‘Did he come here knowing I was here?’

Layla straightened her back, trembling with pain, and secretly looked up at Adrian. However, Adrian, who had just entered the back garden of the prince’s palace, did not even glance at Layla.

Instead, he opened his mouth as he approached the Fourth Prince step by step.

“Whether I send my slave to Cliffhill or not…”

At the word ‘slave’, Layla shrank back again. Her heart was pounding. It was because of Adrian’s voice, sharp as a knife.

“The final decision is mine. So why are you, of all people, bringing that up?”

Adrian stopped walking when he got very close and looked down at the Fourth Prince.

At that, the Fourth Prince, who had been venting his anger at Layla, immediately bowed his waist.

“I apologize, elder brother.”

The Fourth Prince, who had been so arrogant in front of Layla, tucked his tail at a single word from Adrian. Then the Fourth Prince’s words, which sounded like excuses, followed.

“I never intended to overstep your authority, elder brother. It’s just that this slave…”

“I thought you were docile, but were you preparing to stab me in the back as I expected?”

“No way. Absolutely not.”

The Fourth Prince’s face turned bright red as he stuttered at Adrian’s pressure. Adrian, who was looking down at him as if he were looking at something useless, whispered in his ear.

“Don’t get too cocky just because you’re the offspring of the current empress. Should I take back all of your maternal family’s business rights? I remember lending you quite a lot.”

“Oh, no…”

The Fourth Prince answered with tension, but he couldn’t understand why he was receiving such pressure just for educating a slave.

Then he suddenly realized.

‘Is that slave so precious?’

He heard that Adrian had searched for her all night on the ship from Otilia and even held her after coming to the crown prince’s palace. There were already public rumors circulating that the crown prince might have a child with the slave at this rate.

The moment his thoughts reached that point, the Fourth Prince’s eyes turned to Layla. Even though Layla had her head down, she could feel his gaze and flinched.

Immediately, Adrian pointed out the Fourth Prince’s attitude of being distracted in front of him.

“Hey, where are you looking while I’m talking?”

“…I’m sorry.”

Seeing her react sensitively to just a glance, it seemed his guess was right.

“I’m warning you. Don’t touch anything within my authority. I’m not generous enough to tolerate your climbing behavior.”

The following words especially gave the Fourth Prince confidence in his realization. However, the Fourth Prince could not withstand Adrian’s blatant pressure, as he now had more power than even the empress of the empire, so he repeatedly bowed his head.

“…I will keep that in mind.”

Upon hearing the obedient answer, Adrian turned his gaze towards the window of the prince’s palace, and the onlookers scattered like the tide.

That’s how overwhelming the pressure Adrian showed at that moment was.

Even Layla, who had been watching the process, could tell.

However…

Layla blankly watched Adrian’s feet leaving the back garden without any follow-up measures. In the meantime, the Fourth Prince also found such behavior strange and called out to Adrian.

“Excuse me, elder brother? This slave… aren’t you taking her with you?”

The Fourth Prince, who had been conversing, thought that Adrian had come because he was angry about the whipping of Layla, and even Layla herself thought it might have an impact, but despite that, Adrian did not say a single word about what to do with Layla.

So he asked the question, but it did not stop Adrian’s feet. He merely looked at Bryan beside him.

“Take her to the palace.”

Layla clearly felt it.

An tone that was too half-hearted, as if it was bothersome.

It wasn’t just her who noticed such an attitude. Everyone in the imperial palace’s back garden, and even Adrian’s own people behind him, were bewildered.

Even Bryan, who received the order, showed a moment of agitation before bowing his head upon meeting Adrian’s cold gaze.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

With that, Adrian, who had finished his business, left the prince’s palace grounds again.

In the meantime, the Fourth Prince was confused about whether he should be relieved that he would not be punished for touching Layla, or annoyed that he had missed the crown prince’s weakness that he had almost discovered after a long time.

Bryan immediately walked towards Layla.

He looked down at Layla with an expressionless face and coldly ordered.

“Get up.”

Layla was unable to move for a while, trembling with her injured back due to a shock she didn’t know why. It wasn’t just because of the pain from the whipping.

It was because Adrian had completely ignored her.

‘But you already knew…?’

Layla asked herself that question.

Yes, she knew.

The fact that Adrian hadn’t brought her to Harkin with pure intentions.

However, Layla, who had no idea that she would realize her miserable situation in front of everyone like this, felt a greater sense of falling than when slave shackles were put on her hands and feet.

But she couldn’t ignore Bryan’s order forever, so Layla eventually got up, staggering.

In the middle, her leg strength gave out and she sat down again, but Bryan kept his head stiff and only looked straight ahead, not helping at all. It was because touching a slave’s body itself was considered unclean.

She was unsteady, but after two attempts, Layla finally stood up. Bryan, who confirmed this, turned around first without telling her to follow.

Layla followed behind him and once again reminded herself of her status as a slave of the Harkin imperial family.

In this imperial palace… there was no one to help her.

