TPSR 04

Chapter 04

When I opened my eyes again, the sun was already tilting toward the west.

Mia, who had remained by my side, stopped me from getting up in a hurry and stubbornly made me eat and take my medicine.

She even scolded me sternly at my displeased expression. “Adolescents and patients must eat!”

Thanks to that, by the time I stepped out of the room to meet Carlos, it was already full evening.

Knock, knock.

When I opened the door to the study, I saw Carlos lift his head indifferently.

“Am I disturbing you?”

“I’m glad you’re aware of that.”

Cold wind indeed.

I had thought he might have softened a little since he gave me a guest room.

Then again, even I wouldn’t speak kindly to someone who had threatened my life.

“I’ll skip unnecessary courtesies.”

Carlos removed his glasses and gestured with his chin toward the chair opposite him.

“…You didn’t throw me out.”

“Regrettably.”

He replied dryly, lowering his gaze.

On the desk lay the dark crimson mineral I had given him.

Under bright light, it was clearly different from ordinary purified stones—vivid, deep, disturbingly red.

If the purified stones distributed by the imperial family were made by mixing my blood with minerals, then this one was condensed blood itself.

It had been my final safeguard, hidden even from the emperor, prepared for the day the imperial family might abandon me.

And now I’m showing it to the imperial family’s greatest enemy instead of the emperor or his administrators.

It felt strange.

Suddenly, Carlos’s voice fell from above me.

“Where did you get it?”

“Does the source matter?”

“What matters is your scheme.”

“To ask about schemes—haven’t you already seen the effect these past two days?”

Carlos’s brow narrowed.

It was true.

Seeing him again after two full days, his complexion had noticeably improved.

His sharp, sensitive features remained the same, but the dark shadows beneath his eyes had clearly lightened.

I took a tense breath.

Calmly. Just explain it.

I spoke the words I had rehearsed dozens of times on my way here.

“I heard you recently paid a massive price to buy up all the purified stones circulating in the market.”

“Are you asking because you don’t know why?”

“I’m asking because I know.”

Because that was all the emperor’s intention.

The imperial family deliberately released only a small quantity of purified stones—just enough to keep magic users from dying—so they would constantly struggle for them.

They competed and fought among themselves, never daring to rebel against the throne.

Among them, the House of Carter was the primary target.

“The price of purified stones will keep rising, and the available supply will shrink. The imperial family is making it that way. No matter how vast your wealth is, how long do you think you can endure?”

After letting the words settle on my tongue, I continued.

“In the end, you’ll either kneel obediently to the emperor or choose death.”

In truth, I already knew the outcome.

In the past, Carlos Carter chose to endure his rampaging magic rather than bow to the imperial family—and died neither fully human nor beast.

I could still vividly recall how delighted the emperor had been upon hearing of his death.

Meanwhile, Carlos, who had been listening with one hand pressed to his temple, let out a faint scoff.

“…I wondered what absurd trick you were playing this time.”

He rose from his seat and slowly approached me. His half-lowered crimson eyes swept over me coldly.

“Have people praising you as the greatest villain of the age made you lose your fear? Or is your life so dull that you want to gamble it with a stunt like this?”

In an instant, he was right in front of me. He grabbed my chin firmly with one hand. I felt the bones creak under the pressure.

“Do you think killing you here would be such a big matter?”

He smiled crookedly.

“You seem to have forgotten. This is the ducal territory. Even the imperial army cannot stir freely here. It’s extraterritorial.”

There was no hesitation in his murderous tone.

The same suffocating killing intent from two days ago pressed down on me.

“I could tear you apart right here and have the soldiers outside throw you to wild beasts.”

My mouth went dry as I clenched my fists.

Under the crushing pressure on my shoulders, my body trembled.

Carlos truly was the kind of man who would carry out his words without hesitation. I knew that better than anyone.

“Pathetic.”

After staring at me from close range, Carlos clicked his tongue and released my chin.

A numb ache lingered deep in my bones.

“Go back. You won’t need an escort.”

His attitude suggested he would overlook this as nothing more than a childish prank from a young princess.

But I did not move.

If I intended to give up so easily, I would never have risked my life to come here.

“I’m the only one who knows.”

Carlos, who had been turning back toward his desk, stopped and angled his body slightly.

Taking a trembling breath, I spoke clearly.

“Not the imperial family, not their close aides— not even His Majesty the Emperor knows this mineral exists.”

Carlos’s eyes narrowed.

“I can give it to you.”

“……”

“As much as you want. All of it.”

At my final words, his previously dry expression shifted subtly.

I seized the moment and added quickly,

“I told you—I came to make a deal.”

The ducal territory. Exterritorial rights.

That was precisely what I had aimed for when coming here.

“In return, I want the Grand Duke to become my guardian.”

The moment the words left my mouth, the study turned cold.

Carlos frowned as if he hadn’t understood at first, then let out a hollow laugh. A clear sneer.

“…Guardian? You’ve lost your mind.”

“I wouldn’t have come this far if I weren’t in my right mind.”

Guardianship.

The only way an underage noble girl could change her protector.

A guardian was obligated to protect the ward, and once the guardianship was established, even blood relatives could not take the ward away without consent.

It was typically used when a young noblewoman was betrothed or when something happened to one side of her family.

For now, it was the best—and only—means to protect me.

“Just four years. Until I reach adulthood.”

If the ducal territory’s extraterritorial rights overlapped with a formal guardianship, even the emperor would not be able to touch me.

And once I came of age, I planned to hand over all the purified stones I could produce to Carlos—and then disappear.

That is, if he accepts the offer in exchange for the crimson purified stones.

I gripped my not-yet-healed left arm.

If one stone was not enough to sway him, I was willing to offer ten, twenty.

A few drops of blood.

Compared to the price of my life, it was trivial.

Carlos stared intently at Princess Lorea Friese.

She’s trembling.

The young devil of the imperial family.

A violent villainess.

That was the rumor Carlos had heard of Princess Lorea— that from the age of ten, she had killed anything that displeased her.

The half-blooded princess’s mere existence irritated him.

Her crimson eyes, which did not resemble the emperor’s line, and her silver-white hair falling like threads of silk—they reminded him of the most painful person he had lost.

Watching her commit cruelty with a face so similar to his own painful memories twisted his insides.

So when the princess first stepped into his estate, he had intended to kill her without leaving trouble behind and send only her head back to the imperial family.

But something was strange.

Contrary to her fearsome reputation, the princess before him was frightened.

Though she tried to hide it with boldness, her small, round shoulders trembled visibly.

She’s thirteen, was it?

Certainly bold for her age—but only to that extent.

The princess before him was young, small, fragile—so much so that he couldn’t understand how she had dared to come here.

And above all, those eyes.

The moment he looked into her crimson eyes, Carlos felt an indescribable, strange sensation.

“……”

Even now.

He suddenly recalled the conversation he had had with Mia earlier that afternoon, in the room where the princess slept.

“She just fell asleep again. But….”