Chapter 11
Creed sometimes acted like an immature boy, but when he smiled, he gave off a warmth far gentler than most men.
Perhaps it was because of his features: brown hair, green eyes, the archetypal look of a secondary male lead.
“Amber Cedarwood.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
As we entered the palace where Regulus, the First Prince, resided, he stopped mid-step on his way to the office and called my name.
Rombre tended to use full names when displeased—but I wasn’t doing anything that would warrant that right now.
I tilted my head, a question mark floating over it, and he hesitated, sighed, and finally spoke.
“…Enough.”
“If you have something to say, go ahead.”
“Enough. Get to work.”
“Do you really say that to someone who’s been working all this time?”
I shouted after Rombre’s retreating figure as he walked toward his office, but he didn’t turn back; he simply went where he needed to go.
What the heck.
He’s not the type to stop mid-sentence like that.
It felt odd, but if he didn’t want to speak, there was no point in forcing the issue.
“Amber, let’s talk for a moment.”
“Yes? Y-Yes.”
He said it with a face and a voice that implied urgency, yet the conversation ended up taking place in a corner of the royal corridor.
“Why is that?”
Had something happened while I was away?
A perfectly plausible question. In a novel, the male and female leads were supposed to stir up events, after all.
“You—didn’t Prince Rinoel scout you?”
Crazy.
“Who told you that?”
Why are there so many loose-lipped people in the palace?!
If Rombre knew, he wouldn’t stay silent. He might not expect me to go to Prince Rinoel, but just receiving such an offer would likely irritate him enough to make me work harder.
“How did you find out?”
We’d discussed the scouting offer this morning, and it had been only Rinoel and me at the time.
I hadn’t uttered a word, so the one who revealed it must have been…
“He told us himself.”
“Ah, that damn…!”
A cursed brat! Why did that guy have such a loose tongue? Everything he said was unlucky, and I had wanted to sew his mouth shut—but maybe I actually should.
Wait.
“…Told us?”
‘Told us’ sounded strange.
I looked at Creed, pale as a sheet, and he answered casually.
“We were together.”
“With… who?”
“Well, who else? With His Highness.”
Ding-ding-ding.
I could almost hear Beethoven’s Fate Symphony playing behind me.
So that’s why he used my full name earlier.
“Just now, I bumped into Prince Rinoel. You haven’t changed a bit from before.”
“Every single word you say, unchanged as ever.”
How rude.
I couldn’t say that to a royal, so I replied differently.
“You carry yourself with grace.”
“Haha.”
I glanced toward Rombre’s office, imagining him probably sulking.
“I—I should probably go see His Highness first.”
“It’s fine. He’s not the type to misunderstand.”
“But he might not like what I say.”
I tied my loose hair into a high knot and smiled.
“He is unusually gentle and meticulous for someone like His Highness.”
Leaving Creed, who looked momentarily dazed, behind, I headed for the office.
“He is unusually gentle and meticulous for someone like His Highness.”
…What?
Wait a moment, Amber.
I scratched the back of my head, watching Amber dash to the office before I could even grab her to stop her.
“Meticulous? Gentle?”
Who? Rombre?
Nonsense.
Creed had once thought Rombre might be gentle and meticulous—back when he was in Baldafrique, when his family held the title of Count.
He had thought Rombre sensitive due to the pain of being born a half-beast—but that was the only time.
‘You know very well how half-beasts have ever claimed the throne.’
‘Take care of your neck, will you?’
Could a normally gentle, meticulous person really say that?
Rombre was a million light-years away from the word gentle.
“Hah, really.”
Were they both wearing blinders?
Amber calling someone like Rombre gentle was audacious, to say the least.
Of course, Rombre might be gentle toward Amber alone—soft, pliable.
But anyone else? He wouldn’t even glance at them, treating them like passing ants.
“…It’s really an odd phrase.”
