A Blend of Romance and Fantasy - Chapter 21

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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21.
The words sounded affectionate on the surface, but his gaze was razor-sharp.
I suppressed the urge to look away and forced myself to respond.
“What do you mean, Duke? I love Leonard.”
“I’ve heard the Princess’s taste runs to gentle blondes with blue eyes. The Sixth Prince is quite the opposite, wouldn’t you say?”
“Ideals and reality are usually opposites, aren’t they?”
“Then would you still say the same thing before the Myers Family’s sacred relic, the Eye of Truth?”
His eyes, as deep and blue as the ocean depths, remained unwavering. He was clearly already convinced.
“….”
The Eye of Truth—a sacred relic passed down through the Myers Family for generations.
It could discern truth from falsehood regarding any matter.
It was a wondrous ability, but using it once would drain the user’s magical power in an instant, making it simultaneously the strongest and most terrible of relics.
The current owner of that relic was Cedric’s younger sister, Cecilia.
“Duke, if you use that, the Myers heiress won’t be able to get up for quite some time.”
“Cecilia is also a heiress of the Myers Family. She has a duty to use her power for Sincester. Of course, she volunteered herself.”
“Duke, why are you doing this? You never cared what I did before—I mean, what happened to me.”
“Did I appear indifferent to you, Princess?”
“I can’t honestly say otherwise. You were indifferent to many ladies, including me.”
“Perhaps that’s true. However, not toward you, Princess.”
“…What? Then you were interested in me?”
I asked, taken aback by his unexpected words, but his expression barely changed.
“It’s only natural that I, as Duke, take interest in the royal family of Sincester.”
Ah, he meant official interest. I thought he meant something else.
I hid my flushed cheeks behind my fan in embarrassment.
“Anyway, since you’ve brought up the Eye of Truth, I have no choice. You’re right. The truth is, I volunteered to go so Aurora wouldn’t have to. Will you tell my Brother?”
“If the Princess wishes it, I won’t tell. Though there will be a condition—that I accompany you.”
Conditions, of all things. So in the end, he’s not doing this for me but because he wants to, and he’s just using me as an excuse.
‘Aurora, how on earth did you redeem this arrogant man in the original story….’
I thought, but considering Aurora’s temperament, it seemed she would have had more than enough reason to do so, so I dismissed the thought.
“I’m telling you, you don’t have to do this. My guardian knight, Lucas, is going, and you’re the head of the Myers Family. You can’t leave your position vacant.”
“…About ten years ago.”
Cedric set down his teacup on the table and opened his mouth.
“Do you remember when you saved me from the Belucium Slave Market, Princess?”
“What?”
Now that he mentioned it, I had tried to save Cedric right after my possession began.
At the ripe age of ten, with dreams of romance with the male lead, I had fearlessly brought a fortune in gold coins to the Slave Market.
“I don’t remember it clearly, but somewhat. Why?”
“I wish to repay the debt of salvation from that hell by accompanying you.”
“You’ve been thinking about that all this time? The previous Duke already repaid that debt to the royal family back then.”
“My father repaid the royal family, but I have never directly repaid you, Princess.”
His gaze was ruthlessly unyielding. At a glance, I could see he had no intention of backing down.
Well, if the protagonist of Romance Fantasy Novel is willing to help, what’s there to refuse? Besides, my Brother had asked for it too.
“If that is the Duke’s wish, then I understand. I’m truly grateful for this. I look forward to working with you going forward.”
But then came a remark that caught me off guard.
“Please call me Cedric.”
“Pardon?”
“From now on, I will serve as your protective knight, Your Highness. Since I will be at your closest side, it would be more appropriate for you to call me by name, would it not?”
“That may be true, but you know as well as I do that in this Kingdom, men and women cannot address each other by name so casually.”
“Yet you address Lucas Elfendom, your protective knight, by name without hesitation, do you not?”
But surely a forty-five-year-old man who has protected me since childhood is not in the same position as an unmarried twenty-two-year-old Cedric.
