Just as I was trying to push through all the people to get out, Cain urgently grabbed me from behind.
“Rye!”
But everything had already been spilled.
“Let go of this.”
“You bastard… You know if this gets out, both he and I become weird guys, right?”
I could see Cain’s tearful face.
But my friend. If Cesare gets arrested, we become best friends with a traitor. I sent Cain a look that said, ‘Do you want to be a traitor’s best friend, or a cross-dresser’s best friend?’
Still not mature enough and valuing his ‘cool bad boy’ status at the academy, Cain frantically sent back a look saying, ‘Traitor! Traitor! I’ll be a traitor’s best friend!’ as if he absolutely couldn’t accept being a cross-dresser’s friend.
This crazy bastard doesn’t know how precious life is and keeps going on about being friends with a traitor. This is the same guy who asked me to be his partner when he was a senior.
Anyway, when I gave him a rotten smile saying, ‘Congratulations. You’re now a cross-dresser’s best friend,’ I could see his face screaming in despair. I coldly turned my back and spoke to the people in a crawling voice.
“I-I… Cesare Yanox and I… were together the whole time….”
At my trembling, breaking voice, Cedric’s purple eyes and Cesare’s crimson pupils pierced into me from far away. Meeting those gazes, tension rushed over me and I bit my lips hard. Behind me, I could hear Cain letting out a big sigh.
The guard asked Cesare again.
“Does the Young Duke of Yanox have nothing to say?”
I quickly shot Cesare a burdensome look. If he would just go along and say he was with me, I might be able to conceal the fact that I went out as his cross-dressed partner.
But Cesare seemed unwilling to play along and reacted indifferently.
“Well… was Lionel there?”
‘That bastard! He’s throwing ash on perfectly cooked rice!’
Mitche. Why is he acting like that! Why is a villain being unnecessarily honest? You’re not this kind of kid! You’re trash who grabs opportunities when they come!
I wailed while pulling hard on Mitche’s scalp and hair. While I was anxiously fretting, Cedric intervened with a small sigh.
“Yanox denies having met you, Mellans. I know you’re acquainted with Yanox, but do you truly intend to cover for him, a suspect in an attempted assassination of royalty?”
“No! It’s true! Because I was forbidden from attending the ball… Cesare is lying and saying he doesn’t know me!”
The professors and students who knew I was confined to my room as punishment seemed to understand and nodded slightly. I quickly pressed on with this momentum.
“I secretly snuck out of my room and was talking with him briefly in the garden! When the fireworks exploded and the ground shook and people started screaming, I was afraid I’d get in trouble so I ran back to my room alone. He’s innocent!”
“But now your story keeps changing, making it hard to believe. It’s a suspicious situation no matter how you look at it.”
Cedric crossed his arms with a firm tone. Next to him, Jayden, outraged because of the injured Cedric, pointed at me.
“Those two are already close friends, so they must have joined forces to harm sunbae-nim!”
“Why the hell would I!”
Angered by the ridiculous speculation, I shot back at Jayden.
“What would make us want to harm Cedric sunbae-nim? Cesare is from that famous Yanox ducal family and I’m richer than you and living much better, Jayden Fellox! Stop bullying us who are trying to live good lives just because you want to suck up to Cedric sunbae-nim!”
“Urk!”
“If you think about it, we have the best fortunes in the empire, so why would we plot such a dangerous thing? Huh!”
“That’s because the imperial family and the Yanox ducal family… Mmph! Ahem!”
Jayden, who was excitedly trying to retort the same way, tried to say something but quickly shut his mouth. Cedric quickly stepped in beside him as if to smooth over the situation.
“Whatever the motive, since the assassin is said to resemble Yanox, we can’t just let this go. Unless you can clearly prove your alibi, you can’t clear the suspicion.”
“…Dammit!”
Realizing there was no way out, I clenched my fists and bit my lips.
There were no options left now. It was finally time to reveal that I was Cesare’s partner. I took a step forward and quietly took a deep breath.
