Chapter 43
Had I been observing Stella’s changes so closely? My mood sank.
“As His Grace said, I must have gotten used to it.”
“In just three or four days?”
“How would I know?”
My words came out sharply. Kaiden looked at me with a puzzled expression.
“Why are you upset?”
“Me? I’m not upset.”
“No, when you’re sulking, your lips always pout slightly.”
“I’m not sulking.”
I grumbled, subtly pulling my lips in. At that moment, Kaiden bent down to peer into my face. Startled, I jerked my head back. His face was far too close.
“W-what are you doing?”
“I know you don’t act like this without a reason.”
“…I said I’m not sulking.”
As I averted my gaze and pursed my lips, Kaiden stared at them quietly. Feeling self-conscious under his gaze, I bit my lip to stop myself. I was trying to keep my lips from sticking out.
Then Kaiden smiled, his eyes crinkling.
“You’re just like when you were a kid.”
He lightly tapped my cheek and straightened up. For a moment, my mind went blank, unable to process anything.
‘Madness. A handsome guy smiles sincerely and touches my cheek?’
My face flushed hot. Covering it with one arm, I let out a small shout.
“What are you doing!”
“Why?”
“Why did you touch my cheek!”
“Oh.”
Kaiden looked down at his hand as if he’d only just realized what he’d done.
“Sorry. Did that upset you?”
And then he apologized immediately.
[…Is he a player?]
I was wondering the same thing. Lately, this guy had been smiling often, flaunting his charm and even showing off a bit of flirtation. He’d become an expert at making people’s hearts race.
“It’s not that I’m upset… I was just surprised.”
As I mumbled, Kaiden said, “Good enough, then.”
No, I said I was surprised!
I glared at him with narrowed eyes, but then someone opened the door and walked in.
“Marion.”
Turning my head, I saw the Crown Prince standing there.
The warm, fuzzy feeling in my heart turned ice-cold, as if doused with freezing water. All my efforts to avoid him in the audience chamber had been in vain.
In an instant, murderous intent surged within me. I wanted to kill the Crown Prince. I wanted to punch that head of his…
“Your Highness.”
At that moment, Kaiden stepped in front of me. The moment he sensed my killing intent, he blocked my line of sight.
But having already seen the Crown Prince’s face head-on, I couldn’t control the raging urge to kill.
“Your Grace. I have something to discuss with Marion.”
“Marion isn’t feeling well after yesterday’s incident.”
I couldn’t hear what the two were saying.
Instead, another whisper filled my mind completely.
‘Kill him. Your target is right there.’
A dark impulse rose like a haze. Somewhere, a voice kept whispering to kill the Crown Prince. There was no reason not to. He was weak, and a single gesture from me would end him instantly.
I made up my mind. I’d kill the Crown Prince. I had to kill that man.
I was about to infuse my fist with aura when—
“Marion, are you okay!”
Suddenly, Kaiden turned and caught me tightly in his arms, as if I were about to collapse.
Caught off guard, a confused voice slipped out of me.
“Your Grace?”
Looking at Kaiden’s startled face, he quickly whispered.
“You almost killed the Crown Prince just now. Follow my lead.”
That snapped me back to reality. The dizziness in my head cleared instantly.
I had really almost killed the Crown Prince!
Infusing my fist with aura? That was practically attempted murder.
Kaiden shouted.
“Marion! Are you so weak you’re about to faint from standing?”
“What? Marion’s fainting?”
I heard the Crown Prince’s voice too. Hearing it made anger boil up inside me again, but Kaiden’s tight embrace calmed the heat.
I shut my eyes tightly. If I saw the Crown Prince’s face twice, I felt like I’d break free from Kaiden and snap his neck.
Clinging to Kaiden, I spoke in a trembling voice.
“Your Grace… I’m burning up inside. My head hurts so much, and my fists hurt too.”
“What? Are you alright? Your voice doesn’t sound good!”
‘Oh, Crown Prince, stop talking. The more I hear your voice, the more my anger surges!’
“It’s fine. Let’s head back to the Grand Duke’s residence. Your Highness, Marion isn’t feeling well, so we’ll take our leave.”
“W-wait…!”
As the Crown Prince tried to stop us, I cried out in a pained voice.
“Ugh! Your Grace! My chest feels like it’s burning! My fists… my fists are burning…!”
“Goodness! Let’s go!”
Kaiden lifted me into his arms and swiftly left the Diamond Palace.
As we passed the Crown Prince’s presence in an instant, it seemed he was using aura on his feet to run. Feeling the outside air, I let out a sigh of relief.
“You can open your eyes now, Marion.”
At his words, I cautiously opened my eyes. We were already in the garden.
Nobles and workers in the palace were staring at us with surprised eyes.
“I just aged ten years.”
I said awkwardly, trying to get down from Kaiden’s arms. But he didn’t let go.
“You need to keep acting sick. If the Crown Prince hears you’re walking around fine, it’ll be a problem.”
That made sense. But the whispers around us were getting on my nerves.
“Goodness, they were like that at the banquet too.”
“They’re in the prime of their relationship.”
“With that kind of strength, no wonder there’s a baby.”
“They say it’s early in the pregnancy, right? It must be tough holding back with a baby in there. Hoho!”
“Oh my, madam!”
Older ladies were casually talking about risqué things with “haha, hoho.”
They probably thought we couldn’t hear, but to Swordmasters, it was all too clear.
I was so embarrassed I couldn’t lift my head. Kaiden, slightly embarrassed too, cleared his throat and asked me.
“Ahem. Want to get down?”
“Yes.”
“But keep leaning on me and act sick.”
I nodded.
He carefully set me down, and I leaned against him as if dizzy. Kaiden supported me firmly.
From around us came cries of “Oh my, oh my! So sweet! Hohoho!”
We escaped the palace with our best performance.
* * *
Arriving at the Grand Duke’s residence, we headed straight to Kaiden’s room. We had a serious issue to discuss.
“When you see the Crown Prince, you can’t control the urge to kill him?”
“Yes. The moment I saw his face, murderous intent surged. Even now, I’m furious.”
This was a serious problem.
Just mentioning the ‘Crown Prince’ made me angry, and seeing his face made me genuinely want to kill him.
I could handle it before seeing him, but once I did, I couldn’t control the urge.
If Kaiden hadn’t been there, I would have killed the Crown Prince.
Then I’d have been executed by Kaiden’s hand for regicide. Only a Swordmaster like Kaiden could kill a Swordmaster like me. It was a chilling thought.
“This is more serious than I thought. You’ll have to see the Crown Prince often in the future, and we can’t keep avoiding him like this.”
“What do I do?”
Looking at him with a tearful expression, Kaiden groaned. Even he couldn’t have a solution to this absurd problem.
[You snapped out of it the moment Kaiden held you.]
Then, at Blade’s words, I realized something.
“When Your Grace held me earlier, I did snap out of it.”
“Hmm. I did that to make you come to your senses.”
Kaiden thought for a moment before speaking.
“But when I stepped in front of you, you were still radiating killing intent.”
“Right. Right after seeing the Crown Prince, I couldn’t control it.”
“Even when I blocked your view?”
“Yes. My head was filled with nothing but the thought of killing him.”
“So direct contact is needed to snap you out of it?”
Come to think of it…
“It’s true that when Your Grace held me tightly, the murderous intent subsided.”
When I said that, Kaiden nodded.
“Let’s run some experiments.”
“Experiments?”
Kaiden immediately went to the former Grand Duke for help.
“What?! You want me to stick a portrait of the Crown Prince on my face and prance around in front of you?!”
“Please, Grandfather.”
☆▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎☆
