Chapter 4
The cool evening air brushed against my cheeks.
“All I have to do now is find a carriage. But…”
The moment I thought of the man I had just met, the warmth that had finally faded from my face returned.
…Why do his scent and voice feel so familiar? Almost comforting?
It was a situation I had never experienced in my previous life, so he was definitely a stranger.
A man wandering around the red-light district was probably no good.
Even so, I wanted to believe he was an exception.
“I’ve completely lost my mind.”
I shook my head and walked absentmindedly. Then I looked up.
“Huh?”
There it was.
A wooden door covered in ivy stood right in front of me.
“How did I not see this before?”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
As if demanding compensation for all the time I had wasted wandering around, I pounded on the door.
Without even waiting for someone to answer, I grabbed the handle.
I hadn’t been able to find it before, but now that I had, I suddenly felt impatient.
With a long creak, the small door opened.
A man was standing in the entrance as if he had been about to leave.
The moment our eyes met, he frowned deeply.
I frowned as well.
Who is he? Since he knows Grandma… have I met him before?
I was certain I had seen him somewhere.
He doesn’t seem to recognise me, though.
I tried to remember where I’d seen him before, but nothing came to mind.
“Hmm… Those people sneaking in through the back door are becoming a real nuisance.”
The man spoke first.
This was the back door?
Grandma knew I had no sense of direction, so why had she told me about the back entrance instead of the front?
…Though even if she’d told me the front entrance, I probably wouldn’t have found it.
“What do you want?”
He glanced past me, as if expecting someone else, and asked in an extremely annoyed tone.
“Grandma… I mean, Grandma Marshal told me to come here…”
A light flashed in the eye visible beneath his long fringe.
He was obviously surprised, but he quickly hid it.
“You’d better come inside first.”
Turning his back to me, he strode inside.
The room was dimly lit by a single candle.
Is this really the guy Grandma told me about?
Swish!
As soon as I entered, he pulled a curtain across the passage leading to the back door.
I’d imagined the headquarters of an information guild to be far more impressive.
Instead, the room contained only a desk, a bookshelf, and a single chair.
“Damn old hag. She’s sending just about anyone here these days.”
That was much too loud to be considered muttering to himself.
So now I’m ‘just anyone.’ I’ve come all this way, so I can’t exactly leave.
Judging by the way he spoke, he seemed to have a grudge against Grandma.
Still, since he knew her, he had to be the person she’d meant.
“What did the old hag do this time?”
He dropped lazily into the chair placed before the bookshelf.
There’s only one chair, and he sits in it without even offering it to me?
Speechless, I leaned against the desk.
“She told me to come if I ever ran into trouble…”
I let my voice trail off as I looked around the cramped room.
Even though Grandma had called him that guy, I’d imagined someone middle-aged.
Instead, he looked only a few years older than me.
This kid was really the guild master?
The more I looked, the less trustworthy he seemed.
“So you’re disappointed after coming all this way? It’s written all over your face. We just met—show some manners.”
“What?”
I couldn’t believe my ears.
“I was taught that manners mean adjusting your words and actions depending on who you’re speaking to.”
“Hah! That old hag taught you wrong.”
He stared straight at me.
Apparently, he had no idea how rude he himself was.
I tried to understand why Grandma had sent me here.
Maybe he’s more capable than he looks? Rich? Has countless connections? Or maybe…
I stared back at him, my mind racing.
“So, what’s the problem?”
He finally broke the silence in a flat, businesslike tone.
Is that how he talks to clients? At this rate, his guild is going to go bankrupt.
Still, it made it easier to speak.
“How much would it cost to cross the border?”
“…!”
The man had been lounging sideways in his chair.
Now he immediately sat upright.
“Who wants to cross? And why?”
“Do I have to tell you that too?”
“The method changes depending on who it is. So does the price. As for the reason… that’s just personal curiosity.”
“It’s me. I’m the one who wants to cross.”
