The Slave Is Too Handsome - Chapter 89

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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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The slave is far too handsome!
089.
Queen Nora fell silent at the unexpected request, turning it over in her mind. Part of her wanted to grant it, yet the Empress’s existence gave her pause.
Unlike herself, who indulged Camilo’s whims, the Empress was said to discipline Valensio with considerable strictness.
It was not without reason. Barring unforeseen circumstances, Valensio—the Empress’s son and firstborn—would become Crown Prince.
‘What if I inadvertently undermine the Empress’s pedagogical methods?’
As the silence stretched, disappointment clouded Valensio’s face.
He rose slowly to his feet and bowed.
“I fear I have made an unreasonable request. Please forgive me.”
“Your Highness!”
Queen Nora called after him with regret, but Valensio had already turned to leave.
On his way back, he was summoned to the Empress’s Palace, where he faced her reproach once more.
“How is it that the Empire’s First Prince cannot solve a single problem?”
Valensio had expected praise for his compliments toward Camilo; instead, his hopes were entirely dashed.
“Well, you see…….”
As Valensio fumbled for words, Hugo was hastily summoned again. Foreseeing what was to come, Hugo trudged forward with a weary expression and rolled up his trouser leg.
The moment the Empress raised the rod, Valensio desperately seized her leg.
“It is my fault—please, this time I shall take the punishment!”
“Do not repeat yourself.”
The blows fell in succession.
Fresh welts carved themselves into Hugo’s calf—wounds that had not yet healed from the last beating.
Valensio lunged forward desperately, but the Empress shoved him aside with ease.
Helplessness crashed over him. The fact that he could not protect even Hugo, the one he loved most, reduced the young Valensio to despair.
In that moment, Valensio understood at last.
His mother—no, the Empress—did not love him. Nothing he could ever do would change that truth.
The light died from his eyes as though a flame had been extinguished.
***
“……Ah!”
Lucian’s eyes snapped open as though torn from a nightmare, his breath ragged.
These past days, having snatched only fragmented sleep while tending to Eloïse, his body was in terrible condition.
He had remained unconscious for quite some time, and only now had he awakened.
The rain roared.
Beyond the cave entrance, the landscape was grim. The heavy downpour had transformed into a tempest while he slept, and the darkened sky made it impossible to discern whether it was day or night.
Discerning what day it was proved even more difficult.
Lucian propped himself up and leaned against the cave wall.
‘Damn. It was me. I was…… Valensio.’
The memories that had been sealed away, forgotten, finally surfaced in full, and Lucian at last grasped his true identity.
He had suspected, suspected deeply—yet learning that he was Valensio, the First Prince who had vanished in childhood, left his feelings in turmoil.
‘The Empress remains unchanged through the years.’
Now understanding why his shock at seeing Hugo had cut so deep, he raised his head and stared at the stone ceiling.
‘The question now is: what comes next?’
Lucian began to formulate his plans anew.
***
Meanwhile, a heavy pall continued to settle over the Imperial Palace.
Three days had now passed since the Crown Prince, Valensio, vanished during a hunting expedition.
The Imperial Guard and Camilo’s knights had conducted extensive searches, but the relentless storm had yielded no usable clues.
Among the nobility, whispers had already spread that Valensio was likely dead.
“Why is there still no news?!”
The Emperor hurled objects at Camilo, who stood rigid as a post. Camilo dodged them with practiced ease, feigning sorrow.
“I have nothing to report, Your Majesty. Yet I assure you, everyone is exerting themselves to find my brother.”
“You did not place him in danger yourself?”
The Emperor’s accusation struck home. Unable to bear it further, the Empress spoke.
“Enough, Your Majesty!”
The Emperor’s bloodshot gaze turned toward her. The Empress, though briefly startled, returned his stare unflinching.
“Will ranting bring back the missing Prince? What wrong has Camilo committed? Everyone here is already suffering. Perhaps it is time to dismiss the Guard and resume the search when daylight returns…….”
“Would you wish him dead, then?”
“…….”
The Emperor advanced slowly toward the Empress.