As I hesitated, Cedric spoke again with that intense tone of his.
“Is it truly so difficult?”
“….”
Cedric had rarely asked anything of me. Moreover, his words were not wrong.
And frankly, I was growing tired of further discussion.
“Very well. However, I shall address you as Duke in public.”
“Of course.”
“Then, I look forward to it, Cedric.”
As I spoke his name and offered my hand, he carefully brought it to his lips.
For some reason, something felt different from before, and alarm bells began ringing in my mind.
But when a handsome man performs such tender gestures, one cannot help but feel drawn to him.
To avoid further embarrassment, I quickly rose from my seat.
“Well then, Cedric, I should take my leave now.”
“Please wait a moment, Your Highness.”
At that, Cedric rose from his seat as well.
“Have you ever heard of Thanatos?”
“No? What is that?”
Thanatos—I was certain I’d heard that name before in Greco-Roman mythology as the god of death, and it certainly sounded formidable.
As such thoughts crossed my mind, Cedric spoke in a flat tone.
“It is the now-defunct military force of Blake.”
“Blake?”
“Yes, but it was not a regular army. They were a punishment unit shrouded in darkness, composed entirely of convicts who could never be released from that unit until death.”
The sudden weight of his words left me bewildered.
“This hardly seems like a conversation to be having here. Why are you bringing this up now?”
“Because Leonard was the commander of that Thanatos unit.”
“What?”
Before I could even laugh at such an absurd revelation, Cedric drove the point home once more.
“What I mean to say is, he was never of royal blood to begin with, Your Highness.”
* * *
Blake.
That empire was said to have been founded by the dragon-kin.
True to their draconic heritage, they were formidable and knew not the meaning of submission, yet they were also obstinate and harbored a taste for power and indulgence.
Well, how else could such a Great Empire be sustained?
Especially under the thirteenth emperor, Eucal.
He had not merely unified all of Blake but expanded the territory further still, and any beautiful woman caught his eye was brought into the Royal Palace’s harem, where he fathered over thirty children.
Of course, only six of them were legitimate heirs to the throne.
All called him a sage-emperor of unparalleled brilliance, a hegemon the likes of which would never come again.
That is, until his twentieth year of reign.
“How beautiful you are. Your skin is as smooth as silk, your lips as sweet as honey. Whose beauty do you inherit?”
“Oh my… Your Majesty, you flatter me.”
Blake was a Great Empire of considerable renown, yet it was not wealthy enough to indulge in such extravagance.
Yet this chamber alone was excessively ornate—velvet curtains embroidered with intricate needlework, fine furnishings, and golden chandeliers.
Beneath them, the already-aged emperor caressed the Concubine’s face with a languid smile.
“What do you desire? Speak freely. I am the emperor—what could I not grant you?”
His sculpted face, drawn as if by an artist’s hand, remained handsome despite his years, yet greed and lust dimmed its luster.
The woman, by contrast, was young and beautiful.
Half-undressed, adorned with luxurious jewelry, she blinked her eyes seductively.
“But Your Majesty, if you do that, the princes will come to hate me.”
“Those fools are too busy flattering me to catch my favor! Without my blessing, none can become Crown Prince.”
“Your Majesty~ Please look upon me as well.”
When the Second Concubine spoke in a cloying voice, the emperor turned his head.
“My, such jealousy. Can these truly be called concubines fit to serve an emperor?”
“Oh…”
It was as Eucal caressed the Second Concubine’s collarbone.
From outside came the sound of someone rushing frantically down the corridor.
Yet his keen senses still functioned sharp as ever.
Eucal, who had been dallying with the concubines, turned his head toward the corridor.
“…Open the door.”
“Your Majesty!”
“Your Majesty, please don’t!”
Despite the women’s pleas as they hastily wrapped themselves in blankets, the door burst open.
Presently, the Cloaked Man entered and prostrated himself, his forehead pressed to the floor.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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