Chapter 9
‘I wonder if he called me just to test my patience.’
Three hours passed.
I said nothing, simply watching the crown prince pour tea for me.
It was already my fifth cup.
A bitter taste dominated my mouth and stomach.
‘And he isn’t drinking any.’
I suspected it might be laced with a truth serum, but it wasn’t.
“You should drink as well, Your Highness! It feels lonely drinking all by myself. Hehe!”
“……”
But Kazen Huoniss only glanced at me for a moment before remaining silent.
Arms still crossed, he stared at me without a word.
‘Not even a little bite.’
His unpleasant personality really did match the Huoniss bloodline.
‘Could this be some kind of test?’
If he was a descendant of Huoniss, it was possible.
That man always layered his schemes, a meticulous planner.
He was also quite sharp and perceptive.
‘What if they brought the wrong kid?’
I looked toward Roil standing behind the sofa, but he simply turned his head away.
‘Tch.’
Staying any longer would be a waste of time.
“Whew, Your Highness, Tié needs to go to the ba—”
“Ordinary.”
That was when the crown prince finally spoke.
“Since you entered as a royal attendant, you should have learned the basics.”
Kazen, with a calm expression, placed a sheet of paper and a pen in front of me.
“Write something.”
“Anything? Um, Tié doesn’t really know what to write.”
“Your name.”
For a moment, my purple eyes met his.
I scribbled something with a bored expression and said in an overly emotional voice,
“Wow—! Your Highness asking for Tié’s name makes Tié sooooo honored—”
When I handed the paper back, the crown prince’s expression darkened.
“Are you ambidextrous?”
“I can only write with one hand.”
“Try writing with your left hand.”
So demanding.
“U-uh, it’s really hard, you know?”
I pretended to fidget and wrote my name clumsily with my left hand.
Then the crown prince sighed, as if he had expected this.
“……It wasn’t you.”
A flicker of disappointment passed across the child’s face, but he quickly returned to a calm expression.
“Who sponsored you?”
“S-sponsored? Um, Tié doesn’t know what that means.”
I tilted my head, and the crown prince’s lips curved into a faint smile.
“That woman is full of tricks.”
Kazen crossed his legs and stared at me with violet eyes.
“Acting younger and more naive than you are might gain sympathy, but it also raises suspicion.”
“……”
“For example, why would that Second Empress place such a naïve child as an attendant?”
“……”
“Doesn’t that seem suspicious?”
I quietly looked at the crown prince.
‘Well, it’s lucky your lifespan is long.’
I had thought he was being crushed under the Second Empress’s control, unable to move.
But the blood of Huoniss was still the blood of Huoniss.
He made fairly good deductions.
“Whatever reward she promised you, I will double it.”
As Kazen gestured to Roil, several heavy bags of gold coins were placed on the table.
“Depending on your answer, it could become ten times as much.”
“……”
“What does that woman want?”
“F-fwoo, Tié doesn’t know.”
“Fine, I didn’t expect an answer so soon.”
“Fwoo.”
“And you should keep it to yourself in the future.”
Kazen pressed his eyelids as if feeling a bit tired.
“Leave.”
Clink!
When the bag was untied, gold coins scattered across the floor.
The reflected light created a dazzling shimmer.
“Ten thousand gold should be enough for you to live until adulthood. Wherever you go, it will be plenty.”
I stared at Kazen.
“The drawing you gave to Jes was actually a map. It helped me greatly.”
Kazen tied the money bag tightly and handed it back.
“This is simply fair compensation, so take it. It isn’t much.”
“……”
“However, if the Second Empress learns that you helped me, she will try to kill you.”
“The Second Empress… would do that?”
I pretended to be shocked and covered my mouth.
‘So you knew.’
If a thirteen-year-old crown prince could deduce that much, he must have done such things before.
I looked at him, then shifted my gaze to the flowerpot in the center of the room.
‘An Aurorel flower?’
It was a famous and beautiful flower, but it didn’t seem like something the crown prince would like.
He was far too neat for a child.
This room, everything about him, was meticulously arranged.
“Sorry, but if you die, no one will care. You have no guardian.”
His words were rather harsh.
“That means you are a convenient child for the Second Empress.”
