Chapter 50. The Two at the Crossroads (3)
Unexpectedly — though she didn’t want to put it that way, it really was unexpected — Laila was somewhat hurt by Eustar’s words. And she was startled by the very fact that she felt hurt.
“Are you saying it’s okay to be treated like that?”
Laila spoke again. This time her tone was sharper, and even she noticed it. Eustar, too, seemed to realize her attitude was different than usual, furrowing one eyebrow in mild confusion.
“Laila, I told you. This isn’t something I’m facing alone.”
“Just because it’s not only you doesn’t mean it’s justified. If everyone had to live like slaves, would having slaves be justified?”
Eustar let out a low, bitter laugh. Normally, when she saw him laugh, something inside her would calm down, but not today.
Laila struggled to suppress the rising emotions boiling inside her, while also wondering why she was so angry.
“You’re exaggerating, Laila.”
She thought she heard a sharp ripping sound—of course, it was a hallucination—but it felt as if he had scratched some part deep inside her chest with something small and sharp like a hook.
Eustar was completely excluding Laila from this issue.
No matter how he was treated by the King of Ord, whether he was regarded as a stud for the kingdom or a useless royal only good enough to be married off to a witch, that was his problem, not hers.
That wasn’t wrong, Laila thought. In fact, Eustar’s judgment seemed rational.
Yes, but that made her angrier. It was the fact that he privately excluded her, or had to exclude her, that felt so natural.
“Is that so, then.”
Laila looked emptily across the empty audience hall and stood up. The unfamiliar hem of her dress caught slightly on the chair leg, making her stagger.
“Be careful!”
Eustar’s arm caught her. Laila looked at him with a mixture of shame and resentment, then abruptly pulled her dress free from the chair and stepped down from the platform.
Eustar looked quite flustered by her attitude.
When she tried to walk across the hall, he immediately followed and grabbed her arm. Laila stopped but didn’t turn her head toward him. Her harsh breaths hissed through her lips.
“Laila, what’s wrong? Why are you angry?”
“I’m not angry.”
“Don’t lie. Your whole body is showing anger.”
Laila’s lips pressed tightly inward. She clenched her still stiff and numb fingers into a fist, making her shoulders tremble. Her face flushed red, and stubbornly, she turned away and shook off Eustar’s hand.
“You don’t need to care about my anger, Eustar.”
For a moment, she wanted to look at his expression. She felt she had to.
Even though she knew he wouldn’t be hurt by such words, she still worried just in case. And at the same time, she was angry with herself for having such contradictory worries.
Eustar said nothing. His silence was unbearable, and Laila gripped her dress tightly as she walked away. Step, step…
The sound of her shoes echoed down the corridor as she went, but Eustar didn’t follow. In the middle of the empty hall, Laila suddenly felt a deep loneliness — a sensation she couldn’t understand herself.
“What kind of person is the King?”
Laila, who had been lying on the bed for a long time, suddenly asked. Mel almost dropped the teapot he was holding.
Mel said,
“Lord Chrislad, you should say ‘His Majesty the King.’”
“There’s no one to hear me.”
“I’m listening.”
Laila pursed her lips. Having taken off all the fancy dress and jewelry she wore for the ceremony, she now wore a plain dress that was almost like a nightgown. Mel thought she looked somehow even more beautiful.
Laila sighed softly.
“Alright then. What kind of person is ‘His Majesty the King’?”
Mel tilted his head slightly after pouring the tea.
“That’s a difficult question. Are you asking about his politics?”
“No, not that. Not that kind of thing…”
Laila trailed off, about to say she wasn’t interested. Judging from Mel’s expression, she felt she made the right choice.
“Well then, about his personality?”
“I couldn’t possibly comment on His Majesty’s character, Lord Chrislad.”
“You can just tell me what you think.”
Mel hoped Laila would rest and relieve her fatigue with some sweet castella and tea, but it seemed she wouldn’t back down until she got an answer.
This was the first time Laila showed such stubbornness, and Mel was curious about why the topic was the king.
