The Teddy Bear Sends the Insomniac Villain to Dreamland - Chapter 66

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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 66
“Open the door.”
Ophelia had arrived at Crown Prince Edwin’s Palace.
While the Advisor flustered about at the unexpected visit of the noble Saint, Ophelia spoke once more.
“I must see Crown Prince Edwin. Please tell him that Ophelia has come.”
“Ah, yes! Of course.”
The Advisor hurried off to Edwin’s Study Room.
Knock, knock, knock. As the door swung open at his call to enter, thick smoke billowed forth.
Edwin, lounging against the back of a sofa, stared blankly into the void as he asked.
“What is it?”
His voice was drowsy. The Advisor, who had been watching Edwin’s strange state ever since the banquet ended, hesitated before speaking.
“Saint Ophelia has come to see you. She wishes to meet with Your Highness….”
“Tell her it’s not possible today.”
“But, but….”
“Didn’t I say not to disturb me? I’m in a good mood right now.”
“Yes, understood.”
The Advisor shut the door with a thud and tilted his head in confusion. Then he hurried back to where Ophelia waited.
“My apologies, Saint. His Highness says it is difficult for him to meet with you today.”
“…It’s a matter that requires discussion. Tell him it concerns a woman with red hair and jade-green eyes.”
The Advisor took his leave under Ophelia’s piercing gaze that seemed to say hurry up.
“It seems the Advisor doesn’t understand my words. I said not to disturb me.”
At the menacing warning that came flying at him again, the Advisor quickly got to the point.
“Red hair and jade-green eyes! About that wom— wait?”
As he spoke, realization dawned. A woman with red hair and jade-green eyes—wasn’t that the person His Highness had been searching for?
The moment the Advisor reached this understanding, focus returned to Edwin’s eyes.
“Let her in.”
“…Pardon?”
“Bring Saint Ophelia to the Reception Room.”
Edwin shot to his feet. He hastily swept his disheveled hair back and made his way to the Reception Room.
As he walked down the Corridor, Edwin let out a soft chuckle.
Behind him, the Advisor flinched at the sound of his laughter. Well, he’d been acting like a madman these past few days, so it was understandable.
Look at him now.
A mere description resembling that woman, and he was jumping up and moving about as if possessed.
‘That woman.’
The suspicious bear doll who raged at me, annoyed me, openly despised me, yet ultimately could not be ignored.
She fascinated me. She was entertaining.
Her audacious words scratched at my insides so fiercely I wanted to kill her on the spot, yet I couldn’t tear my eyes away.
‘Why?’
Edwin walked slowly down the Corridor, sinking into quiet contemplation.
Was it because that woman was beautiful?
Because she possesses tremendous power?
Because she’s a suspicious being who transformed from a teddy bear into a person?
Or perhaps because she belongs to Blake Leblanc?
‘I have no idea.’
Ah, I couldn’t fathom the reason at all.
Yet I yearned to see her without needing one.
I wanted to witness that irritated expression she wore when looking at me—again and again.
Edwin slowly opened the Reception Room door.
Sunlight streamed into the Reception Room, where Ophelia sat with impeccable posture, sipping tea.
Upon hearing the sound, she turned and, seeing Edwin, offered a respectful bow.
“Ophelia greets Crown Prince Edwin.”
“State your business.”
Before even taking a seat, Edwin spoke curtly.
Ophelia blinked quietly, observing Edwin’s expression.
“Your Highness. At that banquet, who was the woman with red hair and jade-green eyes who was with you?”
What would he answer?
That day, in the carriage heading to Prince Ian’s birthday banquet, I’d seen Blake Leblanc and the woman cradled in his arms.
Though I couldn’t see her clearly in the darkness, she was a woman I’d never laid eyes on before.
A woman with grapefruit-colored hair.
The mere fact that she’d been held in the arms of that ‘Prince of Leblanc’ was remarkable enough.
But what truly caught Ophelia’s attention was something else.
The intense surge of magical power she’d felt as she passed the two of them.
‘Yes, magical power!’
It was unmistakably magical power. The moment she sensed it, she’d halted the carriage to search for them, but they’d already vanished.
After entering the Banquet Hall, Ophelia had been asking around about Blake Leblanc and the unfamiliar woman ever since.
The results had been quite fruitful.
‘Prince Blake Leblanc and a woman?’
‘No. He wasn’t with a woman. His partner today was supposedly a teddy bear, which caused quite the commotion….’
‘Red hair and jade-green eyes are rare, but ah! One servant who saw the Crown Prince in the Garden said there was a woman beside His Highness with that hair color and eye color.’
