Chapter 6 (Part 9)

Anthus went to Cloud and showed him the ‘Urgent Monster Report.’

“Are you suddenly coming to submit a report?”

“Yes. It’s urgent.”

“What are you thinking, Yan?”

Cloud asked, seeing Anthus suddenly visiting in the morning to submit a report.

“I plan to cause an incident today, and I’d like you to turn a blind eye.”

“What? An incident? What kind of incident?”

“Yes. It’s a major incident, but it’s manageable.”

“What kind of incident are you planning?”

“After causing that incident, there will be an excuse for a territorial war between Rockbellion and Fedeurus.”

“An excuse for a territorial war.”

Cloud’s eyes sharpened.

After finishing his conversation with Cloud, Anthus went to Princess Ophelia’s palace to pick up Yuliana.

Lara, who came to greet him, guided Anthus to the reception room. As expected, Ophelia came to meet him.

“Duke Anthus.”

“Princess Ophelia, how have you been? What about the tea party?”

“When I heard that you were here, I couldn’t stay still, Duke.”

Despite Ophelia’s coquettish demeanor, Anthus only showed his cold red eyes without smiling.

“I’m here to find my fiancée.”

Hearing the word fiancée made Ophelia clench her hands. 

A fiancée? That’s impossible.

“You’re calling her your fiancée without even being engaged.”

Losing his smile at Ophelia’s words, Anthus swallowed his irritation and spoke calmly.

“Lady Loengrin and I are engaged.”

“Duke Anthus, you’re so cruel. Knowing how much I love you… How can you lie like that?”

At Ophelia’s words, Anthus expressed his frustration by running his hand through his neatly arranged hair.

“Do you know how much I’m showing consideration for you right now, Princess Ophelia? It would be best if you guided me to my fiancée before I go to the tea party location.”

Holding back tears, Ophelia continued the conversation despite Anthus’s cold demeanor.

“Is there something lacking in me compared to Lady Yuliana? Why don’t you recognize my love?”

“Are you talking about love to me right now?”

“I love you, Anthus. I’ve told you repeatedly.”

“And I’ve repeatedly rejected you.”

“Even if you say no, if I push with the imperial order, you’ll have no choice but to accept. Lady Yuliana can be kept as a mistress. So… accept me!”

A murderous aura began to emanate from Anthus.

“Do you not realize how insulting your words are to my fiancée? And I haven’t forgotten what you did to the young attendant the Rockbellion house cherished.”

As soon as Anthus mentioned the attendant, whom Ophelia thought he didn’t know about, her face turned pale.

“Have you forgotten beating the attendant to death? Or do you not remember because you’ve beaten so many servants?”

Anthus sighed deeply. He tried to restrain himself because she was a princess, but his patience had reached its limit.

“Hearing the word love from someone like you… is quite disgusting. So, please don’t say such nonsense.”

“Duke Anthus! I’m sincere!”

“I sincerely dislike you, Princess Ophelia.”

Ophelia trembled at Anthus’s cold words.

“Where is my fiancée?”

“Duke Anthus… Lady Yuliana is currently in the glass greenhouse alone with Young Lord Beonar, talking about reconciliation. It seems they still have many lingering feelings for each other.”

After those words, Ophelia flinched. The fierce expression on Anthus’s face, which she had never seen before, exuded immense murderous intent.

“No matter what they talked about alone in the greenhouse, they won’t be able to avoid scandal!”

“Princess Ophelia… Did you think I looked like a fool just because I smiled every day?”

Anthus clenched his fists and glared at Ophelia, his anger pouring out. His red eyes were filled with nothing but contempt for Ophelia. The oppressive aura emanating from his body made Ophelia step back.

“How… How dare you, Duke Rockbellion. You are in front of the Princess! Show some respect.”

Lara, who had been assisting Ophelia from behind, bravely spoke to Anthus.

“Maid Lara, isn’t it frustrating that you can’t contact Laon?”

At the mention of Laon, Lara flinched. The murderous aura emanating from Anthus made Lara swallow her breath and start trembling.

Anthus roughly grabbed Lara’s neck with one hand.

“How dare you put surveillance on my lover?”

Lara trembled. She tried her best to act scared as Anthus had instructed, but she ended up genuinely frightened.

“Laon confessed everything, Maid Lara.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“We’ll see about that, Maid Lara.”

The red aura emanating from Anthus’s entire body became increasingly terrifying.

“Duke Anthus! What are you doing to my maid!”

With a face contorted in rage, Anthus pushed Lara away. Lara was pushed back, falling to the ground and trembling.

“Princess Ophelia, listen carefully.”

“Anthus, what on earth are you doing!”

“If, by any chance, I am forced to marry you by His Majesty’s order… I will abandon everything, flee to another empire, and declare war on the Sirius Empire. And the first thing I will do is execute you, Princess Ophelia, in front of everyone. Or I might make you kill yourself.”

