13
The lobby on the first floor of the Magic Tower was in an uproar.
It was because Nanael, who was trying to enter, was facing off against the receptionist blocking her way.
She glared at the receptionist with sharp, venomous eyes.
“How dare you block my path when you know who I am? Move aside right now!”
“Your Highness, as I explained earlier, due to the current emergency situation, you cannot meet the Tower Lord.”
“I told you, I’m just here to see his face!”
“I’m sorry, but there’s an order not to let anyone in….”
Slap-!
When the slap finally landed, the receptionist clutched her cheek, wearing a dazed expression.
“How dare a mere receptionist talk back to me? If you lay a hand on me again, you’ll be hanged on the spot!”
After delivering that terrifying warning, Nanael finally boarded the elevator.
The threat of hanging must have frightened her, as the receptionist no longer dared to block Nanael’s path.
“What a worthless piece of trash.”
Her mood ruined by the argument with the receptionist, Nanael continued to grumble under her breath.
When she arrived in front of the study, Eden blinked in surprise.
“Oh, who might you be….”
“Move, if you don’t want to get slapped.”
Nanael shot him a fierce glare and brushed past Eden toward the study door.
“Uh, wait a moment!”
The startled Eden tried to stop Nanael, but the maid who had come with her stepped in front of him.
“Her Highness is here to see her fiancé, so please don’t block her.”
“H-Her Highness?”
Only then did Eden recognize Nanael and jump in shock.
She had never once visited the Magic Tower throughout their entire engagement.
Why on earth would she choose now of all times to come?
Inside, there was only the mentally unstable Lady Peris and the Tower Lord, who was acting even more unhinged than she was.
It was a crisis that anyone could see was on the verge of exploding.
“Wait, Your Highness!”
Despite Eden’s pleas to stop, Nanael flung the door open with force.
And the sight that met her eyes was something she could never have imagined.
“Huh!”
The shocked Nanael dropped the bouquet she had brought as a gift onto the floor.
Alferen wasn’t alone in the study.
Beside him was Lady Peris, who still owed her a debt to repay, looking half-disheveled.
The most absurd part was that Alferen was holding the ribbon tie of her blouse.
It was a situation where anyone could tell at a glance what they had been up to.
“This is truly ridiculous.”
Nanael hardened her expression and muttered murderously.
Eden, who had followed her in, belatedly spotted the scene inside and gasped.
“Gasp!”
He quickly turned his back and stood there, while Alferen frowned at them.
“I told you not to let anyone in, didn’t I?”
Immediately after, he didn’t forget to cover Rodellia’s upper body with his own jacket, as if to shield her from prying eyes.
Having witnessed the entire thing, Nanael shouted in a shrill voice.
“I think this requires an explanation?”
“Why should I?”
As Alferen shot back sharply, Nanael’s eyes narrowed into triangles.
It seemed like he was defending another woman right in front of his fiancée.
“Is this supposed to be the emergency situation? To my eyes, it just looks like a secret rendezvous.”
“Think whatever you want.”
Without even glancing at Nanael, Alferen tightly wrapped Rodellia with the sleeves of his jacket.
It was in case she tried to take off her clothes again.
Rodellia squirmed and pleaded.
“Uhng, Oppa, this is so stuffy.”
“Just bear with it a little. You’ll get cold again soon.”
“Hmph. I’m only letting it slide because you’re handsome!”
She leaned gently against his shoulder, her voice laced with coquettish charm.
“Huh! This is outrageous.”
Seeing the two of them being far too intimate, Nanael wore an expression of utter disbelief.
It was clear at a glance that they were in a relationship, like a couple dating.
‘So, she wasn’t just some docile little cat after all.’
Who would have imagined she’d be secretly cozying up to my fiancé like this behind my back?
‘Did she deliberately drink all the alcohol I gave her that day too?’
With this reasonable suspicion, Nanael’s eyes sharpened to points.
Meanwhile, Rodellia was in an absolute frenzy of excitement.
Whether it was the potion’s effect or not, Alferen looked a hundred times more handsome than usual, enough to make her heart throb with pain.
Honestly, everyone except Alferen appeared as identical scarecrows in her eyes.
Naturally, even Nanael right in front of her didn’t register at all.
