Even if he tried to pretend not to know, Rhodnes couldn't stay still.
'How can she think of meeting Noevian Trovica again?'
He went outside to cool down the burning emotions in his head and to avoid the young ladies who were slowly approaching him.
It was a complicated feeling that couldn't be explained with just one word, jealousy.
Rhodnes was always anxious even when he heard Adrienne's words that were close to confession.
Even if it was a love full of deception, love was still love.
The word 'love' that Adrienne had used to refer to Noevian without hesitation before tormented him like a thorn stuck in his throat, to the point where it was difficult to rely on just a few words, like wanting to get closer and not wanting to be friends.
When Adrienne said she came to see Noevian on the terrace earlier, if he had reacted a little more calmly, he might have had the chance to watch from afar.
But isn’t this a topic that he can never calm down on?
He ran his hand through his platinum hair that sparkled under the moonlight.
Before he knew it, his steps had moved quite far away from Atilchad Hall.
The path that Noevian would take after meeting the Emperor was obvious. He would inevitably have to pass by the path leading to the Crown Princess’ Palace. Even though he thought that he shouldn’t do this, his steps eventually followed his anxiety and headed there.
“...Roan?”
At that moment, he suddenly heard a rough, hoarse voice and turned his head.
He saw Doris running towards him from the direction of the Crown Princess’ Palace in a state of mourning. At her almost naked appearance, Rhodnes’s face hardened noticeably.
“Roan, Roan. Ah, my Roan!”
“!”
Doris, who kept calling his nickname and looked as if she was dying of joy, seemed to be losing her mind.
“Many eyes are watching. What are you doing?”
The message was filled with worry, but the expression on his face as he looked down was incredibly cold.
Although Rhodnes could reach out and touch it, he only looked down at the messy, fluttering belt and did not show any kindness.
“Today is the day of my union with His Highness the Crown Prince.”
Doris quickly grabbed his large, unmoving hand and said.
“Let go, Your Highness the Crown Princess. Haven’t you heard that many eyes are watching?”
“You give men who cling to lowly women a look that seems like you’ll kill them, but why don’t you blink an eye when I, a noble person, am uniting with the Crown Prince, who is not even a twinkle in the eye?”
“You also have ears to hear. Why are you doing this?"
“Have you been living your whole life worrying about what other people think, and have you already lost your first love?”
Doris grabbed Rhodnes’ hand and placed it on her chest.
It was because Rhodnes’ eyes were not shaken at all and were looking down at her coldly.
“Brother to brother, making a fool out of a woman and... what the hell is wrong with you, this fucking Ronta blood?”
Doris grabbed Rhodnes’ hand and placed it on her chest.
She gritted her teeth and rubbed her hand against his, even as Rhodnes tried to shake it away in anger.
Doris's face suddenly paled as she slowly raised her gaze, her smile flickering.
“Brother to brother, making a fool out of a woman and... what the hell is wrong with you, this fucking Ronta blood?”
“Are you done with your business?”
Rhodnes pulled away as if he was done with his hands, and the naked Doris felt extreme shame. The red aura that ran down her face quickly passed through her neck and spread throughout her body.
“Please, Roan. I wanted you from the beginning. If Bardenaldo wasn’t the Crown Prince, I would never have stood by him. Please, please hug me. I’ll match you. Blonde? Black? I’ll match you with anything!”
Doris, not even afraid of being heard, unbuttoned her clothes even further and shouted.
“What the hell is wrong with you? What the hell! I said I’d be your first love! I said I’d be your fake lover! That woman doesn’t love you anyway, Roan. I said it myself! Even if he is the groom everyone desires, what good is it if I don’t love him!”
The sound of her devotion spilled over the hallway floor.
Doris, who was more nervous than usual, was beautiful enough to make anyone lose their mind.
However, Doris despaired at Rhodnes’ indifferent face.
“Try it more. Even if this is not the outside but a bedroom where we are alone, I will not fall for you.”
Doris’ face cracked at the blatant words.
“Don’t ruin my brother’s face. Get out of here before others see.”
It was a perfect aversion.
Damn it!
I lost the crown prince.
I entered the Crown Prince’s palace, but the Crown Prince was nowhere to be found.
It was surprisingly easy to enter the palace. That was because I was the Crown Prince’s aide.
‘I hope I saw something wrong.’
I prayed to the Lord as I ran, ran, and ran through the empty hallways.
As I was trying to swing open the doors to the audience room and the reception room, I was stopped by the guards in front of the bedroom.
“You are absolutely not allowed to enter the bedroom.”
“Get out of the way. I have something to tell His Highness.”
