The Teddy Bear Sends the Insomniac Villain to Dreamland - Chapter 11

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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 11
While I was debating whether to ask, Blake arrived at the Reception Room and stepped inside.
Blake, seated on the deep green velvet sofa in the Reception Room with its white marble walls, finally opened his mouth.
“Do we have any reports today?”
At those words, Ronald—whose attention had been entirely consumed by the nest that had formed on the back of Blake’s head—startled and hurriedly pulled out the report.
He quickly forgot all about the nest and hastily delivered the schedule briefing.
It was the moment Vivian’s irresponsible faith—that someone would surely tell him—vanished into the distance.
“After your private meeting with Edwin Crown Prince, we need your approval on the documents for selecting a new administrator for Riner Territory.”
“Fire the bastard who recommended the corrupt administrator too. We need to select someone new for that position as well. Incompetent fools are parasites that drain the lifeblood of the territorial people.”
“Yes, understood. Ah, and we’ve received contact from Elio of the Mekain Cartel in the east. It appears magical beasts have appeared again in the Eastern Region. Ophelia’s prophecy has proven accurate once more.”
“…How many sacrifices did she demand this time?”
“…A total of one hundred.”
“Damn it.”
A curse spilled from between his crimson lips like something being crushed.
Ronald also lowered his head deeply and pressed his lips together.
Ophelia—the Empire’s saint and Imperial Court prophetess.
Whenever her words came true, there was joy in being able to prepare for the future, yet despair settled in at the terrible price that had to be paid for it.
She was a woman of mysterious power.
The protagonist of an unbelievable tale—that she had served as the Imperial Court’s prophetess since the current Emperor’s grandfather’s time.
A mysterious woman who neither aged nor died.
Ophelia’s prophecies were absolute. A single word from her could determine matters of great importance to the Empire.
Of course, Blake Leblanc was the only person who did not yield to Ophelia’s prophecies.
He never made hasty judgments unless he had personally witnessed and verified something himself.
At that moment, the resonant voice of a knight waiting outside the Reception Room rang out.
“Edwin Albert Cardenas Crown Prince has arrived.”
The door opened with a click, and a man with pale pink hair and a gentle expression entered the Reception Room and greeted Blake.
“Hello. Prince Blake Leblanc. It’s been a while.”
His soft, dulcet voice—fluffy as clouds and sweet as cotton candy—was filled with warmth and affection.
A servant approached Edwin’s side as he sat on the opposite sofa and poured tea with a gentle stream.
The way he held the teacup with his delicate fingers was as graceful and refined as performing a waltz.
“You’ve made me come here personally, and yet you always seem more the master than I.”
“I trust you have been well.”
“Indeed, thanks to you, our Empire remains ever strong. I was overjoyed to hear news of your victory in the war against the magical beasts. Blake Leblanc—true to form, cutting down even the knights who follow you when bored.”
“….”
Blake simply stared at Edwin, regardless of what he said.
The way he reclined lazily in his chair without responding to the Crown Prince was arrogant.
Edwin’s gentle eyes trembled ever so slightly, unnoticed by anyone, but he quickly composed himself and spoke again.
“Moreover, it seems you’ve grown closer during our time apart. This is the first time I’ve seen your hair so disheveled.”
Only then did a reaction come.
Upon hearing those words, Blake unconsciously ran his hand across the back of his head.
Only now did I notice the tufts of hair sticking out that I hadn’t seen before, and I couldn’t help but bite my tongue lightly.
‘…Vivian, that brat. She must have seen it, but she didn’t say anything.’
That mischievous teddy bear of a girl had likely seen everything and simply pretended not to notice.
She probably just found it amusing and wanted to laugh.
In any case, she was unpredictable. Blake gritted his teeth and stared coldly at the troublesome visitor.
“In any case, we won the war, so I’ve overcome Ophelia’s prophecy once more.”
“Not all prophecies are absolute truth. Often, people fail to see the reality hidden behind plausible words.”
“Ha, as expected of Prince Leblanc. Even the great Ophelia cannot manipulate you as she does others. Sometimes I think I would even kneel if only I could make you truly mine.”
“That is not something I desire. I must respectfully decline.”
“Come now, I wish you wouldn’t draw such firm boundaries. Think about it, Prince. If you come to me, I can give you so much. I can even return your first love, Lea Everett, whom my half-brother took from you. After all, I have much to reclaim from Ian myself.”
That child has taken so much from me. Edwin spoke thus while wearing the soft, sweet smile that people so often praised.
However, Blake did not miss the hatred that flashed across Edwin’s face the moment he mentioned his half-brother Ian.
Ian Garner Cardenas.
A bastard prince who appeared suddenly a decade ago and turned the Cardenas Imperial Family upside down.
Ian was also Blake’s longtime friend.
More precisely, he was the friend of Lea Everett, Blake’s childhood companion.
Though it seemed this man harbored numerous misunderstandings about him, Blake decided not to correct them one by one.
