The Slave Is Too Handsome - Chapter 80

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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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A slave who’s far too handsome!
080.
“This is…”
Eloïse, who had been dragged along in silence, finally spoke. The place Camilo had brought her to was none other than his own bedroom.
Eloïse’s expression hardened.
“I brought you here deliberately, to somewhere quiet, out of consideration for a lady’s reputation.”
“……”
“What? Don’t you appreciate my goodwill?”
Standing before the bedroom door, Eloïse refused to step inside.
“You truly are high-maintenance, aren’t you?”
Camilo, his face drawn with fatigue, seized Eloïse’s arm and pulled her forward.
“Ah!”
The Second Prince, having finally gotten Eloïse inside, laughed with a glint of madness in his eyes.
“Is it that you want to be humiliated in front of everyone again, like you were this afternoon?”
“……”
Eloïse answered by fixing him with a look that could kill.
Meanwhile, Camilo’s knight, who had entered after them, personally seated Eloïse in an armchair.
Camilo settled onto the long sofa across from her and gestured for the knight to leave.
Once the knight had gone, only the two of them remained in the spacious bedroom.
“What do you intend to do with me?”
“That depends entirely on you, my lady.”
“As I’ve said before, I’ve done nothing wrong.”
“You brought private soldiers into the Imperial Palace?”
“Private soldiers? They’re merely my employees……”
“You saw them armed yourself. As did I, and my knights.”
Eloïse lost her words, her lips pressing tight together, as Camilo studied her with interest.
“Yes, I know. You call them private soldiers, but they’re really just the clumsy escort of a delicate noblewoman. I could overlook that much—but……”
“……”
“There’s something I need to hear from you.”
Despite his leisurely tone, Camilo’s eyes held the keen gaze of a predator barely restraining its aggression.
“Valensio—or rather, that blond fellow—he’s a slave, isn’t he?”
So that was it. Eloïse let out a hollow laugh. Camilo was clearly looking for an opportunity to drive Lucian out once and for all.
Eloïse opened her eyes wide and looked directly at him, then spoke each word with precision.
“He is not a slave.”
“That slave seduced an innocent lady and caused all this trouble, didn’t he?”
“Valensio is not a slave, and he has never attempted to deceive me or devise any schemes against me.”
Faced with their mutual evasion, Camilo now glared at the lady.
“My lady, if you tell me the truth now, I’ll overlook all your recent misconduct.”
“That is precisely why I tell you—I have spoken only truth until now, Your Highness.”
Frustrated, Camilo dragged a chair over to Eloïse and dropped into it.
As he drew closer, Eloïse leaned back, but the hard chair back blocked her escape.
In that moment of panic, Eloïse’s vision filled with Camilo’s face. He seized her chin arbitrarily and turned her head toward him.
‘This madman……!’
Camilo’s eyes were almost desperate, as if trying to read the truth in her heart.
“Did he threaten you somehow?”
“Unlike some, he is not so base as to resort to threats.”
“Ha……”
When the answer he wanted didn’t come, Camilo released his grip roughly.
Sitting back in his chair, he pressed his temples hard. Then, in a weary voice, he muttered to himself.
“I can’t for the life of me understand. Why would you go this far?”
“I’ve already told you, haven’t I? I happened to become indebted to him, and when I heard his story, it seemed he might be Valensio……”
“That’s not what I’m asking.”
Camilo cut her off with a sharp expression.
“If you’d simply stayed quiet, you could have married me and become Crown Princess. So why throw away such a fine future for this absurdity?”
Was he truly asking because he didn’t understand?
Eloïse’s shoulders sagged helplessly, words failing her.
Yet Camilo seemed serious. His eyes widened as understanding dawned.
“Could it be……that you don’t want to marry me?”
Only now had he grasped it. Eloïse felt her own exasperation rising.
She had rejected his proposal, both directly and indirectly, twice already. She genuinely wanted to know why he had taken this long to understand her heart.
Camilo muttered to himself as if he’d just discovered some profound truth.
“I thought perhaps you felt it was too soon, or you were shy, or admitting your feelings seemed beneath your pride, so you were avoiding it……but……”
Having reached his conclusion, Camilo’s eyes widened as he fixed her with an intense stare.
“Why don’t you want to marry me?”
His voice rang with genuine incomprehension.
“I have no wish to become Crown Princess.”
Eloïse bit back the honest words—because I dislike you—and chose instead to speak around it.
“Why not? Isn’t it every woman’s dream to become Crown Princess? And with me, no less?”
“I have told you many times already—I wish to inherit the Duke Title.”
“You expect me to believe that lie?”
“……”
Eloïse wished to end this circular conversation. She began twisting her arms, seeking to be released.
“I have nothing more to say. Please release me now, Your Highness.”
Her words didn’t reach him. He remained absorbed in his own thoughts.
“Is it because I’m not the legitimate heir?”
When Camilo asked this seriously, Eloïse lost her words once more. Whether he was the legitimate heir or not had never been important to her at all.
“I have never once……”
“Yes, now it makes sense. Because that bastard Valensio is the legitimate heir. Ha. That was it.”
Camilo sprang from his seat, his eyes gleaming with madness. A flash of killing intent crossed his face, and Eloïse felt a chill run through her.
Eloïse, struggling to maintain composure, pleaded with him.
“Please, Your Highness! I beg you. Stop these groundless accusations……”
“Listen well, my lady. Until I hear the answer I want, you will not be leaving this room.”
“What?”
Camilo stretched with a yawn, loosening his stiff limbs. His tone was light as always, yet this was clearly no jest.
“I assure you, Your Highness, I have spoken only truth.”
“No—the answers I want are these: First, the blond is a slave. Second, the blond deceived you and impersonated a prince. Third, you will marry me.”
“……”
“Agree to even one of these three, and I’ll let you go.”
Camilo returned to the sofa, stretched his long legs across it, and crossed his arms.
While a veil seemed to have fallen across Eloïse’s face, Camilo’s expression radiated ease and certainty.
“When you change your mind, tell me anytime. I can wait here indefinitely.”
‘Lunatic.’
Very well. Let’s see who prevails.
Eloïse pressed her lips firmly together, as if to prove her resolve.
Camilo, watching her, chuckled softly. Time, after all, was on his side.
As the night deepened, both Eloïse and Camilo dozed with their heads bowed.
“……”
It was Eloïse who lifted her head first.
While feigning sleep, Eloïse had been working at the rope binding her wrists behind her back.
After a considerable time of effort,
‘It’s free!’
The rope slipped loose.
Fortune had favored her. With that thought, Eloïse rose carefully from the chair, making no sound. Her arms, bound for so long, had gone numb.
Moving silently, Eloïse approached Camilo to check his condition. Fortunately, he was in deep sleep.
Eloïse turned away and scanned the spacious bedroom with her eyes while her hands rummaged through the pocket sewn into her dress—a pocket Mary had specially made for her.
Mmm. As Eloïse withdrew something from the pocket, a faint smile crossed her lips.
In her hand was a small bottle that the short-haired guard had procured for her not long ago. A perfect replica of the very bottle once used in the plot to poison Lucian.
After a light search of the bedroom, Eloïse quietly slipped into Camilo’s study, which connected to it.
‘If anyone has something to hide, it’s Camilo……’
Eloïse moved with quiet precision and speed, searching for leverage against Camilo.
It was time to strike back.

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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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