Chapter 10
At that moment—
“…Can’t I go?”
Suddenly, someone interrupted the conversation.
It was Noah.
‘What? I made sure he was asleep before I left!’
Janet turned pale.
Big, teary violet eyes looked up at her.
“I really wanted to go on the picnic. Lady Sayers said she’d make mojitos too…”
“Don’t worry, Your Highness the Second Prince.”
Eugenie quickly stepped in.
She crouched down to meet Noah’s eye level and smiled warmly.
“Lady Macray cares about you very much, Your Highness.”
Then, she glanced sideways at Janet.
“Since His Highness wants to go this badly, there’s no way she wouldn’t let him. Right?”
There was a sharp blade hidden in her voice, as soft as a spring breeze.
That blade stabbed Janet straight in the back.
“…Of course. Naturally,” Janet replied through clenched teeth.
She immediately tried to pick Noah up in her arms.
“I thought you were asleep. Why did you come out here? I’ll take you back to your bedroom.”
“No.”
Noah took a few steps back and clutched tightly at Eugenie’s skirt.
His eyes were filled with fear.
“…I’m scared.”
Only then did Janet realize what she had done.
She had raised her voice and acted violently in front of a young prince—someone whose favor she should have been earning.
Noah had every reason to be frightened.
And then, he dropped a bomb.
“I’m going to sleep with Lady Sayers tonight.”
No way!
Janet looked at Noah, shocked and devastated.
But from Noah’s perspective, he had no other choice.
Unlike Janet, who had been angry with him all day, Eugenie had remained calm and gentle.
She hadn’t scared him at all.
“I guess there’s no helping it,” Eugenie sighed and stood up.
“Tonight, I’ll put His Highness to bed.”
“L-Lady Sayers!”
Janet tried to stop her, but she couldn’t prevent Noah from diving into Eugenie’s arms.
Holding him gently, Eugenie cast a fleeting glance at Janet.
“Then have a restful night, Lady Macray.”
With those final words—
Click.
The door closed.
‘That damn woman!!’
Janet glared at the closed door with a murderous look.
Noah whimpered in Eugenie’s arms for a long while before finally drifting off to sleep.
Eugenie carefully pulled the blanket up to cover his neck.
‘He must’ve been really scared…’
Until now, Noah had trusted and followed Janet like a mother.
To see her act violently must have left a deep scar on his heart.
‘What am I supposed to do about this…?’
A look of pity appeared on Eugenie’s face.
Then, the child mumbled something faintly.
“…Ma…”
Huh?
Eugenie turned her gaze to him.
At that moment, a tear slipped down from Noah’s tightly shut eyes.
“Mom.”
Eugenie’s shoulders stiffened.
Amelia.
She wasn’t elaborated on much in the original novel.
All that was mentioned was that she was Noah’s mother and a former lady-in-waiting to the now-retired Empress Dowager.
It was said she was very beautiful and kind, and well-loved by both the current Emperor and the Empress Dowager.
While Amelia was alive, even the atmosphere of the palace had been softer.
Come to think of it, on the day Noah was executed—
There had been a scene where the Emperor confessed his true feelings to the female lead.
Always composed and strong, the Emperor had, for once, appeared completely broken as he looked at her.
‘Maybe it’s all my fault that Noah went so astray.’
‘Cedric.’
‘I should’ve paid more attention to him.’
His dignified violet eyes slowly welled with tears.
‘I overlooked the fact that… he might’ve felt lonely.’
The Emperor clenched his fist tightly.
Unable to suppress the emotion welling up inside him, his hand trembled violently.
‘When Lady Amelia passed away, Noah was only three years old.’
The Emperor gritted his teeth.
‘I should’ve cared more for him…’
Drip.
A tear fell along his sharp jawline.
The female lead had been deeply shocked to witness this vulnerable side of His Majesty for the first time.
After that, she devoted herself to healing his wounds.
Their romance grew even deeper from there.
But—
‘So what if he regretted it?’
Eugenie let out a deep sigh.
‘In the end, Noah still died at the execution grounds.’
Noah, who had spent his entire life in loneliness.
The male lead—the Emperor—had the female lead to comfort him.
But Noah, until the very end when he vanished from the world—
‘…He was completely alone.’
Eugenie’s eyes darkened.
Then—
Noah, half-asleep, snuggled deeper into her arms.
“Mmng…”
Burying his face against her chest, he whimpered softly in his sleep.
Eugenie let out a small chuckle without realizing it.
“Honestly, Your Highness. How are you this cute?”
But her smile quickly faded.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.
She didn’t even have enough energy to ensure her own survival—
‘And yet, I can’t stop worrying about Noah.’
But she also couldn’t just push this child away harshly.
‘In that case…’
Eugenie’s soft eyes suddenly sharpened.
‘I’ll have to win over His Majesty somehow.’
To be honest, the picnic could be arranged without dipping into the reserve funds.
During the conversation with Janet earlier, Eugenie had deliberately referred to “the budget” instead.
It was to keep Janet from realizing she was suspicious of the reserve funds.
If Noah insisted on going on the picnic, Janet would probably allow it—just to avoid drawing suspicion to herself.
‘So what I need to do now is—’
Make the picnic big enough in scale to require the use of the reserve funds.
And involve someone with enough power that Janet wouldn’t dare interfere.
In terms of status and Noah’s connection—
No one was more suitable than the Emperor himself.
‘Who would’ve thought my experience of crushing on the Emperor would actually come in handy one day?’
Her rose-colored eyes glinted darkly.
Who was Eugenie Sayers?
Once a lady-in-waiting of the imperial palace, and someone who had pined for the Emperor from the beginning to the end of the original novel.
Naturally, she knew his schedule by heart.
And the best place to run into him naturally would be…
The next day.
Eugenie went out for a short trip.
She had two goals for the outing.
First, she needed to have cocktail-making tools crafted.
‘Up until now, I’ve been relying on instinct.’
But she had made a promise to Noah.
That she would make him a lime mojito during the picnic.
So instead of continuing to wing it, she planned to make it properly with the right equipment.
She intended to place a private request with the palace blacksmith.
‘Thankfully, the author didn’t bother with overly detailed worldbuilding.’
Eugenie shrugged lightly.
Other than the currency, all the measurement units used were the same as her previous life.
‘Seriously, using milliliters (ml) in a romance-fantasy world? Is that for real?’
Still, it worked in her favor.
There would be no unit discrepancies when requesting cocktail tools.
And her second goal—
‘A natural encounter with His Majesty.’
Honestly, this was far more important than the cocktail equipment.
As befitting a male lead in a romance-fantasy novel, the Emperor was not only skilled in administration but also in swordsmanship.
They didn’t call him the strongest knight in the Empire for nothing.
Despite his busy schedule, he regularly made time to train with the knights and sometimes even demonstrated sword techniques for them.
‘Especially since he personally maintains the sword he uses, right?’
For that reason, it was said that whenever there were training sessions with the Imperial Knights, the Emperor always stopped by the forge.
And today just so happened to be—
‘A training day for the knights!’
