Masera closed his eyes, thinking of the necklace around Cynthia’s white, slender neck.
The red necklace that killed his mother. The hated royal blood that killed his father and stole his ordinary life.
Despite his efforts to sever ties, her eyes, like red roses blooming amidst the blizzard, flickered in his mind.
Why?
The more he thought of her, the more his chest tightened. Even though it shouldn’t be happening.
Masera exhaled a cloudy breath and swept back his platinum blonde hair.
It was because he had realized that the emotion he felt when he saw Carlos earlier was close to jealousy.
* * *
At that moment, Carlos was approaching Valeria, asking her to dance.
Although he didn’t feel like it, he had to show courtesy as her partner.
“Alright.”
He headed to the dance hall with Valeria, who accepted his offer. She didn’t ask anything about the earlier embrace.
Carlos couldn’t concentrate while dancing and was lost in other thoughts.
Every time he recalled the contemptuous look Cynthia had given him, his throat felt parched and his insides burned.
‘How can she be so confident when she’s the one with the weakness?’
He couldn’t shake the feeling that the power dynamic was starting to shift.
Meanwhile, Valeria’s lips twisted as she watched Carlos move listlessly.
There was no way she wouldn’t notice that he was preoccupied.
“I’ll go talk to the ladies.”
After one song, Valeria turned her back on him immediately.
‘If I can become a Queen, not just a Princess Consort, then that much is just a minor flaw…’
She had heard about the plan to restore the monarchy from her father.
Her father said that even if it wasn’t the Republic of Rutemia, they could establish a monarchy in one of the colonies returned by the defeated empire.
‘So, it’s important to have people on my side.’
In her judgment, Helene didn’t seem to have a good relationship with her younger sister, Cynthia. Judging from her displeased gaze, it seemed more like a rivalry.
After sorting out her thoughts, Valeria approached Helene and requested a private conversation.
As they headed to the lounge area of the banquet hall, Valeria asked directly.
“Duchess, I know this is a rude question, but since we’ll be family soon, I feel like I need to know. Are the rumors about Prince Carlos and Princess Cynthia true?”
Helene tilted her head, feigning ignorance.
“What rumors?”
Valeria said with a calm face.
“There are unsavory rumors going around. Stories that the two of them have feelings for each other that go beyond siblings.”
“Surely not.”
In fact, Helene had been subtly spreading the rumors from behind the scenes, but she smiled and shook her head.
Valeria’s father, the Prime Minister, had promised the ‘Queensguard family’s entry into politics’ as a condition for the marriage.
But if she readily agreed with Valeria’s question, she could be held responsible.
‘Of course, even if it were true, the Prime Minister would push for his daughter’s marriage no matter what.’
No matter what kind of scandal erupted, it wouldn’t stop Carlos from becoming the Prime Minister’s son-in-law. After all, the marriage was just a transaction between families.
But from Helene’s perspective, it wasn’t bad for Valeria to marry with lingering doubts. She would gradually hate Carlos and look for someone to rely on.
‘I’ll make Valeria and the Prime Minister my connections, and then bankrupt Carlos with a divorce later.’
To Helene, Carlos was not family but a competitor.
Helene, who sneered inwardly, continued softly.
“My older brother is just particularly attentive to our sensitive youngest sibling. But I’ll mediate well in the middle, so you don’t have to worry about that.”
As Helene hoped, Valeria made a reluctant expression of agreement.
At that, Helene smiled inwardly with satisfaction.
It was a perfect opportunity to reduce Carlos’s standing and bring Valeria to her side.
“Lady Valeria, if you have any concerns, come to me anytime. You’re going to be my family too.”
“Duchess… Thank you for listening, even though it was an uncomfortable topic.”
‘I was right. She doesn’t seem to like her siblings.’
Of course, Valeria was also convinced that she was on her side after seeing her reaction.
No matter how good nobles were at wearing masks, there had to be some reaction, like frowning at negative stories about family.
After Valeria returned to the banquet hall, Helene summoned someone and gave them a secret instruction.
“Give this note to Carlos.”
* * *
At the banquet hall, Carlos was receiving attention from many women.
“Are you going to continue staying in the capital?”
“What are your hobbies?”
The fact that he was a prince with an attractive appearance, and that he hadn’t appeared in the capital’s high society until now, made him an object of curiosity.
Just as Carlos was wearing only a perfunctory smile, someone approached.
“A lady asked me to deliver this.”
A servant wearing a mask, whose face could not be seen, placed a note in his hand and disappeared.
Carlos unfolded the note with a puzzled expression.
“…”
The note said to come to her room without anyone knowing.
There was no sender, but only one person came to his mind.
Carlos headed straight to Cynthia’s room.
He knocked on the door several times, but no answer came. Did she fall asleep for a moment?
Carlos carefully opened the door and witnessed an unexpected sight.
“What are you doing…”
It was an unnatural situation, with a maid in a maid uniform holding a sleeping Cynthia.
The maid smiled awkwardly.
“I was about to wash her.”
Carlos looked at Cynthia, who was fast asleep.
She seemed to have fallen asleep after taking some kind of drug, so who sent the note asking him to come to the room? The more he thought about it, the stranger it seemed.
“Instead of wiping her with a wet towel, is there a reason to wash her in the bathroom?”
At Carlos’s question, the maid’s expression began to harden.
“I guess it’s not just a saying that you’re lucky. To come at this exact moment.”
Carlos stepped back, hearing the maid’s cold voice.
“What does that mean…”
In fact, the woman was a member of the Free Council who had infiltrated disguised as a maid.
She had planned to kidnap Cynthia during the time when the guards were changing shifts, but Carlos had arrived at the perfect time thanks to the fake note sent by Helene, and she had been caught.
“Well, isn’t this an opportunity to take two royals who have been hiding like bugs and suddenly appeared?”
The disguised maid smiled brightly and pointed a gun at Carlos.
Just as Carlos was panicking, someone threw a cloth over his head.
Carlos soon lost consciousness.
“Hmm?”
The disguised maid checked the note that Carlos had dropped and chuckled.
“He’ll probably think it’s a forbidden love affair.”
Copying handwriting was a piece of cake.
* * *
Masera, who had left the banquet hall, hurriedly headed to Cynthia’s room.
“The maid who was taking care of Cynthia was called away for other urgent matters. You should go quickly.”
Helene had told him, but in reality, it was a scheme to show him Carlos and Cynthia together in one room.
Unbeknownst to her, the plan had gone awry.
‘The door is open.’
Masera, who arrived in front of the room, felt something was wrong and muffled his footsteps. A cold wind was seeping through the crack in the door.
Knowing that the window was open, he took out a gun from his pocket and slowly entered the room.
Whoosh-
The wide-open window and the curtains fluttering in the wind caught his eye. The room was empty.
“…”
Cynthia had disappeared.
He picked up the note on the bed. And he stared intently at the writing on the note.
Come to my room without anyone knowing. It’s our chance to run away together.