“……”
“Once my watch ends, you will surely die. Do you understand?”
Tap, tap.
Roil then lightly tapped the sofa beside Kazen.
At the signal, the crown prince looked at my face and sighed, uncrossing his legs.
“If you are frightened, I apologize.”
Frightened?
No.
I was simply amazed that a thirteen-year-old prince could make such reasonable deductions.
‘He might actually be smarter than his ancestors.’
“You should travel with Jes to the port and board a ship to the neighboring continent. The Second Empress likely won’t bother searching that far.”
“Then why don’t you kill me, Your Highness?”
My question made Kazen’s eyes widen slightly.
“Me?”
“Wouldn’t killing Tié be easier and better?”
I placed my small fists on my knees and asked, and Kazen frowned slightly as if it were obvious.
“Should I take the life of a ten-year-old for something that won’t last forever?”
I stared at him.
So there was a softer side, after all—he did have Huoniss blood.
Even while in a position where he should prioritize his own safety, he chose mercy. That wasn’t always a good choice—at least in the era I came from.
Kill or be killed.
One of the two was the best option.
“And you,” Kazen continued sharply.
“You have a bad way of speaking.”
He looked at me as if scolding me.
“There is no ‘easy’ or ‘good’ way to kill someone. It is neither easy nor good to kill you. If anyone treats you that way, run away. That is the last advice I can give.”
“……”
I had heard those words before.
No, I was certain I had. Just a long time ago.
‘Rather than handing you over to the guards, I’d rather you ask me to kill you… A child with a bad way of speaking.’
It had been the day I was caught eating stolen bread.
Huoniss had draped his cloak over me and spoken.
‘It’s almost like the spirit of Huoniss reincarnated.’
Even though he was a distant descendant, could one’s way of thinking and speech be so similar? I marveled at the mysteries of genetics and looked at the crown prince.
“Soon, the Second Empress will arrive.”
Kazen handed me a pass to the imperial library.
The golden pass, inlaid with a purple amethyst—the symbol of the royal family—was unmistakably a possession of the Huoniss house.
“Show this to her. Tell her I showed you favor. Gain her trust that way.”
Kazen explained in a clear tone.
“Today, you were summoned by me. But if this conversation reaches the Second Empress’s ears, I cannot guarantee your life.”
In other words, he was telling me to keep my mouth shut.
“Do you understand?”
I nodded slowly.
“Good.”
Kazen smiled slightly and stood up.
It was that kind of expression.
The same one he had when I first met Huoniss.
Suddenly, I remembered being that young once.
A freezing winter, my toes turning black from the cold, sneaking through the back door of a warm restaurant.
When I was dragged out barefoot because I had no money, it was Huoniss who saved me.
At that time.
I owed him a single debt.
‘That unnecessarily identical purple eyes.’
I suppressed a sigh and looked at Kazen.
‘Leave.’
No.
I can’t leave.
Because…
‘I need you to open the warp gate in the basement so I can go.’
I almost felt touched by his unexpected kindness, but I had a clear goal.
‘Still, he now recognizes my existence.’
So why not test how much he understands?
Bang!
Suddenly, the reception room door was flung open.
“Oh my.”
“……”
“So you were having a pleasant chat without the Second Empress?”
Bella Vita appeared, smiling brightly as she approached.
“I came out of concern for my goddaughter and couldn’t help but visit. I wondered if the child might have been rude to Your Highness…”
“Leave.”
She was dismissed the moment she appeared.
Bella Vita’s face twisted, but she quickly forced a smile again.
“Your Highness, you really shouldn’t treat me this way, don’t you remember?”
Turning to Kazen, she put on a sorrowful expression.
“How long will you continue to hurt my feelings? I am an empress! A person no different from your mother!”
“You should worry about the child in your belly.”
Despite her pleas, the crown prince ignored her with a cold, distant expression.
Tears welled in Bella Vita’s eyes.
“Well said! The child in my belly is your sibling, Your Highness. It is your only blood relative, one who should plan for the future and discuss the empire’s prosperity!”
In that moment, Kazen looked at her with sharp eyes.
“I have wanted to ask you something.”
Dropping the formal title of empress and speaking with contempt, Kazen’s gaze turned icy.
“Is the child in your belly truly my father’s child?”
