If You Take the Enemy Prince as Your Knight Chapter 149

A fact I had somehow forgotten suddenly came back to me. Right now, there were only Dominic and me in the room. This wasn’t the imperial palace, but a lord’s castle occupied by troops who obeyed Dominic’s orders. I had made a mistake. I should never have provoked Dominic.

 

At that moment, Dominic let out a hollow laugh and placed one hand against the wall behind me. Startled, I almost choked on my breath.

 

“Yes. You did very well.”

 

“…”

 

“I wanted to be used solely by Your Highness without dragging anyone else into it, but since that’s a minor detail, I’ll let it slide.”

 

If he truly thought it was a minor detail, his eyes wouldn’t be gleaming as intensely as they were right now.

 

“Since you’re already using me, why not use me a bit more? Are you really satisfied with just this much? It seems like you’re using me far too inefficiently.”

 

“Not really. I don’t want to anymore.”

 

“Why? Think about it carefully. I’m quite useful, so if Your Highness makes proper use of me, you can accomplish so much more. Using me is very easy too. After all, I’m an easy man for you.”

 

“…”

 

“After trying it yourself, you must know that.”

 

At his final words, the corners of my eyes trembled.

 

“Say something.”

 

“…”

 

“It seems you have nothing to say. Then I’ll keep talking. Shall I explain why I’m such an easy guy? I—”

 

I didn’t want to hear it. “Dominic.”

 

Honestly, it was infuriating. It wasn’t as if I had done something grand. All I did was grab his wrist for a moment, yet his act of playing on my guilt as if he had suffered immense harm was utterly brazen. I wanted to point out coldly to shut him up. But the words that actually came out of my mouth were entirely different.

 

“You have never been easy for me.”

 

This was all because I had seen Dominic rummaging through that pile of stones during the day. I should never have seen it.

 

As if our growling at each other a moment ago had been a lie, Dominic stared blankly at me.

 

I swallowed a sigh and began to speak. An honest conversation, the sort I normally would never have with Dominic. “No matter how much goodwill you show me, the fact remains that you are a fickle and unpredictable man of power.”

 

Naturally, it wasn’t a story Dominic would like to hear.

 

“Using you means relying on the favor of a powerful man like yourself. Human feelings can change at any moment, so I can’t make such a foolish gamble.”

 

“Don’t conclude that my feelings will change. You don’t know that for sure.”

 

“That’s why I said it. It’s a gamble.”

 

“…”

 

I turned my head away from his stiff expression and looked at the arm he had braced against the wall. “Even the price of losing that gamble is terribly devastating. Look at this. Even now, when you don’t possess me, you treat me so recklessly. How much worse would it be after you have me?”

 

Dominic flinched, but he didn’t change his posture. His arm seemed to tense, trembling in small spasms before finally becoming still.

 

“Please cut me some slack. If I weren’t holding onto the wall right now, I feel like I’d grab you instead.”

 

“Right, I suppose this passes as consideration from you.”

 

“…” Dominic ground his teeth.

 

“They’re all just excuses. You’ve already decided on the answer and are forcing reasons to fit it.”

 

“Perhaps.”

 

“…”

 

Since he seemed to already know the answer, there was no need to beat around the bush.

 

“You are not my type. I prefer someone who respects me as a human being before seeing me as a woman.” And you aren’t that person.

 

It seemed I had been far too honest. As if the atmosphere that had briefly loosened was rebounding, Dominic glared with his crimson eyes more fiercely than ever. The arm propped against the wall trembled harder and more unsteady than earlier. His chest, blocking my view, rose and fell roughly in repeated breaths.

 

Sensing the air growing increasingly dangerous, I tensed up. Men tend to turn vicious when they are rejected. And Dominic had already been vicious to begin with, so I had no idea what he might do.

 

He took his hand off the wall and stood up straight. Simply straightening his upper body made the oppressive difference in our physiques even more pronounced. Just when I thought he might actually strangle me this time, a knock sounded. A familiar voice came through the door.

 

“Your Highness, it’s me. May I come in?”

 

“…!”

 

It was Regen.

 

“Re— ugh!” I turned my head in delight, but suddenly a firm hand seized my chin. My face was forcibly fixed toward Dominic. How dare he…! My humiliation overcame my fear. Despite the murderous gleam in his crimson eyes, I glared straight back at the owner of that insolent hand. “Let go.”

 

“So you chose that b*stard? Do you think he’ll be any different? Respect? What a joke. His intentions are just as insidious.”

 

“I said let go.”

