CH 107

‘…Am I going to go crazy with those words?’

Tuk!

Without thinking much, I covered Sislin’s mouth with both hands.

“Please stop talking, Your Highness!”

The red eyes that gazed at the girl’s little hands curled up playfully. He had the eyes of a boy.

Chuu, voluminous lips kissed my palm.

“……!”

I got angry and shook my hand away, eyes becoming brightly raised.

“I really can’t let my guard down even for a moment.”

“Be careful.”

“No.”

I opened the carriage door wide.

Then, with a finger, I confidently pointed outside.

“Please leave!”

“…….”

Hui-yi-ing– Dageuka, dageuka.

The carriage was running as fast as the wind. The energetic and strong horses were stomping their feet vigorously.

She wanted him to drop off?

Getting off here would usually break one’s neck.

Sislin raised his thick eyebrows and said sternly.

“From this running carriage? …That’s too much, Annette. To tell the Crown Prince of a country to jump off a moving carriage and die.”

“You’re not going to die like this! Your Highness is incredibly strong…”

‘And don’t say ‘Crown Prince’ only when you’re at a disadvantage, Sislin.’

Regarding the back story, I didn’t have much to say, so I didn’t say anything. Because I was the first to draw the line of “Your Highness the Crown Prince’.

‘…But it’s cheap of you to copy me.’

“Annette.”

“Yes?”

All of a sudden, the playful eyes had returned to the usual Sislin’s.

I gazed into them as if attracted by those red eyes.

“Think seriously. Being my wife makes it easier for me to protect you. No one would dare…”

His calloused hand brushed my cheek.

“They can’t touch you.”

His voice was low and firm, but gentle like a lover.

“Because that is the purpose of my becoming the Crown Prince.”

No, the purpose of his life.

The only.

“To put you in the highest place, Annette.”

Those red eyes were imbued with persistent longing and affection.

There was a feeling of danger and fear as if caught in a trap, and at the same time, those eyes made it strangely exciting.

To become ensnared in the trap…

…It was like becoming the master who completely owned and ruled the most honorable man in El Dorado.

Around the time when I was experiencing that contradictory and peculiar feeling.

Sislin smiled and kissed my cheek.

“……!”

Then he jumped off the moving carriage and disappeared, just like when he got on the carriage without any problems. As though it had been a lie.

“Ha…”

Tak—

I closed the carriage door.

It felt as if I had been released from hypnosis, and now I could barely breathe in the narrow space.

I looked out the window.

“…….”

The scenery that dashed backwards was the same, but the temperature had changed significantly.

His hot body temperature was still around.

—Very vividly and clearly.

━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━

“It’s been a while, Duke.”

Gerard looked down at the pale, skinny woman lying in the dimly lit room.

She was unconscious and stayed in bed, barely nurtured by magical powers.

Her honey-like hair, resembling Annette’s, still shone brilliantly, but it’s been a long time since her pale green eyes had seen the world.

“She has become more beautiful than ever.”

He remembered the first time he saw her. She was pregnant and about to give birth.

In his ‘casted’ eyes, there was a strong and radiant soul.

She had a pretty useful child.

Gerard, then a boy, had pursued her obsessively.

It was so confusing whether he wanted the child or the widow who lost her husband on the battlefield.

He didn’t mean to hurt her at first.

“The child’s soul is special. If she promises to become my strength after awakening in the future… It guarantees a future that couldn’t be more brilliant for the duke and the child.”

Since she was a woman who was pregnant with a child without a husband, he thought she would be shaken.

But she was very strong.

“Prince, I will let my child live the life she wants.”

She protectively wrapped her round belly and firmly refused.

“This child is neither my possession nor the prince’s tool. Please leave.”

Gerard eventually cursed her.

He did suffer a deep blow himself because he couldn’t properly handle the powers of Venénum, but he just had to have the child and his anger was great.

‘How dare. You.’

After that, the duke, who had been weakening day by day, barely gave birth and collapsed unconscious.

