CH 48

It was quite a long time after that when the first prince finally opened his mouth again.

“…. Yes, that’s right. I fully understand what you mean.”

Was it that my heart, which really desperately wanted to break up, was finally conveyed?

Looking down at me, the first prince opened his mouth again.

“I will seriously consider breaking up. We’ll have to discuss it with Perdia as well.”

“Are you serious?”

I couldn’t believe a person who had been stubbornly saying that he wouldn’t break up the marriage would suddenly break up so meekly like this.

Looking up at him with suspicious eyes, the first prince smiled rather mischievously and asked, “Why? Was the breakup story just a ploy to get my attention?”

“No, did you think that? No way. Never. No matter what happens, absolutely not.”

I vehemently shook my head and the first prince smiled dejectedly.

“You don’t have to hate it so much.”

“Doesn’t Your Highness think I have good reasons to dislike it?” 

“I can see how eager the princess is to break up the engagement/marriage.”

“Of course.”

I wouldn’t even become empress anyway, so I don’t have to keep the engagement with the first prince.

But there was something that troubled me.

According to the original story, when my sister Estelle is adopted three years later, the first prince falls in love with her at first sight.

“Your Highness. If we break off the engagement, will you get engaged to someone else right away?”

“Why would you ask such a question….”

“No reason. Please do it with the right person.”

Judging from Adenmir’s reaction, it didn’t seem like he would get engaged right away.

‘I’m trying to find out where Estelle is, but I haven’t made any progress yet.’

I don’t have a hobby of stealing other people’s first love, so I think it would be better to tie him up with Estelle, but it was dangerous to carry out the plan right away.

After I raise my independence funds and safely buy my house, I’ll have to bring Estelle home.

For some reason, the first prince’s complexion looked worse than when he first entered my room.

He wiped his tired eyes and took a step back.

“It’s getting late, so I’ll just go. If anyone witnesses this, rumors will circulate.”

“You’re the one who knows that, and you’re here at this hour?”

“There was hardly any time to talk with the princess alone.”

“Ah.”

He hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to me, since either Carlot or Jansi stuck by my side from the time I left the room until I returned.

As he was about to leave, the first prince looked back at me.

“Is everything all right with your family?”

“Yes. …. Why?”

“No, it’s nothing. I just want to tell you to beware of the duchess.”

“My mother?”

Why was he telling me to watch out for my mother all of a sudden? As I tilted my head at the incomprehensible words, the first prince avoided my gaze. 

Then he asked a random question.

“How are you eating?”

“Meals? I’m eating fine….”

“Anything special or unusual?”

“If it’s about something unusual, the chef I saw in the mansion came recently to the annex and made the food even more delicious…..”

No wait. But why am I having such a useless conversation with the first prince?

I stopped talking halfway and looked up at the first prince.

“I thought you were leaving, Your Highness.”

“I have to go.”

“Please go carefully.”

There are many things I will be tired of if I reverse the breakup of the marriage, saying that I changed my mind while holding the first prince for no reason.

However, even after saying my final goodbye, the first prince just stood still and looked at me with an unknown face.

‘What? Are you still doubting me? Are you thinking I did this on purpose to get your attention?’

You never know.

Because the first prince could suspect anything without an answer.

‘Ehh. There’s nothing I can do about it.’

I had no choice but to throw away my pride for the noble prince.

I reassured the first prince so that he could feel at ease.

“Sorry for bothering you all this time. If we break off the engagement, I will try to be as inconspicuous as possible after that.”

“……”

“If there is anything you need to break off the marriage, please let me know!”

To show my strong will, I clenched my fists and shouted vigorously, and the first prince narrowed his eyes.

“ It seems that the more I know you, the less I know about you.”

“…..?”

I tilted my head at the words of the first prince, but he left the room without giving any explanation.

‘I don’t know…..’

The only thing left was me, puzzled.

***

“Sorry for bothering you all this time. If we break off the engagement, I will try to be as inconspicuous as possible after that.”

