IWAP - Chapter 40

He frowned as he looked at me. His face was filled with extreme displeasure.

"Is the reason I'm angry because of your reputation?"

"I have no idea what else to say."

“You really..."

His face contorted. He closed his mouth and roughly ran his hand through his hair. I didn't want to think about why he was angry anymore.

He is not my person. I was overwhelmed just taking care of my own people. I didn't want to waste my time worrying about something that wasn't mine. I didn't have even a speck of that kind of meddling.

"What do you plan to do about Evan?"

Evan is the person my maternal grandfather left me. He was bleeding and surrounded by sword-wielding knights until I was carried away on the Crown Prince's shoulders. Although Evan is the head of the Pison family, he is a commoner. It was a situation where he could have been punished simply for blocking the Crown Prince's path.

“It’s Evan..."

One side of the Crown Prince's lips curled up as if twisted.

"Seeing that you are calling his name, it seems you are closer than I saw just moments ago."

"It’s only natural that we’re close. After all, Evan is my person."

I had no intention of openly revealing that I was the de facto owner of the Pison Group, nor did I intend to deny my relationship with them. Just as they said they would protect me, I also intended to protect my people.

"Are you saying that another man is yours in front of your fiancé right now?"

The Crown Prince came very close to me.

"I clearly warned you not to provoke me. Bee."

He growled low like a wild beast. His golden eyes, directed at me, blazed with rage. The Crown Prince's reaction threw everyone into confusion.

The Crown Prince back then treated me with courtesy and appeared affectionate, but he had never once displayed such intense emotion. Absurdly, he was now acting just like a jealous man.

“Do you love me?”

He stiffened at my direct question. He frowned and opened his mouth.

“What do you mean?”

"It is exactly as I said. Do you love me?"

I stared directly into his eyes. The golden eyes, which had been blazing just moments ago, were filled with confusion.

"It's not because of your fiancée's reputation, and you don't even love me, so why are you getting angry?"

He didn't answer my question. His mouth was rigidly fixed in a straight line and refused to open. I laughed self-deprecatingly.

Then and now, even if he hid the truth from me, he never told a lie. He answered my question with silence.

I didn't expect anything from the start. I had known for a long time that he didn't love me.

It was a fact I already knew. It is nothing new. Nevertheless, in my wildly beating heart, a throbbing pain arose.

"As I mentioned before, my dream is to meet someone I love and live happily ever after."

I could feel the carriage slowly slowing down. The scenery visible through the window was very familiar.

I slowly rose to my feet. The Crown Prince merely kept his gaze fixed on me and did not move.

"You told me to love myself, didn't you?"

My reflection was clearly visible in those golden eyes, still clouded with confusion. My hair was disheveled, as the tie holding it up had disappeared—perhaps it had come loose while I was being carried by the Crown Prince.

Back then, I couldn't even imagine showing the Crown Prince a disheveled appearance like this. I always met him perfectly prepared from head to toe. Thinking about myself back then makes me laugh. He had no interest in my looks or personality from the very beginning. Despite such a clear answer, I lived my life blinded by love and deafened by stubbornness.

"I will not engage in a painful love. Because I want to meet someone who loves and cherishes only me, have their children, and live happily for the rest of my life."

The carriage came to a complete halt. His eyes were still reflecting my image. In his golden eyes, I was smiling brightly, with my hair disheveled like a madwoman.

"So, that is not the case."

He did not move even when I opened the carriage door. That was the end of our relationship. Now that I had said this much, he would not approach me, if only out of pride. If he did not come, I could fully endure the pain in my heart that lingered like residue.

I got off the carriage and stepped onto the ground. The sun was disappearing, leaving only its very tip visible. The red sunset was dazzlingly beautiful.

“Sigh!”

The moment I felt something touch my wrist, my body was spun around in an instant. As I felt a hard sensation on my back, something soft parted my lips and invaded my mouth. Vividly shining golden eyes filled my vision.

I struggled to break free from him, who had ensnared me, but he did not budge. Instead, he gathered my wrists in one hand, wrapped his other around my waist, and pulled me even tighter into his embrace.

His soft tongue roughly groped my teeth. I tried to move my head to avoid him, but it was in vain. He relentlessly ravaged the inside of my mouth.

