Ayla squatted down on the handkerchief Winfred laid out with an awkward expression. This was because it was the first time that anyone other than her biological parents and the servants of her duchy had treated her with such consideration.
“thank you.”
As Ayla sat down on the handkerchief, Winfred again stretched out on his arm and looked at the stars.
“Thanks to meeting an amazing person like you, I got to see the stars from the roof. “I am truly grateful.”
Winfred smiled purely and looked at the twinkling stars. That sight somehow made her heart feel warm, So Ayla smiled slightly and raised her head to look at the sky.
The Milky Way was flowing, shining brightly as if it were about to pour down.
“So, let’s continue what we were talking about. “You’re so cool.”
She thought the praise was over, but Winfred said another embarrassing line.
He thinks she’s cool. Hearing this compliment for the first time in her life, Ayla repeated Winfred’s words in her mouth. Because she had never thought of it like that before.
No, on the contrary, she mocked herself and said that she was embarrassed to show off such skills.
“Am I cool?”
In a somber voice, Ayla asked Winfred if she had erred, as she felt strange hearing a compliment she had never considered.
In general, it was more common to compliment women by saying they were pretty or beautiful rather than complimenting them by saying they were cool.
“No, that! I didn’t mean it in a bad way… … .”
But as Winfred looked at Ayla’s face, he saw that wasn’t the reason she was upset.
There was a pain inside that Winfred could not easily say he understood.
“You’re cool. And, it’s pretty.”
Winfred blushed shyly.
Ayla is pretty. Her small face and dense facial features were cute and pretty. Beautiful, straight eyes, and small, red lips.
And even his indifferent expression was charming.
Even though she was still a young girl, she was this pretty. It made him wonder what she would look like when she became an adult.
“… … Thank you,”
Ayla said in a dazed voice. “How many times do we say thank you to each other?”
While thinking such unbecoming thoughts, she was looking into Winfred’s honest eyes as he stared at her. A thought suddenly occurred to her.
The golden eyes of the future crown prince, similar to Byron. And, what Byron said to his dying father.
What Roderick said was, ‘I gave my place to my brother.’
‘No way, Byron is the emperor’s biological brother, right?’
A little while ago, Winfred’s praise, which she was embarrassed to hear, made her heart tingle, but that feeling disappeared in an instant.
“Hey, Winfred, did you say that?”
She wondered for a moment if she could just call the name of the person who would become the crown prince, but since it was an opportunity to clearly know Byron’s identity, Ayla called his name.
“Huh. “You can call me Win.”
Winfred smiled brightly and went even further, asking to be called by her nickname, revealing Ayla’s worries.
“… … Yes, Winfred. “Can I ask you something?”
Ayla, lightly ignoring his request, asked with an expressionless face. It was too overbearing to call it an attitude toward the crown prince of an empire, but he smiled brightly as if he even liked Ayla’s attitude.
No matter what she asks, He will answer it.
“… … “Do you have an uncle?”
However, in response to Ayla’s subsequent question, Winfred’s expression darkened.
This was because the uncle’s story was a dark story about the imperial family that everyone in the Peles Empire knew. He wondered why Ayla didn’t know that, but it was another matter to reveal the family’s private information with her own mouth.
But it was the other person who actually gave him his life back. Winfred appeared to have made up his mind as he opened his mouth.
“Huh. there is. No, there was. Byron Lionel Vito Peles.”
When Byron’s name came out of his mouth, Ayla let out a sigh.
Rather than saying it consciously, it was more like a sigh that came out unconsciously due to the pleasure that came from finally knowing the true nature of the enemy.
“Why is it in the past tense?”
Ayla asked cautiously.
Of course, she had an expectation, but she wanted to confirm it directly from Winfred’s mouth.
If Byron, a prince in name, was to commit a crime that would make him a criminal and be chased, there was only one. The phrase that she read in Byron’s letter, ‘I tried to hunt an old lion and failed,’ was also the same.
It was hard to believe, and it was an outrageous act.
“Whoa, that’s it… … .”
In response to Ayla’s next question, Winfred sighed deeply and opened his mouth. However, what came out of his mouth was not an answer to her question, but a question.
