PRKE 19

CHAPTER 19

The feeling that I’d made a mistake grew stronger.

Was this a failure?

I even got stabbed in the stomach—I can’t let this end with nothing to show for it!

I spoke a single sentence with sincerity.

“I mean that I never intended to cause Your Highness any trouble.”

“That’s not the issue….”

He stopped mid-sentence and pressed his fingers to his brow. Sensing the faint irritation, I realized something had gone wrong.

As I watched his mood, the prince shook his head. His gaze was bleak.

“You were preparing to deceive me in collusion with the King of Hermannon.”

“…….”

“Do you have anything else to say?”

I pressed my lips together, then spoke calmly.

“It’s true that I needed a title. You could say that, thanks to Your Highness, I was able to become a princess.”

The prince’s thick eyebrows shot up.

All kinds of dangerous, cruel rumors about Imperials flashed through my mind.

But I, too, came from Amtein—a place where all sorts of sordid things happened.

I’d seen and experienced too much to be frightened by rumors alone.

“I don’t dare hope for marriage with Your Highness. From the start, I never thought you would marry a woman from the kingdom—much less someone like me.”

The Fifth Prince indifferently shook his weapon, still pointed at the ground.

I swallowed as I watched my blood droplets flick cleanly off the blade’s tip.

The killing intent was gone from his eyes, but so was any interest.

This isn’t a good sign.

“Fine. I have no intention of having any kind of relationship with you.”

“…….”

“But my older brother thinks differently.”

His eagle-like eyes fixed on me.

“And you are only a princess in name.”

My mouth went dry.

Why is he telling me this?

What’s his intention?

I chose my words carefully, trying not to offend him.

“Even if that’s the case, I don’t mind. Use me. If an unavoidable marriage alliance happens, I’ll step aside whenever you wish. I can even act as a shield.”

“A shield?”

“If you have a same-sex lover, you can use me as a shield—”

“That’s enough.”

The quick interruption left me a little embarrassed, and I closed my mouth.

I studied the prince’s expression.

It was hard to read—subtle and ambiguous.

Shing.

The cold sound made me flinch.

Whether I was watching or not, the Fifth Prince calmly hung his weapon on the wall.

Still tense, I followed each of his movements closely.

“So what do you gain by going that far?”

The conversation suddenly reached its core.

I took a deep breath and answered in one go.

“A connection to Your Highness.”

“And what do you want from me?”

“Imperial citizenship.”

The prince narrowed his eyes, clearly surprised.

“Why would a woman of Riorsein want Imperial citizenship? The Empire may be vast, but the kingdom is surely a better place to live.”

“…….”

“Gold or power I could understand—but mere citizenship?”

I shook my head.

“It’s not ‘mere.’ What I want isn’t that easy to obtain.”

“…….”

“I want citizenship that would make it impossible for the kingdom to kill me. Even if I were framed as an Imperial spy—even if the king himself wanted me dead—citizenship that would prevent that.”

My words were filled with desperation.

If only I had Imperial citizenship, if the Empire—whose power the kingdom feared—would guarantee my safety!

Then I wouldn’t die unjustly, branded a traitor.

“Ha ha.”

I looked up sharply.

The prince was laughing. He ran a hand over his face and looked straight at me. His black eyes gleamed. It was the first time I’d seen genuine interest in them.

“Right. That can hardly be called ‘mere.’”

“…….”

“You wish to place yourself outside the law—so you want to become imperial royalty?”

I flinched at the unexpectedly extreme phrasing.

But after thinking it over, it was true. The rights I wanted were ones only Imperial royalty could enjoy.

It was excessive.

But I need it.

In a monarchy, falling out of the king’s favor meant death.

In the near future, I was destined to be sentenced directly by the king to the guillotine.

To refuse a royal order, I needed someone above the king—namely, the Emperor’s guarantee.

He was right.

Extraterritoriality.

That was the reason I wanted Imperial citizenship.

“Are you planning to overthrow a nation?”

At that unexpected remark, I let out an involuntary chuckle.

“If that were the case, extraterritorial rights wouldn’t be enough.”

“That’s true.”

The prince turned his back to me. Leaving me staring blankly at his retreating figure, he lit the lamp on the table.

“Sit on the sofa.”

“…Pardon?”

In the brighter room, his features were clearly revealed.

When cloaked in shadow, he’d been an oppressive presence, but in the candlelight he was a strikingly handsome man with bold features.

The prince gestured toward my abdomen.

“If you don’t treat it quickly, it’ll fester.”

“Ah….”

The moment he said it, the wound began to throb as if on cue.

I sat on the sofa he indicated. The prince picked up a box of medicine and approached me.

When I hesitated despite his gesture, he raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

“Do women of the kingdom dislike showing their skin?”

“…….”

“Will you treat it yourself?”

