At that moment. A pure white light flashed, and the status window that hadn’t shown even a trace for two years floated up in the air.

[★☆Hidden Quest: Gain the Crown Prince’s Trust!

Upon success, you can choose a special reward. Will you accept?

YES/ NO]

Ha! Where has this been hiding to appear only now? Erna, who had been glaring fiercely at the holographic window emitting brilliant light, hesitated. The phrase ‘special reward’ in the quest content intrigued her.

‘Right, let’s give it a try. To see the ending, I’ll have to face the crown prince often whether I like it or not. There’s nothing bad about gaining his trust, right? I can get the reward while I’m at it.’

After brief consideration, she pressed the [YES] button.

“You will have to take responsibility for what you said to the end. Otherwise, I’ll severely punish you for daring to babble nonsense to the imperial family without fear.”

The crown prince turned his back indifferently as if he had nothing more to say.

He who headed straight to the banquet hall before the swelling on his cheek had even gone down, announced his engagement to Erna in front of the nobles—or more precisely, in front of the empress—as if showing off. Thanks to this, Erna had to endure a barrage of questions from the nobles throughout the banquet.

When the storm had swept through once and the banquet was coming to an end, the crown prince called Erna to the guest lounge. The moment she cautiously entered while nervously looking around, the lounge door quietly locked.

“Do you still have something to say? Why didn’t you talk at the banquet hall……”

Her green eyes glancing at the locked door shook with anxiety.

“Come to think of it, our conversation in the garden earlier doesn’t seem to have been properly concluded. Above all, I have a very suspicious nature.”

The crown prince’s face, with his back to the moonlight, instantly turned cold.

“What’s your purpose for lying about loving me?”

“……Lying? I simply, with pure feelings toward Your Highness……”

At the eyes that shone brightly even in the darkness, Erna swallowed dryly. Her heart pounded as if she had encountered a starving beast in the middle of a deep forest, and cold sweat ran down her spine. She couldn’t even move her eyes freely, fearing that avoiding his gaze would only increase his suspicion.

“Is that so?”

“……”

“I must have been unnecessarily suspicious.”

At the crown prince’s attitude of nodding readily, which was unexpectedly agreeable, Erna exhaled in relief. Seeing such Erna, he chuckled and undid his tie and cufflinks, then stepped closer.

“Since I’ve confirmed the young lady’s sincerity, I should properly cooperate as well.”

“What do you mean…… Ah!”

It was when Erna was about to question his meaningless words. The crown prince wound her long hair around his fingers. It wasn’t enough force to feel pain, but startled by the sudden action, Erna let out a small scream.

“If the position of crown princess is your goal, shouldn’t you bear an imperial heir first? That would be the most certain method.”

The crown prince pushed his tongue between Erna’s parted lips. The thick flesh rummaged through every corner of her mouth like a snake. The sensation of the tongue’s fine bumps sweeping over the tender mucous membrane was vividly chilling.

“Mmph!”

Erna desperately twisted her body, but the more she did, the more tightly their tongues became entangled. Losing her balance from the fierce kiss that was too savage to be called a kiss, Erna’s back hit the door with a thud.

He put his hand under her dress skirt and ruthlessly grabbed and tore Erna’s thin stockings. She instinctively pressed her legs together at the hot touch climbing up her skin from her knees, but crushed by the crown prince’s solid thigh, she couldn’t move at all. Her vision spun dizzily.

“W-wait a moment. I’ll talk, so…… Hng!”

“Talk like this.”

As if her weak resistance was laughable, the crown prince’s touch gradually penetrated into more intimate places. When the gloved hand touching her soft thigh felt like a brand and her violently beating heart felt like it couldn’t endure anymore, taking advantage of the momentary gap when their lips separated, Erna shouted pleadingly.

“Violet must marry the person she loves!”

Only then did the crown prince stop his movements and release Erna. At his shameless attitude of arranging his clothes with an unconcerned face after committing such obscene acts, Erna was dumbfounded.

“Interesting. Continue talking.”

……This crazy person.

***

“What time was I supposed to enter the palace today?”

Erna, who checked the schedule written in thick red letters on the desk calendar, wrinkled her nose with a clearly annoyed expression.

