32. Where Did My Blonde Hair Go

 ‘What should I do?’

All the plans Daphne had been thinking about crowded into her head.

Those plans she made while staring at the angels in the ceiling of mom’s study for over two weeks, like how to kill this angel, how to cut off that angel’s arm.

‘Why black hair?’

The one she briefly met clearly had black hair. Curiosity and wonder urged Daphne to turn around and look.

“Miss, are you alright? You don’t look well.”

Chadwick gently pretended to care. Daphne, who had been turning bright red, instantly cooled down and returned to an expressionless face at the man’s words. Chadwick’s expression also became strange.

“You were smiling so well earlier, but now you’re ignoring me.”

Well, earlier Daphne had been willing to smile appropriately because Chadwick was blonde.

However, current Daphne had all her attention stolen by that man behind her. Now there was no way she would smile at any other man.

“Hey, Miss.”

Chadwick’s face, having been ignored about seven times already, was completely crumpled.

‘Right, let’s cut his throat.’

After reaching her conclusion, Daphne covered her mouth with the back of her hand and whispered to the dealer. Looking again, the dealer’s tie had a pattern that read ‘No Cheating’ embroidered on it.

“Mister. Do you have something like an axe here?”

“Why an axe?”

“I was thinking of cutting off a man’s head. Since he’s extremely handsome with golden hair and even has royal blood flowing through him, though not officially, he should be quite valuable, right?”

Daphne was talking about Celestian, but Chadwick, who was listening beside her, closed his mouth. The dealer started laughing heartily.

“Haha, sorry but we don’t accept that kind of thing as stakes for the boarding pass game.”

“How about a knife then?”

She made a gesture of slitting her throat with the side of her hand. The dealer shook his head while maintaining a kind smile. Chadwick, who overheard, remained expressionless, while another mister was giggling.

“Ah, I see it’s already a new round.”

A gentle voice came from above Daphne’s head. Goosebumps rose all over her arms and shoulders. It was a voice she hadn’t heard in a very long time. A surge of emotion welled up but quickly subsided.

“Ah, I was just wanting to stop anyway. Would you like to take over instead?”

The mister sitting on the right spoke up, raising his hand. The man behind must have nodded as a nice fragrance wafted through. The mister disappeared without any lingering attachment, taking his winnings with him.

“It’s been a while.”

Soft fabric settled on Daphne’s shoulders.

‘Been a while?’

While grinding her teeth internally, she sniffed.

‘Smells nice.’

Since she happened to need it, Daphne didn’t throw off the jacket but placed it on her knees.

“Yeah.”

Daphne tried to answer as if nothing was wrong. Then she looked at the man who had settled into the empty chair beside her.

A navy vest and a loose shirt with a couple buttons undone from the top. In other words, he looked like a nouveau riche wastrel who might get caught by paparazzi in this underground gambling den.

His hair that used to shine alone even under such low saturation and brightness lighting was gleaming black today. Unable to match the man she had been thinking of until now with the man before her eyes, Daphne had to narrow her eyes.

Feeling Daphne’s gaze, Celestian propped his chin on his hand. As if telling her to look well, the way he tilted his head to the right seemed almost coquettish.

“You, your hair……”

Though Daphne kept pondering what to ask first, what came out was naturally a question about his hair. She wanted to ask if it was dyed, or a wig, or temporarily colored with pigment.

‘What if it’s dyed.’

Anxiety suddenly popped up that she might not be able to see that brilliant golden hair again for several months.

“Did lightning burn it?”

Again, Daphne is the type who becomes calmer the angrier she gets. At the gentle but clearly provocative question, Celestian smiled slightly.

“I got some advice.”

Celestian rubbed the ends of his black hair once with his index finger.

“What advice?”

“Things like the preferences of the woman I like. It wasn’t that difficult, surprisingly.”

Daphne blinked and mulled over what Celestian had said. Black hair, preferences, advice? And……

‘The woman he likes.’

Daphne’s stomach churned. There was no way black hair was her preference.

Today happened to be the day of Psyche’s wedding that should only happen once. Showing up with black hair was obviously a malicious intent without having to think twice about it. 

 “Your effort is admirable, Your Highness.”

“……”

“But you still can’t be Rodriguez, right?”

The mole above Celestian’s right eyebrow moved up once.

“So it’s not good after all.”

Daphne paused. Her gaze naturally fixed on his face.

