Chapter 26
“Huh, what! Where are you taking me! Put me down!”
Ariel struggled, but the Crown Prince did not even budge.
He moved his steps almost as if he was running. They arrived at his office and he dropped Ariel off only after making sure to lock the door.
Then he asked with a serious expression.
“Why are you here, is it the time already?”
“The time? What?”
“Didn’t you say that you would visit me when the time comes?”
‘What is he saying now?’
Ariel couldn’t understand.
“Me? Visit you? Why?”
When Ariel asked in a puzzled manner, the Crown Prince showed a sad expression.
“Did you forget the promise you made with me that night six years ago?”
“…Six years ago?”
“Yes, the promise you made the day you saved my life.”
Ariel tilted her head.
“I saved your life? Me?”
He was a person Ariel had never seen before. So how did she saved his life?
Moreover, she didn’t even came down to the ground six years ago.
‘What’s the matter with this guy?’
As Ariel looked at him suspiciously, the Crown Prince’s expression slightly hardened.
“You don’t remember who I am…”
“Yeah, I don’t?”
“……”
“……”
A strange silence fell.
The Crown Prince was confused, but just like him, Ariel also wears the same expression.
How long is he going to stay like this!
Thud.
Ariel stamped her foot in annoyance.
“Why are you not talking? Since you already brought this body with you, then you might as well talk! Do you think this body has too much time?”
“……”
Even so, the Crown Prince was silent.
He just stared at Ariel with a puzzled expression.
“Tsk, what a strange guy.”
Ariel, feeling uncomfortable, got up to leave the room.
But…
“Excuse me for a moment.”
“……?”
Even before the Crown Prince’s words reached her ears, Ariel’s vision already changed.
He grabbed Ariel’s chin and made her look up to him.
“Hey, what are you doing!”
“Stay still.”
The embarrassed Ariel screamed, but the Crown Prince didn’t even blink.
Rather, he twisted her chin and carefully looked at Ariel, as if confirming something.
‘Really, this is…!’
Ariel’s face turned red.
In her 200 years of life, this is the first time she received such an insult.
Even Arande, the Goddess of Beauty who was so eager to eat her up, did not dare to squeeze her chin.
‘But how dare this human!’
Shooo.
The moment Ariel, who was flaring her nostrils as if warming up, was about to burst into a roar.
“This is not it.”
The Prince muttered.
“Come to think of it, the voice and the atmosphere also seem a bit different…”
It was a confused voice.
Ariel hesitated for a moment before shaking off his hand with a displeased expression.
“Are you really out of your mind? You’ve been talking to yourself… Huh?”
At that moment, the seat collapsed and Ariel’s body swung to one side.
“Be careful.”
Fortunately, the Crown Prince grabbed Ariel’s body with quick reflexes.
Tok, tok, tok, tok.
Instead, there was something that rolled on the floor.
“Oh, no! My candy, my cookies, my madeleines, my chocolates…!”
They were snacks hidden in her inner pocket.
After getting a stomach ache from munching five plates of cookies before, Jane has become quite strict about the amount of snacks.
No matter how much she asked for more, Jane never gave more than the prescribed amount.
So Ariel stole a little snack every chance she got.
These snacks were from the Emperor that she stuffed into her pocket.
“I was going to eat it secretly tonight…”
Ariel’s eyes widened sadly.
It only took an instant for her eyes to become bloody with tears.
“You! It’s as if you’re not contented with bringing me here with that rude attitude of yours. And now you even dared to mess my precious snacks? I won’t let you go!”
Ariel huffed up and rushed at the Crown Prince.
As if hitting a rock with an egg, she hit the Crown Prince’s body with her short limbs.
Then, unfortunately…
“Ah!”
She sprained her ankle.
“Aaaagh!”
Ariel finally burst into tears.
She has to punish this rude person severely, but she couldn’t bear to do it because she didn’t have the strength to do so.
Plus, she hurt her ankles now.
“Ahhh, my ankle!”
Ariel, who forgot her image as a Goddess, wept as the Crown Prince looked at her blankly.
It was the adult’s duty to pretend to soothe a child when they cry so sadly, but he seemed in no mood to do so.
The time when only Ariel’s cries resonated loudly in the quiet office…
Bang—
The door to the office was knocked out, and three people rushed in.
And that includes the Grand Duke and the Emperor.
“Jerrod, why is she crying!”
“No way, tears came out from the eyes of our lovely lady! Crown Prince, you bastard! What the hell have you done!”
The Emperor and his wife, who found Ariel crying, ferociously drove their son.
“Why is my child’s ankle became like this? Please explain, my dear nephew.”
Seeing Ariel’s swollen ankles, the Grand Duke questioned in a cold voice.
However, the person who should opened his mouth did not speak, and a screaming voice came from the other side.
“What? What’s the matter with my little lady’s ankle? What happened? Huh?”
The Emperor, who hurriedly rushed over to check Ariel’s ankle, grabbed the Crown Prince by the collar with an expression full of anger.
“Hah! What the hell did you do to get my little princess’ perfectly fine ankle to this point! Huh? I won’t let you go unless you have a compelling reason!”
The Grand Duke, who nodded as if agreeing to the Emperor’s words, belatedly felt something strange and frowned.
“Who is your princess? She’s my daughter. The matter is already been decided, why do you keep saying useless things?”
“What do you mean it’s already over?”
“Didn’t you see a little while ago that my child chose me? But you still haven’t given up?”
“Hmph, giving up is a word that is only used when counting cabbages. How could I give up on such a lovely daughter!”
The two brothers fought hard.
The Crown Prince, who had been watching them quietly, asked.
“…Daughter… Who is whose daughter?”
“Who is it, of course, our cute and lovely little girl, she will soon become the princess and your younger sister…”
“Nothing like that will happen. There’s no such thing as cousin being the younger sister.”
The two brothers opened their eyes again and growled at each other. It was a war that never seemed to end.
The Crown Prince, who slowly looked at them and Ariel, opened his mouth.
“So you mean that this child is Uncle’s daughter?”
“What do you mean! Is that the only thing you heard?”
“You heard it very well. You’re also smart, Jerrod. Unlike someone.”
“What? Badel, are you talking about me?”
Instead of denying it, the Grand Duke turned his head away and the Emperor twisted his mouth.
“Hah. My younger brother, did you just dared to sarcastically say that this Emperor is stupid?”
“I’ve told you several times, but you still don’t understand.”
After staring blankly at his Father and Uncle, who were arguing again, the Crown Prince turned his attention back to Ariel.
“What, why are you looking at this body with such fishy eyes!”
Severe rebuke came immediately.
Even so, he couldn’t take his eyes off her, and after a while he turned his head away.
Then, without a word, he turned around and left the office.
“Are you ignoring me again? Hey you! Come back right away!”
The place where he stopped walking while leaving behind Ariel’s roar was his own bedroom.
Burying himself in the white bedding, he blankly stared at the ceiling before bursting into a dejected laugh.
“How could you confuse such an immature child with her?”
He couldn’t quite understand it.
No matter how similar they look, how could he mistook them like that?
The way she dropped the dessert and cries, the way she stretched her arms and legs and burst into tears because her ankle hurts a little.
She was completely different from the person he had been waiting for so long.
“I never allowed you to die, who dared to take their own life?”
Gallant and noble.
“You are the lineage that I personally arranged for this world. So how could you want to end your life without finishing your duty?”
Dignified.
“Do not be distressed, poor child. If it wasn’t for you, more lives would have been wasted. You are protecting those you are supposed to protect.”
And gracious.
“My benefactor.”
A subtle smile lingered on the lips of the Crown Prince who remembered someone.