“Now that I think of it, you have always been uncommonly severe with Valensio from the very beginning.”
“The education of a Crown Prince demands severity—it is a matter of propriety.”
“Your severity exceeds all bounds!”
Danae, hidden in the Secret Passage and eavesdropping, nodded in agreement with the Emperor’s words. The Empress had been colder to Valensio than to anyone else.
After listening to their quarrel for some time, Danae cautiously made her way toward her destination: Valensio’s Palace.
When Danae entered the bedchamber in haste, Mary was attending to the sleeping Eloïse.
“Your Highness.”
Mary’s face was ashen as she greeted Danae. The news of Lucian’s disappearance had weakened her further.
“How fares the Princess?”
“There is no improvement, Your Highness.”
Mary bowed her head in shame. Danae approached the bedside and sighed deeply.
Valensio had vanished, and Eloïse would not wake. It was a disaster on every front.
“There seems to be no progress with my brother either. I am worried—the rain falls so heavily.”
“Your Highness…… do you also believe that the Crown Prince might have……?”
Mary asked carefully, having heard from servants that Valensio might be dead.
“Well, naturally…….”
Danae had opened her mouth to speak when——
“Mmm.”
Eloïse made a sound of distress.
“Miss!”
Her breathing grew rapid and her body twisted until, at last, her eyes fluttered open.
“Princess!”
In Eloïse’s field of vision appeared the startled faces of Mary and Danae.
‘Where am I?’
As Eloïse struggled to sit up, Mary quickly supported her back. Danae herself brought water.
“Do not overexert yourself, miss.”
“This is…….”
“The Crown Prince’s bedchamber.”
Of course. Now the familiar ceiling and the room’s furnishings came into focus. She must have collapsed without knowing when.
Eloïse pressed her throbbing head, striving to recall events.
“What happened to Lucian—or rather, Violet?”
At her inquiry about her short-haired companion, Mary’s and Danae’s expressions darkened abruptly.
“Do not worry. The Crown Prince gave her a proper burial.”
“…….”
So she was truly dead.
Violet’s final expression surfaced vividly in her mind. With a hardened face, Eloïse threw off the blankets and descended from the bed.
“Miss, you must rest more!”
“Yes, Princess. Please do not strain yourself.”
Both Danae and Mary grew anxious lest Eloïse somehow learn of Valensio’s situation.
“How many days was I lying here?”
“That would be…… nearly a week.”
Mary averted her gaze before answering reluctantly.
“Where is Lucian now? I have something urgent to tell him——”
Eloïse strode toward the chamber door, but Danae was faster. She stretched both arms wide and barred the doorway firmly.
“The Princess still requires rest! That is an order! You cannot leave!”
Eloïse fixed a sharp stare upon Danae.
“Your Highness, you are hiding something from me, are you not?”
“H-hiding? What would I possibly hide?”
Danae’s face flushed. She had never been skilled at deception. Eloïse pressed calmly onward.
“Where is Lucian right now?”
“Well, that is…….”
“I would rather not hear it from anyone else. Please tell me directly, Your Highness.”
Mary, standing behind Eloïse, shook her head in absolute refusal.
“Your Highness!”
“H-he went hunting and disappeared! It has already been three days…….”
The moment Danae confessed, Eloïse’s eyes blazed with intensity.
“D-don’t worry! The Imperial Guard is searching for my brother even now, so nothing terrible will happen. So please, just wait here quietly.”
Even as Danae spoke, her voice grew fainter. Even she could not be certain whether Valensio lived or died.
“…….”
Eloïse’s gaze turned toward the window. Beyond the curtain-like sky that obscured day from night, a fierce rain poured down.
Then, with a swift motion, she seized the large cloak hanging on the rack and wrapped it around herself. Hat pulled low, Eloïse turned toward the window. Her body, fresh from sleep, swayed for a moment, but her expression showed no hesitation.
“Miss!”
“Princess!”
Eloïse threw open the window and the rain-laden wind surged inward.
“No, miss!”
Before Mary could seize her, Eloïse vanished through the window into the downpour.

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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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