Sigh.

Nigel took a deep breath from the pit of his stomach.

He felt as though the woman’s piercing gaze was stoking the burning desire in his gut.

Gulp.

He smacked his lips.

‘It would be a waste to just kill her after all.’

In many ways.

As he briskly snapped his folding fan shut, Jasmine, who was sitting beside him, flinched and her shoulders trembled visibly.

Nigel stole a glance at her complexion, which had turned ashen pale. In just a few days, she seemed to have lost weight, her cheeks and eye sockets sunken, devoid of her usual vibrancy.

‘Tsk tsk. Her appearance was the only thing worth looking at, and she can’t even maintain that. Unbecoming of the crown princess.’

Nigel glared at her, not bothering to hide his displeasure. Noticing his gaze, Jasmine seemed to shrink even further. Where had her ever-confident and relaxed soul gone?

Beads of cold sweat dotted her forehead, and her lips revealed specks of blood from biting them so hard.

Nigel found Jasmine’s demeanor incredibly disagreeable, but at least he was pleased that she had diligently followed his orders and doused herself in perfume before coming.

Thanks to that, her offensive odor was masked, so it wasn’t too bothersome even though she was sitting right next to him.

“Stop shaking already. Everyone’s watching, Jasmine.”

As he said that with a pretend gentle smile, Jasmine, as if enchanted, lifted the corners of her mouth to mirror him. Yet her eyes brimmed with tears, on the verge of bursting into sobs, creating a grotesque expression like wearing a half-mask.

Meanwhile, not far from them, Princess Melissa, who was discreetly observing them, also had an unwell complexion. She seemed to be in agony, or perhaps barely suppressing the urge to vomit.

Nigel must have sensed Melissa’s gaze as well, for he slightly turned his head to lock eyes with her.

The moment their eyes met, Melissa’s shoulders shuddered. Seeing the terror-stricken eyes as if she had witnessed a demon, Nigel twisted his lips in a satisfied expression.

‘Inferior beings.’

Barely biting back a sneer, he turned his eyes again. To seek the one woman who, despite being terribly irksome, uniquely piqued his interest in this place.

When he discovered Kasha’s bright pink eyes still precisely trained on him, he even felt an inexplicable thrill.

‘Indeed, it’s too much of a waste to keep her by Leon’s side.’

Meanwhile, Kasha, who had been enduring the Crown Prince’s blatant stare, rubbed her goosebump-ridden arms forcefully.

‘So that’s how it was, in the end.’

The folding fan Nigel held in his hand was the final puzzle piece of the culprit she had been unable to find.

The two clues of the mastermind who had visited her in prison before her return. Perfume and a folding fan. They all ultimately pointed to Nigel.

‘I’ve finally found you. The real villain who sent me to the guillotine.’

The arduous months-long pursuit had finally come to an end. However, the unmasked culprit was looking down at her from the pinnacle of imperial power.

Kasha gritted her teeth, embracing her body that trembled with either rage or chills.

‘It doesn’t matter. Regardless of how high or low the seat you sit on is, your core is nothing but a despicable human being.’

Using people as mere tools and disposing of them without a shred of remorse, he was the spitting image of his father, Emperor Ramon.

‘But it’s not your bloodline that made you a sinner. It was your choice.’

Didn’t Leon, who had an equally vile father, make completely different choices and walk a righteous path?

Averting her eyes from Nigel’s sticky gaze that seemed to taint the soul of anyone who met it, Kasha sought out Leon standing far away in the center of the hall.

There was no need to search, really. The moment she turned her head, their eyes met. As expected, it seemed he had been gazing only at her all day today as well.

The tremors ceased of their own accord under his firm and ardent gaze. Just locking eyes with him brought a sense of stability, as if embraced in his broad arms.

Leon had a look in his eyes that suggested he wanted to abandon the Holy Knights Order at any moment and come stand by Kasha’s side. The reason she didn’t mind that excessively blind devotion, unlike Nigel’s, was because she harbored the same feelings.

Daril, who had been standing by Kasha’s side all along, suddenly whispered.

“Kasha. The Crown Prince keeps looking at you. No, he’s looking ‘only’ at you?”

Since Kasha returned from the expedition, Daril had stuck close to her, hardly leaving her alone for even an hour. It was bothersome, but knowing how much he had worried, Kasha quietly accepted his eccentric behavior.

After receiving Count Lyuschino’s letter about Kasha’s true identity and the situation she was in, Daril had become even more paranoid about her safety.

“Will you… really be alright? I don’t know if it’s just me, but Crown Prince Nigel’s gaze seems… off, like he’s lost it.”

Daril added anxiously.

No matter how much he tried to protect Kasha, he knew that if the Crown Prince, a major power in the empire, set his mind to harming her, they would be helpless against it.

“…His true colors are finally showing.”

Returning Nigel’s spine-chilling stare that seemed to want to devour her, Kasha now displayed a relaxed smile on her face instead.

‘Look forward to it, you monster who has forsaken human conscience. The day you will be dragged down from that high throne to face your sins is not far off now.’

