CH 15

“My wife said nothing but greetings to the Countess,” Sylvester was irritated. At his words, Callian squinted his eyes.

“So, are you saying that Ophelia is not to blame?”

Sylvester replied firmly, “Yes.”

‘Oh my God’ I didn’t think Sylvester would talk back like this, so I felt a strange reassurance. I looked at Sylvester with a look that meant “Good job”.

However… 

“The only fault my wife has is her scary face.”

“…”

Was he ruining the moment? Yes, he ruined the moment. I stared at Sylvester because I was dumbfounded, but he only shrugged his shoulders. “Anyway, my wife doesn’t seem to be at fault, so I don’t understand why Your Highness is so angry.”

Callian gave Sylvester a sharp look, “Are you done talking?”

“No,” Sylvester went on quickly, “even if my wife did do something wrong, it would be wrong for Your Highness to be so angry at the both of us. At the very least, you should have left me out.”

“Why would that be?” I asked purely out of curiosity. 

Sylvester answered casually, “I’m busy, you’re free.”

“Are you defending me, or are you helping him?”

“I’m defending you enough.”

“I don’t think so,” I muttered, but I stopped talking the moment I noticed Callian’s gaze that shot through the both of us. It looked as if he was going to order for an execution. 

“I commanded Ophelia to never talk to Fleur again!”

Except that was not what happened! She said hello first, so I was so confused as to why he was even telling me that.

“But you didn’t follow my orders, didn’t you? I think defying the Crown Prince’s orders is a good enough reason to be punished.”

Sylvester looked down at me, leaving the fluttering Callian behind. I didn’t know this would happen, so I looked at Sylvester, trying to tell him that the Crown Prince was being unfair. His brows narrowed, “How can you order people not to greet each other?”

“Think about what your wife has done to Fleur!”

“I don’t know. You’ve never been convicted for it before, have you?”

That was true. In the original novel, Ophelia was never punished for her wrongdoings all thanks to the power of the Duke of Ryzen. Callian knew this well and crumpled his face.

“So this is how you’re going to be, Duke.”

“I’ve always been like this,” Sylvester shrugged his shoulders as if he didn’t care.

“Duke,” Callian gritted his teeth with his fists clenched, “don’t you think this is too much?

“Well,” Sylvester smiled as if he had waited for this, “if it’s too presumptuous for me to defend my wife,” he raised an eyebrow at the prince, “wouldn’t it also be too presumptuous for Your Highness to get angry in place of the Countess who is wed to another man?”

“Sylvester Ryzen!” Callian screamed and quickly turned his attention to Fleur, and just as expected Fleur lifted her palm to her mouth, eyes dripping with even greater tears.

“How could you say that!”

“Fleur!”

And she ran out of the room. A tragic heroine indeed. The reason why she ran out like that was simple—everything Sylvester said was true. Fleur had not yet been divorced, they were only in the middle of separation, but because of that, she could meet up with Callian often, and the Crown Prince could also keep inviting her to his castle. However, despite the fairytale love story they had, she was still a married woman. That is why public criticism was completely unavoidable. Just like now.

“Crazy,” Callian chewed his lips and swept his hair away from his face. “I won’t let it slide this time,” he said, glaring at the both of us/

Look, I just apologized, but—.

‘But Callian never acknowledged me.’

“Just wait for me, I’ll make sure to teach you a lesson!” Then he went out running after Fleur, leaving Sylvester in the drawing room, who was somehow angry.

******

“Fleur!” Callian ran after her and grabbed her wrist, “I won’t ever let them go, I promise!” and he meant it. He was that angry. That day, Callian had been in a bad mood since morning, because Ophelia Ryzen delivered a strange letter to him; the letter mentioned his mother’s name, Margaret. The signature was also the same as the one he saw in his mother’s diary back when he was a child and it didn’t seem like it was forged.

He finally found his mother’s last letter after all this time. It was overwhelming, but it made him feel unpleasant because it was Ophelia Ryzen who brought him the letter. She was a wicked woman, a woman he never even wanted to see in his line of sight.

‘How does she have my mother’s letter?’

