Chapter 10

"That, that's because… you're too."

"Too?"

"Too handsome!"

Adelin, unable to maintain her gaze on the duke, let her eyes fall and spoke a truth far from her real feelings.

"It's been a long time since you've cut your hair like this. Plus, look in the mirror. Isn't Mel's face extraordinary? It's natural for me to be this nervous."

Once a lie is set in motion, it rolls out easily.

Today, as always, Adelin began to coax the duke with her wit.

However, looking up slyly, the duke was squinting his eyes, arms crossed.

"You say we've been together for quite a while, yet you avoid my eyes for such reasons?"

"That's… I'm just suddenly nervous."

Of course, it was a different kind of nervousness, but wasn't it still a form of nervousness?

"Then."

As if satisfied with her answer, a slight smile appeared on his lips.

The duke uncrossed his arms and strode towards Adelin, then swiftly wrapped his arms around her slender waist.

"If you don't dislike me, then we can sleep together tonight, right?"

"What, what?!"

Adelin was so startled that her voice trembled, unaware.

But the duke, more composed than ever, smiled and led her towards the bed.

"Uh… Mel? Even so, to sleep in the same bed…"

Adelin blinked rapidly, unable to lie down on the bed.

The duke, leaning back against the headboard of the bed, said,

"It's a perfectly natural thing, isn't it? Given our relationship."

Gone was his shy demeanor from when he first awoke, replaced by this sly man.

Only during nightmares would she stay by his side. Now a grown man proposes to share a bed.

And what kind of relationship is so natural for sharing a bed?!

Surely he doesn't see her as a motherly figure after losing his memory?

Adelin narrowed her eyes at him and then shook her head.

She was about to speak to persuade the duke.

"What are you talking about?"

He asked, not understanding her point.

"So, I mean… us sharing a bed is…"

As Adelin's response trailed off, the duke cut her off and asked,

"Fate, isn't it? We are too important to each other, right?"

"…Yes?"

After all, they needed to save each other's lives.

"I'm the only one for you, right?"

"Right."

For now, the Duke of Thorpeo was the only man who could save her life.

Adelin nodded in agreement.

"Indispensable to each other, and living under the same roof. That's what married couples do, right?"

"Married?"

Adelin suddenly snapped back to reality.

Married? What was this man imagining?

"Isn't that so? If not, what exactly are we?"

The duke looked at her with a serious gaze.

Adelin, startled, opened her mouth wide. As she regained her composure, she realized her vague words had been interpreted this way by him.

To explain, she needed an astonishing excuse to surpass his imagination.

Moreover, his misunderstanding wasn't all bad for living together.

"Well, yes. Not married, but… lovers!"

Faced with the crisis of becoming a married woman, Adelin hastily claimed they were lovers.

Even so, the gap to become a married couple was too big.

If the duke's memory suddenly returned, she dreaded the consequences.

But her trembling in anxiety was brief. Somehow, it would work out.

Adelin resolved to treat the duke better for the day his memory would return.

That way, he might pity her and spare her life.

While Adelin was secretly harboring dark thoughts and planning step by step,

"There's only one bedroom here. How did we used to live?"

Adelin's heart sank at the duke's sharp question.

"Of… of course, we shared it! You were sick, so I slept on the sofa to let you rest comfortably."

"I'm not sick anymore. And how can I let my lover sleep on the sofa? Come here."

Adelin secretly swallowed a sigh at his urging and reluctantly approached the bed.

Seemingly, she had to engage in a honeymoon-like experience with the handsome, amnesiac duke as part of her ruse to be lovers.

'Being lovers with that handsome face isn't so bad.'

That way, even if his memory returns, he wouldn't hurt her right away.

Lying on the bed, Adelin felt unfamiliar with the situation and lay straight, tightly closing her eyes.

As the duke's hand intertwined with hers and his piercing gaze fell on her, she felt the heat on her skin.

"But are we before the marriage contract? Usually, living under the same roof like this means being married, not lovers. Why are we still just lovers?"

