Chapter 38

The Crown Prince, Mikhail Schuelgart, was currently in a state of utter chaos.

After all, an assassination attempt had occurred in the Imperial Palace, which was supposed to be the safest place in the world.

Fortunately, thanks to Princess Valencia, who fought to the end while her fiancé lay unconscious, he was able to arrive in time.

And though he didn’t know why the Saint, who was supposed to arrive today, had shown up in the Imperial Garden yesterday, her timely presence ensured there were no casualties.

“Your Highness, here are the documents.”

“···Leave them there.”

However, just because there were no casualties didn’t mean the Imperial Palace’s tight security hadn’t been breached.

It was only natural that his workload, which now included handling the Emperor’s duties, had increased.

After all, his father, the current Emperor, had long since passed the responsibilities onto him after his coming-of-age ceremony, saying he wanted to enjoy life with his mother.

This incident was also something he had to resolve.

“Albert Zernias…”

The name of the person targeted by the assassins was Albert Zernias.

He was a well-dressed man Mikhail had encountered in the palace hallway before the Imperial banquet officially began.

The Zernias Count family wasn’t particularly notable except for their engagement to the Valencia Duchy, so it was unlikely the assassins had targeted Albert specifically.

Given the circumstances, it seemed someone who had learned of the Saint’s early arrival had sent assassins to kill her, but the target had been misidentified.

In fact, Princess Valencia herself had testified that the assassins initially targeted her, not her fiancé.

“···Sigh.”

This only made his head hurt more.

It wasn’t a matter of material compensation.

He could provide substantial consolation to the Valencia Duchy and the Zernias Count family, and as the Crown Prince, he could bow his head in apology.

Though it was true that bowing his head as the Crown Prince hurt his pride, this incident was undeniably the Imperial Family’s fault.

It was only right for Mikhail, as the responsible party, to apologize.

What truly troubled him was the question of “why?”

Why were Princess Valencia and Prince Zernias attacked?

Even if the security had been breached, the Imperial Palace’s defenses were no joke.

It was absurd to think that assassins skilled enough to breach such tight security would fail to confirm their target properly.

How had they received their orders to target the two together instead of the Saint, who was alone?

Mikhail was deeply curious, but there was no way to find out now.

The assassins, having failed, had long since taken their own lives with prepared poison, leaving no way to extract further information.

The case was sinking deeper into a labyrinth of confusion.

No matter how much he thought about it, there seemed to be no way forward.

He sighed again and slowly rose from his seat.

“Where are you going?”

“I need to see Prince Zernias.”

His destination was the Reception Room of the Imperial Palace, where guests of the Imperial Family stayed.

After yesterday’s incident, Prince Zernias had been moved there, still unconscious.

If Albert had woken up, Mikhail wanted to ask him about the incident. If not, he would check his condition with the Imperial physician.

Mikhail walked toward the Reception Room.

And when he opened the door to the room where Albert was staying…

“···.”

“···.”

He froze like a statue.

Albert Zernias was already awake, and his fiancée, Princess Valencia, was tightly embracing him.

Unintentionally becoming the third wheel in their passionate moment, Mikhail…

“···My apologies. I’ll come back later.”

…left a sincere apology and closed the door.

“Your Highness, you came all this way. Why are you leaving?”

Beside him, the clueless Imperial physician looked puzzled, but…

“What do you know about youth? No wonder you’re still single in your 40s.”

“···.”

Dismissing that expression was no difficult task for the brilliant Crown Prince, Mikhail.

***

A room where warm sunlight streamed through a slightly open window.

That was the kind of room I woke up in.

Looking around, it was far more lavishly decorated than anything the Zernias Count family could afford.

“Ugh…”

Pain radiated from where I’d been struck by the arrow.

Touching it, I felt the stiff bandages wrapped around the wound, but the impact of being hit by an arrow without any armor seemed more severe than I’d thought.

Well, what kind of lunatic would think to take a poisoned arrow to the bare body?

It was a punishment for my reckless challenge, so I accepted it.

As I tried to get a sense of where I was, I noticed…

“···Rebecca?”

Princess Valencia was lying asleep near my legs, covered by a blanket.

She seemed to have been keeping watch over me for a long time, as she was deeply asleep.

Seeing her like that, I felt genuinely moved.

It was just the other day that Rebecca, who always challenged me to duels whenever we met, was now taking care of me like a loving fiancée.

Of course, appearances could be deceiving, and she might just be pretending, but…

Still, seeing this side of her was refreshing.

So instead of waking her, I took a moment to admire her sleeping face.

She was sleeping so soundly, and a mischievous urge to tease her arose.

It had been a while.

The last time I’d seen Rebecca sleeping like this was when the Duchess Valencia had forced us to share a room.

Back then, I’d been staring at her sleeping face up close when she suddenly woke up, grabbed me, and…

*Whoosh—*

The sensation and memory I’d long forgotten resurfaced, and my face grew hot.

Even after all this time, I could still feel the touch from back then.

Absentmindedly touching my lips, I moved a little further away from the sleeping princess.

No one could say if the same thing would happen again.

Not that I disliked kissing Rebecca.

In fact, I liked it.

Even though it was Rebecca who had initiated it, the sweetness of that moment wasn’t something easily forgotten.

But the reason I kept my distance from the sleeping princess was…

“···A kiss only I remember.”

Because Rebecca, one of the parties involved, had no memory of it.

It was my first kiss, one only I remembered, and I didn’t want to experience it again.

At least not until both of us were fully conscious and had confirmed our feelings for each other.

I wanted our kiss to happen under those circumstances.

As I continued to watch her from a distance…

As if signaling she was about to wake up, Rebecca’s face began to twitch slightly.

Her movements were as adorable as a squirming baby, and I couldn’t help but keep watching.

“···.”

“···You’re awake.”

Finally, Rebecca slowly opened her eyes.

This wasn’t the first time I’d seen her red, transparent eyes filled with only me, but it always made me feel good.

“···.”

Rebecca, upon opening her eyes and seeing me awake, stared blankly at me.

“You look really silly right now.”

With my bad habit of teasing my beautiful fiancée, I couldn’t resist poking fun at her.

“Even your usual blank expression looks silly, but with that face, you look really stu—”

*Whoosh—*

Before I could finish, Rebecca suddenly sat up and pulled me into a tight embrace.

With a hug so strong it felt like she’d never let go…

“···.”

My mind went completely blank.

Her embrace was that warm.

*Thump— Thump—*

The sound of Rebecca’s heartbeat, faintly audible, spoke volumes about how she was feeling.

Her ears, the only part of her I could see, were also red, making her emotions clear.

I was probably in a similar state.

Though I couldn’t see my own face without a mirror, the heat I felt told me my face was likely just as red.

If anything, I thought I might be even redder than Rebecca.

Rebecca continued to hold me tightly.

It seemed like her warm embrace would go on forever without any words exchanged, but…

As everyone knows…

*Creak—*

“···.”

“···.”

An unexpected intruder(?) interrupted us.

“···My apologies. I’ll come back later.”

Our quick-witted protagonist understood the situation and closed the door, but…

“···Ah.”

Realizing someone else had seen us like this, Rebecca’s face turned beet red.

Regrettably, she released me and put some distance between us, which was only natural.