For a moment, Chersoniet doubted her ears.
No matter how stoic a man might be, there was no way he could respond like this to a beautiful woman tearfully pleading.
“The exit is that way, Princess.”
Julion even pointed towards the garden entrance.
Chersoniet, Julion, and even Freck, who stood behind them, all knew this was far from a kind gesture.
Biting her lower lip, Chersoniet lowered her gaze.
“…Yes, Your Highness.”
This wouldn’t do.
His trust in Rohiriel was far more solid than she had anticipated.
Whether Julion was genuinely unaware or intentionally evading the subject, she had failed to achieve any of her objectives.
This left her with only one remaining option.
Chersoniet slowly bowed, as if in a formal farewell.
At the same time, she slipped her hand into her sleeve and opened the cap of a small vial.
‘Shutkatan is useful at times like this.’
It was a drug prepared by Shutkatan in case Julion didn’t fall for her ruse.
It is a powder finer than sand that disperses in the air and heightens one’s senses.
Now, she just needed to make brief contact with Julion’s body.
“I deeply appreciate Your Highness’s great kindness.”
It was the moment she finished her bow and straightened up.
Suddenly, her body swayed like a reed, and she clutched her head as if dizzy.
“Oh…”
At the same time, with her other hand clutching her chest, she collapsed towards Julion.
A cold winter night’s breeze blew.
Her pink hair scattered in the moonlight, obscuring her vision.
Through it, she could see Julion’s delicate features.
His golden eyes, filled with annoyance, looked down at her.
‘…Annoyance?’
The beautiful and delicate princess was swaying and about to fall, and he was annoyed?
As her body tilted further, Julion showed no intention of catching her.
The drug in her possession had already spread into the air with its cap open.
Fearing she would fall to the ground, Chersoniet instinctively reached out.
With a soft thud, her hand grabbed Julion’s collar, and her fingers brushed against his slightly open shirt.
‘Got it!’
Chersoniet pressed herself closer to Julion and slowly lifted her head.
“Your Highness.”
She saw his neat and graceful jawline and the high bridge of his nose above it.
‘He’s so handsome.’
Luckily, Julion’s appearance was exactly her type.
Now that she had made contact, her plan was almost a success.
Chersoniet forced an embarrassed expression and met Julion’s eyes.
“Princess of Razia.”
“……!”
His golden eyes were endlessly cold.
It was a golden gaze colder than ice, completely different from what she had expected.
By the time she realized something was wrong, it was already too late.
She tried to pull away quickly, but Julion’s hand was faster.
He grabbed her wrist and spoke coldly.
“I clearly told you to do nothing.”
Chersoniet drew in a sharp breath, feeling a chill run down her spine.
If he had grabbed her wrist gently, it wouldn’t have been like this.
Her wrist hurt as if it might break at any moment, and most importantly…
“L-Let go, Your Highness.”
It was the wrist with the drug.
Sensing danger, Chersoniet tried desperately to free her wrist, but she was no match for Julion’s strength.
Julion twisted her struggling wrist slightly.
A soft scream rang out, and a small vial popped out of her sleeve.
“I’m quite curious what kind of medicine this is.”
One corner of Julion’s mouth curled up.
It was a gentle smile, but his eyes weren’t smiling at all, making it even more frightening.
‘They said he was kind, gentle, and well-mannered…!’
The rumors about Crown Prince Julion must have been all lies.
Chersoniet, feeling the murderous aura in Julion’s expression, trembled as she spoke.
“I-It’s medicine for my chronic illness, Your Highness.”
“Oh, a chronic illness, you say.”
“It hurts; please let go.”
“Earlier, you seemed eager to touch me. Now you’re asking to let go; how amusing.”
“It’s not that; I almost fell, so I couldn’t help it…”
Julion had abandoned any pretense of speaking kindly and was now condescending.
Although she had mentioned it was medicine she needed to use, he showed no signs of believing her.
“We’ll find out when we look up the ingredients.”
“Oh, no! This is the medicine I need to take today. Without it, I could die from a serious illness…”
“Sertizan has excellent physicians. I don’t think we need to worry about the princess’s illness. Isn’t that right, Rohiriel?”
Suddenly mentioning Rohiriel caused Chersoniet to blink, unable to grasp the situation.
Julion, however, shifted his gaze to the side, as if Rohiriel were indeed there.
Chersoniet naturally turned her face towards where he was looking.
“Julion…”
Her voice was calm yet slightly flustered.
With slightly widened blue eyes and a mildly furrowed brow.
