“At least it seems like the author will beg and plead.”

It was quite a provocative statement and attitude.

Of course, the voice was merely whispered softly so Reynold wouldn’t have heard it, but he seemed to sense something from the look in their eyes and was walking towards them.

Just from his tightly closed lips and furrowed brow, it was clear how displeased he currently was.

Walking over with heavy steps, Reynold stood imposingly in front of Layla and growled menacingly as he looked down at Lord Millay’s hand resting on her delicate shoulder.

“Lord Millay, what are you doing to my fiancée right now?”

My fiancée.

Though he didn’t even treat her properly, those words still flowed from Reynold’s mouth, making one wonder if he had forgotten.

Then he stepped even closer and sharply swatted away one of Lord Millay’s hands.

Only then did Lord Millay completely release Layla’s shoulder and take a step back.

For a moment, they stared at each other with Layla between them, but their battle of nerves concluded when Lord Millay flashed a slight smile and gently bowed.

“My apologies, Your Highness the 7th Prince.”

Reynold let out a “Ha” sigh. It was an act that clearly revealed his exasperated state of mind.

However, without saying anything more, he simply pulled Layla’s shoulder forcefully towards himself.

Pulled into his embrace, Layla squeezed her eyes shut and held her breath. It was partly due to his body odor mixed with perfume from dancing with other women until just now, but there was also the reason that Reynold’s sweat smell itself was burdensome.

And the moment he noticed this, Lord Millay’s expression turned cold, but only Reynold saw it.

Reynold, realizing Lord Millay’s true feelings revealed briefly, twisted his lips.

“It’s fortunate you know it’s rude, Lord Millay. But I find it extremely unpleasant, so I think I’ll have to formally protest to the Empire?”

“…”

“When you made advances on my fiancée, you must have been prepared for at least that level of consequences, right?”

It was quite a sharp rebuke. Layla’s heart started pounding, worried that something serious was about to happen.

If she had firmly rejected Lord Millay from the start, this wouldn’t have happened, but it seemed an unexpected situation was about to unfold due to her own indecisiveness.

But then.

Clatter…

The sound of a nearby pebble rolling was heard. As the garden path was made of stone, the unusually loud sound momentarily drew the attention of all three people present.

Layla’s eyes widened at the sight of an object suddenly moving as if propelled, though there was no wind nor anyone kicking it.

‘Psychokinesis…?’

Upon noticing this unusual phenomenon, Layla momentarily forgot she was in Reynold’s embrace and turned her eyes to Lord Millay.

Lord Millay, however, remained nonchalant as if he had nothing to do with the pebble. His attitude suggested that even Reynold’s recent warning was not much of a threat to him.

“Of course, that’s something I was prepared for from the moment I first saw the princess.”

Do you think I would fear such things?

The unspoken words seemed to echo in her ears.

As Reynold frowned deeply at the retort, Lord Millay stepped closer to him, his footsteps echoing.

Then, tilting his head slightly, Lord Millay brought his lips to Reynold’s ear and began whispering something. In a voice so low that even Layla in Reynold’s arms couldn’t hear.

But Layla clearly felt it.

Reynold’s arms holding her tightened with force. His eyes, which had shown a bit of confidence until just now, widened so much it seemed his eyeballs might pop out as he stared at Lord Millay.

Soon Lord Millay’s smooth lips curled into a smile and he stepped back.

“Then, Your Highness the 7th Prince.”

“…”

“I shall take my leave now. I’m too tired to stay for the entire banquet.”

It was quite a rude attitude for a guest from another country, but Reynold did not further scold or detain him.

“…I hope you will certainly attend the engagement ceremony tomorrow.”

Smiling with his eyes, Lord Millay grew even bolder, now pulling Layla’s hand from in front of Reynold and lightly placing a farewell kiss on the back of her hand.

“Princess, I look forward to our meeting again tomorrow.”

* * *

Thud.

The moment the carriage door closed, a sigh welled up from deep in his stomach and burst forth.

As large hands roughly tousled the neatly styled hair, the aide who had been waiting in the carriage the entire time since arriving at the palace until his return spoke up.