Walking through the dark hallways of the temple, Adenmir pondered over what Elodie had said.

Elodie Perdia’s attitude had been consistent since the first letter of breakup.

She hadn’t even done the things that she had done in the nominal betrothal before.

But Adenmir couldn’t help but be suspicious. 

It was Elodie Perdia who forced his father, who had no interest in a battle for the throne, to achieve this engagement, and it was Elodie Perdia who maintained the engagement while uttering sharp words, showing displeasure at Adenmir’s indifferent attitude.

So he thought he was the only one who had the initiative in this relationship

He had no idea that his fiancée would break up the engagement first.

“Why? Was the breakup story just a ploy to get my attention?”

There was a time when he truly believed what he had said to Elodie as a joke earlier.

But he knew now.

That his fiancée really wanted to break up the engagement.

‘Does she love that commoner that much?’

Adenmir recalled the man he had seen at the banquet hosted by the empress.

The mercenary king, Ian. And…..

The emperor’s dog.

Adenmir knew more about the man named Ian than the public knew.

He was a humble man.

He was born and raised in a slum where maggots infested the corpses and the stagnant water was rotten.

He single-handedly raised the mercenary corps and earned the emperor’s recognition for his achievements.

He also carried out secret missions in and out of Wallentian if ordered by the emperor.

He had excellent force but no knowledge or pedigree, and even though she was an illegitimate child, Elodie was the only daughter of Perdia, one of the four great families.

‘It really doesn’t suit her.’

However, Adenmir had no right to be involved in whoever Elodie had a crush on in the first place.

Their relationship started with a political arrangement, without affection from the beginning. It was certainly himself who said that.

Once his head had cooled, it wasn’t hard for him to make a decision.

Yeah. It would be right to break off the engagement as she wished.

Just as Elodie said, breaking up the engagement was inevitable for both himself and Elodie and for this empire.

Wasn’t he thinking about breaking up the engagement from the moment he got engaged?

It was by no means intended to follow the orders of his father to break up his marriage with Elodie and hold Angellus’s hands.

He had no intention of borrowing the power of Angellus.

It was natural that neither Perdia nor Angellus could be completely in his power.

Even if he ascended to the position of crown prince with another family on his back, as his father said, that will eventually become poison.

“What I need is not a lamp-like position in front of the wind, but only the solid power I have achieved myself.”

(E/N: He is talking about the way the flame of a lamp flickers in the wind. He doesn’t want a position that is precarious or unstable, but something solid.)

Adenmir himself would show the entire continent why he must become emperor, not the stupid second Prince Beltran.

But that didn’t mean he would completely turn his back on Perdia. Because this kind of alliance was not only about engagements.

That was how Adenmir decided to break off the engagement.

However….

“Your Highness. If we break off the engagement, will you get engaged to someone else right away?”

“No reason. Please do it with the right person.”

Why did she complicate his feelings with such words?

Indeed, Elodie Perdia was a person where you don’t know what she was really thinking.

Then Adenmir suddenly realized.

‘Have I ever had a comfortable conversation with her like today?’

***

In fact, the barrier of the temple was lifted only after breakfast with all the participants in the meeting.

Of course, Dorothea refused to attend the meal, saying she was not feeling well. With Duchess Angellus.

‘Yes. The skin is also the body……’

After the breakfast that made me miss the chef’s culinary skills at the annex, the door to the temple was opened.

The High Priest seemed to have something to say to me, but Duke Perdia stood next to me and blocked it altogether.

“You don’t have to worry about it.”

“Thank you.”

“……”

Duke Perdia nodded his head once, then looked away. He didn’t seem to be in the mood to talk to me.

Anyway, the atmosphere seemed like they assumed we were all heading to the Perdia Mansion, but I had something to do.

“Excuse me.”

As soon as I opened my mouth, the eyes of all four turned to me.

‘It’s burdensome.’

I didn’t know what to do with the sudden attention. I quickly explained my business.

“I’ll stop by the mercenary corps and then go back.”

