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Chapter : 24
I blinked.
“Are you… asking me to take care of the Duke?”
“Yes. As I said before, the method doesn’t matter. I want you to make sure his life ends at this banquet.”
Ah… so this was the Crown Prince testing me.
To see if I was truly trustworthy, if I could be someone he could have by his side.
As a spirit user, I could quickly heal poison, illness, or injuries, so he was asking me to make sure the life of the Duke was ended. Duke Strien was one of the military’s heavyweights, so if he were to die, the Crown Prince’s faction—whose power rested on the military—would suffer a major blow.
I lowered my gaze.
Tap, tap—my fingers drummed repeatedly on the arm of the chair.
If I refused, the Crown Prince would almost certainly continue to doubt me. What I wanted was to gain his trust and strike when he relied on me. Gaining his trust was, naturally, a necessary step.
But even so… I absolutely could not kill Duke Strien, Lilia, or anyone precious to the Crown Prince. Since the request was to end a life, disguising it was even harder. If he had asked me to use poison, at least it could have been treated afterward.
Seriously, he always makes these suggestions that only someone like me would find… trashy.
Damn it, damn it! I muttered curses under my breath.
[Big sister!]
The image of Lilia running up to me with a bright smile and hugging me flashed in front of my eyes.
I felt the Crown Prince’s strange gaze on me.
I clenched my teeth tightly.
The banquet would take place in a week. I had to come up with a plan by then.
“…To be asked to commit murder for the first time.”
“Is it difficult?”
The Crown Prince’s expression, as if he had been waiting for me to say that, was truly infuriating.
“No. I’ll accept it.”
I would accept it… and then strike him squarely from behind.
The man, completely oblivious to my thoughts, just smiled at me.
“Insane.”
“Absolutely insane.”
That was the brief assessment from the Crown Prince and Sierra upon hearing the request he made to me.
The four of us—Sierra, the Crown Prince, the Duke, and I—were now sitting in a room of a building under the name of the Anes trading guild.
The unexpected reaction came from the Duke.
“There’s nothing particularly strange about it.”
“…You’re not surprised?”
The middle-aged man’s eyes crinkled gently.
“I believe it’s possible if it’s the Crown Prince. All assassination attempts up to now have been thwarted, and it’s about time he made his move.”
“Move?”
“The Crown Prince’s faction had almost completely halted their activities. Of course, the spirit user’s sudden engagement to the Crown Prince also played a part, but more than that, it felt like he was preparing for something.”
“…I see.”
“The Crown Prince asked Rien to carry out the Duke’s murder. He’s the type to watch as a life is extinguished. You know the Duke, don’t you?”
I tapped my fingers on the table rhythmically at the Crown Prince’s words.
“The Crown Prince is testing whether he can trust me. Since he doesn’t know my true goal, he doesn’t know why I came to the empire. He’s simply evaluating the value of trust.”
Therefore, I must carry out this task perfectly, leaving no room for suspicion.
“Excuse me,”
I lifted my head.
The Duke was looking at me.
“I also don’t fully understand why the spirit user has come here, or why you’ve entered the empire’s political arena. Whether it succeeds or fails, I’ll probably be considered dead to the world after the banquet. Could you tell me?”
A brief silence fell.
Sierra and the Crown Prince looked at me.
Could he be trusted? That was my first thought. He was the Crown Prince’s maternal uncle and an important figure in his faction—someone the Crown Prince intended to kill. And… if successful, he would live as a dead person for life, or at least until the Crown Prince was dealt with.
I swallowed.
“…I’m the young lady who was expelled from Aishenga. That’s me.”
The Duke’s eyes widened for a moment.
“You… five years ago?”
I nodded slightly.
“My goal is to bring down the Crown Prince and the Aishenga dukedom. That’s why I came to the empire.”
“…I see… so…”
Even though he might not have fully understood, the Duke did not pursue the topic further.
Clap.
“Now, as for the method, I have an idea.”
The gaze of the Duke, the Crown Prince, and I shifted to Sierra, who had clapped her hands.
“Romeo and Juliet.”
At the sudden mention of the melodramatic novel, the Crown Prince raised an eyebrow.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“It’s a drug kept at the Anes guild that puts a person into a vegetative state for a certain period. It’s named after Juliet, who took a similar drug in the book.”
“…Such a drug actually exists?”
I stared at Sierra in disbelief.
Sierra smirked and nodded.
