They Say an Age Gap Like This Doesn’t Even Need Matching - Chapter 26

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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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Seeing Kei speak like that, it seemed he really was nearby.
‘I need to meet him first.’
I couldn’t predict what would happen if Carterus met the Crown Prince before me.
“I should go.”
“You’re going to meet him in person?”
I nodded.
“Kei, watch over this place for me. If any uninvited guests visit the Separate Palace, detain them.”
I was concerned that someone targeting Elhart might take the opportunity to harm him while I was away.
Of course, it would be physically impossible…
‘But what if they try to threaten him?’
“Yes, understood. Don’t worry and take your time.”
“Right.”
With Kei here, I felt reassured.
I could leave the Separate Palace without worrying about Elhart’s safety.
‘Let me stop by the Central Palace first.’
The Foreign Ministry was there, so I thought I could obtain relevant information if I went there.
Perhaps because of the Pope’s visit, the atmosphere of the Central Palace was different from usual.
The floor gleamed brilliantly, and the stewards moved quietly in neat attire.
‘This isn’t the atmosphere to extract information.’
It might be better to search directly.
If Carterus was already inside the Imperial Palace, there was a way to confirm it.
“You.”
As I was heading toward the Central Palace stairs, a woman’s voice came from behind.
“Ser Brin.”
Eager to move on, I tried to ignore her and continue, but she called out my name precisely.
I turned around and saw a woman in an elaborate dress.
“Did you call for me?”
“Yes.”
Looking at her face carefully, I thought I recognized her.
A figure who had briefly appeared at the Banquet Hall before disappearing.
Princess Belonia.
The auburn-haired man standing behind her was someone I’d never seen before, so I wasn’t sure who he was.
Judging by his somewhat revealing attire, he might be the Princess’s lover. Or perhaps someone of even lower standing.
I’d heard that the Crown Princess had rather poor taste.
“What business does a maid from the Separate Palace have in the Central Palace?”
“There’s someone I need to meet.”
“Not my brother, I hope?”
The Crown Princess asked, furrowing her brow.
“Pardon?”
I looked at the Crown Princess with a bewildered expression.
“Never mind. Unless it’s urgent, just follow me.”
“I apologize, but it is urgent….”
Yet the Crown Princess was already turning away and walking.
She seemed to assume I would naturally follow her.
‘Let me see where she’s going.’
Since I had been planning to leave the Central Palace anyway, I decided to follow the Crown Princess for now.
Who knows? Perhaps she was heading to meet the Pope, just as I was.
‘That woman knows my name and face precisely.’
Our only point of contact was the Banquet Hall.
However, the Crown Princess had only stayed briefly before leaving, so she hadn’t had enough time to memorize my face.
‘Which means she deliberately had someone investigate me.’
What could her motivation have been?
Because of Elhart?
[The situation is quite ironic. Perhaps you might even avoid becoming the Crown Princess’s plaything.]
I recalled what he had said at our first meeting.
According to the Imperial Palace servants, the Crown Princess enjoyed bringing beautiful men from defeated nations’ royal families or high nobility into her service as slaves.
However, since Bardia had not yet been defeated, she would not be able to make Elhart her slave.
Instead, if she truly took a fancy to him, she could demand marriage.
‘Hmm… I’m suddenly filled with rage.’
No one dared to look at Elhart with such eyes.
His will could not be ignored, nor could his choice be forced.
‘What does that wretch think she is.’
A spitting image of the arrogant Emperor with greed written all over her face.
I glared intensely at the Crown Princess’s back.
I felt the urge to deal with her right now.
‘She’s turning onto a secluded path.’
Now I could guess where the Crown Princess was heading.
‘She’ll soon enter the Imperial Gardens.’
It would be better to handle this before then.
Perhaps I should confirm the Crown Princess’s true intentions here.
She might be planning to use me to trap Elhart.
I shifted my gaze from the Crown Princess to the man behind her.
‘I should investigate that one.’
The Crown Prince might have taken measures to protect his sister, so the man was the safer target.
It was when we passed through the tree shade, dark even in daylight.
‘Read all the desires that man possesses.’
In response to my command, the demon quietly moved from my shadow to the man’s shadow.
For some reason, the man’s mental defenses were completely shattered, and the demon of greed conveyed his inner thoughts all too easily.
-I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die.
-Soon that woman will experience this shame and humiliation too. We’ll tumble into the same hell together. We’ll cry out together, crawl along the bottom together, and beg together.
If only I could kill the Crown Princess. If only I could escape this cursed slave seal for even a moment.
‘…So he was indeed the Crown Princess’s slave.’
The desire of one driven to madness by such overwhelming pain was pitiful.
A wretched creature forced to serve the House of Cradian as master—the very dynasty that destroyed his nation and took his family’s lives.
Bound by the shackles embedded in the slave seal, absolutely obedient to the Crown Princess’s commands, the only thing he could hope for in such a miserable state was death.
‘How exactly does a slave seal function?’
Three hundred years ago, no such thing as slavery existed, and I had never seen anything that imposed constraints in such a manner….
‘Wait.’
What if it were a magically binding contract?
In a sense, my relationship with those demons could be viewed similarly.
‘After all, I’ve become their master.’
The expedition team, struggling with how to dispose of demons that kept resurrecting within the castle no matter how many times they were killed, discovered one solution.
It was to change the castle’s master.
I took on that role as a precaution.
It was only possible because I couldn’t be corrupted and could suppress them through physical strength alone.
When killed repeatedly the moment they resurrected, even demons would lose their will to fight.
The demons willingly accepted the contract, and through this method, the expedition team conquered every castle.
Recalling this, I could be certain.
‘…There’s no way around it without breaking the contract.’
It could be in the Crown Princess’s possession, or perhaps managed directly by the Emperor.
If I killed the Crown Princess in this state, I needed to verify what would happen to her slaves.
In the worst case, they might share their master’s fate.
‘Hmm… I can’t handle this immediately after all.’
It would be best to simply teach her a lesson today.
Just enough so that what she intended for me comes back to her.
Having decided this, I was about to follow the Crown Princess as she entered the Imperial Gardens.
“Ser!”
Damn.
I’ve been caught.
I turned around slowly, careful to keep my expression neutral.
The Crown Prince was striding toward me with a fearsome expression.
“What are you doing right now?”
With a face resembling Mikhail’s, clenching his teeth and glaring like that, I felt an inexplicable chill.
That said, Mikhail had almost never been angry with me.
There was truly only one time, and I was so terrified I wanted to run away….
But he’s not Mikhail, so it’s fine.
Probably…?
“Greetings, Your Highness.”
I offered a casual greeting.
“You refused me before, yet now you follow anyone without suspicion.”
“That’s….”
I glanced at the Crown Princess’s expression.
“Oh, brother…. How….”
Seeing how utterly terrified she was, it seemed she’d been planning to act without the Crown Prince’s knowledge.
“The Crown Princess commanded me to follow her.”
“Then I should have just ordered you instead of asking. Would you have obeyed me then?”
I stared blankly at the Crown Prince.
“Why didn’t you do that?”
“Obviously….”
The Crown Prince let out a hollow laugh.
“Because I wanted to get along well with Ser.”
“Then, it seems the Crown Princess doesn’t feel the same way.”
I shrugged my shoulders.
“Even though I mentioned I had urgent matters to attend to, she commanded me to follow her without hesitation.”
The Crown Prince’s gaze turned slowly toward the Crown Princess.
After confirming the cold temperature in those eyes, I added my words.
“How could a mere maid refuse?”
“….”
If it feels like I’m tattling, then I’m doing it right.

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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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