It had already been almost a month since the victory banquet ended. When Alexion, who arrived late at the banquet, openly overturned the engagement with Violet in front of the nobles and then ostentatiously asked her for the first dance, how shocked she had been.

Erna shuddered remembering how the angry empress had glared at her from the head table throughout the banquet as if she would tear her apart.

‘His Highness Alexion requested the first dance from Miss Erna Lizbeth!’

The entire Count Lizbeth household was turned upside down for the first few days by the article that appeared prominently on the front page of the gossip magazine. Count and Countess Lizbeth were bewildered that their only daughter, who had shown no interest in romance for years, had suddenly caused a scandal with the crown prince whom she had never even met.

But as the commotion gradually died down, everyone seemed to welcome the scandal, and moreover, they were seriously misunderstanding something.

“I feel sorry for Marchioness Plessen, but what can we do? Our daughter is so charming that she captured the crown prince’s heart at once.”

“Mother, that’s not it……”

Following her proud mother, even her father, who had been reading a book beside her, seriously added his words.

“Our family has maintained neutrality for generations, but if our daughter becomes the crown princess, we should naturally work hard for His Highness. Hmm. There will be a big change in the political landscape.”

“Father, I think you’re getting ahead of yourself……”

Even the servants.

“I was secretly worried that no good marriage proposal would come because Miss acted so tomboyish, but it seems my worry was unnecessary. As expected of our Miss!”

“Masha, please……”

Not knowing others’ inner thoughts. If they knew how much she was being worked to death by Alexion in the imperial palace, they would never dare say such things.

Erna left behind the people of the count’s household who waved their hands telling her to have a pleasant time with His Highness the crown prince, and reluctantly boarded the carriage heading to the imperial palace.

And Erna, who was called to the crown prince’s office, was busy today as well, sorting and moving documents at his command without a moment to breathe.

Shouldn’t this be called a slave contract rather than an engagement contract? If there was a labor office in this world, she would want to run there immediately and file a complaint.

Being pushed around by errands here and there, Erna gradually became exhausted. Her newly tailored light purple dress had ink splatters here and there, and her hair that the maids had beautifully braided early in the morning had stray hairs sticking out.

Unlike the haggard Erna, Alexion sitting at the ebony desk in his office examining documents was neat without even a bit of dishevelment. Even the sound of turning documents with his gloved hand felt elegant.

“Not even paying money but just working me to death. If you’re a crown prince, at least the rate……”

When Erna grumbled quietly with resentment, Alexion replied with his usual indifferent face.

“You said you like me, right? What’s the problem?”

At his attitude of always picking on her with the same words like a parrot, Erna, who was fed up to the limit, shouted back.

“You already know why I made that confession back then, Your Highness!”

On the day of the victory banquet, Erna, who had been called to the lounge, couldn’t withstand Alexion’s persistent questioning and honestly confessed the reason she had confessed to him in the lily garden.

“I know. You said it was because you wanted to connect the daughter of Marquis Plessen with the second son of Viscount Mayer.”

“You know it well. Then please stop teasing me now!”

Instead of answering, Alexion raised his head from the documents and stared at her with an incomprehensible expression.

“I don’t understand why you’re giving yourself a headache worrying about such a simple problem.”

“?”

“If the fact that Zenon Mayer is the second son is an obstacle, wouldn’t it be solved by eliminating the eldest son?”

“……You’re joking, right?”

“No.”

The color drained from Erna’s face as she backed away in disgust.

What kind of brain structure does this person have? Does he just kill anyone who gets in his way?

“You cold-blooded……”

“If you hate that, then Zenon Mayer just needs to achieve enough merit to cover the flaw of being the second son. For example, going to war and receiving a medal, or having strong backing.”

“!”

Thinking it sounded like a good idea, Erna’s eyes changed. While going to war wasn’t something you could do right away like taking a neighborhood stroll, having strong backing might be possible, right? Especially since the crown prince, who would be the next emperor, was sitting right in front of her.

Her emerald eyes sparkled with hope.

“That…… Your Highness.”

Alexion, who sensed what she wanted from Erna’s voice calling him, raised his eyebrows. Leaning back in his chair, he crossed his long legs in an arrogant posture and preemptively cut off Erna’s words.

“If you’re going to make a request, shouldn’t you properly do the work you’re doing now first?”

‘Tsk.’

So it won’t be easy after all.

***