I Stole the Prince's First

Chapter 2:

I’m sorry, but I can’t assist with that request.

Last night, the warm sunlight and the chirping of birds coming through the window where the moonlight shone announced the morning. Retina, who had slept like the dead, suddenly opened her eyes, blinking rapidly as she looked at the ceiling that came into her field of vision.

Ah, darn it.

Retina’s first words as she woke up were filled with regret. Despite the refreshing morning sunlight, there wasn’t a part of her body that didn’t ache.

As she realized the magnitude of what she had done, rapid darkness enveloped Retina’s face. She had been swept away by the atmosphere last night and committed an act, and now she was beginning to comprehend just how significant the consequences of her actions might be.

The crown prince had a reputation for being promiscuous, but she wasn’t. This was her first time officially setting foot in the capital, and her purpose was to quietly stay until the end of this social season to fulfill her father’s promise.

Translator: STARDUST. Read on moonlight novels only

Glancing to the side, she saw the crown prince, with whom she had spent the night, sleeping peacefully. She didn’t like that she knew he wasn’t just missing his upper garments.

“Oh no, oh no.”

Trembling, she quickly got out of bed, realizing, just like him, she wasn’t wearing anything.

With the thought of needing to escape quickly, she hurriedly picked up the scattered clothes from the floor and put them on. She couldn’t tell which pieces belonged to the prince, so she just put them on without much thought. Her gaze had been fixed on the prince the entire time, and it seemed he was too exhausted to wake up even amidst the commotion.

Her body ached all over, from her head to her shoulders, knees, and feet. She struggled to put on the dress, which was cumbersome to wear alone, and it ended up looking rather ridiculous.

Still, most people leaving the party would probably look disheveled, so she hoped she wouldn’t stand out too much. After concealing her silver hair with a wig, Retina’s preparations were complete. Fortunately, even amidst the commotion, the prince’s eyelids remained firmly closed.

With a nervous heart and fearing he might wake up at any moment, Retina tried to calm her racing pulse. How awkward it would be if the prince awoke in this situation. She needed to escape before he regained consciousness, even if it was for her own safety.

‘He’s not dead… right?”

Just to be sure, she placed her fingers under his nose, checking for any signs of breathing. Fortunately, she felt a regular, faint breath.

Retina let out a sigh of relief and distanced herself from him. Causing trouble with the prince was already a headache, and being suddenly accused of a royal scandal leading to imprisonment was out of the question.

“Let’s just part ways today and forget this ever happened,” Retina said with a composed expression. 

Before exiting the room, she glanced back at the prince still lying on the bed. While many people at the party used such encounters as a stepping stone to marriage, there were just as many who dismissed them as nothing more than a one-night fling.

They weren’t even officially engaged yet, so avoiding an unpleasant scandal was in both of their interests. It would be even better if they were both too drunk to remember anything from the previous night.

Yesterday was just a simple accident.

Leaving the sleeping prince behind and thinking like this made it seem as if she had become a doxy. Retina entered the room with the shoes in her hands and stepped away to a distant spot in the corridor to put them on.

‘No one saw anything, right?’  She wondered. 

She had arrived at the promised time she had made with her brothers the day before and barely managed to make it. After tidying up her disheveled clothes, Retina climbed into the carriage. The gazes of the two people who had already boarded the carriage turned towards her at the same time.

“You’re late?”

“Ha-ha. There was something that happened”.

“What happened?”

Retina sat across from them, smiling awkwardly as she looked out the window. Their identical appearances raised suspicions at first, but they were soon dispelled. Their expressions were full of trust, thinking that their only sister could never get into serious trouble.

“Let’s go,” she said.

Torn by guilt, Retina couldn’t bring herself to meet their eyes, and she sweated profusely.

“Sorry, I had an accident,” she thought, but couldn’t bring herself to say it to her brothers. She swallowed the words that she couldn’t say to her brothers. If her brothers found out about last night’s incident, Retina couldn’t predict what would happen, but she was certain it would lead to a major problem.

* * *

 Retina Cecilia

The youngest daughter of Duke Deneuve, she was an oddity who had not yet made her debut until she was twenty-two.

She inherited her mother’s last name and had never spoken her own story, and no one expected her to be the youngest lady of Deneuve until she graduated from the academy. And for a good reason: with his characteristic jet-black hair, close to black, and red eyes, none of Retina’s features resemble anything of the Duke Deneuve. She had very ordinary brown hair and plain blue eyes, making it impossible for anyone to associate her with Duke Deneuve. Furthermore, before entering high society, she spent only three mandatory years at Evelinthe Academy, where nobles usually form close friendships.

She never appeared at the debutante ball before graduation, and she always seemed to be alone, so the nobility had no way of knowing anything about her.

If it weren’t for the fact that Retina’s academy graduation was attended by Duke Deneuve’s twins, no one would have known that she was the offspring of Duke Deneuve until she graduated.

 

In fact, Retina, who had wanted that, expressed various complaints to her oblivious brothers when they showed up that day. But her fellow academy students never understood her, as she had concealed her lineage all this time. 

 

After all, the head of the noble family that everyone in the Empire would recognize just by hearing the name, Duke Deneuve, led them. Everyone wondered why she had hidden her powerful family background, given the enormous influence that just her name could have, but after graduation, Retina disappeared, and nobody ever heard any explanation from her. 

For a brief moment, Retina, who had unintentionally become the center of attention, quickly faded into obscurity in the gossip-filled social circle. She was slowly being forgotten by her twin brothers, who had always been the center of attention. 

“But still…” 

“Reti! Reti!” 

