Author: Nikss

 

He didn’t physically catch me, but judging from the momentum, he didn’t seem to let me go unless I answered him.

 

‘Go over it already. Why are you making me tire helplessly?’

 

I forcibly held the tail of my mouth trying to smile.

 

Actually, I understood. Anyone who had some sense would of course have doubts about the appearance of the Crown Prince so different on the outside and inside of the palace.

 

I pretended to be an aristocratic young lady who knew nothing so far, so it was right to behave normally here, but I was more inclined not to get involved anymore.

 

I’m in this situation right now because of useless curiosity.

 

I gave a shallow sigh and spoke frankly, “Everyone has one or two secrets, but I don’t want to be deeply involved in those secrets.”

 

“How come?”

 

“The responsibility of keeping secrets was heavy. Prince… I mean Diel, just because I know your secret, you can’t kill me just to shut me up. My life was the most precious to me.”

 

“That’s right.’’

 

That’s right. I wondered if it was right to say that the responsibility was heavy or if it was right to kill me to shut me up, but I didn’t think deeply about it.

 

Anyway, the conversation was over. I tried to relax and take a step, thinking that it was the end.

 

“Then goodbye… ’’

 

”Boss! I searched the path that the woman told me about, but there was nothing similar, let alone a water bottle.”

 

An uninvited guest appeared, destroying my hopes. The person with a loud voice was the man who went to find the water bottle earlier.

 

He kept on saying what he had to say even if he couldn’t see me behind Grandiel.

 

”Shall we get the kids to look for more?’

 

“I want you to shut up for now.”

 

The long conversation barely ended with a period, and this guy ruined it.

 

For the first time, the smile disappeared on Grandiel’s face, which had been smiling all the time. It was cold because it was winter, but the temperature around him felt much colder because of his eyes.

 

‘Why! Why do you show up at this time!’

 

I wanted to hold the man by the collar, but I endured it. While I pledged to take revenge someday if I could survive here, I met the man who was looking into Grandiel’s eyes.

 

“That…”

 

“I would have said that it’s done.’’

 

The man who noticed my existence seemed to have tried to ask about me, but he couldn’t find anything and kept his mouth shut.

 

‘But why didn’t he call him Nepenthes?’

 

I decided to think positively. The man called the Crown Prince “Boss.” It was a title that anyone who doesn’t know the circumstances of the black world might think of him being the head of a group.

 

So, wouldn’t it be possible to get past this?

 

“I’ll get going then.”

 

I bid Grandiel farewell and tried to pass by naturally as if nothing had happened and I didn’t hear anything at all.

 

“Hmm, I’m in trouble. Now that you know the secret, do you want to die?”

 

Why was it questionable? If I say no, would you save me? It was unfair!

 

I desperately rolled my head and tried to get over it, but I’m dying here for real? I bit my lower lip.  I didn’t want to die. No, I shouldn’t die yet.

 

First of all, I crept back to distance myself from Grandiel. But I couldn’t take a few steps and my back touched the wall.

 

The only way out would be to beat Grandiel and that man then ran to the streets.

 

‘Should I go into the building? It looks wide, but if I could hide well… It’s like jumping into hell with my own feet.’

 

I also thought of making a deal with the bottle of holy water in my right hand or giving information that would happen in the future to attract his curiosity.

 

“Just kidding. How could I kill someone so easily?”

 

“What?”

 

”Lady Mayerie’s reaction was so funny, I just played a joke. I’m sorry.” Grandiel said with a sly smile.

 

At that moment, the anger I was holding back came up. I acted like a pushover deliberately, but this was too much.

 

Making a joke about someone else’s life, I couldn’t believe this. As I breathed in the air as hard as I could to shoot a word, I suddenly saw the man’s face behind him.

 

It was as if I saw the world falling apart. Suddenly, the anger that had filled up subsided. I forgot for a moment because of his sly smile, but he was Nepenthes.

 

He takes people’s lives as lightly as dust.

 

‘Even if I roll in a dog poop field, I’ll be treated like a fool.’

 

—’ You’re the first woman to slap me on the cheek! It was only for the heroine.’

 

If a jerk like him gets angry, my head and neck would be separated in an instant. It wasn’t a bad situation anyway.

 

Since my life was spared, it’s enough to say ‘thank you’ and I give up.

 

“But you can’t just return easily, so do you want to sign a contract with me?”

 

That’s right. He couldn’t let it go of me easily. But I didn’t have a choice.

 

“What kind of contract?”

 

“It’s a confidentiality contract. You’re not going anywhere and tell my secret.”

 

Grandiel’s smiling face was as beautiful as an angel, but the words he spoke were enough to make a devil cry.

 

 

Grandiel took a light step and headed for the Imperial Palace.

 

It wasn’t a skill he had done a day or two to hide his appearance and move across the city wall to the palace of the Crown Prince Palace.