‘Does he not even look in mirrors.’

The prince with black hair was extremely beautiful. Even though she had seen plenty of handsome men with this hair color while living in Secradion to the point of being sick of it, he was freshly pretty, truly.

His red lips, raised high while looking at her, seemed full of confidence, and his straight nose bridge cast different shadows depending on the angle of light. Past his straight brow bone showed slightly lighter colored eyebrows, and even the mole firmly planted above them remained the same.

“Compared to Romeo……”

The way his eyelashes fluttered with each blink was like the wingbeats of a tiny butterfly. The calm green marbles filled underneath were like a globe painted only with ocean.

The prince with such a splendid face that made one want to gaze at every detail without missing anything — from the long neck stretching below his chin to the lines sculpting bone and muscle visible through the couple undone buttons.

He was still looking straight at Daphne now. As if waiting for her next words.

“You don’t look anything like him at all.”

Until just a few hours ago, Daphne had been raging that she would slit his throat if she just ran into him. However, seeing him before her eyes, she didn’t quite want to do that anymore.

Why? For using Misha and betraying her, he deserved being beaten to death with a chair and more.

‘Right, my gold mine!’

Suddenly the gold mine flashed through Daphne’s mind. She also recalled how regretful her uncle had been when writing up the deed of gift for one gold mine. Saying that bastard child deserved an even higher price and more.

‘So, if I take him to uncle within a few days……’

Daphne burst into a hollow laugh while seriously considering. After making a deal with the king, to say it’s not to her liking and take it back demanding money?

“Beaucater, that wasn’t my question.”

Celestian narrowed his brows and urged an answer. She glanced at him with a sulky expression.

“I’m saying roundabout that you’re completely terrible overall.”

He lowered his eyebrow ends then made an expression of surprise. The dealer thumped the table as if telling them to focus.

“Ah, excuse me.”

Celestian said gently.

After checking his cards, he held out another one towards the dealer and Chadwick. Chadwick also revealed his hand and covered it.

“Raise.”

After staring at Daphne for a while, he sighed softly. He raised his hand to call the bellboy, and placed the bundle of bills the boy handed him directly onto the table without dividing it.

“Where did you……”

Each bundle was a million rion. Daphne was shocked to see five of them quickly placed on the table.

“Where did this money come from?”

In this poker, the one with more money gets the final choice. From Chadwick’s side also came a call as he put down money.

“I won it so I have it.”

Celestian placed five more bundles.

“No, where did you have money to bet in the first place.”

“Oh my, Miss! Don’t even mention it. He comes down whenever he has time and sweeps every table, and gives me quite nice tips too……”

The bellboy who had guided Daphne here earlier suddenly cut in. And he also patted his own pocket a couple times with a triumphant expression.

When Daphne just stared at him silently, the boy seemed to think he had done something wrong as he trailed off and lowered his gaze.

“I’m sorry.”

‘Why is he apologizing when he didn’t do anything wrong?’

She knew her expressionless face looked particularly fierce to young working people. So she just smiled without answering. As her eyes curved, the atmosphere melted smoothly.

Colin, who had been frozen like stone, kept bowing repeatedly then disappeared saying he would exchange more cash.

“Seems he’s afraid of you.”

Celestian said in a playful voice. Daphne glanced at him.

“He must have seen the future where you die by my hands.”

“You’re going to kill me?”

“Oh my, of course. Why don’t you choose how you’d like to die, Your Highness.”

Daphne brushed back the hair that had fallen beside her ear with the back of her hand. The distance was too far to hit Celestian’s cheek.

“If possible……”

As Celestian’s lips moved, the collateral royal sitting quietly across from him whistled sharply.

“Unfortunately, your opponent is over here.”

Chadwick was still not betting and looking between Daphne and Celestian with a strange expression. Daphne was just bothered by the gold-embossed boarding pass attached like a handkerchief to his front pocket.

“The game feels too easy to bet this now, doesn’t it, Miss?”

Chadwick felt Daphne’s gaze and placed his gloved hand over it.

“Hmm, I might consider it if you ask nicely with a ‘Please give it to me~'”

It seemed the person Daphne needed to kill here was not Celestian Teriosa after all.

Daphne had never stopped men from provoking her, and she didn’t mind personally sending them to their graves.

‘Should I really hit him?’

Her yellow eyes very slowly appeared and disappeared between her eye lines repeatedly.