The Crown Prince’s Fiancée — Chapter 44
* * *
Of course, it wasn’t all good things.
“Ohohoho, Miss Arti! Look at this! Her Majesty the Empress has graciously bestowed a gift upon you.”
“A gift?”
On a square tray lined with velvet lay threads that looked luxurious at a glance.
Gold thread, silver thread, and colored silk threads that were plainly expensive.
But what I needed to focus on was something else.
“She said she was pleased with the gift Lady Artienne gave her, and so she has bestowed upon you, no less, thread made from the feathers of the Lilat bird!”
“The Lilat bird?!”
It was a bird famous for its beautiful feathers.
Above all, their subtle luster lasted so long that the greed of collectors and nobles who craved rare things had pushed the bird to the brink of extinction.
I had heard that it now lived only in the imperial family’s grounds and in a few forests they managed.
It was an astronomical sum, to say the least.
“I can’t accept something this precious.”
“Ohoho, refusing an imperial gift is rude. Please accept it. Her Majesty prepared it especially because she remembers your promise to present His Highness Crown Prince Adrian with embroidery.”
Ah, the embroidery…….
“I’d rather do different embroidery.”
“Pardon?”
“Oh, no. It’s nothing.”
I had been thinking, with the Crown Prince nowhere to be seen these days, what use was embroidery, but since I had made that promise in front of the Empress herself, I couldn’t pretend I didn’t know.
My conscience pricked me.
“But I don’t know how to embroider.”
“Goodness. And who do you think is standing right in front of you?”
“M-Madam Lucy?”
“That’s right. The Countess with the finest embroidery skills in all of high society!”
“Teacher!”
When I suddenly grabbed Madam Lucy’s hand, she smiled as if she understood everything and patted my hand.
Sob, my savior!
“Then we shall begin your lessons tomorrow.”
“Wonderful!”
“I’m sure you’ll do splendidly. Ohoho.”
“I’m not so sure…….”
As always, Madam Lucy simply smiled and said I would do well.
To think such a trial would befall me.
“Arti, Arti.”
“Ah, what is it?”
“Arti, Arti~!”
“Ah, what?”
“Arti, why are you so cold to me?”
Of course, this kind of trial always came too.
I badly wanted to ignore him, but I held back and somehow managed a soft smile.
“What is it, Brother?”
“Oh, there we go! That’s my Arti.”
“Never mind that. What is it, really?”
“It’s nothing big.”
I frowned at Terni’s words. This was a man who, if it had truly been nothing, would have cried “Nothing here!” and bolted, so his suddenly saying it wasn’t big was unsettling.
My eyes narrowed as I looked at Terni.
“What kind of trouble did you cause?”
“It’s not trouble.”
“Could the Crown Prince actually kill you over it?”
“Hmm. Probably?”
Terni nodded gravely.
“That’s why I need you! My little sister!”
I knew it.
“I’m busy.”
“Ah, help me.”
“No.”
“Sob. My Arti is so cold.”
Terni sniffled and glanced at me, making sure I was watching. It was a transparent ploy, but in the end I couldn’t ignore it.
Doesn’t this man do this all the time because he knows exactly how it’ll go?
“What is it, exactly?”
“I lost something. I need to find it.”
“What is it?”
“The Crown Prince’s Golden Seal.”
My expression twisted before I could stop it.
“Sorry? What did you say?”
“I lost the Golden Seal.”
“How on earth did you lose it?!”
“Well, you see, I suddenly got curious.”
“Why would anything curious come up out of nowhere?”
My ominous feeling proved right.
“Is the Golden Seal really made of gold, like its name says? So I bit the edge of it lightly with my teeth, and.”
“Why would you bite it?!”
“It left a mark. It’s actually made of gold..”
Ta-da! Curiosity satisfied!
I wanted to strangle Terni as he crowed that.
“But how did you actually lose it? Nothing you’ve said so far has anything to do with losing it.”
“That part starts now. You’re more impatient than I thought, Arti.”
“Just get to the point!”
“Then it wouldn’t be fun.”
Which part was I supposed to find fun?!
I scowled in frustration. Terni, regardless, was still all smiles.
“I tried to get rid of the bite mark, but it wouldn’t come off.”
“You shouldn’t have bitten it in the first place.”
“So I thought! If I said it got smashed a little in an accident, maybe he’d forgive me?”
“Isn’t that even more dangerous?”
“So I threw it from the second floor, and.”
“What?!”
“I can’t find it.”
“…….”
I pressed a hand to my head. There was no hope for him.
Did this man really live with his liver outside his body? Did he not have any sense of fear to begin with?
“So help me look for it, my sister!”
“Goodbye. I won’t see you out.”
“Arti!”
Terni grabbed my arm and sniffled. He was truly insufferable, yet when he acted like this, my heart softened again.
This man must know exactly what he’s doing.
I let out a deep sigh.
“Let’s go find it, then.”
“Hehe, yes!”
Terni beamed as if he had never been on the verge of tears.
“So where exactly did you throw it?”
“Um, where was it now?”
Should I just quit right now?