“No matter how much of an aide you are, you cannot.”
“This is an urgent message regarding Noevian Trovica.”
The two guards exchanged glances. They looked surprised.
They knew everything about Noevian Trovica to the crow Prince, and what I was to Noevian. After all, they were the guards the Crown Prince always carried around.
“Still...”
Two pairs of complicated eyes scanned me.
“His Highness the Second Prince was supposed to come too, but he hasn’t come yet?”
The men’s faces turned pale when I mentioned Rhodnes.
“There’s no need for two people to stick together just to stop me. One of you, hurry up and bring His Highness the Second Prince. It would be a problem if he gets drunk at the party and collapses somewhere in the middle of it, right? It’s important.”
In the end, the two men exchanged glances before sighing deeply and one of them went to fetch Rhodnes.
“It’s urgent. I don’t want to stay out like this any longer. If someone were to suddenly come to see His Highness the Crown Prince, what would they think? Wouldn’t they think I’m loitering around here trying to seduce His Highness the Crown Prince?”
“T-that...”
There was no way the knight in front of me wouldn’t know about my gossip involving the Grand Duke, Rhodnes, and even Prince Ephero and Elacon.
The scandal might reach the Crown Prince.
“I’ll take responsibility. When His Highness the Second Prince comes, we can prove that we have a prior engagement.”
After I sent one of them out, the remaining one couldn’t stand my sophistry alone.
The knight who had been hesitating eventually got out of the way and pushed back in the fight.
The door opened.
The entrance to a bedroom with three shutters came into view.
My heart felt like it was going to burst.
I walked in quietly, then quickly opened three doors and entered the bedroom. There was a clear sign that someone had broken all the furniture. However, the Crown Prince was not there.
For a moment, goosebumps ran through my body.
“Your Highness, Your Highness...?”
No one answered. I felt like a small beast being targeted by a hidden beast. An inexplicable fear surged under my feet.
Rhodnes pulled away as if he was done with his hands, and the naked Doris felt extreme shame. The red aura that ran down her face quickly passed through her neck and spread throughout her body.
“Please, Roan. I wanted you from the beginning. If Bardenaldo wasn’t the Crown Prince, I would never have stood by him. Please, please hug me. I’ll match you. Blonde? Black? I’ll match you with anything!”
Doris, not even afraid of being heard, unbuttoned her clothes even further and shouted.
“What the hell is wrong with you? What the hell! I said I’d be your first love! I said I’d be your fake lover! That woman doesn’t love you anyway, Roan. I said it myself! Even if he is the groom everyone desires, what good is it if I don’t love him!”
The sound of her devotion spilled over the hallway floor.
Doris, who was more nervous than usual, was beautiful enough to make anyone lose their mind.
However, Doris despaired at Rhodnes’ indifferent face.
“Try it more. Even if this is not the outside but a bedroom where we are alone, I will not fall for you.”
Doris’ face cracked at the blatant words.
“Don’t ruin my brother’s face. Get out of here before others see.”
It was a perfect aversion.
***
Damn it!
I lost the crown prince.
I entered the Crown Prince’s palace, but the Crown Prince was nowhere to be found.
It was surprisingly easy to enter the palace. That was because I was the Crown Prince’s aide.
‘I hope I saw something wrong.’
I prayed to the Lord as I ran, ran, and ran through the empty hallways.
As I was trying to swing open the doors to the audience room and the reception room, I was stopped by the guards in front of the bedroom.
“You are absolutely not allowed to enter the bedroom.”
“Get out of the way. I have something to tell His Highness.”
“No matter how much of an aide you are, you cannot.”
“This is an urgent message regarding Noevian Trovica.”
The two guards exchanged glances. They looked surprised.
They knew everything about Noevian Trovica to the crow Prince, and what I was to Noevian. After all, they were the guards the Crown Prince always carried around.
“Still...”
Two pairs of complicated eyes scanned me.
“His Highness the Second Prince was supposed to come too, but he hasn’t come yet?”
The men’s faces turned pale when I mentioned Rhodnes.
“There’s no need for two people to stick together just to stop me. One of you, hurry up and bring His Highness the Second Prince. It would be a problem if he gets drunk at the party and collapses somewhere in the middle of it, right? It’s important.”
In the end, the two men exchanged glances before sighing deeply and one of them went to fetch Rhodnes.
“It’s urgent. I don’t want to stay out like this any longer. If someone were to suddenly come to see His Highness the Crown Prince, what would they think? Wouldn’t they think I’m loitering around here trying to seduce His Highness the Crown Prince?”
“T-that...”