“Oppa, you’re not human, are you? Where exactly did you hide your wings?”
From her lips spilled incredibly cheesy flattery she wouldn’t normally utter, pouring out without any filter.
“Prince, I heard you need a kiss to break the curse. Will your wings sprout if we kiss?”
As she grew more and more bold, Alferen had no spare moment to pay attention to Nanael.
Barely managing to cover Rodellia’s lips, Alferen spoke with a straight face.
“Please leave. I don’t have the leisure for this right now.”
When Alferen untied his necktie and bound Rodellia’s hands with it, Nanael’s expression turned ferocious.
“Now I get it. You’ve been itching to break off the engagement all this time, haven’t you?”
Alferen knew full well that Nanael was misunderstanding the situation, yet he offered no explanation.
An unnecessary clarification could only put Rodellia in an awkward position.
As Alferen exercised his right to silence, Nanael’s aggression sharpened even further.
“You used me as a shield until Lady Ferris had her debutante ball! How dare you—me!”
It was utterly humiliating.
She’d suspected it ever since he, who had stayed silent through all her tantrums and flirtations with others, had flown into a rage just because she’d messed with the Ferris duke’s daughter and thrust the breakup papers at her.
But confirming it with her own eyes sent waves of humiliation and fury surging to the top of her head.
“Do you really think I’ll just meekly agree to break off the engagement? I absolutely can’t stand anyone laying a hand on what’s mine!”
With this, her suspicion that Rodellia Ferris had deliberately snatched her debutante items turned into utter certainty.
It had to be a scheme designed to deceive her!
And as a result, even her fiancé had been stolen away—she couldn’t help but see red.
At that moment, Alferen murmured coldly.
“I’ve never been Your Highness’s possession in the first place.”
“What did you say?”
“I was under the impression that Your Highness didn’t particularly want this engagement either.”
“Me calling off the engagement and being dumped are two entirely different things!”
“Then why didn’t you do it first? I would have accepted.”
“Hey, Duke Ainluk!”
As Nanael’s voice rose higher and higher, Alferen covered Rodellia’s ears.
As if to ensure she couldn’t hear the conversation at all.
Of course, Rodellia was so entranced by Alferen that the discussion didn’t even cross her mind.
Under the potion’s influence, she was in a state where nothing but Alferen existed in her vision.
Alferen issued the dismissal in an icy tone.
“If you’ve come about the breakup papers, I have no intention of retracting them, so please return. As you can see, I’m a bit occupied here.”
His face conveyed that if she lingered, he’d resort to force to remove her if necessary.
“……Just you wait! I’ll make sure to repay this humiliation!”
Nanael hurled the threat and stormed out of the study.
She didn’t forget to vent her rage by grinding the discarded bouquet under her heel.
A moment later, Eden gazed at the miserably trampled bouquet and let out a long sigh.
Even though it had been a short visit, the aftermath was immense.
“I’ll clean this up.”
He’d only heard rumors of the third princess’s tyranny before; this was his first time witnessing it firsthand.
Still, he supposed it was fortunate that it hadn’t escalated to a physical scuffle.
‘She’s every bit as terrifying as the rumors say. That said, breaking off the engagement…… What on earth is he thinking?’
Eden glanced cautiously at Alferen’s expression.
It had to be connected to the reason he was pushing so hard on his research.
Knowing the motive behind why Alferen had maintained the engagement all this time made it even harder to gauge his true intentions.
At that moment, Alferen spoke.
“Eden.”
“Yes!”
“Bring some ice water and a blanket. It seems she can’t regulate her body temperature.”
Before he knew it, Rodellia was chattering her teeth, shivering with cold.
Confirming the irregularity in her temperature, Eden moved swiftly.
“I’ll be right back!”
* * *
Rodellia drifted into a deep sleep, alternating between waves of heat and chills.
Alferen had cast a spell beneficial for stabilizing her mind and body.
Alferen gazed freely at Rodellia, who lay asleep with her head pillowed on his lap.
Normally, she never approached closer than a certain distance.
Seeing her claim his lap so casually like this made him feel that such an unexpected mishap wasn’t entirely unwelcome.
Of course, he hadn’t anticipated Nanael barging in at all.