“Did His Majesty say something unpleasant to you, Chrislad?”
Laila closed and opened her eyes slowly, sighing softly as she picked at the corner of the castella.
“No, he didn’t say anything to me.”
“Then why do you wonder about it?”
“Eustar… the Crown Prince said it. If I had heard those words, I couldn’t have endured them, but the Crown Prince said it was no big deal.”
Mel’s face briefly showed hesitation but then shook his head and said,
“His Majesty is excellent both in personality and politics. Although he is seriously ill now… He’s not the same as before, but any senior official or noble would know. He’s said to be very intelligent and kind-hearted.”
Intelligent and kind-hearted? Laila snorted quietly so Mel wouldn’t hear.
She thought that even if he was intelligent, kind-hearted was probably the furthest adjective from the King of Ord. She couldn’t imagine him truly loving anyone, even his younger brother Eustar.
At that moment, there was a commotion outside the bedroom in the living room. Before Laila could turn her head, Mel hurried out to check. But it was not Mel who returned.
“Marquis?”
Startled, Laila jumped out of bed. The person who suddenly barged into her room was Marquis Himierde.
Though she clearly suppressed her anger boiling up to her head, she was still neat and noble in appearance. It was a stark contrast to Laila, who wore a plain comfortable dress with a wide belt.
“Will you be staying here?”
At the Marquis’s abrupt question, Laila glanced around her room — now she was just beginning to get used to feeling this was her room.
“Do you mean staying here?”
“Yes. No, I mean the castle. Are you going to stay in this castle for good?”
Laila stared at Himierde silently for a moment.
She understood why he came. Despite knowing she was Eustar’s concubine, he treated her coldly and suddenly barged in, asking haphazard questions. All of it spoke to his purpose, his anger.
“That can’t be helped, Marquis. For now, at least. And for some time to come.”
A twitch appeared at the corner of Himierde’s mouth. He tried to sneer but seemed unable to, whether from tension or anger.
“Do you have feelings for the Crown Prince?”
Upon hearing that, Laila looked at the slightly broken corner of the castella.
She didn’t know why it caught her eye suddenly. Perhaps because the broken part felt like her — imperfect, out of place…
And unexpectedly, not only did she think of herself but also the face of Marquis Himierde. She felt he was broken too. Either for a very long time or recently.
Either way, they were completely different but similarly trapped. Laila felt a faint sympathy for Himierde.
But wasn’t it already too late to turn back?
“Isn’t the one who has feelings for the Crown Prince you, Marquis?”
Laila’s voice was not aggressive. Nor was she mocking. She was simply asking a pure question, which made Himierde even angrier.
His face went pale as he glared at Laila, then let out a heavy breath.
“Yes, that’s true. I have secretly loved him for nearly ten years. He is more precious to me than anyone else. The only person I wouldn’t trade for anything.”
“So you’re angry at me for that?”
Suddenly, Himierde frowned as if pitying her.
“Do you believe me if I say it’s not because I’m obsessed with rank that I say these things?”
Laila did not answer — a silence that was a refusal.
Himierde continued.
“He needs a partner. Everyone knows that. But…”
He stared at Laila silently for a moment, then his shoulders slumped as if drained.
“I cannot stand by and let a witch be his partner.”
Well, thought Laila. Is that really so?
“If I had been a witch born in a noble family, would it have been okay?”
Himierde’s eyes sharpened.
“Whether you believe it or not, it’s not about rank that I oppose you becoming the Crown Prince’s partner. Don’t underestimate me. If the Crown Prince wished it, I would be fine with any lady. But not you. You would interfere with the Crown Prince’s affairs.”
“I don’t understand.”
Laila answered immediately, her face showing confusion, shock, and a bit of unfairness all mixed.
“Eustar was the one who needed me. It wasn’t that I needed Eustar.”
“You don’t understand, Miss Laila. This isn’t about Tentinella. It’s much more important and difficult. You don’t know, and you never will. But if you are there… it can’t be. The Crown Prince’s partner must not be a witch.”