There stood Rohiriel.
‘Why is she here when Shutkatan should have summoned her?’
Nothing was going according to plan.
For some reason, the drug was having no effect on Julion, and now she was in danger of being caught with it.
Chersoniet wanted to retrieve at least the drug, but the pain radiating from her wrist clouded her thoughts.
‘Is it because of the drug’s effects? It hurts so much!’
Her goal had been to make Julion physically drawn to her, but now the situation had taken an unfavorable turn.
She had intended to make him acutely aware of even the slightest touch, so that he would keep thinking about her.
But why did things go so wrong?
Chersoniet glanced at Rohiriel discreetly.
Unaware of when it began, she shifted her gaze between Julion and herself, maintaining a stern expression.
“Welcome, Rohiriel. I was just about to come to you.”
Unlike when speaking to Chersoniet, Julion addressed Rohiriel with a gentle voice.
But it was Rohiriel’s response that surprised him.
“You were coming to me… You mean the two of you holding hands together?”
Rohiriel’s blue gaze remained fixed on Chersoniet’s wrist, which Julion held, refusing to look away.
“In the late of the night, in the prince’s garden, my husband grabbing the princess’s wrist.”
“What? No, that’s not…”
Only then did Julion realize how odd their situation appeared.
Startled, he abruptly let go of Chersoniet’s wrist, which he had held firmly.
“Ouch!”
Toppling to the ground from the recoil, Chersoniet looked up at Julion and Rohiriel with an indignant gaze.
Julion’s previously stern demeanor had vanished without a trace.
Instead, looking flustered, he approached Rohiriel and began to explain himself.
“Rohiriel, please don’t misunderstand. I wasn’t the one who initiated this. Well, technically, I was, but that’s not the point…”
“Even if our beginnings were different, I thought you were confessing to me then.”
“The princess did something strange to me… Huh? Back then?”
“If this is the first time for you, it might not seem so unusual, but Julion, you seem to be a habitual offender.”
“Just a moment, Rohiriel. What are you talking about?”
“What kind of secret meeting could you have been having with the princess at such a late hour?”
“A secret meeting? No, it wasn’t like that. It’s just…”
The two were caught up in a heated argument, like a husband and wife quarreling.
Chersoniet glanced between the two as their voices grew louder, trying to catch her breath.
Her swollen wrist continued to throb, but what was more important was the vial that had fallen to the ground.
‘Well, this might turn out for the best. Quickly, the vial… the vial…’
She crawled on the grass, groping the ground with her hands, to reach the fallen vial.
The moment she felt the familiar texture of the vial in her hand, she smiled knowingly.
“How many times do I have to tell you not to do anything?”
Julion’s voice, which should have been sweating nervously in front of Rohiriel, sounded low.
Frozen in place, Chersoniet struggled to grasp the vial at her fingertips, but to no avail.
Unbeknownst to her, Julion approached and stared at her intently.
“Rohiriel. It seems like there’s a huge misunderstanding. First, please take a look at this. I think this medicine might have been used to harm me.”
“What do you mean?”
“This powdered drug. I just grabbed the princess to see if she was trying to do something to me.”
Julion snatched the vial from the princess’s hand and handed it over to Rohiriel.
Rohiriel took the vial with a confused look on her face.
Chersoniet’s gaze followed the remaining pink powder in the half-opened vial.
“P-Please give it back! It’s my medicine. Your Highness, you’ve misunderstood!”
“We’ll find out once we investigate. What do you think, Rohiriel?”
“Without testing, I can’t know anything for sure. But why were you meeting with the princess at this hour in the first place? That’s what I came to ask about. You two met before as well, didn’t you?”
Even if it’s true that he just grabbed the princess, the fact that the two of them were meeting at this hour was undeniable.
Rohiriel couldn’t let it slide like this and wanted to make sure.
She had seen them from the moment Julion grabbed Chersoniet’s wrist.
She knew nothing of what happened before that.
“Rohiriel, I’ll explain everything. So, what happened was…”
But Julion couldn’t finish his sentence.
There was a commotion near the garden entrance, and Freck cautiously reported it.
“Your Highness, I apologize. However, Prince Shutkatan Razia is persistently trying to force his way in.”
Julion looked at Freck questioningly.
His golden eyes seemed to be asking, “Why?”
Freck continued speaking.
“He’s shouting that he must see Her Highness.”
Julion’s eyes then shifted towards Rohiriel.
It was a gaze filled with countless unspoken words.
Ooooooh 😭💀🫣