#35
A cool gaze began meticulously capturing the reactions of each person in the hall.
At that moment, only the prince’s image was in his mind.
Ersen, who had been trembling alone when he went beyond the curtains.
“……”
It was a state of terror obvious at a glance.
Skyle, who had stopped involuntarily then, soon approached the prince with his usual kind face.
While acting as if genuinely concerned.
Still, having observed him for several days, he naturally knew the prince wouldn’t lean on him.
But gentle actions have power. When they accumulate on the other person and cross a certain line, that wariness crumbles, and then the other person becomes unable to resist.
Sometimes a method that disarms the opponent more terribly than love.
The more secretive the prince was, the more consistently gentle the Archduke would be.
And from some point on, Skyle had been certain this gentleness would work on this person.
‘How long can you endure?’
The prince, drenched in cold sweat, was an especially deep color.
His black hair, white skin, and even his abyss-like pupils.
He, who had become vivid from head to toe, was hiding his body in the darkness, then revealed himself more clearly when Skyle approached.
Traces of pain could be seen beyond his trembling pupils.
Skyle used panic and worry as excuses to step closer to him, trapping the prince within the range he could control.
Naturally, without the prince knowing he was trapped.
“What happened?”
His nape was visible. Unlike the rumors that he was the embodiment of evil, it was a defenseless, white nape that could easily have its breath cut off if grabbed.
Breathing rougher than usual.
Pupils still faintly trembling with fear…
Gray and clear blue eyes met.
“A bad memory came to mind. I’m fine now.”
“A bad memory, suddenly? Here?”
The Archduke… Skyle knew the feeling when someone was charmed by him.
How simple charmed people became.
No matter how different their personalities, everyone became similar in the moment they were charmed.
Being led by his one glance, one gesture, acting submissively to Skyle without knowing they were doing so.
The prince blinked.
Light gradually returned to the eyes looking at Skyle.
Before regaining consciousness, and now too.
The prince was responding to him from the depths of his soul.
‘Why is that?’
He had never questioned such reactions.
Because he had no particular interest. He simply thought it was good to use when humans outside his circle acted that way.
However, the prince… had come to be in an ambiguous position.
Even if he might have committed acts deserving death, even if he was someone who absolutely needed to be guarded against, he was also someone who possessed what they needed most.
Since they had made a contract, the direction of Skyle’s actions should be more lenient.
So Skyle brought his face closer with a worried expression.
While finding out why the prince had suddenly been struck with terror, and trying to be affectionate to him.
However.
-Swoosh.
“……”
Skyle briefly stopped without showing it.
The prince had escaped from his domain.
Skyle immediately reacted to the unexpected situation and straightened his upper body.
Without taking his eyes off the prince even once.
“……I should have cleaned up. Tsk.”
What was clearly revealed was that he looked even whiter from the cold sweat flowing.
A thin, dry neck. When he had moved the collapsed prince, it hadn’t been this clean, so it felt like seeing something strange.
‘Something strange.’
Certainly- it is strange.
Skyle cut off the strangely moving flow of thought and briefly lowered his eyes.
Cool eyes briefly shone beneath elegantly drooping eyelashes.
“……”
Even though the prince was suspicious, he had always been consistent in front of Skyle.
He had never shown a fierce appearance.
‘Did it show because he had no composure? Or did he reveal it on purpose?’
Perhaps sensing his gaze, the prince stopped.
As if he had forgotten about him.
Skyle involuntarily raised the corners of his mouth slightly.
A calm gaze where the previous vulnerable appearance couldn’t be found, a mysterious smile.
Though it wasn’t much different from what he’d seen so far, strangely it didn’t provoke as much wariness as before.
The prince’s movement from moments ago was very natural, but Skyle was someone who instinctively noticed how charmed someone was by him. So Ersen was.
‘The latter.’
He had deliberately shown a fierce appearance in front of him.
‘Why?’
Because he had something to hide.
‘That appearance of being struck with terror must have been his real self.’
A weakness he didn’t want to reveal.
Skyle pretended to accommodate him and drew a thoughtful smile.
“……I’m glad you seem better. Shall we return to the hall?”
