Chapter 72
So that was why the Crown Prince didn’t wear the gloves he usually did when dancing—I took them off and placed them on the table. Then I approached Jereon again and gently placed my hand over his. His thick, strong fingers slowly intertwined with mine. The touch was firm yet soft, and I found myself becoming tense without realizing it.
“Don’t be nervous. Just stay relaxed.”
Yesterday, I had sweated so much from not knowing how to dance, but today, having grasped the steps to some extent, I thought I’d be okay. Even though we were holding hands, I tried to avoid my palm touching his as much as possible, but if I loosened slightly, he would tighten his grip instantly, leaving no room at all.
By the time we had gone back and forth about five times from the front door to the back of the dance studio, the instructor’s instructions abruptly stopped.
Clap! Clap!
“Alright, that’s enough for today. You’ve learned a lot, so I’m glad it was worth teaching you.”
Those words were directed at me. After bowing to the instructor, I collapsed on the floor, staring at the ceiling and gasping for breath.
“Whew… this is really exhausting.”
The Crown Prince sat beside me and, almost imperceptibly, took my left hand. I wondered why he suddenly held it, and then he began to speak while adjusting my fourth finger.
“Why are your fingers so thin? They’re about the same thickness as my pinky.”
“All women’s fingers are like that.”
“They’re so small and delicate I can’t even hold them tightly. I’m afraid I’ll break them.”
“Human fingers don’t break that easily.”
“If I really meant to, I could break them, you know?”
Thinking back to the last time he wielded his sword, I felt he wasn’t exaggerating. The speed at which he drew that heavy sword and aimed it at Magnum’s neck was almost impossible for the eye to follow.
He had even held it steady for quite a while without shaking.
Fiddling… kneading… massaging.
Jereon was far too obvious about touching my fingers, so I subtly pulled my hand away and laid it on my stomach. Once lying down, I didn’t want to get up at all. This time, he leaned over my face, examining me closely, then suddenly pressed a fingertip against a small spot on my eyebrow.
“You have a mole on your eyebrow.”
The mole was so tiny that no one but me knew about it. The fact he noticed it was remarkable. Naturally, I scrutinized Jereon’s face in return.
His eyes were like translucent blue glass beads, mysterious and captivating. His flawless skin looked pure as milk, and a single bead of sweat traced the line of his sharp jaw. Following it with my gaze, I eventually found my eyes drawn to his lips.
Perhaps because our faces were so close, every time our eyes met, a strange sensation ran through me. As I tried to sit up, Jereon suddenly pressed his finger against my forehead.
“Rest some more.”
He gently laid me back down, leaning closer than before as he continued to gaze at me.
“Your eyes… I like seeing them reflect me. I can feel so clearly that you’re looking at me.”
His hand moved toward my face, but instead of touching it, he passed it through my hair spread on the floor. I could hear the soft rustle as his fingers moved between the strands.
I felt strangely sleepy, but then he bent down and kissed the hair he was holding. The way he looked at me while doing so felt like seduction, and my chest burned.
“Your Highness, you promised to only kiss my cheek.”
“It’s just hair. It doesn’t feel like anything.”
“Still, if you keep doing that…”
Jereon’s bracelet gleamed black.
“The meaning of my bracelet is ‘I want to have dark feelings for you alone.’”
He really did look like he harbored dark, possessive feelings for me.
“Shanael, I want to give you the goodbye cheek kiss now… can I just do one side first?”
I didn’t know exactly what kind of feelings he had, but I wanted to be kind to him for noticing my eyes and finding the mole on my eyebrow.
“…Go ahead.”
“Thank you.”
Jereon pressed his lips to my left cheek while lying very close beside me.
Smack.
Even after his lips left, his face remained only a hand’s breadth away, so I couldn’t move.
“Move a bit… so I can get up.”
I considered rolling to the side to get up, but he grabbed my shoulder to stop me.
“On second thought, let’s finish the greetings first.”
“Huh?”
Jereon leaned down toward my right cheek, taking a position that almost pinned me underneath him. I was so surprised that I just blinked in place.
“What… is this position a bit…?”
Smack.
After kissing my right cheek, he didn’t lift his face, instead pressing his own gently against mine. Then I heard a soft whisper:
“Just… stay like this for a while.”