Rombre Dan Lo Hermann was incredibly cunning.
What kind of behavior should he have displayed in front of Amber over the years?
Yet the word gentle came out of Amber’s mouth.
I had no idea how the always-resigning Amber could ever call Rombre gentle.
I didn’t think I would actually go to Rinoel—but it would be reasonable for Rombre to be upset.
After ten years of working together, would anyone be happy to see a colleague join a rival?
Moreover, this wasn’t just a simple job change—it was essentially fleeing abroad with company secrets.
I stood outside Rombre’s office for a moment, hesitating, before knocking lightly.
No invitation came from inside, but I opened the door anyway.
He must already know it’s me knocking. And judging by the lack of invitation, he was probably a little miffed.
“Your Highness.”
Regulus Palace was where the First Prince resided, but it was smaller and more modest than Denebola Palace, where Rinoel stayed.
Few wanted to work under a half-beast prince whose sanity could slip at any moment, and Rombre didn’t want unnecessary people around the palace either.
“I heard from Prince Creed that you met with Prince Rinoel?”
“Yes.”
His tone was rather indifferent. I knew better than to pull out the resignation letter I always carried—now was not the time.
“Whatever Prince Rinoel said, you know it’s all lies, right?”
“Doesn’t seem like lies to me.”
“Eh?”
“You did want to resign, and Rinoel probably does want to take you with him.”
“But people have consciences. Just because I resign doesn’t mean I’ll go to Rinoel.”
“You’re not going?”
“Yes!”
As he flipped a sheet of paper while reviewing documents, he looked up at me.
His glossy red eyes glimmered with mild curiosity.
Whether he was appeased or simply testing me, I couldn’t tell. Then he asked again.
“Even if offered vast wealth and fame?”
“Could it compare to the wealth and fame Your Highness provides?”
After all, the male lead in the original story was Rombre.
This life had followed the original story faithfully: his time in Baldafrique, being abandoned and nearly killed by his biological mother, finally being acknowledged as a royal and returning to the palace.
Nothing had strayed from the original.
…Strange. Had I said this before? The sense of déjà vu made me tilt my head.
“Even if you say that, I will not accept your resignation.”
I hadn’t meant it as a direct warning, yet he spoke coldly—and yet a slight smile betrayed that he wasn’t completely displeased.
“You must keep the promise you made to me.”
“Then… what exactly is that promise?”
I pouted and muttered just as a voice passed through my mind.
‘Your Highness.’
It was my voice, from the early days after coming to this world.
‘I will remain by your side until you find true love.’
When I had seen his half-beast form, I had said it to comfort him.
‘I will stay by your side until Lord Rombre finds true love and his curse is lifted.’
Having left it unfinished, Rombre, leaning on his chin and watching me, slightly curved the corner of his mouth.
“So it seems you remember now.”
The words almost escaped me: ten years ago, you made a promise—and you still remember it.
The part about becoming perfect was genuine, but the part about staying by my side forever… well, it was sincere at the time, but…
I never imagined the Imperial Palace would be this busy. I just wanted a vacation!
“You must keep the promise you made with your own mouth, Amber Cedarwood.”
“Your Highness…”
The words spun around my throat, like a child handing a ‘good behavior coupon’ to their parent on Parents’ Day.
The obsessive male lead’s obsession could not be ignored.
At the same time, another thought occurred.
Now, when the original story begins and the female lead, Aurora, appears…
“Amber?”
I said nothing, smiling faintly, and he couldn’t hide his displeased expression as he stared at me.
“It seems that promise will soon be kept, Your Highness.”
I smiled triumphantly at the stiff Rombre.
I had complained that the original story was starting just as I became busy—but as long as the original female lead appeared, and they fell in love, my resignation could proceed without issue.
“Prepare to accept my resignation, then.”
I winked playfully—but he remained displeased, frowning.
Regardless of his annoyance, I was simply happy at the thought of leaving.
