Chapter 13
“Wh-What?”
“Or perhaps, a foolish woman who demands blind affection with sparkling eyes just because I bathed her, fed her, and put her to bed a little?”
At that cold expression, rustling sounds came from the bushes where Diana was hiding.
“Ah, haha, b-but brother, you also pay a lot of attention to Her Highness, don’t you? Ah, that’s right! After dinner tonight, you’re supposed to take a walk by the lake with Her Highness! She’s really looking forward to it…”
“It’s not bad to give that woman a carrot from time to time to make her more useful. It’s not difficult to play along with that little love game.”
Aisen tried to smooth over his brother’s remarks with an awkward forced laugh, but Viern’s cynical retort that followed made it all in vain.
“So, Aisen Erkman.”
Viern’s expression hardened coldly in an instant as he leaned toward Aisen. Then he threatened in a voice low and small enough for only him to hear.
“Don’t harbor pointless sympathy or useless compassion for the princess. Your duty is to monitor her.”
With those words, Viern left. Left behind, Aisen stood frozen in place, thoroughly frightened by the ominous sharp energy he’d felt from his brother, before belatedly snapping to attention and rushing to Diana.
“Y-Your Highness…!”
“…….”
Diana was sitting blankly on the dirt ground, staring into space.
“Y-Your Highness… That, I mean, what my brother meant wasn’t like that…”
“…….”
Aisen fidgeted anxiously, trying to offer some comfort, but Diana didn’t listen and abruptly stood up, heading straight for her room.
“L-let’s go together, Your Highness…!”
Ignoring Aisen, who was chasing after her, Diana strode forward with large steps, and as soon as she opened her bedroom door and entered, she buried herself on the bed. At the sight of the slender figure trembling under the blankets, Aisen didn’t know what to do and tried to comfort her.
“There seems to be some misunderstanding. You see…”
“…….”
But Diana didn’t answer, only her slender shoulders buried on the bed trembling slightly.
After comforting her for a while, Aisen glanced around nervously before heading outside. And when she was finally alone—
‘I……’
Diana’s lips, which had been trembling, curled up slowly into a grin.
‘I’m the most efficient and powerful tool!’
Diana was so happy she pounded the blanket with her fists.
My god! This is nice, that he needs me! That I’m his most useful chess piece!
She knew that rumors were secretly circulating that Duke Erkman had killed all the king’s bloodlines to seize control of the royal family, sparing only the youngest princess Diana—the most foolish and dull-witted—to put her forward as a puppet heir. And today, she had confirmed those rumors through his own lips!
‘Viern needs me! He needs me, not anyone else!’
At the chilling exhilaration and thrill coursing through her entire body, Diana smiled brightly and trembled continuously. She was so happy that tears even formed at the corners of her eyes, curved in delight.
As long as he needs her, he too will forever be bound to her. Then shouldn’t she increase her value even more so that he needs only her?
So that he’ll play along with her love game for a long, long time.
Yes, a love game.
“I love you, Viern. I’ll become your most perfect chess piece, so you can only play that love game with me.”
Her voice, filled with ecstasy, circled the room before dispersing.
Viern Erkman knew Diana’s feelings for him all too well. And Diana also knew all too well that he knew her feelings and was using them. Not stopping there, Diana willingly wanted to become his most efficient chess piece.
And so their relationship had continued just like that to this day, three years later.
* * *
Rumors spread rampantly throughout the palace once again that the woman who had left the ballroom with Duke Erkman last night had somehow been harmed by the princess’s hand. Upon hearing the news, Viern let out a short laugh.
Everything had been just right about that woman last night. Her appearance was pretty enough to make his jealous princess sharpen her keen senses the moment she laid eyes on her, and her family’s position was just appropriate enough that disposing of her right before the princess’s eyes for the crime of upsetting her wouldn’t cause major problems.
He felt no particular sympathy for the woman who had fearlessly followed him out. Ignorance was a sin. It was the woman’s fault for coming all the way to the capital and failing to learn about the rumors surrounding the princess and him.
Instead of the pitiful woman who had followed him out only to be harmed by the princess, Viern recalled Diana’s eyes from last night—looking up at him while squirming in his arms, asking to be put to sleep. Those lovely eyes that craved him with a face that clearly showed she liked him.
Whenever he looked into those green eyes that always gave him a faint sense of satisfaction, Viern sometimes became curious. Just what would she, who claimed to like him, be willing to do for him?
“I heard… that when mothers put babies to sleep, they give them a goodnight kiss so they’ll sleep well. I think I’d fall asleep easier if I got one too…”
Instead of kissing her in response to that transparent, naive seduction, he thrust his finger into her chattering mouth to find that cheeky tongue spouting nonsense. As he dug into the moist inner flesh wrapping around it and pressed down firmly on the root of her tongue, she gasped with a completely heated, disheveled expression. He’d always thought of her as nothing but a young beast, but last night, that appearance was a little… womanly.
‘Womanly. What ridiculous nonsense.’
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