The Crown Prince’s Fiancée — Chapter 45
* * *
“That devil of a bastard.”
Essen, having leapt out of the window, ran his tongue over his split lip and scowled.
Terni’s words from a few days ago echoed in his ears.
Terni had judged that simply chasing Essen would never get him caught, and so he had come up with a clever trick.
He would lure Essen, tempting him into showing himself first.
“You can’t keep running forever. If you listen to me very carefully, something good will happen for you too.”
Essen had no intention of running for the rest of his life either, so Terni’s temptation caught his ear.
Terni had said he had a good way to resolve the current situation.
Taking those words at face value had been his own mistake.
He should have caught on the moment Terni said he would only share the method if Essen came out in person.
“If I’d known he’d stab me in the back like this, I never would have gone out there.”
Trusting Terni’s word and going out, what Essen had met was a trap set to catch him.
Facing thirty strapping men alone, Essen had at first put up a blazing fight and knocked them all flat, but the men who rushed in after that were too many.
And that devilish smile on Terni’s face as he arrested him.
“He planned this from the start.”
In the end he had been dragged back, and that had been a few days ago.
Having caught him, Terni had said the mood was bad right now and left Essen neglected in his office for several days.
And now he had escaped once more.
Though he had grown up with Terni since childhood, he still had no idea what that bastard was thinking, Essen thought, as he naturally slipped past the guards patrolling the palace.
Being tied up had been the problem, but once his hands and feet were free, nothing else mattered.
Catching sight of his own face reflected in a window, Essen stiffened without meaning to.
‘A peerless beauty.’
He had heard that damned phrase “peerless beauty” since childhood, and he was sick to death of it.
“Peerless beauty, my ass.”
When he was very young, being called pretty had simply made him happy.
He hadn’t really understood what it meant, but he had assumed it was something good.
But as he grew older, Essen gradually began to hate his delicate, striking good looks.
Everyone approached him for his face alone, and everyone judged his character by his face alone.
It annoyed him that people expected things of him on their own and were disappointed on their own.
Learning the sword on purpose, trying to become a knight, it had all been because he hated that.
‘It was useless.’
The experience of having a man confess to him had been absolutely dreadful.
Essen believed that his personality had turned out the way it had because of Adrian and this face.
And then…….
“I need a fiancée.”
“Where are you going to find one?”
“The fewer people who know the secret, the better.”
“Huh?”
“Grab him!”
That was how Essen had become the Crown Prince’s fiancée.
“That bastard with the shattered personality!”
He was hardly in a position to talk about others, but Essen ground his teeth once more.
“I won’t do it. Even if I’m dragged back, I absolutely won’t.”
This time he planned to bolt in a different direction.
As he left the imperial palace, Essen gave thanks to the kind maid who had helped him at the very end.
‘If that maid hadn’t come to clean the office, I’d be dead.’
Never dreaming, of course, that she was his stand-in.
* * *
‘What a strange person.’
There had been no body, so he must not have died, right?
“Surely I won’t get arrested later for something like aiding a suicide, will I?”
More likely, I’d meet my death sooner for having freed him by mistake.
A chill ran through me, and I left the room to head back, but then I heard footsteps of people approaching from the direction I had been going and hurriedly hid around the opposite corner.
“Here we are, Essen is in here!”
I heard Terni’s voice.
I held my breath, frozen in place.
But Essen……?
That man was Essen?
I wondered if I had misheard, but I hadn’t.
“Essen is in there?”
“I’m telling you! I caught him myself.”
An ominous feeling came over me. And, as expected, the ominous feeling did not miss.
At the crashing and clattering from inside, I started to sneak away but ducked back into hiding.
“He’s not here?”
“Huh, he was definitely here……?”
Terni shouted in a bewildered voice.
“Where did everyone I told to guard the door go?!”
“Earlier, His Excellency Count Terni said he had business for a moment and ordered us all to leave…….”
“Ah. Right, I did.”
It must have been because of the Golden Seal.
A blade was drawn.
An eerie sound came from someone pulling out a sword.
“No, Adrian! It wasn’t me!”
“Catching him was a lie too, wasn’t it?”
“Well, that is, no, I really did catch him!”
“Shut up. I don’t need excuses.”
“Aaah! Adrian!”
I heard Terni flee and fade into the distance. And the menacing footsteps of someone chasing after him.
“What on earth have I done……?”
I let Sir Essen go again, even though he had come back?
I could only quit as fiancée once Sir Essen returned! I felt as if I had dug my own grave.
Still, within the imperial palace, wouldn’t he be caught soon enough? Terni had once warned me, back when I secretly considered escaping, that the palace guard was tight.