There were only people who ignored her even when she was right in front of them.

Shocked by the sight of Adrian, who had not looked back at her even once since entering the back garden, Layla swallowed the tears flowing from the corners of her mouth.

‘It’s not that I had expectations…’

Without realizing it, she must have really trusted him.

Even though he was someone she shouldn’t.

Layla, who had given up after searching for Adrian, who had already disappeared after leaving the prince’s palace, had to swallow her pain alone in her corner room in the crown prince’s palace.

The fever slowly began to boil in her body. Groans of pain involuntarily flowed out between her teeth, but there was no one to heal the pain in her body or heart.

Only after she barely fell asleep did Maeve secretly come in and apply ointment to her injured back, but she did not know.

At the time of dawn when almost everyone in the crown prince’s palace was asleep.

Adrian in his sleepwear slipped out of the bedroom. Then Bryan, who was guarding the front according to the daytime order, silently bowed his head.

Adrian walked down the corridor with a stiff expression and climbed the stairs to the third floor, which he had never set foot on in his life.

The space he used in the crown prince’s palace was only up to the second floor, and from the third floor, it was a place where only the servants waiting for his protocol came and went.

Layla’s room was located on the 5th floor, the very top of the crown prince’s palace.

Adrian gritted his teeth as he headed towards the smallest end room among them, where the least light entered.

Fortunately, thanks to the prior notice, Maeve was waiting near Layla’s room with a lamp in her hand.

Adrian stopped at the door and asked Maeve briefly.

“Layla?”

“She seems to be sleeping… but I think I hear her tossing and turning.”

“Open it.”

Maeve seemed to have some lingering conflict about whether it was okay for the crown prince to come here directly. However, unable to withstand the pressure Adrian was sending with his eyes, she opened the door.

Then, in the small room that could be considered the size of a palm compared to the crown prince’s bedroom, Layla came into view, lying on the hard floor with only a thin blanket, making groaning sounds.

As soon as he discovered her curled up like a shrimp due to the cramped room, Adrian went in front of her and lowered himself on one knee.

“Layla, Layla…”

Maeve looked around the corridor once and closed the door, and Adrian examined Layla, who was still moaning without hearing his voice.

He moved to the side of Layla’s back, lifted the blanket with a trembling hand, and checked her body. Then he found that the back was still soaked with blood. The clothes were even stuck to the wounds in a terrible state.

Unable to bear the sight of her not receiving proper treatment, Adrian ordered Maeve.

“Call the doctor, right now.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

While Maeve went downstairs, Adrian held Layla in his arms and looked down at her chapped lips.

Seeing that place that had split from biting during the whipping by the Fourth Prince, it felt like his heart was being torn apart.

Adrian was looking at her with an agitated gaze, and just as he hugged her tightly, a small voice came from below.

“Adrian… Your… Majesty?”

Judging by the clumsy mix of his name and title, she seemed to be half-awake.

Adrian looked down at her, who had somehow opened her eyes. Layla’s face, illuminated by the small lamplight held by Bryan, was very pale.

Although he felt a lump in his throat, Adrian nodded and answered.

“Yes. It’s me, Layla.”

Blinking slowly with eyes that had not yet shed their sleepiness, Layla expressed a small question.

“Why are you here…?”

“Why, you ask? I came because I was worried about you.”

Layla was confused by Adrian’s response, as if it were a matter of course.

Maybe she was still dreaming.

Then this must be how the lingering attachment in her heart was manifesting.

Layla clung to Adrian’s clothes as he held her and leaned more into his embrace. Then the warm and firm body flinched but soon wrapped his shoulders more deeply.

Feeling secure in that warmth, Layla began to sniffle slightly. Since it was a dream, she thought she could act like a child, and a weak sound flowed out.

“I thought you didn’t care about someone like me.”

“…Someone like you, why would you say that?”

Layla recalled the back of Adrian, who had thoroughly ignored her during the day, and her eyes moistened. Adrian’s hand immediately wiped away those tears, but the sadness did not cease.

“Because I’m a lowly slave now… I shouldn’t even let my shadow touch you.”

Listening to Layla’s murmuring, Adrian clenched his teeth so hard that his jaw ached.

Adrian took a rough breath and whispered with trembling lips.

“Just wait a little, just a little. I’ll solve everything for you. And I’ll make those who look down on you like this kneel before you. The 7th Prince of Filmer, that 4th Prince, and the 1st Princess of Fitzroy… all of them.”

“…Liar.”

“It’s not a lie, Layla. Believe in me.”

Although it was a dream, it was too sweet a word.

It felt like the Adrian who cherished and loved her when she was young had returned. If it was the Adrian of some parallel world without Wessex’s betrayal… wouldn’t he say it like now?

At that, Layla felt happiness and smiled slightly. When Adrian saw the smile on her lips, he barely managed to smile back.

Knock knock.

At the sound of knocking on the door from outside, Adrian raised his head.

“Come in.”

And the moment reality hit, the peaceful expression on Layla’s face changed.