Chapter 6

Reyes was a skilled mage himself, but even he hadn’t noticed her smooth, refined spellcasting.

Reyes smiled generously.

“As expected of the top graduate, Sabina.”

“No need for praise for something so obvious, Your Highness.”

“Why are you so angry?”

Sabina held up the note with the name of the man who was supposed to visit. It said ‘Ashton Bryant.’

“I’m not angry. I just had a question.”

Reyes laughed like someone without a care.

“If that note had said ‘Reyes Brinita,’ you’d have pretended to be sick, wouldn’t you?”

Sabina’s jaw tensed.

So the man who applied for the position after seeing the ad was none other than Reyes Brinita.

But if he’d used his real name, Sabina would have found any excuse to avoid him, so he’d used a false one.

‘Just like when he approached me anonymously with letters before…’

Reyes’s persistence gave her a headache.

The Prince sat on the parlor sofa, then, as if he owned the house, gestured for Sabina to sit opposite.

“Come, have a seat.”

Sabina stood upright, glaring at Reyes.

Expecting this, Reyes wasn’t fazed. He pulled a small note from his coat pocket. With a snap of his fingers, it turned into today’s morning newspaper.

He folded the paper and looked at the bottom of page one, then read in a smooth voice.

“Contract lover wanted. Compensation starts at minimum one million rium per month. Requirements: adult male, age 19+. Working hours: flexible. To apply, contact Mitchel Valium, head maid of D’Vialis. One-page self-introduction required.”

He set it on the table.

“No matter how many times I check, I seem to meet all the qualifications, Sabina.”

He leaned back and looked at her.

“If you need a man, I’m always here—so why go to such lengths?”

“Because I don’t need you, Your Highness.”

Reyes’s head tilted further. His smile faded for a moment. Just for a moment. He widened his eyes and curled his lips. His voice dropped very low.

“How arrogant, Sabina. Do you think you can keep acting like this and be endlessly forgiven? Hmm?”

Sabina stayed silent.

Reyes continued, his suffocating expression unchanged, scratching the newspaper with his nail.

“I didn’t expect you to pull such a bold stunt. Ignoring all my advances, making a fool of me. You’re determined to embarrass me, aren’t you?”

He commanded,

“Come sit down.”

His voice trembled, even though he tried to hide it.

“Now.”

Lately, he’d been like a fierce dog pulling a worn leash tight. He was hungry. Sabina had starved him, by refusing to act as he wished for two years.

Her attitude—‘any man but Reyes Brinita is fine’—was an insult to him. Reyes was made of pride and poison. Such treatment was like poison to him.

Fortunately or unfortunately, he could restrain himself for his goal. Until ‘that day, eight months later,’ he would let Sabina live. He had shouted, ‘Yes, today’s the day! It was definitely today!’

With that in mind, Sabina dared to act disrespectfully toward His Highness.

Her feet seemed glued to the spot.

“No.”

At her quiet response, Reyes’s face twisted.

“What?”

“Your Highness, you can stay at the D’Vialis mansion as long as you wish. That’s the law. I’ll make sure you have anything you want. Have a pleasant time.”

She meant, ‘if you stay, I’ll leave.’

Reyes jumped up. The chair legs scraped the floor with an unpleasant sound.

“Sabina D’Vialis! Mind your manners.”

He strode toward Sabina, grinding his teeth.

Sabina looked up at him with a blank expression.

“It’s not against the law for me to leave.”

Reyes’s fingers made a threatening crack. He squeezed the air as if choking someone. His eyes blazed. His closed lips trembled with anger. The left corner of his mouth twitched upward.

That destructive smile was the exact expression the original Sabina saw just before dying in her second life.

Seeing it, Sabina suddenly found it hard to breathe. Now that she thought about it, this was the first time she’d been alone with Reyes in this life. Fear gripped her ankles.

It was like the instinctive urge to flee when a mouse sees a cat.

Her feet, glued to the floor, shifted back slightly. Reyes caught the movement with just his eyes. Sabina deliberately gripped her cane tightly, not wanting Reyes to see her hands shake.

She never wanted him to know she saw him as a threat.

Showing fear would only be a weakness to him…

She had to get away from here quickly.

“I’ll be going now…”

Sabina lowered her eyes and turned away.

Reyes grabbed her wrist and dragged her mercilessly.

“I didn’t say you could leave.”

Sabina was a bit flustered.

