The Kidnapped Prince is Mine Now - Chapter 55

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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 55
“…”
Rather than answer me, Rotar Eisenrit bared his front teeth and bit at the end of my collarbone.
“Ah! …War, war will break out soon.”
His persistent touch, far from gentle, slowly crept beneath my thin chemise.
“Yes, ah…You will be, summoned by the Emperor.”
Rotar Eisenrit paid no heed to my halting words. Rather, he showed no reaction at all, as though he were deaf.
Yet he stubbornly opened his mouth. Even as the sudden stimulation broke my speech and made my voice tremble.
“With high, probability…ah, I will also, be summoned.”
“Lift your hips, please.”
“Ah! …You are, ah, the Second Prince, and…I am the Second Princess Consort.”
It was an unavoidable development.
Only months had passed since a new princess consort had come into being. I could no longer postpone an audience with the Emperor.
“You can say that Elise has contracted a severe plague.”
“That makes, any sense…?”
Like a puppy with newly grown teeth biting at my skin in places, my voice kept breaking.
“Ah, the Imperial Palace is, fine then. Leaving me behind…you would go to the battlefield, alone?”
At my accusatory words, Rotar Eisenrit paused for a moment.
I could not miss this timing. I drew a deep breath and opened my mouth.
“I concede.”
Then our eyes met.
“I will not entertain thoughts of dying and leaving you behind.”
His green pupils dilated.
“Elise.”
I quickly added the rest.
“Instead, I will go to the Southern Region with you as well.”
This was the condition of negotiation I could not yield on, even to the end.
The unavoidable war was drawing near.
Whether Rotar Eisenrit wished it or not, he would become the supreme commander of this war. If he tried to shirk that responsibility, the Imperial Family would never allow it.
‘What if I remained here and only Rotar Eisenrit went to the Southern Region?’
That would be the worst choice of all.
I would be trapped in Graupels Castle, unable even to confirm whether Rotar Eisenrit lived or died. I could not fathom what I might do under such blood-draining anxiety.
And would Rotar Eisenrit be any different? Even as he led that bloody war in the south, he would worry for my safety.
How could I be certain that Maximilian would not march upon Graupels again as he had before, to seize me?
“You said you do not wish to die leaving me behind. The reverse holds equally true.”
I reached out my arm. As I placed my hand upon Rotar Eisenrit’s left chest, I felt the thrumming of his heartbeat.
Beyond this lay his heart.
“You have no right to die alone. Even in death, we die together.”
“…”
Rotar Eisenrit listened to every word I spoke, yet only his lips moved slightly.
I needed to drive the wedge in before he could hesitate any further.
“If you don’t like it, leave me here. I’ll kill myself right away.”
“…Elise.”
“Does it sound like I’m joking? Do you really think I won’t do it?”
Rotar Eisenrit knew. He knew I was a professional at suicide.
Even in the heavily guarded Imperial Palace, I had shattered windows and hurled myself out. If they bound my entire body, I would bite through my own tongue.
“…”
The warmth radiating from the bed dissipated in waves.
Rotar Eisenrit gazed down at me with darkness shadowing his features. Even his anguished expression was beautiful.
How much time had passed? After a long silence, Rotar Eisenrit finally exhaled a low breath and spoke.
“I understand.”
“Understand what.”
“Travel with me. To the Southern Region.”
Yes, that’s exactly what I needed to hear.
Inwardly exultant, I spread both arms wide.
I wrapped them around his neck and embraced him with all my strength.
“You promised, Rotar. Don’t abandon me.”
“…Of course not.”
Rotar Eisenrit pulled me close, his bare hand tracing down my spine.
That hand descended lower in an instant.
“Now, focus.”
With a brief whisper, Rotar Eisenrit tilted his head and consumed my lips in a single motion.
As if to refuse any further negotiation.
***
The next day.
When I opened my eyes, the sun was already high in the sky.
‘Ugh, my entire body aches.’
This was all Rotar’s fault. Because of him, I’d been confined for an entire week.
As if he were the one who had endured the unbearable restraint, he clung to me throughout the dawn and refused to let go.
I eventually collapsed into sleep, and when I woke, it was already past noon.
