They Say an Age Gap Like This Doesn’t Even Need Matching - Chapter 27

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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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Since my plan has already fallen apart, I might as well have someone else teach that Crown Princess a lesson.
‘I can also gauge the balance of power between the Crown Princess and the Crown Prince.’
From what I could see, the Crown Prince held an overwhelmingly dominant position, almost disappointingly so.
“Bellonia.”
The Crown Prince’s low, cool voice carried an unmistakable warning within it.
“Leave.”
“Brother, I….”
“You cannot take a single step outside your chamber until I return.”
It was at that moment the Crown Prince spoke.
‘Huh…?’
I felt mana trembling finely between the two of them.
It was only a fleeting instant, but I could never have missed it.
‘A contract exists between the Crown Princess and the Crown Prince as well?’
It was strange that the Emperor would tolerate this, even if the balance of power and influence had shifted.
‘If that’s the case….’
I stared intently at the Crown Prince’s profile.
His delicate, graceful features formed a beautiful visage that was quite familiar to me.
Yet separate from that.
The angle of his eyebrows and the subtle movements of his firmly set lips concealed secrets, much like Manarang, that even he himself did not know.
The clues I had found in him on the day of the banquet were taking increasingly concrete form.
“Please, just listen to what I have to say once. Brother, you’re being deceived, I’m certain…!”
“I told you to leave.”
The Crown Princess, her eyes glistening with tears, suddenly turned away.
Then, casting one final sharp glare in my direction, she walked away and left.
‘She doesn’t realize how fortunate she is.’
She seemed too foolish to even imagine what would have become of her had the Crown Prince not arrived.
I watched her retreating figure with an inward click of my tongue.
‘We’ll see about this.’
The Crown Prince would punish the Crown Princess one way or another.
If fortune favored me, I might glimpse the true nature of the contract between the Emperor, the Crown Princess, and the Crown Prince in that process.
The brown-haired slave followed the Crown Princess, and now only the Crown Prince and I remained.
“Ser Brin.”
The Crown Prince exhaled a long breath as if to calm his emotions, then turned to face me.
“I will counsel the Crown Princess well.”
“It seems you know what she was trying to do to me?”
I glanced at the Imperial Gardens that stood behind the Crown Prince.
“That garden is not used for any good purpose. The Imperial family’s foul sins are piled up there.”
“Are you certain you should be revealing such secrets to an outsider?”
“An outsider, you say….”
He took a step closer to me.
“I mentioned this to prevent Ser from entering that place.”
Then another step forward.
“Don’t follow anyone’s orders so easily.”
The distance closed in an instant.
“How could I refuse a command from the imperial family?”
“If that’s the problem, you could just take my hand.”
The Crown Prince’s hand touched my cheek.
As if connecting the time we’d paused in the Rest Room on the night of the banquet.
“Don’t you understand that I’m here for you?”
His hand, which had been caressing my face, slowly moved behind my ear.
A soft rustling of hair whispered through the suffocating silence.
“I was trying not to rush, but it’s not easy.”
His thumb lightly touched and withdrew from the faint mark Elhart had left the night before.
“Do you like the hostage prince?”
I’d been concentrating entirely on discerning the Crown Prince’s true identity when that single question pricked my nerves.
“…Why are you asking such a thing?”
Spines that bristle like a hedgehog only reveal the weakness hidden within, so I had to suppress them with effort.
“Do you actually like me?”
At my blunt words, the Crown Prince laughed.
“You’re asking because you don’t know?”
“…”
The smile slowly faded from his lips as he carefully observed my sullen expression.
“It seems you really don’t. What on earth did you think I was?”
“If I may say so… a libertine?”
The Crown Prince’s pupils trembled violently.
“You’ve hit the mark, haven’t you?”
“Good heavens, Ser…”
He seemed somewhat shocked.
“That’s how I appeared to you?”
“Yes.”
“Even though my kindness was only for Ser?”
“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never seen how you behave in front of other women.”
“Ah… so you’re going to be like that?”
The Crown Prince withdrew his hand from me and looked down at me intently.
“You’ve succeeded in changing the subject, Ser. I won’t ask such questions again.”
It was obvious, after all.
I lowered my head and clicked my tongue softly.
“Actually, it doesn’t matter who you like. What matters is something else.”
As I glanced up, wondering what he was about to say, he leaned down and whispered near my ear.
“That I like you. That you will eventually accept my heart.”
Is he insane?
Is this how he confesses?
Dumbfounded, I stared at him with my mouth slightly agape, and the Crown Prince met my gaze from close range.
“I love you, Ser. I mean it.”
…Looking into his eyes, I could tell.
Emotions boiling at a scorching temperature, that deep and intense affection.
Though I truly didn’t want to believe it, his words were nothing but the truth.
“I can do anything for you. If you desire it, I’ll give you the entire world. So please, choose me.”
As I stared at that shameless face with furrowed brows, his hand touched my fingertips.
His fingers slipped smoothly between mine, interlocking without a gap.
“Huh? Ser….”
With a face resembling Mikhail’s, he laughed with eyes wide, just as the other had done.
Then he tilted his head very slowly.
Our noses brushed against each other.
We were close enough to hear each other’s breathing.
As if about to kiss, his gaze lowered.
He didn’t rush, certain that I wouldn’t pull away, that I couldn’t.
But at that very moment.
The air trembled faintly.
A sharp sound seemed to ring in my ears.
A crack formed in the heavy, stagnant time, and soon it shattered completely.
“…!”
A wave of force crashed in as I pushed Manarang, who had been frozen motionless, away cleanly, and it opened my airways.
Every cell composing my body awakened and resonated with the source.
The power the goddess had gifted to me, a lonely orphan drifting alone.
It was divine power.
Footsteps.
The Crown Prince, who had stopped moving at the belated sound of footsteps, turned his head.
“My, it seems this old man lacked awareness.”
An elderly man with graying hair was walking toward us.
Behind him, someone was running over, drenched in sweat. By their attire, they appeared to be a Cardinal.
Count Bellow, the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was with them as well.
“….”
Just as the Crown Prince was about to tighten his interlocked hands, I released his grip and stepped back.
‘You’re late, Carterus.’
I felt my expression become strange as feelings of complaint and relief mixed together.
But it wouldn’t matter.
“So you’re the Crown Prince.”
That old man, who smiled with his lips twisted to one side, wasn’t the type to concern himself with such trivial matters.
‘There’s hardly anyone on the Empire’s side who would recognize that Carterus is the first Pope. The Church said he took the highest-level security oath, so there’s no way word would have leaked.’
If there’s any possibility… it would be just one person.
I stole a glance at the Crown Prince’s expression.
Interrupted at precisely the wrong moment once again, the Crown Prince couldn’t easily conceal his irritation even before the newly appointed Pope.
He offered a greeting with his face still twisted in displeasure.
“Your Highness, I apologize for showing you such an unseemly sight.”
“Youth allows for such things. It’s good to meet you.”
The Pope strode forward and patted the Crown Prince’s back repeatedly.
I could distinctly sense his displeasure.
He must have noticed that the Crown Prince was wielding mana to bind me completely immobile.
Regardless of that though.
‘…Is that even acceptable?’
It’s practically beating him at this point.
Since I don’t know the current state of relations between the Empire and the Church in this era, I can’t quite make sense of it.

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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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