Chapter – 31
Six years ago, there was a hunting picnic attended by the Crown Prince and his five closest aides. At that gathering, the Crown Prince suddenly fell off a cliff—and to this day, he has never returned.
And the one who benefited the most from that disappearance was Hiton.
Could it be that the incident had been orchestrated by the Crown Prince’s aides, who were secretly backing Hiton?
But there was no evidence at all. Hiton hadn’t even been present at the scene.
“Anyway, Orca has gone mad and keeps insisting that His Highness the Crown Prince has returned…”
Joshua spoke with a dark expression.
“I heard Prince Hiton summoned Orca after a long time. He said if there’s any clue, he’ll do his best to find it.”
I said nothing.
In any case, the situation had changed greatly from the original story. And if it was a future related to the Crown Prince that I had altered…
In the end, there was only that letter.
‘Or is he just letting me know he’s alive like this? That’s pretty violent, isn’t it? He could’ve just sent a reply…’
I searched my memories.
“…How did this happen?”
“I was betrayed. That’s all.”
“What are you going to do…?”
“I survived. So I’ll take revenge. Don’t worry too much.”
Even I wouldn’t have killed Orca.
Instead, I would have driven him mad like this—so the rest would be consumed by fear. If the Crown Prince really returned after six years, everyone involved must feel like they’ve been struck by lightning out of nowhere.
‘It was my plan from the start to push that revenge forward, but to think it would accelerate this much with just a simple message…’
Anyway, even in the original story, it was never explained why the Crown Prince didn’t reveal himself openly right away and instead began this kind of secret, brutal revenge.
‘If Ppi-yak brings back a reply, I might be able to infer more.’
I decided not to tell my family about this. Anything involving the imperial family was dangerous. Just like that boy had once warned me—never get entangled with him—it was better not to speak of this until things became certain.
As I was lost in thought, Joshua spoke.
“Anyway, it has nothing to do with us.”
No, it has a lot to do with us…
Joshua took a sip of tea and added sarcastically,
“At least Prince Hiton won’t be paying attention to Prellai now. Do you think he has the time to care about your marriage with Rodrigo?”
“Ah.”
I blinked.
“That’s already resolved anyway.”
“How?”
“I have a lover now. So we can just say a political marriage can’t be forced anymore.”
“Pfft!”
“Cough—!”
Grandfather and Joshua both spat out their tea at the same time and shouted,
“What? A lover? Who? Which damned bastard—!”
“Don’t tell me… Avian Licinis?”
When Joshua said Avian’s name, I was genuinely startled.
“…Why is his name coming up?”
“I heard that guy was hitting on you at the clubhouse. Is he blind or something?”
No, even if we’re family and insult each other, it’s not like he’d have to be blind to like me. Just as I was about to protest—
Joshua added darkly,
“Then if his eyes are useless, I should just gouge them out.”
At that, Grandfather slammed the table.
“What? That well-mannered, model student brat is bothering our reckless Kiana? Damn it!”
Something about that sounded a bit off… but anyway, I quickly waved my hands.
“He wasn’t bothering me, he was just thanking me, Grandfather. I caught a wanted criminal for him. And Avian is the captain of the guard—he can’t marry anyway.”
“He can just quit being the captain.”
Joshua smirked and shrugged.
“He’s already caught the fugitive he was chasing. What reason does he have to keep the position?”
“…That’s true?”
Now that I thought about it, that made sense.
“Well…”
Joshua narrowed his eyes.
“Avian Licinis… is still better than that vile Rodrigo. He’s unnecessarily upright and quite naive. But still…”
“The Licinis ducal family isn’t even comparable to the Purves ducal family. And their second son has been soft-hearted since he was young. Still…”
Grandfather muttered reluctantly.
I scratched my chin.
“Yeah, he did seem like that. So upright and kind—just being near him made him seem like an easy target. He reminded me of Melissa. I didn’t like it.”
No matter what they said, Avian Licinis wasn’t someone I was interested in.
I sighed.
“Anyway, my lover is definitely not Avian. It’s actually Marquis Cesare Levin.”
“…Ah.”
Joshua responded indifferently, leaning back against the sofa. He didn’t seem very interested. As Grandfather tilted his head and repeated, “Marquis Cesare Levin?” Joshua spoke as if relieved.
“That’s fine. Just a cover, right? That’s why you were looking for him yesterday and even went to his house.”
“…Huh? Why did you come to that conclusion?”
“Why would you seriously date some delinquent who hangs around clubhouse bars?”
I couldn’t argue with that.
Grandfather brightened and set down his teacup.
“Oh, a delinquent? Kiana may be a bit strange, but she’s not stupid enough to seriously date someone like that. So it’s just a cover?”
In the end, I nodded.
“Yes. I’ll break it off at the right time. Honestly, it’s a fake relationship for appearances.”
Joshua shrugged.
“Good. It’s perfect for deceiving others for a while. As long as you two don’t actually fall for each other, you chose well.”
“Getting praised by you for choosing Cesare?”
“First, he’s from commoner origins, so when you want to end it, he won’t cling.”
Joshua counted on his fingers.
“Second, even if he does cling, he’s just a marquis from the outskirts—Grandfather can easily suppress him with power.”
“I see.”
“Third, he has no unnecessary ties to the imperial family, so he won’t get messy like Rodrigo.”
So in the end, even though he held the title of marquis, his weak background made him easy to use.
Wow, I’m smarter than I thought?
Grandfather also looked at me with satisfaction, as if thinking, Ah, I see…
Honestly, I hadn’t thought that deeply about it, but after hearing Joshua, it did sound convincing.
Joshua rolled his eyes and asked,
“But let’s confirm one thing. You didn’t say something like ‘this is just a contract, I’ll never love you,’ right?”
“I didn’t say anything like that.”
There was no way I’d say that when I was actually thinking that if things went well, it could turn into a real relationship.
“What about saying you’d step aside if he finds someone else, or that you’d break up cleanly after a year?”
“Of course not. There’s no such thing as ‘clean’ in my life. I won’t let go until I don’t need him anymore.”
“Good.”
Joshua smiled, clearly comparing it to the romance novels he’d read.
“Then there’s no chance of some epic love story happening. Should I write an article about it in Lorelei?”
“Just mention it briefly. No need for a big headline.”
I answered while thinking.
“Like you said, if the Crown Prince suddenly appeared, Prince Hiton won’t have time to care about me and Rodrigo.”
Wait… now that I think about it.
Maybe I didn’t need to rush into pretending to date Cesare yesterday.
If I had known the Crown Prince would suddenly appear and cause this chaos…
‘I thought the pressure would start immediately…’
But from what I heard, Hiton didn’t have the time to care about someone like me.
The marriage between Rodrigo and me would likely just fade away.
Well… it worked out anyway. I had secured a deal for the secret research lab, so it wasn’t a loss.
Judging by it, both Grandfather and Joshua were ready to completely eliminate coffee, stimulants, and stomach medicine from the ducal house.
And I had even promised Cesare I wouldn’t back out.
Stretching casually, I said,
“Anyway, the imperial banquet is coming soon. There’ll be plenty of chances to reveal it publicly.”
Just then—
Knock knock.
The butler rushed in with a shocked expression.
“Your Grace!”
It was the first time since I came to the capital that I had seen him so alarmed. Even Grandfather frowned.
“What is it?”
“It’s an urgent message.”
The butler continued:
“His Majesty the Emperor has awakened… and is on his way to the Prellai residence right now.”
