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Chapter 13
“Angelina, you’ve always done whatever you wanted, haven’t you? I guess people have always let you get away with it and told you it was fine, but not me. I hate it. I absolutely hate it.”
Touching the book without permission had been wrong a hundred, a thousand times over, but she still couldn’t understand his anger. Watching Aleksei struggle to calm his ragged breathing and boiling emotions, she snapped back just as fiercely.
“I hate you too. I never want to see you again for the rest of my life. Get out of my sight.”
And what had he replied then?
“It’s my palace.”
The icy silence that followed came back vividly to her. The sound of footsteps leaving first, without even trying to stop her as she turned away.
Maybe it hadn’t meant much to Aleksei, but to her, it had been a real shock.
She cried the entire day after that. Cursed him all day too.
Now, a silence just like back then filled the narrow space between them.
Watching Aleksei’s lips part and close again, Angelina allowed herself a small hope. Maybe the changed crown prince would apologize for what happened seven years ago.
“Angel.”
Finally.
“I’m sorry.”
Just as she expected.
“I lost the wedding ring.”
“What?”
Angelina shouted as she shot to her feet. Aleksei hurriedly clamped a hand over her mouth. Both of them tensed at the rustling from inside, but thankfully no one woke up.
“Let’s go outside,” he whispered.
Careful not to wake the others, she followed him out.
The night air was refreshing, though she was in no mood to enjoy it.
“What do you mean you lost it?”
“I had it in my hand, but I think I dropped it somewhere.”
“You said it was in your pocket earlier.”
“That was a lie. I couldn’t say it in front of them.”
The color drained from Angelina’s face.
They had taken blood vows and theirs was hardly a faithful marriage, but even she knew one thing—you were never supposed to lose a wedding ring.
Especially not one passed down through generations of empresses.
“So what do we do now?”
“It could still be on the Aurora.”
“Or someone could’ve already taken it.”
“……”
Aleksei grimaced, clearly unwilling to imagine that possibility. Maybe it was still aboard the Aurora, as he said, but there was no guarantee it would still be there by the time they returned home. Realistically, the odds were slim.
“It’s fine. It couldn’t be helped.”
Still, Her Majesty is going to be upset.
Angelina sighed as she pictured Empress Valérie’s face. Mothers-in-law were difficult no matter who you were. She was no exception.
Still, wasn’t it better for the bride and groom to disappear than for only the ring to make it safely home?
…That ring looked incredibly expensive, though.
Then again, so was the dress she had personally ripped apart.
“So Naomi was right.”
“……”
“The wedding stopped halfway through, and now the ring is gone too. It’s basically like the marriage never happened. Which means I’m not the crown princess either.”
“That’s not the real problem.”
“How is that not a problem? You said that ring’s been passed down for generations.”
“We can make another one. And we can hold the wedding again.”
Angelina felt strangely empty. If Aleksei was right, then she had been worrying herself sick over something that apparently didn’t matter at all.
Yeah. Logically, he made sense.
But that wasn’t the answer she wanted.
“Everything seems so easy to you, Aleksei.”
She glanced sideways at his dry, unreadable eyes and answered sharply.
The reply she expected was obvious.
Of course.
Or, There’s nothing difficult about it.
But instead—
“No.”
The unexpected word brushed against her ears. Angelina lifted her gaze from the ground to look at him. As if avoiding her eyes, Aleksei tilted his chin upward.
A quiet breath dissolved into the night air.
When his gaze finally returned to her, his heavy lips parted again.
“The real problem is your heart.”
“My heart?”
“I can’t control how you feel.”
“……”
“It’s not like everything is easy for me either.”
“……”
“After everything happened, I thought about it. Maybe this happened because I forced a marriage you never really wanted.”
Why are you acting like this? It doesn’t suit you.
“It wasn’t forced to that extent. I agreed to it too.”
“But you didn’t want it. Not me. Not even a little.”
The wind striking her face felt cold.
Angelina stared at the unusually serious expression on the crown prince’s face, unsure how to respond.
“The same goes for you, doesn’t it?”
“No.”
“No?”
“You really don’t know anything, Angel.”
“What exactly don’t I know?”
