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Chapter 9
Ther approached Aella and held out the cup he had brought. The cup contained warm milk.
Aella took the cup and smiled weakly. It was somehow amusing that Ther, who had left without a word after bringing her to the bedroom, now held a cup of milk. The warmth spread through her hands from the cup.
“I need an explanation.”
Aella looked up at him and said.
A flicker of difficulty crossed Ther’s eyes. Seeing him avoid her gaze, Aella spoke again in a clear tone.
“Grand Duke Motita, explain to me what is going on. You have that duty.”
Ther lifted his gaze and looked at Aella. He seemed just as confused by the situation as she was.
Seeing him hesitate, so unlike himself, Aella set the cup of milk down on the bed and stood up.
“Tell me everything, leaving nothing out. This is an order given by the Crown Princess.”
Aella was no longer the young lady of the Petra family. She was the Crown Princess of this kingdom and the Duchess Petra. She needed to properly understand the situation to deal with what was to come.
“…I shall obey your command.”
Only then did Ther answer.
—
**\*\*\***
“Forbidden magic is being detected inside the palace. It appears to be a potion that changes one’s appearance.”
At the report from his aide, Callas, Ther frowned.
Magic that changed one’s appearance was strictly forbidden. Because it could be used to impersonate someone else and throw society into chaos, it was a potion specially managed by the Great Temple.
“I need to go.”
Ther rose from his desk.
The detection of forbidden magic in the palace was not something that could be ignored. Someone might be using a transformed appearance as a member of the imperial family to plot something dangerous. It was a matter requiring the High Priest to act personally.
Arriving at the palace, Ther moved toward the source of the magical energy. The presence of forbidden magic was strongest near the Crown Prince’s residence.
As he followed the energy, Ther overheard maids gossiping.
“Today is the night of the Crown Prince and Crown Princess’s consummation, isn’t it?”
His heart sank. But Ther left the maids’ voices behind and quickened his pace with a hardened face. His emotions were surging so much that he had to grit his teeth.
Following the trail of the forbidden potion, Ther spotted Seamus emerging from a room.
But soon, Ther realized something. The person who had come out of the room was not Seamus. Strong magical energy emanated from the one wearing Seamus’s face.
Ther’s brow furrowed. To use a potion that changed someone’s face, one had to mix that person’s blood into the potion.
That someone wearing the Crown Prince’s face was walking openly around the palace meant one of two things: either the Crown Prince had been murdered, or the Crown Prince had willingly provided his own blood.
Given how quiet the palace was, the latter was more likely.
With a hardened expression, Ther followed the one wearing Seamus’s face. The man was heading toward the Crown Princess’s residence.
*”Today is the night of the Crown Prince and Crown Princess’s consummation, isn’t it?”*
The maids’ gossip momentarily flashed through Ther’s mind.
On the night of consummation, someone wearing Seamus’s face was heading to the Crown Princess’s residence. There was no need to think deeply about what that meant.
A flash of anger crossed Ther’s face, and he closed the distance with the man walking ahead.
Whether he heard the footsteps, the man turned around. Ther swiftly approached him and, before the man could scream, severed his head.
*Playing such tricks.*
Holding the severed head, Ther headed to Seamus’s office. Then he placed the man’s head on his desk.
“…Aella.”
As his anger subsided, Aella, alone in her room, came to his mind. His cool eyes became tinged with tenderness. He left Seamus’s office in quick steps.
—
**\*\*\***
“I beheaded the one wearing the Crown Prince’s face.”
“Ha.”
After Ther finished his story, Aella exhaled.
Though his words were simply that he had beheaded the man who had taken a magic potion and transformed into the Crown Prince’s face, Aella instantly understood the situation.
“Was the one wearing the Crown Prince’s face heading toward the Crown Princess’s residence?”
“…”
“Grand Duke Motita, answer me.”
When Ther did not reply, Aella spoke as if giving an order.
After a moment’s hesitation, Ther answered.
“Yes.”
“Today, he said he would come to me. That he would embrace me… Ha. I never dreamed he would humiliate me in this way.”
Aella’s legs gave way, and she sank to the floor.
*Even though I am his wife. To think he would send another man into his wife’s bedroom.*
Aella’s eyes filled with tears.
Ther lifted the fallen Aella and sat her on the bed.
“The potion’s effect does not last long.”
