“Even if you won’t die at the Duchess’s hands, you’re already a dead person for putting a knife to the body of an imperial family member, Edith.”
The Prince spoke harshly to Edith with fierce eyes. His crimson eyes darkened further.
But Edith, standing directly in front of the Prince, wasn’t intimidated at all. The Prince wasn’t the only person who had looked at Edith with such eyes. Or perhaps he was slightly different from the other members of the ducal household since his eyes lacked contempt?
‘He remembered my name.’
Though the Prince spoke as if he might kill Edith at any moment, what mattered more to her was that he remembered her name. He had mocked her as a pr*stitute’s daughter, but he remembered her name.
Perhaps he wasn’t completely disinterested in her after all. Despite the Prince’s warning, Edith gave him a fresh smile.
The Prince’s eyebrows twitched at the woman’s smile.
“Yes, I accept it. Gladly.”
“And I’d like to tell you that the Duchess orchestrated all of this. The Duke and Duchess have long been on Crown Prince Joachim’s side.”
The woman continued speaking calmly, like someone who had been preparing for a long time. Ludwig’s pupils dilated momentarily.
“I was merely an errand girl. The Duchess personally selected the clothes I should wear and sent me into your room. She watched me change clothes as well. If the Duchess hadn’t permitted it, could I have entered this room with a knife? So please punish her along with me. And execute me too, of course.”
Edith slowly and clearly stated what she needed to say.
The Prince was a man with such a cold gaze that it was said even Sper’s notorious commander would momentarily freeze when meeting his eyes.
But Edith didn’t shrink back at all despite the Prince’s threats and spoke her piece.
After staring at Edith with a somewhat dumbfounded expression, the Prince continued.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a woman as dignified as you in a situation where she’s about to lose her life.”
The current situation wasn’t one that frightened Edith. For her, death was like a long-awaited rest. Her life hadn’t been sweet enough to be surprised at the prospect of imminent death.
The Prince simply stared at Edith with his mouth slightly open. Edith forced her lips to curl upward as she continued speaking to the rather playful-looking man.
“But you won’t kill me. Then please take me as your mistress and take me away from here.”
Edith smiled with crinkled eyes after gauging the man’s reaction. She needed to appear as appealing as possible to him. Though her eyes were smiling, in truth, her legs were trembling.
“True. I have no intention of causing unnecessary problems by killing you. But step back. I have no desire to mix bodies with a pr*stitute.”
He indeed had no intention of killing her, but he also had no interest in her.
The Duchess had been wrong. She had said that the Prince, who usually only embraced precious things, might occasionally be moved by a lowly woman. That if she acted shamelessly and asked to be embraced first, the Prince might be moved once.
Edith had done as instructed, but she had failed. The noble Prince had rejected Edith the pr*stitute.
“Then what if I could offer you a different price, Your Highness?”
“A different price? What could you possibly give me besides your body?”
The Prince looked Edith up and down with a sardonic smile after hearing her words.
“If you promise to take me away from the ducal estate, I’ll tell you a secret I know. If you take me even as a maid, I’m willing to do hard work. You can even feed me just once every two days.”
From long experience, Edith didn’t trust nobles. She thought it more likely that the Prince would kill her and leave after just hearing her secret.
But Edith had already decided that if she returned empty-handed, she would bite her tongue and kill herself the moment Neil opened her door.
“I’ll tell you about the ducal household’s secret. Why I was sitting at the banquet table instead of the Duke’s daughter. You don’t even have to embrace me. Just take me away, and I’ll tell you.”
Though she felt somewhat guilty about using Henrietta’s weakness, Henrietta was the one who had made her crawl on the floor like a mouse and strangled her whenever she felt like it.
Edith absolutely had to leave the ducal residence today, no matter what.
“Why, do you want to tell me that the lady is about to have a child?”
The Prince answered leisurely, as if it were nothing special.
‘He already knows. I don’t have any more cards to play…’
“There’s absolutely no reason for me to take an informant like you. Despite being an illegitimate child, you have no loyalty whatsoever to the family that has supported you until now.”
The man raised one eyebrow and gestured for Edith to leave.
‘If I leave this room now, Neil will…’
“If you send me away like this, I’ll have to spend the night forcibly with my half-brother. Can’t you show even a little mercy?”
Edith pleaded to the Prince with desperate eyes. She had no expectations, but she decided to appeal to his sympathy one last time before dying. It was a final act of desperation, exposing her shame.
“The young duke desires you?”
His attitude was serious. The Prince stared at Edith and asked with a serious attitude, without any mockery.
“Yes.”
