Chapter 52
“From now on, what should I call you?”
At Crown Prince Anasis’s question, Rainier smiled.
“Please call me ‘Rain.’”
“Rain.”
Anasis couldn’t help but chuckle when Rainier used his own nickname as an alias. Then he asked,
“Where’s Layla?”
“She’s in the next room.”
“I see.”
Anasis rose from his seat and said to those nearby—people who were practically his subordinates.
“Everyone, wait here and have some tea. I’ve got something to take care of.”
“Yes, Your Highness!”
“Safe return, Your Highness!”
Because everyone feared the Empress, they were just as polite to the Crown Prince.
“Enjoy your time with Rain as well.”
“That sounds nice.”
Rainier grinned shamelessly as he sat next to Count Verona’s daughter, recalling that she was one of the Empress’s closest aides.
“I’m very fond of beautiful women, you see.”
Even as he spoke, Rainier had to fight the urge to scratch the goosebumps on his neck and wrists. He was the sort of person who felt deeply uncomfortable whenever someone touched him.
“Oh my.”
The count’s daughter blushed and breathed a little heavier.
Leaving Rainier there, Anasis went straight to Layla.
The moment he stepped into the hallway, he told his aide,
“Send more people to the plaza. We’re doing it today.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
He then headed to the room where Layla was. The fourth floor was so large that just crossing to the opposite side took quite a while.
Anasis stopped in front of the door where Lady Vymar was. A servant standing there knocked.
“You have a visitor.”
‘Come in,’ came Lady Vymar’s voice.
Anasis walked in immediately.
“Kyaa!”
At that moment, Layla quickly pulled down the hem of her skirt, which had been raised to her thigh, and turned around.
She had injured her leg and was showing it to the other ladies to explain her condition.
“What the—!”
“Ah… Your Highness? Why are you…?”
Surprised, Anasis quickly turned his body away.
Knock knock.
‘My lady! It’s me!’
“Oh? Come in!”
The person Lady Vymar and her group had really been waiting for entered.
“What’s going on here?”
Anasis managed to regain his composure, adopting a polite tone, though under his lowered eyelids the image of Layla’s bare white legs lingered like an afterimage.
Long, pale, and beautiful—as if a mermaid had grown legs.
Feeling his face grow too hot, he let out an unconscious sigh.
“Lady Layla injured her ankle badly, so I called our family physician.”
Lady Vymar gestured to the female doctor standing nearby.
“We’ll need to lift the dress a bit.”
It was a subtle way of telling the man to leave, but Anasis didn’t take the hint. He simply turned his back to them, facing the wall.
“Yes, please lift it.”
Layla sighed and complied. The doctor looked over her ankle.
“It’s quite swollen.”
The doctor pressed on her ankle.
“Kyaa! That hurts!”
“Fortunately, the bone is fine. It seems the muscle is just strained.”
“That’s some relief,” Anasis replied in her stead, slowly turning around—because there was much he wanted to say to Layla.
“It hurts…”
The doctor’s prodding to check the bone was excruciating, and Layla’s eyes were already brimming with tears, ready to spill at any moment.
Anasis stared blankly at her.
There were many beauties in the palace. Even Lady Vymar, who was gazing at him from beside Layla, was no plain face. But beside Layla, her beauty seemed diminished.
“Your Highness must be quite close to Lady Abière,” Lady Vymar said, probing his feelings like someone nursing a crush.
Her words snapped Anasis back to his senses. He knew he had to marry the woman his mother had chosen.
“I promised to help Layla become the Marchioness of Bruce.”
At that, Lady Vymar’s expression softened, and so did those of her attendants.
“You made… such a promise?”
“Yes. I see you’re friendly with Layla as well, Lady Vymar. Truly fitting for the flower of society.”
Anasis smiled warmly at her, his voice almost seductive.
Strange. By most standards, Lady Vymar was beautiful—but next to the tearful Layla, she seemed like a withered leaf.