He desperately wished for this exhausting meeting to end.
“In any case, I do hope you choose well who shall be your true sovereign…”
Crash, bang, bang!
Just then, a loud noise of something falling and breaking echoed from outside the reception room.
“…I’m afraid I didn’t catch what you said.”
Edwin’s gentle eyes twisted for a moment, but he soon continued speaking softly.
“I do hope you choose well who shall be your true sov…”
Crash, bang, bang, bang!
“Kyaaaa! What is this!”
This time, accompanied by an even louder noise, came the scream of a maidservant.
Edwin, who had been smiling with veins bulging on his forehead, finally turned to Blake and asked.
“What on earth is causing such a commotion?”
Ronald, who had been watching carefully, quickly rushed out of the reception room and returned just as swiftly. It took him less than a minute to assess the situation and return.
“What happened?”
“It appears… it was merely frightened maidservants making a fuss. I have given them stern instructions.”
“Frightened?”
As if finding the remark amusing, Edwin’s eyes narrowed prettily as he tilted his head.
“Do the servants who work for a family without blood or tears always live in fear? I’m truly curious.”
With no ill intent apparent, his fingers fidgeted with the teacup handle, and Ronald forcibly suppressed the surge of anger rising within him.
Blake, without any emotional disturbance, looked at Ronald and asked.
“Tell me simply what caused it.”
“It may seem rather absurd, sir.”
“I’m curious as well, so do tell me.”
At Edwin Crown Prince’s urging, Ronald reluctantly explained the circumstances he had just heard.
“One of the younger maids said she saw a ghostly shadow flickering at the end of the corridor earlier. She thought it might be a rat or some other animal because its fur was so fluffy, so she approached it, but then a doll with its eyes rolled back suddenly disappeared behind a statue, and the statue fell forward…”
With a sharp sound, Blake Leblanc shot up from his seat, his face drained of all color.
“Lord Leblanc?”
Beneath his dark brows, his deep eyes were twisted with unmistakable gravity.
It was the instinctive movement of someone who had sensed something.
While Ronald, aware that rising before the Crown Prince was improper, fidgeted anxiously behind him, Blake Leblanc offered a brief bow to Edwin.
“Please excuse me. I have something to attend to.”
Bang!
Blake Leblanc strode out of the Reception Room with such long, hurried steps that he might as well have been running, and Ronald awkwardly bowed before following after him.
The Reception Room fell silent.
Left alone, Edwin Crown Prince found himself frowning as he recalled the unfamiliar expression on Blake Leblanc’s face.
“…What was that about?”
He had no idea it was all because of a teddy bear doll that had escaped the room on its own.
***
That careless Blake Leblanc.
If he had truly wanted me to behave, he should have locked the door.
“Hehe.”
It was a mistake to have hidden behind this pristine white statue—from some era I couldn’t identify—and then eaten one and fled.
I’m sorry, Blake Leblanc.
I’ll find a way to make it up to you somehow.
If I can just return to Halloway Castle before the portal closes, I’ll ask Max to throw the most expensive statue he can find through it as compensation.
With each step, I had been sneaking through the Mansion writing letters of apology, but eventually I squeezed myself into a pristine white porcelain vase to avoid being discovered.
I was lost in thought about when I should emerge.
“Did you hear that Edwin Crown Prince is visiting today?”
“Oh, that Edwin Crown Prince? The one as pure and beautiful as an angel descended from heaven.”
Edwin Crown Prince?
So Blake Leblanc had gone to see this Crown Prince?
Finally knowing the identity of my visitor, I felt a wave of relief wash over me. At the same time, a slight worry crept in.
Blake Leblanc, you really stood out.
But Edwin Crown Prince, huh.
Where have I heard that name before?
“Sigh… I wish I could at least see his face. I’m so curious about how beautiful he must be. And they say his personality is quite kind too.”
“Really? Where is he?”
“The Reception Room. But you already know that, don’t you? Why are you asking?”
“Huh? I didn’t ask anything?”
“Don’t say things like that. You’re making me nervous.”
A brief silence fell, and two pairs of eyes slowly rolled toward me.
The gazes of the two people looking at the pristine white porcelain shifted, and soon one of them began approaching me with heavy footsteps.
A maid’s shadow fell across the opening of the round vase.
“A teddy bear?”
The maid who discovered me gestured to another servant beside her.
“There’s a teddy bear here. I could have sworn I heard a sound coming from this spot, but where did this bear come from?”
“Right? Who would leave a teddy bear here—actually, we don’t even have dolls in our Mansion to begin with.”
Just as their suspicious hands reached out to grab my ear.
A large shadow appeared without warning, blocking their hands.
When the gentle grip holding me felt so tender that I couldn’t help but roll my round eyes ever so slightly, what I saw was.
“…Found you, my teddy bear.”
It was Blake Leblanc, his pristine silver hair disheveled as he rushed over.

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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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