her arm was the white finger gun that aimed for a bird earlier.

Blinking in momentary surprise, the Grand Duke soon smiled brightly and raised his arms to declare his surrender.

But Atalante did not laugh. The more Lionel’s mouth curved into a playful smile, the deeper the furrowing of her brows.

“I might kill you one day.”

Still in the pose of shooting at him, Atalante spoke harshly. When her members are safe, when the antidote that will bring the Grand Duke back to his senses is completed, and…

“When I figure out your secret.”

Whether he liked it or not, the moment where she had to shoot that man may approach soon.

Suddenly, she thought about the bloody battle that took place against the Grand Duke in a dark bedroom, and her lower abdomen grew warm.

It was just for a moment, but the Grand Duke’s eyes turned chilly. However, it was literally instantaneous before a sweet smile that she’d only see on the Grand Duke’s face appeared.

His following words were as sweet and suffocating as his eyes.

“I’d die willingly if it was by your hand.”