TPIHLMD - Chapter 19







It was Dietrich who interrupted Jeremy.

“If you bring a woman who assassinated the Emperor into your palace, you will definitely get a bad reputation.”

"Haha!"

Jeremy laughed as if he was dumbfounded. He glared at Dietrich with wide eyes.

“Do you think I’ll listen to just one word?”

“...”

Jeremy twisted his lips and patted Dietrich's cheek.

“The role of a dog is to protect its owner. You should not criticize the owner’s words.”

Seliya was not very happy about this situation.

It was not because the Crown Prince treated Dietrich carelessly, but because it was ridiculous to see him pretending that she had something to do with the dirty blood that destroyed his kingdom.

Moreover, it was dangerous for her to move her residence to the Crown Prince's palace when the Empress was trying to harm her.

If she killed the Crown Prince with the Empress's eyes on her, she would only hasten her own death.

Seliya shouldn't die yet. That's because she doesn't know Dietrich's identity or how he knows about her supernatural abilities.

“Your Highness, I would like to stay at Your Excellency Duke Calypso’s mansion.”

So Seliya intervened.

Dietrich was not only the only person who knew about Seliya's abilities but also the only man with whom she could communicate.

Jeremy showed his displeasure at Seliya's words.

“Why do you want to stay in that bastard’s mansion instead of my palace?”

“There is nothing wrong with what His Excellency said. If I stay in Your Highness’s palace for no reason and go against Her Majesty’s wishes, I will only cause trouble to Your the. How can I stay in Your Highness's palace?”

“...”

At Seliya's answer, Jeremy smiled in satisfaction as if he had never shown dissatisfaction.

“I am so honored that you think of me. Okay, I'll do as you say. I will send you an invitation to my birthday banquet soon, so please make sure to attend.”

Jeremy even kissed her on the back of Seliya's hand. He didn't even know that Seliya was thinking about going to the restroom and washing her hands thoroughly with water.

As soon as he saw Dietrich, the smile on Jeremy's face disappeared.

“It’s an order. Don’t you ever pay attention to this guy?”

Dietrich said nothing. Because he wasn't even worth answering.

Seeing Dietrich's expressionless expression, Jeremy furrowed his eyebrows. Jeremy jerked his head away from him and left for his own palace.

Dietrich took the lead and walked away without saying a word. Not wanting to lose him, Seliya grabbed Dietrich by the hem of his clothes.

“Walk a little slower.”

“..."

Dietrich's eyes fell from her collar to the handkerchief wrapped around Selya's wrist. Dietrich looked down at it in silence, then flapped his sleeves and showed his back.

Seliya stared at Dietrich's back as he walked away with a bewildered look on his face.

“I’m sick.”

Dietrich stopped walking at those words.

“Where does it hurt?”

“I feel dizzy...”

Seliya touched her forehead as if it really hurt. Dietrich slowly closed his eyes and opened them.

“...Grab it.”

Dietrich held out one of his arms. Seliya said that in fact, she was not in any pain right now, but she thought that she was fine and grabbed his arm.

If she look at it, he seems easy to handle, she thought, and Seliya smiled softly.

Dietrich, who belatedly realized that he had been played by Seliya, frowned.

“If it’s not because of my mood, I think I’m just feeling fresh.”

Seliya smiled softly in response. Dietrich sighed deeply. He looked down at Seliya with his indescribable face, holding on to his own arms and refusing to let go.

“...Don’t be too clingy.”

“You were the one who held out your arms.”

Seliya smiled brightly. Dietrich looked down at Seliya with a dry face.

As she walked holding Dietrich's arm, Seliya felt her mind and body calming down.

What is the reason?

Is it because she feels that her mind and body are stable because her supernatural ability is not working?

'It's a strange thing. I'm walking like this with the man who not long ago tried to kill me.'

Seliya wondered, but she did not voice her question out loud.

Dietrich wanted something from her, and she also wanted something from him.

What he wanted was probably her supernatural ability, and what she wanted was information about how Dietrich knew about her supernatural ability and how her supernatural ability did not work for him.

Just as the relationship without compensation does not work, so does her relationship with him.

Seliya thought it was a strange alliance that could be broken at any time, and found it extremely ridiculous that this alliance was connecting her life.

'Originally, I was planning to kill the Emperor and then die.'

Would the man in front of me really tell me any information? 

Seliya was waiting for an opportunity. If Dietrich didn't tell her the information, she decided to find out, even if it meant searching his office.

“What are you thinking?”

Dietrich's eyes were already fixed on her. Seliya smiled brightly at the expressionless man and said.

“You don’t have to know.”

Dietrich walked away as if he wasn't expecting an answer.

Dietrich was silent the whole way back to his mansion. He seemed lost in thought. Seliya looked at Dietrich blankly.

