While Layla’s back was revealed, she flinched at the stinging pain, and Adrian’s eyes, watching closely, also twisted with sympathy.

As she swept her lush brown hair forward to expose her back, the sight of whip marks covering what should have been perfectly unblemished skin came into view.

Upon discovering the wounds densely packed from the nape of her neck to her waist, Adrian wanted to close his eyes in anguish.

However, this too was a reality he had to face.

It was a wake-up call that he couldn’t protect Layla by hiding and ignoring her.

Adrian couldn’t bring his hands or lips to her wounds for fear of causing her pain. Instead, he grasped her shoulders and bowed his head.

“I’m sorry.”

Hearing his apology, unrelated to this incident, confusion arose in Layla’s eyes. Soon, her small head shook.

“…It’s not because of Your Highness.”

“No, it is because of me. Because I acted like you were nothing to me, making that bastard think he could treat you carelessly.”

Leaving no room for rebuttal, Layla silently listened. Soon, Adrian’s thick arms wrapped around her shoulders.

The distance between them naturally closed. However, Adrian buried his face in the crown of her head, careful not to let his body touch her back.

And he made a vow.

“I won’t let you experience something like this ever again.”

Layla closed her eyes at his words that resonated in her chest.

She didn’t understand why Adrian was hurting more over her wounds.

Facing him like this, it felt as if Adrian was truly treating her without any calculations.

“So give me a chance to protect you.”

As if he really liked her.

Or.

“Let me love you.”

As if he loved her…

Layla raised her gaze, which had been fixed on the floor, at Adrian’s words. She saw their reflection in the mirror hanging on the wall of the spacious reception room.

In the mirror, Adrian had lowered his once-straight head and was gazing solely at Layla.

Layla turned her head sideways and lifted it, as if to confirm that the desperation reflected in the mirror wasn’t her imagination, and their eyes met directly with his violet pupils.

Adrian felt a lump in his throat as he discovered that his image was finally captured in Layla’s eyes.

It had been much easier to talk about proposing or falling for her when he was acting as Millay.

But now that he had returned to being Adrian Raines, it was difficult to convey any sincerity.

Is it wrong of her not to believe?

Or is it wrong of him for making her unable to believe?

Adrian felt his own eyes trembling as he continued his confession.

“I’ve never once resented you for the past.”

“…”

“I just wanted to get you back.”

But the more he spoke, the more frantic Adrian felt. Not knowing what her lack of response meant made him extremely anxious.

At this rate, it felt like he would lose her again.

It was strange. Until he brought Layla to the Hankin Imperial Palace, he had been able to be patient. Hadn’t he even made plans to send her back to Wessex first and propose slowly?

But perhaps because he had confirmed her indifference right before his eyes, he didn’t want to miss even a single moment.

It felt like he could do anything to gain Layla’s trust.

There were many things he could do for her.

He could restore her family, recover her status, make those who insulted her kneel before her one by one, and bring the whole world to her feet.

However, Adrian now realized that such superficial things would no longer win her heart.

Only sincerity that broke through the lies would reach her.

He could swear that everything he had said to her, even while wearing Millay’s mask, had come from his heart.

But oaths cannot prove anything.

Hadn’t he just told the Empress that nothing takes form unless it guarantees a price?

He had been forgetting this basic truth in his rush to put his emotions first.

He wouldn’t do that anymore.

Adrian took a deep breath and stepped back from Layla. Then he slowly lowered his body, moving one foot back.

Layla’s eyes widened. So much that the entire outline of her blue irises was visible.

“Y-Your Highness…”

Adrian knelt on both knees before Layla. He looked up at her from below.

Layla was flustered because it was something that should never happen, something that must not happen.

But Adrian didn’t care at all about the fact that he had knelt before a slave. What showed on his stern face was rather a deep resolve.

“From now on, I will never make a mistake.”

As the Crown Prince of Hankin, Adrian had lived a life of generally gaining much with little risk in many aspects.

However, things weren’t always easy.

Sometimes, there were clearly parts where he had to bear more burdens precisely because he was at the pinnacle of power as the Crown Prince.

Protecting Layla was the same.

“I’m begging you like this, so please believe me. I’ll restore everything you want.”

But Layla still didn’t understand why he was going this far. Her eyes shook violently with turmoil.

“Why, why are you doing this?”

To her question, Adrian pleaded earnestly.

“Do you really still not know? It’s because I love you.”

“…”

“I love you, Layla.”

To the extent that he could give his all if it meant he could have her.

He wouldn’t mind even if he became a slave instead of her right now. He’d rather wear the shackles on her hands and feet himself.

When Layla had collapsed after being whipped by someone else, he had sincerely thought such things.

But such sacrifice was not allowed for him. Adrian Raines, the Crown Prince, could do everything else, but he couldn’t do that.

Even if he tried, there were too many things holding onto his fate.

The Hankin throne that naturally awaited him, the achievements he had built up so far, and the expectations of those who followed him were preventing him from falling.

“I’ve never stopped loving you for a single moment until now.”

So even this plea doesn’t reach Layla.

“Me?”

“Yes, you.”

Layla took a step back.

At that small movement, Adrian felt as if his heart was being trampled.

The despair that Layla would not believe anything he said unless the huge gap between her and himself was bridged filled his vision.

Layla shook her head at the sight of him lowering his head beneath her and spoke to Adrian in a trembling voice.

“I’m sorry. I’m too confused…”

“…”

Adrian lowered his eyelids.

It was so clear.

He felt foolish for having deluded himself into thinking she had embraced him because she liked him. He had prided himself on seeing through everything in the world, but his mental strength wavered at the fact that he had been inadequate in reading Layla’s heart.

Adrian sneered with self-loathing. And he decided to let go of the innocent her.

No matter how much he knelt and recited his love, it would only be torture for Layla. Because she would never be able to give an answer in return.

“…You may leave now.”

Even this one statement was proving the imbalance between them, wasn’t it?

Permitted, Layla gradually moved away from him.

She held onto her dress that was about to slip down with its loosened strings and went out of the reception room. Then the eyes of the servants waiting nearby became strange at the sight of Layla with her dress undone.

As Layla stood frozen in embarrassment, fortunately, Maeve came to her rescue. Maeve, who had come down upon hearing that Layla had been summoned to the reception room, walked up to Layla and ordered the surrounding maids.

“Send her up quickly. She’s not a child who should be here.”

Thus, with someone’s help, Layla headed towards the passage used by servants.

Standing in front of the stairs, Layla ran towards her room on the 5th floor, as if escaping the eyes of the maids who no longer followed her.

For the first time in a long while, the sound of her shoe heels rang out clearly under her feet.

Following that sound, the gazes of the servants staying in the Crown Prince’s Palace shifted. Layla sensed a stinging on her back, not from wounds but something else, but she couldn’t pay attention to it at the moment.

Layla’s body sank down powerlessly as she entered the room. With that, her dress with loosened strings slipped down smoothly.

Along with the cool sensation below her neck, Layla recalled that moment when his, Adrian’s hands and body had touched her.

That night which had been abnormally passionate.