This cool, chilly basement was surprisingly beautifully decorated. There were gorgeously sparkling chandeliers, exotic tapestries hanging here and there, and of course, there were huge vases of fresh flowers placed on each pillar that would never look so fresh unless they were changed frequently.
In the center, a small fountain was spurting water as if it were a beautiful, simple town square. The water droplets reflected in the chandelier light burst from the edges like small gold nuggets.
For a moment, it was such a fragrant and beautiful place that I thought this was the Crown Prince’s real bedroom.
If it weren’t for the countless coffins in front of me, that is.
Yes, coffins.
Dozens of glass coffins similar to the coffin in which my body lay were ‘on display.’
The glass coffins that took up the walls of the vast room at regular intervals had a shape that could not be explained as anything other than an ‘exhibition.’
I have felt countless goosebumps and shivers since entering this body, but this was the first time I was frozen in fear as much as I was now.
And the fear reached its peak when I saw another coffin near my glass coffin.
“Kuroseda... Baroness Kuroseda...”
I recognized her immediately, having seen the portrait the whole time Rhodnes was looking for her.
The hairs on my body stood on end.
“Baroness Kuroseda, my father’s mistress.”
The Crown Prince staggered toward the glass coffin. The way his hands stroked the coffin like a treasured antique was so affectionate that I felt a sudden queasy feeling.
“My father betrayed my mother and earnestly asked me, his son, to cherish his mistress. Does that make sense? In the first place, there is nothing I love among the living.”
Bardenaldo, who had been giggling and shrugging his shoulders, spread his sweaty arms wide.
“How quiet and nice. In this quiet room... It’s only when I’m with things that don’t breathe that I can feel free and love them.”
“Crazy, crazy...”
I barely managed to chew and spit out through my closed mouth so as not to scream.
“What the hell is this, the hell... Your Highness. Your Highness, you wouldn’t say that all of this is yours, would you? Could the disappearance of the woman really be yours? Why on earth is the Grand Duchess's body, why...”
The confined space made the Crown Prince smell even more strongly of alcohol. However, his flushed face was too slutty to simply be the result of alcohol.
It was hard to open my mouth. It felt as if someone had tightly fisted my throat, and I couldn’t make a sound.
“The hell... Why, why is that body over there?”
I finally opened my mouth after biting my tongue several times.
The Crown Prince, who had returned to my body, leaned his staggering body against the coffin and turned a nearby handle to raise the coffin upright.
“This? Huh. Why? Are you curious?”
It was my corpse. It wasn’t a doll made to look like it. It was my corpse, decorated with all sorts of flowers, lying there like a living person, like a sleeping person. My mind went blank as if I had become an idiot.
“Isn’t it beautiful?”
I shook my frozen head.
“...I killed it.”
The way his voice, which was wheezing, became sullen at the answer that it wasn’t beautiful was the best part.
“...I killed it, I killed it.”
"..."
“It’s much more beautiful to be dead and quietly a corpse than to be alive.”
Bardenaldo smiled proudly, like a craftsman who had created a work of art. His smile was so pure and bright that I was speechless.
I had been searching for the person who killed me all along.
If I had died as a result of someone’s trick, if that was the case, I wanted to know why.
I thought that was the least courtesy I could show my dead self. I thought that was something I had to step up to for a happy future.
But the truth was right in front of me. The person who blatantly killed me was smiling in front of me.
Without realizing it, my feet turned backward instead of forwards, and I became stiff as a stone.
Bardenaldo’s white, flawless upper body was soaked with inexplicable sweat. When I looked down a little, I saw that his groin was swollen tightly.
The hands stroking the glass tube with eyes that were dying of love made me feel as if they were stroking my spine.
I felt like I was going to vomit.
Crown Prince Bardenaldo was crazy.
“Crazy, crazy.”
Bardenaldo’s neat face suddenly distorted.
“The crazy one is Rodnes, my beautiful brother.”
“You are crazy.”
“Only Rhodnes listens to such words, Madame. Poor Madame.”
“Why on earth are you doing this, why on earth are you exhibiting someone else’s body in a place like this? Killing the Grand Duchess? Why on earth? What did Adrienne do to you?”
I tried to ignore the front of his pants that seemed about to burst and continued speaking, but he smiled faintly.
“What can I do, I can only love the dead?”
“!”