She hadn’t meant to provoke him this much. She hadn’t expected him to be at his limit. Both had their positions—how could he act so recklessly…

Right now, it wasn’t Sabina breaking decorum, but Reyes.

Sabina couldn’t even think of using magic to escape and was gasping for breath. Just as Reyes opened his mouth to warn her…

Knock, knock.

A knock sounded.

Without checking who it was, Sabina shouted,

“Come in!”

Anyone would do. If someone entered, Reyes would let go. He hated showing unkingly behavior. Grabbing a lady’s wrist and threatening her was hardly kingly.

Click, the door opened.

Sabina quickly pulled her wrist from Reyes’s grip.

She thought her savior would be Mitchel, or Vicky, or maybe little Hazel. But she was wrong.

It was a stranger.

A tall man with sun-tanned skin and sandy, faded blond hair. When he took off his sunglasses, well-shaped eyebrows and larimar-blue eyes were revealed.

“My goodness. Am I late?”

His speech had a slightly twisted southern accent, typical of foreigners.

He looked between Sabina and Reyes, whose hand was awkwardly raised in the air.

“Has someone already been chosen?”

The unexpected arrival left Sabina not expressionless, but rather a bit stunned.

“…Who are you? And you are?”

“Oh, ah. Excuse me.”

At those words, he hurriedly pulled something from the inside pocket of his summer suit jacket—a business card.

Sabina accepted the card and slowly read it.

“Ashton Bryant.”

It was the name on the note Mitchel had given her.

Wide-eyed, she watched as the man snapped his sunglasses closed and smiled.

‘‘Ashton Bryant’ wasn’t a fake name made up by Reyes? He was a real person? He really had been coming?’

“I’m Ashton Bryant. I saw the ad in the morning paper.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“I was told to come up to the second-floor parlor, is this not it?”

Before Reyes could say anything, Sabina spoke first.

“That’s right.”

She steadied her breathing, leaned on her cane, and raised her chin slightly.

“Yes. I’m Sabina D’Vialis. This is the right place, and I’ve been waiting for you. Please, have a seat.”

Ashton sat at the table as Sabina directed. On the table was the morning paper Reyes had left behind, still folded. Sabina’s advertisement was clearly visible. Ashton’s eyes narrowed.

Reyes glared at Ashton as if the situation was absurd. Ashton tilted his head slightly, meeting Reyes’s gaze with a quick glance. He nodded lightly toward Reyes—a gesture so informal it was hard to believe he was doing it to a royal.

“I thought someone had already been hired.”

He seemed to mistake Reyes for another contract lover candidate.

Even as he spoke, he showed no intention of leaving the room. The slight smile on his lips suggested that even if Sabina had already ‘decided’ on the other man, he was confident he could overturn it.

Sabina glanced at Reyes for a moment. She pressed her lips together and spoke.

“No, I haven’t hired anyone yet.”

“So, is he just here for an interview?”

Ashton twisted his body, grabbing the back of his chair, and looked at Reyes.

Reyes was deeply offended—not just because this man was being rude to him as a prince.

This stranger reminded him of his brother. That confident attitude, the expression that seemed to know no defeat. Ashton naturally displayed what Reyes had longed for all his life but could never possess.

Boldness and ease.

Even though he was here for an interview, he seemed comfortable. Reyes was always anxious about everything. That made him quick to feel jealousy. Now, he found himself envying even this man he’d just met. Ashton’s casual question—whether Reyes was ‘just here for an interview’—made Reyes feel unbearably uncomfortable.

If he spoke now, his voice would come out harsh. He hated showing that side of himself in front of this stranger, especially in front of Sabina. It felt like losing. Reyes hated losing, so he had no choice but to hold back. He clenched his teeth.

Sabina had lit the fire in Reyes, and Ashton poured oil on it. But Ashton seemed completely unaware, focused only on Sabina. It was as if the only person he needed to impress here was Sabina.

He sized up Reyes from head to toe, clearly wanting to get rid of him so he could talk to Sabina alone. He didn’t seem at all interested in who the dark-haired, handsome man was, sitting alone with the woman he’d come to interview with.

“So, is he leaving now?”

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean, you don’t know? Miss D’Vialis, aren’t you the owner of the house?”

Ashton smiled as he asked, as if wondering if Sabina had the right to send Reyes away. Sabina glanced at Reyes with only her eyes.

“It’s illegal for me to decide whether he leaves.”

“And who is he?”

Ashton looked genuinely surprised. Sabina remained silent. In the end, Reyes had to introduce himself. Shamefully.