“Will you escort me too? Archduke, it’s troublesome if you keep being so kind.”
Black eyes drew a gentle arc.
Suddenly, he thought the prince’s gray eyes looked exactly like soot.
“My arm hurts, Your Highness.”
“You’re good at joking too. Anyway.”
Compared to his flowing actions, the sensation settling over Skyle’s outstretched hand was very careful.
As soon as the hand was placed, Skyle gently but firmly grasped it.
The hand, cold as a corpse, was ridiculously pitiful.
Because it was still trembling faintly.
‘What were you so afraid of?’
Who exactly was the person who touched our precious remedy?
Who, how, without anything touching.
‘How dare they.’
Uncharacteristically, without immediately thinking about appropriate timing to let go of the prince’s hand or excuses, Skyle led Ersen.
And from Ersen’s words.
“Hmm, but. We can’t use our dear Your Highness as bait, can we?”
“……”
He read impatience.
* * *
“What happened with Skyle?”
“……Uh, what?”
Of all things, it’s a slow song.
I inwardly sighed at a song I couldn’t just follow Theodore hyung-nim’s lead on, then looked up at the Crown Prince.
“Your gaze seems unusual.”
I caught my breath and chose my words for a moment.
‘Is it because I provoked him earlier with that bait comment?’
I briefly checked on him, surrounded by envious gazes.
Then I also met eyes with Lady Marsien, who was standing not far away looking this way.
When I naturally let my gaze flow and looked up at Theodore hyung-nim, I saw hyung-nim looking down at me with strange eyes.
“Are you curious?”
“Hmm. No, I can ask him directly. Rather, I’m curious about your condition right now.”
“Huh?”
I had asked mischievously, but the answer that came back was unexpected.
“Was it too much to move immediately after all?”
“Oh… because I was nervous,”
“Don’t say such nonsense.”
After coldly cutting off my words, hyung-nim slightly frowned and led me to a corner terrace.
With Skyle’s and Lady Marsien’s gazes following us lastly, the hall disappeared from view.
Standing alone on the quiet terrace for two, hyung-nim blocked my mouth as I was about to make a sarcastic remark and sat me on the sofa.
“Now tell me.”
“What?”
“What you gain by provoking Lady Marsien.”
“……I’m trying to throw bait to the half-demons.”
“As expected.”
As expected?
“You knew?”
When I asked with a strange smile, hyung-nim looked at me silently then nodded.
“At least I knew that you don’t spare your body to get what you want.”
“Hmm?”
Me? ……It seems a bit off the mark.
But before I could correct anything, hyung-nim continued in a cold tone.
“But this is something I can’t just overlook, so I need to hear it.”
“……?”
“Were you cursed?”
I blinked briefly.
“That state of yours, it suddenly became like that. If it’s not that your body is unwell, it can only be a curse.”
“Well.”
Should I say my body is unwell?
It seemed the state of being under fear magic was quite obvious.
‘Strange.’
There’s no way anyone would notice I’m sick just from cold sweat.
Even when my condition became extremely bad due to mana sickness, no one properly noticed my state.
Unless I collapsed or vomited blood…
Then I belatedly realized.
‘Ah, right now I’m said to be a precious ability user.’
Right, then that explains the Archduke’s subtle reaction earlier too.
He was, in other words, definitely not looking at me strangely because I was suspicious, but was truly worried about my condition itself.
“……Why are you smiling?”
The corners of my mouth keep twitching.
I quickly shook my head and put strength into my lips, but hyung-nim was still looking at me with eyes that saw something strange.
“Well, um.”
I can’t hide this.
I cleared my throat, then responded with a squirming smile.
“It seems our Your Highness is too innocent, so I couldn’t help…”
“Inno… cent…”
“Ah, no.”
I let out a giggling laugh, then seeing hyung-nim’s face growing cold, I shrugged.
And leaning back against the backrest in a somewhat relaxed posture, I said to him.
“I told the Archduke I wanted to use Your Highness as bait. That’s why he’s acting like that, and I’m…”
The fear magic happened to be getting stronger.
“Looking for other bait to do this.”
“What?”
“Bait for… bait, you could say.”
When I said this while even winking, he began looking at me like I was crazy.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
