This was even more serious than being exposed as a fake princess or as a maid impersonating Amelia. The small difference between dying peacefully or painfully would surely depend on this.

“If you’re afraid to tell me because of him, I will guarantee your safety. I’ll arrange a place for you to stay in the imperial palace and ensure you receive the imperial family’s protection……”

“No, no. Please……”

Mel hurriedly stopped Rudrich, not knowing what misunderstanding he had. She understood that Rudrich was an honorable and righteous person, but right now, his straightforward nature would harm her instead.

“These are scars I’ve had for a long time, they’re just…… Ah!”

Mel, who had been hastily making excuses, groaned briefly from a throbbing headache. Rudrich, who had been deep in thought, finally heard Mel’s groan and returned to reality as if doused with cold water.

Deciding they couldn’t continue arguing like this, Rudrich abruptly stood up.

“I’ll call the imperial physician, princess. If you could wait just a moment.”

“Wa-wait!”

Mel’s urgent hand grabbed Rudrich’s wrist as he stood. Turning around instinctively, Rudrich directly met Mel’s eyes, which were rippling with raw emotion.

“……!”

The moment he met those eyes, filled with a desperate mixture of anxiety, earnestness, and fearful pleading, Rudrich unconsciously felt his strength drain away and knelt on one knee before the princess.

Looking at Rudrich, who had aligned his eye level with hers, Mel pleaded with a trembling voice.

“Please, please don’t say anything about my wounds.”

“Princess, scars are nothing to be ashamed of. You don’t need to beg like this; I won’t tell anyone.”

“No one can ever know.”

Mel’s hand gripping Rudrich tightened.

“Absolutely no one.”

Mel had never appealed to someone’s sympathy like this before. For Mel, who had always had to give up something she possessed to gain even the smallest thing, this kind of plea was extremely unfamiliar.

“Please, I beg you. Please……”

And she felt anxious. Mel had nothing to offer Rudrich. She didn’t even know what he wanted. Rudrich’s repeated assurances that he would keep her secret meant nothing to Mel.

‘I need to find a way. Anything will do. I need to find something that will keep the Second Prince quiet.’

While her mouth formed pleas, Mel’s mind began working busily. Somewhat cunning thoughts surfaced and subsided repeatedly.

“I am a person who knows honor. If you wish, I’ll call the archbishop and swear before him. So please calm down, princess.”

“……”

Rudrich’s sincere voice had a mysterious power that could create trust where there was none. Even for Mel, who never lowered her guard, it was a voice that made her want to believe him, at least once. That didn’t mean she trusted him completely, though.

‘I have no options right now. I know too little about the Second Prince. I need to learn more about him. More.’

Mel nodded slightly to Rudrich and exhaled softly. Once she made her decision, her body, which had been trembling like an aspen, gradually calmed down. Nothing had happened right now, and Rudrich didn’t have enough information about Reibritton to do anything with this scar. He wasn’t Genoa Ivanstein, after all.

“Thank you, Your Highness. I think I’ve calmed down now.”

“……I feel terrible for having uncovered your painful wound. Let me formally apologize once more.”

“No need. It was my carelessness.”

Rudrich visibly relaxed when he saw Mel stabilize and continue the conversation. Mel stared blankly at his face.

‘Where does his kindness come from?’

Rudrich was a prince of the Raon Empire. As such, he had no reason to treat a princess of a kingdom—especially one facing destruction after defeat in war—so well. He could have taken advantage of her as much as he wanted, or insulted and ignored her like First Prince Rihast, but Rudrich didn’t.

‘Because I’m Amelia Reibritton? Just because of that one thing?’

If she had stood before Rudrich as Mel the slave, would she have received such kindness? Mel tried to imagine it but couldn’t picture it at all. Originally, she was just a lowly slave who couldn’t even exchange words with Rudrich.

‘Even if her country falls, even if she’s captured as a prisoner, even if she loses her freedom. She’s different from me.’

Mel tightly gripped the hem of her shirt. The longer she pretended to be the princess, the more unfamiliar jealousy boiled up in her chest.

She was a slave. Born a slave, raised a slave, and lived as a slave. She never imagined that by simply calling herself a princess and acting like one, she could live such a different life.

Here, no one said that vulgarity showed in Mel’s voice, face, or small actions. They praised even her trivial behaviors as having royal nobility. Mel found this both amusing and sorrowful.

