Chapter 14
“Help? Hardly. All I’ve learned from dealing with her is just how entertaining it is to deceive someone completely.”
It wasn’t just Bertholdt, who praised him with genuine admiration, even the officials leaving the palace whispered among themselves.
The crown prince had changed. He had matured. All that just because he hadn’t taken the bait of his cousin’s shallow provocation.
“Listen carefully, Bertholdt. Don’t you start misunderstanding things too. I haven’t improved. I haven’t grown up. I’m exactly the same as I’ve always been.”
“I know, Your Highness. I wouldn’t mistake it.”
Bertholdt smiled faintly. It seemed the prince still didn’t realize that this very ability was precisely what the emperor valued most.
The ability to conceal one’s true nature. To present an ideal image. To act convincingly, even when one’s heart was not in it.
“She’s nothing more than a toy. Something I can play with and discard whenever I get bored. Don’t go thinking I’ve changed because of some girl like that. It’s unpleasant.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
A toy. But did he realize? Nothing he had ever played with before had held his interest this long.
Adelaide was the only one.
Seasons had already begun to shift. Winter would soon return, bringing with it the time when Killian had first visited the Eport estate.
I can discard her whenever I lose interest. More than anyone, Bertholdt hoped that was true. Because if it wasn’t, that would be a problem.
“You may rest, Your Highness.”
After Bertholdt withdrew, Killian changed into more comfortable clothes and lay down on his bed.
Perhaps it was because of their conversation, but the moment he closed his eyes, Adelaide’s image surfaced in his mind. It had been quite some time since he last visited Eport due to the harvest banquet.
Counting the days, nearly a month had passed.
‘She’ll definitely make a fuss.’
A faint smile curled at his lips.
Spending time with Adelaide brought him a strangely primal kind of pleasure. Like taming a wild creature untouched by human hands. Of course, Adelaide wasn’t an animal, but in the sense that she could only have what he allowed her to have, she was no different from a pet.
‘…No. ‘Animal’ doesn’t quite fit.’
Perhaps a doll was a better comparison.
That day, when they had first begun their ‘friendship’, they had spent hours together playing with dolls.
The dolls in the toy house dressed and moved however Adelaide wished had been her playthings. And if those dolls were Adelaide’s toys then she herself was Killian’s toy.
Yes. That comparison suited far better.
The noble surname now attached to her name. The comfortable estate she lived in. The clothes she wore, the food she ate, none of it had come without passing through Killian’s hands.
‘…No. Still—’animal’ might fit better.’
Because dolls don’t wait for their owners.
But Adelaide would surely have been restless after weeks without seeing him, waiting for his return.
The smile on his lips deepened. She’d pretend to sulk, unable to be honest. But when it was time for him to leave again, those bright, eager eyes of hers would betray her, seeking him out.
If he delayed his return, making her have another thirty minutes or so, her soft, pale cheeks would flush as she struggled to hide her joy.
‘I should leave early tomorrow.’
Thinking of the gifts he had prepared to soothe her bruised feelings, Killian closed his eyes.
In the darkness, Adelaide’s delighted face appeared vividly before him.
* * *
Early the next morning, Adelaide was already bustling about.
A telegram had arrived from Killian at dawn. Delivered by a messenger, it said he had been busy and that he would stop by the estate briefly today.
The moment she received it, all sleep fled. She hurriedly got ready, waiting eagerly for his arrival. There was so much she wanted to tell him.
“My lady—the carriage has arrived.”
At the maid’s words, Adelaide’s eyes lit up as she changed her clothes.
Clatter.
A loud noise echoed from the staircase. Handing his coat to the butler, Killian glanced upward.
“…Killi?”
Turning the corner, Adelaide finally appeared.
She wore a cream-colored dress, tied at the waist with a pale sky-blue sash embroidered in gold.
Killian’s smile, which had been certain she would be wearing the dress he had given her, cooled instantly.
“That’s a dress I haven’t seen before.”
His tone was casual. But at his passing remark, Adelaide’s face brightened.
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