Chapter 112
(Lurelia’s Belated Bonus – Update 10/14 🎉)
***
“I didn’t know that suggesting boating meant making me do labor.”
Aiden, rowing the boat, spoke as if he couldn’t believe it.
Angelina, who was twirling the parasol she had received from Haley with her gloved hands, smiled at him.
“Do you dislike it?”
“…Ha, I think I understand why young ladies are so captivated by Marquis Ante Flaubert.”
When she smiles with that face, even the anger he was about to express disappears. Was he always this weak to beauty…
“The lake is quite spacious.”
“Which makes my arms hurt even more.”
His grumbling was just like a little child, making Angelina smile.
Though his problem was his strange stubbornness, pride, and unnecessary obsessions… but looking at him carefully, he was just a child.
Seeing how desperately he lived to prove himself, she could understand why he held his head so stiffly.
Watching his slightly frowning face, Angelina slowly surveyed their surroundings.
‘Finally far enough away.’
They had finally moved away from the guards, secretaries, and maids who had been closely following them everywhere.
“It’s pretty here. Shall we rest for a moment?”
Angelina asked while adjusting the position of her parasol, and Aiden stopped rowing.
“You must be the first woman to treat the Crown Prince like this.”
“I’m honored.”
“That honor again, tsk.”
As he clicked his tongue as if tired of hearing it, Angelina slightly twisted the handle of her parasol to open it.
Aiden’s brow furrowed as he saw a small bead roll out from inside.
“My lady?”
Angelina bent slightly forward. Then she hid their silhouettes with the parasol.
The guards watching from the lakeshore cleared their throats and turned their heads away, while Dominic’s eyes widened. The maids also showed various signs of excitement, all disappearing behind the parasol.
“My la…”
As Aiden became flustered, Angelina placed her index finger on her lips, signaling him to be quiet.
Then she firmly pressed the bead she had taken from the parasol.
Pssst.
The moment it crumbled into powder.
Crack! Clang!
Aiden’s suspender clasp cracked and his cufflinks broke.
Aiden’s eyes widened.
Inside the broken cufflinks, a device the size of a fingernail was visible. The same device was in the suspender clasp.
Though both were broken, he could tell what they were.
“…So this is it. The reason she always knows everything.”
Listening devices.
When and how did they get in?
These cufflinks and suspenders weren’t from the Empress. One was bestowed by His Majesty the Emperor, and the other was given as a bribe by a noble family.
Yet somehow listening devices had been placed inside them.
‘Was Mother’s obsession this severe…’
From his clothes to the food he ate and even the pens he used, he had been monitored and controlled.
‘Then it wasn’t Dominic?’
Anger toward his mother and hope for Dominic rose together.
‘Or is Dominic…?’
Though he couldn’t completely dismiss his suspicions.
“You seem to know who it is.”
Angelina slowly examined his expression before speaking.
“So this is why you suggested boating.”
Aiden let out a hollow laugh.
“How did you know?”
The Empress had tried to control everything about him and had placed many of her people around him. So thoroughly that he even suspected Dominic.
This woman seemed to know his situation well, deliberately bringing him here and using this device.
How did she know?
That should be the first question.
“I suppose you have something to say?”
Instead of interrogating her, Aiden first asked why she had shown this behavior.
It meant she had something that the person on the other end of these listening devices absolutely should not hear.
And he thought it might help him break free from the Empress’s grasp.
“I apologize for using such methods.”
“No, it was clever.”
Though he felt pathetic for being so moved by it.
Pathetic, but it allowed him to be more certain of her position. He could see clearly how she thought of him.
“Since time is short, I’ll speak directly.”
Angelina glanced behind the parasol.
The movements of the guards at the lakeshore were strange. They were suspiciously busy, too much so to simply be preventing the Flaubert lady from having a romance with the Crown Prince, and the maids’ behavior was also awkward.
Aiden had noticed this too, so he nodded.
“Speak.”
“The Sun God’s Order is kidnapping children.”
His eyes widened like lanterns.
A report flashed through his mind.
“The disappearances in the slums…?”
He had glimpsed it in reports. He had only ordered increased security without thinking deeply about it.
“Not satisfied with that, they’ve begun to extend their reach to other territories. For example, the Kadenhart Duchy.”
“Those madmen have nothing better to do than go there…?!”
“Your Highness.”
“….”
“The Saint really exists.”
Aiden’s breath stopped.
This woman says things that make his heart drop as if they’re nothing significant.
“But she will soon pass away.”
“…Is it the Order’s doing?”
Angelina smiled awkwardly and didn’t answer.
Well, it was just because she had a terminal condition.
But even after she was gone, Catherine would continue the role of the Saint.
Still, she thought she needed to add some dramatic elements to gain his help.
“Your Highness, I believe it’s the Sun God who protects the Empire, not the Order.”
“That’s obvious.”
“The Order is a group that worships the Sun God ahead of others, not a group that represents the Sun God.”
“My lady, the Order is…”
“Your Highness cares more deeply for your people than anyone else does. Is that not true?”
“…The Order is difficult. Mother and…”
As he spoke, he realized something and his eyes widened.
Due to the commotion at the lakeshore, Angelina glanced in that direction. The Empress’s soldiers were gathering toward them.
Aiden saw this too and let out a sigh.
“So this is why you called me here.”
His mother was involved in all of it.
“…I’m sorry.”
Angelina was telling him to cut ties with the Empress. It’s not something one should dare say to the Crown Prince.
And originally, Angelina hadn’t intended to involve him this deeply.
She had only planned to provoke him enough to cause some friction with the Empress, not to reveal everything like this.
But now that she knew she was the Saint, her thinking had changed.
Time was short, and the situation was twisted beyond imagination.
This wasn’t a battle that could be won through individual combat. There was no need to make enemies of those who didn’t need to be antagonized.
Above all, the Aiden she had seen in the original work, despite his many flaws, wasn’t a malicious character by nature.
He was a villain because he kept doing terrible things out of rivalry with Blake, and the female lead got caught up in it, but when the female and male lead began to fight against the Order, he surprisingly didn’t interfere.
He disliked the male lead too much to help, but he didn’t stop them from doing the right thing.
Of course, he kept appearing to pick childish fights, which drove readers crazy.
That’s why Angelina decided to draw him in, because she knew this about him.
“Haah.”
Aiden covered his eyes with his hands and breathed. His head felt like it was about to split.
He had sensed something strange about his mother recently—was it because of the Saint? What had she been plotting with the Order, and for how long?
And he had known nothing about it all this time. Living as her puppet.
At his age, it was pathetic that he hadn’t accomplished anything properly or left any mark.
“Let me ask one thing.”
“Yes.”
“Is your visit to ‘Kuns Village’ with Blake also related to this?”
“…So you knew.”
It wasn’t surprising that the Crown Prince had his eyes on Blake, but it was surprising that he had discovered their destination was Kuns Village.
“I’m sorry.”
Aiden apologized, essentially admitting to having her followed. But given the situation, he couldn’t just let it go.
“Yes, it’s deeply related.”
“…I see.”
Lost to that guy again.
That irritating Blake already knew all of this and had already begun to move. Even his frequent meetings with Angelina…
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