The Unemployed Prince Covets My Nephew - Chapter 10
In her previous life, Hailey didn’t like children, and it was the same in this life.
It wasn’t because she liked children that she raised him until now. It wasn’t out of a sense of duty either.
It was simply because.
‘Hailey! So, will we be happy now?’
‘Yes! We’ll be happy together.’
‘That’s really amazing!’
Because that child was Theo.
He was such a lovable child that it was impossible not to love him, and he was the only warmth in Hailey’s lonely life.
‘Yes. Hailey, have a good trip!’
It felt like her heart was being ripped out. She had never imagined a life without Theo.
‘How could they do something to that little child…?’
Hailey stopped and turned around again.
The baroness’s face, standing a few steps above her, looked horribly distorted.
‘Ah, she’s a monster. Who did I trust to come this far…?’
The baroness, looking at Hailey with lifeless, dead eyes as she climbed the stairs again, briefly thought that something was wrong. But that thought was fleeting.
After all, there was nothing that girl could do.
“…”
Yes, that’s what she thought.
Smack—
A dull cracking sound echoed. It was strong enough not to be drowned out by the music playing.
Hailey slapped the baroness with all her might.
She hit her so hard that the baroness fell completely backward on the stairs.
She was so shocked and stunned that she couldn’t even scream.
A few seconds later, as the heat and pain slowly rose, the baroness’s lips trembled involuntarily.
She wanted to snap at Hailey, who was looking down at her, but the pain was too intense for her to speak.
“From now on, all you’ll do until you die is regret.”
“…You, you dare…!”
“See clearly who the real fool is. You picked the wrong opponent.”
“…”
“How dare you touch my child.”
Hailey stepped on the baroness’s hand, which was reaching out to grab her, and climbed the stairs again.
She needed to make a quick decision. In the dramas she often watched in her past life, they said that if a child goes missing, you must find them within 24 hours.
Right now, the most important thing for Hailey was to safely find Theo.
It wasn’t the time to be picky about methods, and with her flimsy status as a baron’s daughter, she couldn’t find Theo on her own.
She had no money to hire people immediately, and she had nothing at her disposal.
She needed someone who could help her. Someone who would actively help her find Theo.
Someone who could benefit from it.
“Young lady?”
“Where is he?”
“Pardon?”
“The prince. I need to give him an answer. Right now.”
Khalid, who didn’t understand what was going on, swallowed nervously as he looked at Hailey’s somewhat flushed face.
It felt like something was about to happen that night.
* * *
As soon as Axel saw Hailey leaving the ballroom, he lost interest in the ball and left the venue.
Although he appeared relaxed, his situation was not so leisurely.
He had said he would renounce his status as a prince, but the process was complicated.
Since the founding of Zenovia, there had never been a prince who voluntarily gave up his status without causing any incidents, so the palace officials were quite troubled.
The complex procedures that seemed endless were finally expected to be completed within a month.
Which meant he had to leave the palace within a month.
Axel thought he should push Khalid to deliver the proposal to the Langston barony tomorrow.
‘Or should I go myself?’
It was a sudden thought, but it seemed like a good idea. A prince personally delivering a proposal.
“I shouldn’t make her too emotional.”
He would divorce her after a year.
Feeling satisfied, Axel dismissed his attendants and entered his office-slash-study.
Although he no longer needed to use this office since he had already handed over all his duties to Anais, Axel just liked contemplating in this space.
He mostly pondered over trivial matters, like how to gently persuade her not to fall too deeply for him and draft a favorable marriage contract.
“She was quite good at playing hard to get.”
Maybe she was negotiating for a higher settlement.
Axel thought he should bring the candy he couldn’t give to that cheeky kid when he went to deliver the proposal tomorrow.
‘Lady Langston certainly stands out because she’s tall.’
‘Tall? I didn’t notice.’
‘Of course, by Your Highness’s standards.’
Khalid was talking about Hailey’s height, but Axel was referring to her build.
Recalling their mismatched conversation at the ball, Axel thought.
She was only tall but thinner than most women. Where exactly was she big?
Axel couldn’t agree with his aide Khalid.
“Your Highness, excuse me—Lady Langston! You can’t just barge in like that!”
Lady Langston?
Axel instinctively raised his head.
Hailey didn’t have the leisure to wait patiently for Khalid’s words to wait for a moment.
She pushed past Khalid and barged into the room. Khalid hurriedly followed her inside.
Seeing her approaching from afar, Axel had a sudden realization.
‘Finally…!’
Pretending to be unhurried, he didn’t even rise from his chair but instead offered a languid smile and said,
“What is it, young lady? Are you here to propose at this hour?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“I thought so… What?!”
What did she just say?
Axel couldn’t calm his surprised heart and stood up abruptly, his eyes wide open.
The moonlight streaming through the large window of the office illuminated Hailey’s face.
But her face looked strange in Axel’s view.
She looked like she was about to collapse, with tears brimming in her eyes.
Already thin, she appeared as if she might stop breathing at any moment with all those tears.
“I’ll do it. The marriage.”
“…”
Hailey clenched and unclenched her fists repeatedly, trying to calm her uncontrollably trembling heart, fearing she might lose Theo forever.
“So please, find my Theo….”
* * *
“Your Highness. Miss Hailey’s words have been confirmed.”
There was no child.
As soon as he heard Hailey’s words, Axel sent people to the baron’s estate. They confirmed that the child had disappeared without a trace.
While waiting for news, Axel and Khalid listened to Hailey’s account of the events.
Throughout her story, she remained relatively calm and composed. Even with a face that seemed on the verge of breaking down, her eyes did not waver.
Having met countless people as a prince, Axel prided himself on his ability to read people.
From his experience, the woman before him was indeed too intelligent and strong to be sold off to some random person in the marriage market simply because she was the daughter of a failing barony.
“Theo is everything to me. If you can find Theo safely, I’ll accept any condition.”
“If you’re willing to say that much, are you assuming the worst-case scenario?”
“I think something happened between my parents and that trash, no, Count Roman. Today, I accidentally witnessed the count’s servant having a secret conversation with my mother. Things have been strange these past few days. After the incident with Your Highness on the shopping street, they should have scolded me, but they were unusually quiet…”
Hailey confided her uneasiness from the past few days. She explained, knowing it might sound absurd, like she was grasping at straws.
Surprisingly, he listened seriously.
Both Khalid and Axel agreed that Count Roman was indeed trash.
There were various rumors about Count Roman circulating.
Recently, Count Roman had suddenly come into a lot of money and was amassing great wealth, but the sources were all unclear. It wasn’t the kind of wealth one could accumulate through legitimate means alone.
A few days ago, there had been an anonymous tip-off suggesting that he was raking in money through illegal deals.
“Your Highness, could Count Roman be related to that matter?”
Khalid pondered for a moment and cautiously brought up ‘that matter’ to the prince. The prince nodded, seemingly having the same thought.
Only Hailey was bewildered, not knowing what ‘that matter’ referred to.
“Since you’re assuming the worst, I won’t beat around the bush. If the child was sent to an orphanage, that would be fortunate, but we cannot rule out the possibility that the child was illegally sold. Given that your parents were struggling financially, the latter seems more likely.”
In the former case, they could search all the orphanages, which would be relatively easier, but in the latter case, the situation would be more complicated. They wouldn’t know where the child was sold or for what purpose, making it like searching for a needle in a haystack.
Hailey bit her lip so hard that it bled.