The Unemployed Prince Covets My Nephew - Chapter 28
“Thank you.”
“…….”
“I really wanted to say that too, Axel.”
The sunlight reflecting on Hailey’s face looked like a rainbow-colored aurora to Axel.
Suddenly, Axel felt his heart pounding as if it was about to leap out. He wasn’t sure, but it also felt like there was pain inside his heart.
Holding the hand Hailey extended, Axel answered.
“I will now execute Clause 9 of the contract.”
“What?”
“I am going to hug you now.”
Axel stepped forward and hugged Hailey.
Though the force was a bit strong, causing Hailey to let out a small ‘ugh,’ that wasn’t the issue.
‘If it’s Clause 9, isn’t that the one allowing physical contact between Axel Winchester and Hailey Winchester if necessary? What kind of necessity is this?!’
Hailey was flustered but couldn’t move. It was nothing compared to the accidental hug from earlier.
Hailey fit snugly into Axel’s arms.
The cool temperature of Hailey’s body and the warmth of Axel’s body felt so ideal that she didn’t know what to do.
“I hope you don’t worry. Our little one will do just fine.”
Saying that, Axel let go of Hailey. Hailey was already red from head to toe, unable to lift her head properly.
‘This feels quite good.’
Axel smiled with satisfaction. No matter how he thought about it, he praised himself for including Clause 9.
* * *
Before the trial, even the queen and the princess joined in to help with the preparations.
They sat Theo down and, taking turns, listened to the child’s testimony through mock trials repeatedly. It was natural for even adults to find this exhausting, but Theo neither complained nor cried once.
Not only Hailey but also the queen and the princess found Theo so admirable and praiseworthy that they showered him with daily praise and sent him abundant gifts.
Theo spent all his time with Hailey, but he had a separate room in the princess consort’s palace.
That room was filled with gifts from the queen and the princess, essentially transforming into Theo’s toy room. It was practically a toy village.
“Theo, do you want more pudding?”
“……No, it’s okay.”
“You can have more today.”
“Uh…… then I’ll have one more.”
“Banana cream pudding?”
“Yeah!”
Since the child loved pudding and candy so much, the head chef of the palace, under the queen’s orders, made colorful and splendid desserts for Theo every day.
Theo was very happy, but Hailey, worried about his dental health, eventually limited candy to three pieces a day and pudding to two.
But today was the trial day, so she allowed him to eat as much as he wanted.
“You should eat something too.”
“I’ll eat after the trial. If I eat now, I’ll end up throwing up during the trial.”
“If you throw up on Duke Brahe’s face, it would be perfect. Eat a little bit.”
Hailey had skipped dinner the night before and hadn’t eaten anything on the trial day either.
She was too worried about sending Theo alone to the witness stand to eat or sleep.
Axel, who initially insisted there was no way they could lose this trial, had urged her to eat a bit yesterday and was almost forcing her today.
When Hailey responded vaguely, saying she would but kept focusing on Theo without eating anything, Axel gritted his teeth.
‘Duke Brahe, Count Roman, Baron Langston. These three must die.’
Axel’s curse list’s top three were being updated in real-time.
“It’s time to go now.”
“Yes. Just a moment.”
Khalid, who had been working tirelessly until just before the trial, entered the drawing room where the three were.
Hailey adjusted Theo’s attire one more time, making eye contact with him.
Thanks to eating well, sleeping well, and living well in the palace, Theo’s cheeks had become chubbier. He swallowed the last bite of pudding and stood up straight.
“If you get scared, just look at me. Answer the questions as we practiced, but if you don’t know, it’s okay to say you don’t know. No one will blame you.”
“Yeah!”
Theo nodded with pudding cream around his mouth.
Hailey wiped Theo’s mouth and said,
“No matter what anyone says, it’s not your fault. Some adults might say bad things to you. They might accuse you of lying or get angry. But you know, right? That you didn’t lie. I believe you, Axel believes you, Grandma and Auntie believe you. What’s the most important thing?”