Looking down at Aella, her shoulders slumped, Ther spoke.
Letting out a faint breath, Aella lifted her gaze to look up at Ther. The tears gathered in Aella’s green eyes streamed down, wetting her cheeks.
“So it wasn’t just that he didn’t want to embrace me and sent another man instead.”
Just before Ther had leaped out the window with her in his arms, Aella had seen the bedroom door open and Seamus enter.
If the man wearing Seamus’s face had not died by Ther’s hand, that man would have been in her bed. And the real Seamus would have seen it.
Aella realized what Seamus had done. Not content with throwing her into another man’s arms, he had intended to frame her for adultery.
“How… how could he do that to me…”
Rage and sorrow burst forth simultaneously.
*What on earth does the Crown Prince think of me? Does he even see me as a human being?*
A sob escaped Aella’s lips.
She had endured Seamus’s contempt and disregard, doing her best as Crown Princess. She had borne the insulting title of Monster Crown Princess, and she had worked so hard to become a worthy Crown Princess.
Seamus, driving her to the edge, was repulsive, and rage boiled in her heart. The heart she had been struggling to keep together crumbled in an instant.
“I’m so tired. I want to give it all up.”
Aella, gripping the bedsheet, began to cry.
She had comforted herself and tried so hard to endure, but now she had truly reached her limit.
She wanted to run away. Anywhere would do. Anywhere without Seamus. She no longer wanted to play the role of Crown Princess.
“I don’t think I can endure any longer in the palace. I can’t breathe.”
Aella’s body trembled as she wept out loud.
Aella’s sorrowful cries painfully tore at Ther’s heart. His deeply sunken eyes held a light just as pained as Aella’s.
Ther knelt on one knee before Aella and took her hand.
“Aella.”
Ther called her name in a voice full of pity.
At the affectionate call of her name, Aella raised her head and looked at Ther.
Ther’s tenderness made her resentful, and Aella struck his shoulder with her small fist.
“Don’t abandon me. Don’t abandon…”
Aella couldn’t finish her sentence and sobbed.
“No. You should have abandoned me today. You should have abandoned me. If you hadn’t killed that man, I might have been able to escape the Crown Prince.”
“I couldn’t just let it happen. Because you would have been in danger.”
Ther answered in a low voice.
“You came to my bedroom because you were worried about me? Even after abandoning me, you were worried about me? I clung to you. Twice I clung to you. If only you hadn’t sent me back that night…”
Unable to continue, Aella looked at Ther with resentful eyes.
Ther, gazing at Aella with tender eyes, rose and embraced her. Holding Aella, he whispered in a low voice.
“I regret it. Deeply.”
*More than you could ever imagine.*
Pain welled in Ther’s reddish-brown eyes.
At Ther’s words that he regretted it, Aella’s sorrowful tears burst forth again. With that single word—regret—the hatred and resentment she had felt toward him melted away like snow in an instant.
The moment she realized that the feeling that had never scattered even amid hatred and resentment was love, Aella wanted to live by Ther’s side.
Not in the palace, but here in this lake castle where Ther was. If only she could do that, she felt she could do anything.
Breaking free from Ther’s embrace, Aella looked up at him with her tear-streaked face.
“Then hold me. Today… hold me.”
Aella grabbed Ther’s arm and spoke in a trembling voice.
If she spent the night here with Ther, she might be able to escape Seamus.
Since his goal was to have her driven from the position of Crown Princess on the pretext of adultery with another man, Seamus would actually be pleased.
“Today… don’t abandon me.”
Aella’s voice continued, as if about to break.
Ther’s eyes held deep emotion. He nodded, then bent down and kissed Aella’s forehead.
“I won’t abandon you.”
Ther’s lips, which had touched her forehead, moved to her tear-wet eyelids. After kissing her eyelids as if caressing them, his lips moved down to her cheek.
When Ther’s lips touched her burn scar, Aella suddenly thought of Seamus, who had called her disgusting.
Aella gently pushed Ther away and asked in an unsteady voice.
“My face… isn’t it disgusting?”
“Beautiful. Still beautiful.”
Ther softly kissed Aella’s lips, as if soothing her.
At Ther’s words “beautiful,” tears fell from Aella’s eyes.
“Pretty, Aella.”
Ther kissed Aella’s falling tears and slowly laid her down on the bed.
