Chapter 5
The feel of the blanket against my skin was so pleasant that I rubbed myself back and forth against it.
The soft bed made my entire body feel even lazier.
A faint floral fragrance tickled my nose, and my eyes snapped open.
“Mmm…”
Stretching with a small yawn, I sat up.
Golden sunlight filled every corner of the room, making the scene feel almost unreal.
In my previous life, I had stayed in this room for about two months as well.
Part of it had been for show—to make a good impression on the prince—and part of it had been a way to keep a close watch on me.
Either way, it was the first and last luxury I had ever enjoyed in the Count’s estate.
Of course, that luxury extended only to the room itself. The contempt and mistreatment never changed.
This time, I’m going to enjoy every bit of it.
When the knights dragged me back last night, Lady Hilderia had unleashed the harshest scolding I’d ever heard.
She hadn’t forgotten to threaten me either, saying that if I tried to run away again, I’d be responsible for the destruction of the entire family.
The family’s destruction… That’s hardly my responsibility.
The Phaeden family would indeed fall.
But it would be entirely because of their own actions.
Knowing the future, Lady Hilderia’s threats sounded almost laughable.
Grrr…
My stomach growled.
Compared to hunger, threats meant nothing.
How petty. They’re really going to starve me.
Even starving felt slightly less miserable in such a luxurious room.
Creak.
The bedroom door slowly opened.
“You’re awake? I was worried because you slept past lunchtime. I thought you might be sick.”
Marie entered with a cheerful smile.
She carried a tray holding tea and a single loaf of bread.
“I’m fine. Though I’m surprised. I thought they’d starve me for several days.”
I hurriedly bit into the hard bread.
“Please eat slowly. And… Lord Grad gave permission for me to bring this.”
“Why would Grad do that?”
“I’m not sure. Whatever he’s planning… he asked you to come to the garden later. Please be careful, Miss.”
“I’ll take a walk while I’m at it.”
Suppressing my uneasy feeling, I headed out to the garden.
Grad was standing beside the circular flower bed.
The moment he saw me, a crooked grin spread across his face.
A bad feeling washed over me, and I stopped walking.
“Weren’t you looking for this?”
He pointed toward something completely out of place in the beautiful garden.
My treasure box.
The lock had been broken open.
The lid was wide open, and the inside was completely empty.
My fists clenched so tightly they trembled.
“You’ll be the future Princess Consort. You shouldn’t get so attached to worthless things like this.”
Grad looked as though he could hardly wait to see my reaction.
“I scattered everything around the garden like fertilizer. I thought the gardeners would enjoy finding them one by one while they work.”
Normally, I would have exploded with rage.
But strangely enough, I remained calm.
Perhaps it was because my dream of becoming independent had already crumbled, leaving me with no reason to cling to these things.
Still…
It hurt to see even the memories I’d collected one by one being trampled.
Without saying a word, I knelt and quietly began picking up the scattered gold coins.
They weren’t going anywhere.
I could collect them slowly.
“You’re really going to search the entire garden? Ah… this feels familiar. It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?”
His mocking voice made my teeth grind together.
As Grad remembered, something similar had happened years ago.
About five years earlier.
Grad had been attending the Academy, and we’d happened to meet at the eastern entrance of the estate after a long time apart.
“I’ve never met anyone as shameless and clueless as you. I heard you asked Mother for money.”
He picked a fight with me without any warning.
“I never did.”
“Heh. There’s not a single person in this mansion who doesn’t know how obsessed you are with money.”
“She told a maid to buy me clothes. I only asked for the money instead so I could buy them myself.”
“You’re lying! You were planning to spend it on something else.”
He wasn’t entirely wrong.
I couldn’t think of anything to say.
…Mind your own business.
When my lips merely twitched without answering, the corners of his mouth curled upward as if he’d proven his point.
Back then, I was desperately saving money.
If I wanted to leave the Count’s estate after becoming an adult, money was more important than anything else.
I had secretly done odd jobs at the marketplace for small amounts of money until I was caught.
After that, I wasn’t allowed to handle money at all.
They even banned me from leaving the estate for quite some time, claiming I’d only disgrace the family again.
