Could I be honest?
But before I could, Evelionne spoke up, cutting off Roselia.
“I was the one who called for them, Duke. I was curious about Closette’s well-being.”
“You, Your Highness?”
Judging by the way she subtly averted her gaze, it seemed Evelionne wanted to hide the fact that she was collecting paintings through me. Since there were many things that made it difficult for Roselia to speak openly as well, she didn’t bother to argue.
Klaus scrutinized Roselia with a suspicious look before turning his attention back to the Crown Princess.
“More importantly, is your wrist alright?”
“I am fine, Duke.”
“Does the Crown Prince still treat you so carelessly?”
“That is none of your concern, Duke.”
Roselia watched their exchange with a blank stare.
It was just like the original story. The Duke showed emotions toward the Crown Princess that were a mixture of affection, love-hate, and obsession.
Whether this was a familial bond built from their childhoods as playmates, or love between a man and a woman, had never been revealed. After all, the Duke was… destined to disappear just as the love between the male and female leads came to fruition.
As she looked at him with a sense of misplaced pity, he must have felt her gaze, for his navy eyes landed coldly on Roselia.
“What exactly do you think you’re doing?”
At the frigid question, Roselia stared back at him with wide, rounded eyes.
“Pardon?”
What was I doing? I was just watching the two of you talk.
“Do you think you’re in a position to remain here, intruding on this space?”
He was telling her to get lost.
“Do I have to tell you to leave before you actually do?”
She was the one who had been here first, yet he spoke as if she were the one bothering the Crown Princess. The sheer audacity of his dismissal left her not just dumbfounded, but deeply hurt.
Hurt? Because the Duke was cold to her? Had he ever treated her with kindness anyway?
No. He had been consistently cold to Roselia.
Perhaps that was why Klaus, who revealed the tenderness hidden beneath his cold shell only to the Crown Princess, was even more detestable.
Feeling unsettled, Roselia didn’t even bother with a proper farewell; she simply gave a curt nod and left the room with a stiff gait.
Yes, it was just unfair that this godforsaken Duke treated people so differently.
That was when it happened.
“Hey…”
Standing across the hallway, leaning lazily against a pillar with his arms crossed, the Crown Prince called out to her.
At that voice she never wanted to hear, Roselia’s head turned like a malfunctioning, gear-grinding machine.
At the sound of that voice, filled with such malice, a tremor ran across Roselia’s face.
I’m the one who should be feeling unpleasant, you jerk!
Even if it was all part of the original Roselia’s life, how could she not feel disgusted when the very person who had killed her was standing right before her eyes…?
Roselia tried to keep her head down, feigning deafness to Esteban’s call, and tried to go on her way.
However, Esteban had already closed the distance and grabbed her by the scruff of her neck, leaving her feet dangling in the air.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Where? Home!
Ignoring her inner turmoil, Roselia turned her head with practiced innocence, as if she truly hadn’t heard him.
“Good heavens! Your Highness, what business could you possibly have with this lowly servant…?”
“Playing deaf, are we… Look here, Baltezar’s dog.”
Who was he calling someone’s dog?
Come to think of it, perhaps by coincidence… even in the original novel, the Crown Prince had referred to Roselia as “Baltezar’s dog.”
In the original story, she had thought it a fitting nickname, as the Roselia who was obsessed with the Duke would have offered the Imperial family’s secrets on a silver platter. But… now that she had become that extra, the situation was entirely different.
Roselia suppressed her revulsion and forced the corners of her mouth upward.
“What are your orders?”
“What did the Duke order you to do? Tell me, and I shall spare your life.”
He had killed the Roselia of the original story in a heartbeat without a second thought, and here he was, threatening her life again in a completely different situation. It was breathtakingly absurd.
Roselia ignored the twitching at the corners of her mouth and continued.
“I didn’t come to the Imperial Palace because the Duke told me to…”
Seeing the Crown Prince glance toward the Crown Princess’s private parlor—where Klaus had entered—he grabbed her by the collar and dragged her away.
“Y-Your Highness?!”
Was she going to be dragged off and die a pointless death again?!
While she was busy spiraling into all sorts of catastrophic thoughts, Esteban dragged her to the garden behind the palace.
“There. You can speak here.”
“Pardon…?”
“The Duke cannot eavesdrop on us here. So, speak freely.”
No, really, I’m telling you, it has nothing to do with the Duke…
Strictly speaking, she had approached the Crown Princess to pay off the Duke’s debt, so it wasn’t entirely unrelated… but she hadn’t come here under his orders. Even if she told him exactly what he wanted to hear, there was no guarantee that a man who valued human life less than a dog would let her live.
“Your Highness, I beg your pardon, but I merely visited Her Highness at the request of Lady Closette.”
“How much are you getting paid by the Duke? I will give you double that amount.”
“…”
“Triple!”
The atmosphere was such that if she had asked for 3,000 Verangs, he probably would have handed them over instantly. Roselia felt a flicker of greed, but she didn’t have the guts to invent a lie and take money for it. She knew all too well from the original story that money like this always came with foul consequences.
