Emperor’s Alternate - Chapter 65

I jerked my head hard to the right, feeling like my jaw was going to break. If he hadn’t reacted, our lips would have met. Lecan was dangerously close, our breaths were almost mingling. I wondered if he would linger near my exposed ear, and my auditory nerves tensed, sensitive to every sound.

“…I can hold you if I want, and I can also snatch you away if I desire.”

His whispered words right by my ear sounded as loud as a resolute scream. I felt strangled by his overwhelming presence.

The voice, initially slow and languid, became as intense as the strength gripping my jaw.

“Anyone who dares to touch what’s mine, even if it’s you, won’t be forgiven. If someone tries to interfere with what rightfully belongs to me, I’ll cut them down, all of them.”

The voice, warning like the growl of a wild beast, simmered low like lava. The words carried a lot of weight coming from a man with such power and authority. It didn’t seem like an idle threat.

‘He’s essentially ordering me to confer the title of Duke on him immediately. And it implies releasing all his men currently under investigation. If there’s even the slightest delay, Lecan might…’

Lecan slowly withdrew his hand. He straightened his posture and began to button his sleeves again as if nothing had happened. My lungs, stiff with tension, barely let out a breath.

Lecan’s way of speaking was always so skillful. While I expected his anger, ‘I can snatch you away if I desire’—really? Even though he couldn’t openly acknowledge it, I could read between the lines. As long as Lecan knew my true lord was Teiles II, there was only one way he could snatch me away.

“…Traitor.”

In response to my muttered words, Lecan, casting a fleeting glance at me.

He replied like he was talking to himself. “Rest assured. I don’t have fond memories of that title either.”

“…?”

Lecan spun around and reached the window he’d entered in a flash. His powerful footsteps were so fast that they were difficult to follow with the naked eye.

“What are you saying…”

I called back to him as he opened the window and leaned out. However, he seemed not to hear me, as he had already leaped down before I could finish my sentence

“…What did you mean…!”

There was no chance for an answer.

I jumped to my feet and rushed to the window where he had disappeared. However, only the chilly night breeze entered through the open window, and even when I looked down, there were only knights guarding the palace—there was no trace of Lecan. The room was on the sixth floor, and just looking down made everything seem distant.

It was perplexing. I was the one who ordered him to leave, but I wish he could have stayed long enough to explain his confusing final statement.

‘He doesn’t have fond memories of being called a “traitor,” so I should be relieved?’

Did he mean that he would never be a traitor? Or did he mean that the family of his former betrothed, the Ducal House Rotea, was unjustly labeled as traitors and died, so he had no fond memories of the title?

Or perhaps he simply meant that he had no intentions of taking the throne.

I felt ridiculous, obsessively trying to read his mind, but it didn’t stop me from thinking. After all, everyone’s fate hung in the balance.

“…”

The cold breeze cleared my mind, but the fluttering curtain was irritating, so I closed the window. Left alone, the room appeared as it always had, but still, a strange chill passed over my skin. Something small, like a thorn under my finger, bothered me.