“As your older brother, I could always give you an allowance.”
He smiled.
“But if you’re going to receive something, you have to give something in return. What can you give me?”
“I don’t need it.”
“Oh, I think you do. If you have nothing to offer, at least entertain me.”
He ordered a servant to bring over a sack of gold coins.
Then he scattered them all across the garden.
“There are exactly five hundred coins. If you find every one of them before sunset, they’re all yours. Miss even one… and you’ll go hungry tonight. No—make that until tomorrow. Deal?”
I absolutely refused to give Grad the entertainment he wanted.
Absolutely.
But my desire to save money was even stronger.
Thinking only about the coins, I searched every corner of the garden until the dirt beneath my fingernails turned black.
By dusk…
I returned to Grad with exactly five hundred coins inside the sack.
“What should I do? I wasn’t entertained at all—Aagh!”
Before he could finish speaking, Count Phaeden grabbed him by the back of the neck.
“This is all you’re capable of? While you’re wasting your time playing games like this, your Academy grades have become pathetic! Don’t think becoming the heir of this family is guaranteed. Remember that!”
The Count threw Grad onto the ground before walking away.
Grad sat there in stunned silence for a moment before scrambling to his feet and chasing after his father.
To them…
I might as well not have existed.
Neither the Count nor Grad cared how I felt.
If I hadn’t at least kept the money, all I would have had were fingernails torn and bleeding from searching the garden.
Fortunately, after that day, Grad rarely appeared before me.
Whenever we happened to cross paths, he acted as though I were invisible and deliberately looked away.
Instead…
Merni bullied me twice as much.
Count Shaerk Phaeden walked slowly through the eastern corridor of the Prince’s Palace.
He was on his way to meet Prince Rohen Schnader.
Yesterday, he had sent his secretary a letter formally accepting the prince’s marriage proposal.
What’s this about? Was there something wrong with the letter?
No matter how powerless or neglected the prince was—even by the Imperial Family—a prince was still royalty.
Does he think I insulted him?
In truth, Shaerk almost hoped so.
After all, the prince had looked down on the Phaeden family first by making such an insulting proposal.
Still…
Rohen didn’t seem like someone who followed the normal rules of nobility.
The satisfaction he’d felt when offering Hayla in response to the proposal had lasted only a moment.
As he approached the prince’s palace, an intense thirst crept over him.
Please don’t let this be anything serious.
He took a deep breath before exhaling slowly.
“I greet Prince Rohen Schnader.”
The moment he entered the room his secretary had led him to, he immediately bowed.
“We’re both busy, so let’s keep this brief.”
The prince’s rude tone made the Count unconsciously lift his head.
It had been over ten years since he’d last seen Rohen, back when the prince had still been a boy.
He had vaguely expected him to resemble his own son, Grad.
Instead…
The Count doubted his own eyes.
Rohen’s tall frame nearly reached the doorway.
His broad shoulders and powerful build alone were enough to overwhelm anyone standing before him.
Only afterward did the Count notice the prince’s messy hair, loosely opened collar, and lazy stance.
His handsome features were overshadowed by a fierce, murderous expression.
When those unmistakable violet eyes of the Imperial Family settled upon him…
The Count felt like prey before a predator.
I made far too many assumptions about the prince without truly knowing him.
Quietly, he lowered his gaze again.
“Bring it.”
As if waiting for the command, the prince’s secretary handed the Count an official Imperial envelope.
It was tightly sealed with the Imperial crest.
“The engagement certificate.”
“…?”
“You accepted my proposal, so I had it prepared. Think of it as a written engagement agreement.”
“Why go this far…?”
“The wedding won’t happen immediately. I’d rather eliminate any variables that might arise in the meantime.”
“Variables…?”
Before the Count could finish speaking, Rohen answered immediately.
Does he just want me to hurry up and leave?
The Count almost wished that were the case.
“Someone might change their mind.”
Rohen’s voice remained calm.
“Whether it’s your side… or mine.”
The answer was frustratingly vague.
The Count decided not to ask any further questions.
“Very well. You seem busy, so I’ll take my leave.”
“Please do.”
The Count wanted nothing more than to leave as quickly as possible.
“Wait.”
