TPIHLMD - Chapter 25 < Will You Be Mine? >




Seliya pulled his wrist away.

“Your Excellency Duke Gredrick.”

Seliya met Illeon’s gaze.

She spat out her words as if chewing them up one by one.

“I am not one of Dietrich’s people.”

“You want me to believe that?”

Illeon smiled at her single and smoothed Seliya's hair.

His mouth was smiling, but his eyes were not. He looked down at Seliya, his eyes calm and sunken.

“Lady Shelly. Is becoming the Crown Prince’s mistress really what you want?”

"No."

Seliya swatted away Illeon's hand, which was arbitrarily braiding her hair.

“I don’t want any of that.”

“You don’t want anything?”

No, there was something she wanted.

When Seliya met her own real enemy, she had a lot of things she wanted to say.

Are you sure you destroyed my kingdom? Why did you kill every single person? Why did you not only destroy your own kingdom but also destroy your ally, the Principality of Inata?

However, as soon as she faced the Emperor, the thought of asking such a question completely disappeared.

Seliya instantly killed the Emperor who wanted her body.

As Dietrich said, did Illeon really destroy his kingdom?

It is true that Illeon is a person who is good at hiding his true feelings, but it is difficult to conclude that he destroyed his kingdom just for that reason.

Seliya did not trust either Dietrich or Illeon.

“It seems to me that you have something you want.”

Illeon lifted Seliya's head with his index finger. Seliya, facing the blue eyes under his straight eyebrows, remembered something the parrot Popo had said some time ago.

- The Princess loves blue eyes! The Princess loves blue eyes!

What happened to Dylan, the escort knight who taught Popo that word?

Not long after he was kicked out of his position as a guard knight... The kingdom was destroyed.

Dylan's eyes were blue, and Illeon in front of her also had bright blue eyes.

At this moment, for some reason, Seliya really wanted to see the red-eyed Dietrich.

Seliya couldn't understand. Was she dependent on Dietrich without realizing it?

'To the man who tried to use me? I? Why me?'

Seliya's eyes widened.

No matter how weak she is, she still depends on a mere man.

Is it because she caught the sight of him wiping bread crumbs from the corner of her mouth with an annoyed look on his face? Is it because when she says it hurts, he stops walking and waits for him in silence?

Whenever he held her hand with his indifferent face, her mind would strangely become calm.

'When Dietrich held my hand, intertwining his knuckles, my mind and body felt calm and at ease...'

"Ah!"

At this moment, Seliya came to a great realization.

She realized that Dietrich had a special ability.

Why did she think she was the only one with this ability? 

Dietrich was acting as a tranquilizer to stabilize Seliya's mind and body.

When she thought about it, there were one or two strange things. Dietrich knows of the existence of her supernatural ability, and her supernatural ability does not only work on him.

Seliya's special ability worked very well for men, but she did not work on those who had special abilities like herself.

She didn't even think that Dietrich had special powers because everyone else was dead except her.

Her very thought was a trap. Looking back, she immediately realized that Dietrich might have survived thanks to his special abilities.

Seliya grabbed Illeon's hand. Illeon's body stiffened at her sudden touch.

"Thank you! Thanks to you, I gained great insight.”

“...?”

Illeon blinked his eyes with an expression that made no sense to him.

“May I ask what enlightenment you gained?”

“It’s a secret.”

Seliya was suspicious and had no intention of telling Illeon what she had found out.

Illeon lifted one corner of his mouth, stimulating Seliya.

“Are you smiling now that you look like Your Majesty’s mistress?”

“The situation doesn’t get better just because I’m sad.”

Illeon’s eyes sparkled with interest.

“How, do you have any way to get out of this situation?”

Seliya smiled brightly in response.

Her pretty emerald eyes were folded nicely. Her silver hair, brighter than Illeon's shone dazzlingly under the dim moonlight.
 
The woman was beautiful. She is a beauty worthy of the reputation of being everyone's first love.

Ordinary men would have no choice but to covet it.

