The Kidnapped Prince is Mine Now - Chapter 67

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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 67
Conscious of the watching eyes, I abandoned informal speech.
Skipping the preamble and diving straight into the matter, the atmosphere in the Visitation Room shifted in an instant.
More precisely, Rotar Eisenrit’s demeanor transformed—the desire and tenderness vanishing from his face, leaving behind something frighteningly cold.
“What are you saying?”
He looked ready to snap the Guard’s neck and burst from the Underground Dungeon at any moment.
I quickly continued.
“An assassin was hiding in my bedroom. A maidservant in league with him followed right after. Fortunately, I wasn’t injured at all.”
“…Is that so?”
“Yes. Only the assassin and the maidservant left as corpses.”
Throughout my explanation, I glanced sideways at the Guard, but his gaze remained fixed on empty air.
Not that it mattered—news like this would spread throughout the Imperial Palace within a day anyway.
“Still, thanks to this incident, I’ve secured autonomy within the Princess Consort’s Palace. I told them I can only trust Clara and Hilda among the maidservants there.”
“…”
“So don’t worry. Honestly, the real problem isn’t me—it’s you, isn’t it?”
Calling Rotar Eisenrit “Your Highness” felt strange after so long. My tone wasn’t particularly respectful, either.
First, I broached the question that intrigued me most.
“I heard you defied the Emperor’s command to take a concubine. Is that true?”
“How much have you heard?”
“That you angered the Emperor by invoking the late Empress and your mother, which is why you’re locked away here.”
“You’ve heard everything, then.”
Rotar Eisenrit brushed back his falling bangs and exhaled a laugh tinged with a sigh.
What was this? Was he embarrassed, or was he seducing me?
I stared blankly before snapping back to attention.
“Ah, yes. The Emperor told me himself. Why on earth did you do that?”
My next words came as a whisper, pitched low so the Guard wouldn’t hear.
“Did you come up with some brilliant plan?”
Please say yes. Quickly.
But his answer betrayed my hopes.
“No, Elise.”
Rotar Eisenrit leaned forward, and a faint smile played on his lips as if amused by my conspiratorial whisper.
“There is no such thing.”
“…”
This man was truly hopeless.
His utter confidence left me speechless. Rotar Eisenrit glanced at the Guard, then continued in an even tone.
“Elise. Have I ever told you what happened to my mother, Otilia Staufen?”
“…No?”
He didn’t lower his voice as if sharing a secret. As if it didn’t matter if the Guard heard.
Now that I thought about it, I’d never obtained substantial information about Rotar Eisenrit’s mother. Not in my past life, nor in this one.
When I’d commissioned my information broker to investigate, there had been only a brief mention.
‘Did Rotar die when he was young?’
Rotar had spoken of his mother only once.
‘The room across the way belonged to my aunt. This was my mother’s chamber. They say the two sisters were exceptionally close.’
In the bedroom at Graupels, I had sensed the aesthetic preferences of someone woven throughout the space.
Silver-gray velvet bedding embroidered with silver thread, a side table with black quartz as its surface—such things spoke volumes.
There was an elegance and depth to it, without any ostentatious display of grandeur.
The people of Staufen I had encountered—the Staufen Margrave and Rotar—seemed to value aesthetic elements as much as practicality.
But that was all.
I did not dwell long on someone who had never appeared in my world.
In a world where many perished from incurable diseases regardless of their station, such losses were commonplace.
I had heard that Maximilian’s biological mother, the Empress, had also succumbed to pneumonia years ago.
‘So I assumed Rotar’s mother had died of illness as well.’
Rotar slowly opened his mouth.
“My mother attempted to assassinate the Emperor and failed.”
“…!”
I nearly leapt from my seat at this unexpected revelation.
My eyes instinctively darted toward the Guard. He continued staring into empty space.
Though I could not entirely conceal the tremor in my pupils, as though an earthquake had shaken them.
We were not alone—was this truly safe? I suppressed my unease and looked back at Rotar.
He gazed at me with that subtle smile still playing at his lips, his eyes suggesting he might reach out at any moment to caress my cheek.
“…Why would she make such a choice?”
“Because the Emperor deceived my mother.”
Rotar raised his index finger and tapped it gently against the table, like an elderly man sifting through distant memories.
After a moment, he continued.
“This story begins before the Emperor’s ascension to the throne.”
***
The Previous Emperor had three children: one imperial princess and two imperial princes.
The youngest, with the largest age gap, was raised with abundant love from the Previous Emperor. However, he had the lowest possibility of inheriting the throne.
The most hopeful future for him was to obtain a position as Grand Duke or Prince without offending his brother who would become Emperor. That seemed to be his ceiling.
Until he killed his sister who became Emperor and his brother who begged for his life, seizing the throne for himself.
“The one who provided the greatest support for the new Emperor to consolidate power was the late Empress, Theodora, the Grand Duchess.”
Theodora from the prestigious Grand Duke’s family devoted herself to the Emperor and extracted one promise from him.
‘As long as there are no issues with producing an heir, no concubines shall be taken.’
The Emperor held his wedding ceremony with Theodora, who had supported him, immediately upon his ascension, and she bore him a son not long after. The Emperor gave his son a name meaning ‘the greatest one.’
Maximilian Eisenrit. The birth of the First Imperial Prince.
The problem began that autumn at the hunting competition during the Harvest Festival.
“It coincided with the time my mother came to the Imperial Capital for her debutante presentation.”
Otilia Staufen, the young lady of the Margrave’s house.
As a woman of the House of Staufen, she could not simply pass up the hunting competition held just before her debutante presentation.
The woman riding a thoroughbred brought from the Northern Region flew across the Imperial Hunting Grounds, loosing dozens of arrows. Then, surpassing the male nobility, she caught the greatest number of deer and presented them to the Emperor.
That was Otilia Staufen’s greatest mistake.
“There is a saying about love at first sight. It seems my mother was such an existence to His Imperial Majesty.”
The Emperor became consumed with the desire to make Otilia Staufen, with her beautiful appearance and firm physique, his woman.
His promise with the Empress proved powerless against the whirlpool of lust that came late.
However, there was one obstacle.
“My mother already had a betrothed. The Marquis of the Northeast Region, someone who had promised love to my mother since they were very young.”
The Marquis came to the Imperial Capital to serve as Otilia’s debutante partner.
They were more than a political marriage to each other. Passersby who saw the man and woman exchanging tender glances could barely conceal the smiles on their faces.
Yet the Emperor did not abandon Otilia.
Late at night, the Emperor spirited her away without the Marquis’s knowledge and knelt in the midst of a garden where autumn flowers bloomed. Then, pouring out earnest words of love, he proposed to her.
Promising her power no less than that of the Empress, and the House of Staufen an abundance of support.
“Did you accept the proposal then?”
“No.”
Otilia firmly rejected the Emperor’s proposal. It would have been a lie to say she was unafraid of the consequences that would follow, but she could not betray the man she loved.
As soon as her debutante presentation ended, she fled the Imperial Capital. Of course, it was with the Marquis, her eternal partner.
And on the road heading north, there was an ambush by armed bandits.
“My mother was unharmed, but the Marquis lost his life. It was a tragedy no one had anticipated.”
Having lost her betrothed overnight, Otilia wept bitterly every night, secluding herself in the castle of Graupels.
However, she was not given sufficient time to accept the parting.
“A few weeks later, an imperial edict from His Imperial Majesty arrived at Graupels. It was a decree demanding marriage with my mother.”
It was of a different kind than the earnest proposal poured out so passionately on that dark night.
It was not a proposal, but a command.

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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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