Just as he reached the door, Rohen called out.
“I noticed in your reply that you’re marrying off your second daughter, who hasn’t even had her debut yet?”
“Your Highness, my eldest daughter is already promised to another young lord. Since Your Highness did not specify which daughter—”
“That’s enough. I merely wished to confirm that no mistake had been made within your household.”
Rohen motioned impatiently toward the door.
His eyes never left the Count until he had completely exited the room.
Hmph. He didn’t even bother checking the certificate. I suppose he believes this arrangement benefits him no matter what.
Rohen could see straight through the Count’s intentions, and it left a bitter taste in his mouth.
The Count had shoved an unwanted illegitimate daughter onto the so-called Mad Prince while intending to enjoy every benefit that came from becoming relatives of the Imperial Family.
It was exactly the sort of calculating person Rohen had expected.
Even so…
It felt unpleasant.
“I have no intention of meeting those expectations so easily. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be known as the Mad Prince.”
A faint, dangerous smile crossed his lips as he dismissed all thoughts of the Count.
His mind drifted instead to the woman who should now be called his fiancée.
Hayla Phaeden.
The woman he’d encountered by complete accident.
How terrible must marriage have seemed for her to consider fleeing across the border?
Then again…
What woman could remain calm after being told she had to marry a madman?
Unfortunately, it was too late to search for another bride.
Now that he had decided to remain in the Imperial Palace, it was best not to have anyone precious to protect.
The more precious someone became…
The greater the weakness they represented.
And weaknesses were always exploited by enemies.
That was precisely why he had planned for a loveless, purely formal marriage.
Yet…
Ever since meeting Hayla, everything had begun to fall apart.
The engagement certificate had never been part of his original plan.
The strange feelings she stirred within him had unsettled him.
Preparing the document had been nothing more than a desperate attempt to silence that growing unease.
Their chance meeting…
Was already creating consequences neither of them had expected.
On the carriage ride home, Count Shaerk finally opened the envelope.
Inside were two documents.
The first was exactly what Rohen had described.
An engagement certificate.
In the name of the Kachen Empire, this certifies the engagement of Prince Rohen Schnader and Lady Hayla Phaeden.
The second document…
Made his blood run cold.
Hayla Phaeden is the future consort of Prince Rohen Schnader. She belongs to me. Ensure that she reaches me completely unharmed—not so much as a single hair out of place.
It was nothing short of a threat.
Count Shaerk shoved both papers back into the envelope and threw it onto the seat opposite him.
The prince’s chilling, sinister presence seemed to seep from the pages themselves.
It wasn’t merely unpleasant.
It sent shivers down his spine.
His long-delayed business approval had finally been granted today.
Ordinarily, he wouldn’t have cared about formal paperwork like this.
Who exactly is backing the Third Prince?
The thought gave him a pounding headache.
He opened the carriage window for fresh air.
As the carriage passed through the estate gardens, he spotted Grad standing with his arms crossed near the circular flower bed atop a gentle hill.
At first, it looked as though he was scolding a servant.
But the person crouching on the ground…
Looked like Hayla.
What are they doing over there?
His question was answered almost immediately.
As the carriage drew closer, Grad’s voice became perfectly clear.
“You’re really searching the entire garden? Ah… this brings back memories. It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?”
Hayla ignored him completely and continued searching through the flower beds.
“What exactly is going on here?”
Both Grad and Hayla looked up at once.
The Count slowly shifted his gaze from Hayla to Grad.
Rumors aside, Prince Rohen had at least possessed the dignity expected of royalty.
Yet his own son—the same age as the prince—was standing here smirking while tormenting his younger half-sister.
It was utterly pathetic.
The Count’s anger finally boiled over.
Smack!
Smack!
Caught completely off guard, Grad took two hard slaps across the face.
His cheeks turned bright red as he glared back at his father.
“You disgraceful fool!”
Ever since Grad was young, the Count had doubted whether he truly had what it took to inherit the family.
No matter how strictly he disciplined him…
A person’s nature simply couldn’t be changed.
“Come with me!”
The Count turned sharply and walked away.
Biting his lip in frustration, Grad reluctantly followed behind him.
