Chapter 15
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Translator: Diva
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: They Don't Even Check Compatibility for an NNN-Year Age Gap
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Though I was inwardly flustered, I couldn't let it show in front of the Crown Prince.
"You're right."
I replied calmly and subtly turned my head, catching sight of the Crown Prince watching us.
His expression hadn't changed, but his eyes told a different story.
'I really overdid it, didn't I.'
It felt like I'd properly stoked his anger.
Judging by that chilling gaze sharply sweeping over Elhart.
"You won't regret this?"
A foreboding premonition hit me that the danger level of this trap had just doubled.
"I'm far too lacking to serve Crown Prince Aurell."
I had to try lightening the mood, even a little.
"I'm just grateful for your kind regard."
As I offered a polite curtsy, the Crown Prince clicked his tongue softly.
"I see. It seems I was too hasty. You must already have your hands full adjusting to life here."
He stepped closer to me and reached out a hand.
"Come find me anytime your mind changes. My offer... will always stand."
He tucked a few strands of hair that had fallen across my cheek behind my ear, then brushed past us.
Thank goodness the dress had long sleeves.
Had it not, he would have seen the goosebumps prickling my arms.
"He doesn't seem like a total playboy, does he?"
When I whispered up at Elhart, I was startled.
His face was frozen in a frighteningly cold expression.
It was a side of him I'd never seen before.
My heart tightened, and I gave his arm a light shake.
"Elhart."
Only then did he soften his expression and look down at me.
"Are you okay?"
"That's what I want to ask you."
He scrutinized my face intently.
"That guy touched you so casually. Nothing happened, right?"
"Not at all. Maybe he did it just to provoke you?"
"Wrong."
He shook his head firmly.
"Aurell has no need to provoke me."
His face darkened as he met my eyes and said it.
"To him, I'm just a powerless being whose life he could end with a single command."
And... he looked a little anxious, too.
"So all his words and actions are aimed at you, Ser."
Hmm...
Is that so?
Logically speaking, Elhart wasn't wrong.
A deposed prince from a small country held hostage by the empire's Crown Prince, who gripped the continent's hegemony, was naturally beneath notice.
I replayed Aurell's words and behavior in my mind, keeping Elhart's point in view.
'Is he really interested in me?'
But no matter how I thought about it, the Crown Prince seemed suspicious.
It just didn't feel like pure goodwill.
"Be extra careful today. You know what I mean, right?"
"Yeah, of course."
Before enjoying the banquet, I had to keep that synthetic poison called the Love Potion firmly in mind.
"Elhart, just in case, don't eat or drink anything anyone hands you. Got it?"
"...Yeah."
Elhart gazed at me with an expression full of unspoken words, but with more people gathering around, he chose to hold his tongue.
Soon, the banquet hall doors opened, and guests began entering.
Elhart had explained that in Cradion noble society, those lower in the order of precedence arrived early and waited.
That made me think of my expedition team comrades.
'Those guys would barge in early, etiquette be damned, and demolish the food table first.'
The latecomers would have nothing left to eat.
Just imagining the scene made me chuckle.
Only when I felt Elhart's gaze on my cheek did I clear my throat with a small cough and compose myself.
A little later, it was our turn to enter the banquet hall.
Hostage or not, as royalty, Elhart's precedence was just after the lower nobles.
I preferred not drawing attention, but I couldn't help finding the empire's pettiness pathetic.
Elhart, for his part, didn't seem to care at all.
The enormous banquet hall was already filling up with people.
'Cradion really has a ton of nobles.'
The scale dwarfed Bardia from 300 years ago, leaving me a bit overwhelmed.
'I'll have gawked at more people today than in my entire life.'
They, too, glanced at Elhart and me with evident curiosity.
We were all spectacles to each other.
"Looks like even the villa guests were invited to the banquet."
"Who's that lady beside him?"
"Not sure. I think I saw her talking to Crown Prince Aurell earlier."
"Must be a Bardia noble."
At first, it was just novelty.
Elhart's and my appearances even became brief topics of conversation.
But as high-ranking nobles arrived one by one, the atmosphere shifted.
"That dress she's wearing..."
"No way..."
Whispers and sidelong glances at me grew ominous.
Elhart noticed too, furrowing his brow.
"...So that dress has some significance."
"Yeah, seems like it."
"You picked it knowing that?"
"The bigger the conflict, the more we stand to gain."
If nothing happened, it'd be a waste of time.
Especially now, when we needed to gather as much information as possible—even a minor incident would be welcome.
That way, I could figure out what the Crown Prince was really after, playing the playboy under Mikhail's face.
'Whether he's genuinely interested in me, or if it's malice disguised as favor.'
"The food here's all delicious. The champagne too."
"...Don't drink too much."
"It's fine. This stuff's basically water."
Thanks to the Cradion nobles who stared but kept their distance, we had the beverage and food tables to ourselves—until the announcement heralding the emperor's arrival echoed through the hall.
'So that's the man who started the conquest wars.'
I quietly observed the emperor and the imperial family following him.
His greed-glazed face bore little resemblance to the Crown Prince's.
'The dream of continental unification.'
Someone I knew had a dream that saved countless lives.
[Ser, we won't fail. If I die before achieving it, you carry on my dream for me.]
But another's dream had claimed countless lives.
"Today, I'm pleased to share the joyous news of another victory with you all. With the northern barbarians finally swearing fealty, it's a day worthy of a toast."
How many lives had been crushed by that greedy emperor's pointing finger?
I wonder if Mikhail and I, born in this era, could have understood his dream and joy.
We'd staked our lives to drive out demons and magical beasts, purified lands tainted by demonic energy, and built safe havens for people to live.
My Bardia had been an impregnable fortress.
A foundation of hope built atop shattered despair.
Yet now, it was on the verge of vanishing, reduced to one of that foul man's conquered territories.
"Elhart."
As the emperor droned on, praising the nobles' efforts and listing his achievements, I turned to my prince.
"Do you dream of continental unification too?"
"What do you think?"
"I'd rather you didn't. That kind of ambition."
Elhart, who had been gazing at me steadily, turned his eyes back to the emperor on the dais and said,
"Walls don't move."
I nodded quietly, feeling trust in his words.
Those accustomed to defensive battles acquire a special mana scent.
When Mikhail led the charge, those behind him forgot their fear.
The same must have held for those who followed Elhart.
They would have fought without fear.
To protect their homeland, their precious families, their livelihoods.
'The only surprise is that there was a traitor amid all that.'
Too fearless, and problems arise.
Forgetting who kept you alive this long.
I'd never make an enemy of a man like him, not even in death.