The Kidnapped Prince is Mine Now - Chapter 52

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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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Chapter 52
“…What?”
My heart began to race.
What is this? When did he figure it out?
Rotar Eisenrit climbed the stairs without breaking his gaze from me, gently pulling the hand he held.
…Though it seemed he applied slightly more force than that.
The attendants carrying luggage opened the door to my bedroom.
The bedroom connected to Rotar Eisenrit’s chamber remained unchanged from before I left this place. It meant they had taken care to dust away any particles and polish the floors during my absence.
I should have been delighted to return to such a place.
Rotar Eisenrit did not release my hand while the attendants arranged the luggage. Despite my palm being slick and unpleasant with perspiration.
‘Think. I need to think.’
When did Rotar Eisenrit notice?
Was it when he suddenly brought up the matter of eye color?
Or was it when my complexion visibly darkened?
I should have conducted myself more skillfully. I bit my lip, seized by belated regret.
“During the meeting with Duke Shisha.”
Rotar Eisenrit opened his mouth.
“I sought you out during the recess.”
“…!”
“There was no particular reason. I simply… wished to see you.”
I had no knowledge of this. No one had informed me of anything that day.
Wait. What was I doing at that moment?
“Yet no one knew your whereabouts. In an atmosphere unsettled enough to cause unease, everyone could only say that you had likely gone for a walk.”
Ah. I remember now.
I wandered aimlessly through the castle until the endless stream of intrusive thoughts finally subsided.
“So what do you suppose I did?”
Rotar Eisenrit stroked the hand he held firmly with his thumb. At a pace deliberately slow enough to command attention.
“I set out to find you. Fearing you might have lost your way in that vast fortress.”
“…”
“Like a husband consumed by jealous suspicion.”
Just then, the attendants finished organizing the luggage. They bowed their heads and withdrew from the bedroom. With the closing of the door came a profound silence that settled over the chamber.
I could still feel Rotar Eisenrit’s gaze upon me from above. Relentless and weighty. I lacked the courage to lift my head and meet his eyes. Had I always been this fearful?
It was Rotar Eisenrit who spoke first once more.
“I borrowed five minutes—or perhaps ten—from Duke Shisha with his permission. While wandering through the castle, I encountered Wolfgang first.”
It would be impossible to traverse all of Drackenroch Castle in ten minutes.
Unless one were an eccentric of Rotar Eisenrit’s caliber.
“When I asked about your whereabouts, he pointed in the direction he had come from. From that moment, something felt wrong.”
Rotar Eisenrit turned silently. He seized my chin with his bare hand and lifted it with deliberate force.
“…!”
Our gazes collided involuntarily. And what I met were the eyes of my companion—tender to an almost excessive degree.
“And then I found you. Walking alone through that endless corridor.”
His face drew slowly closer, and with a soft touch, our foreheads met.
“I was about to call your name, but the moment you turned that corner, I saw your face—hollow and vacant, like an empty shell.”
Soon our noses touched. Now I could feel his breath—warm and humid, carrying the faint scent of mint.
With a gentle press, Rotar Eisenrit sealed his lips against mine, then parted them slightly to whisper.
“Wasn’t it my duty to uncover the reason? As your husband.”
So Rotar Eisenrit had known everything from the start. While I thrashed about desperately trying to deceive him.
The moment that realization struck, heat flooded my face. Shame, guilt, and betrayal—an indescribable tangle of emotions churned my stomach.
I tried to wrench my hand from his grasp. I didn’t know whether to rage or apologize, but this situation was too much to bear while our skin remained in such casual contact.
Yet—
“…Ah…!”
Even as I thrashed my arm with all my strength, even as I raked my nails across his palm—
Rotar Eisenrit refused to let go.
“What are you—mmph!”
I tried to pull my head back to speak, but that too was denied me. His hand, which had gripped my chin, now cradled the back of my head.
My breath was stolen. I couldn’t push away the tongue that forced its way between my lips.
Rotar Eisenrit didn’t shake me off as I clawed at his palm until it bled. He simply deepened the kiss. Only when my breath grew ragged did he finally pull away and speak.
“Then say it plainly.”
“Hah… hah…”
“That you’re sorry for not consulting me first. That you never intended to leave me behind.”
“…”
“That you’ve abandoned Zaikas’s Blessing.”
His low, heavy voice delivered the words like a threat.
Yet I understood the truth—it was closer to a desperate plea. He was trying by any means to drive me toward a different choice, to undo what I had decided.
“…Hah…”
I steadied my ragged breathing without breaking eye contact with him.
What would happen if I simply nodded here, if I agreed to his words and complied?
Would Rotar Eisenrit find peace in my answer? Would we face Maximilian together with courage, even without Zaikas’s Blessing?
Tears threatened to spill over. His hands, gripping me so tightly, felt colder than ever before.
He was afraid. Afraid of the one answer that might fall from my lips.
And I—
“No. I can’t abandon it.”
I had no choice but to cruelly shatter his hope.
“Even if I die, you’ll be reborn through Zaikas’s Blessing.”
Because we wanted the same thing.
I didn’t want Rotar Eisenrit to die.
“…So?”
“If only I die, the greatest problem is solved. At least in this lifetime. So…”
My mouth felt rough as sand. I knew he didn’t want to hear these words.
But I had to say them.
“There’s no other choice. This is the right answer.”
The correct path was already determined.
Rotar Eisenrit’s eyes, which had been unnaturally tender moments before, turned glacial and distant. Simultaneously, the hands cradling the back of my head and my waist withdrew.
He must have been disappointed in me. Or perhaps furious.
I barely managed to stop my hands from lunging forward to grab him. My heart felt as though it were being torn to shreds.
With anything else, I would have deferred to his wishes. But not this. Not this.
I needed time to convince him. Otherwise….
“You appear to still be fatigued, Elise.”
“…?”
What?
Rotar Eisenrit was backing slowly toward the bedroom door, his eyes lifeless, his lips curved into a mirthless smile.
“Rest yourself.”
In that instant, a single thought flashed through my mind.
Surely not. No matter how angry Rotar Eisenrit was, he wouldn’t actually do this.
…Or would he? Could he really?
Rotar Eisenrit opened the bedroom door. I reached out to stop him, but it was already too late.
As he closed the door, he whispered.
“I’ll give you plenty of time to reconsider.”
“Rotar…!”
Thud.
The door shut. And then.
Click.
The sound of a lock engaging. Without hesitation, as though it had been prepared long ago.
I rushed to the door and twisted the handle frantically. All I heard was the rattle of the mechanism refusing to turn. The lock was engaged.
“Insane. The absolute madman.”
I stared down at the handle in disbelief, then turned away. If I went through the connecting passage to Rotar Eisenrit’s chamber, perhaps that door wouldn’t be locked.
I hurried across and pulled at the handle of the closed door.
But.
Damn it.
Again, only the metallic click of a locked mechanism.
Now it was certain.
“Rotar Eisenrit, Rotar Eisenrit! Hey!”
Day one since returning to Graupels.
I had been imprisoned. By my one and only husband.
***
Confinement.
Being locked away somewhere by another person.
It wasn’t my first time experiencing this. In fact, I’d grown so accustomed to being confined that it felt almost natural.
Except for the fifth loop when I’d burned down the Cathedral immediately after returning, hadn’t I spent my time locked in Maximilian’s bedroom?
So I could say I was something of a professional when it came to confinement.
And yet.
“….”
Staring at the table in my bedroom laden with delicacies beyond measure, I found myself at a loss for words.
This was my first time. Being confined by an Emperor like this.

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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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