OIPM 09

Chapter: 09

The very thought that had just crossed my mind came out of the Crown Prince’s mouth word for word.

At the same time, I nearly threw the portrait I was holding straight at him.

I barely managed to suppress the impulse after reminding myself of his status.

What… did I just hear?

He wanted me to seduce the male lead?

“W-What do you mean…?”

“I’ve heard the rumors that you’re a legendary femme fatale.”

“Ah.”

An awkward smile naturally crept onto my lips.

So that was why the Crown Prince himself had come looking for me.

It was because of those ridiculous rumors.

I was about to explain that he had misunderstood and that they were nothing but false gossip, but he didn’t even give me the chance to defend myself.

“They say you’ve brought countless men to their knees with that body of yours.”

Well… I have made plenty of people kneel using my body… if martial arts count as using my body.

“They say there’s no man who can resist a single beckoning gesture from you.”

That’s technically true, but the gesture you’re imagining and the gesture the rumors are talking about mean completely different things…

“They say that once you smile at a man with those eyes of yours, he can’t even meet your gaze.”

That’s because they’re terrified of me…

“I don’t care what methods you use. Make the Duke fall for you.”

Your Highness…

I think you’ve come to the wrong person.

I swallowed those words.

More than anything, I was horrified.

Seriously?

He was telling me to seduce a man?

I’d never even dated anyone before. I’d never even had so much as a flirtatious “situationship” with a man.

And he’s even paying me for it?

This was insane.

Every fiber of my moral conscience was screaming that this was wrong.

And the target was none other than Caleb Egon.

He was the male lead who was destined to end up with the heroine.

To put it simply—

He’s someone else’s man!

…Wait, maybe I didn’t need to worry about that.

I wouldn’t be able to seduce him anyway.

First things first—I needed to refuse.

Actually, refusing was my only option.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t understand what you’re talking about. Make the Duke fall for me…? What do you mean…?”

“I suppose I was being too vague. Let me explain it properly.”

I wasn’t asking for an explanation.

I was rejecting you.

But once again, the Crown Prince gave me no chance to object.

“People say Caleb Egon has no interest in women. Judging by his behavior, that certainly seems to be the case.”

“…”

“So I became curious. Is the Duke really uninterested in women, just as the rumors claim?”

Resting his elbow on the table, he leaned his chin against his hand and smiled.

W-Whoa…

He had suddenly moved much closer, making me instinctively flinch.

Pretending to look at the portrait, I lowered my gaze and spoke.

“Do you really need to know? It seems easier to just believe the rumors.”

Except for the ridiculous rumors about me.

Those definitely shouldn’t be believed.

“I’m not very good at suppressing my curiosity. You should know what that’s like.”

At his words, I bit my lower lip.

He had turned my own excuse right back on me.

That was a mistake.

If I claimed now that it had only been an excuse, he might accuse me of deceiving a member of the imperial family and charge me with insulting royalty.

For some reason, he seemed like the type who would actually do that.

“In any case, I don’t believe the rumors about the Duke. How could someone have absolutely no interest in the opposite sex? Besides, the Duke is already twenty-six this year.”

“Twenty-six?”

“That’s right.”

I knew he was the youngest Duke and commander, but I hadn’t realized he was that young.

He was only three years older than me, yet he had already built such an incredible reputation?

Amazing.

“Isn’t it strange that a man his age has neither a fiancée nor even a lover? He’s not made of stone.”

Couldn’t that simply happen?

Not everyone had to be interested in romance.

All of a sudden, I felt sorry for the male lead.

Just because he’d never dated anyone, people were calling him a rock.

“But Your Highness doesn’t have a fiancée either, do you?”

The Crown Prince was the Empire’s only royal besides the Emperor and Empress.

If he had gotten engaged, it would have been major news.

Yet I couldn’t remember hearing anything.

Or maybe I had simply forgotten.

“Is the Duke the same as me? Royal engagements and marriages require careful consideration.”

Ah… right.

“At the very least, I have lovers.”

“Lovers… plural?”

“That’s right. Compared to the Duke, who doesn’t even have one lover, I’m perfectly normal.”

…Did he just proudly admit to dating multiple women at the same time?

What a complete scumbag.

“…I’m not sure how we ended up talking about this.”

Perhaps noticing the icy look in my eyes, he cleared his throat awkwardly and changed the subject.

“Anyway, we’ll arrange a way for you to approach the Duke and provide whatever support you need.”

Lightly tapping the tabletop with his fingertips, he continued,

“So all you have to do is attend His Majesty’s birthday banquet and New Year’s celebration six months from now as the Duke’s partner.”

“…”

“Generally speaking, when an unmarried man and woman attend a banquet together, it’s considered a public declaration that they’re a couple.”

“Do I really have to attend the banquet? As the Duke’s lover?”

“Where’s the fun if I’m the only one who knows?”

“Fun…?”

“More importantly, we would have no way of confirming whether the Duke has developed feelings for you. Having you seduce him and publicly announce yourselves as lovers is the most reliable method.”

His explanation answered my question.

But I still hated the idea.

If I genuinely liked someone and approached him on my own, that would be one thing.

But taking money to seduce someone?

There was no way I could do that.

“This is your advance payment.”

A mysterious piece of paper landed on the table.

“It’s a check guaranteed by the Imperial Family. It’s worth exactly one thousand gold.”

One thousand gold…

That was roughly equivalent to one billion won in my previous life.

Without realizing it, I swallowed hard.

With that much money, I could pay off every debt left behind by the late Baron and Baroness.

If I spent carefully, I wouldn’t have to worry about money for quite some time.