“Oh, Your Highness flatters me.”
“I have something to discuss with Layla in private. May I take her for a moment?”
The doctor, now wrapping Layla’s leg in a bandage, sped up her work. When she finished, she nodded her approval.
“You really are quite frail,” Anasis said, extending his hand.
Layla took it awkwardly and hobbled into the corridor with him.
A long hallway stretched between the rooms, and along it was a terrace. Layla obediently followed Anasis to it.
Once there, he said,
“Get Rain to the plaza. Tonight at nine.”
“I’ll try.”
“Not ‘try’—I want a definite yes.”
Now that they were alone, Anasis dropped the formal tone and gave a direct order. Layla thought to herself how good he was at wearing a mask, lowering her gaze pitifully as she replied,
“Honestly, even bringing him here was hard. He kept dodging me… I only managed it by offering to pool my entire dowry into a joint business.”
“…”
“He’s incredibly cautious.”
Anasis was about to press her further, but then he saw the tears still clinging to her pink lashes and stopped himself.
“You cry so often. Pathetic. Useless.”
He pressed a finger to the corner of her eye, smirking.
“Don’t act so familiar with me in front of Lady Vymar. It’ll make it harder for me to help you.”
Her words sounded almost like a childish complaint to him, amusing in their own way. After all, this was the woman who had pretended to fall—risking a broken ankle—just to collapse into his arms. It was hard to believe she didn’t want his attention.
“Lady Vymar is just Crown Princess material.”
“…What?”
“The position of my beloved concubine is still vacant.”
He said it as if bestowing a favor. Layla frowned in confusion, then forced a smile when she saw him staring at her. She worried he might have somehow heard the string of insults running through her head.
“If you understand, cooperate.”
“…Yes. I’ll do my best.”
She lied through her teeth, forcing a wide smile until her jaw ached, all under his watchful gaze.
The opening of Mont was a huge success.
With Lady Vymar—the biggest spender in Éclair—as the top client, business boomed. She was the kind of woman who would spend her entire allowance just for a chance to see the Crown Prince.
Later, after closing, Layla spoke to Rainier on the now-empty fourth floor.
“If you go to the plaza at nine tonight, you’ll be in trouble.”
Rainier couldn’t help but chuckle at her words, removing his mask. Layla thought it was almost cheating—when he wore the mask, it was easier to be firm with him.
“Anasis told you to bring me, didn’t he?”
“Yes. He said he’d ‘deal with it tonight,’ so just ignore it. He’ll try something else in person if you don’t show.”
“Yes.”
Layla found it odd how much Rainier seemed to enjoy this. His enemy’s son was targeting him, yet he looked positively amused.
“Why are you smiling?”
“Strangely enough, I find this business quite fun.”
“…Well, I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself.”
Thinking he was a strange man indeed, she went downstairs first.
When Anasis’s plan fell through, he naturally came to Mont again the next day.
Lady Vymar, expecting him, was also there.
“Did you not hear what I said yesterday?”
“I tried. But he’s just so stubborn.”
Anasis questioned Layla irritably, but seeing her glamorous face and the way she trembled like a frightened rabbit whenever he did made it hard to stay angry.
“Then try using your feminine wiles.”
“That’s for real beauties. I’m far too plain. He looks at me like I’m a rock.”
Anasis scoffed at that.
“No way. Unless he prefers men, he can’t possibly see you as a rock.”
Then, suddenly, a thought struck him. He looked at Layla with a pale face.
“Wait… could it be…?”
“…What?”
Layla stared back, wondering what on earth he was thinking.
“Could it be he’s… into that?”
She almost burst out laughing but barely held it in.
“In that case, wouldn’t Your Highness be better suited to approach him?”
While Layla was smoothly poaching all of Hugo’s clients in Hugo’s absence, Anasis was consumed with the idea of luring Rainier out.
“…Yes, that would make sense.”
So the Crown Prince decided to handle it himself.