“Ah, so that’s why…”
The Prince gave a hearty laugh.
He was quite a sensual man with eyes that crinkled when he smiled. With such a smile on this noble man, it was no wonder he had no interest in a lowly pr*stitute. Countless noble ladies must desire him.
“If that’s true, then I have one reason to take you with me.”
The Prince smiled at Edith. But unlike before, it was a somewhat twisted smile. His eyes seemed to be calculating something, as if counting numbers.
Edith had never seen a man smile like that in her life. The man’s smiling face looked both childlike and demonic.
‘I won’t receive good treatment from this man, but this is the right choice.’
Though her life held no hope, at the very least, she wanted to die as a human being. Edith steeled her resolve.
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
Only then did she remove her forced smile and genuinely beam brightly.
“Yes, that’s better. And… though I won’t share a bed with you, you will attend to my bath. If I call another maid, she’ll surely strip and throw herself at me.”
The Prince ordered Edith as he threw off his robe. At the sudden exposure of the man’s n*ked body, Edith didn’t know where to look and bowed her head deeply.
“Raise your head. Are you good at playing the pr*stitute but reluctant to play the maid?”
“Ah, no. It’s just…”
‘I mustn’t upset the Prince.’
Edith raised her head. And carefully attended to the man’s bath like a maid.
**
After finishing his bath, the man turned toward the bed. Edith followed behind the Prince like a maid attending to him.
Seeing her politely trailing after him, the Prince pointed to the floor and said:
“You sleep here on the floor. My clothes are hanging on the sofa.”
Though there was a carpet on the floor, there was no blanket. But it was better than being sent away. If she went back, she would only suffer terribly.
Edith had no choice but to be grateful even for this. Nodding at the Prince’s order, she slowly moved to the floor.
“Is there anything else I can do to serve you?”
Edith carefully asked the Prince like a maid. She was already accustomed to maid’s work from having done plenty for Henrietta, so it wasn’t unfamiliar.
“Well, I don’t think so.”
The Prince looked down at the woman who had settled on the floor and then went to his bed.
The man lay comfortably alone on a soft bed large enough for five people. And the Prince didn’t speak to Edith again.
‘He didn’t even touch me, yet he’s still taking me with him.’
Curled up on the floor, Edith felt like shouting with joy.
Though she lay on the cold floor, Edith thought she had caught a great stroke of luck. If she followed the Prince like this, as a maid… she would rise from a mouse to a human being.
No matter what difficult tasks the Prince might assign her, Edith was confident she could accomplish them willingly.
‘I was planning to die tonight anyway. Even if he treats me poorly, I can endure it. If he orders me to do something unbearable, I can die then.’
Although there was no blanket, Edith’s heart was already warm. The woman fell into a deep sleep with a happy smile.
“I wonder if your night’s rest was peaceful.”
The next morning, the Duchess sweetly asked the Prince. The Prince answered with one corner of his mouth raised crookedly.
“I was provided with a particularly comfortable bed, so there’s no need to worry.”
Then he turned his gaze and briefly looked at Edith standing to his right. After that, the Prince shifted his gaze to Neil, whose bloodshot eyes in the whites suggested he hadn’t slept all night.
“It’s a pity you must leave so soon. I wonder if you’ve recovered from your travel fatigue. We’ve prepared a few modest things…”
“I don’t need possessions. Rather, since I’ve received a gift, I should leave a wagon behind.”
When the Prince gestured to his adjutant, the adjutant quickly ran to where the wagon was located.
“I’ll leave behind a wagon filled with gold and jewels. It contains particularly many emeralds, which should complement your beautiful green eyes very well, Duchess.”
At the Prince’s words, the Duchess’s face turned red. The Duchess was so preoccupied with her flushed cheeks that she didn’t seem to notice her son clenching his fist and trembling.
“And young duke.”
The Prince broke his straight posture and stepped toward the young duke. Everyone’s attention focused on the Prince approaching Neil.
“I hear your swordsmanship is excellent. I’d like to cross swords with you sometime. And this.”
The Prince searched inside his garment and pulled out a necklace with a round medal attached.
“The knights of Sper wear this around their necks to protect their hearts, I’m told. It’s more useful than one might think. So I’ll personally give one to the young duke.”
At the Prince’s words, the young duke, who had been glaring at Edith, had no choice but to bow his head. The Prince himself leaned forward and slowly began placing the necklace around the man’s neck.
“Your sister is still a virgin. I’m not desperate enough to embrace a pr*stitute.”
And the Prince whispered affectionately into Neil’s ear.
Like lovers exchanging sweet nothings, in a small voice only Neil could hear.
