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Chapter 16
Aella’s heart sank. The mistress the Crown Prince had spoken of was Media? Aella looked at Media with grave eyes.
“Ah, Aella.”
Media, unable to hide her embarrassment, called Aella’s name.
Aella did not for a moment think that Media had betrayed her. Her first thought was that Seamus must have threatened Media.
Aella approached Seamus with a furious face.
*Now even my friend!*
Raising her hand, Aella struck Seamus’s cheek without hesitation.
*Smack!*
Seamus’s head turned to the side.
“Huff.”
Media gasped in shock. She could never have imagined that meek Aella would strike the Crown Prince across the face.
*Is she angry enough to strike him just because he had an affair with another woman? When she doesn’t even love him.*
Though taken aback by Seamus’s sudden revelation, Media was also pleased. Because she could see that expression on Aella’s face.
But the words that came from Aella’s mouth were the complete opposite of what Media had expected.
“I can endure what you do to me. But I cannot endure you touching my family. What have you done to Media! Did you force yourself on her?”
Enraged, Aella, unlike her usual calm tone, criticized Seamus rapidly. That was how angry Aella was, and how tormented she felt for not properly protecting Media.
Seamus, seeing this side of Aella for the first time, raised an eyebrow. Even a docile dog barks when kicked—this was quite interesting. Seamus let out a short laugh.
“You should be polite to your husband, Aella.”
Seamus grabbed Aella’s chin and shook it.
Aella pried his hand away and glared at him.
“Don’t you dare treat Media badly! If you touch Media, I won’t stay quiet.”
At Aella’s warning, a frown formed on Media’s brow.
*She’s not angry because her husband had an affair, but angry because she thought the Crown Prince might have harassed me? Is she stupid, or just naive? Or is she pretending to be nice again?*
Media looked at Aella with a crooked gaze.
“Dull Aella. I didn’t touch Media. Media seduced me first.”
“That’s a lie.”
“It seems your ears hear everything your husband says as a lie. Get a grip, Aella.”
Seamus pushed Aella’s forehead with his index finger.
Aella turned her head away to avoid his finger.
“Shall I tell you an interesting fact? The one who suggested using forbidden potions to let another man into your bedroom was your precious Media.”
“Yo-Your Highness.”
Startled by Seamus’s words, Media called out to him.
*How could he say that?*
At Seamus’s words reaching her ears, Aella turned pale and looked at Media. She didn’t want to believe Seamus’s words, but Media’s expression was strange.
“Is it true? Media, I’m asking you if this is true.”
“Aella.”
Media could not hide her embarrassment from her face. With Seamus right there, she couldn’t deny it either. Media clasped her hands together with a troubled expression.
“Tell me it’s not true right now, Media. Are you afraid of His Highness the Crown Prince? I see. That’s it, isn’t it.”
At Media’s silence, Aella’s heart began to race rapidly. Even as she told herself to trust Media, shock and betrayal spread throughout Aella’s body.
Though Aella tried desperately to deny it, Seamus only wore a mocking smile.
“It’s truly touching. There was a day when we rolled around in your bed. On that day too, it was Media who guided me to your bedroom. Media chose me over you. So accept it now, Aella.”
Seamus gently pulled Media’s hand and drew her into his arms.
Aella’s gaze toward Media wavered. Aella shook her head as if she couldn’t believe it and spoke to Media.
“Say it with your own mouth whether it’s true, Media. If you ask for my help, I will stake everything I have to save you.”
“……”
Media avoided Aella’s gaze. She was annoyed at Aella for putting her in such a difficult position.
“Hurry up and tell her the truth, Media. You said you loved me. Didn’t you say you loved me like a mother loves her child?”
Seamus pressed down on Media’s shoulder.
Media glanced up at Seamus once, then looked at Aella. There was no turning back now. This was something that would have come out eventually.
“I’m sorry, Aella. I love His Highness the Crown Prince.”
“Me, Media.”
Aella’s face twisted in pain. Seeing Media’s expression, which seemed almost calm, Aella realized that there was not a shred of lies in what Seamus had said.
“How could you… to me…”
“I found someone I love more than my friend, and it just happened to be your husband.”
Media shrugged with an expression that said there was nothing she could do.
*I didn’t intend for it to come to this either, Aella. If only my father had acknowledged me, I wouldn’t have gone this far.*
Media’s eyes watching the despairing Aella held a cold gleam.
Aella felt her head spinning. She didn’t want to be with Media any longer. The sense of betrayal made it hard to breathe.
Without a word, Aella turned and left the dressing room with unsteady steps.
As soon as Aella disappeared from sight, Seamus removed his hand from Media’s shoulder.
