Bringing her along, Tehern tossed her carelessly near a chair somewhere and walked off to the center of the training grounds to begin his exercises.

Without Tehern beside her, the princes made no effort to hide their curiosity and stared openly at Rowen. She wanted to return to her room, but Tehern’s order to wait until he finished kept her frozen in place.

The training grounds were outdoors, with no roof overhead. It must have been around three in the afternoon by then, right when the sunlight burned hottest.

Sweat beaded on her forehead beneath the scorching sun above. Just as Rowen lifted her sleeve to wipe away a drop of sweat rolling down her cheek.

“Hello. Long time no see.”

A gentle voice greeted her from the side. Recognizing the voice, Rowen turned quickly to look.

A man with radiant golden hair. The one who spoke to her was Michael Louisa Hydra.

Like Tehern, he was one of the leading candidates for the throne. Why he had suddenly decided to speak to her, she could not guess. But since she already crossed paths and spoken with him a few times before, she was not nearly as startled as she had been running into Tehern.

Rowen rose from her seat and bowed politely to him. Michael waved his hand as if to say there was no need and sat down beside her. Then he crossed his legs with the same arrogant ease.

He did not look at Rowen, keeping his gaze fixed on the princes training in the yard, and spoke.

“Seems like you and Tehern have gotten close.”

“What?”

“Looks like he’s been dragging you around everywhere since earlier.”

From the sound of it, Prince Michael must have also been present in the statecraft lecture hall earlier. It made sense, given that a leading heir candidate would naturally attend that class.

She was not exactly close with Tehern, and did not know how to answer without saying that outright… Michael was too formidable an opponent to answer carelessly.

“What happened to your leg?”

But Michael, apparently growing impatient with Rowen’s careful deliberation, changed the subject first. His gaze fixed on the bandaged ankle beneath her.

“I fell from the second floor and broke it.”

“You fell from the second floor?”

Michael, calm the entire time, turned and asked with visible disbelief. Could someone even break a bone falling from that height? His question seemed to carry that implication.

But he soon let his eyes drift up and down over her once, then smiled, as if he understood something.

Rowen felt a little wronged by that. People like Tehern and Michael were the monsters here. She was perfectly normal. It made complete sense for a normal person to break something, a leg or an ankle or otherwise, falling from that height.

“How’d you end up falling from the second floor?”

Michael followed up with another difficult question.

There were these two bastards named Jun and Kyle. Oh, and just so you know, they’re already dead, Tehern slit their throats. Anyway, those damned bastards lied to me and shoved me into an empty lecture hall, and Tehern happened to be in there having s*x with a maid.

And those bastards I mentioned locked the door on their way out, so I couldn’t even leave. So I had no choice but to open the window and jump out. If I stayed there any longer, Tehern would have definitely strangled me to death.

The memory of that day flashed rapidly through her mind. But she could not possibly say any of that in front of Michael, so Rowen hesitated for a moment.

It would have been wonderful if Michael changed the subject again like before. But he waited persistently for an answer, staring right at her. In the end, she fidgeted her fingers nervously and spoke.

“I, I accidentally walked into the wrong lecture hall last time, and Older Brother Tehern happened to be inside……”

“Ah. And then?”

“And then, I got scared…… and jumped out the window.”

“What?”

Leaving out Tehern sleeping with the maid, and Jun and Kyle locking the door, cutting out too much of the middle made the ending sound bizarre.

Michael looked briefly stunned by the sudden, absurd conclusion. Then he burst out laughing.

“Hah, you’re really something. Pretty dumb too, honestly.”

“……”

His clear laughter rang out across the training grounds, and everyone there turned to look at them at once. Under the weight of all those eyes, Rowen felt cold sweat trickle down her back once again.

Anxious, Rowen glanced sideways without thinking and locked eyes with Tehern. She nearly screamed. His expression was as menacing as a monster’s.

He raked his fingers roughly through his hair, seemingly holding back anger, then finally strode over to them.

“What are you doing here right now?”

Tehern addressed Michael with formal speech. It made sense, given Michael was older, but seeing the arrogant Tehern speak respectfully to anyone for the first time struck Rowen as strange.

Of course, using formal speech did not make it sound the least bit courteous.

“Hello, Tehern. It’s been a while.”

Tehern spoke in a rude, accusatory tone, but Michael simply laughed it off.

“Looks like you’ve gotten close with your little brother lately. You wouldn’t even talk to me.”

“I don’t think there’s much for us to talk about, Brother.”

“Still, you should talk to your older brother more often. Hm? Don’t leave me feeling left out.”

“……”

Tehern rarely showed this much agitation, if ever. This was the same man who beheaded Jun and Kyle without batting an eye.

Yet now he looked completely helpless against Michael’s easy smile. Rowen watched the vein bulge in Tehern’s neck and grew frightened.

“……”

Even his silence, paired with that terrifying expression, made him all the more frightening. Strangely, it was Michael who provoked him, and yet Michael remained perfectly calm while Rowen alone was gripped with fear.

Michael looked at Tehern and smiled, seemingly enjoying himself, then rose from his seat. His gaze shifted to Rowen.

“By the way, what was your name again?”

Michael looked at her steadily and asked her name yet again. He had already been told several times, and he forgot each time. Being this indifferent toward other people felt almost like an illness.

“Rowen Erin Hydra, Brother.”

But Rowen, as always, answered diligently.

If no one else had been watching, Tehern would have mocked her for even claiming to be a Hydra, sneering that a girl had no business calling anyone by that term. He might have said something about a woman who was not even imperial dressing as a man and pretending to be a prince. But fortunately, Michael was still standing right there.

Michael nodded and walked away without another word. His long legs carried him out of sight in no time.

“D*mn it.”

Some time after Michael disappeared, Tehern glared at the spot where he had been standing and muttered a curse. He was not cursing at her, yet Rowen still found herself watching his face nervously.

“Talking to that guy always puts me in a sh*t mood.”

He did not need to say it out loud, his expression already made that clear. But Rowen kept that thought to herself.

* * *

Late one night, Rowen visited Tehern’s room as usual, and he pulled her inside and immediately began stripping her clothes off.

Rowen assumed that once he finished undressing her, he would shove his c*ck into her right away like some rabid dog. But uncharacteristically, he showed restraint. He gripped her thickly bandaged ankle and frowned.

“When exactly is your leg going to heal?”

“The doctor said I still need to wait a bit longer……”

“Are you eating properly?”

Rowen nodded carefully, watching his expression. Tehern pressed his lips together and kneaded her injured ankle. When he applied pressure, a horrible pain shot through the broken bone.

“Ah……!”

“Don’t make me laugh. If you were eating properly, your body wouldn’t be in such a pathetic state. Your leg would already be healed by now.”

It felt like her slowly healing leg had just been broken all over again. Rowen writhed and whimpered. Tehern glanced at her, clicked his tongue, and let go of her leg.

He lifted her n*ked body with ease and set her on top of himself. The sudden action made her flinch in surprise.