Bardenaldo, who had been ok down with pity on himself, suddenly became enraged and slammed Adrienne’s glass coffin like before. He was literally crazy.
“Damn it, there’s a necklace, but why won’t it open!”
“The necklace... Why on earth do you have that necklace? What the hell is a corpse... Do you even love a corpse?”
“Damn it, it won’t open. No matter what I do, it won’t open. How dare you. You... How dare you.”
The Crown Prince, who completely ignored my words, turned his anger entirely toward Adrienne’s glass coffin. I took in every unbearable scene with my eyes and agonized over whether I should run away or not.
“...Are you trying to run away?”
As soon as I took another step back, the Crown Prince’s eyes turned to me.
“After seeing this, are you going to go outside?”
I could feel the anger that was not opening the coffin suddenly directed at me.
“It would have been better if you had died nicely by Doris’s hand.”
Oh my.
“Those assassins... Those people you sent...”
“Doris sent them. I am interested in you, so there is no way she wouldn’t get rid of you, right?”
The Crown Prince knew that Doris would make a move.
“She is a woman who must have everything she wants. She must get rid of everything that bothers her.”
Just like me, knowing that Doris would make a move...
“How easy and convenient. It is not a big deal to kill a woman like you.”
Bardenaldo strode towards me, who had frozen like a stone.
His cold hands went straight to my neck. The merciless strength of the man strangled my neck in one go.
“...Die.”
Bardenaldo, who was laughing so hard his mouth was torn, grabbed my neck and shook it.
“Whew-!”
“Die and be quiet.”
The force with which I deliberately squeezed the airway was not something I had done once or twice.
No.
No.
My body is over there. If I lose this body here...!
I grabbed the Crown Prince’s hand that was being squeezed with both hands and twisted it. However, the more intense the resistance became, the more firmly and heavily the thumb tightened my windpipe.
The moment my vision became dizzy, with a bang-! sound, my airway suddenly opened, and cold air filled my lungs.
Bang! Cough! Gulp, gulp!
I gulped as I struggled to hold my breath as I lay sprawled on the cold floor.
A space filled with the light of a gorgeous chandelier. On the cold, frigid floor, two men’s black figures were entangled.
Bang!
Bang!
I barely managed to lift my upper body with my trembling hands on the floor.
“One more time...”
Bang!
“Say it...”
Bang!
It was Noevian.
The horribly disheveled Noevian, the Noevian who had just been dragged away by the knights, appeared in front of me and struck the Crown Prince in the face with bloodshot eyes.
The Crown Prince, whose lips were immediately split, laughed until his mouth was torn as soon as he saw his uncle’s face while being grabbed by the collar.
“Heh-. My uncle is here.”
How could such strength come from the suddenly thin Noevian? The tall Crown Prince was hit in the face one last time and was slammed into the corner.
Noevian looked up at Adrienne’s body standing there blankly and swallowed, losing his words for a moment.
“I heard it. It’s not funny.”
“...Bardenaldo, explain.”
“What, I took what was rightfully mine? I, the lord, to my uncle? You were the one who gave me the body?”
“It’s much more beautiful to be dead and quietly a corpse than to be alive.”
Bardenaldo smiled proudly, like a craftsman who had created a work of art. His smile was so pure and bright that I was speechless.
I had been searching for the person who killed me all along.
If I had died as a result of someone’s trick, if that was the case, I wanted to know why.
I thought that was the least courtesy I could show my dead self. I thought that was something I had to step up to for a happy future.
But the truth was right in front of me. The person who blatantly killed me was smiling in front of me.
Without realizing it, my feet turned backward instead of forwards, and I became stiff as a stone.
Bardenaldo’s white, flawless upper body was soaked with inexplicable sweat. When I looked down a little, I saw that his groin was swollen tightly.
The hands stroking the glass tube with eyes that were dying of love made me feel as if they were stroking my spine.
I felt like I was going to vomit.
Crown Prince Bardenaldo was crazy.
“Crazy, crazy.”
Bardenaldo’s neat face suddenly distorted.
“The crazy one is Rodnes, my beautiful brother.”
“You are crazy.”
“Only Rhodnes listens to such words, Madame. Poor Madame.”
“Why on earth are you doing this, why on earth are you exhibiting someone else’s body in a place like this? Killing the Grand Duchess? Why on earth? What did Adrienne do to you?”