At that moment, as if he had discovered an exceedingly amusing toy, the corners of Nigel’s mouth curved up sharply. His eyes sparkled with excitement as he opened his mouth, and the hall instantly fell silent.

“Thank you all for enjoying the banquet. Now, as announced beforehand, I’d like to hold a short prayer meeting in the presence of the empire’s esteemed nobles to pray for the recovery of Her Majesty the Empress, my mother. Now, is the High Priest ready?”

As soon as he finished speaking, priests clad in pure white robes entered the Crystal Hall in a single file. They pushed aside the Holy Knights Order, who had been the center of attention, and stood in a circle in the middle.

As the Holy Knights Order, who should have been the stars of the banquet, were shoved aside, the Knights Commander Aleks openly frowned.

However, the High Priest didn’t have a pleasant expression either. It seemed he had been dragged out against his will due to the Crown Prince’s demand. Sensing that both sides were uncomfortable with the situation, Aleks remained silent and took a step back for now.

The priests’ entrance was tantamount to throwing cold water on the festive atmosphere in an instant. The nobles looked around and murmured softly.

‘No way, so suddenly… are we seriously starting a prayer meeting?’

Everyone was taken aback, but no one dared to resist the Crown Prince’s order.

The Crown Prince’s bloodshot eyes scanned the hall leisurely. Those who saw his gaze were overwhelmed by the irresistible atmosphere and forgot what they had been dissatisfied about.

As if hypnotized, they all thought simultaneously. Our Crown Prince is perfect. Such an outstanding and brilliant Crown Prince could not possibly make a mistake in his commands.

Yet at the same time, they all squirmed with a strange, indescribable discomfort.

Unlike before, they were reluctant to look at the Crown Prince. Certainly, he was still charismatic and exceptional, but unlike the past when he was simply dazzling, there was a peculiar murky aura emanating from him.

Especially when meeting his bloodshot eyes, an eerie terror was felt, as if glimpsing something not of this world.

They had no way of knowing that Crown Prince Nigel was wielding the power of the Demon Stone while enduring its curse. So they merely tilted their heads in puzzlement at the inexplicable discomfort and tried to focus on the High Priest’s prayer.

It had already been over four years since Empress Anne fell into a coma after being poisoned. The fact that she was still alive, receiving only a small amount of water and thin soup through a tube inserted into her nose, was indeed a miracle.

The High Priest pleaded to God for that miracle to last even longer.

“No.”

At that moment, Nigel’s voice abruptly interrupted the prayer without hesitation.

“We should pray for the Empress to awaken and regain her health as before. Not plead to preserve her miserable state like a half-corpse.”

His words, sharp beyond belief, suddenly enveloped the entire hall in silence.

The High Priest, accustomed only to being highly revered, was also taken aback by the Crown Prince’s rude and unrestrained disruption.

However, even he could not resist the Crown Prince’s strange charisma. The High Priest, losing his composure and stammering, concluded the prayer by changing the content as the Crown Prince pointed out.

“−so that the glory of God may dwell in Her Majesty the Empress’s precious body and restore her health swiftly, we earnestly pray.”

“We pray−.”

As the prayer finally wrapped up, everyone in the hall solemnly chanted the refrain.

The priests, having returned to their usual solemn expressions, exited one by one. As Nigel smiled pleasantly, the hall’s atmosphere revived. At that moment, Nigel spoke as if he had been waiting.

“Ah, come to think of it… I had a promise I forgot to keep.”

“What do you mean, Your Highness?”

“Ah, I had made a promise to Lady Kasha Lyuschino, but I forgot to keep it.”

“……”

Instantly, the gazes of the nobles filling the hall shot towards Kasha like arrows.

However, she maintained her calm smile, as if she had expected this. Lifting the corners of his mouth as if pleased by that as well, Nigel continued.

“Two months ago, at the imperial-sponsored picnic, I had proposed a talent show. And I said I would give a prize to the one who received the most applause. Does everyone remember?”

“Ah, you’re talking about that.”

“Lady Kasha’s singing skills were indeed impressive back then.”

The nobles, eager to curry favor with the Crown Prince, chimed in enthusiastically.

“Now that the demon expedition has concluded, it’s time to give the prize I promised then.”

Nigel’s eyes glinted darkly, as if genuinely delighted.

“Lady Lyuschino. I had offered you the position of supervisor of research at the Magic Tower then. What do you say? Have you reconsidered that offer?”

Kasha shook her head firmly.

“I appreciate the offer, but it is a position that doesn’t suit me. I am merely someone who makes magic tools, my magical abilities are… lacking.”

People nodded at her resolute refusal, but Nigel ignored it and made an irrelevant remark.

“Ah. Come to think of it, I heard the scale of the lady’s ongoing magic tool business is quite large.”

Cutting off Kasha’s words, Nigel added that while glancing at Leon.

As expected, Leon was glaring at him with a face that had hardened stiffly with anger.

‘You’re not even trying to hide your hostility towards me anymore, Leon.’

Nigel thought to himself with an inward snicker.

Leon’s eyes, which had always been loftily silent, were now filled with raw fury.

If this banquet hall wasn’t packed with people, he looked as though he would have rushed over and held his sword to Nigel’s neck already.