CH 216

“No, no. I made a mistake.”

Thankfully he understands. Sabina loosened her fist. She looked at the man in amazement before spitting out a word.

“To laugh at the sight of people being beaten is quite a bad taste.”

Then he laughs even more.

Sabina had never seen anyone whose laughter was so profane in her life.

‘The face…….’

Sabina had to admit after scanning the man’s appearance up and down.

‘…… He’s filthy handsome.’

Black hair contrasted with pale skin and obsidian-like eyes that seemed to have absorbed all light.

It was a combination of colors that looked neat. However, because of the exceptionally reddish lips and eyes, the man gave off a strange atmosphere.

In particular, the languid eyes were the highlight. Along with the color around the eyes, it gave a sad feeling for some reason.

‘He’s not that bulky at all.’

Tall height, shoulders and chest that are close to a soldier’s.

Even though he had a manly appearance, the first impression was that he was strangely beautiful.

A person of unparalleled beauty with both classical beauty and splendid beauty.

‘A friend of the Grand Prince? Or is it like a face madam* who helps by his side?’

Sabina, who had never set foot in the social world before, did not recognize who she was talking with. She didn’t know much about the ecology of the nobility.

Perhaps that’s why.

She was able to speak naturally with this helpless-looking drunkard like a friend she had met in years.

“Are you going to keep standing there?”

But the man who got up from his seat grabbed her hand without hesitation and pulled her.

Sabina, startled by it, tried to shake him off, but the man was faster. He lifted her with one hand and pulled her into the seat across from him.

“Get comfortable. It’ll be a long trip.”

The man tapped the coachman’s side of the wall, and the carriage started immediately.

Sabina sat down in her seat, blankly looking down at her own hand.

She then raised her head.

‘Huh.’

He seemed unaware that he had committed an unscrupulous(?) act. He leaned back in his seat, and nonchalantly closed his eyes.

Sabina, who had been frozen for a while, managed to get the words out.

“What are you doing?”

The man was resting his arm on the handle of his seat, his head slightly raised and his eyes narrowed.

“What?”

“Who said you could hold my hand?”

Sabina had little contact with strangers, let alone members of the opposite sex.

She had never been out of the family, and she had lived while being ignored by the family, so she had never been properly escorted.

So of course, she reacted sensitively.

“Were you offended?”

“Are you kidding me?”

“It’s troubling…”

Troubling? What the hell? When she pursed her lips to ask, he spoke first.

“We have to do worse.”

The man reached out his hand and touched her fingertips, playfully curving his eyes.

“Get used to it quickly.”

Only then did Sabina realize that this man was Tristan Valentine, the Grand Prince.

‘I want to kill you…….’

What? She has to do worse? On whose permission?

Sabina trembled as she clenched her fists.

‘It hasn’t been long since we met, but you’re talking like that.’

He must have taken her for granted.

Or an easy-enough man who would say such words without hesitation to a woman he saw for the first time.

However, that didn’t mean she could swing her fist at the Grand Prince.

Because she was being sold.

“Your face looks like you want to kill me.”

He saw straight through her.

Sabina got startled and looked up at Tristan. She then noticed a smile on his lips and got more startled.

Is he crazy?

“Is this an unfamiliar treatment for you?”

“…”

“You don’t seem to have any intention of adapting to your circumstances.”

“You…”

Sabina managed to swallow the curse from escaping her mouth.

‘Until now, the reason I was able to treat the Grand Prince disrespectfully was because I didn’t know his true identity.’

Now that she has learned that he is the Grand Prince, her situation has changed.

They would marry soon, but Sabina was still an illegitimate child of the County.

An illegitimate child cannot enter the social world and cannot even be listed in the family. Even after she dies, she could not be buried in the family grave.

But her opponent is a person so high that if she hadn’t been sacrificed, she wouldn’t have even seen the hem of his clothes in her life.

‘That one over there seems to know that I’ve finally found out who he is.’

At first, he probably allowed her who didn’t know who she was talking to because it was funny. But now it’s different. He would not tolerate rudeness any longer.

Sabina swallowed her anger.

“I’m sorry, but we can’t afford a new bride. You have to get used to it.”

She is obviously a sacrifice. It doesn’t matter who she was, just give birth to a baby and die…….

She suppressed her anger as hard as she could and put on a casual face.

And she spoke in a calm voice.

“Are you saying that I should get used to it quickly and bear a successor?”

“Something like that.”

“You’re not willing to let me go because you can’t afford a new bride…”

Tristan smiled broadly. That means yes.

“A hand that had held the sword before.”

When did he……. Sabina frowned.

She remembered Tristan escorting her and brushing the calluses on her palms.

Just as people who study develop calluses on their middle fingers, sword holders also have distinctive calluses.

He recognized it quickly.

“Before you get to the Grand Duke’s castle, let me give you one piece of advice.”

His nonchalant gaze fell on Sabina. The pitch-black eyes that came upon her were like pits where no light could enter.

It was so deep. It was just black. She couldn’t see anything underneath.

“Give it up. Your dreams, your life, your future, your talents, your potential, everything.”

“…”

“Because Valentine’s is such a place.”

Conform and obey. Then you will feel comfortable.

“I promise you a more luxurious, splendid, and peaceful death than anyone else.”

Tristan whispered softly like a seducing devil.

When he said he wanted to bathe her in diamonds, she was more than willing to listen.

—

*face madam refers to the most beautiful or handsome people in the whole group