Every word Anthus spoke made Ophelia’s face turn pale, and her body trembled.

“Abandon the magic stone mine and flee?”

“Talking about the magic stone mine in this situation… Surprising. Are you interested in the Rockbellion family’s magic stone mine?”

Ophelia’s face turned red.

“I can overlook the matter with the beloved attendant, but I cannot overlook anything related to the woman I love.”

“Do you hate me that much? Sob.”

Ophelia bit her lower lip harshly and collapsed into her seat, tears streaming down her face.

But to Anthus, it looked like a disgusting act. Even if she pretended to be weak and fragile, he already knew her true violent nature.

“I won’t leave you alone!”

Anthus looked down coldly at the screaming Ophelia.

“I’ll take that threat seriously.”

“Sob… Please look at me… I hit the attendant out of jealousy. I’m sorry…”

“An apology is useless. That attendant is dead.”

Ophelia reached out to Anthus, who was looking down at her, but he recoiled with a disgusted expression.

“There’s no need to reject me so harshly… Ah… Don’t hurt me anymore… Please… Duke Anthus. I’m okay with being your mistress. Accept me!”

“It’s too low-level to listen to. A princess of a country talking about being a mistress? It’s ridiculous… Gray, come out.”

Anthus’s shadow began to move. Then a man dressed entirely in a black robe appeared.

“Put Maid Lara in the underground prison of the ducal residence. She’s an important witness, so don’t kill her, and make sure she can’t commit suicide.”

“Understood.”

“Anthus Rockbellion! Don’t touch Lara!”

“Don’t touch her?… Then you shouldn’t have touched my lover, Princess Ophelia.”

“If I can’t have you… I’ll destroy everything. I won’t leave it alone! I’ll make you regret treating me like this! Anthus Rockbellion.”

Anthus laughed at Ophelia and walked away. Ophelia’s eyes sharply glared at Anthus’s retreating figure.

* * *

Yuliana’s golden eyes sharply glared at Beonar. But Beonar didn’t care. What he wanted now was to reconcile with Yuliana.

“Break up with the Duke and marry me.”

Beonar was carefully choosing words that would irritate Yuliana and be unpleasant to hear. His shamelessness made her skin crawl.

“I regret breaking off our engagement the most. I’ll really do well. I’ll look only at you for the rest of my life. I won’t keep any mistresses.”

Beonar opened his arms and slowly approached Yuliana.

“I love you.”

Yuliana watched Beonar approaching and fell into deep thought. 

How should I deal with him? Should I kill him? Or should I wait for Anthus? 

No matter what answer she came up with, it couldn’t clear her frustrating mind.

“I told you not to come closer.”

[Yuli! That’s a trash. Why are you alone with a trash?!]

Sylph started cursing the current situation openly.

“Why do you keep pushing me away? I’m begging for forgiveness like this.”

“Just because you’re asking for forgiveness, does that mean I have to say okay?”

A one-sided apology only adds insult.

“I want to spend the rest of my life apologizing to you.”

“This is a ridiculous situation. You’re choosing me just because Lady Sophia is marrying another man.”

“What do I have to do for you to believe my sincerity!”

“Like a piece of paper torn and scattered in the wind… Young Lord Beonar, you and I are already in a broken relationship.”

Like a piece of paper torn and blown away, becoming unrecognizable.

“No… Let’s write our story again on a new paper.”

Yuliana sighed deeply.

Then it happened.

Bang!

An explosion sounded from the direction of the greenhouse door. Startled by the loud noise, Beonar roughly grabbed Yuliana’s wrist and pulled her into his arms. Shocked, Yuliana screamed.

“Lia, get into my arms! I’ll protect you!”

“Are you crazy! Let go of me, Young Lord Beonar!”

[Yuli! Tell me to kill that trash with a blade of wind!]

Even though she twisted her wrist to pull it out, Beonar didn’t let go of Yuliana’s wrist.

Just as Yuliana was about to ask Sylph to blow him away, she blinked at the familiar mana presence. She immediately knew who had arrived.

[It’s the Duke, isn’t it?]

“Yes. It’s really the Duke’s entrance.”

Anthus had followed Yuliana’s presence to the greenhouse. He took out a dagger from his coat, infused it with mana, and broke down the greenhouse door.

And he saw it. Beonar roughly grabbing Yuliana’s wrist and forcibly pulling her shoulder. His whole body surged with veins, and his body trembled with anger.

“Let go of me, Young Lord Beonar.”

“It’s dangerous! Look at that, he’s breaking everything! I don’t want to leave you with such a violent man for even a moment!”

Such a lowly, worthless human scum was forcibly holding his lover. He was holding her while she was crying out to be let go.