CH 22

Author: alyalia

Marquis Hamilton, who appeared like fate before me when I lived alone, married me under an alias. He left me behind, got married to Magorit, Delphina’s death, and… Even to my death at the hand of Magorit while Merilly was taken away by Kriella.

I tried hard to suppress my emotions and told my story calmly. It was a calm tone, but the area around my eyes gradually turned red.

“Ha…!” It was a story that made me laugh.

When Lobelia’s story finally ended, a look of astonishment spread across Frinel’s face. Only then did she know who the tomb’s owner was and why she cried so sadly.

“…I didn’t know that Marquis Hamilton was such a madman.”

“The word madman is not enough to describe him.”

I closed my eyes tightly, twitching my eyelashes in pain. Just thinking about the happy-looking Marquis Hamilton made my heart sink, and breathing was hard.

“I want to kill them.” I gulped dry saliva and flashed my eyes fiercely.

He looked at me and said in a low voice. “…With your power, it wouldn’t be difficult.”

“…But I can’t be a murder.” I raised my head toward Frinel. “Because I’m Merilly’s mother.”

“…Is it for your daughter’s sake that you want to be a noble?”

“…Yes. I want to come back proudly. And…”

“And?”

“If I show up as a princess, it would be able to give a big shock to Magorit and Kriella.”

At my words, his head tilted slightly. “What about Marquis Hamilton?”

“That person, I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

I kept my shut for a long time. Pressing down my temples as if my head was hurting, I lifted the teacup. After taking a sip of warm chamomile tea, my dizzy mind seemed to calm down a bit.

“I don’t know how long I lived with someone like that.” I made a self-helpful laugh at myself. “I don’t think I can communicate with him. Just imagining his dumb expression is disgusting.”

A light of relief somehow flashed over Frinel’s face at my reply.

“Well, of course. The best response is actually to avoid getting involved with such a crazy person.” He nodded vigorously and opened his mouth as if he had suddenly remembered something. “So… that’s why you were trying to buy people. To protect your child.”

“Yes.”

“That precious person must be your daughter named Merilly.”

“… That’s right.”

For some reason, the corners of Frinel’s mouth twitched. But now wasn’t the time to laugh. He took a deep breath and lowered his voice. “It must have been hard.”

“…It felt like I woke up the next day after I died, so it wasn’t that hard.”

Even though I held the anger which made my teeth tremble, I pretended nothing was wrong.

“…If that’s the case, I’m glad.” Frinel continued with a bitter smile. “Somehow, I think I know.”

“What?”

“The reason why I’m attracted to you.”

My shoulders trembled at the sudden confession.

“You are just like me.”

I slowly made eye contact with him. My figure was fully contained in Frinel’s blue eyes. It can’t go on like this. In those eyes, I could clearly see his affection toward me.

I shook my head slightly as if trying to come to my senses and threw my answer indifferently. “…What do you mean we look like? I think we’re different, like one to ten.”

“You’re pretending to be okay even though it hurts.”

At that moment, my hand that was tilting the teacup stopped.

“Since your child was taken away, that moment must have flashed in front of your eyes every day.” Darkness that didn’t match him fell over Frinel’s face. He added his words slowly. “I was like that too.”

I looked at Frinel without answering.

“I, too, right before my mother passed away…” His eyes trembled like waves. “Someone took my mother away from me.”

I could tell who it was without having to listen. The current empress.

“Even at a young age, I missed my mother every single day. I just knew it would break my heart. And when she finally died…”

He was a person who seemed to shine like the sun, but a darkness like an abyss crouched in his heart. The figure of Frinel, who still missed his mother, Merilly overlapped with him.

Feeling choked up for no reason, I gulped down the tea. I let out a small sigh that no one could hear, pouring the drink in front of me into my mouth.

“Huh, the atmosphere has become too heavy.”

Before I knew it, he returned to his original state and raised the corner of his mouth.

“Thank you for telling me your hard story, Lady Lobelia.”

“What?”

“Come to think of it, my mother also talked about a friend from the Shinsu clan. You and I have a very strange connection.”

“A friend from the Shinsu clan?”

“I can’t remember well because I was so young.”

“Umm, I see.”

I ignored Frinel’s words and turned my back. “By the way, Your Royal Highness.”

“Yes?”

“Are all men like that?”

“What?”

“Can they really not be satisfied with just one woman? I can’t understand the fact that they love two people.”

Frinel, who had blinked his eyes slowly, suddenly shouted at my words.

“…Of course, I’ll only meet one woman! Marquis Hamilton is the strange one!”

My eyes narrowed sideways as I looked at him in strange anger. “…But you’re seducing this woman and that woman.”

No matter how much acting it was, I wondered if there was a man who refused women. Frinel was also a man, so I just glared at him cutely.

Frinel barely uttered a word after a cold sweat. “…I’m single.”

“Ah, so if you’re not married, it doesn’t matter if you meet multiple people at once?”

“Lady Lobelia.”

“Yes.”

“You’ve told me your big secret, so I’ll tell you.”

“You don’t have to tell me that…” I hurriedly parted my lips.

If we told each other about our past and big secrets, our relationship could no longer be said to be shallow. But as soon as I heard his next words, I opened my mouth in amazement.

“I’m single from birth.”

My eyes blinked quickly. “…Pardon?”

“Single from birth. Don’t you know? Even if you’ve been asleep for five years, you’re too out of trend.” He sighed and added more words. “It means I’ve been single since I was in my mother’s belly.”

He coughed up his words.

“It means I’ve been single since I was in my mother’s womb.”

“…Does it mean Your Royal Highness never dated a woman?”

“Yes. It’s just, only on the surface. I mean my image. I just made it up.”

Frinel shrugged slightly. “I’m much more innocent and naive than you think.”

I slowly closed my mouth, which was opened as I was startled by his words. Then, I remembered the contents of Duke Gracie’s diary I had read before coming here today.

I mumbled as if I had something to say and soon opened my mouth again. “You must be scared.”

“Hmm?”

“Pretending not to be interested in politics. Pretending you could live as long as you have women and gold.”

“Haha, what are you talking about?” Frinel laughed awkwardly as if he didn’t understand what I was saying.

“I don’t think it’ll be easy for a lion to live pretending to be a fox.”

I stared at him in the eyes as if I was observing. He had an innocent face pretending to know nothing, but his blue eyes were cold like ice.

“I don’t want to live like that anymore.”

The divine lineage that inherited the power of God. The Shinsu clan was the pillar that protected the empire and had the power to suppress even the emperor. In terms of the food chain, they are the top predator that can even stand above humans. I didn’t want to be a villain like that, but at least I had the power to trample those scum.

It was the same with Frinel. In terms of status, he was also at the top. He was born from the former empress and became the eldest son of the imperial family.

Facing Frinel, who had no answer, I continued to speak clearly. “A lion must live like a lion. Even…”

At my words, his pupils widened as if he had been hit hard in the back of his head.

“If you must eat them all.”

Hidden and concealed again. Frinel covered his ears and closed his eyes to protect his own life. Whenever he saw the empress, his anger flared up, but the wounds of abuse he had suffered since childhood bound all his limbs and didn’t let him go. In the frustrating days, as if he had fallen into a swamp, he hid his sharp eyes and hid his desire. However, when she said, ‘A lion must live like a lion,’

“Your Royal Highness…”

The flame of desire hidden deep in his heart,

“Do you really have no interest in the throne?”

It started to come back to his life.