“……Is there something on my face, princess?”

Rudrich, seeing Mel staring at him without saying anything, didn’t know what to do and eventually turned his head away. His earlobes had already turned red.

Mel finally realized that while lost in thought, she had been blankly staring at Rudrich the entire time. It was quite impolite and rude behavior. If Amelia had seen Mel like this, she would have taken up a whip, saying Mel had thrown her honor to the ground.

Mel hurriedly shook her head and apologized.

“I apologize for my rudeness due to my poor condition.”

“Are you sure you don’t need to see the imperial physician?”

“Yes. I was just a bit startled.”

“Even just being startled causes such—”

“Sometimes, sometimes I just get like this.”

From her firm attitude cutting off Rudrich’s concern, he perceptively realized she didn’t want this issue mentioned any further.

Rudrich nodded cleanly and said,

“I won’t ask further since you seem uncomfortable, but I would advise seeing a doctor even after you return to Duke Ivanstein’s mansion.”

“I’ll do that. Thank you for your concern.”

Rudrich looked at Mel nodding, swallowed a sigh, then took off his outer garment and draped it over her shoulders.

“Ah.”

“Please wear it for now. The lady-in-waiting will be here soon, and you can return it then.”

The Second Prince’s incredibly ornate jacket, which Mel ended up wearing by chance, was surprisingly light despite its appearance. Just the accessories decorating this jacket were clearly so expensive that Mel couldn’t even hope to look at them in her lifetime, no matter how hard she worked.

Just as Mel was concentrating all her strength on her brow, trying not to frown from the burden, a neat knock sounded. Knock, knock.

“Come in.”

Had the lady-in-waiting returned? Mel’s expectant eyes turned toward the slowly opening lounge door. She desperately wanted to return to Duke Ivanstein’s mansion and rest as soon as possible. As she half-raised her body, expecting the lady-in-waiting with a dress, Mel froze stiffly.

“……!”

Mel’s wide-open eyes filled with silver hair that sparkled so brilliantly it created the illusion of light pouring through the door. She had once said that this radiant light was like an angel’s hair. She thought that was a delusion from her very young, innocent, and ignorant days.

As Mel just opened and closed her lips like a broken machine, Rudrich called out the man’s name in a bewildered voice on her behalf.

“Duke Ivanstein, how……”

Genoa Ivanstein strode into the lounge like a grim reaper. His expressionless, sculpture-like face was still incredibly beautiful, but that made him seem less human. Mel didn’t know what state he was in when he wore such an expression. She had never seen this expression before, either in his childhood or when they met as adults.

Genoa glanced indifferently at Rudrich, then turned his gaze back to Mel and said,

“I’ve been looking for the princess for quite some time. So this is where you were.”

“Duke Ivanstein……”

“I came looking for you since your conversation with His Highness Rudrich seemed to be taking a long time.”

Genoa cut off Mel’s attempt to respond as if he didn’t need to hear it. Genoa’s eyes slowly scanned her from head to toe. Under his gaze, which moved slowly up and down, She froze like a stone, unable to do anything.

Mel couldn’t even imagine how her appearance would look to Genoa. Her hair was completely disheveled, and her appearance—wearing a lady-in-waiting uniform with Rudrich’s jacket draped over her—was a mess. The dress Genoa had given her as a gift lay strewn in front of the mirror in the lounge, partially stained red and in complete disarray.

“……”

Mel unconsciously clutched Rudrich’s jacket tightly around her shoulders. Fear washed over her that Genoa might see the scars visible through her thin shirt. Being discovered by Rudrich was clearly different from being discovered by Genoa. Of course, the latter would bring about the worst situation, needless to say.

Cold sweat began to seep from Mel’s forehead due to tension. As the worst scenarios repeatedly surfaced and subsided in her mind, Mel felt like she was drowning.

“……Princess?”

Rudrich placed his hand on the princess’s shoulder as he felt her body begin to tremble slightly. The faint vibration he felt through his palm was pitiful. Rudrich hadn’t completely dismissed his suspicion that the princess’s scars might be related to Duke Ivanstein.

The princess had shown an abnormal reaction, shaking uncontrollably and struggling to breathe, just from having her scar discovered. This was the kind of behavior someone might show after experiencing severe psychological trauma.