“Episode 2”
Her crying face was so beautiful that Daphne pressed down on the jester trying to rise to power with the palm of her hand.
“Ah, something’s missing.”
She secretly hoped for the noble prince, who had lived without bowing down to anyone, to spit curses or saliva.
She tapped Celestian’s knees, which were being held firmly by the guards behind the glass window, a couple of times.
The sound of the window tapping seemed to be a signal to depart, as the carriage smoothly started moving.
“I should have made you kneel down and watch.”
Underneath her, Daphne remembered the proud prince who had sobbed with a tear-streaked face.
The reason for this absurdity two years ago was that Daphne’s life could be summed up in one line.
Power, money. Otherwise, biting your tongue and dying is a thousand times better!
“You bastard.”
The ‘queen’ sitting beside Romeo Rodriguez, a prince born of pure blood, was her goal in life.
“You just stand by and watch as I suffer such disgrace.”
The arranged marriage between cousins who had grown up together had been seriously disgusting. But becoming the first woman in the kingdom to wield such noble power appealed to Daphne, who valued honor above all else.
In this prosperous social circle, there was no one with better conditions than Daphne, from lineage to education and status. But somehow, a pebble, whose origins were unknown, had taken away her place.
“He’s too pretty to call a pebble. I hate to admit it, though.”
Just a few minutes ago, Daphne had fallen into the lake while trying to push Psyche. Reprimands and ridicule had poured over her head. She had struggled to swim to shore without any help.
“Why should a woman like me, with both status and wealth, be treated as garbage in the marriage market?”
Tormenting the pebble Psyche had been fun at first, but gradually she began to feel self-loathing.
After much thought, Daphne came to a conclusion.
“If I get rid of the culprit, everything will be fine.”
Daphne headed to the prince’s villa, which was given to her as a townhouse. She easily climbed over the low wall.
That the person she wanted to kill was the next king designated for the throne was not a big problem for her.
“Regardless of everything else, it’s a matter of my self-esteem.”
The cool breeze made her shoulders narrow involuntarily. Her bare feet, which were bent down, were dirty. The light pink muslin dress was damp, and the water’s unique smell lingered.
“Just a pathetic guard without any backup. Relying on one skill.”
Passing through the dim corridor, Daphne had only imagined what would happen after she committed this act. Her story would echo not only in the social circle but also throughout the empire.
“Why would the patriarch give me an estate for this? It’s not like he told me to do this.”
Daphne had lived with the words “I love you to death” on her lips, aimed at her cousin.
“This isn’t wrong. Even if it’s to the point of killing, it’s love.”
The softly opened mahogany door revealed darkness inside. The room smelled strongly of serious liquor.
“Wow, were you absent because you were busy drinking?”
Daphne’s temperature rose. She took a deep breath and stood by the bed. Even in the darkness, the sounds of different colors reverberated rhythmically. She took a deep breath. Then, she closed one eye and traced where his throat would be in the darkness.
“Romie, I actually have a lot of regrets about you.”
Even in the darkness, his golden iris sparkled particularly.
“Do you know how humiliated I was today? I really wanted to die. But you know, I’m good at feeling lonely. I just can’t die alone.”
As the rain beat down heavily, a flash-like light from outside briefly illuminated the room before fading away.
‘Huh?’
Thanks to you, I realized that the man lying on the bed was not Romeo. Daphne hesitated reflexively.
Beep, clang!
Following that, a loud noise erupted. It seemed that the fireworks signaling the end of the inauguration ceremony had started. Shocked by the loud sound, a car outside flashed its orange hazard lights noisily.
In the moonlight-like bright hair, straight eyebrows and neatly curled eyelashes spread in a straight line, even in a light color.
One side of his forehead, slightly moist with sweat from the tropical night, was exposed to about half, and thanks to that, the dot above his right eyebrow was clearly visible.
“Is he not the Ghost Duke?”
Slightly blurred but gracefully parked to match the beautiful features, asserting “I’m a beauty!”
One eye area covered by the bridge of the nose was shaded depending on the speed of the hazard lights.
“…Did he cry?”
The reddened eye area indicated that he had cried until just before.
Daphne tried to recall the scene of him waking up, sitting up straight with his wide shoulders and back, admiring the crystal chandelier below.
“Was he really this handsome?”
The purpose of coming here evaporated with the sound of fireworks. If seeing a handsome man like this meant enduring three murderous impulses, she could endure it.
Daphne reached out involuntarily. Just before touching under his eye, he seemed to sense her presence and his light-colored eyelashes faintly opened. And as if murmuring in his sleep, he mumbled something. Her ears involuntarily leaned in.
“What did you say?”
Clang!
However, his voice was drowned out by another thunderous explosion. Daphne reflexively sat back down in her place.
“Ah!”
All the flickering lights stopped. At the same time, ringing in her ears and chills rising up her spine. And then, a headache that felt like needles poking through every wrinkle in her brain followed.
And strange memories flowed into her mind.
“I liked Celestian, but… not enough pages…”
“Shouldn’t trick the Ghost Duke… and squirt, challenge.”
“Don’t take the sub-man… It’s a bad stock, but…”
“What is this, what… What memories! Stop it!”
