#16. Belmont’s Card

Karina paced around the bedroom. After washing in the bathroom prepared inside the bedroom, she felt like dying from nervousness about when Aidan would enter. However, no matter how much time passed, he showed no signs of coming in. Finding it strange, she went out to the reception room to find it empty. Only the wine he had been drinking remained on the table.

Could something have happened?

The sudden thought made her anxious. She tried to go outside but was stopped by Kai guarding the door.

‘His Highness will return soon. It’s dangerous outside, so you mustn’t leave.’

He wouldn’t let her out, saying they needed to be even more careful since this wasn’t the palace. Almost an hour had passed like this.

Leaving someone alone in a place like this and disappearing… Even when she got stood up on her wedding night, she hadn’t felt this upset… Whether from worry or anger, she couldn’t tell, but her insides were boiling so much she couldn’t sit still.

At first, she waited, planning to give him a piece of her mind when he returned, but as time passed, she grew anxious about whether something had happened, why he went somewhere alone leaving even Kai behind. If she had known this would happen, she should have insisted on returning to the palace even if it was late.

“Really…!”

Just as harsh words were about to burst out from her peak anxiety, she heard the click of the bedroom door opening. When she turned around, Aidan, who was entering, stopped upon seeing her.

“Why aren’t you asleep yet?”

His too-casual question made something snap inside her.

“Where have you been at this hour?”

“Well… I had something to take care of.”

“Something to take care of? At this hour? In a place like this?”

Even to herself, her tone sounded sharp. She thought she had never been this on edge even while living with ‘Aidan,’ but once her emotions started boiling over, they wouldn’t easily stop.

“Did you go meet some hidden lover?”

After saying it, she felt stupid for asking such a question. When emotions overcame reason, everything became a mess. Words kept coming out contrary to her feelings.

Despite Karina’s prickly response, Aidan just stared at her silently. His silence made her regret her words from earlier even more. She felt keenly that once words were spoken, they couldn’t be taken back. If only she could turn back time just a little…

“Is that jealousy?”

The unexpected question made her pause. Her tangled thoughts came to an abrupt halt.

“What do you mean jealousy…”

“Are you angry thinking I left you here alone to meet another woman?”

“No!”

That really wasn’t it. In fact, until she saw Aidan’s face, she hadn’t even imagined he might have gone to meet another woman. She strangely believed he was different from the previous ‘Aidan’ in that aspect. She was just so worried… Since he suddenly disappeared from a place that wasn’t even the palace, she worried something might have happened, what if he got attacked somewhere again, and all those thoughts built up until they burst out when she finally saw his face.

“Really not?”

“It’s not.”

She answered immediately without even a second’s hesitation. She really shouldn’t have said anything about hidden lovers.

“Hmm.”

Aidan made a long nasal sound with his eyes narrowed. He didn’t seem to believe her words at all.

“Really. What I said earlier just slipped out.”

Though she wondered why she needed to deny it this much, she didn’t want to leave him with the wrong impression.

“That’s disappointing.”

“……?”

She wondered what was suddenly disappointing.

“I thought maybe you liked me enough to be jealous.”

His words about hoping she liked him left her speechless.

“…If I disliked you, I wouldn’t have accepted your courtship.”

When she managed to deflect, Aidan smiled faintly.

“Then do you like me?”

“……”

She couldn’t answer the question about liking him. Did she like Aidan? She wasn’t sure.

“Not disliking something and liking it are different. Knowing you, I think you probably accepted my suggestion of us dating thinking it would be better to maintain an adequate relationship until divorce, thinking it’s better to keep things pleasant. Am I wrong?”

His words made her heart ache. Unable to deny it, she avoided his gaze, and heard Aidan’s soft chuckle.

“There’s no need to feel awkward. I already knew that much.”

He answered nonchalantly while taking off his coat and hanging it on the chair.

“I’m going to wash up, will you wait?”

When he said that, Karina quickly turned around. Even though he hadn’t undressed yet, just the mention of washing made her embarrassed.

