Chapter 27
It was a gentle touch.
“Mom… no, is it Dad…?”
I unconsciously thought.
No.
Both were impossible.
They had abandoned me.
“There’s no parent who would treat me kindly.”
I pulled my fingers away from the ones brushing through my hair.
I pressed them down hard with my nails.
Painfully hard.
But the other person didn’t even flinch.
“Did… you cry…?”
A soft voice asked, as if trying to soothe me.
A sweet, cool scent reached my nose.
As I blinked my heavy eyelids, my blurred vision slowly cleared.
And what I saw was Renard, with worried eyes.
Moonlight poured over his jet-black hair.
Renard tapped my eye with his long index finger.
A tiny tear transferred from my eye onto his fingertip.
Watching the tear, he slightly stuck out his tongue and licked it.
I was startled and looked at him, but he just lowered his hand as if nothing had happened, meeting my eyes with a gentle gaze.
“What happened? Why were you crying?”
I shook my head to indicate that nothing had happened.
It really was nothing.
Just a fleeting sadness I thought I had long forgotten had resurfaced.
Renard cupped my face with his hands.
Then he wiped my other eye with his thumb.
When he tried to bring his wet finger to his mouth again, I grabbed his hand in surprise.
He smiled faintly, as if caught, and lowered his hand.
Then, with a voice as sweet as honey, he spoke:
“Did you have a bad dream?”
“Something like that…”
He nodded, understanding enough, and gently stroked my hair.
“You were fearless to sleep in a place like this, that’s why you had a bad dream. How could you be here at this hour? Who knows what I might do?”
‘This place…’
I realized I wasn’t in my room.
“Why am I here… ah…!”
“I had something to tell you. That’s why I waited for you, Renard.”
“Something to tell me?”
“Yes. Earlier today…”
Renard turned his head.
I panicked. That was clearly his way of saying he didn’t want to hear me.
“Re… Ren…?”
“……”
“You won’t listen?”
“I won’t.”
“Why?”
“After you say it, you’ll leave. I don’t want to let the Grand Princess leave.”
A mischievous curl formed on his moonlit lips.
Somehow, he was twisting a strand of my hair with his fingers.
The atmosphere felt strange.
His face was unusually close to mine.
That was because he was kneeling before me, one knee raised, like a sworn knight.
“Why are you there? Sit beside me.”
I tried to rise from the sofa cushion where I had half-slept.
But Renard pushed me back down onto the cushion.
Then he spoke in a deeper tone:
“It’s fine. If you sit beside me, I won’t be able to see your face as well. I need to see the Grand Princess’s face properly.”
“Do you really need to see my face? Should I light a candle?”
“I don’t like the room to be bright,” he said oddly.
Since when did he dislike brightness?
Renard clearly wanted to keep playing with me.
But I had to talk about Ollendo.
I eventually pressed my palm to his lips to stop his playful antics and spoke:
“I met His Highness today. Ollendo Graciana—the real prince.”
Renard’s eyebrows twitched at once.
Meeting Ollendo was obviously not good news for him.
“I thought I should tell you. It’s better you know than not.”
Renard remained silent for a while.
The heavy summer night filled the quiet room.
There was a faint smell of grass in the air.
Then he finally spoke:
“May I ask… how was it…?”
I didn’t understand the question.
“How was what?”
“How did you feel?”
“I don’t really understand.”
“Did you… not dislike it? Or perhaps… did you think he was handsome…?”
What kind of nonsense was this at midnight?
“I’m worried about whether I’ve gotten Pathos punished, not… that!”
“Oh. You were worried about me?”
Renard’s expression brightened instantly.
He smiled, eyes narrowing.
A radiant smile that could melt even Alaska’s eternal snow.
I was dumbfounded.
‘Does he really not understand the seriousness of the situation… or is it really fine…?’
“Don’t worry, Grand Princess. I’m fine. Did His Highness get upset with you?”
“No, I’m fine. I pretended not to know he was the real prince.”
“I didn’t know the Grand Princess knew Prince Ollendo’s face. How did you find out? Ah, never mind. You seem to know everything anyway. I trust the Cowell family’s intelligence. But don’t worry—I’ll handle things myself.”
Renard smiled again.
This time, it was a kind, comforting smile, like the one I gave to stray cats.
He seemed to intentionally smile like that, to reassure me.
‘Why does Renard treat me so well…?’
Even knowing the intention, I felt reassured.
That smile had a surprisingly strong effect.
After returning Ellrose to her room and heading back to his own, Renard’s expression turned cold.
It was hard to believe he was the same person who had been smiling warmly just moments before.
This was Renard’s usual self:
cold, expressionless, a face behind a mask of smiles.
He had smiled earlier only so Ellrose wouldn’t feel uneasy.
That’s why he had been calm when Ellrose met Ollendo.
But meeting Ollendo was a thorny issue for Renard too.
Ollendo’s unpredictable nature made it difficult to foresee his reaction.
‘I thought they wouldn’t meet since Ollendo avoids noble gatherings…’
Tsk.
Renard clicked his tongue shortly.
‘Will I have to punish him…?’
Despite his cotton-candy appearance, Ollendo had a sadistic side.
Renard had seen his whips scattered across a room, women locked in some villa…
He hated confinement.
Even briefly, because then he wouldn’t be able to see Ellrose.
‘He probably won’t tell us to leave this mansion…’
That was Renard’s conclusion.
He reviewed possible reactions of Ollendo while casually brushing his hair.
Moonlight seemed to kiss his exposed forehead.
He guessed Ollendo would come soon—though not realizing it would be the very next day.
A maid helping me with my hair dropped the mirror she was holding.
Crash—
“Ahh!”
Four maids screamed simultaneously.
The one who dropped it went pale.
My expression stiffened.
‘A broken mirror… that feels ominous…’
The maid seemed to misinterpret my expression.
“G-Great Princess, I’ve committed a grave sin…!”
‘Grave sin?’
She knelt and bowed so excessively it seemed unnecessary.
The maids here were strange.
Looking at them made me feel like I had been reincarnated as the villainess of a novel.
I was just an extra who didn’t want an engagement with the prince.
“…It’s fine. Just clean up the broken pieces so no one steps on them.”
The maid looked bewildered at my simple response.
Again, that thought of, ‘Why is this villainess being like this?’
“My hair? Is it done?”
I asked the maid braiding my hair.
“Yes, Grand Princess. You’re done.”
“Then help her up, please. Her forehead is almost touching the floor.”
I asked the maid who braided my hair to help the one who dropped the mirror.
Seeing them like that suddenly made me miss Renard.
Perhaps because he was the person closest to me here.
I felt like I wanted to chat about what just happened with him.
“Where’s the prince? Where is he?”
The first thing I did upon leaving the room was ask a passing servant about Renard.
The servant pointed to the entrance.
At the entrance, Renard was indeed there.
But he was with someone who had just entered the mansion.
That person lifted their head.
Familiar pale sky-blue eyes met mine.
‘Oh… Ollendo…?’
The broken mirror flashed through my mind.
“About Ellrose Cowell, Grand Princess.”
Renard closed the parlor door, and Ollendo spoke abruptly.
Renard, facing away, immediately furrowed his brow.
Just hearing Ellrose’s name twisted him inside.
‘Would it feel this bad if any other man called her that?’
Probably.
But he hated Ollendo calling her that even more.
Ollendo was her real fiancé.
Renard quietly exhaled.
He turned back, expressionless again.
The mask fell away, and with the calm tone he usually used toward Ollendo, he asked:
“What do you have to say about the Grand Princess?”
“Why is this to my liking?”
This time, Renard’s expression couldn’t hide his displeasure.
