Chapter 151 – There’s No Way He Could Ever Like Me

Gentle spring sunlight streamed through the gap in the curtains, the soft breeze stirring the fabric into a gentle sway. Evelyn, her eyes still heavy with sleep, forced her lashes to lift. After a sleepless night following her late-night excursion, she yawned, long and drowsy.

Then, as the memory of her time with her fiancé resurfaced, a faint flush bloomed across her cheeks.

“Truth is, I’m curious myself.”
“….?”
“Why it has to be you.”

Given the circumstances, they had to leave Serpene without being able to continue their conversation. Feeling both embarrassed and strangely unsettled, Evelyn touched her lips lightly.

“Why does he always stop midway through his words?”

Axion’s behavior often left her hopelessly confused. With a sigh weighted by frustration she could not name, she exhaled a long, weary breath.

To dismiss it all as mere kindness… no, she couldn’t ignore the feeling that his crimson eyes held something unusual when they looked at her of late.

It’s a little too intense and relentless…

Was this really the gaze of someone looking at just a friend?  

Maybe it was her own inexperience, never having indulged in the sort of romance others spoke of, that made it harder to discern. And yet, hadn’t Axion himself made it clear? He had told her plainly that it was nothing of the sort she imagined.

“Yes. There’s no way he could ever like me.”

Telling herself not to read into things, Evelyn stretched her arms high above her head and rose from bed. 

After splashing her face lightly with water, she unfolded the morning newspaper with a hint of tension. But no matter how carefully she scanned the pages, every article concerning the Crown Prince was glowing with praise. As she had half expected, Axion didn’t seem intent on exposing Erden’s corruption right away.

The fact that he had taken the time to copy the confidential ledgers with magic before returning them made that much clearer.

In truth, his choice was smart.

Publicly revealing the monster-trade records might wound the Crown Prince’s honor for a time, though given Erden’s firm position as heir apparent, the scandal would likely come to nothing in the end.

“At most, it would probably just be a disciplinary order.”

To the undisputed successor to the throne, it would be no more than a passing inconvenience.

‘If only Riovan would make an appearance at a time like this.’

If by any chance the Second Prince were to be reinstated, it was highly likely that the political landscape of the Baltian Empire would change dramatically. The Emperor might weigh his two sons endlessly as possible heirs, but in the end, he would choose Riovan.

An opportunist to the core, he would seize upon the Second Prince’s manifested seal as the perfect means to solidify imperial authority.

“In the Emperor’s eyes, even his own blood is nothing more than a tool of politics.”

With a bitter smile, Evelyn set the morning paper back on the table. Tapping her fingers lightly against the armrest of her chair, she sank deep into thought.

Gray hair and amber eyes…

That was how the Second Prince had been described. But where was he now, that no whisper of him could be found? Even after employing the Empire’s most renowned guild of information, not a single strand of his hair had surfaced.

As her impatience tightened within her, she let out a low sigh.

Knock, knock—

“My lady, it’s Larie.”

Just then, Evelyn’s personal maid arrived to attend her. Worried that her lady was taking longer than usual to rise, she had come to check on her.

“Yes, come in!”

At Evelyn’s brisk reply, Larie stepped into the room. But upon finding her mistress still in her nightclothes, she spoke with a note of confusion.

“My lady, shouldn’t you be preparing by now?”

“…Preparing? For what?”

After last night’s escapade, she had planned to spend the day in the comfort of her bedroom. But as her maid hurried to fetch a gown from the dressing room, she tilted her head in puzzlement.

Seeing the need for explanation, Larie answered quickly.