That face that acted as if it was nothing despite saving the life of none other than the Crown Prince. Those beautiful eyes filled with emotions that were difficult for him to understand.

So Lloyd thought,

It was his turn to give back now.

“Tell me why Lady Lucid is in such a state.”

“That is……”

Lionel, who had been looking around, trailed off.

Too many eyes had witnessed this incident to simply let it pass.

He could see the imperial knights who had accompanied the Crown Prince whispering among themselves not far away. Since there were quite a few sons from prominent families present, it would be difficult to completely silence the story.

Lionel had to take some action.

Whether to become a sponsor who abused his protégé or a careless sponsor who didn’t know his protégé was being abused.

Naturally, Lionel chose the latter.

“It’s my negligence, Your Highness. I was too busy to properly attend to Lucid. I never imagined such a thing would be happening openly in my mansion……”

Lionel quickly performed the role of a sad sponsor.

Of course, rumors would circulate for a while. That Duke Shortiras, who pretended to be kind, apparently wasn’t.

But that was within a range he could manage.

“I was just about to catch the culprit and punish them. It seems a maid did this out of jealousy toward Lucid.”

“A maid?”

“Yes. She audaciously imprisoned Lucid without the other servants knowing and assaulted her. Fortunately, it was discovered before anything worse happened, and we rescued Lucid and caught the culprit, but it seems Lucid misunderstood the situation. She’s been running away without listening to me since earlier, which has been quite troublesome.”

Fortunately, the words flowed more smoothly than expected.

Lionel breathed a sigh of relief and glanced at Melissa. Once this matter was settled, he planned to lock that girl in the underground dungeon again and not give her a drop of water.

By taming her step by step like that, she would never rise against him again. He would definitely hold her accountable for today’s incident.

“I apologize for causing concern. I will ensure severe punishment in the name of Shortiras. For now, we need to treat Lucid, so please hand her over, Your Highness.”

Lionel stretched his hand toward Lloyd.

Lloyd unconsciously stepped back slightly from Lionel’s natural attempt to take Melissa. He lowered his gaze to examine her once more.

It was an obvious lie.

Lionel claimed that a maid did all this, but the handprint clearly left on Melissa’s cheek was too large to be a woman’s.

‘Just about the size of an adult male.’

Like Lionel Shortiras right in front of him.

Lloyd scanned Lionel’s noticeably reddened palm before speaking with a determined voice.

“No, I will take the lady with me.”

“Your Highness, what are you saying? This is Lucid’s home. She should naturally receive treatment at the duke’s mansion.”

Lionel’s face turned desperate.

Lloyd stared blankly at his face for a moment before turning his head to look around. He noticed the ducal family’s people quickly lowering their heads to avoid meeting his eyes while they anxiously watched the situation.

A small, mocking laugh escaped his lips.

There wasn’t a single one. No matter how hard he looked, not one person.

‘Not a single person is worried.’

With so many people present, not one of them was checking if this child, who had fainted in such a state, was alright. Even he, who had only met her recently, felt his heart sink with fear that she might be dead.

Lloyd bit his lip before turning to his guard and saying,

“The lady has many injuries. I will follow slowly to prevent her wounds from worsening. Go ahead as quickly as possible and have the royal physician ready. I want her to receive treatment immediately upon arriving at the imperial palace.”

“Your Highness!”

Lionel shouted angrily, forgetting his act in a resolute voice.

“I am Lucid’s sponsor! The ducal family is responsible for her protection and treatment. Even if you are the Crown Prince, you cannot take her like this!”

“Yes, according to the duke’s words, the safety of Saintess Lucid is the responsibility of the Shortiras ducal family. I know that well too.”

“Then why……”

“But do you know something, Duke? Despite there being quite a few servants gathered on the first floor, the lady immediately went upstairs.”

Lloyd calmly continued speaking while watching Lionel step forward in agitation.

“If it were me, I would have run to where there were the most people and asked for help.”

“……”

“What do you think is the reason for that?”

Lionel couldn’t bring himself to speak.

Because he understood what Lloyd’s words meant.

Lloyd, who had been scanning the frozen Lionel, turned around and slowly walked in the opposite direction.

