#74. Warning
Erze spoke with a resolute expression, as if gripped by some duty, and did not stop.
“You two were standing very close to one another, facing each other, and to anyone watching, the First Prince and the princess looked like they had an unusual relationship.”
“Ha…”
Khalid let out a deep sigh.
So this woman is saying that Belia and Raul have been deceiving him and are involved in some kind of relationship?
Erze’s face twisted as if she too found it painful to say such things.
“But if I was mistaken, the princess might be put in an awkward position… So I rescued her — but she said it was nothing… she said only that the First Prince had misunderstood her!” Erze looked somewhat angry.
There was no way to tell what had enraged her.
Khalid could only emit a stunned, half-amused snort.
“Rescued? By someone like you?”
“…What?”
Khalid un-crossed his legs and rose slowly. He approached Erze deliberately.
“What did you hope to accomplish by bringing this up?”
Khalid’s voice was flat and toneless, which made it even more menacing.
Erze looked at Khalid with trembling eyes. Khalid quietly wrapped one hand around her throat and whispered.
“I put up with your countless rudenesses because you were Belia’s guest. But this crosses the line.”
Seeing Erze’s terrified face, Khalid smiled pleasantly.
“Do I look like someone who’d listen to slander about Belia?”
If she had openly tried to seduce him, he might have been irritated but could have tolerated it. This was different. The idea that such a woman would dare reach for someone he was too wary to even touch enraged him.
Khalid tightened his grip on Erze’s throat little by little.
“Your Highness….” Erze gasped, her face drained white as she pleaded. Khalid watched her struggle in pain and, with an indifferent look, released his hand.
Then he whispered, low.
“You. Make sure I never see you again before I actually kill you.”
The calmness of his tone made the threat feel even crueler. Erze stared at Khalid, pale as paper.
Bang!
Without even looking at the door that had been thrown open, Raoul continued sorting the piled papers.
Khalid raised his lip and spoke.
“You’re not even going to acknowledge me now?”
“…What is it?”
Raoul finally looked up.
Khalid tossed whatever he had in his hand forward.
“…What’s this?”
Raoul asked in a hollow voice.
“You can see for yourself.”
On the floor lay someone bound from head to toe, groaning in pain.
“I brought them for you to deal with — someone you know well,” Khalid said, tilting a corner of his mouth.
“How considerate of me, huh?”
There was amusement in his tone.
Raoul glanced between Khalid and the figure on the floor and sighed.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Of course he didn’t.
This was one of the men Raoul had planted to spy on him — a man Khalid had hidden with care.
The owner of the room hadn’t even invited Khalid to sit, but Khalid took a seat on the sofa as if nothing was wrong and crossed his legs arrogantly.
“Ah, I’m thirsty. Is there anything to drink?”
“…How rude, Khalid.”
Raoul sighed again and signaled to a servant. The servant quietly led the bound person away.
“You’re the rude one, not me.”
“Are you going to tell me it wasn’t rude to drop in unannounced like this?”
Raoul sat opposite Khalid with an unwilling expression. Khalid kicked the table away with his foot and spoke in a very low, harsh voice.
“Tell me, brother… where did you put your conscience? Huh?”
Raoul knew perfectly well what Khalid was getting at but pretended ignorance with a calm face.
“Isn’t it disgraceful to flirt with the woman who’s supposed to marry my younger brother?”
Even after he had sent that woman out of his office last night, his anger had not subsided.
At first he was angry at Erze Kinetra for daring to drive a wedge between him and Belia, but that anger had shifted to Raoul.
There was no reason for Erze to come to him and say such things out of nowhere. So he’d called the maid who had gone to the greenhouse with them to hear the whole story. She said that Raoul, Belia, and Erze Kinetra had indeed walked the greenhouse together.
‘She may have changed the story to suit herself, but there must be some truth to it.’
Khalid cocked his head slightly.
“Of course Belia would be tempting. She’s so pretty, charming, overflowing with appeal. Right?”
“Are you being sarcastic?”
“Do you think I came all the way here just to be sarcastic?”
Khalid’s face went cold. He leaned forward, hands on the table, and moved very close to Raoul.
“I came to warn you.”
Khalid’s voice was rough and ragged as if scratched, and he issued the warning to Raoul.
“I have nothing to lose, but you do. You’re not the kind to give up everything you have — so why do you rush in like a moth to a flame?”
He couldn’t resist sneering.
“Maybe you thought you could take advantage of me because I’d tolerated you until now?”
