The Crown Prince’s Fiancée – Episode 50
Her voice, smaller and thinner than he had expected, laid her timid nature completely bare.
It wasn’t their first meeting, but it would be awkward, of course, if it came out that she had set Essen free.
Being perceptive enough to see this, Essen played along with Arti and replied casually.
“Right. Nice to meet you.”
“Wow, look at the manners on him. Speaking casually the very first time you meet!”
At Terni’s jab, Arti turned to him with an incredulous look.
Terni had definitely spoken casually to her from the very first meeting, too.
“What, Arti? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“…It’s nothing.”
Watching Arti glare at Terni in displeasure, Essen assessed her: she seemed to have a bit of spirit, after all.
Feeling utterly exhausted, Essen plopped down on the sofa opposite them. By now, the Founding Festival eve party would have started.
‘A little lateness shouldn’t matter.’
He’d spent quite a long time on the run, and with nowhere to get news, he knew nothing about how things stood in the palace.
‘So I crossdressed as ordered without knowing anything, only to find out they’d deceived me.’
First of all, he needed to learn about this new Artienne who had appeared out of nowhere.
“What’s your name?”
Arti glanced at Terni as though asking for permission. Terni nodded haughtily.
“It’s Viola Bilbao.”
“Your status?”
“I was a lady’s maid.”
“A maid? Are you a noble?”
“Yes, though my family has fallen…”
Flustered by Essen’s barrage of questions, Arti nonetheless answered them one by one.
Essen looked at Arti anew.
Her status was certain, so that must be why they’d made her the temporary fiancée, but he was curious how she had come to be the fiancée at all.
Above all, it was astonishing that she’d passed herself off as the fiancée of “that Adrian” and was still alive.
“How did you end up becoming the fiancée?”
“Well, I came on an errand and accidentally overheard everyth―.”
Just as Arti was about to explain how she’d become the Crown Prince’s fiancée, Terni suddenly cut in.
“Arti has known Adrian since they were little.”
“…?”
“Adrian used to come to the Obiedo estate all the time just to see Arti.”
“Are you insane?”
Even as Essen asked in disbelief, Terni’s rewriting of memory didn’t stop.
“Ahh. Arti back then was so cute and lovable! We used to climb the hill behind the manor and play house together.”
“You’ve lost your mind.”
Arti, already immune by now, only smiled awkwardly.
Essen felt deep pity for the woman before him.
From the look of it, she had gotten caught up somehow and dragged into this dangerous business, and he figured it must be hard to bear.
She’d become the fiancée of Adrian, a hot-tempered man who thought only of himself, and on top of that she had to pose as the sister of Terni, a walking source of disasters.
Having already done it once himself, he could understand her all the more deeply.
“…It must have been rough on you.”
At Essen’s words, Arti was overcome with emotion.
Because it was the first time. The first time anyone had understood how she felt.
‘Essen is truly a kind person.’
Everyone had only burdened her, insisting she had to become the perfect fiancée, so Essen’s words were a great comfort.
She felt she understood why Essen had become the Crown Prince’s fiancé.
It would be strange not to like someone so kind. She could understand why the Crown Prince loved Essen.
If anyone could have read Arti’s mind, they would have been horrified by that thought. Essen was famous for his foul temper.
Arti smiled brightly at Essen.
“I’m fine!”
‘Because you’ve come back, Essen.’
Now that the original fiancé had returned, she no longer had to spend her days walking on thin ice.
So why did her chest tighten so?
‘It must be because I won’t be able to see Acacia anymore.’
If she went back to being Viola Bilbao, she would have to abandon every relationship she had made here.
Returning to where she belonged was only natural.
Not as Artienne, the adopted daughter of the Marquis Obiedo’s illustrious house with its long, storied history, but as Viola, a fallen noble holding on to the name by a thread.
‘It’s so obvious, so why does it feel so bitter?’
Arti’s expression naturally clouded. Noticing her face, Essen grew flustered and reached out without thinking.