The chilly evening wind blew through Dietrich's black hair. Seliya could feel people's eyes turning in this direction, but Dietrich didn't seem to mind at all.

Before she knew it, she had arrived at the mansion.

Dietrich passed through the hallway and took Seliya into an empty room. In the space where only the two of them were left, Dietrich opened his mouth.

“Did you use your supernatural ability?”

“...What?"

“I asked you if you used his supernatural ability to the Crown Prince.”

Dietrich locked the door and leaned against the wall to prevent Seliya from getting out.

“Your special ability was to smell like hyacinths. Tell me exactly what your abilities are.”

Ah, I guess he didn't know everything about my abilities. 

Seliya narrowed her eyes.

This was a good opportunity to negotiate. It was natural that if something goes, something comes.

“What can you give me if I tell you that?”

“The price of your life.”

Seliya burst out laughing.

“No matter who sees it, it’s a transaction where I lose more.”

“...”

Dietrich's eyes sank.

“In exchange for saving your life, is it a loss to tell me about your supernatural abilities? It doesn’t even sound like a horse.”

“You know that, right? I don’t really have any regrets about life.”

Seliya smiled and answered. Dietrich was about to say something, but his mouth was shut.

After a long time, his lips opened.

“Is there something else you want?”

These were the words Seliya had been waiting for. But, knowing full well that he would not answer even if she asked him how he knew about her abilities, Seliya came up with something else.

“Tell me your real plans.”

“...”

“Why are you trying to save me? Am I worth it to you? There is something you want to do through my abilities, yes?"

Seliya caressed Dietrich's cheek. Negative emotions overflowed from his eyes as he looked at her.

Hatred, murder, vigilance.

Seliya raised the corners of her mouth as she looked at the red eyes where many things were tangled together.

“I need to know your plan so I can help you, right?”

Dietrich grabbed Seliya's hand that was touching his cheek as if it were going to crush it. As a result, the handkerchief tied by the Crown Prince fell to the floor.　

“...Do you know what my plan is?”

“Aren’t I asking because you want to hear it? After all this, we are still in the same boat.”

Seliya continued her words by trampling mercilessly on the handkerchief on the floor.

“I need to know what the captain is going to do so that I, as a sailor, can row or anchor.”

“...”

“How can I trust you when you don’t know the destination?”

If he doesn't tell her about this ability, she can ask something more essential than that. However, what Seliya herself was doing was more of a transaction than a question on her part.

Seliya had no intention of being taken advantage of by Dietrich as he wished.

Although she was destroyed, she was the Princess of the Shan Kingdom and was taught by her father to keep her claws hidden and never reveal her cards first.

Her father also told her that if she reveals her cards due to unavoidable circumstances, it will soon become her weakness.

Seliya never once forgot her late father's teachings.

Dietrich bent towards her, holding Seliya's hand in him. His raw eyes looked like they could chew up Seliya at any moment.

“Be aware of your position.”

Dietrich scolded her coldly, removing Seliya's hand from his.

“You just have to do what I tell you.”

With those words, he left the room without even looking back.

Seliya looked alternately at the handkerchief, which had fallen on the floor, and at the door, where Dietrich had left.

Seeing Dietrich's sharp reaction, Seliya became convinced.

He hates this empire.

As much as she is herself.

No. Maybe, he's more than her.

***

A week has passed since then.

Over the course of a week, two imperial ministers and fifteen imperial knights who confessed to plotting to assassinate the Emperor were executed.

- I tried to put all my sins on the woman. All this because His Majesty the Emperor wants to take my niece into his bed!

There was a good reason, and there was also evidence.

Immediately after, the rumor that Seliya had assassinated the Emperor completely disappeared.

Illeon's arrangement was behind all of this, but the only people who knew the truth were Illeon and those who had already been executed and turned into corpses.

For Seliya, it was a week so peaceful and calm that it was all the more strange.

She sat on the edge of the bed and looked up at the sky where the early morning moon had risen.

Ever since Seliya left Dietrich, he had not visited her. Meals were also delivered only through the maid, Ellie.

Seliya hinted at Eli, but thr blind maid seemed to have no knowledge of the outside circumstances.

Early this morning, Seliya decided to leave the mansion.

The plan was to secretly find out information behind Dietrich's back, as he had been avoiding her recently and had not told her anything.

Seliya changed her clothes into the maid's uniform she had prepared in advance and tied up her striking silver hair with an elastic band.

As she was about to go out the door, she suddenly heard a knock on the door.

Knock knock.

'Is it Ellie?'

But Ellie had never visited so early in the morning. Seliya thought strangely. At that time, a low voice was heard beyond the door.

"Hey."

It was Dietrich's voice.

Seliya lifted her heels and he ran straight to her bed and pulled the covers up to her neck.

The door opened before she could tell him to come in.


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