Chapter 11
Rose"s thoughts would always come out of her mouth on its own whenever she felt nervous.
“How long are you going to live with such an army and be despised of barbarism? The King of the North sold his soul to the devil, not the monsters. Aren"t you aware of the rumors about you?”
Rose looked straight at him and asked provocatively.
“After hearing the rumor, you still managed to arrive here.”
“It doesn"t matter in the first place whether or not you"re a monster or a devil.”
Maxim asked back with a relaxed look.
“Why would such rumors come to me? Even if someone looks at me from afar, I could be a devil or a beast, right?”
“What do you mean……”
“In bed, for example?”
Frustrated by his unexpected remark, Rose"s face turned red.
His glare, which he slightly lowered, felt as if it was drilling through her body hidden in the robe she was wearing. With the strange feeling of being suddenly stripped of his gaze alone, Rose quickly turned away from him.
“For strong beings who don"t reveal their ident.i.ty, such malicious rumors always follow.”
“Aren"t you afraid of me?”
He slightly raised the corners of his mouth in antic.i.p.ation of her answer.
“People are only afraid of making the wrong judgment.”
“You talk as though you"ve lived through the world.”
Rose flinched, seemingly upset at the thought that he had caught her heart.
So, she concentrated her mind to not get caught up in him.
“I made up my mind on the way here. If I can"t marry you, I"d rather die here. Once I go back home with news that I have earned your favor, someone will welcome me. If not, I"d stay as an abandoned woman in this barbaric land.”
“……Barbaric land?”
Maxim"s eyebrow went up in displeasure.
Rose intentionally offended him.
“You should know the Solstern Empire will always be above Helavant. No matter how strong you are, you"re just a savage country on the periphery. There can"t be two suns under the sky. Ca.s.siax will always be the brilliant sun, whereas you will always be the decadent man of darkness.”
I tried to provoke him more openly.
Whether or not her intentions really worked, Maxim suddenly turned Rose around to face him and slammed his hand against the wall in front of her.
“Ah!”
As if Maxim was about to strangle Rose, he stretched out his other hand and held her little chin.
His thumb slowly climbed up and gently swept her lips. Rose looked up at him without blinking. His golden eyes, which looked a little deeper than before, seemed to be thinking about what to do with his hand.
His hand, which was holding her chin, naturally swept over Rose"s flowing hair.
Maxim"s hand, which grazed her ear, was so hot that Rose swallowed dry saliva without realizing it.
While Maxim"s eyes stared intensely at her, Rose felt as if she had become a predator"s prey.
His face slowly descended on her.
We could feel each other"s breath just before our lips met.
It felt as if her lower abdomen was wriggling under the influence of a strange emotion she was feeling at that moment.
"No way, wake up! Rose Etoile!"
Rose pinched herself as if she was trying to escape from a terrible spell.
When Maxim"s cold lips touched her upper lip slightly, Rose put her hand on his chest to prevent any further approach. When he paused, she slightly twisted herself out of his arm that blocked her path earlier.
“It"s embarra.s.sing for your ancestors to stare at you too closely.”
Rose"s wild excuse made Maxim burst into laughter.
“I"ve never met a woman like you.”
“I"ve never met a man like you either.”
The corners of Maxim"s mouth slightly went up as if he was observing a strange object.
A woman who never loses to what he says.
Under these circ.u.mstances, it was unusual for her to try to escape the situation by using such an excuse.
Unlike Maxim, Rose had a serious face all the time.
But she wasn"t afraid of him.
“Natalie will be surprised if she finds out I"m missing. I"ll trust you to say that you formally asked me to meet you at dawn.”
“Is there anything else you want to say to me?”
“Nothing else.”
“Aren"t you curious?”
“Maybe that"s the luck of the man you are.”
Rose fixed her robe, which flowed down her shoulders. Her hair, which had been tied up, flowed down like a red waterfall.
She looked at him once again and greeted him with courtesy.
“Then, please excuse me.”
Rose veered away from him and ran towards the entrance, but Maxim didn"t follow her.
He only leaned back against the wall and looked at her as she ran away from him.
“She"s a woman from Solstern, but she"s very different from them. Did you see that, mother?”
Maxim said as he looked at the portrait of his mother hanging before him in a mocking tone.
His golden eyes sank, which seemed a little sad.
“Ha…..”
Rose, who had jumped into the room, tightly closed the door and took a deep breath.
I never imagined I"d run into Maxim Lancerte at such a place.
It was a lie if I said I wasn"t nervous at all.
I was frankly embarra.s.sed by the sudden encounter I had with him, but I tried to look calm as if nothing was wrong.
