Chapter 18

Imperial Prince

“…Sir, are you all right?” Stella asked with deep concern.

Her worry was entirely understandable. Noel’s face had been deathly pale for quite some time.

Even on the most brutal battlefields, Stella had never seen her leader this shaken. Ever since the Imperial Prince had led Aiden away earlier, Noel had remained frozen in this state.

“If you are feeling unwell, please rest for a moment,” Stella offered gently. “I will make suitable excuses to everyone around us.”

“…Then I will step out for a short while,” Noel forced a tight smile and rose from her seat.

She walked out of the grand hall and onto the quiet balcony. Beyond the noisy, brilliant venue, the cool night air rustled through her hair, scattering it gently across her shoulders.

“…”

Noel’s face stiffened as she looked into the direction of the wind. With the superhuman senses of an elite knight, she could easily see through the darkness and identify what lay far across the courtyard.

Mr. Aiden and the Imperial Prince were sitting across from each other at a private table, engaged in a quiet conversation.

Noel drew a deep, ragged breath, a heavy question weighing on her heart: Do I have any right to interfere?

She did not.

No matter what those two were discussing, she possessed no authority to restrain the Imperial Prince’s actions. Considering the dark, tangled past that bound her to him, that was only natural. There was a reason she had allowed Aiden to leave with him without voicing a single protest.

She turned away, intending to walk farther into the gardens. Yet, with her heightened hearing, the conversation across the distance reached her ears as clearly as if she were standing right beside them.

“Break off your engagement with Lionheart.”

She would have kept walking if only those words had not caught her.

“In return, Mr. Aiden, I will grant anything you desire.”

“…”

Noel stopped dead in her tracks. Without even realizing it, her eyes immediately searched Aiden’s face. She didn’t know why checking his reaction was her instinct upon hearing such an offer, but she felt compelled to look.

Aiden showed no visible reaction. He merely stared expressionlessly at the Imperial Prince, his thoughts completely unreadable.

“…May I ask why you are making such a request?” Aiden asked, his voice low and muted.

At his question, the prince interlaced his fingers and rested them beneath his chin.

“Heavenly Dawn is approaching, Mr. Aiden. Soon, many interesting events will unfold within the imperial capital.”

That unreadable, gentle smile remained spread across the prince’s face.

“I simply do not wish to see a decent citizen like you remain beside such a vicious person and become dragged into those chaotic affairs.”

“Did you just call Sir Noel vicious?”

“Ah, yes. Of course.” The prince’s words coiled like a serpent’s tongue. “The full circumstances would take time to explain, but to put it simply…”

The Imperial Prince’s voice echoed sharply through Noel’s mind.

“…That woman ruined my future.”

For a moment, the world seemed to stop.

“The woman known as Lionheart is a coward, a traitor, a failure, a murderer, and a fugitive,” the prince continued smoothly. “She would not be able to deny a single one of those titles herself.”

Noel forgot to breathe as he pressed on.

“Would that not be reason enough to call her vicious?”

“…”

“Separating you from a woman like that is something you should be thanking me for, if anything.”

“…”

“And I know who you truly are, Aiden Kellermain. I also know what you desire.” The prince smiled warmly. “Getting tangled in affairs far beyond your station inevitably brings ruin. Are you not shouldering burdens you cannot possibly carry right now?”

“What are you implying?”

“I am offering you peace.”

Aiden’s body stiffened at those words. Even Noel, who had not spent much time with him, could tell that the prince’s words had struck a hidden, vulnerable nerve.

The prince continued to watch him with that same gentle, knowing smile.

“I am telling you to go home and rest. Leave difficult, dangerous matters to remarkable people. Put distance between yourself and situations where you might lose your life.”

His words carried absolute certainty, spoken as though Aiden would naturally agree with facts that were obvious to everyone. It was as if he were gently reminding Aiden that someone had forced him to bear responsibilities he was never meant to hold.

“And above all else…”

The prince paused for a moment, as if saving the most compelling offer for last. His expression suggested he was about to grant Aiden the one thing he desired above all else.

“No matter what happens from this point forward, I will protect your family. Whatever it takes—even if I must stake my own life.”

“…”

“I swear it on the honor of the Imperial Family. If that is still not enough for you to believe me, I will make a sacred covenant before Karva, our chief goddess. I keep my word.”

“…”

“Leave the woman who forced such a cruel fate upon you to me, and return to the peaceful life you originally had.”

Noel clenched her fist so tightly her fingernails bit into her palm, drawing blood.

What the prince was saying was not wrong. Everything Aiden Kellermain was suffering through now had begun the moment he met her. These were not choices he had made for himself; they were burdens forced upon him because of her.

“…”

Noel lowered her head, her breathing coming in shallow, ragged hitches. After hearing an offer like that, the answer Aiden would give seemed painfully obvious.

Yet, a violent, desperate rejection rose inside her chest.

‘…Why?’

She couldn’t understand why she was reacting this way. She and Aiden were bound by a simple business contract. There was no reason for them to offer each other emotional support. If Aiden accepted the prince’s offer, she could simply find someone else to fill the role. Their relationship was never meant to hold any deeper value.

And yet, she didn’t want to hear it.