‘But was it definitely red?’
‘…Well, it was a bit ambiguous—it might have been grapefruit-colored….’
How intriguing.
It was a fascinating and tantalizing story.
The woman cradled in Blake Leblanc’s arms had also been with the Crown Prince?
Combining all these accounts yielded one hypothesis.
‘The woman Blake Leblanc carried away might be the same person as the woman who was supposedly the Crown Prince’s partner.’
If magical power had indeed emanated from the woman, she had to be found.
After maintaining silence for a while, Edwin suddenly broke into a gentle smile.
“Is that why you’ve come all this way?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
The Crown Prince, wearing a beautiful smile, let out a long, deep sigh and leaned back against the sofa.
“Ophelia, it seems you have quite a bit of free time these days.”
“Rather than free time, I’d call it curiosity.”
Ophelia answered with perfect composure.
Though Edwin’s demeanor was endlessly rude and presumptuous, Ophelia saw no reason to point it out. After all, he was merely human.
How pathetic—relying on power that would not last forever and acting so arrogantly.
If she disliked him, she could simply kill him or strip him of his Crown Prince title.
Such matters were trivial for Ophelia if she merely applied herself.
Edwin laughed aloud.
“Haha. I see. But it seems you’ve misunderstood something. My partner’s hair color is not red.”
Edwin’s pink eyes gazed quietly at the grapefruit tea placed before him.
He lifted the teacup with an elegant gesture.
“It’s a beautiful grapefruit hue, wouldn’t you say?”
A grapefruit color—intense yet subtle, like summer roses.
Such a nuanced shade could never be captured by the simple word “red.”
“I’m curious why you were so interested in my partner. Though I am quite popular, I must admit. Haha.”
“While you are indeed popular, Your Highness the Crown Prince has no publicly acknowledged fiancée, so as a prophetess who divines matters of the Imperial Court, I was merely curious which lady might have captured your heart.”
Ophelia, who had smoothly deflected the sharp question with serpentine grace, laughed softly.
So it was grapefruit after all.
She was now certain that the woman she had seen and the woman who was the Crown Prince’s partner were one and the same.
Yet she revealed nothing, answering with perfect nonchalance.
“So she was your partner. I had no idea you would attend the banquet with her.”
“I preferred not to make it known.”
“Everyone was unaware of that woman’s identity.”
“She is a woman from another land.”
“Ah, I see….”
The conversation died abruptly. Edwin showed no intention of saying more.
He slowly rose from his seat. It was a signal for her to leave.
Ophelia rose as well, asking with subtle persistence.
“Was the woman that Blake Leblanc carried out the Crown Prince’s partner?”
Edwin paused, then let out a short sigh. The way he touched his jaw suggested he was deeply displeased.
“Ophelia.”
He began to smile, but then seemed to recall something and suppressed his expression.
‘Unexpected.’
Edwin’s face, now devoid of warmth, was frighteningly cold.
“How amusing. How could a mere nobleman possibly leave with the Crown Prince’s partner?”
“…It seems I must have been mistaken. I apologize for my ignorance.”
Ophelia, having bowed in apology, left the Crown Prince’s Palace empty-handed.
The carriage carrying Ophelia pulled away, leaving the Crown Prince’s Palace behind.
‘…There’s something here.’
Edwin Albert Cardenas.
Perhaps it was premature judgment, but the man who had done nothing but smile with innocent warmth had subtly changed.
It was undoubtedly connected to some mysterious woman.
Yet he was so skilled at concealing his true thoughts that discerning what he truly contemplated proved nearly impossible.
Difficult opponents were tedious.
‘…Hmm, should I replace the Crown Prince?’
If I granted power to Ian instead—a man of humble origins, far easier to manage than the intractable Edwin.
Perhaps I could manipulate him more readily.
Ophelia’s opaque eyes darkened with calculation.
I had ordered the birthday banquet for Prince Ian partly to shake the succession hierarchy.
That an unexpected, intriguing incident had caused it to slip away was Edwin’s fortune.
‘Still, one thing has become certain.’
The strange aura I had sensed at the Leblanc Mansion was increasingly likely to be magical power.
“Such pristine, pure magical essence—how long has it been since I encountered it?”
Ophelia smiled wickedly, gazing at the sky stained crimson by the setting sun.
I must find the source of that magical power I felt when passing Blake.
If it were Blake himself, then at last an ability user has emerged.
But if it were the woman with grapefruit-colored hair….
“Could she be a witch?”
Even as the words left her lips, Ophelia dismissed them as absurd and shook her head.
A witch—what ridiculous nonsense.

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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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