 

“Yes. I’ll let you go. But in return, put up with this much spitefulness.” Dominic’s thumb swept sideways across my lower lip, pressing down on it. Then he pulled away.

 

Was that it? What had he done? Contrary to how I had braced myself for the worst, it ended so easily that I was left bewildered. Meanwhile, Dominic abruptly turned around and moved away from me.

 

“Your Highness, I’m coming in.” Regen’s voice sounded anxious, as though he had sensed something.

 

At that moment, Dominic flung the door open first.

 

“…”

 

“…”

 

The two men faced each other, blocking one another’s way with the doorframe between them. After a moment, Dominic spoke first with a sly grin. “Yo, Sir Regen. Did you come to see Her Highness?”

 

“Yes. Move aside.”

 

“Yeah. I will. Her Highness gave me a reward, so I’m in a good mood right now.”

 

A reward? What was he talking about?

 

“Well, I’ll be off.”

 

Before I had a chance to question him, Dominic disappeared into the corridor. Only after seeing Regen enter the room did the tension that had filled me to the tips of my hair finally release.

 

“Regen, you’re back…” Overcome by weakness, I nearly lost my balance.

 

Regen crossed the room in long strides and came straight to me. “Sasha, are you okay?” He supported me and led me to the bed.

 

Unlike Dominic, Regen had come after drying himself off, and the warmth filling his arms made me feel at ease. Thanks to that, my heart, which had been pounding from tension, quickly calmed down. I lifted my head, intending to tell him I was fine. But Regen, whose eyes met mine, flinched violently.

 

“Regen?”

 

“…”

 

What was wrong? Regen’s reaction was strange.

 

“Um, Regen?”

 

“…Yes.”

 

Only after I called him a second time did he answer. Yet the golden eyes looking at me still seemed to tremble.

 

For the moment, I gestured toward the space beside me. “I was waiting for you. Sit here.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“It was hard today, wasn’t it? It even rained halfway through.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“You aren’t hurt anywhere?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Regen, are you even listening to me?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“…”

 

“…”

 

By this point, he should have come to his senses, but he merely stared at my face with an absent yet persistent gaze. Then I suddenly realized that the place where his gaze was fixed was my lips.

 

In a subdued voice, Regen asked, “Did Dominic do that?”

 

“Pardon?”

 

There happened to be a mirror on the bedside table. Reflected in it, my lipstick had been smeared from my lips all the way toward my cheek. Apparently, Regen had fallen for Dominic’s little trick.

 

Regen pressed me for an answer. “Did he force himself on you?”

 

“N-No.”

 

Flustered, I denied it. But the light in Regen’s eyes dimmed. He seemed to take my denial as referring to the ‘force’ part.

 

Feeling a bit out of my mind, I even raised my voice, which was unlike me. “Nothing happened! Dominic just did this to create a misunderstanding!”

 

“…”

 

Regen looked confused. He believed my words, but the sight before his eyes was so explicit and provocative that he seemed to be experiencing cognitive dissonance.

 

Realizing this wouldn’t do, I stopped frantically wiping my cheek. Instead, I grabbed both his cheeks and kissed him. After rubbing my lips against his hard enough to smear them together, I pulled away and held the mirror up in front of his face. “Here, look. Earlier, Dominic didn’t have marks like this on his lips, did he?”

 

“…Ah.”

 

Only now did the innocence of my lips, which belonged only to Regen, finally get through to him. Now that he seemed to have come to his senses, I thought I could allow myself to whine a little.

 

“That was too much. How could you imagine something so absu—”

 

Before I could finish speaking, a hot hand seized my shoulder. My body, pulled without resistance, sank deeply into his embrace. It was certainly me who had been embraced by him, yet somehow I felt as though he were the one clinging to me.

 

“I’m sorry. Today, I was a bit—”

      

“I know.”

 

He was someone who had just returned after accomplishing revenge that was practically his life’s mission. Whether emotionally or mentally, Regen was bound to be unstable. Actually, I had sensed it from the moment he opened the door and entered. Unlike Dominic, Regen had come after drying himself off. Yet I thought traces of dampness remained around his eyes and cheeks.

 

I gently stroked his back. “It must have been hard. You’ve worked so hard.”

 

“…”

 

Through our pressed bodies, I could feel him taking a deep breath. It seemed like he was suppressing overwhelming emotions. Just as I began to worry that he might be crying, his composed, low-pitched voice sounded beside my ear.

 

“Sasha is what keeps me alive.”

 

“…”

 

“Because Sasha is here, I’m able to come back.”