“By yourself?”

“Ah.”

At the duke’s point, I just let out an idiotic exclamation.

Because normally when I go out, I’d have Raeyan to escort me.

‘Should I just go back to the mansion and send a letter to the mercenaries?’

I tried to choose that method, but unfortunately Carlot was faster.

“Me. I will! I’ll escort you, Sister!”

Carlot actively stepped forward to escort me. However, Duke Perdia resolutely cut him off.

“No way. Then what are you going to do if you get attacked again like last time?”

“At that time, it was a mountain road with no one. Where is someone who is a big enough fool to attack in a city full of people?”

“They might attack while thinking that way.”

“But….!”

The duchess pointed out another thing with a smile as soon as Carlot tried to make a fuss in earnest.

“Carl. Don’t you have training as soon as you get back?”

“But I think escorting my sister is more important.”

At those serious words, Duke Perdia said quietly, “It is 11 times that you missed the training sessions in a week.”

“….Oh, I got caught.” Carlot muttered with a grumpy face because he had no excuses.

At that time, Jansi, who had been watching the situation with a smile all along, raised his hand slightly.

“I will go with her, Father.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. There were things I wanted to buy, and I’m stronger than Carl.”

At those words, Carlot opened his eyes fiercely and glared at Jansi. However, Jansi put on a smirking expression as he stroked my hair with his gloved hand.

‘Carl, older brother looks scary.’

He was smirking at him with all his might….

Duke Perdia, who had been looking at Jansi as he was thinking for a moment, nodded his head.

“Then go.”

“Yes. Do not worry.”

Jansi, who smiled like the poster child for ‘reassuring eldest son’, turned around and looked at me.

“Let’s go, Lili.”

As he nodded and took a step, Jansi shook his head and blocked my way.

“Let’s go hand in hand. You might get lost.”

“I’m not a child….”

“It’s part of an escort.”

I grabbed Jansi’s hand without a second thought because of his stubborn attitude, knowing he wouldn’t even start unless I held his hand.

Why are you holding my hand all the time? Originally, you hated contact with others.

I only felt fear when he insisted on holding my hand because he couldn’t control his power well.

What if his power manifests itself and I get hurt?

‘Jansi Perdia, you gloomy human being. Clearly, he doesn’t care about my life….’

Feeling like I was holding a ticking time bomb, I shivered and headed to the mercenaries.

***

“Is Ian here?”

At my question, the staff at the headquarters desk widened their eyes as if they had seen something they couldn’t see.

“…..Lady Perdia?”

“You saw me a few days ago, so why are you reacting like that? So, what about Ian?”

“Ah…. The leader is currently absent. He is looking for Lady Perdia.”

“Me?”

“Yes….”

Anyway, it meant that he was not in the headquarters building right now.

“I get it for now.”

I left the headquarters with my back to the bewildered employee. Jansi, who heard all the conversation, said with a smile.

“You really must have disappeared in front of him. Seeing that he is looking for you.”

“I told you so. I didn’t lie.”

Looking up at Jansi, who was suspicious about it just a moment ago, he simply shrugged his shoulders.

Anyway, it was fortunate that he let go of my hand before entering the headquarters. I was so scared because I didn’t know when his power would manifest. 

‘I heard that Rayan is looking for me, so I need to let him know that I’m safe as soon as possible.’

I need to know where you are so I can meet you.

It was around the time when I was standing in front of headquarters and thinking about how to make contact.

Heeigh-!

I saw a familiar face not far away with the sound of a running horse stopping hastily.

‘Raeyan.’

Behind him, mercenaries could be seen.

But something was strange.

Looking disheveled, as if he hadn’t eaten or slept in days, Raeyan jumped off his horse.

Then, he walked all the way to me and–

“……?!”

Thud! 

I heard the thudding of his chest into mine before I registered his arms wrapping around me. Rayan hugged me.

“I thought I was going to lose you again……”

‘….again?’

He leaned his head onto my shoulders and murmured words that I once again did not understand.