Illeon's perspective was different from that of other men.

This extreme beauty brought on her misfortune.

If she had not been beautiful, she would not have entered the Emperor's bed, nor would she have been noticed by the Crown Prince and become his mistress.

Everyone likes beautiful things. Between the ugly and the beautiful, no one would choose the ugly.

However, beneath this beauty, everything else becomes meaningless.

Until now, men had been intoxicated by her beauty and would not have even tried to know the real Seliya.

Even the fact that Seliya killed the Emperor was overshadowed by her beauty.

'This is why the Empress asked me such a favor.'

Illeon laughed at the Empress's viciousness.

Illeon's reason for attending the imperial palace banquet was not only to see Seliya but also because the Empress had sent him a separate letter.

- Duke, can you get me the poison that ruins her face?


Illeon fiddled with the vial inside the sleeve of his clothes.

Empress, Erfia, is no longer of use to Illeon.

'I praise her for ascending to the position of Empress despite being the illegitimate daughter of the previous Duke, but that's it.'

If it weren't for his help, she would have stepped down as Empress long ago.

Jeremy, who would become the next Emperor, also did not like Illeon.

'Just... Should I become Emperor?'

Long ago, because of a covenant made between the three Dukes, it was strictly forbidden for them to take the throne on their own.

In the early days of the founding of Abelon, three Dukes fought each other to take the throne. At that time, most of the residents of the territory were caught up in the fight and died, and the river water was stained with blood due to the corpses.

The battle for the throne did not end for over three years. The three families lost the majority of their troops and their people's reputation at that time.

It was a fight with nothing gained and a lot to lose.

The three Dukes made a covenant in front of all the people of Abelon, declaring that something like this would never happen again, and appointed as Emperor the youngest member of the royal family whom they had left unkilled just in case.

The three Dukes swore loyalty to the Emperor and made thorough efforts to restore the family's lost reputation and prestige.

There were several moves to eliminate the three Dukes. However, it was not the Three Dukes who disappeared, but the other party.

The three families who had been fighting against each other formed an alliance, and there was no family that could stand against it.

Several hundred years later, the three Dukes came to completely rule over the Emperor.

Although they were higher than the Emperor, they were not actually the Emperor.

Illeon was dissatisfied with that.

Why should he suffer the damage because of the stupid covenant his ancestors made?

One of the three Dukes, Balt, was a sword master but could not control his anger, and the other, Arthur Cervantes, stayed in his territory and had no intention of coming out.

Dietrich was a Duke, but not a Duke.

His dukedom was a mere superficial title given to him by Illeon.

What kind of Duke doesn't have a fiefdom of his own?

'Anyway, why did Dietrich leave this woman alive?'

It made no sense for him to keep Seliya alive simply because she was beautiful.

Illeon was interested in Seliya and played with the bottle of poison. The poison in the bottle was a medicine that would cause her face to melt horribly just by ingesting a small amount.

“Lady Shelly.”

"Yes."

“Would you like to be mine?”

Seliya smiled softly at Illeon's words and removed her hand that was holding Illeon. The moment the warmth disappeared, Illeon felt regretful.

"No. I refuse.”

Seliya made eye contact with Illeon. Her fresh green eyes sparkled like stars in the night sky.

“I belong to no one.”

As soon as Seliya finished speaking, fireworks exploded in the sky! And it exploded. Illeon stopped fiddling with the bottle and looked up at the night sky where colorful fireworks were exploding.

“That was a very appropriate answer, Lady Shelly.”

Illeon placed something in Seliya’s hand. A small vial the size of his fingertip contained a clear liquid.

When Seliya gave him a look as if asking what this was, Illeon smiled and answered.

“This is my gift to you. If you ask who gave it to you, say that someone very high up gave it to you.”

“...”

“In times of crisis, this will be of great help.”

“Why are you doing this to me..?”

"Well..."

Illeon tucked Seliya's hair behind her ear, and he spoke plainly.

“I also like people who have beliefs.”


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