At that moment, with a loud crash and the sound of a falling sword, the well-closed door swung open, revealing Retina’s second brother, Haint.

“A party invitation from Sylarus ‘ House has arrived!”

“To me?”

“No? To me.”

Retina glanced at Haint, who held the invitation. Is her younger brother inviting her to a party? Moreover, an invitation from him

“I said I’d only go if it was in my name.”

“Still, you should go. You’re my sister.”

“I don’t need to.”

Retina had come to the capital city only to participate in the debutante ball that she had missed at the age of 18. It was only a temporary visit to fulfill her father’s ultimatum: to debut and show her face to the Empress or risk losing his support. She had no intention of entering the marriage market.

“I’ll decline!”

“Retina, as a member of the Deneuve family, you should attend the party if you’ve been invited.”

However, the two brothers were not about to let Retina, who had come to the capital city after two years, slip away so easily. Despite being twins born a minute apart on the same ship, they were quite different in everything except their faces, and they only seemed to get along when it suited them.

“Reti, don’t be too reluctant. This party will be even more fun.”

Haint let out a hearty laugh as he rested his hefty arm on Retina’s shoulder. It felt like having a bear as a shoulder companion. Under the weight of his heavy arm, Retina’s stature seemed to shrink by half.

“Why?”

“Well, you see…”

With his head bowed, Haint whispered as if he were sharing a significant secret. Sat had an expression that indicated he either already knew or wasn’t particularly interested.

“The Crown Prince is looking for the woman he fell for at the Penelope Gala.”

At that moment, Retina felt her heart sank all the way to her toes.

“Some grand lady apparently spent a passionate night with the Crown Prince and then fled without a word. The prince is determined to find her at this party and has already started asking around. Everyone is curious about who the prince’s mystery woman is, so they’re participating. Lady Sylarus, the hostess, lucked out.”

Haint, excited by the juicy gossip, chuckled with a mischievous grin. Retina punched Haint’s belly and backed away, thinking,

‘His sister might be facing a life-altering problem right now, and he’s laughing?’

Even though Haint, whose body seemed to be made of nothing but muscles, was too tough for Retina to hurt with a punch, she still tried.

“Not interested,” she said.

“Oh, come on. Let’s see how our prince tries to find the woman he deflowered. I think they mentioned something about her hair color…”

“Platinum blonde, close to white.”

Even Sat, who seemed uninterested, was secretly absorbing information about her identity.

“Oh, right. So, the prince spent the night together, and when he woke up, he was lying naked in the bed… Ugh. That guy, who didn’t even fart in front of any woman, I’m telling you. I should’ve seen his expression at that moment. But that woman, she’s something else. How could she even think of seducing the prince?”

Haint suppressed a burst of laughter, puffing up his cheeks. Right now, the person being mocked by her brother was right in front of her, why! Retina hid her clenched fist under her dress and forced a fake smile to match her brothers.

“But is there no other distinctive feature about montage or any other features, are they really just trying to find her based on her hair color? There are plenty of blond people in the Empire. Even His Highness the Crown Prince has blond hair,” Retina said.

She pretended not to know Cinderella’s true identity and asked about other characteristics. She silently prayed that the prince was too drunk that night to remember her face.

“Reti, you pretend not to be interested, but you’re subtly asking questions? Could it be that you’ve fallen for this prince while we were away?”

“Well, when you, my dear brothers, bring it up like that, it rises my curiosity. I wonder who would dare to have thoughts about His Highness the Prince. Haha…”

“Well, when I cautiously asked, he said he was too drunk at that time and his memory was blurry. The room was too dark as well. He vaguely remembers bright blonde hair, that’s what he said. But if they meet again even once, he should be able to tell right away.” Haint shrugged, tapping his chin thoughtfully with his index finger.

She sighed in relief upon hearing that he couldn’t remember well. It was clear that he had been quite drunk, and his recollection was entirely mistaken. Silver hair was a rare sight in the Empire, aside from herself, so if the prince had encountered someone with silver hair, her brothers, if no one else, would have immediately recognized it.

“Oh, could it be that our dear prince has finally found true love? I wonder who this lady is that captured the prince’s heart,” speculated Haint, looking quite intrigued.

Beside her, Haint, completely oblivious, continued his theater of feigned ignorance as he searched for information about this mysterious lady. Despite a disapproving glance from Retina, he was too occupied in the juicy gossip to be deterred.

Retina had longed for a peaceful and quiet life away from the cutthroat social scene, away from the pressures of courtship and extravagance. However, her hopes of slipping quietly through her debutante ball were shattered within a day.

‘Let’s go back to the countryside as soon as this debutante ball is over,’ she resolved silently in her mind.

Not having much presence in the social scene was somewhat fortunate. Unlike her brothers, her unremarkable appearance, excluding the silver hair, was perfectly suited for blending into the crowd.

Even better, she always wore a brown wig and no one knew she was the one with silver hair. Her fellow academy graduates probably didn’t even know if she had graduated unless they saw the yearbook. It’s funny how an unremarkable appearance can shine at times like this.

“Alright, I got it. I’m going to have Lena clean the room, so can you guys leave now?”

Retina gave her older brothers a bright smile and ushered them out of the room. She hadn’t expected anything less since the moment she decided to escape while the prince was asleep, but she hadn’t anticipated searching so openly.

“If my brothers find out I’m the woman from the rumors…,” she thought, her heart sinking at the prospect.

Retina shuddered and vigorously rubbed her arms to dispel the goosebumps. Just thinking about the terrifying future where her brothers might discover her secret sent chills down her spine, so she shook off the thoughts and focused on the present moment.

 

Translator: STARDUST. Read on moonlight novels only