After I Died, The Male Leads Became Strange

“Ah, Duke Alpenhayer. W-why are you doing this?”

The princess’s physician trembled at his feet.

“I apologize, Lord Calson.”

Niel spoke in a polite voice while slowly bowing toward the doctor.

“Don’t be afraid.”

He held a sharply-edged dagger in his hand.

“H-hiiik!”

“You just need to answer a few questions regarding Her Highness’s health.”

Though he’d learned that threats were wrong, he had no choice.

Since prying into royal health matters was tantamount to treason, there was no legitimate way to check on her condition.

“H-Her Highness is very healthy. She’s more than healthy, she’s robust!”

“….”

Niel looked down at the doctor with an expressionless gaze.

Only the finest things should be around her.

An incompetent doctor who couldn’t properly detect her condition was unnecessary.

“Lord Calson, it seems your skills are insufficient to serve as Her Highness’s physician.”

He asked in a gentle voice while running his fingertip along the sharp blade.

“Make your choice. Will you leave on your own, or shall I give you a reason to leave?”

Shortly after, Calson resigned from his position as the princess’s physician of his own accord.

Even afterward, he replaced her physician several times without her knowledge.

But no matter how many times he changed them, the doctors always repeated the same thing.

That there was nothing wrong with Her Highness’s health.

It wasn’t until the exact thirty-seventh doctor said the same thing that Niel accepted there was nothing wrong with her health.

‘But, if so, why.’

Why did she sometimes show such a detached attitude toward life, as if she’d received a terminal diagnosis?

Niel discovered the identity of that unpleasant shadow that occasionally clouded her face after that woman appeared.

Saint Yuria. The woman who suddenly appeared on Jella’s eighteenth birthday, the day that should have been hers, and became everyone’s focus under the name of Saint.

That day, while others were excited about the Saint’s appearance, Jella alone maintained her usual indifferent expression, but…

The atmosphere was subtly different from usual. Niel found it quite concerning. That was all he could think about.

It was during a time of continuous celebrations for the Emperor’s birthday.

Since events often continued late into the night, there was a guest room prepared for him, the Emperor’s fiancé, in the palace. It was right below the Emperor’s bedroom.

Although they were betrothed, it would have been improper to visit someone’s bedroom after sunset.

Normally, he would never have done anything to upset her.

‘However…’

That inexplicable look in her eyes when she watched that woman, when the Saint appeared.

In that gaze, Niel read that ominous shadow that had occasionally clouded her face.

Thus, he couldn’t just stay still.

He spoke to the head servant standing in the corridor when he visited her bedroom.

“I’m here to see Your Majesty.”

“Ah, that… Her Majesty ordered everyone to leave for a moment…”

Seeing the head servant’s troubled expression, he asked in a puzzled voice.

“Is Her Majesty alone?”

“Lord Cail is with her.”

A pause.

A crack-like fissure appeared on Niel’s face before an elegant smile returned.

“I see. Then I shall wait until Lord Cail comes out.”

After a long while, Cail Aleret finally emerged from her bedroom.

Upon discovering Niel, Cail stopped briefly before silently bowing his head.

“….”

Niel noticed that his attire was strangely disheveled.

It wasn’t simply the look of being wet from rain.

The crumpled shirt collar.

The top button was undone, unlike how he usually kept it fastened right up to his neck.

Until his wet shirt had dried somewhat, that man had been in her bedroom.

“Um… Your Grace.”

When Niel kept staring at Cail without saying anything, the head servant cautiously called out to him.

Only then did Niel’s eyes curve slightly.

“Raise your head, Lord Cail.”

Finally, Cail lifted his bowed head.

Niel asked in his usual gentle and kind tone.

“Are you just coming from seeing Her Majesty?”

“Yes.”

“….”

However, their conversation didn’t continue beyond that single word.

Niel, who was staring at Cail with a cold gaze despite his gently curved eyes, passed by him first.

Standing in front of Jella’s bedroom door, he spoke to the head servant.

“Please inform Her Majesty.”

However, the response came not from the head servant but from someone else.

“Her Majesty has retired early due to fatigue.”

Cail answered instead. Insolently looking straight at him.

“It’s late today, please come back tomorrow.”

“…I see.”

Niel loosened his unconsciously clenched fist and turned to look at the head servant.

“I’ll just check on Her Majesty’s rest and leave…”

Swoosh.

A long scabbard blocked his path.

“That’s not possible, Your Grace Duke Alpenhayer.”

Niel turned slowly. It was Cail Aleret again.

“Are you blocking my way?”

“As Her Majesty’s knight, I’m rightfully preventing unauthorized persons from entering Her Majesty’s bedroom.”

At this, Niel’s lips curled up in a cold smile.

“I am Her Majesty’s fiancé.”

“Even if you were Her Majesty’s husband, you cannot enter Her Majesty’s bedroom without permission.”

“….”

The upturned corners of his mouth slowly dropped.

Niel stared intently at the face of the only man who had permission to enter and exit the Emperor’s bedroom without authorization.

Cail also met Niel’s eyes without avoiding them.

It was an extremely disrespectful gaze, quite inappropriate for one addressing his master’s future husband.

If Duke Alpenhayer were to punish this man’s impudence here and now, no one would dare object.

Niel had to suppress his rising violent urges toward that man for just a moment.

“You’re right. I was thoughtless.”

Speaking in a cold voice, he passed by that man and left the corridor of her bedroom.

All the expressions that had been painted on his face had disappeared.

Walking down the empty corridor, Niel turned his thoughts over and over.

He had wanted to comfort her.

But perhaps the right to comfort her had been given to that man, not him.

Whoever it might be, if they could make her clouded mood momentarily cheerful, that should be a welcome thing.

So there’s no need to feel this unpleasant…

Stop.

He halted his steps, running a hand over his face while grinding his molars.

“Damn it.”

A cold curse echoed in the silent corridor.

It was such a vulgar word that it was hard to believe it came from the mouth of the ever-noble Duke Alpenhayer.

Niel slowly closed and opened his eyes, letting out his pent-up emotions with a deep exhale.

Still, with the dregs of emotions he couldn’t completely let go of still clinging to him, he arrived at his bedroom.

A woman was lingering in front of his bedroom.

“Ah…!”

The woman let out a small exclamation upon discovering Niel.

She looked at Niel with an enraptured gaze, like that of a girl in love.

Niel had often received similar gazes elsewhere before.

Young ladies who admired him would look at him with similar eyes.

It was an inappropriate affection to harbor for the Emperor’s fiancé, but after the wedding was postponed several times due to the Emperor’s unilateral refusal, some began to entertain vain fantasies.

However, no young lady had ever dared to come to his bedroom.

His already poor mood plummeted instantly.

“Hello, Lord Niel.”

The woman approached him and spoke shyly.

“I’ve been waiting to see you.”

“To see me?”

“Yes. Actually, ever since I first saw you earlier… Ah, I’m Yuria. Please call me comfortably. Names like Saint feel too grand…”

Flushed cheeks and trembling voice. And eyes full of expectation.

What the woman wanted from him was all too clear.

Niel suppressed his desire to strangle this woman right then and there, and gave a cold smile.

“No. I cannot casually address a Lady’s name…”

And that was the moment their eyes met.