“For now, it seems to have provoked him.”
If he ends up thinking she"s just a weird woman, that would be the end of her.
We"ll have to give up Maxim Lancerte and find an alternative before I get eaten by the wolves with Natalie.
However, she doesn"t know of any other possible alternative.
If he took the bait she threw, she would be able to see him again tomorrow.
But it was strange.
Rose didn"t know how to explain what she was feeling.
Before meeting Maxim Lancret, her goal was clear.
All I had to do was marry him and use him to destroy Ca.s.siax so that I can achieve what I planned.
But now that I met him, I began to wonder if it was acceptable for me to marry Maxim Lancert because of such a reason.
“Is my decision really right…… Is it really okay if that happens…….?”
I had an ominous feeling that once I get involved with him, it would be harder for me to run away from him than Ca.s.siax.
In a slightly different sense from the Ca.s.siax days,
Rose felt a chill in her body as she recalled the beast"s golden eyes, which were staring at her intensely from the bas.e.m.e.nt earlier.
Thinking it was because of the rain-soaked robe, she took them off.
"It"s too late to regret it now anyway. Let"s think about the future instead."
Rose shook her head to shake off all distractions.
The Crown Prince"s office was enveloped in breathless harsh air.
“So, you missed her in the end?”
Ca.s.siax said coldly with his nose in the gla.s.s, savoring the aroma of red wine.
“All of a sudden, Helevant"s men appeared, and the coachman"s eyes were torn because of them.”
Ca.s.siax responded calmly.
“Was it such a hard task for you to get rid of one Solstern woman?”
“I"m guilty of death.”
The knight went down on his knees in front of Ca.s.siax.
“If you knew you are guilty of death, you should"ve done it yourself instead of coming all the way here. Should I see you dirty blood as well?”
“Your Highness!”
The knight looked up at him with dreaded eyes.
The guards appeared from behind Ca.s.siax"s chair as he raised his hand.
“Get rid of all the men he went with.”
Ca.s.siax said emotionlessly as if it was not enough killing the knight in front of him.
Two guards dragged him out.
“Please have mercy on me! Your Highness! Please give me one more chance!”
As Ca.s.siax looked at the knight pleading while being dragged away, he gave him a disgusted look.
“Dumb b.a.s.t.a.r.d. He"s also a man.”
Ca.s.siax said, recalling again what he had just heard as he put a grape in his mouth.
"Helavant"s men showed up? That means she went to him. d.a.m.n it, useless b.a.s.t.a.r.ds."
He chewed his lower lip in indignation.
At the thought that I sent him what was originally his, it makes me feel heartbroken.
The decision was made that day at the party in a fit of rage at the sight of my own blood, but I was thinking of forgiving Rose with generosity if she sincerely apologized and begged.
To think that Rose had recently left for the North…..
It made Ca.s.siax furious.
“Crazy girl.”
I would rather get rid of her than send her to Maxim Lancret.
I could have easily killed a robber in the woods, let alone a woman from a decent family.
"d.a.m.n it. It"s all messed up!"
He rose up from his seat.
“I"m coming to visit His Majesty.”
Ca.s.siax said in a hurry.
In order to meet the Emperor, servants and maids would always be waiting in line.
Even the Crown Prince had to be courteous.
As Ca.s.siax pa.s.sed by the servants and maids waiting in line, someone suddenly caught his eyes.
“Wait a minute. You…..”
He pointed at the maid.
As soon as her face came into view, Ca.s.siax was clearly disappointed.
“I"ve never seen you before.”
“I"m Sa….Sasha, Your Highness.”
Sasha bowed and spoke in a quivering voice.
Ca.s.siax squinted his eyes and observed her slowly.
Her back looked similar to Rose"s, which was the reason why she caught his attention, but she looked completely different from her.
Her face was definitely prettier than Rose"s, but that was it. She simply had a cute, pretty face without any other eye-catching features.
Still, it was a beauty that wasn"t even seen in the royal family, where many of the best beauties are found in Solstern.
“I"ve never seen such a face before.”
One corner of Ca.s.siax"s mouth lifted.
Then, he whispered in her ears.
“Did Mrs. Trisha finally decide to plant a spy in the crown prince"s palace because she wasn"t gaining that much information in the emperor"s palace?”
As Ca.s.siax spewed out in a contemptuous manner, Sasha quickly fell down before him.
“My aunt took me away as an orphan after my parents died. From now on, I"ll do anything for you.”
“You"ll do anything for me? That sounds good. You may go.”
As if he had found an interesting toy, Ca.s.siax looked at Sasha"s shivering back with a smile.