Chapter 20
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20.
'...Why in the world is the Third Prince appearing here?!'
That woman, they say her nickname is the Devil!
Count Gash Youngshik spun around frantically, his eyes darting in every direction at this absurd situation.
Yet nowhere—not a single strand of chestnut hair was visible.
I've been deceived.
The sudden realization struck Count Gash Youngshik so hard that he could no longer bear it, collapsing right there on the spot with his eyes wide and vacant.
The First Empress was the first to regain her composure.
"You, how could you—"
This was supposed to be a place where no one would be.
Why on earth was her precious, irreplaceable son sneaking out at night to what might as well be called the Abandoned Temple?
"How could I?! Because Your Majesty keeps interfering between Alexis and me! I've been searching and searching for a place where we could have a proper date, and I found this!!"
The Third Prince cried out to the First Empress, his voice thick with grievance.
"But how could you do this to your own son! To me, who should be living a happy, sweet, and joyful newlywed life!! How could you demand I give up such things?!"
The Third Prince approached the First Empress with furious strides.
He stomped his feet as he spoke, each step heavy with emotion.
"I can't do it! I can't, I tell you!! How could I share love! I'm going to tell Alexis to look only at me!"
Then came a bombshell declaration in rapid succession.
"And Mother!! I don't want to share you either with those other consorts, waaaaahhhhh!"
"Be, be quiet! Your Highness! Is this a place where only you and I are present?"
"Waaaaahhhhh!"
The First Empress clamped her hand over his mouth, rendering him unable to speak, yet the Third Prince expressed his sorrow and grievance with his entire body.
The First Empress found herself engaged in a physical struggle to restrain her nearly grown son, her elegantly draped veil flying away in the process, and soon her dress hem and hair were in complete disarray.
Alexis Periander waited until the commotion had settled somewhat, then approached Count Gash Youngshik, whose consciousness was half-slipped away, before intervening with the Third Prince.
"What a shame, truly. I had grown rather fond of you."
"I, I, Your Highness...."
"But it's unbecoming of a nobleman to bring harm to one's own nation."
Alexis Periander, with an unbothered smile, casually reached into Count Gash Youngshik's breast pocket and withdrew the recording device.
He stood helpless, unable to stop Alexis Periander, and it was the First Empress who went pale in response.
"I, I, Princess!"
The First Empress cried out desperately, watching the recording device in Alexis Periander's hand.
Since this person would be marrying the Third Prince, there was at least some hope in her being the one to discover it rather than a complete stranger.
Yet even in this moment, Alexis Periander maintained her priorities with absolute clarity.
"Come here, dear one. I understand your heart."
She called to the Third Prince in a voice so sweet and gentle it seemed impossible she could speak in such a manner.
The Third Prince, who had been thrashing about like a wild colt, finally calmed down and slowly withdrew from the First Empress, linking his arm through Alexis Periander's once more.
Watching the scene unfold, Count Gash Youngshik was consumed by jealousy so intense he could barely breathe, while the First Empress found herself seething at her child's ingratitude.
Yet Alexis Periander, who never yielded in boldness, maintained her composed demeanor as she gathered the recording device and addressed the First Empress with unwavering confidence.
"Then shall we have a conversation? Soon-to-be my new mother?"
It was the moment the First Empress's negotiating partner transformed from a minor player into a formidable force.
*
Once the commotion in the Abandoned Temple had subsided and Alexis Periander's knight had escorted even Count Gash Youngshik away, I could finally lift my body from the darkest corner where I'd concealed myself.
"It's a shame, somewhat."
As I spoke in a hushed voice, Cassian Artez, supporting my trembling frame as it swayed from prolonged stillness, replied.
"Compared to what you surrendered, this isn't bad at all."
With deliberate slowness, he removed the hood that had been pressed down so firmly, and our eyes met.
With each step forward, the moonlight grew more vivid, and his features became crystalline in my vision.
"You're truly greedy, Rose."
"Call it an emphasis on efficiency, if you would."
I felt a touch of indignation at his teasing remark.
I wished the Third Prince had revealed everything the First Empress had done to the other concubines during this time.
That might have provided a thread to unravel what was done to Cassian Artez's mother.
The moment tension seized my lips, he grasped my hand firmly and shook it gently.
"That's why I'm saying this, Rose. Rush too much and you'll ruin everything."
He slowly bent at the waist.
His violet eyes met mine at the same level, speaking in a soothing tone.
"Didn't you say something like that before?"
....
The sudden proximity rendered me speechless.
Had I said something like that?
When...?
During one of those hectic, chaotic moments?
As I searched my memory and rolled my eyes, Cassian Artez laughed softly.
"How sad—my betrothed doesn't even remember our shared moments together."
"...Your Highness."
"For now, I'm satisfied. We suffered no damage, and Princess Alexis Periander will handle everything anyway, won't she?"
