Accidentally Formed a Reverse Harem in the Apocalypse Chapter 49 - The Second Prince Cast Out

‘Huh?’

Who is that?

I blinked when I saw the handsome man with a neat, tall appearance.

‘If someone that good-looking existed, there’s no way he wouldn’t have been mentioned in the original story.’

Let’s see… who was he again?

On top of that, he perfectly matched my type—the classic Northern Grand Duke vibe—so my fan heart was pounding.

Black hair. Red eyes. A cold attitude that made it feel like an icy wind would blow just from standing near him.

His eyes didn’t have double eyelids, but they were large and striking. His nose bridge was sharp, like it had been carved by a sculptor with utmost care. His lips were moderately full, and he was tall and long-limbed.

And above all, beneath the jet-black uniform fastened with silver buttons, his broad shoulders and well-defined, lean muscles were clearly visible, making me let out an impressed gasp.

Such a perfect combination of looks, height, and muscular build!

‘Wow… a perfect trinity.’

But did a character dressed like that really appear in novel?

‘My memory’s fuzzy… but wasn’t there someone like this? I’m sure there was…?’

I held my head and groaned, trying to remember. It was right on the edge of my memory.

“Um… excuse me, but who is that person?”

When I asked Jacqueline, she looked at the man I was pointing to and made a small sound of realization.

“Oh, you mean Grand Duke Whitewood.”

“…Grand Duke Whitewood?”

‘Oh!’

Only then did I realize—he was the Northern Grand Duke who was mentioned only in passing.

The younger brother of Louis Hainsworth, the male lead of novel—the Second Prince. He was exactly my type of Northern Grand Duke!

I could still clearly remember scanning the wedding hall at Siena’s wedding, looking around in boredom to see if the Grand Duke was there!

How could I have forgotten this?

‘A Grand Duke ranks just below the imperial family. And he’s the Second Prince, with looks like that—shouldn’t he at least be an important supporting character…?’

And yet, he was barely mentioned at all.

Elizabeth Keaton attended countless parties and salons as a social celebrity, yet she had somehow never known of Grand Duke Whitewood’s existence.

It was as if he’d been erased, like a ghost.

A chill ran down my spine, and pretending not to know anything, I whispered hurriedly to Jacqueline.

“I’ve honestly never heard that name before… how do you know him?”

Seeing my flustered expression, Jacqueline nodded slowly, as if it made sense.

“Ah. He’s my cousin.”

“Your cousin?”

“The Grand Duke Whitewood’s mother was my aunt. She passed away from illness not long after giving birth to him.”

“…I’m sorry. That was an insensitive question.”

When I apologized, Jacqueline waved her hand dismissively.

“It was a long time ago. More than twenty years have passed… my family and I have accepted it calmly by now.”

“I see.”

‘A cousin of the Celeste family…’

Indeed, Jacqueline Celeste and Grand Duke Whitewood looked quite alike.

Jacqueline’s glossy black hair, neatly brushed down—it was the same color as the Grand Duke’s.

Their eye colors were different—Jacqueline’s gold, the Grand Duke’s deep red—but if you looked closely, their eye shapes were similar.

But now that I knew who he was, my questions only grew.

‘He’s even Jacqueline Celeste’s cousin? With that insane face and physique, the title of Grand Duke, and connections to major characters in the original story—shouldn’t he be mentioned a lot?’

He was far too handsome to be classified as “Extra No. 1” with barely any presence.

When I kept sneaking glances at Grand Duke Whitewood, Jacqueline gave a bitter smile and continued speaking.

“It’s understandable that you’d find him curious, Duke Keaton. There’s almost no public information about him, so I understand your hesitation.”

“…Do you know the reason why, Lady Celeste?”

“Of course. It’s tied to our family’s history. After my aunt passed away and the young Second Prince was left alone and became a Grand Duke, the Highest Sun forbade any mention of him. That’s why there were no opportunities to speak of him.”

The Highest Sun.

That was the title used to refer to the Emperor of the Caladia Empire.

‘The Emperor… dislikes Grand Duke Whitewood?’

Had something like a blood feud happened between parent and child?

But throughout the original story, the Emperor was portrayed as a wise and kind ruler—and a gentle future father-in-law—so this only confused me more.

It was a story built entirely to pave a flower-filled path for Sienna. Even the imperial family, her future in-laws, adored her like their own precious child.

That was why hearing that the Emperor had practically erased Grand Duke Whitewood from society was so shocking.

Jacqueline glanced around, then added in a low voice near my ear,

“You’re a benefactor to the Celeste family, Duke Keaton, so I’ll tell you this specially.”

“…About Grand Duke Whitewood?”

“Yes. Well… seeing as several days have passed since all this happened and the Imperial Palace hasn’t taken any action, I believe the palace has fallen as well.”

‘Wow. That’s exactly right.’

As Jacqueline said, Unus District One, where the Imperial Palace was located, had already been completely ruined by zombies. I had seen it with my own eyes before fleeing to the temple.

Crown Prince Louis and Crown Princess Sienna had turned into zombies, and while I last saw the Emperor and Empress escaping, if they hadn’t figured out the barrier’s conditions in time, they would have either died or become zombies as well.

So, in reality, the Caladia Empire was no different from being in a state of anarchy. The direct imperial bloodline that once ruled had vanished overnight.

“Is telling me about Grand Duke Whitewood… close to an act of treason?”

