Ah, Lee Minchan, you fool. Making a mistake right after changing jobs to cupid?
“Didn’t Your Highness tell me?”
I wore as composed a smile as possible.
“I never said that.”
“You did say it. Otherwise, how would I know?”
“……”
Eldon frowned, but judging that my words made sense, he nodded slightly.
“Please go to that child quickly. I’ll also return to my room.”
I snatched the key from his hand. Or rather, I tried to. But Eldon grabbed my hand and laid me back down on the bed.
“What are you trying to do?”
“Pardon?”
“Why would I go to that child?”
Why is he suddenly getting angry? In any case, he’s a difficult person to please.
“I felt love on Your Highness’s face when you recalled that child. So reading the Crown Prince’s heart….”
“How magnanimous of you.”
It wasn’t a compliment but a sarcastic tone.
“I learned that the Crown Princess should regard the prosperity of the Imperial Family and Empire as paramount, and must not be jealous of or feel envy toward consorts.”
“Was the great Rosenthal the type to follow such stuffy rules?”
Rosenthal did play around a bit flamboyantly. Ah, Rosenthal, you sinful fellow.
I smiled as gently as a spring flower and held Eldon’s hand. In any case, he’s the best visual in the story, so I hope the honey trap works.
Besides, I suffered a lot these past few days. Because of you, Eldon. Unless you’re a sociopath, you must feel at least a speck of guilt toward me.
“Your Highness, the truth is I have no greed for the position of Crown Princess. If Your Highness wishes, I’m ready to give it up and leave at any time.”
“Is that true?”
“Yes. It is true. If there’s someone you fancy, please tell me. Even if I were to conceive, if Your Highness wishes it, I will leave without delay.”
“…What are you scheming?”
Eldon’s eyes flashed coldly. He doesn’t believe my words at all.
“I have no ulterior motives.”
“You’ll obediently leave without any compensation? Was Rosenthal Chendewden such an ungreedy person?”
“There is one thing I hope for.”
Eldon smiled cynically as if he knew it.
“What is it?”
“Please let me live.”
“What?”
His expression subtly contorted. But since I’ve come this far, I should stamp my seal on it firmly.
I reached out my other hand and grasped his hand tightly. And making the most of my beautiful visuals, I activated Puss in Boots mode.
“Your Highness, please don’t kill me. If you tell me to disappear, I’ll vanish immediately, so just spare my life. I’m not such a greedy person. It’s enough if I go to a quiet place and live painting pictures.”
“……”
“When someone you love appears, I’ll tactfully leave even if you don’t say anything, so please don’t stab me with a sword or cut off my head asking how dare someone like you carry my child.”
“Rosenthal….”
He looked at me with a serious face, then gripped my shoulders tightly.
“What did they do to you there?”
“Pardon?”
“What did those bastards do to you! Hurry, tell me everything!”
It seems Eldon thinks I’m spouting nonsense after receiving mental shock. I was about to shake my head to deny it, when suddenly a thought flashed. This is an opportunity!
I coldly shook off his hand.
“Please be honest with me! In fact, it was something Your Highness the Crown Prince instigated, wasn’t it?”
“What?”
“You deliberately dug a trap to ruin the wedding ceremony and lured me! You ordered the slave traders to kidnap me!”
“What nonsense! Wasn’t it something that happened because you moved around on your own!”
Well, that’s true.
“But how could the missing key be in Your Highness the Crown Prince’s hands?”
Though I know it’s protagonist buff.
“It’s a coincidence! I was waiting for you, when I saw some child carrying a key! When I asked where it came from, he said he picked it up while walking!”
Ah, that Seha fellow lied. Well, there’s no way he would have honestly revealed he stole it.
“How can I believe those words? Didn’t you say I looked good as soon as you first saw me? You must have been quite pleased that I was trapped?”
“I didn’t say ‘looked good.’ Besides, I said that just because I didn’t have anything proper to say, and in fact I….”
I should tie up the knot here.
“I’m afraid of Your Highness.”
These words were sincere. After snatching the key from Eldon’s rigidly frozen hand, I got off the bed.
In that moment, I felt tremendous pain in my leg. But I couldn’t collapse here. I gritted my teeth and went outside.
Eldon didn’t hold me back.
As soon as I entered my room, I unlocked the chastity belt and soaked my body in warm bath water.
After taking off the dirty clothes and chastity belt and washing my body, I felt like I could live a little.
What tormented me most while trapped in prison was the toilet problem. And I realized that when pushed, people somehow manage. I solved urination through the small hole I hated so much, and held in the big one. No, my body seemed to grasp the situation too and didn’t think of coming out.
If I end up with constipation as an aftereffect of this incident, it’s all Eldon’s and Seha’s fault.
Anyway, I won’t have to wear the chastity belt anymore. From now on, I just need to avoid the Crown Prince while pretending to suffer from trauma.
