5. I should have taken a look at her face.

A… a dog? A frog?!

What the hell is wrong with tyrants and their personalities? Rather than feeling sorry for much younger girls cowering in fear, he calls them frogs?

‘This is exactly why early education is a bad idea.’

I heard the crown prince started his royal training at a young age, but it’s all useless. What he needed was character education, character education! Who knows—maybe if he had that, he wouldn’t have turned into a tyrant later on.

Gazing at the crown prince’s feet firmly planted on the lawn, Hailey let out a deep sigh. And then came a suffocating silence.

“Am I really that scary?”

At the mocking voice from above, Hailey flinched. Was that even a question…?

Honestly, she wanted to throw herself at his mercy and beg, “Please spare me, Your Highness.” But she knew too well that would only backfire, so she kept her mouth tightly shut.

“Your Highness the Crown Prince, it’s been a while.”

And finally, the long-awaited lifeline appeared.

At the sound of a bright, breezy voice from above, Hailey unconsciously let out a breath of relief.

It was Eleonora, Duchess of Brontes.

The mistress of the palace and superior to both Hailey and Linda, she bowed politely to the crown prince.

Hailey could see the hem of the duchess’s lavender dress fluttering in her peripheral vision.

“Have you been well, Your Grace?”

The crown prince also bowed his head to Eleonora, who was not only the Duchess of Brontes but also his sister-in-law.

“I was just rejoicing upon hearing the news of your safe return from the campaign.”

“I apologize for the worry. The battlefield was complicated, so I couldn’t send word.”

“They say no news is good news. I’m very glad that saying turned out to be true this time.”

Responding with a voice full of sincerity, the duchess then turned her head slightly to look at Hailey and Linda, still lying flat on the ground.

“Oh dear… It seems my maids may have been rude to Your Highness.”

Hailey was simply grateful for the duchess’s kindness in referring to them as maids rather than apprentice maids.

“I’ll apologize on their behalf, Your Highness, the Crown Prince. So would you be willing to forgive those girls?”

At the duchess’s plea, the crown prince lowered his head and looked down at the maids still lying flat on the ground. Seeing the stiffness in his expression ease slightly, the duchess made another gentle appeal.

“They’re still tadpoles, aren’t they?”

‘Surely, you’re not really planning to punish such little tadpoles for a simple mistake, are you?’

The Grand Duchess Eleonora’s violet eyes seemed to ask that question. With her plea, the Crown Prince’s expression finally relaxed.

“It was nothing to begin with. I apologize for causing you concern, Your Grace.”

With a curt tone, the crown prince offered his apology. At his signal, the attendant standing beside him stepped forward and gave Hailey a light tap on the shoulder.

“You may leave now.”

However, Hailey remained prostrated and did not stand up. The Grand Duchess looked down at the two with a soft gaze before turning to the Crown Prince with a suggestion.

“It’s been a while since you visited the palace. May I offer you a cup of tea?”

“I’ve been missing the tea from the Duchy of Simodel. I would be honored to accept your invitation, Your Grace.”

The crown prince escorted the duchess as they left the scene. Only after the prince and all his attendants had disappeared did Hailey finally lift herself up.

“Ptooey! Ptooey, ptooey!”

Spitting out the blades of grass that had gotten between her lips, Hailey let out a heavy sigh.

“Haah… Looks like being a tadpole saved me.”

“Seriously… Who would’ve thought being a lowly tadpole instead of a frog would be a good thing.”

Linda, whose face was also covered in grass, mumbled in a dazed voice.

***

Crown Prince’s Office

After returning from the palace, Kincaid had shut himself in his office, reviewing documents. Having been away for nearly a month on campaign, he had a massive backlog of paperwork to deal with.

“Phew…”

With the burden of managing state affairs in place of the ailing emperor, Kincaid, as always, flipped through the papers with a furrowed brow.

Then suddenly, his eyes stopped. He turned to the aide next to him, who was also reviewing documents, and spoke.

“Burnett.”

“Yes, Your Highness. What is it?”

“Do I really have such a scary-looking face?”

The aide, who had been answering without lifting his eyes from the documents, paused at the unexpected question and thought for a moment before responding with a question of his own.

“Uh… hmm… How should I answer that?”

“?”

“I mean, I’m wondering what kind of answer would let me keep my life, Your Highness.”

At Burnett’s calm response, Kincaid frowned.

“Surely I wouldn’t execute an old academy classmate and an exceptionally competent aide over one slip of the tongue, would I?”

“Well, I used to think that too… until I saw Your Highness personally slaying rebel forces with a single stroke.”

“Just be honest. I won’t get angry.”

