Adrian shook off the slight ash on his hands and spoke in as calm a tone as possible.

“As you know… it’s difficult to do anything about Cedric right away. But I swear I will save him by my own hands without fail.”

Adrian thought to himself.

Is this also a lie?

The fact that he was swearing before her that he would definitely save Cedric, even though he knew there was a possibility Cedric might pass away before he could rescue him.

At this rate, it seemed all his claims of not being a liar were in vain.

‘I deserve to be hated.’

As he was self-deprecating inwardly, Layla, who had been quietly looking down at the clean sheets of the bed lost in thought, shook her head.

“I’m well aware that saving Cedric is a difficult task.”

“…”

“No matter how ignorant I may be about the political situation, I’m not so childish as to throw a tantrum over such things. And Your Highness’s safety is important too.”

Hearing Layla’s words, Lilburn slightly raised his eyebrows.

Whether she would remember or not, Lilburn had also been involved in that incident 10 years ago. So when he heard the news that Layla was in Filmer, and when he met her again as she arrived at the mansion by carriage, he couldn’t possibly welcome her.

To the point where even Layla herself could notice that Lilburn disliked her.

Lilburn couldn’t hold back for a moment and muttered.

“I suppose time does make people grow up. Though I tend to believe people can’t be fixed.”

At that, Layla raised her round eyes to look at Lilburn, and Adrian immediately reacted with a stern voice.

“Lilburn.”

But Lilburn, who often spoke frankly even to Adrian, did not mince his words just because it was in front of Layla.

He cut off Adrian and continued speaking while looking at Layla.

“I hope you remember that His Highness is taking plenty of risks, even if it’s just for the exchange of a single letter.”

Layla stared up at Lilburn as he spoke thus.

Though Lilburn wondered if she had understood his words, judging from her expression, he did not stop moving his mouth.

“I’m telling you not to sway His Highness with tears again. If you do, I won’t let you off easily this time.”

Hearing these words that sounded half like a threat, it was Adrian next to them who responded fiercely.

“Lilburn, what do you think you’re doing in front of me?”

“You need to get your head on straight too, Your Highness. I won’t stop you from playing at love while doing your duties, but you need to separate public and private matters.”

Adrian glared at his adjutant, whose words subtly pricked his pride, as if implying he wasn’t doing his job well.

“Public and private? I’m managing both just fine.”

Lilburn sighed. He responded to Adrian while keeping his eyes on Layla, as if to say she needed to understand reality too.

“I doubt it. No one who’s heard your recent statements would agree. Just yesterday afternoon, didn’t you say you’d kill anyone who touched your slave?”

He had said that to his half-brother, in front of everyone no less.

Adrian’s expression seemed to say “So what?” While it was true that public and private matters were mixed as Lilburn said, Adrian himself thought he was steering both in the direction he wanted.

Then wasn’t that fine?

The crux of the issue wasn’t whether to separate public and private matters, but whether one side would go awry or both would be lost.

However, before he could voice these thoughts, Lilburn took a few steps back and bowed deeply at the waist.

“I’ve said my piece, so call for me if you need me or not. Excuse me.”

After blurting out those rebellious words, Lilburn turned on his heel and left the bedroom abruptly. Looking at the closed door, Adrian let out a wry laugh.

“That guy…”

Layla, who had been silently listening while Lilburn was speaking, spoke in a quiet voice.

“…It seems Lilburn is very worried about Your Highness.”

Worried. Worried, is it.

It did seem possible to categorize Lilburn’s recent statements that way. Though his impudence reached the heavens.

“I’m sorry, Layla. I’ll make sure to caution him next time.”

From this statement, Layla deduced that Adrian must be quite fond of Lilburn as well. Otherwise, he wouldn’t let such rude remarks from his adjutant slide.

This was the same man who had questioned the 4th Prince about his wrongdoings even in front of the Empress. If he had wanted to scold Lilburn, he certainly wouldn’t have let it go so easily.

Layla looked at his face, which was frowning as if he had a headache, and fidgeted with her hands.

For some reason, she felt embarrassed to have her past behavior pointed out by a third party, rather than Adrian or the Emperor.

