CH 86

“Ugh.” Damon, who had fallen to one side, groaned and got up.

The sound alerted me, and I approached him. “Damon, are you okay?”

I was about to help him get up, but a hand got ahead and did it instead. I turned to see Enoch supporting Damon, his expression hard.

“Your Highness, when did you arrive?”

“Count Rosen, can you get up?”

“…Ugh, yes, d*mn…” For some reason, Damon looked resentful. He must have hurt his pride after having been completely beaten by Rupert.

After sending off in the carriage I had been in, Enoch approached the townhouse’s front door in silence. I stood beside him and glanced at him.

“How…did you come right away?”

He only gave me a side glance before sighing deeply. “Weren’t you almost in deep trouble?”

“… that’s why I also brought Damon. I thought it would be alright.”

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Then Enoch looked at me with icy eyes and slowly reached out his hand to me.

I flinched and involuntarily closed my eyes, but I felt a gentle touch around my neck. When I opened my eyes again, Enoch looked at me with a sad expression.

“You have bruises.”

“Ah… Did you see?”

“No, but it was really dangerous. You should have waited for me a little longer.”

His tone was polite, but it was obvious he was angry. His lower-than-usual voice and cold eyes proved it. It was my first time seeing it. At least for me.

As I was focusing my gaze elsewhere, Enoch suddenly spoke to me, still with that voice and that tone. 

“Can I hug you just once?”

I must have heard wrong because his tone and what he said didn’t match.

“Yes…?”

“Just once, let me hug you.”

“Oh…”

He pulled me into his arms. I was wrapped in a wide, firm embrace, and a warm, calm scent permeated my lungs.

“Ha.” 

He sighed deeply over my shoulder. Only then did I feel his sincerity. He was worried about me, this man.

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Enoch tightened his grip on me before letting me go. After the warmth disappeared, I quickly felt empty.

With his arms crossed and his lips tight, he faced me.

“Your Highness, Rupert…” His expression made me hesitate, but I spoke carefully. “Rupert was strange. At first, he begged me on his knees not to divorce him…”

One of Enoch’s eyebrows raised with a twitch. Haa, what am I saying in this atmosphere? 

I wasn’t exactly sure why, but I decided to apologize to lighten the mood.

“I’m sorry I left without saying anything. But, to be honest, I thought it would be more dangerous to let the two of you meet.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“…Because the two of you are…rivals.” Feeling embarrassed for nothing, I stroked the back of my neck as my voice became nothing but a whisper.

As Enoch’s eyebrows furrowed, I explained, “Strangely, Rupert’s attitude was a little strange. He was jealous and obsessive, unlike before. But Your Highness also told me… Well.”

I couldn’t bear to say that he liked me, too, so I stopped.

Then Enoch, who had been listening to me the whole time, suddenly pressed me and asked, “…Has he confessed? Rupert?” 

“Yes, he did.”

Then, his cold, emerald eyes flinched. “What did the Count say… Did you answer?”

Was he nervous?

“What did you say?”

“…”

I smiled softly. The conversation obviously affected the atmosphere in an instant.

I moved close to his face and looked him in the eye. It was cute to see his lips closed in a pout and his raised eyes drooping slightly downward.

“Your Highness, I came out today to get a divorce agreement.”

“That’s true, but… Haven’t you liked Rupert for a long time?”

“Hmm? Me? Ah, um. I… I did, didn’t I?”

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For a moment, I almost answered as myself without realizing it.

It’s undeniable that Erin liked Rupert. I was flustered and changed my words, but Enoch did not miss that brief moment.

The corners of his lips rose slightly.

“Count, by any chance…”

“Let’s go! The carriage is coming!”

Looking at the carriage engraved with the Imperial family emblem, it was probably the carriage that had followed Enoch, who had set out first.

But Enoch wouldn’t let it go. He grabbed my arm as I was trying to avoid his seat and asked again, “So, what did you say?”

“What do you mean, what did I say… I said I don’t like him anymore.” I murmured, and Enoch, as if he fully understood what I meant, placed my hand on his palm.

“Let’s go, Count.”

The carriage pulled up right in front of me, and I glanced at him before getting in. 

After Enoch got on, the carriage departed, and I continued, “Rupert will support Your Highness if I don’t divorce him, and if I do…”

“He’ll support Prince Breiman.”

“Ah, yes. That’s right.”