“Very few even inside the Anes guild know about it, so there’s no worry the Crown Prince will hear of it. I heard about it while trading with elves and found it fascinating, so I kept it. The elves use it as a healing potion, but if a human takes it, they enter a week-long vegetative state. It’s slightly strong, so a small amount of blood comes up when it goes down the throat. What do you think?”
“…Perfect.”
The Duke, silently listening to Sierra’s explanation, nodded.
“Good. If the person is superficially considered dead, even if public activities are affected, covert operations will be easier. Public affairs can be handled by my son. Although it is unfortunate that the day coincides with my daughter’s birthday…”
“You don’t intend to tell Lady Lilia?”
Eyes identical to Lilia’s looked at me.
“As you said, the Crown Prince is a very cunning man. And Lilia… my daughter isn’t very good at acting. It’s better if she doesn’t know until that moment. Later, you can take her and tell her.”
To deceive the enemy, first deceive your allies, huh.
I slowly nodded, acknowledging the logic.
“Then it’s decided. I hope you can ‘naturally’ make it look like death.”
“…Ah, yes.”
“I’ll see you at the banquet.”
It sounded like a joke, but it wasn’t at all, and I watched the man rise with a reluctant smile.
“Ah, let’s go together. I have guild business too. Rien, see you later!”
Sierra, joking about how my advisor would grind his teeth if I didn’t go, followed the Duke. In an instant, only the Crown Prince and I remained in the room.
Tense as I was, I felt my body instantly relax and sank into the soft chair.
I was so relieved a solution had been found…
I opened my eyes wide.
As I sat up, something that had been covering me fell to the floor.
Looking down, it was the jacket the Crown Prince had been wearing.
I could have sworn I was sitting in the chair, yet somehow I had ended up on the sofa in the corner of the room.
I hadn’t slept at all for two nights, staying up planning and worrying, and now that the tension had eased, exhaustion hit me all at once. Falling asleep in a chair… I must be crazy.
The sunlight, now turned red from the sunset, streamed into the room.
Turning my head, I saw the Crown Prince, leaning against the window with his arms crossed, asleep in the chair. This wasn’t a mansion, so he could have left first—he must have waited.
It was the first time I’d seen him asleep. Unconsciously, I cautiously stepped toward him.
His jet-black hair was messy, and his long eyelashes were more noticeable with his eyes closed. Imagining the violet eyes hidden beneath them made my face heat up.
Just as I was about to reach for his angular jaw, the Crown Prince opened his eyes.
“…?”
“Ah, uh… you’re awake?”
Feeling heat rise even to my earlobes, I jumped back like a startled rabbit.
Still half-asleep, the Crown Prince looked at me and my hand hovering in the air—quickly hidden behind me—and then suddenly blushed, as if imagining something.
“…You’re awake too. You fell asleep soundly, so I moved you to the sofa.”
“Uh, th-thank you.”
An awkward tension filled the air.
Rihard, tired, fiddled with the hair of the woman who had fallen asleep. Her black hair was smooth, like his own.
My heart fluttered.
Compared to when they were surrounded by mutual suspicion, they had grown closer. No, he had never really had anyone close, so he probably didn’t even know the standard for being ‘close.’
This woman… I don’t understand her.
She wasn’t someone you could define easily. Sometimes they joked, sometimes they felt awkward as if meeting for the first time. When he tried to get close, she would unsettle him.
The refreshing scent she exuded, along with her bright yet calm blue eyes, lingered in his mind.
After avenging the Crown Prince and the Duke, she seemed like she could disappear at any moment, yet her occasional glimpses into her true self made him feel a strange attachment.
Seeing her rare facial expressions made his heart tingle.
Watching Rien asleep, Rihard let his thoughts roam, and a sudden conclusion made him chuckle softly.
I see.
He wanted Rien to remain by his side.
Even if all vengeance, hatred, and all else were removed, he wanted her to stay with him.
He liked how her piercing blue eyes could see right through him.
When had this started?
[Unlike you, my revenge isn’t about making them die.]
Perhaps it was when she had calmly described her revenge, piercing through the Crown Prince, the Emperor, and the Empress’s ugliness to the core. At that time, Rien had been terrifyingly lively despite the grimness of her words.
Or maybe from the very first time, when she came with Adriel, removed her robe, and proposed a contractual engagement.
Rihard chuckled softly, feeling his heart pound.
The woman sleeping beside him suddenly seemed breathtakingly beautiful.
Realizing it, he became more aware of her…
It was the day a man realized love.
