CH 85

Chapter 85: the choice is yours

If you read this on other websites, it means it was stolen. Read the translation only on itsladygrey.wordpress.com.

I walked down the hallway. It was dark here because it was quite far from the ballroom hall. Fortunately, because the ball was still in full swing, the knights and the guests were in the hall, no one was around.

I took a deep breath and cooled my head. All right, let’s do abdominal breathing. I was inhaling and exhaling deeply for about four or five times until I heard footsteps coming closer.

I turned my head to see if it was Sigren who came. Fortunately, it wasn’t.

‘But meeting this person was also a problem.’

I kept calm as I thought about it.

The trash of society.

“I’ve met the Crown Prince.”

Crown Prince Enoch was walking with a strangely confident face. 

Well, I couldn’t see him in a good light since my first impression of him was when he was flirting with Livya Priscilla. In addition to that, he had a fight with Sigren. But somehow, I was kinda amazed that he was held by Sigren in the neck yet stayed intact. It seemed like he stayed still at that time, 

“Lady Fiona, long time no see.”

“Ah, I apologize. Have I ever met Your Highness?” I was as sarcastic as allowable. 

Actually, except for the worst first impression, there was no formal exchange of greeting with the crown prince. Abel stopped it. It was then I realized that the crown prince had approached me because Abel was not present.

‘Abel! Come quickly!’

The crown prince’s eyebrows furrowed subtly.

Well, what.

“I’m sorry to hear that, but I’ve sent a present to the Lady. I don’t know if it arrived well.”

“Yes?”

Present? I never received anything from the royal family?

‘Ah, wait.’

Did the present mean literally a present?

I frowned. There was one that happened recently. I recalled one piece of information I got from holding the head of the mercenary guild leader down a while ago.

‘The client is above Heilon.’

Ah, crazy shit. So it was the crown prince who commissioned the hit. But why the hell?

For once I kept calm.

“Have I ever done anything wrong to your highness?”

“Yeah, but more than that, it’s Sigren. That fucker is the problem.”

I grinded my teeth inside. 

‘Fucker he said. You better get the name straight.’

The crown prince smiled mischievously.

“It was a surprise gift, unfortunate that the desired result did not come out.”

It was obvious why this guy was revealing this fact in front of me like this. He’s trying to provoke me.

‘There is no solid evidence.’

Even if I backtrack to the mercenary guild, the traces would be cut off in the middle. It won’t lead to the crown prince. Even though there was suspicion, it was impossible to question the crown prince since there was no clear evidence. He honestly had enough brains to not use his own hands.

‘So annoying…’

It was a childish and stupid provocation. Still, I couldn’t help but get angry. After the two encounters with the crown prince, I concluded that he was my enemy. I would pay him back several times more as soon as I got a chance.

The crown prince chuckled.

“You must have been surprised by my sudden gift. It’s just a little joke, so don’t be afraid. Also, I think well of Lady Fiona, unlike Duke Abel.”

‘I wasn’t scared, I was annoyed.’

Even if I were an ordinary noble girl, I wouldn’t be afraid of a few ordinary mercenaries.

The crown prince tried to put his hand to my face slowly.

“So, as long as you stay calm—”

I slapped his hand and smiled softly. 

“Oh, I apologize. There’s a bug sitting on it.”

The crown prince’s expression was distorted.

“How dare you be rude!”

I crossed my arms and looked around. There was still no sign of people. 

“Are you this rude because you thought Duke Abel cared a little about … or because you believe Sigren would protect you in the event of an emergency?!”

I remembered the ending of the crown prince. He had power struggles with Sigren after the emperor died, but eventually, he was killed by Sigren’s hands.

Well, thinking about his death calmed me down.

“I protect my own body.”

“Heh, yes, you’re just a bunch of illegitimate kids….”

“…”

I was speechless for a moment. Look at the way he talked. 

The crown prince must have had this high attitude because he misinterpreted my reaction. “Or, perhaps, Duke Abel was also seduced with that body? I thought it was suspicious that he cared for you even though you are not of his real blood…”

My patience was over after hearing his cursing. 

“My answer is this.”

Dug!

I kicked the crown prince’s knee.

“AGH!”

The crown prince wrapped his hands around his knees and jumped around.

Seeing that, I smiled generously.

“Well, now, because of you, Your Highness, I understand. There are people in the world who spit shit out of their mouths rather than words.”

The crown prince’s face turned red from the insult. He waved his hand to slap me on the cheek.

Heh, of course, I avoided it. My reflexes were pretty decent. I was only inferior to Abel and Sigren. Well, let’s not compare me with those two, because their physical abilities were absolutely not at human level in the first place. 

He was raging mad. “Do you think you’ll be fine when you have touched the royal family like this? You must be punished for four years—”

“Oh my~, you can talk about it, your highness.” 

I laughed softly. 

“Go and tell people with your own mouth. You had a quarrel with a woman who is inferior and weaker than you, and you were beaten unilaterally.”

It was just me and the crown prince here now. In order to reveal this, he must speak for himself.

‘That noble young girl hit me!’

I was sure that the crown prince wouldn’t be able to speak directly with his mouth. He was too proud of himself. He wouldn’t be able to talk about how he was beaten by a woman who looked weaker than him without even using her hand. 

“….”

The crown prince glared at me with a deadly face.

I grinned because that bloodthirstiness was just at the cute level. 

“Or should I tell people instead?”

“You’re arrogant.”

“You’re right.”

I could actually be as cheeky as I want. 

The crown prince pointed his finger. 

“You don’t seem to know the world here since you grew up in a corner of the countryside. You must think Sigren could do something. You’ll cry for mercy at my feet later!”

It was truly a third-class insult. 

I pretended to yawn. 

As expected, he seemed to be more upset about that. 

The crown prince tried to catch me a few more times, but he couldn’t. Because I lightly avoided him. But obviously, at this point in time, his anger would have been dominating his head. And proceeded to use more violence just like he used his strength on Livya. Well, but I could defend myself.

“What are you doing?”

Then, someone grabbed the crown prince’s arm.

I opened my eyes wide. 

It was a murderous Sigren.

Oh gosh, everytime he got really mad, I couldn’t help but get a little scared, too.

“Uh, playing tag?”

“…”

I was just saying that to relax his expression, but it didn’t seem to work. 

The crown prince shouted, waving his hand.

“Let go of my hand right now!!”

He shouldn’t worry about his arm now. When Sigren was angry like that, even monsters weren’t safe.

I held Sigren’s other arm to stop him from doing something. Like this, he could not hit the crown prince. If it was me who hit the crown prince, there would be only bruises. And it would make him embarrassed to go anywhere and I could brag that he got hit by me. However, if Sigren decided to use his strength, crown prince’s bones would no longer be intact in his body. If the crown prince was injured that much, it would definitely be a problem.

‘I have to quietly pay him back for this annoying matter later on!’

Sigren knew that too, so he gritted his teeth and shoved the crown prince away. 

I patted Sigren on the back and spoke seriously to the staggering crown prince.

“Your highness, next time, I hope you will spit out words, instead of poop.”

“…!”

I heard the crown prince running away wildly behind me. Perhaps, because of Sigren, he no longer could use violence like before. 

What a cowardly crown prince.

‘It’ll be more annoying in the future.’

I sighed thinking about that little provocation.