“The Princess’s Glamorous Kidnapping – Chapter 003”
Smoky, who even thoughtfully held the door open, looked unexpectedly considerate. And as a small girl followed close behind, the mood in the room shifted instantly.
Kiss sprang up faster than anyone and grabbed Smoky by the collar.
“Hey, you crazy bastard! What the hell are you doing bringing a kid here?!”
“H-Hey! Wait, wait—quiet! Quiet, there’s a baby!”
“…Right. A baby.”
“Exactly.”
It seemed these men had completely forgotten that they themselves were the wicked kidnappers who abducted this six-year-old “baby.”
Just then, Jenny, who had been quietly observing the stunned Nina, broke the silence with a suspiciously knowing tone.
“Well, well, what do we have here?”
The men had already realized too late they had forgotten Jenny was even there.
“Don’t tell me, Rabian. Have you finally been caught?”
Nina glanced over at Rabian, thinking they all must be seriously mistaken about something.
Rabian looked like the drunkenness was coming back to him.
“Hey, whatever you’re thinking, it’s not that—”
“Oh my, then who is she? Don’t tell me she’s Kiss’s kid or something?”
“…You bitch. Whose kid she is or isn’t, what the hell does it matter to you.”
Of course, there was no way they could admit that she was their kidnapped niece and the First Princess, so this awkward moment with no real excuse was one they had fully brought on themselves.
Naturally, Rabian had no capacity for self-reflection. All he felt was fury about to explode.
“Pfft! You were so confident that it would never happen to you. And now look at you. I guess even a player like you gets caught eventually. No one escapes forever!”
Jenny was obviously trying to get under Rabian’s skin on purpose, and knowing just how bad their boss’s temper could get, the gang members nearby were growing extremely uneasy.
There were two things Rabian absolutely hated: getting “tied down” and meeting people’s expectations.
And the expectation he had heard most throughout his 28 years of life was: “Meet the right person and finally get tied down, for once.” It was practically a curse.
Of course, this entire situation was just Jenny jumping to conclusions.
But whether it was a misunderstanding or the truth, if she kept poking like this, there was no telling what their conscience-lacking boss might do.
“She’s my little sister.”
The one who suddenly spoke up was Merci.
Merci strode confidently over to Nina and stood next to her.
Everyone froze in surprise at this bold move.
“Your sister…? That young?”
“Yeah. Please don’t ask for details. It’s… too painful.”
“……”
Strictly speaking, Nina and Rabian had absolutely no physical resemblance. The idea that anyone would mistake them for siblings was laughable.
But then again, the same could be said for Kiss and Smoky—perhaps even more so.
Merci, on the other hand—being a more elegant, mysterious pretty-boy than Rabian—somehow made the story sound a bit more plausible when claiming Nina as his sister.
“Kiddo, is it true? Is Merci your brother?”
Jenny narrowed her eyes at Nina, clearly still doubtful.
Nina then felt the intense, desperate gazes of the four men silently begging her.
“Please, just say yes…”
What kind of shameless kidnappers were these?
Though Nina was dumbfounded, she decided to help them out for now.
“Yeah, it’s true.”
“There, see? Now get lost.”
Having just looked like he was about to cry, Rabian now declared triumphantly, making him strangely pitiable.
Should’ve just let the jerk get what he deserved…
“I was already planning to leave. Don’t contact me again.”
“Yeah, good riddance.”
As Jenny stomped off, Rabian chuckled smugly and walked over to the bar, plopping himself down.
He pulled out a cigarette and put it in his mouth.
Just as he was about to light it, he quietly lowered his hand.
A pair of big round eyes was staring up at him from near his knees.
He didn’t even have time to wonder when the girl had gotten there.
“I have a condition for helping you.”
“……”
Rabian stared at the cheeky little brat daring to demand conditions from him.
If it had been anyone else, they would’ve immediately been met with mocking laughter and insults.
But the reason no sarcasm left his mouth wasn’t because this tiny little girl was his brother’s daughter.
If he were the kind of guy who cared about things like that, he wouldn’t have planned a kidnapping in the first place.
Rabian, the delinquent prince of the Atreides royal family, ousted by the former emperor, still received semi-royal treatment as the black sheep of central high society.
He earned that reputation partly due to his status as a war hero, but even more so thanks to the influence of the Marquis of Franck, the empress dowager’s family, which doted endlessly on their second grandson.
Thanks to that, Rabian often used his bloodline to maintain ties with the central nobility, while also barging into palace events uninvited just to cause chaos among his relatives.
As such, he had little to no interest in his nieces and nephews, whom he saw only occasionally.
He hated kids to begin with, and there was no way he’d find the dumb offspring of his idiot siblings adorable.
He especially felt sick whenever he saw Emperor Leopard gushing over the Second Princess Estella, doting on her inappropriately.
The First Princess, whom Leopard was said to be overprotective of, never even appeared in public—but Rabian figured she must be more of the same.
Or so he thought.
“Yeah…? So what’s the condition?”
Trying to stay calm, Rabian asked. Nina hesitated, blinking her blue eyes like she was unsure.
Sky-blue eyes like a clear summer day, paired with long, wavy golden hair—a perfect case of maternal resemblance.
Well, technically maternal resemblance…
What the hell?
Rabian frowned slightly without meaning to.
The face popping into his mind wasn’t either of the girl’s parents.
It was her aunt—her dead aunt, to be precise.
Anna Czerny, his childhood friend and former fiancée, who would’ve become empress of the Sistania Empire instead of Diana if she’d lived.
It’s rare, but not unheard of, for a child to resemble another relative instead of their parents.
Rabian himself looked just like his maternal grandfather in his youth, which had brought him many benefits.
And since Anna had looked like the former Duchess Czerny, it made sense that Nina might resemble her as well. Nothing strange about that.
Still, seeing Anna’s face overlap with the daughter of that damn brother of his was deeply unpleasant and…
“…Unbelievable.”
“Pay my ransom.”
With a loud crash, Nina flinched slightly.
Merci’s beautiful head popped up from behind the bar.
“Oops! My bad. My hand slipped.”
“…What are you doing back there?”
“Oh, just mixing a celebration drink for me and my little sister.”
“What about her parents?”
“Dad’s the Northern Grand Duke. Mom’s the commoner standing right over there.”
Without any say in the matter, Kiss was cast as the mother. She didn’t object.
She wasn’t in any state to.
Everyone here is insane.
A kid demanding her own ransom, Merci talking about celebratory drinks, and the boss going along with it—none of them seemed sane.
No, maybe she was the only one who wasn’t.
Yeah, people with royal blood probably lived in a mental realm far beyond what a mere commoner like her could comprehend.
Kiss decided then and there to just surrender to her lowly commoner instincts.
A quick glance at Smoky confirmed he looked just as lost, which brought her some relief.
Meanwhile, Nina looked up at Rabian, who was chuckling heartily, and swallowed dryly.
This man before her looked exactly like the vision she had seen.
The beautiful red hair, the sharp, absinthe-colored eyes…
“Idiot. Liar.”
