“What? But young master….”
“I’m going. Prepare for it.”
“Yes….”
Raki reluctantly bowed his head. He must be worried that I’m going to meet an old lover just one month before the Crown Princess investiture ceremony.
That guy performs all sorts of evil deeds in absolute obedience to Rosenthal, but in the end, he’s betrayed and loses his life miserably while taking the blame for Rosenthal’s crimes. Even while dying like that, he’s such a naive guy who only worries about Rosenthal.
In this novel world where everything revolves around Seha, the main uke, the only person I can trust as the villainous sub-uke is that guy.
“Y-Young master….”
When I stared at him intently, Raki shyly lowered his head. I looked at the mirror behind Raki. As befitting the best visual in the story, it was truly an incredible appearance.
Is it even acceptable for a guy to be this pretty? Even the characters in my webtoon, who are always said to be prettier than the female leads, weren’t at this level.
Transparent, white skin with blue eyes like they held jewels, golden hair that rippled like waves with just a slight turn of the head, features that felt both haughty and elegant. That said, it wasn’t feminine—it definitely possessed masculine lines as well.
Even after seeing it over and over for ten days, I just can’t get used to it. I deliberately turned my gaze away. At this rate, I might fall for my own face like Narcissus from Greek and Roman mythology.
Actually, if it weren’t for the gruesome death ending, life here would be pretty decent.
Rosenthal is the young master of a ducal family with powerful influence, wealthy, has looks that could captivate everyone in the world, and most importantly, he’s an omega. He can actually have children.
Of course, aside from the gruesome death, there is one other big problem….
Anyway, as long as I don’t marry Crown Prince Eldon according to the novel’s flow, it would be possible to meet a good person and live happily together.
And to do this, I need to meet Third Prince Arleigh first. Right now, he’s the only person who can cancel my marriage.
Raki earnestly pleaded with me to reconsider just once more, but I ignored him and headed to the wardrobe.
***
“Slave, where are you going?”
As I was crossing the garden with Raki, a cold voice stabbed at me.
“Hyung….”
“Why am I your hyung! You slave bastard!”
Martin, the eldest son of Duke Chendwden, shouted and touched on Rosenthal’s only weakness.
Rosenthal was originally Martin’s slave.
When Martin was ten years old, he went to see an opera and fell in love at first sight with Rosenthal, a theater slave, and scraped together all the allowance he had saved to buy him.
And he showered Rosenthal with love, promising that when he became duke, he would take him as his partner. At those words, Rosenthal also shyly nodded, and the two spent delightful days together.
Then one day, Duke Chendwden noticed Rosenthal’s extraordinary appearance and called an appraiser to examine his traits.
As the duke expected, Rosenthal was a precious omega, and he tried to bring Rosenthal in as an adopted son by disguising him as a branch member of the Chendwden family. This was to form a connection with the Imperial Family, which only had sons.
When Martin found out about this, he begged Rosenthal. Please refuse the position of adopted son and become his partner instead. But Rosenthal, who was filled with ambition, betrayed Martin’s kindness and love and became the second son of the Chendwden family—or so it says in the novel.
The author really…. No matter how much they needed to instill in readers that Rosenthal was a ‘bad guy,’ isn’t this going too far?
At the time, Martin was ten years old and Rosenthal was seven. How much weight could a love oath between children carry? I was murdered by a lover I dated for a year. And ambition? Rosenthal was a seven-year-old slave child. How could he refuse the duke’s command? When told to do something, you just do it. Wasn’t Martin making unreasonable demands on Rosenthal because he didn’t have the confidence to persuade his own father? It’s too unfair to blame him for something that even the young duke and legitimate son couldn’t do. And why should he refuse anyway? For a ten-year-old young duke who only spouted words of love for a month but didn’t even get rid of the slave documents?
In the novel, Martin’s act of taking revenge on Rosenthal after being betrayed in love is portrayed as quite justified, but looking at it from omniscient Rosenthal’s perspective, it’s not just absurd but absolutely infuriating.
