VNC 11

Chapter 11

Shuwen tried to pull herself together. Her head was spinning.

Her vision swirled, and Esselian split into two… then three.

“Wow…”

A foolish exclamation slipped out.

“There are so many of you, Your Highness.”

Shuwen raised a finger and counted the divided Esselians one by one. One, two, three…

“Your Highness must be pleased. You’ve gained so many of me.”

Esselian realized she was drunk before she herself did.

The princess’s eyes slowly drooped, her smile growing wider. Her flushed cheeks, slurred speech, and utter nonsense—there was no doubt about it.

“Not at all! Not at all!”

The princess bounced as she vehemently denied it. Esselian watched her flail her arms in the air while calmly downing a glass of strong liquor.

He drained the drink they had shared earlier in one go. The reason he was still at the table was simple.

“Your Highness is handsome. Perfectly so… exactly my type.”

He was curious what kind of words would come out of that mouth.

“But I hate it. It’s nice to look at, sure, but I don’t want to marry someone like that.”

She had been talking nonsense for a while now. He’d intended to brush it off as drunken rambling, but listening to it turned out to be surprisingly entertaining.

“Oh my, to think you hate me.”

“Yes, yes. I hate you, Your Highness… you’re scary…”

“Scary, too.”

Many people found him frightening. There was nothing unusual about that.

“Yes… earlier, that man’s jaw went like this…”

Recalling the wedding, Shuwen clenched an unpeeled apple from a basket as if she were going to crush it.

But her fingers didn’t even sink into it.

“Like this, just crushing it…”

“It didn’t break, though.”

“Do you know how scary that was?”

Crunch. As Shuwen bit into the apple and glared fiercely, Esselian let out a laugh.

“And earlier you left me behind… no matter if it’s a political marriage, it makes no sense for the groom to abandon the bride.”

At the time, everything had been too chaotic for her to notice that Esselian had slipped away. When she realized it later, she felt a little hurt. Of course, this was a political marriage and not one she had wanted.

Still, being left alone on the wedding platform had felt a bit pitiful. Soon his subordinates came to fetch her, but…

“Then why did Your Highness run away? That’s what I’m curious about.”

“Huh?”

“You slapped my hand away and tried to jump off the platform earlier. Have you forgotten?”

“Oh, that…”

Esselian waited for her next words. He was confident in interrogations. Questioning someone not in their right mind was nothing.

“My ankle hurt. The heels were too high…”

“You didn’t wear them on purpose?”

“…What? How did you know…?”

“You kept staring down off the platform. Did you think I wouldn’t notice?”

The motion of biting the apple stopped abruptly. Even the oblivious Shuwen realized she was in danger. Yet her mouth moved against her will.

“How did you know?”

Her wide eyes searched for an answer.

Esselian had seen her glancing down from the platform again and again.

When she slapped his hand away, he had even harbored a brief, absurd suspicion.

Asking whether she’d worn high heels on purpose had been almost a throwaway remark.

“I was watching the whole time.”

There were many who coveted the treatment. Esselian could easily guess who had orchestrated this incident.

Only one person would do something so stupid and conspicuous.

“I see…”

Merchelli and the princess. There should have been no point of contact between them, yet at the time she had looked as though she were waiting for someone.

‘That can’t be.’

The suspicion was pointless.

The emperor’s overprotection was extreme. The princess had never even left the palace, much less shown a single strand of her hair.

He had planted spies in the palace just to confirm her existence, but the security was so tight they gained nothing.

‘The person who spends the most time with the princess is the Count of Berg’s daughter. She was selected as the princess’s companion at the age of ten and has held the position for nine years. Even so, few people know her.’

That was about it.

What he cared about was whether the treatment existed. Once he confirmed the princess was real, he lost interest. A mere companion maid was beneath his notice.

There was no chance the princess, locked away in the castle, had met Merchelli. Even he had trouble penetrating that security—there was no way that idiot could have.

“Were you very frightened back then?”

That must be why she ran. It was a situation that would terrify a princess raised in a greenhouse. Esselian thought he was being overly sensitive.

Since the onset of his madness, he had been constantly on edge. He knew that himself.

“Yes, completely…”

Shuwen nodded vigorously.

Her swaying head tipped forward, and with a thud, her forehead struck the table.

“Ow…”

When she lifted her head, her forehead was red.

As she rubbed it, the princess suddenly looked frightened.

“What are you… planning to do with me, Your Highness?”

Esselian thought it was time to end this boring conversation. He had wasted far too much time.