“One, two, three… ugh!”
I barely managed to sit up and wash my face with a dry cloth when I noticed a note placed on the nightstand beside the bed.
「I did not wake you since you were sleeping peacefully. Since you provided such valuable information, I shall prepare for departure.」
In any case, he was infuriatingly diligent. It was he, not I, who had the bed creaking all night long.
‘How cowardly of him to slip away on his own.’
But I couldn’t complain—countless lives hung in the balance.
I pulled the bell cord beside the bed to summon the maidservants. While a few of them tidied the disheveled bed, I fled to the bathroom and submerged myself in hot water.
I ventured outside for fresh air only after eating a late lunch. I intended to take a walk around the grounds to loosen my stiff body.
If I were to depart for the Imperial Palace and the Southern Region, I wanted to savor the scenery I wouldn’t see for some time.
Since I was within the fortress, I didn’t bring along any maidservants or knights. By now, most knew that the Imperial Prince’s wife possessed a weapon capable of drilling holes through skulls if necessary.
“Sigh.”
The Northern Region’s air was, as always, cold and dry, yet it had the effect of sharpening my senses.
I fastened my thick coat and continued walking. I was thinking of visiting the greenhouse garden within the fortress that Rotar had once mentioned.
“It’s been a while, Holy Maiden.”
At the familiar voice, I straightened my posture.
In this entire fortress, there was only one person who still called me “Holy Maiden” rather than “Imperial Princess.”
“…Wolfgang.”
What was he doing here at this hour? Could the Commander of the Holy Knight Order really afford to be so idle?
Harboring several questions, I examined Wolfgang carefully.
It had been a week since I last saw his face, as he’d said, but there was nothing particularly different about him. The chestnut hair that fluttered in the breeze, the amber eyes that gleamed even brighter in the sunlight—
‘That enigmatic expression of his, too.’
Only now, dressed in casual attire rather than his usual uniform, Wolfgang resembled an ordinary nobleman.
The sort of noble young lord who looked as though he might invite you on a date to sail boats on the lake at any moment.
He approached me with a faint smile. When the distance between us had narrowed uncomfortably, he stopped and asked.
“Are you truly satisfied with someone like him?”
“…?”
It was a question thrown at me without context.
I was about to ask whom he meant when he continued first.
“A husband suffering from such madness that he confines his wife for an entire week. Surely this transcends mere obsession and constitutes a form of illness.”
“…”
It was a scathing indictment—so much so that it was difficult to believe it was directed at an Imperial Prince.
Had anyone else heard such words, they would have been arrested for lèse-majesté.
‘He must be speaking only because he’s found a place where he can afford to.’
Or perhaps he was simply in a foul mood.
When I thought about it, there was no way Wolfgang Lichtenbrun would have simply accepted the “measures” Rotar Eisenrit had taken over the past week.
He hadn’t thrown down his glove and challenged him to a duel, had he? The two of them were already on poor terms.
But even so, it was already in the past. If something truly catastrophic had occurred, Konrad would have given me some hint about it.
I swallowed my lingering doubts and answered as I pleased.
“Well, there’s that saying about birds of a feather flocking together.”
To be honest, the past week hadn’t been nearly as suffocating as I’d feared. My bedroom connected to Rotar Eisenrit’s chamber, making it spacious, and I could spend my time without anyone’s interference.
‘It’s not like the old days when I was shackled hand and foot.’
I lacked for nothing—no deprivation of food, bathing, or sleep. Every meal brought an abundance of delicacies, and courteous maidservants attended to my needs whenever I required them.
Boredom was difficult to endure, but just when I thought I might go mad, Konrad would visit and regale me with various stories.
During all this, the bedroom door opened periodically. The maidservants would lock it as they departed, but at this point, it was merely a façade of confinement.
Most importantly, I could say with certainty as someone experienced in such matters:
‘Rotar Eisenrit simply isn’t suited to imprisonment.’
He was a man who had even performed service just to see me happy.
Had I wept that I was suffocating to death, he would have permitted walks—though naturally with a dozen knights in attendance.
So this was…
‘Overprotection.’
A desperate flailing, as if he couldn’t bear to let me perish by my own hand.

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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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