Even if Cesare despised me for this, it couldn’t be helped. No matter how much of a bad villain Cesare was, I couldn’t send him to the execution stand for something he didn’t do.
“Um… actually, there’s a reason Cesare is hiding about me.”
Goodbye, my sense of shame. Goodbye, my Inss reputation. So the nickname Inss was actually pretty decent. I’m sorry for not knowing how precious you were, Inss. You were really a pretty nickname.
“So at that time, Cesare’s partner was… I, actually….”
“Excuse me, but I believe I am the lady of honor that the Young Duke of Yanox is hiding.”
Just as I was about to reveal the secret, a refreshing female voice popped out. Soon the crowd of people split to both sides and a blonde woman in a flashy rose-pink dress walked out, accompanied by several handmaidens.
‘She’s pretty… Who is she?’
It was a beautiful woman I was seeing for the first time. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that she was somehow familiar.
“Princess Françoise!”
“She’s the Crown Prince’s partner who came from the Taitus Principality.”
At the name Françoise that people were murmuring, one of the supporting characters from the original work flashed through my mind. Princess Françoise from the principality, who was the female lead’s rival and was originally Cedric’s fiancée.
She was the daughter of the monarch with the greatest power within the principality. Cedric was engaged to her for influence over the principality, which caused some conflict with the female lead for a while.
Of course, because of that, there was a time when Cedric got heavily criticized in the comment section back then.
└He’s been flirting with the female lead while leaving his fiancée alone until now?
└I didn’t think Se-hubby was like that.
└So the royal family restaurant was actually an affair? Give me back my cash.
└I told you not to make me take Cesare’s side? This is fucking awful, I’m dropping this.
And so on.
“I was with the Young Duke of Yanox, his partner, and Mr. Mellans.”
‘Why is the princess helping me?’
I looked at Cesare in bewilderment at this testimony from her, someone I had no acquaintance with, saying she was with me. But Cesare didn’t seem to know anything particular either.
“Princess. Do you have a witness to prove you were together?”
However, even with the princess’s appearance, Cedric didn’t easily back down.
As I anxiously scrutinized the princess, she approached with a bright smile.
“I have no witness, but at that time Mr. Mellans plucked a flower that I liked, so in return I gave him a silk handkerchief embroidered with a blue dove. Do you still have it?”
What? A blue dove handkerchief? A streak of light descended in my head. That was the handkerchief Lucy had given me.
‘Lucy is helping me!’
The beautiful princess with long blonde hair and bespectacled Lucy know each other? Certainly, if Lucy could come to the Imperial Academy, she must have some ability, but the Franceau family name was unfamiliar.
Could Lucy also be a noble from the principality?
Anyway, I quickly searched my pockets and pulled out the handkerchief. Fortunately, I had brought it because I had wiped off my face makeup with it while running here earlier.
Thanks to that, the princess seemed to slightly frown at the sight of the handkerchief, now devastated with smeared chocolate sauce, pink lipstick, eyeshadow, and such.
“This! This is it, right!”
Anyway, at the handkerchief with the blue dove drawn on it, the princess smiled lovingly again and turned to look at Cedric.
“Will this be an answer, Your Highness the Crown Prince? They were with me at the time of the incident and showed no suspicious signs whatsoever. They are innocent. Before meeting Your Highness, I asked them to keep our meeting secret in case being with them might damage Your Highness’s reputation.”
She firmly concluded her words as if not leaving any room for escape.
“Afterwards, I was continuously with my handmaidens, so there was no time to meet with them again. Even if you have doubts, it would be ridiculous for me to cover for people I’m ‘meeting for the first time today’ like this. Right?”
At her greeting, fluttering her dress hem with perfect and elegant etiquette, I quickly added a word.
“So rather than crushing Cesare right now, you should catch the assassin who got away first!”
Perhaps because of my rough word choice, I could see people flinching in surprise. Eventually, Cedric quickly raised his arm.
“Expand the search range immediately and check thoroughly for any suspicious individuals! Release the Young Duke of Yanox.”