Watching her, Aidan swallowed his laughter and approached her from behind. He wondered where the person who had been sharply nagging earlier had gone. Once the topic turned to romance, she seemed to have forgotten about asking where he’d been.

She’s really cute.

Though Aidan and Karina were only two years apart, there was quite an age gap with ‘Park Jin-hoo’ whose body Aidan inhabited. One couldn’t ignore a person’s years of experience, so sometimes in his eyes, Karina looked purely young and innocent. Like looking at a much younger sister.

No, that wasn’t quite right since he wouldn’t harbor these feelings for a sister.

“If you wait, I might tell you something good.”

Standing right behind her, he lifted her long hair that covered her back, and saw her flinch. After pushing her hair aside to completely expose one side of her neck, he lowered his head to press his lips against her nape. When Aidan’s lips touched her delicate skin, he felt her body tense up even more than before.

“Will you wait?”

He deliberately asked in a low, whispering voice. Unable to bear his breath brushing her skin any longer, Karina shook off Aidan’s hand and turned around. Her blue eyes looking straight up at him were trembling slightly, though she seemed unaware of it herself.

She was wavering. Seeing it so clearly made him want to smile. Holding back his smile, he just gazed at her intently without speaking. As the silence flowing through the quiet bedroom became unbearable, her lips quivered and her eyes darted around, blinking.

“I’m tired.”

She said just that one thing before going to the bed, getting under the covers, and lying down. Watching her lie completely still like she’s trying to sleep first, he almost burst out laughing.

She’s so adorably cute.

Forcing his twitching lips to calm down, Aidan cleared his throat and entered the bathroom. Though the water he had prepared earlier was already cold, right now, washing with cold water might be better. He needed to cool down the heat that had risen unnecessarily because someone was acting too cute.

*

When he came out after washing, Karina was in the same position under the covers as before. She was so motionless he wondered if she had really fallen asleep. It was late, and she had been walking around all day, so her saying she was tired was probably true. Plus, it seemed she had worried while he was out meeting Marquis Belmont.

Though he had teased her earlier about jealousy, he immediately recognized that she was worried enough about him to lose sleep. The reason he hadn’t told her the truth about meeting Marquis Belmont wasn’t because he didn’t trust her, but because he knew her personality well.

She was truly a noble lady who had grown up properly in a very good environment. She had a character that didn’t know how to negotiate with wrongdoing, one that would break rather than bend. If he told someone like her that he had joined hands with Marquis Belmont, she would obviously take it seriously. She would say things like a moral textbook, that they should hand him over to the imperial knights immediately, that he should be punished according to the law.

However, the world didn’t always side with righteous people as she thought. If everything worked so correctly and properly, why would there be people who are wronged? More often than not, those with money and power became justice, even if they were dirty and petty.

During his roughly two months in the imperial palace, Aidan had accurately grasped the power relationships within. Even though House Hewitt, the empire’s highest-ranking noble family, was backing him, they couldn’t intervene in all palace matters. The Emperor at the very top wasn’t perfectly fair regarding his children and their women. Then ultimately, the one who reigned next after the Emperor could only be the Empress.

He needed to dismantle the Empress’s power for ‘Aidan’ to grasp power within the palace. When he learned that the Empress was trying to pin Lloyd’s crimes on Marquis Belmont, he thought perhaps this was an opportunity. An opportunity to make all those who followed the Empress turn their backs on her.

However, that method could never be called right. Just the fact that he was helping Marquis Belmont escape and protecting him while the imperial knights were pursuing him was wrong. If Karina knew, she would make a fuss saying what are you doing, that there would be no way to handle the aftermath if the Emperor found out.

So he’ll keep it a secret from her. Even if things went wrong, she needed to remain uninvolved in this matter. Whether things went well or not, she must not be harmed.

Well, I’m confident things will go well anyway.

The bedroom had only one bed. Even for an old mansion, it would be a lie to say there were no other bedrooms in this spacious place. However, they weren’t properly maintained. With minimal staff managing the place, they couldn’t waste time and effort on unnecessary things. Moreover, if they used separate bedrooms, the security personnel would need to double. Considering the security might be less thorough than at the palace, there was no need to increase risk.