A soft fragrance spread through the room, and Kaiden’s eyelids began to close heavily.

A suffocating stillness soon arrived.

No one in the room opened their mouth easily, but after a moment Bistel let out a sigh without meaning to.

“Hmm……”

Bitter water surged back up his throat again. Bistel swallowed it and looked around.

Netty, who had always given him a warm smile, kept avoiding his gaze today, and the princess was staring endlessly at the sleeping Kaiden with a gaunt, hollow expression.

Not being able to receive Netty’s smile was lonely, and seeing the princess so thin was painful.

Bistel’s anguish continued until the moment Kaiden opened his eyes.

One hour after the detoxification incense was lit.

Kaiden opened his eyes and moved to rise at once.

Ajean stopped him urgently. If she did not catch him quickly, Kaiden would leave the room without a word, as always.

“Just a moment, Your Highness.”

Kaiden’s gaze dropped. Ajean’s wrist, gripping his arm, was pitifully thin.

Whether in Aisha or Decan. It did not seem to be a matter of the cook.

Kaiden’s heart began to ache. The princess had already been thin before, and the state she had fallen into since coming to Decan was undeniably his fault.

No master fears the loss of a weapon.

Kaiden steadied himself like a mantra. But the strength of Ajean’s grip was pathetically feeble.

Whether it was guilt or a sense of responsibility, some emotion that could not easily be defined made Kaiden open his mouth.

“Do you have something to say?”

“Yes. Please spare me a moment. Netty and Sir Bistel, please give us the room.”

Kaiden settled onto the sofa without resistance and crossed his long legs.

Ajean kept turning her own hands over. When she had grabbed Kaiden’s arm just a moment ago, she plainly felt the firm muscle beneath his uniform.

And the arms that had pulled someone out of the water were Silvia’s, not hers.

Jealousy truly had no shame. It reared its head without warning and put a person in a difficult position.

What surged up alongside the sudden sense of inadequacy was a powerful wave of nausea.

If she traced the memory any further, she would surely bring up everything she had eaten for dinner. The incident at the lake had to be forgotten.

Ajean shook her head hard from side to side, then spoke quickly.

“Do you remember the conversation we had after the auction ended in Aisha?”

“Why bring that up now?”

“I staked my life as a card and proposed a deal to you. I want to do that again. This time, I will stake your life as the card. It is worth far more than mine, so please put a high price on it.”

“The price of my life.”

Kaiden pulled his back away from the sofa and leaned forward.

It was a positive signal that he would listen even to a long explanation. Relief rose on Ajean’s face.

“You cannot deny it, Your Highness. I saved you from the addiction, and I am helping your ascension to the throne by performing as the saintess. I want to receive the price for that. Now…… I need to receive it.”

Now.

She presented “now” as the dividing line that cleanly separated past from present.

Both Kaiden listening and Ajean speaking understood that the point of reference was “the day of falling into the lake.”

Ajean was asking for a clean, transactional relationship.

A brief chill settled between Kaiden’s brows. It was what he preferred and the manner he had wanted from her, yet it still twisted something in him.

But still remembering the pathetic weakness of her grip, a fairly generous answer came from his mouth.

“Tell me what you want, imperial princess.”

The generosity was so absurd that Ajean nearly doubted his intentions.

When someone offers to give, it must be seized before they change their mind.

Ajean’s eyes sparkled like a morning star.

“Your Highness must become Emperor without fail, and I will soon be returning to Aisha with things I need to do.”

Returning to Aisha. Kaiden’s hand reflexively tightened.

It was only natural to speak of an inevitable conclusion, but her manner of stating the obvious so matter-of-factly was presumptuous. At least, that was how it looked to Kaiden.

I could break your wings and keep you in Decan.

I could snap the neck of that man in Aisha, Allen Montezo.

Words he could never say circled cowardly in Kaiden’s throat.

The cruel invader who stirred up waves in Kaiden’s sea without permission, Ajean continued speaking toward the silent Kaiden.

“I cannot return empty-handed. I want to have power. Your Highness can give it to me.”

Kaiden deliberately opened his mouth slowly to effectively conceal his feelings. A well-trained, dignified voice followed.

“What kind of power do you want?”