Aleksei didn’t answer. Instead, his dark blue eyes fixed on her as though they themselves held the answer. But Angelina couldn’t understand a thing.
So she simply glared back.
His serious gaze softened, and Aleksei let out a quiet laugh.
“You don’t even know what it is you don’t know?”
“You just called me stupid, didn’t you?”
“Not at all.”
At some point, he had already returned to being the arrogant crown prince again—chin raised, arms crossed.
“You totally did. You absolutely did.”
Angelina narrowed her eyes at the amusement lingering there and shook him mercilessly. Aleksei didn’t budge in the slightest.
Like a palm tree under the midday sun.
“Ugh, seriously. How’s anyone supposed to sleep with all this noise?”
Naomi poked her head out from the treehouse and complained.
“What are you two doing out here in the middle of the night?”
“Looks like they’re on a date,” Franz’s voice drifted out from inside.
“They’re not even husband and wife or lovers, so what kind of date is that?”
“Not a date. Bonding. Friends do this sort of thing too. Though I guess you wouldn’t know since you don’t have any.”
“Oh, come on!”
Naomi snapped irritably and disappeared back into the treehouse. Angelina let out a faint laugh and turned her head.
The arrogant Aleksei was gone again, replaced by one wearing a gentle smile.
“My lady, moonlight has a special magic, you know. It makes people fall in love with the person beside them. So you should take nighttime walks often. With His Highness.”
Why was she suddenly remembering what Lara had told her the night before the wedding?
Angelina scolded her pounding heart and imagined her mother-in-law’s face covering the moon casting its magic.
It was an extremely effective sedative.
The next morning, the clouds cleared and the sun rose. Perfect weather for sailing.
The men had already raised the sails and begun preparing the ship early in the morning.
“Good thing the weather cleared up,” Franz said while brushing away dust and wood chips carried by the wind overnight.
“Looks like we’ll finally escape this deserted island today.”
“What matters is returning home. That’s why we waited an extra day.”
“That’s true, I guess.”
Franz replied without much conviction. Aleksei glanced at him before returning to his work.
What mattered wasn’t escape. It was returning home.
Any pointless rivalry between them was meaningless.
And there was another matter that needed deciding.
Aleksei looked toward Naomi, who sat on the beach playing with the sand using her feet, then climbed down to her.
“Naomi.”
“What is it, Crown Prince Oppa?”
Her smile was bright and innocent. Not the daughter of pirates, but simply the smile of a fifteen-year-old girl.
“You should stay here.”
Naomi quickly slipped her discarded shoes back on and jumped to her feet.
“What are you talking about? You said I could come along on the journey.”
Her cheerful smile vanished in an instant.
“It’s not a journey anymore. We’re going home. You can’t live there. You have no money, no guardian, and no home.”
“Then you can just take me with you, Crown Prince Oppa.”
“That’s even more impossible.”
“Why? Because of Crown Princess Unni?”
“That too, but also—”
“I heard emperors can have multiple wives. And mistresses too. I’ve picked up enough to know that.”
“Naomi…”
“I’m not asking to become empress or anything. I have enough conscience for that. Just a concubine or something—”
Smack.
A sharp hand struck the back of Naomi’s neck from behind. She collapsed unconscious instantly.
Aleksei checked her eyes in alarm before sighing in relief.
The shadow looming over them huffed angrily.
“Angel.”
“I couldn’t just sit there and listen to that.”
“Even so, using violence—”
“Then what were you going to do? Drag this whining pirate’s daughter all the way to Latria? Were you really going to make her your concubine?”
“As if I would.”
“I didn’t hit her out of impulse. She wouldn’t listen. This was the only way.”
“So we’re just leaving her here?”
“Do you have a better idea?”
“……”
“She’s only unconscious for a little while. She’ll wake up soon enough. Let’s go.”
“…Fine. Let’s do that.”
Having made up his mind, Aleksei turned and moved away.
Angelina looked down at Naomi’s unconscious body. Guilt pricked at her.
I’m sorry, but this is the best option. We can’t bring pirates into Latria. She can either wait quietly for the pirate ship or row out herself in the longboat.
Just as she hesitated before taking a step—
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Naomi’s hand suddenly shot out and grabbed her ankle.