There are 3 months left until the wedding ceremony. During that time, Eldon and Seha will fall in love. He’ll try to make Seha his consort, and I’ll quietly disappear when the time is right.
And then what do I do? Since Martin is holding down the fort, I can’t return to the ducal residence….
“Sob sob, sob….”
I was trying to make plans for after leaving the Imperial Palace, when Raki, who had been attending my bath beside me, sniffled.
“What’s the matter?”
“The wedding ceremony was canceled, and you were even kicked out during the wedding night. Young master, what should we do about this?”
He thinks I was kicked out.
I stroked his head. A sturdy guy in tears. Still, this fellow is the only one who genuinely worries about me.
“It’s okay. If I get kicked out, I’ll just travel with you or something.”
“Young master, you won’t abandon me?”
“Of course, naturally. But listen….”
“Yes, young master.”
“If it ever seems like I’m going to die, you must run away quickly. Understand?”
“What are you saying! That will absolutely never happen! I will protect the young master until the end!”
You say that but you run away at the drop of a hat. But in the original, he gets executed wearing the crimes Rosenthal committed, so it’s not wrong. I smiled and ruffled the tearful Raki’s hair.
Cute fellow. I should raise his salary a lot.
***
The next day, I moved my residence back to the detached palace. Eldon was out, so there was nothing special to report. He’ll probably think I left the Crown Prince’s Palace unable to quell my anger, having thoroughly misunderstood about the slave auction incident. Since it was the ominous room where Rosenthal gets brutally killed, I wanted to leave as soon as possible, and a good excuse arose. And regardless of the reason, Eldon must also be inwardly thinking it worked out well. He met Seha. He found his true love to whom he wants to give the Crown Princess’s bedroom.
The problem was my physical condition. My legs were harder to move than yesterday and my wrists were swollen.
As I left the Crown Prince’s Palace with Raki’s support, I heard an artificially high-pitched laugh. It wasn’t laughter from amusement but malicious mockery meant to press someone down.
I looked toward where the sound came from. Consorts dressed up splendidly from morning were gathered.
“Acting high and mighty saying you’re an omega, but now you look pathetic.”
“That’s right. To think you’d be kicked out of the bedroom on your wedding night. They say omegas are excellent at bedroom skills, but I guess that was a lie.”
A woman with dark brown hair and ordinary looks crossed her arms and shouted in a shrill voice.
“Lady Olson, think about it. No matter how precious, would anyone want to embrace a man?”
The Keltan Empire is a monogamous country. You might think what nonsense is this when the consort and concubine systems openly exist, but the basic principle is monogamy to the end. In the Keltan Empire, surnames change upon marriage, and only the official wife can receive the husband’s surname. The Imperial Family is no exception, so unless you’re the Empress or Crown Princess, you cannot receive the ‘Generoanth’ surname. Therefore, even after entering the palace, consorts continue to use their family surnames.
In the original, Seha, who has no surname because he’s a commoner, is humiliated over the title issue, and Eldon repeatedly vows to give Seha the ‘Generoanth’ surname while watching the sad Seha. In other words, he was grinding his teeth to depose Rosenthal.
“Exactly, Lady Copley. What does His Highness the Third Prince see in something like that?”
“But His Highness the Crown Prince is too much as well. Even though he’s injured, out of pity he should at least let him sleep there.”
Among the Crown Prince’s five birds, Melissa Brion, who possessed outstanding elegance, waved a large fan and spoke as if feeling sorry. Then Olson burst into laughter.
“Haha. Lady Melissa is so kind. But you should also consider His Highness the Crown Prince’s position. Would he want to keep something so vulgar by his side even for a moment?”
They were chattering among themselves, but it was as noisy as shouting into a megaphone. Among them, Olson especially didn’t know limits and crossed dangerous levels. No matter how rejected I was, I was the second son of Duke Chendewden. I’m not someone a Crown Princess consort from a viscount family can treat carelessly. The other consorts still laughed leisurely, but perhaps aware of the danger, their voices became quieter. But Olson couldn’t read the atmosphere and was still speaking loudly. Really, stupid just like in the original. Being that foolish, she must have met that ending.
Raki couldn’t hold back any longer and bristled, opening his mouth. He looked ready to argue on my behalf immediately. I quickly grabbed his shoulder.
“Let’s go.”
“But young master…!”
“Let’s go quickly. My leg hurts.”
“…Yes.”
Anyway, the moment Seha becomes Empress, the consorts will all be kicked out of the palace.
Your enemy isn’t me, everyone. Getting worked up at me is just a waste of time and will only make your throats hurt. But I don’t have the loyalty to tell them this fact. Like the Rosenthal in the original, I have no intention of trampling on their weaknesses thoroughly and then pulling them to my side to eliminate Seha, of course.
Besides, Olson and Melissa…. Knowing their futures clearly, I felt even less inclined to fight. I lightly ignored them and moved my steps.
