But this was not the kind of interrogation the man was about to do. Layla did not give him an answer and instead countered with a question.

“Isn’t Your Highness also taking me as a slave?”

“Layla.”

Hearing her name called in an angry voice, as if to say that her defiance was absurd, Layla calmly replied.

“It was only a matter of being caught sooner or later anyway.”

Adrian let out a hollow laugh.

“So you’ve given up like that. Was it perhaps because of your youngest brother who was captured by Isabella Fitzroy?”

“……”

As expected, he had accurately grasped Layla’s intention of wanting to be caught by Fitzroy.

When no affirmative answer came from Layla, Adrian made a knowing expression.

“I guess that’s right. Yes, I remember. How much you cherished that child.”

“Will you really save Cedric?”

When Layla mentioned the third term of the deal she had heard from him when she boarded Fitzroy’s ship, Adrian finally released her from his embrace.

Layla thought it fortunate and stepped back to put some distance between them. Then Adrian began to sneer.

“Now that I’m wearing the shell of Adrian Raines, are you starting to trust me a little? If I had known this would happen, I should have told you in advance at Filmer.”

“……”

“But I guess it can’t be helped since I had some fun as Marquis Millay. You fell for me, didn’t you? You were quite easy to win over.”

What did this man want to say?

Layla couldn’t figure out Adrian’s true intentions at all.

As he said, she had believed in ‘Millay’. Even knowing he was a person wearing a false shell, the kindness he showed was too sweet.

But the one who made her believe that way was none other than Adrian himself. She didn’t know what had twisted his mind after orchestrating it himself.

“What do you want to say?”

At Layla’s question, Adrian replied with coldly sunken eyes.

“I want to ask why you keep making the worst choices in front of the person you like.”

It was a tone clearly filled with resentment.

What Adrian was pointing out was not just the current situation. Layla realized that he still held in his heart the incident from over 10 years ago.

And these words from this man were enough to make Layla, who had been standing with some dignity until just now, shrink back.

His resentment was sufficiently justified.

Because she had committed such a grave mistake.

Didn’t she even shed tears because of it before voluntarily going to Otilia’s Security Bureau?

Regretting it.

If asked to name the one thing she most wanted to undo in her life, it would be that.

So even if Adrian nitpicked on that incident, he was innocent.

‘Could it be… that he came for revenge?’

At this point, such a thought suddenly occurred to her.

Perhaps he had approached her wearing the mask of kindness as a completely different person, Millay, because he wanted to throw her into the mud.

If so, he might be feeling the greatest pleasure of his life right now. Because he was in the process of putting the yoke of slavery on Layla, who had driven him into a crisis, and taking her away.

Once they reached Harkin, he would be able to fully possess Layla.

Because he would become the absolute master who could say any insulting words to Layla, find any fault to whip her, and no one would curse him for it.

Perhaps even now, contrary to that hardened face, he might be triumphantly sneering at her in his mind.

At this point, she thought she had misjudged.

She had readily agreed to follow him at his words that he would save her family, thinking that things couldn’t get any worse anyway, but for some reason, it felt like she had made a self-defeating move. Going to Harkin with him might be a worse case for her than Fitzroy.

Having such thoughts, the blood drained from Layla’s already haggard face. She looked miserably shabby standing before him, having lost the Wessex name and with shackles fastened on her two feet and hands.

Such thoughts were revealed through the trembling of her hands and legs. And her tear glands swelled up again, but Layla tried to endure it by biting her lip.

‘This is all my fault.’

As Adrian reprimanded, it was all because of her that the situation had reached the worst of the worst. So even if she had a hundred mouths, she had nothing to say.

Thus, unable to make any rebuttal, Adrian sighed and pulled Layla’s wrist.

Then he swung the powerless Layla and sat her down on the sofa. As Layla, who was dropped almost like being thrown, looked up at him with fearful eyes, Adrian narrowed his brows and urged her to answer.

“Will you continue to do so in the future?”

“Anyway… I’m now Your Highness’ property.”

It was humiliating, but Layla willingly uttered the words that he might most want to hear.

“Because I am Your Highness’ slave.”

At that moment, Adrian’s violet eyes froze coldly. Layla shivered at the sharp gaze filled with contempt.

Would he punish her for being insolent after she gave a verbal response?

She was tense, wondering if a slap might fly at her, but Adrian spat out a cynical remark through twisted lips.

“Right. Absurdly, I’ve put shackles on you.”

With that, Adrian turned around.

Walking up to the large window of the cabin, he closed his eyes as if suppressing his anger and drew in rough breaths.

The sound of rushing waves filled the cabin that had fallen into a brief silence.

Although he felt Layla’s persistent gaze, Adrian ignored it to calm his heart and secretly mulled over his regret.

Perhaps it was the first regret of his life.

‘It’s too late……’

In fact, the other Wessexes didn’t matter to him at all. He just wanted to save Layla safely… but everything was ruined when he collapsed.

However, now that the situation had flowed this way, he couldn’t remove the shackles bound to her hands and feet.

Although it was a narrow margin, he couldn’t treat a person who had become a slave of a country differently without the order of the Harkin emperor.

Even if they went back, it was uncertain whether the emperor would elevate her from the status of a slave.

Moreover, it was difficult to consider all the people on this ship as his people. If he removed those, his purpose would be revealed to be rescuing Layla rather than keeping Isabella Fitzroy in check, and someone would try to use her to bite at his neck.

Whether it was Isabella or someone else within the empire.

Suppressing his emotions with reason, Adrian ordered Layla in a commanding tone.

“Sit there obediently until morning.”

“I… can go back to my place.”

Irritated by the returning words, his eyebrows twitched involuntarily. Adrian slightly turned his body and glanced sideways at Layla, who was still sitting obediently on the sofa.

“Your place? Does such a space for you exist on this ship?”

He didn’t want to make this kind of degrading remark, but he couldn’t help it.

“Don’t tell me it’s the cargo hold?”

“……”

Judging from the lack of response, his guess seemed to be correct.

Adrian momentarily filled his throat with a hollow laugh. Layla was really driving him crazy. How could she choose to say only the things he least wanted to hear, word for word?

“Perhaps because you’ve lived your whole life in a noble status, you don’t yet realize how far you’ve fallen. What do you think will happen if you stay there?”

With innocent eyes that didn’t know the ways of the world, Layla looked at Adrian. She seemed to have no idea what words Adrian would utter next.

Adrian coldly awakened Layla to reality. She needed to know that the world surrounding her was no longer easy.

“It’s a ship crawling with men. Do you think they’ll leave alone a woman who’s perfect to prey on? Moreover, no one will give them any disadvantage even if they touch you.”

Of course, if anyone so much as touched Layla’s fingertips, Adrian was prepared to burn that bastard to death.

However, not everyone knew that fact. He couldn’t openly reveal it either.

Anyway, fortunately, Layla, who seemed to have understood his words at last, was seen blushing. Seeing her red up to the tips of her ears, Adrian added in a slightly softened tone.

“You’ll have to become my woman for other men to not casually touch you.”

Of course, even then, there would be those who couldn’t read the atmosphere and would act up, but then he could punish them.

Because it would be considered that they had dared to covet the property of the crown prince.

Then, feeling displeased with his own thoughts, Adrian crossed his arms and turned his back to her.

Property, slave.

He didn’t like any of the words that described her now.

He even found it repulsive that he was casually thinking of such things.

He hated her for unhesitatingly spitting out the expression that she was his slave.

“So you mean it’s for my sake?”

Tactlessly, he resented her for saying this.