Just then, the door swung open without warning.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
A furious Adrian glared at the people in the room one after another.
He had sent Terni ahead, so naturally he’d assumed they’d be in the hall, but Arti wasn’t there.
He had waited quite a while after the party began, but they hadn’t come.
He had waited quite a while after that, too, but they were nowhere to be seen.
Enraged, Adrian had come in person, with his own two hands, to find his missing fiancée and aide.
After glaring at Terni and Essen, Adrian’s gaze finally slid over to Artienne.
‘Why does she look like that?’
Arti’s face was so dark she looked about to cry. Without a moment’s hesitation, he went to her.
“Aaagh!”
Shoving aside Terni, who had been sitting next to Arti, Adrian took that seat himself.
Then he cupped her cheek and turned her gaze toward him.
“Look at me.”
Bewildered eyes looked back at him. The gloomy face she’d worn only moments ago was nowhere to be found.
But Adrian had already seen her dark expression.
“Did someone say something to you?”
“Pardon?”
“Was it that idiot?”
Adrian jerked his chin toward Terni, who had been flung to the floor. Terni, who had been frozen in shock, leapt to his feet and rounded on Adrian.
“Adrian, how can you shove me aside so heartlessly?! I did not raise you like this!”
Adrian let Terni’s protests go in one ear and out the other. His attention was entirely on Arti.
Hesitating, Arti shook her head.
“No. I was just meeting Essen for the first time and exchanging greetings.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
Arti’s expression was far too troubled for that to be the whole story. Adrian wasn’t convinced, but he let go of her for the time being.
All the while, Terni kept protesting to Adrian.
“Are you listening to me? You aren’t, are you? They say raising kids is pointless, and that’s exactly it!”
With his arms crossed, Essen watched the Crown Prince and Artienne, who had slipped into a world of their own, and Terni, who was dying to wedge himself between them.
‘What a sight.’
His first thought was that he didn’t want to get dragged into that chaos.
“Why don’t you let her go already?”
Essen tossed a remark at Adrian, who was holding Arti tightly.
“Oh? You were here?”
“You saw me earlier.”
“I don’t remember. Why aren’t you in a dress?”
He felt like unleashing a torrent of curses, but Essen looked at Arti and held it in.
“I changed.”
At that curt reply, Adrian wondered why, for once, Essen wasn’t throwing a fit.
“By the way, Adrian, weren’t you at Florence Palace? The party isn’t over yet, is it?”
At Terni’s words, Adrian remembered why he had come all this way himself.
He’d come looking for people who didn’t show up no matter how long he waited.
Captivated by Arti’s expression, he’d forgotten even that he was angry.
“What is it?”
Seeing Arti tilt her head and ask so carefully, even the last embers of his anger vanished.
“It’s nothing. Let’s go quickly. We’re late.”
When Adrian held out his hand, Arti took it right away without the slightest hesitation.
Adrian wore a brief, satisfied smile.
Essen, who had watched everything from start to finish, doubted his own eyes.
‘…Is that guy really Adrian?’
He thought it was someone else wearing Adrian’s skin. In Essen’s eyes, Adrian was actually worrying about someone.
Adrian, worrying? It was more believable that he himself had gone mad.
But as if to mock him, Adrian’s strange behavior didn’t stop.
He couldn’t take his eyes off his fake fiancée, as though she were the only person in existence.
No, it was more than that; affection was practically dripping from him.
Yet the other party was apparently so oblivious that she had no inkling of Adrian’s feelings.
‘What on earth happened while I was gone?’
Essen was stunned. He’d only been on the run for a few months, and when he came back, the craziest person alive had turned completely human.
Essen was afraid the world might be coming to an end.
‘”That Adrian,” falling in love? This is a dream, right?’
Before he knew it, Adrian, who had gathered up Arti and was leaving the room, turned around.
“Aren’t you coming?”
“Uh, yeah. I’m coming.”
Essen answered in a daze and pinched his own cheek.
It hurt like hell.
‘Damn it. It’s not a dream?!’
