“…You did well?”
“I do not trust you. I don’t know whether you have a forgotten lover, whether you embraced another man after entering the palace, whether the test was wrong, or whether you actually hold the third prince in your heart. But I know you’re not someone who would falsely accuse the innocent or oppress them using your status.”
“……”
“I sent Seha to the education office of the Imperial Household Department. I should have properly educated him from the start—it was a mistake. My mistake made you uncomfortable. So I was displeased.”
“…Do you truly mean that?”
“Then would it be a lie?”
It wasn’t an act to toy with me. Unlike in the original work, he scolded Seha. He sent him to the Imperial Household Department for etiquette education. He took my side.
“Why are you crying?”
I’m crying?
Eldon turned my body and wiped my eyes with his hand. I really was crying. Hot liquid welled up and flowed from my eyes.
I was relieved. That his actions weren’t false, that I was happy he chose me instead of Seha. Why on earth? Why? I couldn’t find the answer to my emotions and they tangled chaotically.
“…Do you believe me?”
“What absurd words. Did you think I would take the servant’s side?”
“Don’t you favor Seha?”
“Favor?”
Eldon burst into laughter as if absurd.
“I even gave you the Prolain, yet you still worry about such nonsensical rumors?”
“…Then you’re saying you don’t?”
“Seha is a child with a mysterious power. He puts people at ease. He’s a clever child, but I’ve never thought of him in that way.”
Eldon cheerfully denied it, but my heart sank heavily. This too was a story from the original work. Eldon had confided his heart to Leon.
‘Seha is a child with a mysterious power. He puts people at ease. Being with that child makes me smile.’
The story hadn’t changed. I hadn’t taken Seha’s place at all.
The episodes that should have been with Seha were getting twisted, and the seeds of love were just growing a bit more slowly.
“Even after moving this much, the Prolain hasn’t fallen. They say if the flower doesn’t fall until the moment you begin your first night, you’ll live together for a hundred years.”
Eldon rubbed my earlobe. That touch was so affectionate it made my heart ache.
“That’s just superstition. If the Prolain flower had such efficacy, all past Emperors and Empresses would have had good relationships.”
I didn’t know the Empire’s history. But just looking at the current Emperor and Empress, I could tell their relationship wasn’t good.
“What do you think of me, Your Highness?”
I repeated the exact same question Seha had asked on the first night in the original work.
“I consider you my companion, my consort, my person.”
And the result was different.
In the novel, Eldon had made a passionate vow: ‘You’re my lover, my love. I will love only you, Seha, for my entire life.’ As expected, the weight is different from the main uke.
Somehow, one corner of my heart felt bitter. I am not his match. Far from being his match, I’m merely a love obstacle who could be killed at any time. I knew this from the start, yet I don’t know why I feel this way. It must be because heat cycle makes people foolish.
Eldon kissed the mark. If it feels like he’s confirming his possession, am I being too twisted?
“Please stop. I’m dizzy.”
After sitting in the hot bath for so long, my whole body melted languidly and my breathing became labored. As I tried to rise, my legs gave out and I ended up in Eldon’s arms again.
“I, I apologize.”
“Be careful. The Prolain almost fell.”
Eldon deeply reinserted the flower hanging on my ear and lifted me up.
“Bill.”
He called the Head Butler in a dignified voice, and Bill entered with pure white garments while covering his eyes.
After donning simple sleeping robes embroidered with the imperial palace’s crest like gowns, Eldon and I rode a carriage out of the White Hall. The path returning to the Crown Prince’s Palace felt extremely long. Inside the small carriage without even windows, we didn’t say a single word to each other. A peculiar tension before the first night and pheromones filled the carriage.
When we got off the carriage, a pure white carpet awaited me. Eldon carried me and walked the path decorated with white flowers. The palace servants and knights of the Crown Prince’s Palace lined up on both sides and bowed their heads. But among them, Seha’s figure was nowhere to be seen.
The carpet continued all the way to the Crown Princess’s chamber on the third floor. When Eldon and I arrived, a servant opened the door.
“Ah…”
The moment I entered, a sound escaped involuntarily. I was surprised, but it wasn’t admiration. The interior was entirely decorated with bright red Prolain flowers and sparkling jewels. The room, which was already luxurious, glittered to a dizzying degree. My eyes, accustomed to pure white achromatic colors, stung and I squeezed them shut.
Eldon carefully laid me down on the pure white bed. The scent of Prolain blanketing the room muddled my head.
I was receiving treatment that the original Rosenthal never once received. But Eldon’s true love is Seha. He was attracted to Seha. He just hasn’t realized it yet. That ambiguous boundary line of being neither the villain nor the main uke drove me into confusion.
Eldon lay beside me and tried to kiss me. I turned my head away.
“Why do you do this?”
Eldon growled coldly. His eyes demanded to know if I’d remembered a lover.
“Do you believe in fateful love, Your Highness?”
“No.”
He shook his head without a moment’s hesitation. It was the firmness only someone who didn’t yet know love could possess.
“I believe in it. So I’m afraid.”
“Has your forgotten lover come to mind?”
I slowly shook my head.
“It’s not me. I’m afraid Your Highness will meet your fated partner.”
“What?”
“If Your Highness meets your true fated partner, you’ll regret this moment for the rest of your life. Special experiences like the official first night should be saved for that person.”
“Does losing your memory make your greed disappear too?”
“My greed hasn’t disappeared—I’m calculating. Won’t Your Highness resent me if you find true love? That I stole a memory you wanted to share with your match.”
“Do I seem like such a petty person to you?”
You’re the crystallization of pettiness. Have you forgotten about Forti? Throwing him to the tentacle monster? That was just yesterday. Why do I even like this bastard? Having your eye for people in your feet is also a disease. Huh? Wait, do I like this bastard?
After Eldon left for the south, I worried about him from time to time, and regardless of the reason, I found evidence that could protect his position as Crown Prince. And today, I secretly hoped that perhaps I’d become the protagonist, and even in having our first relationship, I felt no aversion to contact.
Could it be… No, no way. That can’t be. It’s because of heat cycle. These stray thoughts are emerging because of sexual desire boiling beyond control. I desperately suppressed the thoughts seeping out.
“Because when blinded by love, rational judgment tends to blur.”
“Have you had such an experience?”
“I can’t remember well…”
I tried to laugh it off like a politician and move past the situation, but Eldon climbed on top of me, pressing down on my shoulders.
“Let me make it clear. I have no interest in such a trivial emotion as love. I needed the power of the Chendewden house, and I chose you. As long as the Chendewden house doesn’t betray me, you are this body’s companion.”
“…The Chendewden house will not betray Your Highness.”
Like Seha in the original work, I was put up at a slave auction and gave Eldon the secret ledger. But I failed to awaken the emotion of love in Eldon. It must be the power of the original work, or what’s called fate.
‘Just get divorced.’
Through the hazy heat of heat cycle, a single short sentence echoed in my ears. Where did I hear such words? Was there such a catchphrase? A drama line? I can’t remember the source, but it’s right.
I should be divorced and have the engagement broken. No matter how much justification I find, how much I rationalize, how much I spin the happiness circuit thinking I might have become the protagonist, the answer is already out.
“Hmm.”
But heat cycle had already started, and the pheromones of the man before me were terribly alluring.
“I will treat you with respect. I will cherish you especially and give you the appropriate favor befitting the Crown Princess’s position.”
He kissed me while making a dry confession. In Eldon’s own way, he must be saying sweet words befitting the first night. He has no idea at all what a romantic and cringe-worthy man he can be, rattling off such lines. He’ll know when he truly falls in love. Of course, the person who’ll awaken the emotion of love in Eldon isn’t me.
His hand moved toward my ear, then pulled out the Prolain flower and tossed it onto the bed. The night of the political marriage was beginning.
Pheromones mixed in between hot lips and breath. I realized. I can’t refuse anymore. I grabbed Eldon’s shoulders in resignation.
“I didn’t seduce you. Your Highness took me.”
“No. Your scent provoked me.”
“Your Highness embraced me.”
“You confuse me.”
“Tonight is not my fault.”
“You seem to be a terrible enchantress.”
Even in my daze, I could feel that our conversation was jarring.
As I tried to deny again that it wasn’t my fault, Eldon kissed me. This time, as if he wouldn’t give me room to avoid, his large hand grasped the nape of my neck. Eldon’s lips penetrating my mucous membrane were warm, making me sad. I truly craved Eldon’s body.
The kiss rummaging inside my mouth seemed endless. The sweet pheromones seemed to turn into honey and melt in my mouth. Eldon’s other hand untied the knot of the sleeping robe. It was a garment no different from a gown. I reached out in embarrassment. I tried to cover my lower body, but Eldon’s hand was faster.
The finger grazing my perineum immediately plunged inside my anus.
“Mmph, mmph!”
Moans flowed through the gap between my parted teeth, but Eldon bit my lips and wouldn’t let go.
My waist bent inward because of the fingers relentlessly spreading my rear. He too released my lips and concentrated below.
“Ugh, ah, it hurts…”
The moment I regained freedom of my mouth, pain-mixed sounds burst out. Then Eldon sneered mockingly.
“Forgot how to kiss, forgot how to do it.”
“……”
“Don’t even know how to do it, yet greedily bite away.”
God he’s such a bastard I hate him