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Chapter 16
Just as she flared up in irritation and was about to say something, Sundubu was faster. Barking fiercely, he lunged and clamped his teeth down hard on Reynard’s calf. Judging by how instantly he reacted, it seemed purely instinctive.
“Aaagh!”
Reynard screamed and fell over in an unsightly heap, and Sundubu was immediately kicked away by the knight guarding him. Everything happened in the blink of an eye.
The already curious glances converged, and the murmuring grew louder. A lowly dog had bitten the crown prince—such a sin, they said, could only be paid for with death.
El reflexively scooped Sundubu up and held him close. But El wasn’t oblivious to reality.
No matter how incompetent the crown prince might be, royalty was still royalty. If they chose to press charges, punishment would follow whether there was fault or not. That was the kind of world this was.
“You crazy bastard dog! Kill it right now!”
Reynard shrieked in a frenzy, and the knights who had received the order approached. El collapsed to the ground and lashed out at them with her feet.
“Get away! If you’re going to kill him, you’ll have to kill me too!”
“My goodness, what a disgraceful scene.”
The knights hesitated, unable to act too harshly toward El, and in that brief delay, the emperor arrived.
“Reynard, that’s enough.”
“That mutt bit me!”
“Isn’t today a joyous occasion?”
“Ha! Since when has the birth of that monster been a joyous occasion?! Yes, maybe it once was—but not anymore, is it? In the first place, why do you think this banquet was held?!”
The emperor’s face, which had been trying to calm things down, flushed bright red. By now even the nobles were wondering why the crown prince was behaving like this, but El read inferiority in Reynard’s eyes.
Perhaps when her husband had still been whole, Reynard had been the son who monopolized the emperor’s affection. That must be why he was now forgetting all decorum and raging so wildly.
From Reynard’s perspective, the sudden decision to hold a birthday banquet for the second prince must have felt absurd and infuriating.
Though he tried to act indifferent, perhaps he was plagued by doubts about his own position, still not having been named crown prince.
A birthday celebration for the second son—someone the emperor had never bothered with in life. If the second prince appeared healthy and well, he would become a tremendous threat. Reynard must have been anxious.
Still, behaving like this here was no different from spitting in his own face. The emperor was furious and ordered Reynard to be dragged away and confined to the palace at once.
“Aaagh! What did I do wrong?!”
Even as he was being dragged off, he kept up that disgraceful racket. What an absolute idiot, El thought. Still, thanks to that, maybe Sundubu’s case would be glossed over—
But no.
“That dog that bit a member of the imperial family—throw it into the underground prison!”
“Your Majesty! This child didn’t do it on purpose!”
El called out to the emperor, defending Sundubu, but—
“Take them away!”
It was meaningless.
What on earth had just happened? El felt as though half her soul had left her body.
The moment the imperial order was given, the knights rushed in and tore Sundubu from El’s arms. El tried to follow, but another knight blocked her path.
“Woof—!”
Sundubu’s cries grew more and more distant.
“El! What’s going on?!”
Outside the banquet hall, Lari—who had been waiting—asked in shock when she saw Sundubu being dragged away.
El had gone deathly pale, but there were no words she could say.
“What about Sundubu…?”
“…El.”
“If something happens to him, then—”
It was the worst.