Cassian Artez brought his lips to the back of my hand and spoke.
I watched him perform this action with such intensity in his eyes, then nodded in understanding.
The cunning and brilliant Cassian Artez had already received advance payment from Alexis Periander.
The rather straightforward princess seemed to have missed that entirely.
This Abandoned Temple was also where the First Empress concealed her assets.
However, there was still no justification to expose it in a single strike, and the damage would be minimal, so we had merely gathered information for now.
'But if she asks to meet and I suggest this location, the situation changes entirely.'
She would have no choice but to come.
That was why the First Empress, who rarely ventured beyond the Palace walls, had answered Count Gash Youngshik's summons.
Count Gash Youngshik had deliberately withheld from Alexis Periander—a foreign princess—the information that this place served as the First Empress's hidden repository of wealth.
But she was a perceptive woman, so she would have sensed that something valuable lay here, and she would exploit it skillfully in her dealings with the First Empress.
Which meant the increasingly desperate First Empress would likely take some form of action.
"Indeed, indeed. Princess Alexis Periander has served as quite the shield for us. Thanks to her, we've dealt a blow to Her Majesty the First Empress, and we've even created ammunition for her future mistakes."
As I spoke, I felt an inexplicable sense of grievance wash over me, and I leaned toward Cassian Artez.
"Though Your Highness used me as bait."
I wasn't truly angry—I even thought it was a clever move—but I felt oddly irritated nonetheless.
'How could you only tell me about this plan right before executing it?'
I had brought him everything I thought would help him, asking questions about anything and everything.
Unlike the original story, the Male Lead—neither entirely honorable nor perfectly righteous—had orchestrated this scheme from the moment I became Alexis Periander's temporary advisor.
If something happened to me while I was under her employ, the responsibility would fall on Alexis Periander.
So he had calculated that using that as a shield to entangle the First Empress would be advantageous.
"Are you upset, Rose?"
"How could I be? I would never presume to be."
I denied it with words while my emotions remained completely unguarded.
Could that even be called a denial?
Of course I knew Cassian Artez wouldn't handle my safety carelessly, but I felt inexplicably petulant.
It felt like he didn't trust me.
It seemed as though he thought I might leak information to Alexis Periander.
After working so diligently for the past year, how could he doubt my competence?
In that moment of lamentation, I felt a warm presence envelop me from behind.
Cassian Artez wrapped his arms around my waist and whispered low against my ear.
"...I wanted to give you even a brief moment of peace."
...
"You've grown quite fond of Princess Alexis Periander, haven't you? Unlike me, you're delicate and perceptive."
I felt the strength gradually increase in the arms holding me.
The steady rhythm of his heartbeat transmitted softly through my shoulder.
"You would have managed it perfectly, of course, but your heart would have been troubled. I didn't want that for you."
"...Your Highness."
"I am still insufficient in giving you sweet respite, in providing you a place of comfort, but even for a moment, I wanted to try."
Normally, I would have teased him by now.
But faced with such earnest sincerity, I found myself unable to form a response.
I wasn't genuinely upset, if I was being honest with myself.
I had simply wanted to pout a little.
Because the camaraderie I held for Cassian Artez was genuine.
Time flowed slowly.
Cassian Artez showed no intention of releasing me, his forehead resting against my shoulder.
I reached up and gently stroked his hair.
"...I won't say thank you."
"Yes."
He answered immediately.
It was his way of acknowledging that his consideration for me could have felt like distrust.
"And Your Highness, please don't speak as though nothing is wrong."
Even as you're hurting.
No matter how differently my personality had diverged from the original, my heart couldn't have armored itself entirely in steel.
For all my shamelessness, shallow scars must have accumulated somewhere.
So at least while I remained as Cassian's aide.
"I'm not so weak that I can't bear what falls to me, Your Highness. You hired me to stand at your side, after all."
"...Rose."
"So let me bear this. I'm not the sort to flee at something of this magnitude."
Perhaps this was Cassian's trauma in this altered world.
Having lost aide after aide to grueling duties and the First Empress's interference.
In that moment, Cassian pulled me closer still and lifted his gaze to meet mine from mere inches away.
"Does that mean."
"Yes?"
His eyes, brimming with moonlight, curved in a gentle arc as they smiled.
"You'll take responsibility for me for life?"
"...."
What was this absurd shift in atmosphere?
As I faltered, Cassian's face broke into an even broader smile.
"You were teasing me, weren't you?"
"No, I was serious."
"You were teasing me!"
Feeling wronged, I tried to slip from his grasp, but Cassian held me fast with brutish strength.
This wretched man....
I showed him genuine sincerity!
I really shouldn't trust Cassian Artez.
Irritated, I pressed my lips into a thin line and turned my head away in protest.
"Hmph."
It was my attempt at a serious objection.
Yet his laughter rang out near my ear, satisfied and infuriatingly pleasant to hear.
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