“I apologize.”
In any case, Martin is the young duke, and he’s a character who sticks by the Crown Prince’s side and works hard to fan the flames to have Rosenthal deposed. Since getting on his bad side would only hurt me, I bowed my head politely.
I hoped he would just shoot me a contemptuous look and leave nicely, but he strode over and grabbed my wrist.
“You said you were sick, but you’re wandering around from early morning!”
“…….”
I was momentarily speechless. Not because I couldn’t think of an excuse. I saw Kim Jigwang in Martin. It was the same look in his eyes when he was strangling me. Just as I was engulfed in terror that made it impossible to even breathe, Raki urgently intervened.
“He was on his way to the dressmaker’s to get fitted for his wedding ceremonial robes.”
“Ceremonial robes? The likes of you becoming Crown Princess—even a dog would laugh. You’re my slave! Did you think you could escape your innate lowliness!”
“…….”
“The moment I become duke, you’re finished! I’ll make you my slave again. It’s not far off, so enjoy yourself while you can.”
“That. Will. Never. Happen.”
I barely regained my composure and said each syllable with emphasis. Martin makes a great contribution to Rosenthal’s death. But this time will be different. I won’t die. I’ll survive.
As I steeled my resolve and tried to shake off his hand, my nape was suddenly grabbed and Martin’s face came close. I quickly turned my head to avoid his lips, but he didn’t stop.
“Young Master Martin! What are you doing…!”
Raki shouted, but given their respective positions, he couldn’t directly stop him and just stamped his feet.
Crazy bastard! Just because you liked him for one month in childhood, is it normal to obsess over your stepbrother for over 10 years while calling him a slave?! Why is Rosenthal the incarnation of ambition, and that bastard a pure-hearted man crazy about his first love?!
I wanted to curse at the author who described the characters in such a way. No matter how much he’s a villainous sub-uke who deserves to die—no, who was created to be killed—in this situation, Rosenthal is clearly the victim.
I tried somehow to escape from Martin’s grasp, but there was no way Rosenthal, who had only received bridal training his whole life as an omega, could defeat Martin, who had been knighted. It would be impossible even if it were Lee Minchan the artist’s body, not Rosenthal’s.
“P-Please don’t do this….”
As I somehow tried to block his mouth and refuse, Martin suddenly let out a short scream and rolled on the ground.
“How dare… which bastard…! Y-Your Highness the Crown Prince….”
Martin’s voice, full of anger, broke comically. I, who had been roughly wiping the saliva off my face with my sleeve and catching my breath, was also startled and looked at the man standing beside me.
Silver hair symbolizing the Imperial Family and empty ash-gray eyes, a beautiful yet noble atmosphere impressive enough to captivate even the great Rosenthal, a small scar remaining on his earlobe, a sturdy body showing his accomplishments in war.
He was Crown Prince Eldon.
It’s a good thing I didn’t draw the webtoon. (Well, it’s not that I didn’t draw it—I died a violent death so I couldn’t draw it.) No matter how much effort I put into drawing, I couldn’t have captured even half of Eldon’s face. The same goes for Rosenthal, but well, he’s a villainous sub-uke. Regardless of what he actually looks like, it wouldn’t matter if I drew him a bit less attractive than Seha in the webtoon.
Hah, I feel miserable even thinking about it myself.
“Rosenthal Chendwden.”
Eldon called my name with a voice as beautiful as his face. Only then did I realize that I had been staring shamelessly at the Crown Prince’s face without even offering him a greeting. Damn, it looks like I’m going to get on his bad side right from our first meeting.
“I-I greet Your Highness the Crown Prince.”
I bowed deeply at the waist. Facing the person who would behead me directly, my entire body trembled and even my voice shook.
Eldon looked at me silently. It was hot enough to bore a hole in the back of my head. Why is he staring for so long? It’s time for him to tell me to rise. Ah! Should I have knelt on one knee? But I’m the legitimate son of a ducal family and his fiancé, so there should be no need for that…. Could it already be a death route?
