“It’s fine! Even if you just support me….”
“Where did that sturdy servant go?”
“I sent him on an errand.”
“What about the maids and guards?”
“Who knows. I prefer it quiet.”
Honestly, I was annoyed at the neglectful behavior of slacking off because I’m a fiancé who might be kicked out at any time, but I didn’t want to say bad things when I’d be leaving soon anyway.
To survive in the Imperial Palace, one must be good at picking sides. If I were a servant or guard too, I might have been desperate to get under a powerful master.
“What is your true self?”
“Pardon?”
“I can’t tell at all.”
He clicked his tongue low and carried me to the room, laying me on the bed.
“What brings you all the way here?”
Are you already trying to send me away? Faster than I thought.
“Look at this.”
Eldon suddenly handed me a bundle of documents. From the moment I fell into this world, I could speak and write the language. But reading such long texts filled with legal terminology was very difficult. It would be hard even in Korean.
“What is this?”
Please give me a three-line summary.
“It’s evidence that Grand Duke Curtis operated the slave auction.”
So it’s not divorce papers. But that was already a known fact.
“Why are you showing me this? Isn’t this confidential material that hasn’t been made public yet?”
Raki used to deliver Imperial Palace news to me, but I hadn’t heard that evidence of operating the slave auction had emerged yet.
“To prove my innocence.”
“Pardon?”
“I never instigated your kidnapping! Absolutely not! I can swear on my life.”
Eldon suddenly drew his sword and stretched it toward the sky.
“P-please spare me…!”
I reflexively shouted seeing the sharp red blade. Then Eldon panicked and quickly put the sword back in its sheath, then patted my back.
“This is a knight’s oath. I’m not trying to harm you.”
“……”
If that’s the case, just say it with words…. Scaring people half to death.
“Why are you so surprised? What on earth happened!”
“It’s nothing.”
“Those bastards already died, so there’s no way to know, which is frustrating.”
“What? Th-they died?”
“Did you think I’d let the bastards who made you like that live?”
They deserved to die, but he kills without a sound. I didn’t feel sympathy for them, but thinking I might end up like that was a bit eerie.
“Th-thank you….”
“Do you believe me?”
Eldon’s eyes saying that were bloodshot red, and dark circles had come down to below his chin. To pretend to suffer from trauma, I should throw a fit saying I can’t believe him, but I couldn’t do that in front of someone who looked like they’d collapse any moment.
“Yes….”
When I nodded slightly, Eldon chuckled and lay down on the bed. And hugged me.
“Your Highness?”
“I stayed up for three nights straight, so I’m tired. You seem exhausted too, so let’s sleep together.”
“…Three nights?”
“Yes. Without a wink of sleep, I investigated those slave trader bastards who I wouldn’t be satisfied even grinding up, and the Grand Duke.”
What about your romance with Seha? You weren’t someone who worked this hard, were you? Aren’t you someone who has only Seha in your head?
“I’m sorry for putting you in danger.”
Sorry? I doubted my ears. Eldon was proud and never apologized no matter what wrong he did. The only exception was Seha.
But he just said sorry to me?
“N-no.”
This is strange. Something’s strange. Something is going wrong. I waved my hands in confusion, when he suddenly unbuttoned my shirt.
“Your Highness!”
I stopped him in shock, but he didn’t stop. Eldon opened my shirt and touched the slave brand engraved on my body.
What on earth is he thinking? Eldon detested slave brands. Because it was proof that Seha was Arleigh’s property. He had pressed Silang hard to find a way to remove the brand immediately. The person who pretended not to see even when looking at Seha’s brand, what is he staring at so intently?
I tried to remove his hand, when suddenly Eldon kissed the brand.
“Your Highness!”
“Now that the misunderstanding is cleared, I’ll have you.”
Have me? He wants to have sex with me? Why on earth? You met Seha, didn’t you? Don’t tell me you couldn’t make progress because you were swamped with work?
I urgently pushed his chest away.
“Y-Your Highness, we’re not married yet. Having relations before marriage goes against propriety!”
“We can if the partner wants to.”
A strange pheromone started flowing from Eldon’s body.
I can’t sleep with Eldon. I need to refuse. If I get pregnant, it’s the end. I know this, but my body instantly melted hazily and I couldn’t say I didn’t want to.
As strength left the hand pushing his chest, Eldon raised the corners of his mouth and kissed my nipple. When the warm tongue touched the small protrusion, my body trembled.
“Ah, no….”
No. Something’s strange. I feel like I’ll become strange. I pushed his head away. Then Eldon stopped for a moment and raised his head.
“What’s wrong?”