“If that’s truly the case… to be honest, Your Highness has a slightly—just slightly—intimidating face.”

Mindful that his lord was the heir to the imperial throne with overwhelming power, Burnett carefully chose the mildest word he could find…

“But I mean, I think I’ve got a decent face, don’t you?”

“…Huh?”

“I don’t think there’s anyone in the palace better looking than me.”

Well, then.

It was a confident claim—one that Burnett couldn’t even deny, since it had some basis in reality.
He calmly picked up his teacup and took a sip of the now-lukewarm tea.

Meanwhile, the crown prince was watching him with a serious expression.

“Of course, Your Highness is very handsome. But, well… with all the grim rumors going around lately…”

Rumors like how the crown prince had buried hundreds of rebels alive in a pit, or displayed their severed heads on the city gates… All the stories painted Kincaid as a cruel and vicious tyrant—like something out of a horror novel.

“I don’t care about rumors.”

“But those apprentice maids earlier couldn’t even lift their heads in front of you out of fear.”

Burnett had correctly guessed that the prince’s strange question stemmed from that earlier incident.

“Heh.”

At that, the crown prince let out a soft snort.

“They made the smart choice. If they had dared to lift their heads in front of me, they would’ve lost their lives.”

“Good heavens…”

Burnett frowned—a rare expression on his face—and let out a sigh.

“Wait… were you actually thinking of executing those apprentice maids over something so trivial?”

The look Burnett gave him was as if he were staring at a tyrant more vicious than any the world had ever known. Kincaid scoffed at him.

“It’s not me.”

“Well, of course, I didn’t mean you personally. You’d probably have the knights do it…”

“I meant, I had no intention of killing those lowly tadpoles.”

“Oh…”

“There’s no way we’re the only ones watching the palace.”

At his superior’s cold words, Burnett finally muttered under his breath in realization.

“Those tadpoles dared to throw laundry at the Crown Prince’s face.”

“Indeed.”

“If the Empress Dowager’s faction or someone from the Summer Palace got hold of that, those apprentice maids wouldn’t have survived.”

In the palace, servants lost their lives over the pettiest reasons.

A maid had once been executed for stepping on a princess’s pet dog. A gardener had his wrist severed for trimming a branch off a tree the Empress Dowager cherished.

In such a place, for apprentice maids to have thrown laundry at the crown prince’s face… It would’ve been more than enough reason to be beheaded ten times over.

“They almost gave Duchess Siela the perfect excuse. She already sees the palace as a thorn in her side.”

Duchess Siela—consort to the emperor and mistress of the Summer Palace—was always eager to disgrace Duchess Eleonora.

If she caught wind of apprentice maids from the palace disrespecting the crown prince, she’d surely use it as an excuse to have their heads cut off.

If they had dared to lift their heads and reveal who they were…

Burnett finally understood the full situation.

“So that’s why Her Grace stepped in so suddenly. No wonder she seemed to be in a hurry.”

“She didn’t need to go that far…”

The crown prince whispered under his breath,

“Thank you… for protecting the girls of the palace.”

Back when the two were alone after the maids had been dismissed, Duchess Eleonora had offered Kincaid a heartfelt expression of gratitude.

As Kincaid recalled her elegant and delicate voice, his gaze turned cold again, fixating on the documents before him.

“You really weren’t planning to kill them, right?”

Burnett’s question was laced with suspicion, but Kincaid just scoffed in response.

“She’s quite a clever little apprentice maid, though. To have calculated all that in such a short moment.”

“Clever? More like cunning.”

“Your Highness shines with such radiant brilliance that I dare not lift my head to gaze upon you.”

“Hah, I’ve never heard such a polite insult in my life.”

The crown prince’s voice was laced with irritation, and Burnett blinked in surprise.

“Excuse me?”

“Think about it. Didn’t you say there were all sorts of nasty rumors about me spreading through the palace lately?”

“Well, that’s to be expected right after your return from the campaign.”

“In a situation like that, do you really think she meant radiant brilliance? What she really meant was that I’m such a cruel tyrant, it’s terrifying to even look me in the eye.”

“Oh… I see.”

“And if I’d actually killed her after all that, I’d have proven those rumors true with my own hands.”

“Oh my…”

“That audacious tadpole is basically pointing that fact out to me. Daring to speak to me like that…”

Grrrkk. The sound of teeth grinding made Burnett flinch.

“Still, for a tadpole, her tone is…”

Perfectly polite on the surface, even reverent at first glance—yet laced with layered meaning if you really thought about it.

That was the language of the imperial palace.

For an apprentice maid with just a year or two of service to wield such language…

“I should have taken a look at her face.”