TMLITTKM | CHAPTER 38

Chapter 38

Vincent’s words left Zeiss looking more flustered than expected.

“There’s no need to take things to such an extreme, is there?

After all, she is your fiancée, and Lady Wentworth is still…”

Zeiss trailed off, glancing toward Amelia through the glass window.

“And Lady Wentworth is what?”

When Vincent pressed him, Zeiss quickly waved his hand.

He had almost said the empire’s greatest beauty, but realised this was not the moment.

“No, nothing at all.

It’s just… when a man and woman in their prime live under the same roof, it’s not strange for feelings to grow.”

“That will never happen.”

At Vincent’s sharp retort, Zeiss dropped the subject.

Regretting that he had asked in the first place, he shifted awkwardly and decided to change the topic.

Work was always the best way to break the tension.

“That request you made of my father earlier, I think he’ll take it up readily, so you needn’t worry.”

“The House of Royce has long been a loyal friend of the crown. I’ve no reason to doubt them.”

“True enough. The Wentworths were the same in the beginning though.”

When Zeiss spoke with regret, Vincent replied coolly.

“The Wentworths betrayed us over a century ago.”

Both the Royce and Wentworth families had once stood with the Fitzroy line to establish the Arthurian Empire, among its greatest founding houses.

But once the empire stabilised, the Wentworths shifted focus to their own profit, clashing with the crown time and again until they became the figureheads of the noble faction.

The third ducal line, the Priums, was a different case altogether.

The Prium family had been chieftains of a northern border tribe, and when their lands and people were absorbed into the empire, the crown had granted them a dukedom.

Given their distant lands and separate culture, they lived largely apart from the imperial centre.

The crown, in turn, allowed them broad autonomy, only maintaining basic communication and support.

In generous words, this was recognition.

In harsher ones, it was neglect.

“By the way, Your Highness, how did you manage to draw in the Wentworth Duke’s man? What was his name again?”

“Stefan.”

“Yes, Stefan. He handled outside business for the Duke, didn’t he?”

“That’s right. But his ties to the Duke were never bound by loyalty.”

“Then what bound him?”

“Interest.”

“Ah. Still, the Duke must have invested heavily in this matter. Stefan played a crucial role.”

“Yes. Which is why I had to promise him something the Duke could never give.”

Something Wentworth could not offer, but the crown prince could.

What could that be?

Zeiss rolled his eyes in thought but finally gave up, staring at Vincent instead.

“I promised him a barony. Non-hereditary, but a title nonetheless.”

“Oh. Yes, that would tempt him.”

Vincent could not grant a formal peerage—that was the emperor’s prerogative—but both empress and crown prince could grant a barony.

Though without land or succession, it was still a noble rank, and nobles were nobles in the empire’s eyes.

Even that much of an elevation changed a man’s life.

He could use banks freely.

He could send children to the Academy.

He could launch ventures with fewer restrictions.

Compared to the common masses, it was an immense head start.

“Still, you’ll need justification, won’t you? You can’t simply hand him a title out of nowhere.”

“Justification can be created. I’ll say he saved me on the street, or something like that.”

Would a shop clerk ever truly have the chance to rescue the empire’s crown prince on the road?

Perhaps not.

But if the crown prince said it was so, who would dare argue?

“Then, when the time comes, the Duke will realise what happened. That will be a sight worth seeing.”

“Indeed.”

The Duke’s carefully laid plans would collapse, and with them, his long-cultivated reputation.

Vincent’s eyes shifted toward Amelia, still lying unconscious.

His lips tightened.

And that is why I cannot be with Amelia Wentworth.

Even if not for vengeance for his death in a former life, the truth remained the same.

Even without that, he could never have accepted her.

Vincent and Zeiss lingered on the terrace, speaking of this and that for a long while.

***

“…”

It seemed they had no idea.

The terrace windows weren’t soundproof at all.

Which meant I had heard every word, from beginning to end.

For me, learning about their future plans and what was already set in motion was valuable.

Even knowing the outline of events, it was never easy to grasp exactly how far the crown prince had advanced things.

I tried to order my thoughts, but one phrase from earlier kept breaking through my focus.

If I truly loved a woman like that, I would be mad. And a madman cannot inherit the throne, so I would rather relinquish my place as crown prince.

Sharp.

I already knew this truth, but hearing it spoken so clearly… should I call it a gift?

Yes, I had known.

His smiles and his kindness were nothing but pretence.

But even so, some small part of me ached to hear it aloud.

What is this?

Have I grown attached already?

Or had I been… hoping?

When he saved me in the garden maze, perhaps I had hoped.

Hoped that he had recognised I was different now, that perhaps he had cast away his resentment toward Amelia.

Even if his warmth and smiles were feigned, the events of yesterday alone had been enough to mislead me.

But now I knew better.

And yet, the words would not leave me.

They circled in my chest, clawing deep into my heart.

Heat rose again, pain throbbed behind my eyes, and the world swayed.

I shut my eyes as drowsiness overtook me once more.

I needed to sleep.

As I drifted into slumber, I heard Dr. Resa’s voice explaining something about medicine to someone else.

My body was lifted, tilted back, and a bitter liquid slid into my mouth.

Not poison, surely, I thought idly, and swallowed.

Then I was eased back onto the bed.

My eyelids remained heavy, too drowsy to open.

A cool hand touched my forehead.

I thought it pleasant.

And I wondered vaguely whose hand it was.

Was it Dr. Resa? But for a physician, the hand felt too large…

The medicine must have been laced with drowsy herbs, because I sank into deeper sleep.

***

So that’s the same man who just called her repulsive?

From a distance, Zeiss watched Vincent, an incredulous smile tugging at his lips.

Just moments ago, they had been talking casually, when Vincent had suddenly cut off mid-conversation and gone back inside.

Zeiss soon realised why.

Dr. Resa had arrived with the medicine.

And what did that have to do with him?

Surely Resa would handle everything.

Yet Vincent had questioned him about every ingredient.

He had supported Amelia himself so she could take the medicine with ease.

And when it was done, he laid her back down and brushed her forehead with his hand, gazing at her endlessly.

With eyes so tender.

He said he would rather give up the throne than love her? Then perhaps Prince Noel will be the crown prince after all.

Zeiss felt the urge to shove a mirror before his face.

Because what he saw was not a pretence.

Anyone could see it—the look of a man helplessly smitten.

Shaking his head, Zeiss slipped quietly out, pausing only to glance back and whistle under his breath.

“Lucky bastard.”