In conclusion, the empress had come to beg Adrian.

“That child has never been to such a place before, Crown Prince.”

As soon as she heard that the 4th prince would be heading south, the empress, feeling a crisis, first went to the emperor, they say.

However, the emperor of Hankin was already on Adrian’s side. More precisely, he was on the side of the strong. Realizing that words wouldn’t get through, she eventually came to Adrian himself.

Of course, Adrian politely refused as well.

“Please don’t worry too much. I think I’ll have some time in about a week.”

It was like hinting to the empress and the 4th prince that he would forgive them if they endured for a week, and to Lilburn it was an order to find the artifact within a week.

“And it seems you’ve forgotten due to living comfortably thanks to me all this time. Originally, that is the duty of the royal family, so your beloved 4th prince cannot be an exception, Mother.”

The Hankin royal family had a duty to protect the empire’s people.

In fact, among previous generations, there were emperors and crown princes who died while dealing with monster waves. All their deaths are recorded as honorable deaths.

In that sense, the 4th prince actually has no reason to make such a fuss. Since he himself is capable, he can survive if he shows his skills. If that happens, the 4th prince would actually gain a lot.

In the end, the empress left.

Her eyes, which had been shedding tears, were now filled with venom.

By the time the commotion that had come to the Crown Prince’s palace subsided, it was already deep into the night.

Tired, he headed to the bathroom to relieve his fatigue. He felt hungry in his heart for not seeing Layla, but he didn’t want to call her now.

If he saw her at night, he would want to embrace her. His body, already unbridled once, was craving her madly.

To be honest, he wanted to wait endlessly until Layla sought him out first, no matter when that might be…

The problem was that Adrian would never know when that moment would come.

As it was earlier today, Layla is someone who has to hide her body in front of Adrian. She can’t even send her intentions through someone else. She has become a person for whom even that alone would be a crime.

‘When you think about it that way, was Maeve wise…?’

For forcibly bringing her before him?

Letting out a hollow laugh inside, Adrian arrived at the bathroom and quickly undressed with the help of his servants.

After dismissing everyone, Adrian stretched out in the small bath in the center of the bathroom and tilted his head back at the headache pressing down on his head.

The faint moonlight coming through the window, the candlelight permeating the bathroom, and the warmth of the bath gently enveloped Adrian’s body.

Perhaps because he was relaxed and stretched out, fatigue suddenly rushed over him.

It was in that moment when he thought he had closed his eyes for just a moment.

“Your Highness, Your Highness?”

Adrian lifted his heavy eyelids at the sound of someone shaking him awake. Then Maeve came into his blurry vision.

A worried face.

Moreover, unlike when he closed his eyes, his body was somewhat chilly. The water had cooled. Realizing this fact, Adrian noticed that he had been asleep for quite a long time, contrary to what he felt.

However, with no strength returning to his drooping body, he closed his eyes again and asked Maeve.

“How long… how much time has passed?”

“Just over 30 minutes.”

Fortunately, not enough time had passed to be noticeably strange.

Adrian sighed in relief and slowly moved his legs first to straighten his upper body. It was when he slightly turned his body. He made a bewildered expression at the doll caught in the corner of his vision.

“Layla…?”

Behind Maeve, there was someone with curly brown hair standing quietly against the wall.

It was Layla.

When he looked back at Maeve again, she just smiled quietly.

As Adrian frowned and emerged from the bath, Maeve roughly wiped off the water and draped a silk robe over him.

He hurriedly tied the robe’s sash with his own hands after confirming the sight of Layla, who couldn’t bring herself to face him directly and had her cheeks flushed red.

Adrian stepped down the stairs around the bath with wet feet and stood in front of Layla. She was still hanging her head.

Her two hands gathered in front of her stomach. Looking down at them, Adrian finally snatched one of Layla’s hands.

After firmly interlocking fingers, he pulled her out without a word.