It was difficult to breathe because the Crown Prince wouldn't give me even a moment's respite. He was unrestrained, as if trying to steal all my breath.

Tears welled up in my eyes. I was angry at his ruffian-like behavior, and above all, I shuddered at my own helplessness, unable to move a muscle against his power. I bit his tongue hard. The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth.

He didn't seem to feel any pain; he only pulled away from me after poking around inside my mouth a few more times. As soon as the grip on my wrist loosened, I slapped him hard across the face. His head turned limply. A thin red line appeared on his white cheek. It was a wound caused by the ring on my finger.

"Ha...sigh..."

I glared at the Crown Prince and gasped for breath. Fresh air filled my lungs along with the metallic smell of blood.

The Crown Prince spat on the floor with his head turned away. Blood mixed with saliva fell onto the floor. Touching his wounded cheek, he turned his head toward me. His face, almost pale, blended with his silver hair and red blood, making him look very sinister.

"That is quite a lavish return for kissing my fiancée. Would I have to give up my life to do anything worse to you?"

His lips, redder with blood, curled upward as if twisting. Having cast aside all manners, he exuded an extremely dangerous aura. My instincts were telling me not to provoke him any further. But the flame of emotion surging up inside my heart shouted that I absolutely did not want to lose to him.

"I have absolutely no intention of doing anything worse than this with Your Highness."

I glared at him, intending to kill him if he tried to force anything. It felt as if invisible sparks were flying between him and me.

“Is it because of him?”

He growled and approached me. I barely managed to restrain myself from instinctively stepping back. The Crown Prince was very threatening, and he made no effort to hide this.

"Is it if he whispers sweet love into your ear?"

“Evan is not like that..."

"Evan. Evan. Evan!"

He shouted.

"You have consistently addressed me, your fiancé, as 'Your Highness' for over four years, yet you call that man by his name so readily."

His voice rang out low, filled with murderous intent. It was ferocious, as if he would tear Evan to shreds if he were standing in front of him.

"You were like that from the beginning. Far from showing the kindness others commonly show me, you didn't even show any curiosity. As if you absolutely never wanted to have anything to do with me."

His voice was low, like a whisper. However, the emotion contained in it was rough and fierce.

"You never once showed me the laughter you used to give him out loud. Is that all? You shudder every time I touch you, yet you stay quietly in his arms."

The Crown Prince's golden eyes gleamed with anger.

"Are you acting all high and mighty only towards me? Or is he special?"

I was confused by his behavior. He doesn't love me. He didn't answer my question about whether he loved me. But his actions right now looked as if he were jealous of Evan. He grabbed my chin and lifted it. I raised my hand and slapped his arm away.

"You are always like that. No matter how hard I try, you refuse to let even a single snake get close to you. Do you realize how maddening that kind of behavior is?"

I could sense a bitterness in his tone. He seemed to be saying that he was hurt by my actions. I couldn't accept it. Why would he be hurt by my rejection? To him, I must be nothing, then and now.

"I do not understand why Your Highness is acting this way."

"Do you really not know? Or are you pretending not to know?"

There is only one word that can define his actions right now. But that word could never exist between him and me.

I know he is in love. The way he looked at her was soft and gentle. It was never as hot and rough as the way it is directed at me now.

"Are you hurt in your pride?"

"What?"

"I am asking if your pride was hurt because I, whom you considered your possession, kept trying to slip away and escape your grasp."

There was no other explanation I could think of. He does not love me. He is the one who did not give me even a shred of love back then, even though I craved it so desperately. There was no way he could love me now.

Even though it was clear he didn't love me, he was angry at me for being held by another man. In that case, there is only one conclusion.

Possessiveness—as I tried to break free from him, whom he had thought was him, a possessiveness that was not there before must have arisen.

"Possession? You? Mine? Ha!"

He punched the wall of the carriage standing behind me. I felt a faint vibration on my back, which was touching the wall. Holding me in his arms, he lowered his head and met my gaze.

"I have never once considered you my possession. If I had, I wouldn't be this anxious."

A red sunset reflected in his golden eyes. It was as if a red flame had bloomed within his pupils. My reflection was clearly visible in those blazing flames.

"Do you know how the people around you see you?"

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