His voice sounded exhausted, not lecherous, as if he simply wanted comfort. I waited quietly for about a minute, then gently asked:
“Did something happen? Did you hear bad news at the meeting?”
He nodded.
Instead of answering, he nuzzled my cheek.
“Sorry, Shanael.”
“Why are you apologizing all of a sudden…?”
“Prince Felix is returning to his country today.”
“Huh? Without a trial?”
He nodded again.
“Ah…”
I felt a wave of emptiness. After all the trouble I went through to tail him and subdue him at the inn, it all seemed for nothing. I felt heavy, like sinking underwater.
Jereon’s voice lowered, as if feeling the same despair.
“Even at the Elder Council, my father said Prince Felix is the son of a friend, so he should be sent back. He brought prohibited items, but in Astelgia, that’s legal, so as a prince he is pardoned…”
“What about when I almost got kidnapped?”
“….”
“And the minor poisoning from Deli herbs? Does that mean it’s like it never happened?”
“My power wasn’t enough to make it stick. It wasn’t accepted.”
“That can’t be true.”
“….”
“It’s because I’m a commoner. They probably thought a commoner girl protecting someone couldn’t cause political trouble with an allied nation.”
Because I was a commoner, I had to endure the injustice. Hasel had assured me that status differences didn’t matter, that we could marry, but reality was cruel.
‘As expected, social status is impossible to overcome.’
I blinked, tears welling up. If I were a noble, things would have been different. As a commoner, even as a victim, I couldn’t get a fair trial.
As I weakly closed my eyes, tears ran down beside my face. Jereon slowly lifted his head to look at me.
“I never agreed to what they said. I don’t want to be shameful in front of you.”
He gently wiped the tears from my face and helped me sit up.
“I promise. I’ll make sure Felix kneels and apologizes to you…”
I nodded.
Because Jereon felt this deeply too, I reluctantly agreed. No wonder his expression had looked so troubled earlier. Yet seeing his concern made me feel comforted.
“Thank you.”
“Last time… didn’t I say I’d do more if something grateful came up?”
Normally, we would have postponed it again, but today, both the Crown Prince and I were exhausted. I sat up obediently and took the hand of the Crown Prince who had wiped my tears.
I bowed my head and kissed the back of his hand in respect.
Smack.
Even after I let go, he remained frozen in place, hand raised as if still receiving the kiss.
“Was that not right?”
Worried I had done something wrong, I cautiously looked at him, and his expression of gratitude was clear. His clear skin, flushed neck and ears—all visible at once.
“Your Highness, is this enough to show my thanks?”
“Uh… yes. More than enough.”
Jereon stood first, offering his hand so I could rise. I took it, regaining my composure.
The Crown Prince’s Last Love, Episode 18 — The Flickering Dark Shadow
The factions harboring resentment toward the Crown Prince began gathering. Knowing that they could not touch him while the Emperor was alive, they deliberately targeted Rose, the one he loved.
“We can’t just watch a fallen noblewoman become Crown Princess. Rumors say she even sold herself for money.”
“If someone like her becomes the lady, the Empire’s prestige will plummet.”
“Other kingdoms will mock us soon enough. How can we know the heir isn’t another’s bloodline?”
Thus, they searched for someone to kidnap her without the Crown Prince noticing. Few could approach Rose without suspicion, but soon, a suitable person appeared.
“If we succeed, will they definitely become a member of the Crown Prince’s knights, Sky Squadron?”
The silver-haired knight who had once saved the Crown Prince secretly offered to take the task.
At that point, taking a brief break, the Crown Prince, watching over my shoulder, remarked:
“You immediately make Magnum the villain just because the relationship’s strained.”
“…I always include a disclaimer at the end of my novels. Characters are fictional. I said silver-haired, so it’s unrelated to any real person.”
“Thanks to him, Magnum is the only one who became a Sky Squadron knight. Anyway, since we’re at it, execute the silver-haired knight later, too. All the villains above, too.”
“Your Highness, how can you execute every character? This isn’t an apocalypse setting; if we do that, only the Crown Prince and Rose would survive in this world. What if the Emperor in the story opposed the Crown Prince’s marriage or forced her to live harshly—would you have them killed too?”