As Adrian opened the bathroom door with his own hand and strode across the second-floor corridor, Layla did not resist him. She just struggled to keep up with his rapid pace.

The servants also sometimes had to run to follow Adrian. Only Brian, who had been guarding the door, was able to keep pace well.

Just as her breathing started to become slightly labored, they arrived at the Crown Prince’s bedroom, located in the most secluded part of the second floor. Layla nervously gripped Adrian’s hand tightly as she watched that door being flung open.

As soon as the door closed, he let go of Layla’s hand and stood her in front of him.

“When I want to see you, you’re within reach.”

Layla raised her head at Adrian’s sudden words.

“I’m going to go crazy.”

But he didn’t have the courage to actually not look at Layla.

Layla, not knowing how to react, fumbled before asking a different question.

“…How serious is your condition?”

Layla had never done attunement herself, but she knew what kinds of side effects ability users experienced. Trembling in hands and feet, headaches and pain throughout the body, etc. Among these, loss of consciousness was the phenomenon that appeared last.

Could it be that the reason he couldn’t appear at the dock in Filmer before was because he had fainted?

If that was the reason he couldn’t appear for a long time even though she was being chased, everything fit together perfectly.

As that certainty struck her, Layla’s heart sank just from thinking about it. But Adrian replied as if it wasn’t a big deal.

“It doesn’t seem to be a very important problem.”

It’s too insensitive an answer. Layla shook her head.

“No, it’s important. Because you are the Crown Prince of Hankin, a great empire.”

Adrian had many allies, but just as many enemies. If someone like him collapsed, it would change not only the Hankin Empire but also the landscape of each country.

However, even knowing all of that situation, it was too resolute an answer for Layla, so Adrian laughed softly.

The reason he felt joy at even these small reactions of hers was because his heart belonged to Layla.

So even if he told himself not to be greedy, he couldn’t help but be drawn to her.

Adrian took a step closer to Layla. As he gently tilted his body and their faces drew near, he could see Layla’s eyes widening.

Looking into those eyes that held the blue sea that had completely stolen his world when he was young, Adrian asked.

“Then Layla, will you heal me?”

The sea reflecting him rippled.

Layla felt that their lips were about to touch, but she didn’t back away.

Rather, unlike before, she faced Adrian straight on.

At that focused gaze, Adrian felt that Layla was finally seeing him fully.

Her lips, where the recent wound had not yet healed, quivered.

“I don’t have the ability to attune…”

“It seems you do have the intention to heal me.”

“That’s…”

It was because it was an impossible request that she couldn’t do it, not because she didn’t want to, as he said.

Layla didn’t want him to be in pain.

Because he was someone who had already received too great a wound because of her.

It might no longer matter at all to the Crown Prince of Hankin, but to Layla, the wound she had given Adrian seemed too great.

Adrian suddenly embraced Layla with both arms. At that moment, water droplets falling from his hair wet Layla’s face.

It felt just like his tears.

As her face rested against the damp robe, Adrian’s heartbeat reached deep into her eardrums.

Thump, thump…

Though it was the sound of another’s heartbeat, it felt as close as if it were Layla’s own.

“I feel like I won’t collapse as long as I have you.”

To protect you, this heart must not be allowed to stop.

If that one mission existed, Adrian Raines would get up again and again. Even if God were to bring death upon him, he was confident he could come back to life.

To Adrian, Layla was such an existence.

An inexplicable will that could make one transcend human limits, in itself.

Such a person asked the most foolish question in the world.

“Do you like me, Your Highness?”

“Do you like me, my lord?”

She repeated verbatim the question she had once asked Millay.

At that time, Millay had answered like this:

“If I were to say that I like you… would you accept my proposal?”

It was a hypothetical question.

And everything was conditional.

If the princess returns to Wessex.

If I go to find the princess.

If the princess also accepts me.

Then I will propose.

However, Adrian Raines had no need for such conditions at all.

Because the current form is enough, and he needs Layla just as she is now.

“I love you, Layla.”