Chapter 4 (Part 8)

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Patzraelli, hitting the table several times, wanted to vent his frustration.

Just one change of fiancée, and suddenly his supporters were attacking him.

As Crown Prince, he had never been treated like this.

‘I miss Meia terribly.’

Would it be okay to hold onto Meia even now? They say she isn’t at the Ducal residence.

Could it be that Meryl drove her away?

Various thoughts began to clutter his mind.

The important thing was that he had taken the change of fiancée too lightly, and he was deeply regretting it now.

“Aendy, what should I do?”

Aendy sighed and spoke to Patzraelli.

“Your Highness, it was you who parted with Lady Meia when she was having the hardest time. I can’t guarantee that holding onto her now will work. Moreover, Prince Demian is openly declaring his intention to take Lady Meia as his consort, and the young nobles are studying how to woo Lady Meia rather than their succession lessons.”

“I know that. I know.”

Aendy sighed again.

He knew well how much trouble Patzraelli was going through because of the utterly clueless Meryl.

“I want to break off the engagement with Lady Meryl.”

Knock, knock.

There was a knock on the door.

“Crown Prince, Lady Meryl Hatzbellua is here.”

“Tell her I’m not here.”

“Open the door! Your Highness! I know you’re in there!”

If he didn’t open the door again and said he was busy, Meryl would surely throw a fit.

If he said something unpleasant, she would cry again.

Whatever he did, she would just cry.

One cannot communicate with her. Patzraelli was very distressed.

“Aendy, save me.”

“Your Highness, please save me too.”

Patzraelli’s headache worsened, and Aendy had recently stopped eating.

Creak.

The door opened, and Meryl entered. Patzraelli pleaded with her to go back, promising to visit the Ducal residence that evening. Satisfied, Meryl left, and Aendy and Patzraelli sighed in relief.

That evening, Crown Prince Patzraelli visited the Hatzbellua Ducal residence. Hearing that Meryl wasn’t back yet, he headed to the reception room but found his steps leading elsewhere.

Walking through the familiar Ducal residence he had roamed since childhood, he stopped in front of a familiar door.

‘This is…….’

Patzraelli, overwhelmed by the longing to see Meia, found himself stopping in front of her room.

‘Meia.’

Patzraelli called her name in his heart. There was no answer.

No one would ever know how I felt!

‘Meia, I’m sorry.’

All the problems he had taken lightly began to surface one by one with Meia’s disappearance.

His supporters were avoiding him, and his fiancée, Meryl, was being called a ‘fighting c*ck’ in social circles. Yet, as his fiancée, he had to look after her and accompany her.

T/N: 쌈닭 (ssam-dak) can be translated into ‘Fighting c*ck’. Used metaphorically to describe someone who is combative or aggressive.

The more he was with Meryl, the more people avoided him, the Crown Prince.

“Sigh.”

What use is regret?

“Who are you, lingering in front of our lady’s room?”

A sharp voice mixed with hostility brushed past Patzraelli’s ears.

“An assassin in the Ducal residence…”

Patzraelli reached for the sword at his waist.

“Did Demian send you?”

At that moment.

“Agnita! That is the Crown Prince! Withdraw your killing intent!”

Recognizing the familiar voice, Crown Prince Patzraelli relaxed.

“Is that Yudy’s voice?”

There was no way Patzraelli couldn’t recognize the voice of Yudy, Meia’s nanny, who had taken good care of him and Meia since childhood.

“Crown Prince, may the nobility of the sun always be with you.”

Agnita, who was in front of Patzraelli, also bowed her head in apology.

“I’m sorry, Crown Prince. I was cautious because I saw a stranger standing in front of the lady’s room.”

“It’s fine. Yudy… it seems Meia really left for the Mage Tower…”

“Yes, she has left.”

“You must be disappointed in me too, Yudy.”

“No, I’m not.”

“How could you not be? I let go of Meia’s hand when she was struggling. Don’t you resent me?”

Yudy smiled gently and spoke softly.

“It was a political marriage anyway. Breaking off an engagement is something that can happen. How could I question a decision that the lady understood?”

Though Yudy spoke in a roundabout way, her meaning was clear.