“Oh? And why?”
“If I satisfy your curiosity, will the price change?”
“It might.”
“Hmm…”
I took a deep breath.
An information guild survived on keeping secrets, so I wasn’t worried about my story getting out.
The problem was that I still wasn’t certain I truly intended to flee across the border.
But since I’d already brought it up, I wanted to hear his opinion.
“I suddenly received a marriage proposal. I’m planning to run away.”
“What’s wrong with simply getting married?”
“The groom’s insane. My family is dumping him on me because I’m the illegitimate daughter.”
“You could just refuse.”
“If it were that simple, I wouldn’t have come all the way here.”
Sigh.
His questions were so simple that I couldn’t help sighing.
Then again, as long as I hid the real issue, we’d just keep talking in circles.
I cleared my throat and spoke as calmly as possible.
“The one who proposed… is Prince Rohen Schnader.”
Crash!
Something moved behind the curtain covering the hallway.
“Oh, don’t mind it. Just one of the stray cats that comes in through the back.”
As if it happened all the time, he didn’t even glance that way.
“Now then… proposal… lunatic… Rohen Schnader…”
He blew his bangs aside with a puff of air.
“Hmm…”
He deliberately took his time before speaking.
I wasn’t expecting much anyway.
As the silence dragged on, I completely lost faith that he could help.
“Hey, naïve lady.”
“Have you thought of a solution?”
I looked at him as if to say, Let’s hear it.
“Instead of risking your life and spending a fortune to cross the border… why not just get married?”
Good grief.
Was that really something you said to someone who had come all this way for help?
“I think I can help you if you choose marriage.”
“You mean you know how to survive a marriage to the Mad Prince?”
“Bingo.”
Forget it.
I answered only with a sigh.
He really was going to drive his business into the ground.
Growl…
There had been times when hunger had been the greatest suffering in my life.
Maybe those days had actually been happier.
Whether then or now, being hungry was still unbearable.
“I’ll be going.”
“If you ever want to know how to survive, come back. And if we meet again, call me Theo.”
Out of nowhere? Why is he telling me his name?
He gestured with his chin at my confused expression.
“And your name, lady?”
“I’m Hayla Phaeden.”
For a moment, his expression darkened.
“Hayla Phaeden… I wish you good luck.”
“My name might become infamous soon enough. You don’t have to remember it.”
I headed toward the curtain covering the way I’d entered, but he pointed to the opposite door.
“The back door is for stray cats only.”
“Do you know where Grandma went on her trip?”
“A trip?”
“Never mind if you don’t.”
I left through the door he indicated.
The moment I stepped onto the main road where carriages travelled, the Phaeden family’s knights spotted me.
Since I didn’t want to be dragged back by force, I climbed into the carriage of my own accord.
No matter what excuse I make, it won’t matter… I just hope they don’t starve me. I’m starving already.
Meanwhile…
“Come on out, little stray cat.”
Theo smirked as he pulled aside the curtain leading to the back entrance.
A man pushed himself away from the wall and strode forward, irritably brushing back his hair.
A faint woody fragrance lingered around him.
“You know the young lady?”
“As if. Today was the first time I’ve ever seen her. I had no idea she knew the old hag.”
Theo shrugged.
The man let out a long sigh, glared at Theo, and collapsed into the chair.
“You really are a stray cat. When did you sneak in?”
“Almost right after she did. Why are you always so careless?”
Theo quietly studied the unusually irritable man.
That man was none other than Prince Rohen Schnader, the Third Prince of the Kachen Empire.
“I saw Your Highness in the alley before the young lady came in. I figured you’d follow her.”
Rohen narrowed his eyes with obvious irritation.
Outside the Imperial Palace, he always disguised his appearance.
He already looked unfamiliar enough, but with that scowl, he seemed like an entirely different person.
