RLPE Chapter 83

Laughter echoed through the room for a long time. In that secluded chamber where only the Prince and I were present, I trembled in tandem with his laughter.

Then, the laughter that had gone on for so long came to an abrupt stop.

“Do you really think so?”

When I didn’t respond, the prince answered for himself with certainty.

“Armin probably won’t be able to. He’s a man destined to become a Duke. The House of Grey is the closest noble family to the Imperial family, sworn to protect the empire. A man like that wouldn’t betray the Imperial family over a single woman.”

A single woman. I couldn’t bring myself to look at Prince Zeta, who dismissed Armin’s feelings for me so carelessly. If I met his eyes, I felt like I would cry.

“You’ll have to face me for the rest of your life anyway. So, my lady, stop wasting your energy on useless resistance and accept your fate.”

The devil’s tongue whispered sweet poison.

“Your one and only brother is better suited to politics than martial arts, isn’t he? The border’s no place for someone with talents like his. I trust you’ll make the wise decision once you consider everything.”

“…”

Trembling from the shock, I couldn’t speak. In that silence, Prince Zeta gently asked,

“And why should I need House Grey’s forgiveness in the first place? The authority of the Imperial family is granted by the heavens. I have nothing else to fear.”

He took my right hand without permission and pressed a kiss to it. That signaled the return of the prince I once knew—the kind and gentle mask.

It was revolting.

Wearing that disgustingly fake expression, he said,

“Well, I think we’ve had our talk, so let’s go back now, Michelle.”

 

* * *

Seated in the carriage, the prince ripped off his foolish-looking fake mustache and wig, tossing them aside carelessly.

“Hmm. Hmhm.”

A hum escaped him without effort. There hadn’t been a day in his life when he felt as good as he did now.

Even on the day he attended Mikael’s exhibition, Zeta’s mind had been filled with only one person—Vivian Roha.

Since birth, he had always found it strange how little he resembled his parents. Unlike his father, who had dazzling pink-blond hair, he had been born with dull black hair. In fact, his cousin Armin Grey resembled the Imperial bloodline far more than he did.

Until the woman named Vivian Roha appeared before him, Zeta had never realized he was capable of such intense emotions. He had always had to be the “good person” in everyone’s eyes—that was Prince Zeta’s strategy for survival.

‘It’s okay, Your Highness.’  

The Empress, who used to sing him lullabies in his bedroom when he was a child, would whisper in his ear.

‘People are born into the place heaven has chosen for them. So, Your Highness, you don’t have to worry about anything.’

But little Zeta could never understand his mother’s words. Whenever she wasn’t around, the maids and servants would whisper about him behind his back.

Children are perceptive. Even if he didn’t want to know, he instinctively understood that his appearance—so unlike his parents—was the issue.

Everyone around him had two faces. They were kind to him on the surface, but behind his back, they whispered that he was a fake prince. Zeta never trusted any of them.

There was only one place where he could feel at ease: the Duke of Grey’s household. The Duchess, his mother’s cousin, had a son about his age, and Armin Grey was both a cherished friend and an older brother to him.

Armin never tried to win Zeta’s favor, nor did he look down on him. That’s why Armin held such significance in Zeta’s life.

Zeta had never attended a social event, but the Imperial family always received gossip from high society faster than anyone else.

When he first heard rumors that Armin—who had never shown interest in women—was spending time with a certain young lady, Zeta grew curious.

Who could this girl be, to catch the eye of the picky Armin?

But once he heard that she was merely the daughter of a Viscount, Zeta’s curiosity waned.

What Zeta needed was a woman who could reinforce his own shortcomings. Someone from a powerful family who could crush the rumors surrounding him with her status alone.

Rescuing the young lady running through the streets in tears had been purely coincidental. Only after seeing the fierce look Armin gave him for grabbing her arm did Zeta realize that she was the rumored Viscount’s daughter.