“But, are you from the Peles Empire? Are you a foreigner? “This story is very famous.”
She might not have heard of it because she was young, but it was questionable that Ayla, who was incredibly smart for a twelve-year-old, didn’t know about this famous incident.
“… … There’s a reason. “You’re from the Empire.”
When she answered with a bitter expression, Winfred’s eyes, who had been looking at her with suspicion, drooped. He felt a deep wound that he shouldn’t touch.
“Ten years ago, he committed a treason. He attempted to assassinate His Majesty the Emperor, who was also my grandfather and my uncle’s biological father.”
He tried to kill his biological father.
It was something she had expected, but when she heard that something like that had actually happened, Ayla’s mouth fell open as she realized how vicious a person Byron was.
“why… … ?”
“… … Not Byron, who was the eldest son, but the current Emperor, who was the second son. In other words, he elevated my father to the position of the crown prince. While my father was on his journey to be appointed crown prince, he caused a treason.”
But he was trying to kill his biological father. I really couldn’t understand it. No, there was no need to understand. Such a devil’s heart.
“I heard that they almost succeeded. But the Weishafen Knights rescued my grandfather. Byron escaped. I don’t know the details. I was only four years old when it happened.”
The Emperor, who was devastated by the shock of being almost murdered by his son, ended his story by saying that he had been sick the entire time and had passed away three years ago.
Winfred looked apologetic, but Ayla shook her head. This was more than enough information.
And there was a moment of silence between them. It was a story too dark to be a conversation between twelve and fourteen-year-olds sitting on a roof.
Ayla was lost in thought in silence. Now she clearly knows Byron’s identity. Who he is and what his planning.
These were facts that she found out much faster than expected and with luck.
In that case, it might be okay to return to the duchy now.
‘no.’
Ayla shook her head. She didn’t have anything to prove her identity right now. In her last life, she entered the duchy at the age of 16, bringing with her an old pendant.
A pendant that Byron gave her, saying it would be proof that she was a princess. She needed the necklace with the name Ayla engraved on the back to prove that she was a princess.
and… … .
‘I want to get revenge on that devil in the same way.’
The moment she achieved her life’s goal, the pain of being betrayed by the person she trusted more than anyone else in the world. She wanted to give him that pain.
Every time she faced Byron, every time she felt like she was walking on a single tree bridge, she constantly thought about running away.
Although she couldn’t fully convey the despair she felt to Byron, she had to endure it to make Byron feel at least a tenth of that.
They had to make them believe that things were going smoothly.
When she was vowing bloody revenge.
Winfred, who had been silent in the dark atmosphere, smiled brightly and opened his mouth as if to change the atmosphere.
“Oh, right. I forgot. Take this. “It’s proof that you are my lifesaver.”
He thought she wouldn’t have to go through the trouble of refusing because a drunk man suddenly appeared and passed by. Winfred stubbornly held out his pocket watch again.
Thanks to this, Ayla had no choice but to forcibly shake off the dark thoughts that were bothering her.
“That is… …. I am grateful, but I am sorry. “Even if I get this, I don’t think I’ll be able to keep it.”
“What does that mean?”
When Ayla opened her mouth as if she was sorry, he gave an expression that he couldn’t understand. As a prince who was raised with honor, it was something that could not be understood by a being who had everything controlled to the point where he couldn’t even have a single thing of his own.
“… … “If I have such a valuable item, I will be embarrassed if they catch me sneaking out at night.”
“You can hide it, right?”
In response to Winfred’s question, Ayla closed her mouth with a sad smile as if she was embarrassed. It was difficult for her to even hide a small glass bottle.
At this, Winfred was lost in thought, messing up her black hair as if she had a hard time.
“Is it difficult to hide it? Well, I’ll solve that too.”
What and how are they going to solve it? Ayla, embarrassed, opened her mouth to ask, but before she could, Winfred whistled.
She wondered if it was a whistle in the middle of the night, but Ayla’s eyes widened at the scene that unfolded before her.
Between Winfred and Ayla, a box decorated with jewels suddenly appeared.