“No, I don’t want to. B-before the wedding ceremony.”
This is the last chance. If I give in here, it seemed neither I nor Eldon would be able to stop. I barely expressed my intention, but he didn’t back down. Rather, the lust in his eyes grew stronger.
“You cannot refuse.”
“Pardon…?”
“If you refuse to share a bed as the Crown Prince’s fiancée, I will take you as a master taking a slave.”
“…A slave?”
Eldon’s hand moved back to the slave brand. Looking into his eyes, I realized belatedly.
It’s different from the original. With Seha, he trembled with rage just looking at the brand. If Seha said even jokingly that he was a slave, he would scold him harshly.
But satisfaction was contained in Eldon’s eyes looking at the brand engraved on my body now.
“You are mine. Did you forget?”
The moment I saw his gaze covered in lust, even the instinctive excitement from the pheromones disappeared in an instant.
Eldon, you don’t tell me, don’t tell me you’re lusting after me…?
“That was you rescuing me. With a pure heart. Right, Your Highness…?”
“Did I seem like a good person who would spend 500,000 gold out of pure goodwill?”
“…I hope so.”
“Unfortunately, you’re wrong. I rescued you because you’re mine. To completely possess a partner who constantly thinks of running away, I bought you.”
Come to think of it, this guy is actually an ‘obsessive top’ and a ‘crazy top.’ I thought he was somewhat gentle for a crazy bastard who chopped off his partner’s neck for getting pregnant, but his true nature doesn’t go anywhere.
But the target of obsession is wrong! Why are you doing this to me? I calmed my flustered feelings and tried to push Eldon away, when he lifted my chin.
“Why did you move your residence on your own?”
“Pardon?”
Was he angry about that? I was a bit bothered that I left without saying anything, but it’s not a problem worthy of turning on the obsession switch.
I coldly but politely brushed off his hand.
“I avoided you because I couldn’t trust Your Highness.”
“Then since the misunderstanding is cleared, come back.”
“…I’m comfortable here.”
Now that Eldon’s obsessiveness was unsealed, I wanted even less to hover around him.
“So saying you misunderstood was an excuse, and you want to leave me.”
“That’s not it….”
“Rosenthal, do you love me?”
Why is he looking at me so intensely…. So pressuringly. The person you should be obsessed with isn’t me. I’m scared that after acting like this, when you fall for Seha later, you’ll make a fuss saying I seduced you. I first changed the subject.
“My leg hurts too much.”
Eldon looked at my leg with bloodshot red eyes. For a moment, the rippling pheromones stopped. He seems out of his mind from exhaustion, so instead of trying to do this, just get some good sleep.
He quietly looked at my ankle, then threw me a cold gaze.
“Did you use pheromones on me?”
…Are you trying to say your eyes flipped because I used omega pheromones? I knew it. You haven’t even started romance with Seha but blame me.
“How could that be? It’s not even the heat cycle period. It seems Your Highness is very exhausted. Please. Go. Back. To. Your. Palace. And. Rest.”
Go back to your palace.
I fastened my loosened shirt and sat up. Without realizing it, I rubbed the shirt and scrubbed off the saliva on the brand, when Eldon grabbed my hand.
“Answer me. Do you love me?”
“……”
His gaze was so serious it was hot. Why is he looking at me like that? I might get the wrong idea….
I hesitated, unable to change the subject or answer, when his face came close. I turned my head in confusion, but my chin was caught and Eldon’s lips overlapped mine.
“Young Master Rosenthal!”
At that moment, along with the sound of the door swinging open, Seha’s clear voice was heard.
I was startled and pulled the blanket up to my neck, and Eldon also turned around in confusion.
Seha came running with light movements, then was surprised seeing us and covered his own eyes with both hands.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t know His Highness the Crown Prince was here.”
The way he covers his eyes is so cute and adorable. But no matter how spacious this room is, can’t you grasp the situation the moment you open the door? Do you have to come right up close to see?
I suppressed the urge to nitpick and smiled gently.
“Seha-gun, what brings you here?”
“I brought good medicinal herbs for your leg, young master. They’re fresher today.”
‘Today’? Since I returned to the detached palace, Seha hadn’t visited me once. But it was a nuance as if he’d been coming every day bringing herbs.
I blinked in confusion, when Eldon said.
“How thoughtful.”
“Not at all. Since hyung-nim suffered hardship because of me, I should at least do this much. If I had chased those bastards, you wouldn’t have been injured like this.”
“No. You found the key and testified, didn’t you? That alone is enough.”
Seha, do you moonlight as a con artist? How can you lie without even wetting your lips.
