Chapter 18
The Prince
“...My lord. Are you all right?”
Stella asked with concern.
It must have been because Noel’s face had been pale blue since a while ago.
Even when she stood on the battlefield together, she had never shown such signs of agitation, but ever since the prince took Aiden away earlier, she had been like this.
“If you are unwell, please take a short rest. I will cover for you around here.”
“...Then. I’ll step out for a moment.”
Noel spoke with difficulty, forcing a smile as she rose from her seat.
She walked out of the hall for a moment. Beyond the noisy, splendid venue, the cool night air scattered her hair with a soft rustling.
“...”
Noel turned her stiff face in the direction the wind was blowing from.
With her superhuman sensory organs, she could clearly see what lay beyond the darkness.
Aiden. And the prince.
They were sitting across a table, talking about something.
She took a deep breath.
‘I have no right.’
None.
Even if she said anything, she had no right to stop the prince’s actions.
If she considered what sort of “past” she shared with the prince, that was only natural. It was no wonder she had let Aiden go so readily.
She turned her body, trying to move away from the people over there. With her hearing, she would still hear every word of their conversation even from this distance.
“Break off your engagement to the Lionhearted.”
...If only she hadn’t heard such words.
“In return, I will grant everything Aiden desires.”
*
Noel’s steps came to a sudden halt.
Before she realized it, she was searching Aiden’s face.
She didn’t know why she felt she had to look at his expression upon hearing those words, but somehow it just seemed right.
He was only staring blankly at the prince’s face, showing no particular reaction. His expression betrayed no thoughts.
“...May I ask why you would make such a request?”
At Aiden’s hoarse question, the prince interlaced his fingers and rested them under his chin.
“Revelation is coming, Aiden. Soon, many interesting things will happen in the Imperial Capital.”
An unreadable smile still lingered gently on his face.
“I simply don’t wish to see a good citizen like you get entangled in all that by staying next to such a malicious person.”
“Did you say that Lady Noel is malicious?”
“Ah, of course. Naturally.”
Then.
Like a serpent coiling its tongue.
“It’s a bit of a long story if I were to explain, but to put it simply...”
The prince’s voice drifted into Noel’s ears.
“...That woman ruined my future.”
For an instant.
“That woman known as the Lionhearted. She is a coward, a traitor, a failure, a murderer, and a fugitive. She wouldn’t be able to deny it herself.”
Noel’s breath stopped.
“Isn’t that enough reason to call her malicious?”
“...”
“Shouldn’t you rather be grateful that I’m trying to pull you away from such a woman?”
“...”
“And, I know who you are, Aiden Kellermain. I also know what it is that you truly want.”
The prince said this with a smile.
“When you get involved in things beyond your station, you inevitably bring disaster upon yourself. Aren’t you shouldering something you cannot possibly bear right now?”
“What are you saying?”
“I am saying that I wish to give you peace.”
Aiden’s body froze in place.
Even Noel, who hadn’t spent much time with him, could see that was unmistakably the face of someone caught off guard.
In contrast, the prince still watched him with that calm smile.
“I’m saying you should go home and rest. Leave the difficult matters to those who are capable. Stay away from dangers that might get you killed.”
His voice came with a steady certainty.
As if it were only natural that Aiden would agree. As if he were merely stating facts.
As if to remind him that all this that did not suit him in the first place had been “forced” upon him by someone else.
“And, more than anything.”
As if he wasn’t even close to finished, the prince paused for a moment before continuing.
As though promising to give Aiden exactly what he “truly” wanted.
“No matter what happens from now on. I will protect your family. No matter what happens. Even if it costs me my life.”
“...”
“I swear it on the honor of the royal house. If you still can’t believe me, I will make a pact with Karva herself. I always keep my word.”
“...”
“So cast aside that woman who burdened you with such a...‘cruel’ fate. And return to the life you once had.”
Noel clenched her hand so tightly that blood nearly welled up.
He wasn’t wrong.
Everything Aiden Kellermain was going through now had started when he met her.
These were things that had begun not because he had wished them, but “because of her.”
“...”
She let out a ragged breath and lowered her head.
After hearing all that, the answer Aiden was about to give was obvious.
And then.
A ‘rejection’ welled up inside her.
‘...Why?’
She couldn’t understand why she was reacting like this.
She and he were bound by a contract. There had never been any cause for them to support each other emotionally.
If Aiden accepted the prince’s offer, she could simply find someone else and fill the void somehow. Theirs was a relationship that never assigned more value to each other than that.
And yet.
‘I don’t want to hear it.’
I didn’t want to hear that man utter words of refusal.
For reasons I couldn’t understand, the thought rose in me before I realized it.
I wanted to leave this place and move right away, but my legs felt nailed to the ground, unable to muster any strength.
