ICPTD 03

Chapter 3

 Should I Tear Them Apart or Dry Them Out to Death?

Violetta froze on the spot.

“Ah, if you’re looking for that young lady who was with you, give up. She ran off crying right here. Left you behind. Honestly… I’m just too kind, aren’t I?”

“……”

“You should answer. Formerly one of the imperial family’s closest aides… Lady Hernandez?”

Violetta turned around helplessly. Seeing Erika smile after even insulting her parents made the anger she had barely suppressed boil over. In the end, the question she had held in for years slipped out.

“Why do you keep doing this?”

“Doing what?”

“Isn’t it time you stopped? You’re even engaged, yet you’re still cheating—”

“Cheating? Violetta, Dante and I are just friends. Friends! Like you and me.”

Erika cut her off, lowering her brows as if amused. At that absurd definition of their relationship, Violetta clenched her teeth.

“Ha… friends.”

A relationship that used to be friendship—one that had been a lie from the start. A bitter laugh slipped through her teeth.

Fine. If she insists they’re friends, then so be it.

Thinking that, Violetta leaned close to the princess’s ear.

“Since you call it friendship… let me offer a word. These days, there are many shameless people who, under the guise of being ‘friends,’ beg for love from someone else’s partner.”

The warning she had kept buried came out coldly.

“What? Begging?”

“Oh, of course. I’m not saying that applies to Your Highness, the great princess.”

“Are you insane?”

“Just a piece of advice. Be careful.”

Stepping back, Violetta smiled gracefully. Erika forced up one corner of her trembling lips and snapped in a low voice.

“You still don’t know your place. Even dogs wouldn’t eat your advice. Or should I teach you again, like last time?”

“Y-Your Highness, there are many people watching…!”

As Erika raised her hand as if to strike, Dante, who had been watching, hurriedly reached out in a cold sweat.

Violetta’s expression stiffened for a moment, but she forced herself to remain calm and turned to Dante.

“…We’re over.”

“W-wait. At least hear me out, Vivi!”

Ignoring his desperate plea, Violetta turned away coldly. Determined not to shed tears.

Yet beneath the heavy clouds, her face gradually grew wet with something—whether rain or tears, she couldn’t tell.

Suppressing the vague loneliness and fear that perhaps love was nothing but a futile desire for her.

Leopold’s mood sank as he listened to the nonsense from the man sitting across from him.

“So you’re telling someone who’s already discharged… to rejoin the army?”

He shot a glare at the blond man dressed head to toe in luxury. The man merely sipped his tea with an easygoing smile.

Leopold crossed his arms and spoke firmly.

“No matter who you are, Prince Ian, what can’t be done simply can’t be done.”

“Come on! Why so cold between us?”

The casual tone—half protest, half plea—came right back at him.

“Don’t be like that, Leo. We need to catch those rats selling state secrets, and there’s no one better at interrogation than you, hmm? Our former mad-dog officer.”

Leopold’s interrogations on the battlefield were infamous—so relentless and painful that even enemy soldiers shuddered. Especially his unique “rabbit drive” strategy that broke opponents completely; no one in the empire could match it.

“…Did the spring breeze make you even crazier?” Leopold muttered.

He picked up the cigar on the table and brought it to his lips, pausing just as he was about to light it.

“Is it because of Duchess Otero?”

There was a reason Leopold absolutely refused to re-enlist.

His mother.

Once called the lily of the Otero ducal house… but now, she had lost half her sanity—unable to even recognize her own son.

She was the “mad flower” of the family.

And someone he had to protect.

All because of his father, who had ruined everything without a thought. Along with his mistress and the bastard son who came with her.

“You know well,” Leopold said dryly.

He placed a hand on his forehead, covered with a small piece of gauze—the result of a glass his mother had thrown at him earlier.

She only calms down after seeing blood. And unfortunately, he resembled the very man she hated.

“I can’t stand watching a rolling stone push out one that’s settled in place.”

“Didn’t you already drive them all out? To a townhouse near the station—the vegetative father, the woman, and her son. Isn’t that enough?”

Leopold frowned.

“Who are you calling my father?”