“It’s not exactly treason, but it’s similar. If you’re caught talking about it, you’d receive a severe punishment—at least a month imprisoned in the underground dungeons of the Imperial Palace.”

“Oh… wow…”

That was insane.

It was basically a death sentence.

In the original story, there was a scene where the Crown Prince threatened Elizabeth Keaton after learning that she had nearly harmed Sienna.

“Dare to lay a hand on Sienna—do you want to die?”

“My heart has already been dying ever since Your Highness the Crown Prince refused to accept me.”

They say ignorance makes people brave. In the original, Elizabeth didn’t show even a hint of fear, even when the enraged Crown Prince raised his sword right up to her neck.

Instead, she acted arrogantly, as if daring him to go further, completely wrapped up in her own emotions.

Sick of that attitude, the Crown Prince said this:

“Ha… how ridiculous. So death alone isn’t enough for you, is it? Then how about this? I’ll throw you into the underground prison of the Imperial Palace on the charge that you tried to kill the Crown Princess-to-be.”

“…!”

“That pale face looks rather nice, Miss. Death doesn’t scare you, but becoming a prisoner locked in the underground dungeon does, doesn’t it?”

Most noble estates had underground holding cells, but the Imperial Palace’s dungeon was on a completely different level.

It was a place where serious criminals were relentlessly tortured without mercy until they confessed. Even if someone ever made it back out, they were usually left completely broken.

‘And that’s considered a punishment? Just for even opening your mouth about Grand Duke Whitewood?’

It was far too cruel.

It was basically a terrifying threat saying that anyone connected to Grand Duke Whitewood—or anyone who tried to be—would be destroyed.

‘So that’s why that beautiful man had to live as if he didn’t exist.’

No wonder he was never mentioned. He was basically a living human bomb.

When I looked at Grand Duke Whitewood with sympathy, Jacqueline hesitated for a moment, then shared more information.

“…This is something you must never repeat, but since you’re a benefactor to our Celeste family—and since that distant sun has already set—I’ll tell you.”

“Please, tell me anything.”

I was dying of curiosity.

While I was chatting with Jacqueline, Ruth was chanting a spell and creating a long bridge in midair.

『Bridge to cross, rise up.』

A translucent silver-gray bridge appeared, starting from the Celeste estate.

It was wide enough for even a well-built adult man to cross comfortably, so it didn’t look like anyone would fall.

『Railing, rise up, so none may fall.』

Just in case, Ruth carefully added railings as well.

The stylish silver-gray bridge grew in an instant, like bean sprouts shooting up.

“Graaah…?”

“Uuuh…?”

“Grr… aaah…”

As the unfamiliar silver-gray bridge formed in the air, the zombies—though unable to see it clearly—sensed something strange and began to look around with grotesque expressions.

“Grruuaah…?”

『Shadows, please cover this bridge and those crossing it for a while.』

Thanks to Ruth immediately casting a concealment spell over the bridge, the zombies only tilted their heads in confusion before losing interest and turning away.

“What are you doing, Duchess?! You told everyone to hurry up!”

Seeing me standing close to Jacqueline instead of moving, Ruth scolded me impatiently.

“J-just a moment! Ruth! I’m talking with Lady Jacqueline Celeste for a bit!”

“What could be so important? Tsk. Maintaining this bridge consumes magic the entire time. Hurry up!”

Originally, the plan had been to weave our way through the zombies on foot, like we did in Duo Street…

But since the group had grown much larger than expected, there was a high risk of colliding with zombies. So instead, Ruth was forced to create an aerial bridge, and we changed plans to head across it to the secret passage at Angel’s Breath.

The total number of people in our group now was a whopping sixty-six.

With so many people, crossing would take time, and the load on the bridge was heavy—meaning the magic consumption was enormous.

If we didn’t hurry, Ruth’s mana could run out, and the bridge might disappear.

“O-okay! Let’s split into groups and move out, starting with Ruth!”

“I’ll guide them.”

“Do that! I’ll follow shortly!”

“…Then I’ll cover the rear.”

“Sounds good!”

Once I gave the order to move, Ruth—who had created the bridge—took the lead, Michael handled guidance, and Benedict took charge of rear support.

About ten people started crossing the bridge with Ruth first.

“Eek! It’s so high!”

“I-if we fall, we’ll either become zombie food or die from the impact.”

“I-I’m bad with heights…”

They bravely stepped onto the bridge, but since it had been created fairly high to keep zombies from reaching it, people swallowed hard as they crossed.

Standing at the very front, maintaining the bridge, Ruth shouted sharply at them,

“Hurry up and move! Don’t look down! We don’t have time to waste! If you don’t move before this bridge drains all my mana, you’ll die by my hands first!”

Whether it was the strain of large-scale magic or just his bad personality, no one knew.

But when Ruth glared and issued his terrifying warning, the hesitating people immediately ran forward, like they were being chased by a tiger.

“Keep order. Move in a single line.”

At Michael’s voice, everyone moved with perfect discipline.

‘He’s good…’

While waiting my turn to cross, I ended up grouped with Jacqueline and asked quietly,

“So… what were you going to tell me about Grand Duke Whitewood?”

Jacqueline whispered softly in response.

“Grand Duke Whitewood is the Second Prince who was exiled from the Imperial Palace because of the Crown Prince.”

…Excuse me?