“You’ve returned earlier than expected.”

The man rolled only his blue eyes to the side, and the other added an honorific.

“Your Highness.”

At the same time, the carriage they were in began to move.

With a rattling sound, the wheels rolled quickly, and the somewhat shabby-looking carriage began to move away from the royal palace.

Millay, unable to lean back in the carriage with its strangely uncomfortable ride, glanced once towards the door before speaking. His low voice was tinged with a dejected mood.

“It was too disgusting to stay any longer.”

Realizing his lord’s nerves were on edge, his aide Lilburn held out his hand.

“Pardon me for a moment, Your Highness.”

As those words were heard, Millay closed his eyes and his face began to change as if a mask was being removed. His features subtly rearranged, his eyes returned to their original purple color, and his hair color changed from deep black to silver.

In an instant, he shed the mask of ‘Millay’ and returned to being Adrian Pinter Raines, the Crown Prince of Hankin.

Sensing that Lilburn’s little trick was over, Adrian absently touched his own face as if it felt somewhat unfamiliar. Watching this, Lilburn carefully asked.

“Was it Reynold? It seems you found it difficult to tolerate that 7th prince’s appearance.”

Adrian paused his hand. His purple eyes sank deeply.

“He’s not the only one who’s out of his mind.”

Since coming to the Filmer Kingdom in disguise, Adrian had seen the royal family in such a mess that it was harder to find parts that weren’t in disarray.

The king was so immersed in debauchery that he showed no interest unless it was to fill his own pleasures, and the princes were all alike, lost in alcohol and lust. The princesses’ appearances were not much different from the princes.

Thanks to this, it became much easier to infiltrate disguised as a wealthy nobleman selling large pleasure ships, but it wasn’t very pleasant to see such filthy sights before his eyes.

Moreover.

As he naturally recalled one scene, Adrian’s purple eyes narrowed.

“I wonder who really needs their manners fixed.”

A mocking soliloquy flowed from his lips.

At that time, when he had just arrived in front of the room and heard those words from that 7th prince brat, he seriously considered throwing that human out the window for a moment.

But it wasn’t the time to reveal his psychokinetic abilities, his true identity, so he had no choice but to endure.

…Though he ended up making a mistake earlier, that is.

Because of that bastard’s words, “my fiancée.”

As he mulled over that word, grinding his molars, Lilburn reminded Adrian in a businesslike tone from beside him.

“By the way, I’ve almost completed the assessment of the Filmer Kingdom’s financial situation as you ordered, Your Highness.”

Adrian refocused his gaze, which had become hazy at some point.

“Right, how is the current situation?”

“I hoped it wasn’t the case, but… it’s much more serious than we expected.”

Lilburn picked up some documents he had placed on one side of the carriage. Given his meticulous personality, he had probably reviewed and memorized them several times while Adrian was at the banquet, but he still looked them over once more as he spoke.

“As you know, the money they’ve borrowed from our Hankin alone already exceeds their royal budget for a year. One might think it’s not an immediate problem since the repayment date is about 2 years away, but they haven’t borrowed only from us.”

“Besides us, who have they borrowed from the most?”

“It’s Poitier, the country attached to Filmer’s east. Coincidentally, the repayment for this one is due in just over 2 months.”

“Is that so? Then when I meet the 1st Prince, I should offer to repay all their debts on their behalf.”

As he spoke, Adrian clearly envisioned his future plans in his mind. Repay the debt on their behalf and even lower the interest rate. And in the meantime, collect as much of Hankin’s currency circulating in Filmer as possible, raising the value of Hankin’s currency.

In this way, rather increase the burden of interest and principal repayment, bring them to the point where they can’t even pay the interest, and gradually lead them into a mountain of debt, driving the Filmer Kingdom to default.

And after that.

Adrian paused his thoughts at that point, and just then, Lilburn asked.

“But Your Highness, what exactly are you trying to achieve by devoting so much time to ruining such a small country?”

“…”

Adrian couldn’t readily provide an answer to the question.

He couldn’t bring himself to say it.

That it was to reclaim her, to reclaim Layla.