The duke continued his relentless questioning, leaving Adelin flustered.

She hadn't thought that far, only that being lovers would bring less guilt if his memory returned.

Unable to come up with a clever answer, Adelin decided to sidestep the question.

"Ah. I was planning to submit it to the temple, but then you fell ill… Yawn."

Despite being fully awake from the duke's interrogation, she feigned tiredness with a fake yawn.

One lie needed another to cover it up.

She disliked her growing guilt towards him for continuously lying, even if it was to avert immediate danger.

Therefore, she began to act sleepy, wanting to avoid his questions.

"Mel. I'm so sleepy. Goodnight."

Deciding to pretend to sleep and ignore the situation, Adelin let the silence and the sound of rain outside be her lullaby.

She counted the falling raindrops until she fell asleep.

Elsewhere, someone else was unable to sleep.

Light seeped through the cracks of the office door of the Crown Prince.

Crash!

The Crown Prince, Trasis, was furiously throwing everything in sight at a man standing before him.

The office floor was a mess, littered with objects he had thrown.

Kneeling on the floor, the man's forehead bled from a vase hit, yet he only repeated his apologies.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness. He must have died after falling off the cliff."

"Died? You couldn't even find a body? Are you telling me this, really?"

"I'm sorry."

The man prostrated himself before the prince.

Enraged, the prince was at his limit. Who was the Duke of Thorpeo, after all? He had always been a thorn in the prince's side.

'The red eyes, a symbol of the descendants of Goddess Helena.'

The Solterius Empire's royal family had always had someone with red eyes in every generation.

And that person with red eyes always ascended the throne.

This generation's red-eyed heir was none other than Crown Prince Trasis Solterius, who also had the same black hair as Goddess Helena.

He was born to be the next emperor.

Until the day a child with black hair and red eyes was born in the Thorpeo family.

Ever since he was a prince, he had to endure whispers when he stood alongside Cassius.

"Doesn't the Highness's hair look brownish next to the prince? It doesn't stand out at all."

"Look at the eyes of Duke Thorpeo. Isn't it obvious to anyone that the duke has distinct red eyes?"

Compared to Cassius's pitch-black hair, the crown prince's black hair seemed faded, and his eyes lacked that same intensity.

He felt filthy when compared, but that was it.

After all, he was the only true heir of the royal bloodline.

That was until one night when the emperor suddenly collapsed.

"Prince, you must obtain the duke's hair. It's the only way to ascend to the throne."

"…"

"It's the only way."

That night, the empress quietly called the crown prince and revealed a secret.

Upon learning this, the crown prince resolved to eliminate the bothersome duke.

The day they went hunting together, the duke was supposed to return as a cold corpse, mistakenly hit by a poisoned arrow meant for a bear.

But this fool in front of him had messed it up.

The prince had even administered a potent sleeping potion.

He returned to the palace without the duke's body.

At the central council the next day, it was announced that the duke had secretly been sent on an expedition. No one dared contradict the prince's words.

But this excuse wouldn't last long. The prince needed to find the duke's body soon.

Even if he was alive, he had to be killed again.

Unable to contain his rising anger, the prince unsheathed his sword and stabbed the man's thigh before him, twisting it.

Unfazed by the blood splattering on his face, the prince coldly commanded.

"Find the body now. If you return empty-handed again, those useless hands will be gone."

After tossing the bloodied sword aside, the prince stormed out of the office.

The palace was often stained with blood due to the prince's furious nature.

Yet, the servant guarding the door still shuddered with fear, unaccustomed to the terror.

When the prince was in such a frenzy, one mustn't meet his eyes, lest the blade turns towards oneself.

As Trasis passed the bowed servant, something suddenly came to his mind, halting his steps.

He turned back and approached the servant closely, asking,

"Ah, right. What happened to the proposal sent to the House of Credion?"

The pouring rain added a more ominous atmosphere.

Lightning and thunder brightly illuminated the corridor's windows.

The flashes lit the prince's figure, his murky eyes glittering threateningly.

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This novel has been translated up to chapter 35.

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