She desperately did not want to hear Aiden speak those words of rejection.

That single, unbidden thought dominated her mind. She wanted to run away immediately, but her legs felt nailed to the floorboards, refusing to move.

Across the courtyard, Aiden quietly opened his mouth. Noel squeezed her eyes shut.

“Your Highness.”

The words that followed were entirely different from anything she had prepared herself to hear.

“There really is nothing you won’t say about my fiancée.”

Noel’s eyes flew wide open in shock.

✦ ✦ ✦

A freezing chill settled over the table. Given that Aiden had just spoken so bluntly to a direct member of the Imperial Family, the icy tension was natural.

“…It seems you still do not understand,” the prince said after a brief silence, his gentle demeanor remaining entirely unbothered. “That woman possesses a grand public reputation, yes. But the Imperial Family and the military manufactured it that way. In truth—”

“I’m sure there was plenty of propaganda mixed into it,” Aiden interrupted calmly. “And I’m sure terrible things happened during the war. I never assumed Sir Noel was completely spotless to begin with.”

“…”

“As Your Highness says, Sir Noel may be different from the heroic image everyone sees. I won’t deny that possibilities like that exist.” Aiden’s voice remained steady and firm. “But even so…”

He looked the prince directly in the eye.

“I have no intention of breaking off our engagement.”

To be sure, almost everything the prince had revealed had been completely unexpected. There was clearly a dark, deeply unpleasant history between him and Noel; otherwise, he wouldn’t carry a hostility so intense that Aiden could feel it so plainly.

However, no matter what dark, massive incident lay between them, there was one simple reason Aiden could never abandon this marriage.

Quest Info

▶ Failure of the events listed below will result in enormous penalties!

◈ Sham Marriage

You have been chosen as Sir Noel’s spouse. Maintain your contract with the other party until the end!

The reason he could never yield was written right there in uncompromising terms.

‘Is this bastard trying to get me killed?!’ Aiden screamed internally.

No matter what happened, he could not break his contract with Noel. His only path to survival was to cling to it desperately, whether he liked it or not.

“…You will face consequences you cannot possibly handle,” the Imperial Prince warned, his tone dropping into something heavy and dark.

Aiden ground his teeth inwardly. He understood the threat perfectly well, but there was a far more immediate problem.

‘If I break off this engagement, I die on the spot!’

Aiden somehow forced that sheer desperation into a relaxed, confident smile.

“I am fully prepared for that.”

The prince fell silent, studying Aiden as if trying to figure out what could possibly be going through his mind.

“…You should weigh your choices very carefully,” the prince warned, his voice turning genuinely cold. It was an explicit declaration that choosing Noel meant becoming his enemy.

‘What else am I supposed to do?!’ Aiden thought wildly. Facing the prince’s wrath was still infinitely better than dropping dead right now.

“It doesn’t matter,” Aiden answered without a moment’s hesitation.

The prince stared at him, momentarily at a loss for words.

“…Why go to such lengths? You and Sir Noel are only bound by a contract, are you not?”

Why? Because he literally had no other choice!

Explaining system mechanics would be useless, and no matter what he said, the prince seemed determined to keep pressing him in this suffocating manner.

Aiden forced his mind to work rapidly. He needed a single excuse that would permanently shut down the prince’s attempts to persuade him, even if it didn’t solve the underlying political danger.

Then, Aiden realized there was one perfect lie that could end this conversation at its root.

“Why?” Aiden smiled brightly, his expression looking as warm and sincere as if there were not a single drop of falsehood in his heart.

“I like her.”

He lied without even batting an eye—a display of shameless confidence worthy of a professional swindler.

“…”

For the first time, the flawless smile completely vanished from the Imperial Prince’s face. He looked as though he had never even considered receiving such an answer.

“…You like her?”

“Yes.”

“…For a reason as trivial as that, you would choose to antagonize the Crown Prince? The man who will rule this Empire?”

“Yes.”

An absolute, heavy silence descended over the terrace—stiller and colder than before. A long moment passed before the prince finally let out a single breath.

“Hah.”

Then, he burst into sudden, roaring laughter.

“Ha… Hahahahaha!”

System Message

▶ Contact established with ‘Usurper,’ Arden Brimstone Lionel.

▶ [Malice] has risen to Stage 1!

▶ A new function of ‘Weaver of Fate’ has been unlocked.

▶ A ‘mutated skill’ will be copied from the target!

‘…?’

Aiden frowned at the strange system messages popping up before him. He had never seen anything like this in his life. Until now, he had copied skills as favorability increased. What in the world was a Malice stage, and what were mutated skills?

Before he could process that question, another cascade of notifications exploded before his eyes.

System Message

▶ Target ‘Noel Astria Seamus’ has significantly increased her favorability toward you!

▶ The increase in favorability is extremely high!

▶ Bond stage has skyrocketed from Stage 3 to Stage 5.

▶ 2 additional skill-copy opportunities have been granted!

▶ The accumulated bond relationship is sufficiently high. The way ‘Weaver of Fate’ applies to the target will change soon!

▶ Related information will soon be added to the Main Quest!

▶ A new objective has been added to the quest ‘Sham Marriage’!

“…”

‘Wait… why is her favorability spiking right now?!’