Chapter 97

“Crown Prince, why did you come today without notice?”

The Duke asked coldly.

There was an open expression of unpleasantness on his face.

The Crown Prince struggled to keep his smiling face.

“I came here because I was worried about Roxana being sick.”

“You didn’t have to, and you came without being invited.”

Stephen, who had just entered the parlor, approached and whispered into the Duke’s ear.

The corners of the Duke’s lips rose slightly at his words.

He turned his head and looked back at the Crown Prince.

“My daughter is not feeling well, so she says she can’t afford to see anyone.”

“You mean she is that sick?”

The Crown Prince asked curiously.

“It’s not your concern.”

The duke replied in a cold voice.

The Crown Prince scoffed.

Everyone knew that the duke loved his daughter.

If Roxana’s condition was really bad, he couldn’t be so carefree.

But what to do?

He (CP) couldn’t even get through those knights and go up to her room to check it out.

“Your Highness, once the engagement cancellation is officially over, I hope that you will refrain from calling my daughter’s name so freely. If other people hear it, they may misunderstand it.”

The Crown Prince’s smile hardened at the words the Duke added.

However, he quickly picked up the teacup with a calm face.

“Cancellation? What do you mean?”

“I understand that the engagement cancellation papers have been sent and Roxana has already told Your Highness. And yet you’re going to pretend you don’t know?”

“Nevertheless, I have something to say with Roxana on the matter.”

“If there is anything left to say, you can tell me.”

The Crown Prince removed a smile from his face.

Now that he came here, it was meaningless for him to maintain the pretense any longer.

He said coldly, raising the corners of his lips.

“I felt it every time, but you are too meddling in your grown daughter’s affairs.”

“Before the coming-of-age ceremony, I can’t say that she’s all grown up.”

When the duke responded with a calm face, the Crown Prince said sarcastically.

“For that matter, the two of you have been apart for a long time. From my memory, Roxana was very lonely because of that.”

The Duke’s face hardened.

As Roxana grew up, not being by her side was a thorn deep in his heart.

In the meantime, she remained alone in the capital and suffered unpleasant things and almost died.

The Crown Prince raised the corners of his lips crookedly and continued with a mocking voice.

“Last winter, when Roxana fell ill and you, her father, was not with her.”

The Crown Prince looked at the Duke and sighed in regret.

“You don’t know how sad it was to see her sweating in a cold sweat with her face as white as a blank sheet of paper. Of course, you wouldn’t know.”

The Duke got up from his seat abruptly with a stiff face.

“Just go back. It’s late.”

“It’s unpleasant. I’ve been here for a long time, but you kicked me out after I spoke the truth. How does the Duke treat guests like this?”

The Crown Prince put down the teacup with a clattering sound.

Still sitting, he frowned and looked up at the Duke.

And whoever my daughter chooses will be better than now, so I don’t want to get involved.”

“Oh, so you chose Elvin? How can you be so sure she’d be better off with him than me when his parents, the Grand Duke, can’t even handle him?”

“What did you just say?”

The Duke’s eyes went wide as I’d he couldn’t believe what he heard.

He quickly captured his expression, but the look of shock was evident.

Seeing him like that, the Crown Prince said sarcastically.

“Really, I thought you knew a little about it because you weren’t surprised, but I guess you didn’t.”

***

The sun began to set.

Dark clouds began to form in the sky, and the sun quickly disappeared.

Soon it started to rain.

In an inn room a little far from the capital, someone lit a fire.

Elvin took off his cloak, handed it to the man who appeared to be his servant, and sat down.

He lifted his head and looked outside in the rain.

Then he found a vase on the window sill and stared at it thoughtfully as if he was thinking about something.

The servant accepted the cloak from Elvin, and hung it on a hanger.

Then he looked towards him.

Elvin was sitting near the window, looking at the vase with red flowers in it.

His white face, which looked a little pale, was dyed with the scarlet light, and his red eyes, which seemed only cold, appeared warm.

Even though he had been watching him for years, every time he saw him, he was always so elegant without losing his dignity.

Even a man like him was amazed.

But now the faint smile on Elvin’s face was something he had never seen before.

His smile so far had been all about formality, cynicism, or ridicule.

But now, warmth and affection were felt in his gaze, and his lips were raised softly.

The servant was amazed. Did his owner have a smile like that?

As the usual sharp atmosphere was lifted, a gentleness that had never been seen before was added to his beautiful face, and the servant couldn’t take his eyes off him even more.

“Can I come in?”

Then, someone knocked on the door from outside.

Elvin said without looking at the source of the sound.

“Come in.”

After Elvin’s permission was granted, the door opened and a man entered the room.

He looked at Elvin and bent one knee.

“Captain, I have something to report.”

The man was dressed in plain clothes, but had a sword around his waist.

At first glance he looked like a mercenary, but his attitude and manner of speaking showed that he was a trained knight.

He was working as a servant at Hermes.

And he called Elvin captain.

“Tell me.”

Elvin said with a languid face.

When he woke up from his thoughts, his appearance was cold as before.

There was nowhere to be found the gentle atmosphere of a while ago but coldness and arrogance.

“Grand Duke of Croix was very angry that the captain had left without a word. He was furious and said that if you didn’t come back soon, he wouldn’t let it go this time.”

“If nothing special happened, then leave it. From now on, there is no need to disclose such trivial things. Anything else?”

The servant once again admired the courage of his master.

The Grand Duke (Elvin’s father) also had an unusual personality, but it seemed that he could not surpass his master.

“The recent movement towards the Petanya Kingdom has been unusual. It is said that riots have already begun in various parts of the kingdom. Maybe... sooner or later, war might break out.”