“It seems the ducal mansion needs some cleaning. We’ll discuss the lady’s residence again after that.”

Lionel couldn’t stop him as he disappeared with Melissa in his arms.

The problem was that she happened to be Melissa Lucid.

The safety of Melissa, the last remaining member of the Lucid clan, was directly linked to the national power of the Artzen Empire. With the pretext of protecting Melissa’s safety, he couldn’t arbitrarily defy the Crown Prince’s words.

“……I understand.”

Lionel answered in a voice that seemed forced.

And this would be considered his permission, meaning Melissa would not be violating the magical contract by leaving the ducal mansion.

Leaving Lionel grinding his teeth behind, Melissa left the Shortiras ducal mansion.

This was the first time it had happened, including her previous life.

* * *

Melissa opened her eyes with a small groan.

After blinking a few times, the first thing that came into her view was a ceiling engraved with a large eagle in flight.

‘……An eagle emblem.’

The roaring golden eagle was the emblem of the Artzen imperial family.

She remembered hearing that it was influenced by the patron deity Hagios appearing in the form of an eagle when manifesting on earth. Thanks to this, Melissa realized where she was.

‘The imperial palace.’

She had expected Lloyd to take her away from the duke’s mansion, but she never thought he would bring her to the imperial palace. She thought the Emperor usually deferred too much to Lionel to allow her into the palace.

While the Emperor would be pleased to have a member of the Lucid clan in the palace, he wouldn’t want to completely fall out with Lionel.

‘Lloyd must have had a hard time persuading him.’

She should thank him when they meet later.

Melissa thought this as she sat up. But where she expected to find bed sheets, her hand touched something hard.

“Huh?”

Turning her head, she saw Lloyd sleeping with his face buried in the bed. He seemed to have been nursing her, with a wet cloth still clutched in his hand.

Come to think of it, her body had felt quite hot while she was unconscious.

‘The fever has gone down a lot now.’

What kind of Crown Prince personally nurses someone else?

Such a thought suddenly crossed her mind, but Melissa shook her head.

Somehow, it seemed like something Lloyd might do.

Melissa stared blankly at Lloyd’s peacefully sleeping face. The sunlight coming through the window touched his golden hair, making it shine more intensely.

‘Hmm. It feels awkward to keep watching him sleep. Should I just wake him up?’

Just as Melissa was about to raise her hand—

His golden eyelids trembled slightly, and Lloyd slowly blinked his eyes. Green eyes appeared.

Soon their gazes met.

When their eyes met, Melissa awkwardly rolled her eyes and slowly lowered her hand.

“Y-you’re awake.”

“The same goes for you.”

Lloyd sat up smoothly.

Seeing this, Melissa also tried to sit up properly, but Lloyd shook his head, so she ended up leaning back against the headboard.

“How long have you been here?”

“I just came a little while ago.”

That was a lie.

There was no way the always proper Lloyd would appear so disheveled in such a short time. Even a quick glance revealed that he had stayed here for a long time.

But Lloyd seemed unwilling to admit it directly. She wasn’t sure whether to call this person kind or foolish.

Melissa finally decided to change the question.

“How long have I been unconscious?”

“About a day now.”

My goodness. A whole day.

Melissa opened her eyes wide in surprise.

She thought it had only been a few hours since it was still daylight, but she never expected a whole day to have passed.

‘I hope he hasn’t been by my side the entire time.’

She wouldn’t worry about this with someone else, but specifically because it was Lloyd, she felt concerned. What if this kind person had been so worried about her that he couldn’t do anything else?

The possibility made Melissa suddenly feel dizzy. She had only intended to get help escaping from the ducal mansion, not to cause this much trouble.

Melissa let out a small sigh and said,

“Your Highness, thank you for granting my request.”

“You already thanked me before you collapsed.”

“I probably wasn’t in my right mind then. I wanted to properly thank you again. And……”

Melissa glanced at him cautiously before adding,

“Is it alright for you to be here? You must be busy.”

It was an indirect way of saying he should leave.

She couldn’t keep the Crown Prince occupied indefinitely.