A cold voice followed by a plume of cigar smoke filled the space between them. At the oppressive atmosphere, Ian faltered.

“Ah! My mistake, my mistake! Anyway, Leo—even if it’s temporary, you’ve essentially inherited the ducal title. And your mother’s viscountcy too. That man isn’t waking up from a coma, so it’s basically over, right?”

Ian mimed slitting his throat with his thumb.

Leopold tapped ash from his cigar with a long finger—his movements calm and elegant.

“Weeds grow back even when uprooted. They’re persistent creatures, always waiting for an opening. They need to be watched.”

His cold silver gaze met Ian’s golden eyes.

“Even if it means burning the entire field.”

“…Harsh bastard,” Ian muttered under his breath. “Even the devil would cry.”

Then he shook his head.

“Burning down the house just to kill a bedbug is foolish. Let’s think efficiently. For example…”

Tapping his knee, Ian suddenly clapped his hands.

“Right! What about setting a trap to catch both rats and bedbugs at once?”

“Even if we fought side by side, I won’t entertain delusions.”

“Not delusions—imagination! It’s the seed of progress!”

Ian nodded, pleased with himself. The debate between the two stubborn men continued, tense and unyielding.

Before Ian could shout “Eureka,” Leopold stood up to end the conversation.

“Anyway, I won’t re-enlist. Please leave.”

Already at the door, he flung it open and called to the butler.

“Prince Ian is leaving. Prepare the carriage. Mine too.”

At the sudden dismissal, Ian blinked blankly.

Leopold leaned against the doorframe, smoking.

“Unfortunately, I have a bedbug to go monitor.”

“Our friendship has grown cold. You’re choosing a bedbug over me?”

Ian looked genuinely hurt.

Aside from the wound on his forehead, Leopold was undeniably a striking man—his features and physique like a rare masterpiece in the Garcia Empire.

Well… aside from Ian himself, the empire’s only prince.

It was no wonder his sister Erika had forced an engagement after falling for Leopold.

But as always, a relationship formed by one-sided demand was bound to end badly.

Ian didn’t know what leverage Erika had over Leopold…

But he knew one thing.

It would end someday.

Proof of that was how his sister, starved of affection, filled the emptiness with scandals involving other men.

The imperial family constantly struggled to maintain her image—repeating the unbelievable excuse: “They’re just friends.”

Still, the citizens couldn’t fully blame her.

‘It’s all because of that damn face of his.’

Before inheriting the title, Leopold had spent nine years in the military. He had no presence in high society—not even a portrait.

Yet that mystery only fueled curiosity.

Even illustrations of him circulated among noble ladies. Scandals were inevitable.

Some were even deliberately fabricated by Leopold himself.

‘He must’ve wanted to break the engagement. I would too…’

Ian nodded to himself.

At least one rumor was false—Leopold wasn’t a womanizer.

“Planning to spend your honeymoon at my house, Your Highness?”

Leopold’s raised voice snapped Ian out of his thoughts.

“That wouldn’t be so bad!”

“Bad? You’ve already lost your chance at the throne.”

Leopold pressed his temple.

Ian had recently married for “true love”—to a foreign princess he had taken as spoils of war.

The people loved the story, but the emperor was furious.

“Only temporarily!”

“You came here to win his favor, didn’t you? Even this offer is because of that. You love-crazed prince.”

Still, Ian didn’t back down.

“Yes, I’m crazy! You pitiful man who doesn’t understand true love—you’ll get it if you try!”

Leopold’s response was ice-cold.

“…Maybe not something to say to your sister’s fiancé?”

“If you know that, then leave.”

“Ah!”

Ian was shoved outside unceremoniously. He stood up, brushing off his clothes, then shouted through the door with a grin.

“Don’t misunderstand! I’d totally support you breaking off the engagement!”

Just reconsider re-enlisting!

His voice echoed down the long hallway.

“To Amor Park.”

Climbing into a dark carriage for surveillance, Leopold gave the order.

A mercenary he had assigned to watch the “bedbug” had delivered a strange report.

That pest should’ve just done its job—but overstepping seemed to run in its blood.

“Should I tear it apart… or let it wither to death?”

A crooked smile formed on Leopold’s lips.