“Hmm…….”
I closed my mouth and thought for a moment.
“If I’m found out, I’ll die, won’t I……?”
I didn’t think Crown Prince Adrian would forgive me. In that case, there was only one option left.
“Let’s keep it a secret after all!”
What happened today would be known only to me.
* * *
That evening, a party hosted by the Empress was to be held at Florence Palace.
It was a casual imperial party, apparently meant to share the rare foods and beverages that had been received as gifts from abroad for the Empress’s birthday party.
Going to eat delicious, novel food was nice, but just thinking about coming face to face with Crown Prince Adrian already weighed on my heart.
“Ohohoho! Relax your expression! Otherwise all that effort dressing you up will be wasted!”
“B-but…….”
“Now, look at this hair ornament. It suits you well, doesn’t it?”
“I’ve never seen this accessory before.”
It was an ornament adorned with jewels I had never seen.
“This accessory is called a ‘binyeo.’ It’s one of the many gifts that arrived in time for Her Majesty the Empress’s birthday. Today, Her Majesty bestowed it upon you, saying she’d like Miss Arti to wear it!”
Madam Lucy’s eyes sparkled.
“What an honor for your family, truly! Ohohohoho.”
The binyeo reflected in the mirror was beautiful, but to me it felt like a shackle binding me to a party I had to attend, and I felt uneasy.
“Is she ready?”
At the pleasant low voice, my body flinched.
“Yes, she’s all prepared! Ta-da!”
At Madam Lucy’s words, I slowly turned around.
This was the most uncomfortable part of all.
Meeting the Crown Prince after so long.
“…….”
Crown Prince Adrian said nothing even after seeing me.
Even as Madam Lucy laughed “ohohoho” and kept urging him with her eyes to say something, anything, he kept his mouth tightly shut and spoke no word.
Do I look strange?
“……Let’s go.”
After a long stretch of silence, the Crown Prince held out his hand to me.
When I carefully placed mine on it, his expression twisted for an instant despite the light touch.
Does he not want to touch me?
Any other time, he would have at least said something scolding, but today the Crown Prince was different.
As the deathly silence continued, I prayed to God that nothing would happen today.
* * *
Adrian was at a loss.
‘Her hand is so small.’
Fixating on something he had never once paid attention to before, Adrian had fallen into the position of a criminal surrounded and bound, held fast and waiting to hear his own charges.
‘I never thought the day would come when I’d be afraid of someone’s reaction.’
Arti’s gaze was fixed straight ahead.
For a moment he wished that gaze would turn toward him.
‘Even her profile is beautiful.’
Meanwhile, Arti was extremely tense under Adrian’s gaze.
‘What if he finds out I let Sir Essen go?’
He didn’t seem to know yet, but she was on edge, afraid that if their eyes met and they exchanged a few words, she would be found out.
‘If I’m found out, I’ll really die.’
Resolving never to be discovered, Arti shrank into herself.
Adrian frowned, wondering whether she did even that small thing because she disliked him, and soon they arrived at Florence Palace, the site of the party.
“The future of great Appennino, Crown Prince Adrian, and his partner for the evening, the Crown Princess-to-be, Lady Artienne of the House of Obiedo!”
At the herald’s cry, one she had heard once before, they walked into the open party hall.
‘And they called this a casual party.’
The small hall, decorated with foreign ornaments she had never seen, was magnificent at a mere glance.
It was certainly not as large as the Empress’s birthday party, but Arti couldn’t understand the people of the palace who called this a light, small party.
“Hohoho. Welcome, welcome. Eat plenty and enjoy yourselves to your heart’s content before you go.”
For once, Madam Lucy stood at Empress Ludmila’s side.
They had said the two were close, and it was true.
“Please speak freely, Your Majesty.”
“Shall I? Then why don’t you call me Mother, too, Miss Arti?”
“Mother, you’re being tactless!”
Beside them, Princess Marie openly stiffened and frowned.
“What era do you think this is, trying to have a daughter-like daughter-in-law? A daughter-in-law is a daughter-in-law. These days, the trend is to treat her as one.”
“Oh my, is that so? Still, it feels a bit stiff, and I’m a little sad.”
“Sister-in-law, say something too. Honesty is best, whatever the case.”
Both pairs of eyes fixed on Arti side by side.
With violet eyes and red eyes turning on her at once, Arti trembled under the unfathomable pressure.
“……I-I don’t mind, really.”
Princess Marie scowled and Empress Ludmila was about to cheer when.
“That’s enough.”
Crown Prince Adrian, who had said nothing all this while, abruptly took hold of Arti’s shoulder and pulled her to him as if to shield and protect her.