* * *
Once they arrived at Poinsettia Palace, Terni gave me strict instructions.
“Arti, you have to stay hidden.”
“Why?”
“Adrian is in a bad mood right now. A very, very bad one! If he spots you, you might actually die.”
“Oh…….”
The commotion in my heart at the thought of seeing the Crown Prince settled down in an instant.
Reminded of the cold reality, I nodded.
“Let’s go to where you lost it first.”
“Yes!”
I was following Terni when he suddenly shoved my shoulder.
“Adrian, it’s Adrian!”
“Ah!”
“Hide!”
Under Terni’s urging, I had no choice but to dart into the nearest room and hide.
When I shut the door and pressed my ear to it, I soon heard the Crown Prince’s voice.
“What are you doing here?”
“Oh, working, of course! So busy, so busy.”
“Suspicious.”
“Not suspicious at all! Adrian! Let’s go to your office right away! I have something to report!”
Next came the sound of Terni dragging the Crown Prince off.
“He sounds well.”
I couldn’t tell why my heart felt so unsettled at hearing that voice after so long.
When it grew quiet outside, I opened the door.
“He’s gone.”
Terni, who had been the one to propose finding the vanished Golden Seal together, was nowhere to be seen either.
“Seriously, ugh.”
I was speechless.
In the end, I had to go search the garden Terni had mentioned all by myself.
* * *
“Found it!”
About thirty minutes had passed since I started searching the garden.
I found the Crown Prince’s Golden Seal, made of solid gold, caught among the overgrown bushes.
It was absurd that I had actually found it here.
“I’d better put it back and leave quickly.”
I couldn’t tell whether I should take it to the Crown Prince’s office or to the aide’s office that Terni used.
Since Terni was the one who had lost it, I figured I should put it in Terni’s office.
I couldn’t understand Terni at all, throwing away something this important.
“But did Poinsettia Palace always have this few people?”
For some reason the atmosphere felt eerie. I thought I should put it back quickly and go home.
If I had, everything would have been resolved neatly, but.
“……I think I got the wrong room.”
The moment I opened the door I had thought was Terni’s office, a completely different scene unfolded.
A space darkened by blackout curtains.
It was nothing like what I had known, and I wondered whether I had come to the wrong place and was about to shut the door and leave when.
“Adrian~!”
A voice from outside made my body freeze on its own.
The Crown Prince’s voice did not follow, and the voice passing in front of the door faded quickly.
“Phew.”
What on earth was this situation, all of a sudden?
When I closed the door, my eyes, now used to the darkness, could see the room clearly.
So the office desk is over there.
Whoever’s desk it was, I thought I’d leave the Golden Seal on it and go, when.
“Mmph! Mmph-mmph!”
A sound from somewhere startled me.
What was that? Is something here?
Looking around, I saw that the door to another room connected to the office was slightly ajar.
The sound kept coming from beyond it.
What is that?
When I pushed on the slightly open door, there was someone inside.
I was so startled that I almost ran, but a sound pleading with me held my feet in place.
“Mmph! Mmph! Mmmph!”
What is it? Is he asking for help?
I was scared, but I gathered my courage and stepped into the room, where someone sat with his hands and feet bound, his eyes covered, and a gag in his mouth.
Poor thing. Who did this to him?
“Mmph! Mmmph!”
“Shall I untie you?”
The man’s body went rigid for a moment.
The air turned sharp, and just as I shrank back without meaning to, the man nodded vigorously.
“Mmmph! Mmph!”
Hesitantly, I removed the gag from the man’s mouth. He gasped for breath.
“Terni, that bastard…….”
His voice was clearer and more boyish than I expected.
“Are you all right? How did you end up tied like this?”
He seemed to be connected to Terni somehow, so I was wary of freeing him rashly.
“Terni, that bastard tricked me.”
“Oh, I see.”
Terni would do that, after all.
“Can I ask you one more favor?”
“What is it?”
“Untie me.”
“That’s a bit…….”
I didn’t know why the man had been bound, but it didn’t feel right for me to free him on my own.
“Then could you at least loosen it a little? My wrists are rubbed raw and they hurt.”
His wrists really were tied so tightly that they were scraped from the friction and bleeding. They looked very painful.
“Then I’ll loosen it just a little.”
“Yes, thank you.”
I loosened the rope, which was bound so tightly I doubted his blood could even flow.
“Is this enough?”
“More than enough.”
“Good……?”
It happened in an instant.
The man slipped off the rope I had loosened just as it was, and then undid the blindfold covering his eyes and even the rope binding his feet.
“……?”
When I came to my senses, the ropes were all scattered on the floor.
“Thank you. I won’t forget this kindness.”
As I stared at him in shock, eyes wide, the man ground his teeth and threw open the curtains.
Light poured in all at once, and the man’s face shone brightly.
Wow. He’s beautiful.
Just as my eyes went round at his unexpected beauty, the man opened the window and flung himself straight out of it.
“Huh?”
Suicide?
I rushed to the window in alarm, but the man was already gone from below.
“Am I… doomed?”
It certainly seemed that way.