*Feel it too, Aella. This filthy feeling of being cuckolded by your spouse.*
One corner of Seamus’s mouth tilted up crookedly.
—
***
*’You’ve been abandoned, Aella. That bastard left you.’*
*’The mistress I spoke of is Media.’*
*’The one who suggested using forbidden potions to let another man into your bedroom was your precious Media.’*
Seamus’s horrible voice would not let Aella go. Aella hated that incessant voice so much she wanted to cut off her ears.
“Your Highness the Crown Princess.”
At Xenia’s voice, Aella snapped back to her senses. Xenia, sitting across from her in the moving carriage, had a worried expression.
Xenia had found Aella wandering the palace corridors with a dazed face. Aella had only repeated that she wanted to go to the lake castle, so Xenia had helped her out, but throughout the journey, Aella’s expression had been alarming.
Meeting Xenia’s worried gaze, Aella burst into tears.
“Xenia, what am I supposed to do now?”
Aella told Xenia what she had just heard. Shocked, Xenia could not easily close her mouth.
“I feel like I can’t breathe properly, Xenia. Like one of my arms has been torn off. How could Media… how could she do that to me?”
Aella was far more shocked by what Media had done to her to preserve her relationship with Seamus than by the relationship between Media and Seamus itself. She couldn’t accept it with either her head or her heart.
“Your Highness the Crown Princess.”
Xenia moved to the seat beside Aella and embraced her.
“I wish it were a dream. All of this.”
Aella leaned on Xenia’s shoulder and wept.
Everything was too much to bear. The strong heart she had painstakingly built after the fire was on the verge of crumbling.
*So Ther, you stay where you are. So that I don’t fall into endless despair, please.*
—
***
“His Grace the Grand Duke has gone up to the northern territory.”
At the lake castle ferry landing, Aella’s body swayed at the ferryman’s words. Xenia quickly caught her.
“He went up to the northern territory?”
“Yes, he went up yesterday.”
The ferryman watched Aella’s reaction. The fact that the Grand Duke and the knights had gone down to the south was a secret from outsiders. Even if she was someone who had once been intended to become the Grand Duchess.
At the ferryman’s words, Aella’s chin trembled. *He went up to the north so suddenly without a word? Leaving me behind here and going alone… after all…*
Seamus’s voice, saying that Ther Motita had abandoned her and left, came crashing down over Aella’s head like an avalanche.
Those heavy words drowned Aella deep within her heart. She couldn’t breathe, as if she had sunk beneath a dark surface where no light reached.
Aella gazed at the silent lake castle.
*Ther, did you abandon me again? Are you breaking your promise to me again?*
Aella could still vividly recall Ther’s voice whispering that she was pretty that night.
*All those words were lies. Every single one.*
Aella’s green eyes sank into deep sedimentation.
—
***
After returning from the lake castle, Aella slept constantly. Having escaped into sleep for an entire day, Aella finally opened her eyes only in the morning.
Awakening, Aella turned her head at the presence she felt beside her.
A man’s broad back first entered her view. Looking at that broad back, Aella murmured as if in a dream.
“Ther?”
But the man who sat up was not Ther; it was Seamus. Seamus frowned and looked down at Aella.
“You’re still wandering in your dreams, aren’t you, Aella.”
Seamus mocked Aella.
Aella flinched and sat up.
“Disappointed it’s not the bastard who abandoned you?”
Grabbing Aella’s face with one hand, Seamus asked.
Without even trying to escape his grip, Aella avoided his eyes and looked down.
Seeing Aella’s expression, as if her soul had vanished, Seamus’s face twisted.
“At least ask me why I slept here.”
Seamus shook Aella’s face left and right as he spoke.
Frowning at Aella limpness, shaking as he moved her, Seamus lowered his hand.
“There will be no divorce. In a few days, everyone in the capital will know. That the Crown Prince visits the Crown Princess every night. That he is giving her abundant, generous love.”
“……”
At his continued words, only then did Aella look at him.
Without taking his eyes off Aella, Seamus got out of bed.
“I will come to your bedroom every night until such rumors spread throughout the entire nation.”
“……”
Aella looked at Seamus with an indifferent face. Her attitude said it had nothing to do with her.
Annoyed by her demeanor, Seamus turned away with a ferocious face. Stomping out of the bedroom, he gave an order to the chamberlain.
“Spread the rumor that the Crown Prince visits the Crown Princess’s bedroom without missing a single night. Spread it beyond the capital to the south. Let all the people of the nation know.”
*So that it reaches even the ears of Ther Motita, who is risking his life fighting monsters to win Aella back.*
Seamus’s eyes gleamed coldly.
