Chapter 75
Did I misspeak?
It’s the truth, isn’t it?
Alice is someone who will leave the duchy in a year, so it’s a stretch to call her the real duchess.
Moreover, she’s not properly married to Kylus.
They can’t really be called a couple when they haven’t even consummated the marriage.
Ah, no need to go that far in thought.
Alice stopped her train of thought as it veered into racy territory. At that moment, Kylus approached right in front of her.
“…My lord?”
Perhaps due to the provocative scene that had just flashed through her mind, Alice swallowed hard as she looked up at Kylus standing before her.
Instead of answering, Kylus tilted his head slightly.
Then he reached out his hand towards Alice’s cheek.
“Does it hurt much?”
His long, straight fingers touched the wound on Alice’s cheek.
She could clearly feel Kylus’s fingertips gently brushing the medicated wound.
And it wasn’t just his fingertips.
His scent, mixed with the smell of blood.
Kylus’s smooth forehead, high nose, and red lips were all clearly visible.
Alice was instinctively captivated by Kylus’s fantastical face.
At that moment, Kylus’s eyes, which had been looking at the wound, moved.
As his black eyes met Alice’s golden ones directly, her heart, which had been calm for a while, began to pound.
This is dangerous.
Feeling lightheaded, Alice avoided his hand.
“…It’s fine. It’s not a serious injury.”
“Isn’t it truly regrettable?”
“What is?”
“No matter how strong your holy power is, you can’t heal your own wounds, can you?”
“Ah…”
“So please don’t get hurt, even if it’s just a small wound.”
Alice’s golden eyes widened slightly. Kylus’s hand approached her again.
Kylus gently grasped Alice’s chin, which had moved away, and once again moved his red lips.
“I’m afraid of losing you.”
“…”
His voice resonated deeply in her ears.
Her breath caught at his obsidian eyes staring directly at her.
The emotion swirling in his eyes was so intense.
She couldn’t move, as if his thick emotion had completely enveloped her body.
Afraid of losing me?
Could he possibly…
With her mind in confusion, she just stared back at him without saying a word. At that moment, Kylus released her chin.
“You hold my lifeline, so I can’t afford to lose you, can I?”
“…Lifeline.”
“Yes. Your holy power, I need it desperately.”
Kylus answered plainly, as if he had never shown an emotion bordering on obsession.
And Alice internally screamed with rising embarrassment.
She knew Kylus had quite an obsession with holy power!
If she knew, then why!
Why did she think he might like her?
It was a thousand blessings that she didn’t voice that thought out loud.
If she had said it out loud… she would have created a dark history she’d regret for ages.
Kylus would have sneered at her as if she were ridiculous.
Alice hid her internal shame and smiled at Kylus as if nothing was wrong.
“That’s right. I promised to completely heal your body with my holy power for a year. Don’t worry. I won’t get hurt to the point where I can’t use my holy power.”
“…I’ll also work hard to protect Alice from getting hurt.”
“Haha, yes. Um… but where were you headed?”
There were no special rooms on the 4th floor corridor where Alice and Kylus were standing, except for guest rooms.
Kylus’s office was on the 1st floor and his bedroom was on the 3rd floor.
There shouldn’t be anywhere for Kylus to go here.
As Alice tilted her head in confusion, Kylus’s red lips parted.
“I came to meet the person who saved Alice.”
Alice was startled by Kylus’s answer.
“The person who saved me? Now?”
“Yes, I wanted to express my gratitude for saving the duchess… Is there a problem?”
Problem? Of course there was.
It was true that she had planned to arrange a meeting between Kylus and the Third Prince, but the timing was wrong.
Right now should be time for Sienna and the Third Prince alone.
What if Kylus interfered and things went wrong?
That can’t happen.
She needed to wait until the two of them met face to face.
“Ah, well… He’s still unconscious. I think it would be better to express gratitude when he wakes up later…”
“He’s still unconscious.”
“Yes, still…”
Alice nodded and then paused.
Still?
Isn’t that something you say when you already know someone was unconscious before?
“Then I’ll come back when he regains consciousness.”
“Yes, yes. That would be good.”
Alice felt slightly uneasy, but she didn’t try to stop Kylus as he was about to leave.
He might have heard from the butler that the guest was unconscious.
As she was about to dismiss it and go down the stairs with Kylus, a heavy thud echoed through the corridor.
More precisely, it came from the room where Sienna and the Third Prince were.
“…What was that?”
Alice jerked her shoulders and whipped her head around.
