The Crown Prince’s Courtesan - Chapter 40

Russell nearly forgot he was the Crown Prince who needed to maintain his dignity in front of everyone, and almost spat out a crude curse.

It should have been nothing to him. The pheromones of those Alpha bastards clinging to Mari Alphrose — no matter how sticky or filthy — he should have been able to ignore them.

But a fierce irritation surged up inside him.

‘Daring to taint her with filthy pheromones?’

He couldn’t stand the disgusting feeling, as if someone had shamelessly sprayed their seed on his property.

With a blank expression, he grabbed the delicate arm of the Omega who was silently enduring it again, wanting to pull her close and cover her entirely with his own pheromones.

But if he acted on that impulse, everything about why he had taken Marie Alphrose as his courtesan would be lost. He wouldn’t be able to hold his head up before his late mother, and above all, he couldn’t bear the revulsion he would feel toward himself.

But the moment the woman was slapped, he lost all reason. Again, it was because of Marie’s damn expression. Even when being struck, she looked as if nothing had happened. That expression alone provoked Lady Dietrich’s temper, someone Russell had no desire to engage with.

“Lady Dietrich.”

Arwena was also a woman Russell would rather avoid. Out of respect for his mentor, Duke Dietrich, he had tolerated her delusion that she would become the Crown Princess and her constant, boastful chatter about it, but he had never allowed her close.

From the start, he had known that despite her claims of being a dominant Omega, she was in fact a submissive one. He also knew that beneath her beautiful exterior, she was not what she appeared to be.

‘I hadn’t expected Marie Alphrose to notice and provoke her, though.’

Marie, as expected, was quick-witted. Irritatingly so.

‘She should’ve stayed still.’

What she did wasn’t too much of a concern. But if she provoked Lady Dietrich too much and got cast out of his side too quickly, that would be problematic.

“Shall we dance, Lady Dietrich?”

That was why he left Marie Alphrose behind and took the viper’s hand. Of course, she had no need to know that it was for such a petty reason. Nor was it because he felt guilty about what he’d said in his study or the way her eyes had wavered in response.

Absolutely not.

* * *

It was the next day.

The scenery outside the window of the swaying carriage was remarkably beautiful.

Well-maintained roads, brightly decorated cafés, and trendy shops. Along every street bloomed flowers in every color, like spring itself had taken root, and all the passersby wore elegant, charming smiles.

It was all so picturesque, like gazing at a beautiful painting.

‘Even if the seat was uncomfortable.’

At present, Marie sat inside a carriage so luxurious she wasn’t sure she even deserved to be in it. It was the Crown Prince’s carriage.

‘What is it today, I wonder?’

Marie swallowed hard in the silence.

The man seated across from her, who had neatly composed himself without spilling a single trace of pheromones, sat quietly with his eyes lowered, seemingly lost in thought.

As always, he was stunningly handsome, but somehow he looked a little weary today.

Whenever the carriage rocked slightly, his glossy black hair swayed with it. Watching it, Marie found herself wishing that the man wouldn’t look at her.

‘There’s no reason for me…to feel hurt.’

After what happened at the ball yesterday, today’s luncheon had passed in utter silence. So cold, in fact, that even the attendants had looked visibly unsettled, uncertain of what to do. Even the maids who usually couldn’t pass up a chance to sneer at her had strangely kept quiet, watching her with odd expressions.

Well, one of them had said something.

Did you really think you were even a match for Arwena von Dietrich?

It had come from a maid who was always sharp-tongued. Yet today, the way she’d shot off that line with a sniff had almost sounded like pitying comfort.

So Marie had dressed herself from head to toe like she was going on a date, but she was exhausted. She hadn’t slept well last night. In fact, it felt like she’d had a nightmare, though she couldn’t remember it the moment she opened her eyes. Her heart had been racing, as if something terrifying had happened.

Still, even though this was the first time she’d ever ridden in a carriage with a man like this on a bright, beautiful day, passing through the cheerful heart of the capital, she felt nothing.

‘Marie Alphrose, that man is someone you must never get close to. If you look… only you’ll end up hurt.’

Every time she got involved with him, she ended up thinking things she never usually thought. Being this emotional didn’t suit her — it was unpleasant.

She had just begun to turn her head away when the man, who had been staring downwards, lifted his eyelids. Long lashes. A flicker of those amethyst eyes. She had only let her mind wander for a moment, and already, their gazes had deeply entwined.

‘Ah, again.’

The scent of a damp forest brushed against her nose.