He touched his chin and seemed lost in thought for a while. I stared at Enoch and asked, “Will it be all right? I mean…Your Highness.”

“Are you asking if I can safely become Emperor even if I lose Rupert?”

“Yes. After all, the Clifford family is a force to be reckoned with.”

If my divorce would weaken the Crown Prince’s power, I couldn’t brush it off. 

“If I am dethroned and cannot become emperor…” Enoch’s eyes lit up, and he leaned over to face me closely. “Are you not going to see[1] me?”

“That… Of course!”

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My heart skipped a beat when his handsome face suddenly came upon me while I was completely defenseless.

“That… Absolutely!”

With a blushing face, I calmly turned my head and leaned back against the backrest.

“Really? Then I must become the emperor.”

“…If you don’t become Emperor, then the Crown Prince will die, right? Of course, we won’t be able to meet.” I pointed out the obvious, then urged him. “Seriously, what are you going to do?”

“As long as Rupert maintains his lineage and spirit, he will never betray me.”

Enoch’s certainty puzzled me.

“How come?”

Instead of answering, Enoch took something shiny from his pocket and put it on my wrist. It was a magic stone bracelet.

It looked like it had been remade since it had been abandoned on the beach before.

“In the distant past, both Clifford and Spilet helped the first Emperor Rikephoros build an empire.”

As Enoch fastened the bracelet, he suddenly began to tell an old story.

“Their achievements didn’t differ that much. However, Clifford was established as a first-grade retainer[2], while Spilet became his vassal. Do you know the difference?”

I blinked without answering and waited for him to continue.

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“A blood oath. Rikephoros and Clifford are intertwined with it. We swore never to betray each other.”

It was the first time I had heard of it. I listened more to Enoch’s story, which didn’t even appear in the novel.

“So, no matter how heated we were during sparrings, we couldn’t kill each other.”

“Each other… Does that mean that even the Crown Prince cannot betray Rupert?”

Enoch nodded. He said that was the bond between himself, who inherited the blood of the archmage Rickeporos, and the Clifford family. 

Looking at the magic stone bracelet jingling from my wrist, I joked, “There’s some kind of bond here, too, isn’t there?”

But Enoch stared at the bracelet and didn’t answer. I said it as a joke, but now I was wondering if it was true. 

My eyes widened as I turned to him. “Hello? Your Highness?”

“Ah, no. If I were to form a bond, I would prefer a ring rather than a bracelet.”

“Yes?”

“I’m kidding.”

He was speaking casually, but he suddenly covered his mouth and straightened. On our way back, I asked him a few more times, but Enoch didn’t repeat it.

Since I couldn’t help but ponder Enoch’s words, I thought.

Rupert must have known about the blood oath. And yet, for him to say something like that, did that mean there was a way to get out of the bond?

I stared at Enoch in doubt. Maybe he heard the thoughts in my heart, Enoch seemingly muttered to himself, “But if Rupert’s mind isn’t quite right already, it’ll be a problem I just hope it doesn’t get to that.”

As he said that, his expression darkened.

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Right before entering the castle, Enoch stopped the carriage in an alleyway.

I listened to the quiet conversation outside the window.

“Find Rupert. Keep it discreet.”

“Shall I approach him?”

“Just watch and report back to me.”

I couldn’t see the two of them directly while sitting here, but I could figure out their actions from the shadows on the ground.

“Ah, right. Take this with you.” Enoch took something out of his arms and handed it to the other person.

The masked man looked at the item he received, lowered his head once, and his shadow disappeared in an instant.

And Enoch immediately got back into the carriage.

“Can you show me things like this?”

But Enoch merely shrugged.

‘No matter how you look at it, Rupert was out of his mind. Will it be okay?’

Anyway, what would happen to the divorce agreement? I didn’t even get his signature. I couldn’t hold back my sadness, and I sighed.

When Enoch heard me, he said, “As soon as we find Rupert, we’ll let you know. But just in case, start preparing for the lawsuit.”

[1] Enoch asked, ‘안 만나 주실 겁니까?’ (an manna jusil geobnikka?) which translates to ‘Are you not going to meet/hang out with me?’ but ‘만나다’ (mannada) can also be ‘date/romantically meet,’ so given the context between the two, Enoch most likely meant the latter.

[2] Clifford was a ‘일등 공신으로’, or a first-grade meritorious retainer. There are grades for retainers who have rendered exemplary services to the Emperor. So, the more contributions, the higher the grade.