It was obvious that she had extorted a letter from someone, so Callian refused to allow Ophelia to enter. He thought it would be enough to find out where she got the letter from, but even with this judgment, he still didn’t feel good.

On the other hand, Fleur was still in tears. She said she had exhausted too much energy while talking to Ophelia, making Callian angry beyond belief.

‘How dare you disobey my orders?’

That was why he called over the Ryzen couple—to give them a hard time—but what happened instead? His plan backfired and he ended up dragging Fleur into it. It was like someone was feeding him whispers aimed to humble him as the Crown Prince.

“I swear, I promise. I’ll put everything on the line and take the Duke Ryzen down, okay?”

Fleur looked at Callian tearfully, “Your Highness,” she buried her face in Callian’s arms. “It’s okay when insults are thrown at me, but I don’t want to hear bad things about Your Highness because of me.”

Callian furrowed his eyebrows. He patted Fleur on the back, sighing, “How is it okay to say such things about you? It’s not okay at all.”

“But—”

“How can you be this kind?” He had complete faith in Fleur; she was the woman who saved him when he was at his lowest, the woman who took care of him for nothing in exchange. Who else would he trust and rely on this much? Callian was drenched in Fleur. “Don’t focus too much on this matter, I’ll handle it.”

“No, you can’t,” Fleur shook her head. “The Duke of Ryzen is the head of the aristocracy. As long as he’s in opposition to Your Highness, you can’t touch him recklessly—”

“Fleur.”

“I don’t want to cause you any trouble—.”

“Don’t say that.” Callian hugged Fleur tight. “How could you ever be a nuisance to me?” He removed himself from Fleur and wiped her wet cheeks. “Don’t cry, please, my heart breaks when you cry.” Again, Callian vowed, comforting the whimpering Fleur, “I will punish her somehow, so stop crying, I’m so sorry.”

Fleur dropped her head and took a deep breath, “Thank you, Your Highness.” And went back into his arms. Callian hugged her tightly, so he couldn’t see Fleur’s face.

He couldn’t see the expression she wore while buried in his arms.

******

Sylvester and I were inside the drawing-room with only the two of us left. Ophelia smacked her lips. “You left them a very villainous line,” I said, scratching my cheek. I said it so casually, maybe that was why Sylvester was so angry.

“Why were you just standing still?”

“Yes?”

“If it felt like they were being unfair, you should have gotten angrier! What if he was just throwing a childish tantrum at you and you actually didn’t do anything wrong?”

“No, why are you annoyed with me—”

Leaving the confused Ophelia behind, Sylvester rubbed his head and loosened his necktie. He felt strangely awful because of how Callian got mad at Ophelia. He didn’t have to think about it too much, whether she was cursed at or not had nothing to do with him, and yet he felt strangely awful that day.

‘I wonder why?’

Sylvester, who had been mulling over the feeling, replied, “If you want someone to curse at you, I’ll do it.” If he was going to let go of the problem, he would’ve, but he was in a bad mood, so he didn’t. “Don’t let others swear at you,” Sylvester looked at Ophelia and said. 

Ophelia did not hide her expression of bewilderment, “Should I have been angry then?” She glanced at Sylvester carefully, “I’m going to seduce the Crown Prince, that’s why I managed to put up with wanting to destroy everything out of anger.”

That was true. Sylvester closed his mouth for a while until a soft sigh flowed out of his lips that had been closed.

“Why are you so angry? Now I’m a bit more embarrassed.”

Sylvester was speechless at the moment. Why was he so angry? This, too, was answered by him, 

“I have to act as if I care about you so that the Crown Prince will be alert. I told you.”

This was to make the Crown Prince more interested in Ophelia. No other reason. Sylvester thought so and said so, but Ophelia didn’t seem to believe it.

“But you’re a bit too upset for that, aren’t you?”

“I have anger issues. Didn’t you know?”

“…”

‘Make it make sense.’ Ophelia looked at Sylvester with her mouth half-open, but Sylvester still hasn’t changed his expression at all. He only stared at the door where Callian had left.

“I wonder how it’s going to turn out,” Sylvester murmured, “Well, no matter how it turns out, I won’t stand still.”