 

“Welcome back you Highness.”

 

When he returned to the bedroom through the window on the second floor, he was greeted by his exclusive attendant Sedum.

 

Sedum wasn’t an ordinary attendant. A person who assists Grandiel in devouring the world behind him and enables Grandiel to live a double life.

 

He was the actual right-hand man. Sedum changed Grandiel’s clothes with natural hand movements.

 

Finally, when he removed his left earring, his hair color and eye color returned to their original color.

 

With silver hair that was more dazzling than the full moon in the night sky.

 

As I scattered the bangs that were roughly flipping to the side, a clear gold eye disappeared in an instant.

 

It was indeed the appearance of Grandiel, the crown prince.

 

“What happened to you?”

 

“Why?”

 

“You look happier than usual.”

 

“Really? Was it visible on my face?”

 

Grandiel with his long stretched fingers swept his cheek.

 

Today’s behavior wasn’t usual. The unexpected meeting with her and the most important secret he was hiding was revealed.

 

Originally, that alone should have killed Mayerie.

 

On the spot. But I didn’t kill her. It wasn’t just a whim.

 

She was interesting from the beginning. From the moment we met on the terrace. When I recalled the meeting with her, bloody laughter leaked out.

 

“There were two.”

 

Two white sheets of paper fluttered down from Grandiel’s hand and fell to the table.

 

“This…”

 

Sedum picked up the top of the two sheets of paper Grandiel handed over. It was a brief contract. He looked down at the content and lightly kicked his tongue.

 

“An offer of 30 bottles of holy water a month in exchange for dresses and an invitation to the New Year’s party. Furthermore, this doesn’t have a contract period which means that it would last forever?”

 

“I don’t think she knows.”

 

“A slave contract with one deviation. It’s pretty harsh.”

 

“Well, we’ll see if it ends in one deviation.”

 

“Was there something else?”

 

“I heard she has an interesting plan to change her destiny. Well, I’ve decided not to get involved in what would happen at the party, but I hope she would do something interesting.”

 

It was irresponsible. Sedum shook his head and folded the paper below, looking at his master with his bad personality.

 

“Did you use a magic contract?”

 

The first contract was a simple contract written on paper. On the other hand, the second contract had a contract spell.

 

When it’s violated, it exerts coercive power against the violator. Instead of answering his question, it was Grandiel’s smile that grew deeper.

 

Sedum, feeling strange anxiety, crumbled his face while looking at the contract a little longer than the first.

 

“Why the hell did you make this contract?”

 

It was an incomprehensible contract. Because his master wasn’t a person who would make a profitless deal.

 

“Because I need an extra hand?”

 

“There would already be many people who would be willing to move with one gesture of your hand.”

 

He checked the name on the signature line.  {Mayerie Syringa}

 

It was a name I don’t remember where I heard of. Not in his memory, meant that she was an aristocrat who wasn’t worth memorizing.

 

“But…”

 

“Don’t worry, she looked pretty useful.”

 

Grandiel interrupted Sedum and spoke firmly. As he turned away as if he would not listen to any further refutation, Sedom sighed.

 

“Anyway, it’s time to go to the party.’’

 

Grandiel’s mouth hardened.

 

I hated the party. It’s still time to curl up, so I’m just forcing myself to participate. If there was an unexpected meeting like yesterday, wouldn’t it be possible?

 

The first day of the New Year’s party.

 

Grandiel was in a bad mood. It’s because he had to go to a disgusting party where the nauseating feelings were mixed up.

 

The New Year’s party was the biggest event of the year, and it was a party that most nobles expected and awaited, but it was boring for Grandiel.

 

I know everything about the stories that circulate at the party, and if there was a change in the social world, a well-organized report would be posted the next day.

 

He was the Crown Prince, so he was forced to attend, and there was no interesting factor at all to excite him to participate.

 

Even that day, I tried to run away after just dancing for the first time. No one at the party cared about his presence anyway. 

 

Grandiel moved his feet to a nearby terrace, but someone was occupying the terrace. He was swearing inwardly whether the person that was on the terrace was without any concept, but he acted steadily on the outside.

 

But the moment he made eye contact with someone on the terrace, his irritation subsided.

 

It wasn’t her bouncing appearance, but her eyes were impressive with a subtle mix of dark blue and purple. The emotions in her eyes resembling the dawn sky before sunrise were also quite fresh.

 

Sympathy.

 

In his childhood, he had a feeling that sometimes the maids and some nobles showed sympathy for him as a child.

 

After hiding himself and beginning his acting to survive in the Imperial Palace, there were three different feelings toward Grandiel.

 

Disregard, contempt, superiority.

 

Among them, the most expressed feeling was the sense of superiority against him.

 

The disgusting ones approach the crown prince at the height of his power with the delight and obvious ridicule of his incompetence.

 

However, it has been a long time since the person who gave him a sympathetic gaze from the beginning.

 

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