Gerard took the duke’s newborn baby away when she fell, but left her breathing.

Venénum asked,

[Why are you keeping that duke alive? Gerard.]

“If her first daughter is trash that can’t awaken… I’ll have to use that woman as a field to cultivate a wonderful soul.”

Gerard was already a monster, not a boy.

Crazed by entitlement from birth, he became dirty and uglier with growth.

His eyes gleamed in the darkness.

“The Duke of Valienne.”

Gerard grabbed a handful of her hair, barely exhaling.

“Your daughter has wonderfully awakened Exordium. I finally got my hands on her. Very… It took a long time.”

“…….”

Darling to smell the scent of her hair, Gerard’s eyes glistened with glee.

“You should have listened to me sooner.”

‘If you did, you and your daughter would have enjoyed wealth and fame in my arms.’

‘You’re so stupid to end up like this.’

“Your daughter will eventually come to El Dorado, but she will not see her mother alive for a second.”

The twinkling eyes looked down at the unconscious woman in front of him.

“—You will die.”

“…….”

Annette had awakened, so there was no need for a good field any more.

It was right to remove any buds that could get in the way.

Susu—

Red energy from Gerard’s hand seeped into her forehead.

“……!”

The Duke of Valienne, who was lying like a corpse, gasped slightly.

“You’re stupid.”

Gerard shook his head coldly.

“If you had accepted my offer and my heart, you could have become the Empress.”

He took the duke’s breath and disappeared from the room as naturally as a snake.

The fact that an outsider had entered or left the duke’s room, no one in the ducal residence knew. Like, a human without life force.

━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━

“Sister.”

“Oh, what a surprise!”

When I was almost at the destination, the door of the carriage opened again and someone came in.

—It was Heinrich.

‘…Is it so easy to get on a moving carriage?’

‘Who’s next, Kyle?’

I automatically turned inward this time, and looked out the window.

“Heinrich, is this carriage just pretending to move?”

“Why…?”

The beautiful eyes narrowed. The girl shook her head in surprise.

“Nothing.”

‘What do you mean ‘Nothing’? Sister.’

‘I smell that beast in here. Also from you.’

‘It’s unpleasant.’

“…I came in because I have motion sickness. Sister.”

Heinrich fell into Annette’s arms and filled it with his own fragrant body scent.

As if re-marking the area.

Annette’s expression suddenly became worried.

“My baby, are you sick again? I should have brought motion sickness medicine. I didn’t know that you’re coming too…”

“Yes.”

Breathing impurely in the warm embrace of Annette, the teary purple eyes gazed up at her silently.

“Since Sister is hugging me, it hurts a little less.”

“Really? Thank god…”

Annette swept Heinrich’s back. Like patting.

‘Sister, do you know?’

Most of these touches were so sweet.

But sometimes they were very annoying. A hand that casually touched him like a child. Actually, he wanted her to feel nervous and scared at times even at the slightest moment she reached him.

‘I know how to do that.’

“…….”

Long, white fingers gently caressed her forearm.

‘If I just change my touch a little…’

‘…You’ll be red all over.’

Heinrich, who had a black heart, looked at Annette and smiled like an angel.

“Sister, didn’t Sislin propose to you? He said to marry him and sort this out, right?”

“……!!!”

Annette blinked. She couldn’t lie, looking like a rabbit caught eating carrots secretly and wondering, ‘How did you know?’

Heinrich chuckled.

There was no way that bastard would miss this golden opportunity—

That was what Heinrich thought.

“Sister, deciding on something as important as marriage to get through this crisis… It’s kind of weird.”

“Right. You’re right.”

Annette nodded her head.

Heinrich dropped his head off her shoulder and gently grabbed her hands—

“But there is no way of avoiding the register of adoption as surely as marriage.”

“…….”

Conflict appeared in Annette’s eyes. Without missing the gap, Heinrich dug in.

“Then how about having a ‘contract marriage’ with me?”

“……!”

“Marry me. I will divorce you in a year.”