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Chapter : 2
“I’m telling the truth!”
When I turned around, a few friendly-looking maids were chattinag away, holding lanterns.
One of them wrung a rag with all her strength and nodded.
“You know I clean the bedchamber every night, right? The princess even gave me a ruby necklace, saying I worked hard.”
“Speaking of Princess Nevia… she hasn’t gone back to the Empress’s palace yet, has she?”
“Ah, no. She’s still alone in the central reception room with His Highness the Crown Prince. And who knows what’s going on there…”
The maids giggled at their own words and then disappeared into the building.
‘…’
But why, even though it’s suddenly quiet around me, can’t I move?
‘Does that mean… there’s a witness?’
I usually trusted the Crown Prince, yet my heart was pounding strangely.
And…
‘What if the Crown Prince is really cheating?’
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
At the thought, my heart went into overdrive.
I pressed my trembling hand against my chest.
‘It’s just shock.’
Who could remain calm after overhearing that their husband might be unfaithful in a place like this?
I clenched my fists.
‘I guess I have no choice but to check the reception room.’
Even after sneaking this far under an invisibility cloak, my suspicions had only grown.
‘Going back now would just make me obsess over doubting the Crown Prince.’
Should I draw my sword and start chopping radishes?
I moved forward.
And when I finally reached the stone doors of the reception room…
“…Your Highness…”
“…Princess…”
I heard the whispering of a man and a woman.
‘Please… let this be a misunderstanding.’
After a brief prayer, I cautiously reached out and gently pulled the door handle.
And through the narrow opening, what I saw was…
‘They’re really alone together?!’
A spacious reception room.
My husband and the red-haired woman were sitting together on the central sofa.
The distance between them was incredibly close—barely a finger’s width apart!
‘Ugh.’
My gaze dropped to their hands.
‘Why… are they holding hands?’
And at this late hour, no less.
If a maid of the Empress had business with the Crown Prince, it would have been long done by now.
I wanted to scream, but I couldn’t.
‘Ugh.’
Shaking, unable to approach, I started to catch snippets of their conversation.
“I… need a more… secret… place…”
The woman’s voice.
“Anywhere in my palace… we can meet…”
My husband’s voice.
My head spun, and tears welled up in my eyes.
‘What… are they saying?’
Though I only caught fragments, I could no longer deny the truth.
‘They… are having a secret affair…’
The stories my father once told me about my husband’s infidelity… apparently, they were true.
‘Ah… ah.’
As I gripped my temples, trying to stave off the dizzying panic, the Crown Prince and the princess’s suspicious behavior escalated.
“Abel, Your Highness, shall we go to the bedchamber as usual today?”
‘…To the bedchamber, too?!’
I didn’t even have time to process the suggestive remark.
The princess was pressing her body against my husband!
What made my dizzy head spin even more was his reaction.
“No.”
He lifted the princess’s hand, which he had been holding tenderly, close to his lips as if to kiss it, and said in a low voice:
“There’s no need to go to the bedchamber. Let’s start right here.”
‘Start… what?!’
Bang!
I slammed my fist down without thinking.
Boom!
At the same time, a resonating sound echoed through the stone doors.
“Who’s there?!”
“…!”
I snapped back to reality at my husband’s sharp shout beyond the door.
‘What have I done!’
I couldn’t just watch anymore.
“Ugh…”
With my mouth covered by the invisibility cloak, I swallowed my tears and ran.
Earlier…
“…Your Highness, I am your ‘concubine.’ I need a more ‘secret’ place!”
“If you summon me anywhere in the palace like this, it will suffice. Wasn’t it you who said the palace outside was unsuitable for a secret meeting?”
Nevia raised her eyebrows at the Crown Prince’s indifferent remark.
“Like now?”
She deliberately twitched her injured finger, still under treatment.
“Do I have to create these opportunities for us to be alone every time to satisfy you?”
“Do I have to worry about that too?”
‘You… shameless illegitimate bastard!’
Fuming, Nevia wanted to verbally lash out, but she couldn’t.
‘Right now, I need him.’
That was why she couldn’t strike the arrogant Crown Prince.
Feeling provoked, Nevia deliberately raised her voice and pressed closer.
“Abel, Your Highness, shall we go to the bedchamber as usual today?”
A move sure to annoy him—a timid revenge of sorts.
“No.”
As expected, he furrowed his brows and drew Nevia’s hand closer.
“There’s no need to go to the bedchamber. Let’s start right here.”
A slow, pressuring grip.
‘Hah.’
Nevia read clear hostility in his eyes.
‘If I cross the line, he’ll kill me, huh?’
Just as she was preparing to retaliate…
Bang!
“Who’s there?!”
“…!”
The sudden noise and the Crown Prince’s shout made Nevia turn her head—and freeze.
Boom!
A resonating sound echoed from the firmly shut stone doors.
‘The door… closed? Could it be… the Empress sent a spy to watch me?’
But thinking of the Empress’s naive smile, Nevia quickly dismissed the idea.
‘The Empress trusts me.’
Unaware that her longtime confidante had a hidden dagger, the Empress had ordered Nevia to tempt the Crown Prince.
Which is why she was dealing directly with him now.
Then…
“I hear scheming from here. Was that you?”
“…Are you suspecting me?”
Nevia shrugged off the hand that had held hers and raised her shoulders.
“However, Your Highness, now may not be the time to question me.”
Thump, thump, thump!
Thanks to the earlier loud noise, several footsteps were approaching.
‘Whoever the spy is, I must deceive the Empress’s agents in the palace for now.’
For example, pretending to be ‘lovers kissing in the reception room.’
Whether he knew of Nevia’s plan or not, the Crown Prince glanced at the door and at her.
Then, having made a decision, he ordered:
“Fix it.”
“Understood.”
Nevia decided to make full use of the incident.
“You suggested we start here, Your Highness?”
So, this was acting practice.
Before he could reply, Nevia pushed him with all her strength.
And…
Bang!
“What is happening?!”
Servants of the Crown Prince’s palace—no, spies sent by the Empress—burst through the reception room doors.
‘Surely, the Crown Prince didn’t attack Princess Nevia?’
The spies were concerned about Nevia.
“Gah!”
Yet they soon froze in embarrassment.
Coughing awkwardly.
What they saw was not an attacked lady, but the Crown Prince lying on the sofa with a beautiful mistress leaning over him.
Nevia turned her head.
“What are you doing, just watching?”
“N-no, nothing.”
“Sorry for disturbing you.”
“We’ll leave now.”
Nevia only lowered her head, not responding.
“Your Highness, ignore the servants.”
The spies were shocked again as they saw the Crown Prince buried in the red-haired princess.
“….”
“….”
Amid the crimson curtains, they glared coldly at each other.
Meanwhile, at that moment…
‘…I’m getting a divorce!’
A woman, wrapped in an invisibility cloak, ran through the rain, sobbing.