“The people who love Theo believe in Theo.”
“That’s right. Remember that. It’s okay to cry if it gets tough.”
“I will protect Mommy Hailey! I can do it!”
Theo seemed to think that testifying in court was protecting Hailey.
Maybe that’s why, whenever Hailey was worried, he would encourage her with his small body, saying, ‘Mommy Hailey, I’ll protect you.’
Hailey rubbed Theo’s cheek and smiled weakly.
“It’s okay even if you don’t do well. Just do as much as you can and come down. Got it?”
“Yeah. Mommy Hailey. Hug me.”
Theo stretched out his short arms. Hailey hugged Theo tightly with both arms.
The child’s warm body and his soft cheeks, along with his sweet scent, clung to Hailey.
Hailey felt emotional and bit her lip, forcing back tears.
* * *
Before the Kingdom of Zenovia emerged, the Winchester territory and the current Vasa region were part of one vast empire. However, towards the end of the empire, the emperor’s power reached its peak, and that strong imperial power turned into tyranny and oppression, ultimately playing a significant role in the downfall of the country.
Thus, in the early days of Zenovia’s founding, balancing the power between the nobility and the royal authority was the most important task. But as the nobles’ power grew stronger, the subsequent kings tried to strengthen royal authority again by suppressing the nobles, leading to growing discontent among the nobility.
The balance of this power never meshed like cogs, and subsequently, most of the Otte royal family showed signs of ‘tyranny’ to the so-called nobles.
The reason the current king was able to seize the throne without once being called a ‘tyrant’ despite cruelly suppressing many of his siblings was because he gradually recognized the autonomy of the territories to the oppressed nobles, showing a different course from previous kings.
However, for some factions like Duke Brahe, it was excessively exploited, leading to a divide between the noble faction led by Duke Brahe and the royalist faction led by Count Rethel.
Although it was not revealed on the surface, the noble faction and the royalist faction continued a long, subtle battle beneath the surface.
The forced balance was maintained thanks to the engagement between Duke Brahe’s family and Prince Axel, but when the prince overturned everything, the conflict finally surfaced.
All attention in the capital was now focused on the trial of Duke Brahe and Prince Axel.
Various newspapers analyzed that the loser of this trial would suffer a fatal blow, lose power in the capital, and eventually have to pack up and leave Ludvig for a long time.
The trial of the century triggered by a five-year-old illegitimate child.
Though it was something that would eventually burst, the excessive interest in Theo and Hailey, who had inadvertently become the cause of all this, led to a flood of malicious articles.
The initial cause lay with the baron and count who tried to sell the child, but people pointed fingers at Hailey and Theo.
They claimed that the baron’s daughter, who had a child, incited the prince and worsened the situation.
Hailey, of course, didn’t care about such talk, but everyone in the palace was extremely careful to ensure that not a single word reached Theo.
However, when they went to the courtroom today, Theo would be thrown into those cold stares.
“I will carry Theo.”
Axel lifted Theo up. Theo naturally settled into Axel’s arms, which he was now accustomed to.
Today, Hailey wore her hair up for the trial and only wore the blue sapphire ring given to her by Axel. She minimized her makeup and wore a very deep navy, calm dress that emphasized her fair skin.
She deliberately chose high heels. If nothing else, she wanted to look down on those who despised her and Theo from a higher place today.
Theo also put effort into his 2:8 hair parting today. The shirt Theo wore had buttons made of the finest jewels.
Even his navy pants, subtly embroidered with the royal insignia, were specially ordered by the queen and Princess Anais with great care.
With his good looks and innate cuteness, Theo looked like the most noble child in Zenovia.
The color of Axel’s clothes was also unified in navy, and today, Axel exuded an extraordinary sense of intimidation.
The outfits coordinated by the three were the best presentation.
No one could say they were not a family, and the subtle royal insignia on all their clothes proudly declared them as the perfect Zenovia Otte royal family.
“Now, shall we go hunting?”