“The power to protect myself and the people who are mine so that no one can ever hurt us again. The power to reclaim the throne of Aisha and save the people of the Empire who have fallen into suffering. That kind of strong power. Something beyond the soon-to-be-deposed Crown Princess of Decan.”

Gaining great power means bearing great threat.

Kaiden’s golden eyes swept up and down Ajean’s small frame.

“In the whirlpool of power, not even the smallest mistake is forgiven. One misstep and your life is in danger. Do you understand that?”

“Of course. Your Highness already knows well my bloodline and origins, and the treatment I received in the Aisha imperial court. There is nothing more to fear.”

Kaiden moved his long fingers and picked up the cold teacup sitting on the table. His gaze was deep and sharp.

“Very well, imperial princess. Since my life has been staked as a card, there is nothing I cannot give. That is the price of the life of the Crown Prince of Decan.”

She had been certain he would agree, but she had not expected the negotiation to be this easy. Ajean concealed her bewilderment and continued.

“Then please give me half of the laundered funds through Madam Sinelliburn.”

Kaiden’s brow furrowed with displeasure. Setting down the teacup, he asked.

“…… What are you talking about? Laundered funds?”

“The jewels you sent me. You intended to have them converted into gold coins. Madam Sinelliburn is working on it now. If half is too much……”

Kaiden, belatedly realizing Ajean was talking about “money laundering,” swallowed a suppressed groan.

“Never mind, use all of it wherever you need it. It was given to you, so its disposal is also at your discretion.”

Money laundering. Kaiden felt a tingling pull at the back of his neck.

He had heard the rumor that nobles were mocking her for having not a single piece of jewelry, and had sent them to maintain her dignity.

Ajean was a woman more than worthy of having such things. And yet she had gone and sold them.

Of course, knowing that Sinelliburn was an “information” dealer, there had also been the meaning of having her serve as Ajean’s hands and feet, but that had been the second reason at most.

Ajean did not understand even a fraction of Kaiden’s exasperated feelings. She simply looked pleased at the sound of being given money, and color returned to her pale face.

“You are truly giving it all to me?”

The imperial princess had a particular talent for unsettling his composure, and it seemed her cleverness was something she pulled out only when it suited her.

Kaiden swallowed the surging irritation.

“I did not expect you to agree this easily. Thank you. You said this was not a deal made with some street idler, and those words were truly right.”

Was it the smile that came when one had seized the advantageous position in a negotiation?

Ajean’s eyes curved into a beautiful arc. The sight of it was as soft as sunlight, and Kaiden swallowed several other complicated things along with it.

Having rejoiced so obliviously, Ajean soon withdrew her smile and lowered her voice.

“Your Highness, I cannot say this with a smile, but it has been weighing on my mind. The other day, while I was probing Anna Whitton a little, she let something slip that she likely did not intend to reveal.”

They were alone in the room, yet Ajean lowered her voice deliberately and continued with a worried expression.

“Anna Whitton said that ‘Whitton’s sons are in Goltan as well.’ If that is true, Whitton deserves to be annihilated. They are aiding in war, which is clearly sedition and the crime of treason.”

Kaiden answered in a tone that showed not the slightest surprise.

“I know. The Red Stork is using Goltan’s civil war to invade Decan’s frontier. It is a scheme to create a crisis and start a war. It is also the reason I must become Emperor without fail.”

Ajean’s full lashes moved slowly up and down, and satisfaction spread at the corners of her mouth.

The relief that Kaiden already knew passed through her. For various reasons, Ajean’s eyes kept forming generous curves.

Kaiden could bear it no longer.

After going through that ordeal at the lake, he had thought he might never see that smile again, and yet here she was, smiling freely while thinking of leaving Decan.

What an insufferable woman.

“The Crown Princess investiture ceremony will begin within a month. If you need anything, prepare it through Bistel, and tell me whenever something is lacking. Enjoy everything you are entitled to enjoy.”

The announcement, no different from a sweet confession, flowed out in a contradictorily cold voice.

Kaiden rose and took something from the inner pocket of his uniform, setting it down on the table with a tap.

It was the Crown Prince’s seal.

“When I ascend to the throne, that will no longer be the Crown Prince’s seal but the Emperor’s. It will become a blank check with which you can exercise absolute authority. It will be sufficient as the price of my life.”