“Your Highness, I humbly apologize, but as a lowly servant, I have a mountain of work piling up even as we speak, so I shall take my leave.”
The moment she turned to leave, Esteban grabbed her wrist harshly, bringing her to a halt.
Just as she was about to protest, barely holding back her annoyance, the Crown Prince looked down at her wrist with a puzzled expression.
“What is this… why is a man’s wrist so thin?”
Stung, Roselia ignored the cold sweat running down her back and spoke with feigned composure.
“I grew up malnourished.”
It wasn’t a lie. Ever since the Baron died and the family fortune collapsed—or rather, ever since her mother died and the Baron began treating her like a mere housemaid—she had not been treated like a noble daughter of the Barony. She had grown up underfed and poorly clothed.
The fact that she hadn’t even had her debutante ball despite being well past twenty was proof enough.
Roselia pulled her wrist from his grasp with all her might, freeing herself from his hand.
However, Esteban was still looking at her wrist with a suspicious expression.
She had thought he was just a lunatic Crown Prince, but he seemed to have surprisingly sharp eyes.
Well, that must be how he caught Roselia leaking imperial secrets in the original story.
“It’s still too thin for that… and you seem quite short for a man, too…”
Why is he so unnecessarily perceptive!
Feeling a chill run down her spine, Roselia spoke coldly.
“My growth was simply stunted.”
“Hmm… well, let that be. You, what is your name?”
Why the sudden interest in her name?
A flash of the original novel crossed her mind.
‘What is your name?’
‘My name is Roselia.’
‘Roselia… a fine name. It doesn’t suit a traitor’s dog.’
After that conversation, the Roselia of the original story had been sent to the scaffold.
At a question that felt eerily reminiscent of the novel, Roselia gulped down a dry lump in her throat and answered the real-life Esteban.
“My name is Antonio.”
“Antonio…”
Hearing her name, the Crown Prince smiled thinly.
“A fine name. Though it doesn’t seem to suit you.”
Hearing Esteban say something that felt both similar and different to the original, Roselia felt a strange unease.
“I will trust that you aren’t lying to the Crown Prince. However, if you fail to give me the answers I desire next time, I cannot guarantee what will happen to you.”
Was he trusting her, or was he threatening her…?
Looking at the Crown Prince as if he were insane, Roselia realized there was nothing to be gained by lingering any longer. She gave a quick bow and hurriedly escaped.
Esteban’s golden eyes followed the back of the retreating Roselia with a persistent, calculating intensity.
* * *
Roselia clutched the envelope containing the 1,000-Verang check she had received from the Crown Princess and walked down the dark hallway.
Klaus had summoned her at this late hour.
Since she had been intending to find Klaus to pay off her debt anyway, Roselia left her room without hesitation.
However, the closer she got to Klaus’s study, the heavier her footsteps became.
Was it because of his words, how he had dismissed her as a mere nuisance while worrying about the Crown Princess?
It was true that he was unpleasant, but was that really enough to make her want to avoid him?
Shaking her head vigorously to snap out of it, Roselia knocked on the Duke’s study door with an air of forced courage.
“Enter.”
At the familiar, cold, and heavy voice of Klaus, Roselia took a deep breath, opened the door, and stepped inside.
Klaus was sitting at his desk, having set aside the documents he had been reviewing. He stared at her, his arms crossed.
“It would be best if you tell me the truth.”
His blunt entrance made Roselia’s brows twitch.
“Don’t give me that nonsense about meeting the Crown Princess to convey Closette’s well-being. What on earth were you thinking, approaching the Crown Princess?”
His tone, which assumed she was a threat to the Crown Princess without even bothering to ask for the truth, ignited her irritation.
“I did not approach her; Her Highness called for me.”
At her haughty tone, Klaus twisted the corner of his mouth, letting out a sharp breath.
“The Crown Princess? You? What reason would she have to see you?”
“I couldn’t say. It is a private matter of the Crown Princess, and I am not at liberty to discuss it.”
Perhaps displeased by her defiant retort, Klaus rose to his feet. Standing at well over 190 centimeters, the massive man exuded a crushing sense of pressure.
Roselia only stared back at him with an indifferent face, pretending she wasn’t the least bit shaken.
He slowly approached until he was right in front of her, leaning in close and whispering in a threatening tone.
“I don’t know what kind of scheme you’re cooking up, but I suggest you think twice about trying to use the Crown Princess.”
For a moment, she was so dumbfounded that a sharp breath escaped her lips.
Don’t use the Crown Princess?
Coming from him, the man who had used Roselia in the original novel, sucked her dry, and then threw her away—how could he say that?
The Klaus to whom the original Roselia had devoted her life hadn’t even shown his face when she was sent to the scaffold. As she was merely an extra, her feelings hadn’t been described, but surely, she had waited for him.
For that godforsaken Duke.
Hearing those words from the very mouth of the Duke—even if she hadn’t experienced it herself—made her blood boil and her chest ache with uncontainable rage.
Roselia stared into the face of the Duke who had invaded her space, and instead of backing down, she leaned in even closer.
“What if I did use her? Is that forbidden?”