Siena Dating Agency - Chapter 51
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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51.
At my words, Roderick made his mouth into an ‘o’ shape.
“Ohhh…! That sounds great to me. Thank you!”
His face showed genuine emotion.
Roderick cupped his chin and continued rambling.
“Are all the women in the Empire this kind? Come to think of it, the women I saw on the way here were also nice enough to give me directions.”
“…”
“…As expected! I’m glad I came to the Empire. The Carnon Empire is a wonderful country to live in!”
He clenched his fist.
Soon a strange laughing sound of ‘Chahahahaha!’ followed.
‘He really doesn’t have a single thought in his head.’
Why Roderick de Vicelle was Chase’s best friend… it was a moment when I realized it once again.
***
Meanwhile, at the same time in the Imperial Palace.
Just as Willow Manor had become noisy with Roderick’s appearance, the Imperial Palace was the same.
The Empress came to Castillian’s room as soon as dawn broke.
“Castillian.”
It was none other than because of the ‘ball incident.’
Castillian, who had never shown himself in public, had suddenly attended the ball and then abruptly carried off some woman and left.
Castillian had a headache.
‘I should have left at dawn.’
Actually, he had tried to escape before daybreak.
But he couldn’t because of Edel.
“Brother, are you leaving now…?”
He seemed to want to spend even a little more time with Castillian.
Feeling sorry for Edel, he thought ‘I should stay just a little longer’…
And so it had become this time.
‘Even so, I didn’t expect Mother to come barging in.’
The Empress opened her mouth once more.
“Castillian.”
The Empress sitting elegantly on a single-seat sofa.
Behind her, maids lined up in a row and knights blocking the door.
Edel rolling his eyes around in confusion, and Pitt wiping cold sweat with his handkerchief as usual today.
‘…Damn.’
In short, he was completely surrounded.
‘Mother intends to tie me down personally.’
While interrogating me about Siena, no less.
“Castillian.”
“…”
“This is already the seventh time I’m calling for a Prince who gives no answer.”
The Empress’s face, which had maintained composure, became slightly cold.
Only then did Castillian speak.
“Yes, Mother.”
“I heard about last night’s events. The palace is buzzing with ministers and nobles all talking about the Prince.”
“…”
“Who exactly is that woman the Prince took away?”
So far, the Empress had called Castillian’s name seven times.
This was already the fifth time she had asked who Siena was.
Castillian, facing the Empress, bluntly said.
“Must I tell you?”
If he had won Siena’s heart, he would have spoken honestly.
What her name was, which family’s daughter she was.
How he had come to meet her.
‘And why he had come to like her too.’
But now was completely different, wasn’t it.
‘Far from dating, I haven’t even told her I like her yet.’
Siena doesn’t know who I am or why I’m by her side.
‘How can I reveal anything to Mother when I haven’t sealed anything yet.’
Castillian maintained his silence.
The Empress seemed frustrated with such a son.
“Castillian…”
“…”
“The Prince is destined to become the Emperor who will rule this Empire. That’s why all the nation’s attention is focused on the woman who will become the Prince’s wife.”
“…”
“The Crown Princess… No, the future Empress must give the Imperial family an heir.”
The Empress lifted her hands that had been neatly placed on her knees and clasped them together.
“So it’s not wrong for me to ask the Prince about that woman.”
Castillian replied.
“I never said it was Mother’s fault.”
“Is that so?”
“…”
“But the Prince has exactly the expression as if everything is my fault.”
Then Castillian’s eyebrows twitched slightly.
Though it wasn’t visible, hidden by his golden hair.
The Empress continued speaking.
“The Prince must live up to the people’s expectations.”
“…”
“I’ll ask again, Castillian.”
“…”
“Is the reason you rejected all the noble daughters I nominated because of that woman from yesterday? What is the woman’s name?”
Castillian clenched his fists behind his back.
Because the Empress’s words were piercing through his mind.
“The Prince must live up to the people’s expectations.”
I’m the one who’s the Crown Prince.
‘Why should Siena have to live up to those expectations because of me.’
Why should she have to carry such a heavy burden on her shoulders along with me.
Castillian recalled the image of Siena he had kept in his memory.
“Really now… You know that’s done in the Imperial Palace, right?”
“Then let’s say the Imperial Palace was moved.”
“What are you saying. Did you rent out the Imperial Palace?”
Siena when he was ‘Lian.’
“Ah…”
“…”
“…No.”
Siena when he was ‘Castillian.’
Certainly, Siena was extremely tense about the fact that Castillian was the ‘Crown Prince.’
Constantly reading the situation, repeating the same greetings.
“Thank you so much, Your Highness.”
‘Your Highness’… she calls me.
‘When I’m Lian, she calls me by name.’
In truth, Castillian hated that Siena called him ‘Your Highness.’
‘Then she’d be no different from all the people trapped in this suffocating palace.’
He had started to like her precisely because she was different from those people.
But his status was making her into the same person as everyone else.
“Crown Prince, you’re quite an interesting person.”
Castillian’s eyes sank with a sense of hopelessness.
‘…That’s right.’
It would have been better if I really were Lian de Vicelle.
Then I wouldn’t have burdened Siena.
“I’m friends with the Crown Prince.”
I wouldn’t have told such lies, and I could have approached her whenever I wanted, however I wanted.
‘Why am I… this kind of person?’
That’s when it happened.
“Have you been leaving the Imperial Palace all this time to meet that girl?”
The Empress asked again.
Her voice was sharper than before.
Castillian’s gaze, which had been lingering in the air, met hers.
The Empress seemed to take his silence as confirmation.
“Well, that’s somewhat fortunate then. At least the future Emperor hasn’t gotten involved in anything crude or strange.”
“…”
“Castillian, bring that girl to His Majesty.”
Whatever the case, that was the conclusion.
Summon Siena to the Imperial Palace.
“I refuse.”
Castillian drew a firm line.
The Empress’s brow furrowed slightly at his attitude, which showed not an ounce of hesitation.
“Castillian.”
“I refuse.”
Castillian repeated the same answer and added:
“I’ve taken care of all the backlogged work. I’ve perfectly completed everything I needed to do as Crown Prince.”
“…”
“So I don’t want to hear any more scolding from Mother.”
This was exactly why he had appeared late to the ball.
He had to resolve all the Crown Prince duties he had neglected for months.
‘Only then could I say what I needed to say.’
Castillian himself knew that his constant escapes from the Imperial Palace were unbefitting of his status.
That it was truly irresponsible.
That’s why whenever he occasionally returned to the palace, he made sure to perfectly handle his duties so the Emperor and Empress couldn’t say anything.
Edel, who had been reading the room until now, chimed in supportively.
“Yes, Mother. I saw it. Brother has been…”
“Castillian.”
But the Empress cut off Edel’s words.
Her piercing gaze remained fixed on Castillian.
“Does the Crown Prince truly not understand his mother’s heart? Or are you not ignorant but dismissive?”
“…”
“If you wander around without guards and experience ‘that kind of thing’ again…”
The Empress bit her lips tightly and added:
“Do you truly wish to tear your mother’s heart to shreds?”
Castillian’s shoulders stiffened like drying mud.
‘…That kind of thing.’
Memories he had desperately tried to bury drifted through his mind like fog.
The dark forest where no sunlight penetrated.
It was filled with strange species of trees not found in the Empire.
And the ominous cabin located within it.
“Castillian, my Castillian.”
And ‘that woman’ who hummed while holding a saw blade larger than his body.
“Beautiful Castillian will stay with me forever.”
He remembered that woman who had kidnapped him when he was young.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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