“I never imagined the young lady would come to me because of the marriage proposal…”
“A noble family’s unwanted child. Strong enough to shrug off threats. An outcast who never even entered high society. A notorious troublemaker…”
Rohen rattled off the descriptions one after another before pausing for breath.
“Exactly. Since she’s only going to be a bride in name. No affection is required.”
“I’m asking whether she’s really the young lady described in all those rumours.”
“As you heard from behind the curtain, even I was surprised by how accurate my information was. I even confirmed it with my own eyes. Is there some problem?”
Theo looked at Rohen in confusion.
“What I mean is…”
Rohen couldn’t finish.
He couldn’t understand the emotions swirling inside him.
Tapping his forehead with his long fingers, he sank into thought.
From the moment that woman had suddenly thrown herself into his arms, his mind had stopped working.
The memory of her warm, soft body still lingered.
Even though she had shamelessly forced herself against him, he hadn’t found it unpleasant.
Drawn by something he couldn’t explain, he’d unconsciously followed her.
Only to discover that she’d entered Theo’s office.
And then he learned…
She was the lady of House Phaeden.
The very woman he’d strategically chosen as his bride.
The shock of everything that had happened refused to settle.
Rohen Schnader, Third Prince of the Empire.
Instead of spending the rest of his life wandering the borderlands, he had decided that marriage was his way of remaining in the Imperial Palace.
Once a prince was married, the Imperial Family couldn’t simply send him back to the frontier.
Using every rumour and every scrap of information available, he had carefully selected his future bride.
It had been a dangerous gamble, which was why he’d thought long and hard before choosing.
Just as expected, Count Phaeden had accepted the proposal by offering up his illegitimate daughter.
That part had gone exactly according to plan.
But…
He had never imagined meeting her like this.
“So you even calculated that she’d strongly reject the proposal?”
“There are always variables.”
Theo found Rohen’s sudden change in behaviour suspicious.
Changing his face shouldn’t have changed his personality too.
“Why are you getting married in the first place? It’s not because you want to spend your life with the woman you love.”
“…!”
“So far everything has gone exactly according to your plan. Then what’s the problem?”
Theo’s voice dropped lower.
“You already expected she’d reject it, didn’t you? Weren’t you the one who said all you needed to do was force the wedding through by using your authority as a prince?”
Whenever Theo became angry, his speech only grew more polite.
Rohen flinched.
Theo himself realised he was more emotional than usual.
The girl the old hag had constantly begged him to look after…
Was Hayla Phaeden.
The illegitimate daughter who left the orphanage and entered the Count’s household as a child.
Her life before the orphanage hadn’t seemed important, so he had never investigated further.
He had wondered if she was simply one of the many children the old woman had rescued and raised.
There had been so many of them.
But who cared?
Except…
She was that child.
The one the old woman had repeatedly begged him to protect from becoming involved in anything dangerous.
She told me never to get involved with the Imperial Palace… and now she’s caught up with a prince. Worse, I’ve dragged Hayla into it too… Grandma, I’m sorry.
After apologising silently, Theo finally calmed down and regained his composure.
“If she comes back, encourage her to make full use of the prince. He’s rich and powerful enough. Tell her to squeeze every benefit she can out of him.”
Rohen cautiously watched Theo’s expression.
Theo couldn’t help laughing.
“You haven’t even seen her real face, so it can’t be her looks. Is her bad attitude your type? Or did you fall for her voice?”
With Theo speaking so casually again, Rohen relaxed.
“At least tell her I’m not as insane as the rumours claim. Tell her not to be so afraid. After all… she’s the sacrifice.”
“I thought there was a reason you deliberately spread and exaggerated those rumours.”
“There is. Living as a madman lets me stay alive a little longer. But did it really have to affect the woman I proposed to as well…?”
Theo nodded in agreement as he watched the prince.
He’s really acting strangely today.
Rohen’s violet eyes sparkled with excitement.
The corners of his lips curved upward into a smile that refused to fade.