Khalid felt like punching that arrogant face, but he held back. He didn’t want to escalate things and upset Belia. He gathered his patience and restrained himself.
“Even if you don’t stop, nothing will change.”
But Raoul touched one of Khalid’s last nerves.
“You might think you’ve won now. But…” Raoul smiled brightly.
“She was mine from the start.”
Khalid was momentarily speechless at Raoul’s words.
“…You’re delusional. Have you lost your mind?”
His attitude toward Belia was all wrong.
Belia was not an object. She wasn’t something to claim or possess.
“Kuk…” Raoul chuckled as if amused.
Khalid began to understand what Belia had meant when she said Raoul was behaving oddly.
When Raoul had spoken of Belia, his eyes had been entirely different — full of possessiveness and obsession. They were clouded and dark.
“Khalid. You wouldn’t understand. She belonged to me before you even reached for her. I was first. That’s an obvious fact, an unchanging truth.”
“…You’re insane.”
“Maybe I am. But—” Raoul leaned back on the sofa and crossed his arms leisurely, as if he were the victor.
“You don’t know anything.”
Everything Raoul did from head to toe irritated Khalid.
“Listen, brother.”
He’d been putting on a smart act lately, so why act like such an idiot now?
“Do you think I’ve been silent all this time for no reason?”
It wasn’t that he lacked the strength to act; he’d been waiting for the right moment. Raoul should know that.
Wasn’t that why Khalid had kept spies hidden nearby?
“You mean those paltry merchant companies, mercenaries, and guards? Of course you’ve hidden other things, too. But—” Raoul snorted lightly.
He met Khalid’s gaze and, as if stating a simple fact, spoke plainly.
“You have no power. No matter how much you struggle, you won’t be able to get out from under it.”
Khalid could no longer contain a laugh at that, but he soon lost interest in the conversation and rose.
“Fine. But from now on, I plan to take your possessions one by one.”
He had held more than his share for too long; it was time to redistribute.
Khalid left the office without regret, waving his hand.
“So watch closely. Make sure I don’t manage to take them all.”
Erze sat dazed on an ornate bed, lost in thought.
How had things come to this?
She had spent the whole day doing nothing but replaying events in her head.
But the despair kept returning and she covered her face with both hands, curling into a fetal ball as if to protect herself from external enemies. She muttered to herself.
“I wasn’t wrong…”
All her actions had come from goodwill.
So why was she being blamed?
‘Princess Belia is at fault. She’s the Second Prince’s, yet she speaks like that to the First Prince.’
Even the day she arrived at the palace, the two had spoken gravely.
Upon arriving at the palace she had dreamed of, she’d been cast aside like a piece of luggage, and Belia had been cold toward her.
‘I truly liked the princess….’
Erze felt as if she might cry.
Princess Belia was so beautiful it was almost unbelievable — elegant in speech and noble in behavior. The idea that someone so delicate could command so much made her all the more admirable.
She wanted to get closer. She wanted to be like Princess Belia.
‘But she wasn’t the princess I thought I knew…’
Erze bit her lip hard and clenched her fists.
She was angry. How could someone be so close with the charming Second Prince and still be talking with the First Prince! Was it not enough to have one man? Did she also want the First Prince in her hands?
Ever since coming to the palace, many had looked at her with resentment. Perhaps they were afraid of losing the attention and affection they might receive because of Belia.
It felt as if she had glimpsed a hidden side of Princess Belia.
“…It wasn’t a misunderstanding.”
Hadn’t the princess said it wasn’t an awkward situation? That the First Prince had only misunderstood something.
Erze had clearly heard the First Prince whisper that he loved her and that he would keep Belia by his side. Even so…
“The Second Prince is pitiful.”
If it were her, she wouldn’t have let it be this way.
If it were her, she could love only one person.
If it were her….
Inside Erze, admiration, jealousy, disappointment, and anger toward Belia churned in turmoil.
All those emotions eventually settled into pity for Khalid.
“The Second Prince loves the princess so much he can’t bear to accept reality.”
Erze would leave the palace tomorrow. Once she left, she might never see him again. So before that, she wanted to comfort Khalid.
He had threatened to kill anyone who caught his eye, but that had been said in pain. He was kind at heart. It couldn’t be sincere.
Erze closed her eyes.
‘I’ll tell him to be strong, that I’ll be by his side… Wouldn’t that make him feel better?’
If she comforted his wounds, maybe he would open his heart to her.
Her spirits lifted a little at the thought.
A small smile curved Erze’s lips as she believed she had found her answer.