But she had to acknowledge the facts.

“It’s alright. There was nothing wrong in what Lord Lilburn said.”

“But it’s petty to bring up past incidents.”

Layla, who had been mulling over the hostility she felt when they first met and his recent remarks, suddenly asked.

“Was Lord Lilburn also involved in that incident?”

As she spoke, Layla recalled the feeling she had when she arrived at the temporary mansion in Filmer.

She had thought as soon as she saw Lilburn.

That she seemed to have seen him somewhere before.

But she couldn’t pinpoint where in her memories. If she had been able to, she might have quickly figured out that Millay was Adrian.

‘I couldn’t remember Maeve either, how strange…’

It made sense that she didn’t remember Maeve from childhood, as she had only heard her name.

She had only known of the existence and name of the maid who had practically raised the Crown Prince.

Coincidentally, when Layla was briefly corresponding with Adrian about their engagement, Maeve had returned to her distant hometown to give birth to her own child, so there was no connection between her and Layla.

But while Layla was thinking, Adrian hesitated to answer as if there was something that bothered him, which was unlike him.

In the end, he did affirm Lilburn’s involvement, but.

“Lilburn was also in the Imperial Palace at that time.”

It was an ambiguous statement.

“Was he not Your Highness’s man at that time?”

“Yes, that’s right. Actually, there’s no need to distinguish whether he was my man or not, because Lilburn was just a kid then too. He’s the same age as me.”

As Adrian said, Lilburn appeared to be the same age as him. He was exceptionally young to be the Crown Prince’s adjutant.

Layla blinked her eyes, waiting for further explanation, when Adrian suddenly chuckled.

He tilted his head towards Layla and lightly kissed her.

“I’m starting to get jealous of Lilburn too, so can we stop asking about him? I’ll tell you more later if necessary.”

In fact, Adrian thought it would be fine if Layla never knew for the rest of her life.

Fortunately, Layla, whose cheeks had turned red from his kiss, nodded.

“Still, please don’t scold Lord Lilburn too harshly. When I boarded the ship heading to Wessex… he handed me a continental pass. That must mean he follows Your Highness that much.”

“Both ‘scolding’ and ‘following’ are a bit off. Lilburn is my adjutant, but he’s also my friend.”

At Adrian’s explanation, Layla thought their relationship was quite peculiar.

Does Lilburn have something special about him?

“Is Lord Lilburn perhaps from Hankin?”

“Why do you suddenly think that?”

“I thought if he were from Hankin, it would be difficult for him to have such an equal relationship with Your Highness.”

Adrian was already of noble birth when he was born, and ascended to the position of Crown Prince at a young age. Emperor Hankin supported him wholeheartedly to that extent.

To the Hankin people, Adrian was an idol. In simple terms, he was someone who lived in such a different world that they couldn’t even feel jealous.

Only Layla, who was ignorant of the ways of the world despite being the daughter of a duke’s family, spoke casually to him and acted spoiled without knowing any better.

At Layla’s conjecture, Adrian gave a slight eye-smile and muttered softly.

“I’ve got something to brag about to Lilburn.”

“Pardon?”

“Yesterday, Lilburn made a comment to me suggesting that I was overestimating you too much. But I told him, you’re no longer the crybaby from the past.”

“…”

“My eye for people was indeed not wrong.”

Listening to Adrian’s words, Layla finally asked about their meaning.

“You mean my guess just now was correct?”

“That’s right. Lilburn is.”

Though the room was empty, Adrian brought his lips to Layla’s ear. Lowering his voice considerably, he soon revealed a secret to Layla.

“Actually, he’s a prince from another country.”

“…!”

A prince of his home country who had been missing for years and was treated as dead.

That was Lilburn’s true identity.

As Layla just gaped at this completely unexpected revelation, Adrian looked out the window.

“It’s time to start the morning. If we play around any longer, Maeve will scold us.”

“Ah…”

As Layla let out a sigh of disappointment, Adrian kissed her forehead once more and whispered.

“We’ll meet again tonight.”

Just wait a little longer.