“And this is merely the advance. If you succeed, you’ll receive twice as much.”

Twice as much?

Two thousand gold…

Two billion won?

My hands began trembling at the unimaginable amount.

“What happens if I fail? Do I still get to keep the one thousand gold?”

…Oops.

The moment I saw that much money, the question slipped out before I could stop myself.

Is this what people mean when they say money blinds you?

Just moments ago, I had absolutely no intention of accepting the Crown Prince’s proposal!

Glancing at him, I saw him frowning deeply.

Was I acting too greedy?

“So you’re already thinking about failure before you’ve even started? Shouldn’t you be determined to succeed no matter what?”

…No.

That wasn’t it.

Oddly enough, that didn’t make me feel any better.

Because it sounded as though I’d already agreed to take the job.

Am I crazy?! Why did I ask that?!

No.

None of this would’ve happened if the Crown Prince hadn’t come looking for me in the first place!

Why had he sought me out just to offer me money to seduce the male lead?

While my mind was in complete turmoil, I could only grip the hem of my skirt tightly beneath the table.

Wait.

The Crown Prince came to ask me to seduce the male lead…?

I feel like there was something important about this… What was it?

The moment I thought about it, a memory surfaced.

This happened in The Flower of Elpida.

The Crown Prince had always disliked Caleb and viewed him as a rival.

It was because Caleb was more capable than he was and enjoyed the trust and support of the people.

A Duke who outshone the future Emperor himself.

Even though he knew Caleb had no interest in the throne and was simply a loyal subject, his inferiority complex and sense of threat never disappeared.

After much deliberation, the Crown Prince devised a plan.

He would make Caleb marry a woman from an insignificant family—or someone with no family at all.

He wanted to weaken Caleb’s influence by any means possible.

If the Crown Prince had already been Emperor, he could have forced Caleb into a political marriage.

But the current Emperor was still very much alive.

So instead, the Crown Prince secretly bribed women of every background, personality, and appearance, ordering them to seduce Caleb.

Every single attempt ended in complete failure.

Because Caleb simply had little interest in women.

Of course, Vivian—the heroine—was the one exception.

The moment I remembered that scene, the contents of the original novel came flooding back as though they had never left.

So was I originally just one of those minor characters?

Or did he only come looking for me because of the rumors?

There was no way to know.

The novel had never gone into detail about this part.

The identities of those women had never been revealed either.

But there was one thing I knew for certain.

They all died.

Not only did the Crown Prince kill the women who failed to seduce Caleb…

He also killed those who refused his offer.

All to erase every trace of what he had done.

…Wait.

He killed all of them? Even the ones who refused?

Cold sweat ran down my back.

I’d already refused him once, hadn’t I?

If I rejected him again…

Wouldn’t he really kill me?

You’ve got to be kidding me.

I’d only just adapted to this new life.

Did I have to die again?

Anything but that.

But even if I accept, I’m bound to fail.

I’m not the heroine.

I might share the heroine’s previous life’s name and resemble her in several ways, but that was all.

If I truly were the heroine, I would’ve become Vivian from the very beginning.

Not Ena.

What should I do?

If I refused, I’d die immediately.

If I accepted, I’d merely postpone my death.

I’d die either way.

Wouldn’t it be better to buy some time?

Maybe I’d find a way out before then.

Could I accept and immediately run away?

…No.

That would be impossible.

I had nowhere to go.

And my opponent was the Crown Prince.

Even if I fled, he’d send people after me and kill me.

It’s better to accept for now and buy time.

I’ll think of something later.

There was no point getting myself killed immediately by refusing.

The women in the novel had died because they never imagined the Crown Prince would actually murder them.

They foolishly believed that someone of royal blood would never kill an imperial citizen over something like this.

But I know the ending.

I know he’ll kill me eventually.

So maybe…

Just maybe…

I could think of a way to survive.

As anxiety tightened around my throat, the Crown Prince leaned back in his chair.

“Very well. Even if you fail, I won’t ask you to return the advance.”

Wasn’t that normal?

Unless you were completely unscrupulous—

No, focus.

This wasn’t the time for that.

My life was on the line.

No matter how I think about it, there’s only one choice.

Accept.

Buy as much time as possible.

There was no way someone who wasn’t the heroine could ever become the male lead’s lover.

Unless Caleb happened to be the type of trash who welcomed every woman who threw herself at him…

But he wasn’t.

If he were that kind of man, the Crown Prince wouldn’t have needed to come to me with such a scheme in the first place.

Should I go to Caleb and tell him everything? Ask him for help?

No.

That was far too reckless.

There was no guarantee he’d even believe a complete stranger.

And even if he did…

There was no way he’d spend the rest of his life protecting me.

On the other hand, the Crown Prince…

…would definitely try to kill me once I ruined his plan.

Being transmigrated into a novel was unfair enough.

Now I was doomed to disappear as a minor character whose death was already set in stone.

I’d never imagined something like this could happen.

It felt like I was going insane.

Who would’ve thought a death flag would be planted like this?

If I’m going to die anyway… what if I slap the Crown Prince and tell him to stop living like such a terrible person? Maybe he’d just think I was insane and spare me.

You know, like those clichés—

“You’re the first person who’s ever slapped me…”

…Get a grip.

No matter how close I was to losing my mind, I couldn’t actually go insane.

Either way… I’ll accept the offer.

I took a deep breath, preparing to tell him my decision.

Then my eyes landed on the necklace resting against the Crown Prince’s chest.

Ah.

At that moment, an idea flashed through my mind.

The only way I could fail this mission… and still survive.