That look was sincere. Armin Grey truly loved that plain brown-haired girl.

It was around then that Zeta started hearing about Vivian Roha more frequently.

Word spread for days that she had received a medal for dramatically lowering illiteracy rates through her newspaper business. That she was the first woman in history to receive such an honor piqued his interest. But that was the extent of it.

Zeta had no deep interest in the woman Armin loved. At least, not at first. But when coincidences repeat, it becomes easier to call them fate.

When he heard that the young lady had saved his nanny in distress, Zeta felt a strange sensation stir in him. It was as if the name Vivian Roha kept circling around him, unwilling to leave.

‘Your Highness, listen carefully to your mother.’  

‘Yes, Mother.’  

‘The best things in the world—all of them—belong to you. That is the destiny already chosen for you.’

And so, his mother brought Vivian Roha to his side—unaware that she was the very woman Armin Grey held in his heart.

Meeting her in person, Zeta thought Vivian suited Armin well. She was transparent—a person whose kind and innocent heart showed plainly. Even without romantic feelings, he liked her. And she liked him too, though in a different way from how she looked at Armin. It was a different kind of friendship.

That was why Zeta had declined, politely. He had no desire to covet a woman his kin cared for. He didn’t want to be the unwelcome guest between them.

Looking back now, it was a dizzying memory. But having a wise mother who went ahead with things regardless of his refusal—that, among all the fortunate things in his life, was perhaps the greatest blessing.

When did he realize that what he thought was friendship was something deeper—more earnest?

It was probably when he saw her on the platform, defending him while wearing his mother’s green dress.

Even though her appearance had once seemed plain to him, at that moment, Vivian Roha looked like an angel descended from the heavens.

Her soft brown hair that looked like it would be smooth to the touch, her delicate, rabbit-like red eyes… When he danced with her for the first time, Zeta felt as though time had slowed. And only then did he recognize the emotion she stirred in him.

That he, too, desperately wanted the lady before him—the same woman Armin loved.

And finally, during the incident at Mikael’s exhibition, the Prince became certain: the heavens had destined her for him.

No matter how hard humans struggle, they cannot defy what the heavens have decided. Had Vivian Roha brought Armin Grey instead of the Duchess of Grey, things would not have unfolded this way.

The hot-tempered duchess, blunt and direct, offended the prideful Empress, who took great pride in being part of the Imperial family.

Normally, Zeta would have stepped in to restrain his mother. But this time, he didn’t. He encouraged her instead, satisfied with taking out her frustration on someone innocent. He was the one who arranged for them to be sent to the conflict zone.

They had no power to refuse this unfair command. And Zeta had every power to give it. That was the difference between him and Armin.

Zeta, who had spent his life reading the moods of others, recognized for the first time the power he held. Only then did he fully understand what his mother’s whispered words from childhood had meant:

That he would become the highest being in the empire, with the power to claim anything he desired.

Even if that meant taking the woman his own blood truly loved.

Just as becoming Emperor with age was the natural course of things, so too would his wife—the Crown Princess—become Empress.

She would become the most glorious, noble existence in the empire. Who could possibly refuse that place? Zeta believed that from the bottom of his heart. He knew well that the greatest wish of many young ladies was to marry a good husband.

Vivian Roha, with her gentle heart, might find it hard now to recover from the aftermath of her first love. But Zeta had faith.

Decades from now, when she had borne heirs to the Imperial bloodline and was around his mother’s age, she would smile as she looked back on this day. Despite all the adversity, she would be thankful for having chosen him—a generous and benevolent Emperor and husband—and would love and respect him all the more.

Zeta leaned back comfortably into the seat. There was no need to rush.

Soft-hearted Vivian Roha understood what he had said. With Armin’s and Alessandro’s lives at stake, she would quietly stay home and await the selection of Crown Princess, just as he ordered.

“Haha.”

A laugh escaped him. Time and power were on his side. There was no reason to hurry.