Chapter 13.
Dignified Revenge
Applin prepared herself perfectly to have breakfast with Lucent.
Laurel carefully styled her hair at her side, and Applin put on a pearl necklace and matching earrings that suited her attire.
However, the morning at the villa was not entirely pleasant.
She began to seriously worry about the eventful happenings of last night.
In particular, she was curious about the condition of the Crown Prince, who had been bitten by a dog.
“You’re up early.”
Entering the dining room, Applin greeted Lucent, who had arrived first and was reading the newspaper.
“Applin.”
Lucent folded the newspaper and placed it on the table, warmly welcoming Applin.
Soon, the servants laid out breakfast on the table.
Applin couldn’t take her eyes off the dishes made from ingredients produced only in Haven.
“It looks delicious.”
“Try it.”
The two enjoyed their meal in a friendly atmosphere.
While they were eating, Lucent quietly called his wife.
“Applin.”
“Yes.”
“I’ve been thinking about the series of things my wife said to the Crown Prince.”
“……?!”
He was referring to her claims that they married for love and that she would sue the Crown Prince for defamation.
Applin hadn’t expected him to bring it up, so she was startled, but she quickly regained her composure.
“Saying we married for love wasn’t the truth.”
“It was a vow.”
“A vow?”
“I intend to respect and love you as my husband.”
“I want to prove that our choice was the right one.”
“Prove it to whom?”
“To you and to myself.”
It was an unexpected answer.
Given that it was a marriage overcoming a difference in status, he had thought she meant proving it to the world.
At least, Lucent himself had wanted to prove it to others.
Yet what Applin said next surprised him even more.
“Lucent, please respect and love me as your wife.”
His gaze fixed on Applin.
Her soft words shocked him more than the incident where Riki bit the Crown Prince’s leg.
Her eyes were resolute yet trembling.
She looked entirely different from when she had proposed the contract.
It felt like a heartfelt and human plea.
Lucent knew how to show respect.
But he didn’t know how to love a woman.
“What kind of respect and love do you want?”
For his mother and sister, money had solved everything.
He wondered whether it would be enough to let Applin indulge in luxury, or if she wanted more.
Then, an unfamiliar yet subtle warmth bloomed on Applin’s beautiful face.
She took a sip of water and answered while looking at Lucent.
“Please treasure me.”
He hadn’t expected such a simple answer.
“I want to become someone precious to you.”
“Of course, I’ll make an effort too.”
For a while, the two simply looked at each other in silence.
Understanding and surprise.
Perhaps it was the first sense of empathy they had felt, binding them together.
Lucent had believed it was enough to appear perfect to others.
A successful businessman.
A wife from a prestigious noble family.
A beautiful love story.
He thought that alone meant success.
Yet Applin wanted not just a polished exterior, but a solid, meaningful interior as well.
She’s greedier than I am.
Lucent responded with a smile.
Applin was a woman with an ambitious plan to make her entire life beautiful.
It was the pride of a true noble.
She wanted to constantly refine and enrich her own choices.
Suddenly, he became curious whether the one-month period Applin had set was part of her grand ambition.
“Then how should we date for a month?”
Lucent asked, glancing at the bruise blooming on Applin’s neck.
Startled, Applin darted her eyes around.
She spoke bravely, but in truth, she had never really dated before.
“Wouldn’t spending a lot of time together be enough?”
“Doing what?”
“Um…… well…….”
Applin hadn’t thought through the details.
With Serge suddenly appearing and causing chaos, she hadn’t had the leisure to dream about time at the villa.
“Going to the beach, collecting seashells.”
“And?”
“Talking a lot and getting to know each other better.”
“That’s extremely wholesome.”
Lucent nodded as if he agreed.
In truth, if not now, they wouldn’t have many chances to be together.
Once they returned to Rount, they would both be busy.
* * *
It was Lucent’s first time spending an entire day with a woman.
He had never dreamed of it, nor expected much.
Yet his time with Applin was surprisingly enjoyable.
The Haven villa was a place he fled to when exhaustion piled up in Rount, or when headaches arose from his mother and sister.
Usually, he spent most of his time sleeping there.
But walking around with Applin, he could fully feel the season.
It felt refreshing to realize that even repeating seasons could feel different depending on who you spent them with.
Now, all that remained was to properly conclude the messy affair.
Hoo—
Lucent opened the large window of the study and exhaled cigar smoke into the pitch-black air.
The crashing sound of waves and the salty scent of the sea stimulated his senses.
In the distance, the lighthouse blinked at regular intervals.
It looked endlessly lonely.
But not tonight.
At that moment, a presence was felt near the door.
“Sir.”
It was Leon, the secretary who had escorted Serge to the hospital, returning after finishing his task.
“The Crown Prince?”
“He was transferred to the Imperial Hospital in the capital.”
“Riki bit precisely at the Achilles tendon, so he’ll have trouble moving for a while.”
As expected of a former military dog, Riki was exceptionally intelligent.
Lucent had ordered Leon early on to obtain the Crown Prince’s perfume and let Riki familiarize himself with it.
He trained Riki to act only according to instructions.
Of course, this was possible because he had predicted Serge would behave disgracefully.
Did Serge know?
That this was the way he was being treated like a dog.
Ah.
If Riki heard that, he would misunderstand.
The insult was meant for Serge, who lacked even a shred of maturity.
“This is the draft of tomorrow morning’s newspaper article.”
The reporters who chased Serge hadn’t been arranged by Lucent.
He simply hadn’t reinforced the villa’s security.
As Lucent read the article Leon handed over, a sharp light entered his eyes.
[Serge, the Crown Prince who recently shook the Empire, has once again caused controversy. Once called the Empire’s star, the Crown Prince had already sparked scandal after abandoning his fiancée, Applin von Hafen, daughter of Count von Hafen, to pursue an inappropriate relationship with a married opera singer. This time, however, the Crown Prince went beyond personal misconduct and severely tarnished the dignity of the Imperial family. The Crown Prince recently visited the villa of Blackcarson Bank’s president. According to witnesses, he hurled unspeakable insults at the banker and even attempted to forcibly take the now-married Applin to the palace. In the process, he suffered minor injuries after being attacked by the villa’s pet dog. Additionally, the Crown Prince……]
“I like it very much.”
Lucent smiled in satisfaction.
This would reduce the Crown Prince’s honor to the ground and shake his standing.
Even the palace would find it difficult to intervene.
“This is a draft from another newspaper.”
The next article Leon handed over was even more outrageous.
It claimed that the opera singer Marita Belmont was carrying Serge’s child.
How the Imperial family would handle this became an open question.
One thing was certain.
The people of the Empire would no longer see Crown Prince Serge as the Empire’s star.
“How fascinating.”
Lucent had calmly suppressed his anger even when Serge called him a vulgar upstart, a base money-grubber, a sewer rat, and told him to eat rotten fallen fruit.
“The Crown Prince won’t be able to do anything for a while.”
“Yes.”
“He has already lost the trust of the Emperor and Empress, and there are no royal or noble families wishing to be engaged to him.”
“Leon, cover the Crown Prince’s hospital bills on our end.”
“Send some flowers too…….”
Lucent said with a tone laced with mockery.
This was his chance to let the world know.
Who the true scum was.
And how far the arrogance of the Imperial family had gone.
Rather than raging at the crimes of the powerful, it was wiser for the victim to maintain courtesy and restraint.
Only then could the insolent Crown Prince be brought down in the most dignified way.
“Understood, sir.”
As if everything had been resolved, the butler appeared carrying a large gift box.
“It’s arrived.”
Lucent’s face filled with an unfeigned smile as he looked at the gift.