There was no way the knight in front of me wouldn’t know about my gossip involving the Grand Duke, Rhodnes, and even Prince Ephero and Elacon.
The scandal might reach the Crown Prince.
“I’ll take responsibility. When His Highness the Second Prince comes, we can prove that we have a prior engagement.”
After I sent one of them out, the remaining one couldn’t stand my sophistry alone.
The knight who had been hesitating eventually got out of the way and pushed back in the fight.
The door opened.
The entrance to a bedroom with three shutters came into view.
My heart felt like it was going to burst.
I walked in quietly, then quickly opened three doors and entered the bedroom. There was a clear sign that someone had broken all the furniture. However, the Crown Prince was not there.
For a moment, goosebumps ran through my body.
“Your Highness, Your Highness...?”
No one answered. I felt like a small beast being targeted by a hidden beast. An inexplicable fear surged under my feet.
‘Now that I’ve come this far, now that I’ve done this... I can’t back down.’
That was when.
Kwak-! Kwak! Kwak!
A dull thud as something was struck hard resonated under my feet. I shrugged my shoulders at the brief but shallow vibration that felt like a small earthquake.
"Under... the foot?"
I crossed the spacious bedroom, following the traces of broken vases and pillows that had feathers sticking out and completely bursting, and found a portrait of Her Majesty Empress Letina hanging in the corner of the wall.
Kwak-! Kwak-!
And the vibration under my feet grew stronger. As extreme tension flowed down my back, I suddenly felt angry.
“What the hell? What the hell do you want me to do? Where are you, Bardenaldo?”
I stamped my feet as if responding to the vibration. Then I touched and felt around the portrait of Empress Letina. And in that moment, a miracle happened. I just pushed it lightly... Empress Letina, smiling affectionately, opened her arms as if guiding me, and the painting sank in and opened like a door. It showed me endless darkness and the underground. Then I heard it clearly.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
That damned sound that had been thumping beneath my feet. For a moment, I was conflicted. If I went out like this and called someone, would I be able to catch that scene? No, would I even be able to come back into this bedroom?
‘How long are you going to hesitate? Do you have the presence of mind to run away or delay any longer?’
I took a trembling step forward. The darkness that seemed to engulf me suffocated me, but the thought that I would never know the truth if I turned around and ran away came to mind. I groped and shivered as I quickly went down the stairs.
Although it was the middle of winter, unlike the warm and cozy bedroom, a chill that went down to my bones shook my spine as I went down to the basement.
'I'm scared of the palace. And the Crown Prince, too. The Crown Prince's palace is not in good spirits.'
Why did the terrified voice of the damned Empress Grace flash through my mind?
Under the Crown Prince's palace in the middle of the palace. Did she know that there was a secret room like this?
A faint light leaked out nearby. I was glad to see it, but at the same time, my back was soaked with cold sweat.
Don't run away. Don't run away.
I kept telling myself to keep talking, but the moment I entered the dim light, no matter how much I covered my mouth with my hand, I couldn't stop it from falling open.
Bardenaldo was soaked in sweat, topless, in this cold and creepy space.
What Bardenaldo was hitting was a coffin. A glass coffin that I had seen before.
Bardenaldo, who had been striking a glass coffin with both arms as if to break it, sensed a presence and slowly turned around.
The sparkling gold chain was even more visible because of his naked upper body. There was no denying it, it was definitely his mother’s necklace.
Bardenaldo’s face was flushed with fever, and he shook his wet hair with his hand.
“...Oh. I saw it.”
Sweat beads scattered everywhere, and the unsightly expression of the Crown Prince, whom I had never seen before in my life, was shocking in itself.
Suffocated by the unbearable fear, I covered my mouth with both hands and turned my gaze to the glass coffin that he had been striking.
“Oh, living people... It’s really disgusting.”
There, Adrienne’s body, which should have been buried, was.
What Bardenaldo was hitting was a coffin. A glass coffin that I had seen before.
Bardenaldo, who had been striking a glass coffin with both arms as if to break it, sensed a presence and slowly turned around.
The sparkling gold chain was even more visible because of his naked upper body. There was no denying it, it was definitely his mother’s necklace.
Bardenaldo’s face was flushed with fever, and he shook his wet hair with his hand.
“...Oh. I saw it.”
Sweat beads scattered everywhere, and the unsightly expression of the Crown Prince, whom I had never seen before in my life, was shocking in itself.
Suffocated by the unbearable fear, I covered my mouth with both hands and turned my gaze to the glass coffin that he had been striking.
“Oh, living people... It’s really disgusting.”
There, Adrienne’s body, which should have been buried, was.
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