I tried to ignore the front of his pants that seemed about to burst and continued speaking, but he smiled faintly.
“What can I do, I can only love the dead?”
“!”
Bardenaldo, who had been ok down with pity on himself, suddenly became enraged and slammed Adrienne’s glass coffin like before. He was literally crazy.
“Damn it, there’s a necklace, but why won’t it open!”
“The necklace... Why on earth do you have that necklace? What the hell is a corpse... Do you even love a corpse?”
“Damn it, it won’t open. No matter what I do, it won’t open. How dare you. You... How dare you.”
The Crown Prince, who completely ignored my words, turned his anger entirely toward Adrienne’s glass coffin. I took in every unbearable scene with my eyes and agonized over whether I should run away or not.
“...Are you trying to run away?”
As soon as I took another step back, the Crown Prince’s eyes turned to me.
“After seeing this, are you going to go outside?”
I could feel the anger that was not opening the coffin suddenly directed at me.
“It would have been better if you had died nicely by Doris’s hand.”
Oh my.
“Those assassins... Those people you sent...”
“Doris sent them. I am interested in you, so there is no way she wouldn’t get rid of you, right?”
The Crown Prince knew that Doris would make a move.
“She is a woman who must have everything she wants. She must get rid of everything that bothers her.”
Just like me, knowing that Doris would make a move...
“How easy and convenient. It is not a big deal to kill a woman like you.”
Bardenaldo strode towards me, who had frozen like a stone.
His cold hands went straight to my neck. The merciless strength of the man strangled my neck in one go.
“...Die.”
Bardenaldo, who was laughing so hard his mouth was torn, grabbed my neck and shook it.
“Whew-!”
“Die and be quiet.”
The force with which I deliberately squeezed the airway was not something I had done once or twice.
No.
No.
My body is over there. If I lose this body here...!
I grabbed the Crown Prince’s hand that was being squeezed with both hands and twisted it. However, the more intense the resistance became, the more firmly and heavily the thumb tightened my windpipe.
The moment my vision became dizzy, with a bang-! sound, my airway suddenly opened, and cold air filled my lungs.
Bang! Cough! Gulp, gulp!
I gulped as I struggled to hold my breath as I lay sprawled on the cold floor.
A space filled with the light of a gorgeous chandelier. On the cold, frigid floor, two men’s black figures were entangled.
Bang!
Bang!
I barely managed to lift my upper body with my trembling hands on the floor.
“One more time...”
Bang!
“Say it...”
Bang!
It was Noevian.
The horribly disheveled Noevian, the Noevian who had just been dragged away by the knights, appeared in front of me and struck the Crown Prince in the face with bloodshot eyes.
The Crown Prince, whose lips were immediately split, laughed until his mouth was torn as soon as he saw his uncle’s face while being grabbed by the collar.
“Heh-. My uncle is here.”
How could such strength come from the suddenly thin Noevian? The tall Crown Prince was hit in the face one last time and was slammed into the corner.
Noevian looked up at Adrienne’s body standing there blankly and swallowed, losing his words for a moment.
“I heard it. It’s not funny.”
“...Bardenaldo, explain.”
“What, I took what was rightfully mine? I, the lord, to my uncle? You were the one who gave me the body?”
Noevian gave the body to me? That I was originally the Crown Prince’s?
Now, I was really at my limit.
“Explain to me.”
My whole body was shaking, but I barely managed to get up by leaning against the wall and standing up straight.
Noevian’s face, which had been glaring at the Crown Prince, turned toward me.
“Tell me what on earth you two have been conspiring against each other.”
***
Noevian Ronta was the 27th Prince of the former Emperor.
His mother, who had been sold to the old Emperor and became an Empress for an unknown number of years, died immediately after giving birth to him.
His line of succession to the throne was so low that it would have been fortunate if he could receive even a small territory.
No matter how outstanding the material of the Emperor was, no one would care. There was no power to protect him, no one to promise safety.
Fortunately, the current Emperor, Julius, who was the Crown Prince at the time, was not wary of Noevian, who was much older than him and had no power at all.
The struggle for the throne was particularly fierce. It was a time when both sides were wary of each other and did not hesitate to poison each other.
Noevian, who barely managed to survive as a Prince and a slacker, was hurt by the fact that no one was wary of him when he was young.