“Eat you.”

“What?”

“Unfortunately, that’s your fate.”

“…What?”

Esselian stood up. As he moved, the robe he wore fell open slightly.

Shuwen stared blankly at the muscles that briefly appeared before disappearing beneath the robe again.

Esselian approached.

The distance closed.

“Your Highness…?”

Shuwen blinked repeatedly.

In the next moment, she was floating in midair. What just happened? Why was Esselian’s face so close…?

She realized a moment later that he was carrying her to the bed.

Thump. Feeling the mattress springs cradle her back, Shuwen suddenly snapped to her senses. Her drunkenness evaporated instantly.

‘Don’t tell me… now…!’

Wii-woo. Wii-woo.

The siren she’d heard in her previous life blared in her head.

At some point, Esselian had climbed over her, his hand reaching for her face. His large hand lazily caressed her cheek.

“To think you hate me…”

His breath drew closer.

“You’ll cry a lot tonight, Princess.”

Unfortunately.

Esselian lowered his head. Their lips met. Shuwen sucked in a sharp breath.

Smack. The soft sound of lips touching and parting rang clearly.

Shuwen hurriedly reached out, but pinned beneath him, the only thing she could grab was his robe.

Watching her blink while clutching his robe, Esselian brushed his fallen hair back.

“Why?”

“Huh?”

“Don’t you have something to say?”

When Esselian suddenly switched to informal speech, Shuwen shook her head in flustered confusion.

Esselian gently pried her hand off his robe.

The alcohol made heat course through his body. Each time he touched her, Shuwen flinched.

“This is so sudden…”

“Oh my. I thought I’d been accommodating you quite a lot. Was it not enough?”

Esselian kissed her again.

I just need to stick to the plan. She was flustered, but only for a moment.

Shuwen squeezed her eyes shut and desperately clung to the kiss. Even while drunk, she remembered what she needed to do.

‘I have to buy time… I have to buy time.’

Her gaze slid toward the wall clock. It didn’t seem like the effect had kicked in yet. His eyes were slightly unfocused, but that was all.

‘Just until it takes effect…’

She only needed to maintain contact with him until then.

Everything about the medicine had been written in the note the emperor gave her.

She had read it countless times—how much was needed, how many minutes before it took effect.

Afraid she might forget, she had even written it down.

The amount Esselian drank wasn’t much.

At most, four drops.

‘Today was just a test, anyway…’

Since she didn’t know exactly what the effect would be, she’d been cautious.

Even if it was a treatment, it was still medicine. Side effects were inevitable.

Shuwen wrapped both arms around Esselian’s neck and focused only on his lips. She failed to notice what his hands were doing.

She stiffened when a hand touched her waist. Esselian spoke as if mildly annoyed.

“If we just keep kissing all night, my lips will wear out.”

From the moment their lips touched, Shuwen’s mind had cleared.

The alcohol heated her body, but her thoughts grew sharper.

“Just a moment, Your Highness… please, just stay like this for a moment…!”

She couldn’t let it go any further. Clinging tightly to his neck, Shuwen desperately wished he would listen.

But Esselian was never a gentle man.

“There’s no reason to.”

“Ah—”

“And yet you’re reacting like this.”

His hot breath brushed her ear, neck, and shoulder.

‘The effect should be kicking in soon…’

“Your Highness, are… are you okay?”

Shuwen cupped his face with both hands.

His eyes were hazy.

‘I don’t know if this is the alcohol or the medicine.’

Since the liquor had a mild sedative effect, it was probably the former.

She grew anxious.

The effect needed to appear as soon as possible.

Esselian gently bit down on the princess’s fingers.

It was strange.

Each time he touched her, his head cleared.

The voices that had always tormented him vanished, replaced by her voice filling the space.

He had intended to confirm whether she truly was the treatment through their first night together.

The fact that the emperor—who had avoided him obsessively for nine years—had handed over his beloved daughter had felt deeply suspicious.

He had considered countless possibilities, but…

“So you really are the treatment, Princess.”

Esselian’s eyes curved into crescents. His red lips traced a smooth arc.

Shuwen couldn’t stay conscious. Her eyelids kept drooping, her body growing limp.

Each time he bit her fingers, a thrilling pain shot up to the top of her head.

‘Did the medicine… just take effect?’

“So you really are the treatment, Princess.”

…Could it be that the purification effect had activated, making him say that?

With her fading consciousness, Shuwen thought it over and over before reaching a conclusion.

It seemed the medicine’s effect had finally begun.