Kylus, who was two steps ahead of Alice, had also turned towards the room where the sound came from.
Thud-
And at that moment, the sound rang out again.
Something was clearly happening in the room.
Could it be real assassins this time?
If not, there’s no way such a terrifying sound would occur.
Just as Alice unknowingly took a step towards the room, Kylus grabbed her wrist.
“Stay here.”
Kylus passed Alice and approached the room.
He moved towards the room slowly, completely muffling his footsteps.
Like a predator lowering its body just before hunting.
As Alice also held her breath, Kylus suddenly flung open the door.
“Eek!”
At the same time, a person’s body rolled out from the doorway.
Alice screamed involuntarily, thinking it was a corpse.
Alice covered her mouth, then saw the rolled-out man’s body move. And that familiar hair color.
Curly golden hair.
“Third Prince…?”
Alice’s low murmur spread inside her hand covering her mouth.
Fortunately, it only spread inside her hand, so no one else heard it.
Meanwhile, the Third Prince got up and roughly brushed the dust off his clothes.
“…What in the world is this.”
Kylus’s low voice echoed through the corridor, and the Third Prince turned towards him.
The Third Prince looked up at Kylus, who was a head taller than him, and flinched.
The Third Prince’s red eyes widened, and Kylus’s smooth eyebrows rose sharply.
No, what kind of situation is this now?
Alice looked at the two men with tension flowing between them, then turned her gaze to the wide-open door.
But contrary to Alice’s expectations, assassins didn’t pour out from there.
Instead, the person coming out of the door was… the red-haired beauty, Sienna.
“Brother.”
Sienna stopped in her tracks when she saw Kylus.
“Sienna, what is this situation?”
“Well…”
Just as Sienna was about to speak, furrowing her brow, the Third Prince, who had been looking at Kylus, raised his index finger towards Sienna and said:
“This lady suddenly attacked me.”
“What?”
Kylus looked sharply at the Third Prince as if to say, ‘What nonsense is this?’
Alice was so shocked that her hand covering her mouth dropped on its own.
Who attacked whom?
Then the Third Prince’s voice, sounding thoroughly angry, echoed through the corridor.
“This lady here used magic on me. Why aren’t you saying anything, my lady? Aren’t you the one who blasted me into the wall?”
The Third Prince sneered, facing Sienna.
Sienna, who had been furrowing her brow at the blatant sarcasm, spoke briefly to Kylus.
“It was self-defense, brother.”
Crazy.
Alice thought of the word that best suited this absurd situation.
Isn’t it?
To think Sienna really blasted away the Third Prince.
How could the situation become like this unless someone was crazy?
It hadn’t even been ten minutes since she thought they wouldn’t fight, even if they didn’t fall in love right away.
But as they say, assumptions can be fatal. Sienna and the Third Prince had fought.
And quite spectacularly at that.
To think she blasted the Third Prince away with magic!!
Sienna and the Third Prince were glaring at each other with fierce gazes.
Love? As if. In an atmosphere where they looked ready to grab each other’s collars, Alice approached them, suppressing the urge to tear at her hair.
“Sienna.”
Sienna turned her head at Alice’s call.
And her eyes widened.
“…I didn’t realize you were here too, Duchess.”
Embarrassment flashed across Sienna’s face.
“What in the world is going on… Could you please explain…”
Didn’t you tell me not to worry and go rest…?
As Alice looked at Sienna with that meaning in her eyes, Sienna avoided her gaze obliquely.
“Well, while trying to confirm this person’s identity… We got into an argument, and when he suddenly lunged at me, I used magic in self-defense.”
“Self-defense? This is ridiculous. Did I charge at you with a knife, my lady? And what do you mean I lunged at you? How is asking for my property back considered lunging? Not only did you steal someone else’s property, but you also blasted them away. It seems you haven’t received even basic etiquette education, my lady!”
Before Alice could answer, the Third Prince fired off his words rapidly.
His anger clearly hadn’t subsided, as his pale cheeks were flushed with heat.
“Are you finished speaking now? The item you had wasn’t an ordinary object. It belonged to the imperial family!
Isn’t it normal to check when someone of uncertain status is carrying an imperial item? And what’s this about not receiving etiquette education?”
Sienna took a step towards the Third Prince with a menacing aura.
Alice hastily grabbed Sienna’s arm, fearing she might blast the Third Prince away again.
The Third Prince flinched at Sienna’s intensity, then let out a laugh of disbelief.