“Crown Prince, please wait a moment.”

Yudy went into Meia’s room and came out with a letter, which she handed to Patzraelli.

“This is a letter that Lady Meia asked me to deliver to you, Crown Prince Patzraelli.”

In fact, Patzraelli didn’t want to break off the engagement.

But he hoped Meia would understand that he had to do as Empress Ellermin instructed.

Receiving the letter from Yudy, Patzraelli carefully opened the envelope.

The faint scent of lilies that came from her seemed to linger on the letter.

[To Crown Prince Patzraelli von Mavro,

Things have happened that I wished hadn’t occurred.

But I have accepted all of them.

Just like the things I had to learn, even though I didn’t want to, during my education to become an Empress when I was young.

I’ve realized that just as strength is needed to hold onto something, a lot of thought is required to let go of something as well. Stay healthy always.

Meia Hatzbellua.]

Patzraelli’s grip tightened on the letter.

“Meia…”

The letter conveyed her situation, which couldn’t hold onto him, the Crown Prince.

“It was inevitable to break off the engagement…”

When Empress Ellermin heard that Luman was planning to marry Demian to Meryl, she pushed for the break-up with Meia to secure the Crown Prince’s position. Patzraelli also accepted it because he only needed the power of the family anyway.

It was too light a choice. If he had thought differently, he might not have lost both the power of the Hatzbellua Ducal family and Meia.

“Thank you for giving me the letter, Yudy.”

Yudy glanced at him and spoke.

“Honestly, I didn’t want to give it to you.”

“If I could go back to before the break-up with her, I wouldn’t have created this situation.”

Seeing Patzraelli full of regret after reading the letter, Yudy thought he was irresponsible.

When breaking off the engagement with Meia, he didn’t even talk to her face-to-face but informed her through Luman.

“Lady Meia has left.”

“But she will return on the day of her coming-of-age ceremony.”

Patzraelli looked at Meia’s letter again.

Seeing this, Yudy imagined cursing at Patzraelli’s face and opened her mouth.

“Your Highness, a river that has already flowed cannot return to where it came from.”

Patzraelli knew what Yudy’s words meant.

It meant Meia wouldn’t return.

“The water can be redirected.”

Yudy looked at him straight and said.

“May this old nanny say a word?”

“Yudy, you can say whatever you want.”

“Nothing can stop the flowing water. Redirecting the water? The water would have already flowed into the sea. What you need to do now is to watch the flowing water beautifully.”

“I will block the water from flowing into the sea. And I will redirect the water back to where it was.”

“If you block the flowing water, it will eventually rot.”

There was no usual gentleness in Yudy’s eyes.

“You can resent me. But I plan to make Meia my Empress again.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“It’s common for one family to have both an Empress and a concubine.”

Patzraelli keenly felt Meia’s absence in the social circles due to the recent events with Meryl. Empress Ellermin felt the same. Therefore, if Meia were brought in as a concubine, everything would be resolved.

“Of course, for now, Lady Meryl will become the Crown Princess and then the Empress, but at the right time, I plan to raise Meia from a concubine to the Empress. There is no woman in the Carpen Empire more fitting to be Empress than her.”

At this point, understanding how significant Meia’s position in the social circles was, Patzraelli knew he had to bring her back, whether as a concubine or the Empress.

“After the unilateral break-up, all the efforts she made to become Empress were rendered meaningless.”

Unable to hold back, Patzraelli shouted at Yudy, who spoke coldly.

“Her efforts will bloom by my side, so don’t worry, Yudy.”

Yudy was angry. It was common for one family to have both an Empress and a concubine, but would Luman allow it? If Meia became a concubine, Luman would smile and agree, but behind the scenes, he would kill Meia without anyone knowing.

“She will undoubtedly become the Empress. So, all her efforts will never be meaningless.”

Yudy realized that there was no point in talking to Patzraelli anymore. He had already made up his mind, so nothing she said would matter.

“If you want to correct things, build enough power so that you don’t need the Duke’s family’s strength.”

Patzraelli said nothing and turned his back on Yudy and Agnita, retracing his steps.

Agnita looked at him with disdain.