Regardless of the circumstances or who was at fault, it was true that I had been caught in an indecent act with my brother despite being the body that would become Crown Princess. Moreover, Martin is a character who sides with the Crown Prince.
As my tightly closed lips trembled from fear, Eldon spoke.
“Escort the legitimate son.”
Eldon commanded his guard, and the guard knight led me to a carriage engraved with the crest of the Generoanth Imperial Family without even asking my opinion.
Soon after, the Crown Prince also entered, and the carriage departed as soon as the door closed.
I just kept my head down without saying anything. To think I’d end up alone with the Crown Prince in this narrow space—what kind of nightmare is this? In the novel, there was no significant interaction until the wedding day….
“Are you all right?”
He handed me a handkerchief. I was horrified and waved my hands. In this world, handkerchiefs were a symbol of romance exchanged between lovers.
Crown Prince Eldon has a personality that isn’t bound by such formalities, so he probably simply meant for me to wipe off the dirty saliva on my face, but I couldn’t accept it.
What if he suddenly starts wielding a sword saying, ‘The only person who can receive my handkerchief is Seha’?
“I-I’m fine.”
“Are you saying you find even touching my handkerchief repulsive?”
Eldon’s eyes rose coldly. It seems he thought I refused the handkerchief because of my relationship with the Third Prince.
Damn, accepting it or refusing it are both death flags. What am I supposed to do?
“It’s not like that. How could I dare soil Your Highness the Crown Prince’s precious handkerchief with something dirty? I apologize for showing you such an unseemly sight.”
I roughly wiped my face with my sleeve and bowed my head again.
“…Does that happen often?”
“I-It’s the first time, truly the first time. Though he’s criticized me as a slave many times…. Ah, actually, I’m originally from a theater slave background, so he and I don’t share blood.”
Even in my flustered state, I thought it would be better to reveal my origins than to be misunderstood as having done indecent things between blood relatives. Eldon had sympathized with Seha’s circumstances of becoming a slave. So he might take pity on me too.
The proud Rosenthal desperately hides this fact, but for me, receiving even a spoonful of his sympathy was important. Besides, even if I hide it, Martin will reveal it spectacularly at the ball anyway, so it’s better to say it now.
“I know.”
“Y-You knew?”
“Yes.”
He knew even before Martin revealed it. There was no such description in the novel…. Well, it wasn’t a novel that kindly showed emotional threads anyway.
In any case, the Imperial Family’s intelligence network is impressive. To know a fact that Duke Chendwden had carefully hidden for over 10 years.
Wait, then the Crown Prince despised Rosenthal even while knowing he was of slave origin. His sympathy only activates for Seha, the main uke. This must be what they call the protagonist buff.
When the carriage left the main street full of nobles’ mansions and entered a secluded forest, Eldon commanded outside to stop the carriage.
From the atmosphere, it seems he left the ducal residence but didn’t have a particular destination. Once the rattling of the carriage disappeared, it became so quiet that even breathing could be heard.
But why did the Crown Prince come to the ducal residence? Wasn’t he supposed to shoot contemptuous looks at the engagement ceremony and then ignore me by not showing his face until the wedding? As I was recalling the novel’s contents, Eldon spoke.
“I heard you weren’t feeling well….”
Ah, he came as a courtesy since his fiancé was ill. It was just a formal visit and he probably planned to return soon, but he got caught up in the situation.
“It was a mild cold. I’m fully recovered now.”
I wasn’t even sick; I was just sleeping while denying reality.
“I see, then….”
He tried to open the window. He’s probably going to order the carriage to turn around. Even if there’s nothing to say, that’s pretty fast.
Wait, if we part like this here, we won’t be able to meet until the wedding. No, no, no!!!
Originally I was planning to go to Third Prince Arleigh and beg him, but since I’ve met the Crown Prince, it’s better to settle this here.
“I want to break off the engagement!”