“Writer, Celestian is pitiful… But that’s also a paradise for Jonein… If only you had not killed him and teased him more…”
The shock-induced goosebumps covered her body. Memories of past lives came back at such an absurd timing.
The shock of seeing her life objectively was severe.
“I couldn’t even delete my SNS account.”
She felt even more humiliated. Her hands and feet were tangled with past embarrassments.
Daphne wanted to stick her nose somewhere and just die.
Clang!
“Anyone would think it’s a bombing if they hear it.”
Daphne stood up abruptly. The fireworks continued to pop and crackle regardless of her complaints.
“I’ll wake you up.”
And she looked down at the blonde beauty again. Fortunately, he seemed to have no intention of waking up, just narrowing the gap between his eyebrows.
Daphne recognized this handsome man.
The representative illegitimate child of Sekradion! Substitute for the participating prince, the king’s marionette. The Ghost Duke with the ghost island. The sub-hero, who was abandoned and will be abandoned by the heroine. Blah blah blah.
Daphne’s expression was somewhat vague.
“Your Highness…”
This man was Daphne’s… a ruined sub-hero from the final stages of sub-syndrome.
“You’re more beautiful than I imagined.”
Because he was her favorite character.
❖ ❖ ❖
“Why are you
“Why are you here?”
The uninvited guest lay sprawled in the middle of Daphne’s spacious bed, leisurely admiring the Angelle River outside the window. Just a few minutes ago, the sky, embroidered with beautiful fireworks, now only left a faint trace of smoke.
“Where were you…”
Romeo, who had casually glanced at Daphne’s pitiful state, narrowed his eyebrows.
“I never invited the Ghost.”
“This is my room, you bastard. Answer my question.”
Daphne growled. He smirked, his yellow eyes twinkling before he let out a chuckle.
“I heard my fiancée fell into the water, so I came running, worried.”
“Go drown yourself. Since when did the prince ever care about such things?”
“Why today?”
Just as she was about to ask why he bothered, Romeo remembered Daphne’s request to stop him from wailing loudly just moments ago.
“Grumpy. Because I didn’t accept your invitation?”
“I’ll never invite you again, so get out of here.”
Daphne politely clasped her hands together and gestured outside the window. It was a sign for him to quietly leave through the window, as the servants might see if he left through the door.
“My palace is boring.”
“What do you want?”
Romeo pretended not to hear. Seeing him behaving like this, Daphne knew exactly what to say.
“She went to the orphanage again today.”
Romeo had prepared a luxurious townhouse as a temporary residence for Psyche. However, Psyche outright rejected his kindness and insisted on returning home before curfew.
“Are you sad?”
“Not at all.”
He seemed oblivious to the wavering in her eyes. Daphne almost laughed at him. After all, the immediate problem was that her bed was being dirtied by someone else’s buttocks. Moreover, the owner of those buttocks would later throw her to the sea crocodiles.
“Romeo.”
Why did it have to be Romeo?
“Why?”
Daphne took a deep breath and spoke slowly, one word at a time.
“Let’s break up.”
“What?”
Marriage followed the woman’s opinion entirely, according to Sekradion tradition. No matter how royal the man, marriage was not to be taken lightly. So, whenever Romeo saw Daphne, he sang songs begging for a breakup.
“Let’s break up. Please. Break up. I beg you. Break up. You’re getting married to Psyche. I’ll help you.”
Now, Daphne continued the song that Romeo used to sing. Romeo sat up, bewildered.
“Suddenly? Did you change your mind after being dead and alive? And what do you mean, how will you help?”
“You just need to stick your lips together and nod while smiling gently. That’s the answer. Seriously.”
Her cousin, who even staged a show saying she would die if she wasn’t the queen, suddenly supported the breakup and encouraged Romeo to marry Psyche.
“If she really fell into the water…”
Romeo, still perplexed, crossed his arms as if to flex his biceps. His sturdy muscles seemed like they would tear through his shirt.
“Conditions?”
Daphne hadn’t thought of any conditions, but the word ‘conditions’ caught her attention. If this were truly a novel, it would already be the middle part.
The innocent prince, who fell in love at first sight, was an idiotic baby who trembled every night in Daphne’s bedroom, only knowing superficial facts, and the shy Psyche, who became obsessed with vanity, unable to speak out her inner thoughts, causing misunderstandings.
“I’ll listen to whatever you have to say?”
Daphne scratched her cheek and opened her mouth. She suddenly remembered the blonde man who was muttering in his sleep with his eyes slightly closed. His lips seemed to be forming the sound of ‘P’. A shiver ran down her spine.
“Promise me that you and the Duke won’t kill me.”
So she slightly altered her words. Romeo furrowed his brow even more. Their golden locks clashed in the air.
“Why would I suddenly kill you? And… suddenly call me ‘Brother’? Didi, what’s wrong with you? Did you eat something bad?”
“And, Romeo.”
As if her words weren’t over yet, she raised her hand to stop Romeo. Daphne had finished her impulsive plan.
“I’ll marry both of you off safely. If any opposing royal family members? I’ll make them shut up.”
Romeo was halfway frozen by Daphne’s words.
“So give me Celestian Teriosa.”
Daphne’s golden eyes sparkled like blazing stars.