I hesitated briefly, but it wasn’t because kingdom women disliked revealing their skin.

Is he really going to treat me?

If he meant me harm, he would have done it already.

I soon relaxed and lifted my hem.

“Please.”

When his medicated fingertips brushed the wound, my body flinched involuntarily. His fingers were hot and rough.

I was focusing all my senses on the injury when—

“I’m sorry for hurting you.”

“Pardon?”

He closed his mouth as if he had no intention of saying more. I looked at him again, surprised.

I didn’t expect an apology.

After all, I was the one who had sneaked into his room.

Still, it felt as though a knot that had lingered in my heart loosened a little.

The prince’s treatment was simple and quick—yet careful.

It was worth asking him.

Honestly, I was lucky it ended at this. If he were truly the cruel prince of rumor, it wouldn’t have been strange for my head to roll instead of just my belly being cut.

I grumbled inwardly.

Where did those strange rumors even come from?

After setting the medicine box aside, the prince sat on the sofa opposite me.

Whether intentional or not, he kept some distance. I adjusted my posture as well.

“Now, I understand what you want. And I’ll believe that you’re not a spy from the kingdom.”

“…….”

“But there’s still something important we haven’t discussed.”

The prince calmly met my eyes.

“How will you prove that you can make it rain?”

Tension rose again.

Right. There was still that crucial point.

If I lost his trust here, I’d earn even more hostility than before.

I drew in a deep breath.

I have something in mind, but I don’t even believe in it myself. Will this man believe me? If only I had something more decisive—something that would really catch his attention. Even if I can’t do it like a priest….

As I pondered, my eyes suddenly widened.

On the table, there was a basket I hadn’t noticed in the darkness before.

My gaze fell on the sky-blue fruits filling it.

A gift from the Water God.

I used the fruit to perform a small trick, and the prince’s reaction had been ambiguous.

That’s why I told Jenny I wasn’t sure either.

I came back to my senses and stared at the letter again.

Of course, I did do my best.

<To a cloud that brings rain, even a thousand pieces of gold are not too much.>

Once again, I fixed my eyes on that line.

Overall, the letter was ordinary—saying he wished to share the first dance with me.

<To a cloud that brings rain, even a thousand pieces of gold are not too much. In a foreign land, to meet a kindred friend who shares one’s heart fills me with inexpressible joy.>

To anyone else, there was nothing particularly strange about it.

Unlike the kingdom’s florid style, the plain phrasing suited him.

I was about to smile when I felt a gaze. Aris was peeking at me. I calmly folded the letter.

“Igrein, how long do you expect me to wait?”

Hubert spoke.

“Well, this is….”

Just as I was about to answer—

Bang!

Madam Emerne and Viscount Lorenst strode into the drawing room.

“There’s no need to ask.”

Madam Emerne said coldly.

“It’s obvious. That girl lied.”

“She lied?”

“And even after being exposed like this, you’re still playing innocent?”

How audacious.

Madam Emerne’s fan trembled in her hand as she looked at me the way one might look at a maid who’d stolen her jewels.

“You told us you’d never even met the prince, yet behind our backs you were doing something else entirely!”

“…….”

“How skilled must you be in bed, for the prince to send someone after only a few days?”

“…What?”

All my tension melted away like snow.

My face burned red.

Did that woman even understand what she was saying?

Judging by the fact that she couldn’t even tell how her husband looked at her, apparently not.

“Let’s hear it. What were you thinking, lying to us? What could you possibly gain by deceiving us? Without this family, you are nothing.”

Aris, who’d been looking eager to speak, nodded.

“That’s right, Sister. You shouldn’t do things like that.”

She’s quick to pile on when she sees an opening.

But it didn’t stop at one remark.

“You said yourself you’d never even met the prince, remember? I don’t know what you’re thinking, but don’t do this. You should be thinking about repaying the family that took you in and embraced you.”

“…….”

The atmosphere was turning very strange.

Somehow, I’d become a woman who seduced the prince behind everyone’s backs just to live well on her own.

Though it’s true I met the prince privately….

“Don’t you have anything to say?”

I looked at Hubert. There was no warmth in his eyes.

He probably wasn’t completely swayed by Madam Emerne’s and Aris’s baseless certainty, but there was suspicion there.

I can’t answer this wrong.

Pretending not to understand, like before, wouldn’t work.

I chose my words carefully.

“I’ve thought about it too. Why His Highness would send a letter. I don’t know if my guess is correct, but….”

“And what would that be?”

Madam Emerne’s eyes widened as she leaned forward. Aris subtly tilted her body toward me as well.

The men didn’t move, but their gazes were firmly fixed on me.

As the tension built, I deliberately spoke even more slowly.

“You know the gift I sent to His Highness.”

I hesitated, not hiding my own confusion.

Madam Emerne looked as if she might faint.