Since there was no one to tell him how much power and support was needed to ascend to the throne of the Emperor, he was always envious of the Crown Prince who was treated well and lived in a bright place.
That’s why he struggled to not miss out on being the top student at the Royal Academy. He wanted to prove that he was a useful member of the royal family.
He saw other royals living as students until they were middle-aged at the Royal Academy, where there was no concept of graduation.
At first, he looked at them with pity, but as he approached adulthood, he realized that there were things that did not change no matter how many times he was the top student and how many times he became the representative student of the academy.
The fact that he had no place among his brothers who had powerful powers.
And that he might have to live by paying taxes or living in the Royal Academy without even receiving a single fief.
Not only that, but his relatively safe position began to be threatened when he began to excel in his studies.
When he first detected the poison, his spine went cold. It was because he suddenly realized that no one would step forward even if he died.
In his villa where no one visited, he thought about what his way of living would be.
Don’t come to the forefront.
Don’t be greedy for things you can’t have. Spend time only on things you can have.
Being far from the line of succession and good at his job, he naturally earned the trust of Julius, who needed a trustworthy subject.
Thinking back later, Julius at the time didn’t simply need a trustworthy brother.
He just needed a brother who would get his hands dirty and who was desperate for a drop of beans.
Sometimes, very suddenly, such thoughts would come to him.
Why does someone else become the Emperor when he does everything himself?
He also has deep blue eyes that are a symbol of the imperial family. Why is no one wary of him when he excels in every field?
However, he supported the Crown Prince prince, Julius, to survive. Since he didn’t have the power to gather power himself, he clung to those with more power and tried to become a force himself.
In order not to dirty Julius's hands, he got his own hands dirty and gave only glory to Julius.
By then, Noevian had clearly realized what he could have.
Not a Prince who would die or be driven out to the frontier, but an imperial family that could remain in the capital with a high title.
That was the most he could get.
By not coveting what was too much, he achieved satisfactory results.
All of the brothers who had been fiercely competing for the throne at that time died.
The brothers of lower rank left the palace as if they were being driven out to foreign countries through marriage alliances, or they went to the frontiers instead of staying in the capital. Some of the brothers who could not even do that remained as students of the Royal Academy forever.
However, the prince of the villa, Noevian, who no one cared about, received a new surname called 'Trovica', was granted a huge territory in the north, stayed in the capital, and even earned the title of Emperor's Advisor.
From then on, he was confident in his pledge.
'It's right to invest time in what you can have, not waste time on what you can't have.'
He should have lived like that a long time ago.
He should have realized early on that what he could have was not the throne or his own power.
Although he did not serve the emperor he had established with a pure heart, he was satisfied because he had a future if he ascended to the throne.
He ground his teeth when he saw people who looked down on things they shouldn't have. Foolish and stupid guys.
However, there was a moment when the entire yardstick of his life was shaken.
"I must have Adrienne Piretta, Uncle."
It was when his nephew and the new Crown Prince of this country, whom he had decided to serve as his second lord, said those words.
In order not to dirty Julius's hands, he got his own hands dirty and gave only glory to Julius.
By then, Noevian had clearly realized what he could have.
Not a Prince who would die or be driven out to the frontier, but an imperial family that could remain in the capital with a high title.
That was the most he could get.
By not coveting what was too much, he achieved satisfactory results.
All of the brothers who had been fiercely competing for the throne at that time died.
The brothers of lower rank left the palace as if they were being driven out to foreign countries through marriage alliances, or they went to the frontiers instead of staying in the capital. Some of the brothers who could not even do that remained as students of the Royal Academy forever.
However, the prince of the villa, Noevian, who no one cared about, received a new surname called 'Trovica', was granted a huge territory in the north, stayed in the capital, and even earned the title of Emperor's Advisor.
From then on, he was confident in his pledge.
'It's right to invest time in what you can have, not waste time on what you can't have.'
He should have lived like that a long time ago.
He should have realized early on that what he could have was not the throne or his own power.
Although he did not serve the emperor he had established with a pure heart, he was satisfied because he had a future if he ascended to the throne.
He ground his teeth when he saw people who looked down on things they shouldn't have. Foolish and stupid guys.
However, there was a moment when the entire yardstick of his life was shaken.
"I must have Adrienne Piretta, Uncle."
It was when his nephew and the new Crown Prince of this country, whom he had decided to serve as his second lord, said those words.
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