Ko-fi shop has been Renewed, you can find the link at the end of the chapter.
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It’s not unusual for a maid to have a day off.
However, normal conventions do not apply in this annex. Everything in the annex belongs to the Crown Prince. No one is allowed to take his possessions outside without his permission. This applies even to guests, and especially to lowly maids.
“What’s the reason for the outing?”
“She said she’s meeting her lover. She mentioned that her lover worries a lot if she doesn’t leave at least once a month. Since she’s blind, I thought that was understandable.”
Whether Felix believed it or not, Runok was a subordinate of Duke Kristen, the Crown Prince’s maternal uncle. Strictly speaking, Runok’s master was the duke.
“My nephew is inherently sensitive and indolent. He has no desire for power, not even a shred. Assist His Highness so that he remains focused solely on the throne and his hobbies.”
Runok had come under such orders from the duke. Therefore, the maid, who had recently been the center of the Crown Prince’s attention, couldn’t be seen favorably. Excessive attention should be nipped in the bud early. Runok emphasized his point.
“Speaking of which, wouldn’t it be better to replace the maid? No matter how capable or quiet she might be, being blind means she’s slow. There are numerous considerations that must be made for her.”
“A lover, you say.”
“There are plenty of sighted and capable maids who could—pardon?”
Runok inadvertently repeated the words, then shut his mouth. After a chilling silence, the Crown Prince muttered again.
“A lover…”
Felix’s face was devoid of expression. Runok instinctively realized he had miscalculated something. He caught sight of Felix’s brows faintly narrowing.
Soon, Felix let out a sharp, sardonic laugh.
“Ha! Haha, well…”
Felix, whose expression rarely changed and who was as cold as ice, could drastically alter his presence with the slightest movement of his eyebrows. The shift was toward something more chilling and dangerous.
“When she returns, send her to the third floor.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
His tone didn’t change significantly. Felix, who had been staring at a canvas with his arms crossed, spoke casually.
“And send someone discreetly to Duke Osfil’s residence. Confirm whether Diana Escalif is there. Find out who she’s meeting and what they’re discussing.”
***
When Diana left the royal palace, someone was waiting for her. An unknown figure grabbed her arm and shoved her into a nearby carriage.
After a long ride, they arrived at a location where Prince Aizen was waiting.
“So, His Majesty’s birthday next month—there’s a high chance my brother will make another appearance then, right? I’ll have to act before that. Ensure he can’t represent His Majesty on that occasion…”
When the knight who had brought Diana knocked on the door, the conversation inside abruptly stopped.
Moments later, permission to enter was given.
Diana was pushed inside and forced to kneel before Aizen, reporting everything she had learned over the past 20 or so days.
“You’ve been serving my brother’s baths?”
Aizen’s voice, heard for the first time in three weeks, was unchanged. It was delicate and soft.
“You’ve even entered the bathroom in the meantime. That’s good progress. What do you talk about there?”
“There’s not much to call a conversation… He’s not very talkative.”
The Crown Prince wasn’t a man of many words. Despite her blindness, the sensation of his gaze brushing every corner of her body often made her skin prickle. She couldn’t tell if her breathlessness was due to the suffocating silence or the steam filling the bathroom.
Aizen’s tone carried satisfaction.
“It hasn’t been long enough to win his heart. Still, you’re the first maid to have entered his bathroom. Excellent.”
“Thank you.”
“So, how far has my brother touched you?”
Diana’s nape burned with heat. She hesitated to answer, and Aizen irritably prodded her.
“He wouldn’t have summoned you into the bath just to have you wash him. Did he undress you? Where did he touch you?”
Did she really have to report everything in such detail? Diana’s ears flushed red with embarrassment.
Seeing her reaction, Aizen chuckled derisively.
“I never gave you permission to blush like that.”
“Well…”
“Don’t forget your place. You seem to have misunderstood something—you’re not there as a woman.”
The sound of Aizen rising from his seat reached her ears. His footsteps echoed as he approached, stopping in front of her kneeling form. In the next moment, he grabbed her by the hair.
“Or do you think I placed you in the Crown Prince’s palace just to do chores?”
Diana nearly screamed. Aizen pulled her hair roughly, leaning in to whisper in her ear.
“Your job is to submit gracefully if my brother desires you and cry out pathetically, then return to me and report every detail. How he violated you, where he touched, how he kissed or bit you, and whether or not he released himself inside you.”
“Your Highness, I—”
“I can’t see it myself, so you must tell me everything you’ve felt. Don’t babble on about what you think or judge. Just relay the facts of what you experienced.”
The scalp throbbed as if it were being torn away. There was a presence behind her. Not just one or two, but several. Judging by the weight of the footsteps, they were men, and the sound of metal clashing with wood suggested they were knights armed with swords.
In the enclosed room, only she and these unknown men were present. Despite trying her best not to feel scared, it wasn’t easy.
Diana stammered as she began to speak.
“I haven’t gotten to that point yet… I helped him undress and assisted with his bath. I told him that I wasn’t as skilled as the other maids, but he said it didn’t matter….”
“And?”
“He seemed to appreciate that I couldn’t see. Because I couldn’t look at his body. That might be why he sought me out. I’ll try… harder from now on.”
She didn’t mention what had happened in the bathroom on the day Chef Harper died. It was humiliating to think she had to report such things in detail to someone else, but more than that, she didn’t want to pass on information that might disadvantage the Crown Prince to Prince Aizen.
Why? Technically, Diana belonged to Prince Aizen. Her life, her hope, and her future depended on him.
Am I feeling pity for His Highness, the Crown Prince?
Pity? For whom? It was laughable. Yet, Diana couldn’t bring herself to confess what had happened that day. The Crown Prince’s dry voice as he painted the late Harper on a canvas kept echoing in her ears.
“If you want to work here for a long time, you’d better get used to it. This is a place where nothing is ever strange, no matter what happens.”
“Is that so…?”
Aizen’s tone took on a meaningful lilt. His gaze, sharp as a needle, scrutinized every inch of Diana’s face and body. Her straight neckline and the clavicle visible above her maid uniform bore no signs of a man’s touch.
So why did he feel so uneasy? Aizen fixated on Diana’s tightly closed lips.
“He bathed with you attending to him, yet he didn’t lay a hand on you…? Twenty days and he still found no interest? Even with Harper’s help?”
“…”
“That’s strange. Even without the drug’s effects, I thought he’d show some desire by now.”
“There wasn’t any indication…”
“Surely, Diana, you’re not hiding anything from me, are you?”
It felt as though frost had formed over her heart. Diana strained to keep her expression neutral.
“His Highness the Crown Prince didn’t seem… to be particularly aware of me. I wasn’t enough. I should have been more proactive… used the opportunities better, but I failed.”
Recalling the days she’d been interrogated by Hilde’s pimp and by Nephrine of the Defierre family, words of apology flowed easily. All she could do was admit what she’d done wrong, explain how she would correct it, and beg for forgiveness in whatever way her master wished.
“I’ll make sure… to earn his trust more in the future… without holding back… and act with utmost caution. To become… the kind of person you desire me to be.”
This seemed to satisfy him to some extent. The grip on her hair loosened.
***
The portrait of Pride has opened a ko-fi shop with 5 advanced chapters. Ko-fi shop will be updated with each update in website. Here is the: LINK
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