Then, when Aiden quietly opened his mouth, I squeezed my eyes shut.
“Your Highness.”
* But.
“You truly have no scruples about what you say to my fiancée.”
The words that followed were completely different from what I had expected.
...Noel’s eyes flew open, wider than ever.
▣
A cold air settled over the table.
After hurling such harsh words at a direct member of the imperial family, this atmosphere was inevitable.
“...It seems you still don’t understand.”
Even so, after a brief silence, the prince spoke without any visible change in demeanor.
“That person enjoys quite a favorable reputation. Because the royal house and the military ‘fabricated’ it that way. But—”
“There’s bound to be propaganda mixed in. I’m sure plenty of horrific things happened in the war. I never believed Lady Noel was pure and spotless from the start.”
“...”
“It may well be, as Your Highness says, that Lady Noel is not the person she appears to be. I won’t deny that.”
Aiden calmly responded.
“But even so.”
Calmly, yet resolutely.
He spoke those words.
“I have no intention of breaking the engagement.”
Indeed, every word the prince had brought up had been unexpected.
There must have been something in the past that left him at such bitter odds with Noel. That would explain the clear, unmistakable hostility.
However.
No matter how dark or significant those past events were.
He had a reason why he could never abandon this marriage.
-Quest Info
▶ If the events listed in this entry fail, massive penalties will be imposed!
◈ Fake Marriage
* You have been chosen as Lady Noel’s spouse. Maintain the contract with your partner to the end!
The reason he absolutely could not give up was spelled out here in plain detail.
‘Does this bastard want to get me killed…!’
No matter what happened, he could not sever his relationship with Noel…!
The only option was to carry it through to the death or collapse from exhaustion…!
“...You will be forced to face countless things you cannot bear.”
Seeing the prince’s heavy demeanor as he spoke, Aiden ground his teeth inwardly.
No, I understood perfectly well what he was trying to say…
‘If I break off the engagement, I will literally die…!’
And with that desperate resolve, he somehow managed to turn it into a composed reply.
“I am prepared.”
At the immediate answer, the prince fell silent for a moment.
Aiden looked as though he was measuring the prince for a moment, unable to read what he was thinking.
“...You would do well to think carefully.”
The prince spoke in an icy voice. He must have been warning him that this could turn them into outright enemies.
‘So what…!’
Better that than dying right now, you bastard…!
“It doesn’t matter.”
When he replied without a single hitch, the prince stared at him, momentarily at a loss for words.
“...Why would you go that far? You’re only bound to Lady Noel by a contract.”
What other reason did he need—he simply had no choice but to do it…
But there was no point explaining that. No matter what he said, the man would keep prodding like this.
So he needed to think.
He didn’t know exactly why the prince was so intent on making him break off the engagement, but at the very least, he had to prevent him from interfering further between them like this. It was annoying—profoundly irritating.
Then, the best pretext to cut that off completely at the root, the one that would work…
‘Ah.’
There was one.
It might not be a true solution, but it would at least give him a reason the prince wouldn’t be able to argue against, a pretext that would block any attempt to “persuade” him.
“You.”
Aiden smiled broadly.
As if it were the most genuine feeling in the world.
“I like her.”
...He lied through his teeth without so much as moistening his lips.
It was the brazen shamelessness befitting a man whose main trade was fraud.
“...”
For the first time, the prince’s smile fell from his face.
As though he had never even considered the possibility of this answer.
“...You like her?”
“Yes.”
“...And for such a petty reason, you would choose to make an enemy of the Crown Prince? Of the man destined to rule the Empire?”
“Yes.”
Silence fell.
Far heavier, far more stifling than before.
A long moment passed.
“Ha.”
With that short exhalation.
“Ha—hahahah—!”
At last, uproarious laughter burst out.
-System Message
▶ You have engaged with ‘Usurper’, Arden Brimstone Lionel.
▶ [Malice] level has increased by 1 stage!
▶ A new function of ‘Weaver of Fate’ has been unlocked.
▶ You have copied a ‘Mutated Skill’ from the target!
“...?”
At the system window that popped up, Aiden’s face twisted.
He had never seen this window before. Until now, he had only copied skills by raising Affection, but Malice levels, Mutated Skills—what was all this supposed to be?
But before he could even finish questioning it—
Another window appeared immediately after.
-System Message
▶ Affection level with ‘Noel Astrea Simus’ has increased.
▶ The amount of Affection gained is extremely high!
▶ Bond level has surged from Level 3 to Level 5.
▶ You have gained 2 additional skill copy attempts!
▶ The accumulated Bond is sufficiently high. The application of ‘Weaver of Fate’ will soon change!
▶ A related entry will be added to the Main Quest!
▶ A new entry has been added to Quest ‘Fake Marriage’!
“...”
Why was she… again…?