He Who Covets the Abandoned Bride - Chapter 68

On the day the 4th Prince was leaving the imperial city, the huge main gate of the imperial palace was wide open. And in front of it stood the knights Adrian had promised to give to the 4th Prince.

Those knights were the ones the 4th Prince would take with him when he came to bid farewell to the emperor before departing for the south.

Adrian left those knights behind and headed into the palace first to face Frederick Raines, the Emperor of Hankin.

The emperor, who had been indifferent throughout this affair with the 4th Prince, glanced briefly at Adrian who had come to his office and muttered shortly.

“How spiteful.”

“If you didn’t like it, why didn’t you intervene and mediate?”

At Adrian’s retort that the emperor had ultimately gone along with his actions, the emperor snorted. He came out from behind his desk and stood in front of his son.

Adrian, unable to look down at his father who had become subtly shorter than him, faced straight ahead.

As their gazes gently crossed, Frederick patted his son’s shoulder.

“This matter turned out well, but don’t overdo it. Why expose your own weaknesses?”

“I didn’t know Your Majesty’s ears had become so dull that you couldn’t even hear news from the Crown Prince’s palace.”

“What do you mean?”

“Layla is not my weakness, but the weakness of those trying to attack me. I believe Your Majesty is not so dull as to be unable to block attacks coming from just one direction.”

The emperor dismissed Adrian’s sophistry with one word.

“Get married.”

“I refuse.”

When Adrian immediately answered as if it wasn’t even worth considering, the emperor unexpectedly walked out of the office as if telling him to do as he pleased.

Though he didn’t seem like the type to back down so easily, Adrian followed behind him for now.

The emperor walked down the corridor with his hands behind his back, asking questions to Adrian behind him.

“You said you’re leaving in a week too?”

“I still have some things to do in the capital.”

“What things?”

Adrian evaded answering with silence. Those things were about finding the artifact Tristan that would be stashed away somewhere in the imperial palace.

Although he felt the refreshing effect after sleeping with Layla, it wasn’t a proper attunement, so it was hard to consider it a complete recovery.

“…Come to think of it, I did hear some strange talk recently.”

“What kind of talk do you mean?”

Adrian looked at his father’s back, thinking ‘surely not’.

The emperor glanced sideways at Adrian. At that moment, Adrian noticed that his father had no intention of continuing his words.

At least not outwardly.

“Well, I’m sure the correct answer is among the things flitting through your mind.”

The first suspicious incident was when Adrian lost consciousness. Although Lilburn had handled it well, it must have seemed quite suspicious since it happened twice.

The second suspicious matter was that he had started searching for ‘Tristan’s’ whereabouts. Although the imperial palace was rather open to Adrian, he wasn’t permitted to thoroughly examine its innermost parts.

Probably the moment they thought he had crossed the line, some kind of restraint would be imposed on him.

‘Sly old fox.’

There was no reason to be intimidated, but he had to be cautious since the Emperor of Hankin could use Layla to shake him.

“Since you’re not giving any words of warning, I assume you don’t think it’s particularly important? I’ll be sure to conduct myself properly.”

“You’ve never disappointed me before, so I trust you.”

“Is there something problematic?”

Frederick, who had been walking slowly, paused for a moment in the corridor. Looking out the window, he blurted out.

“There it is, your problem.”

Adrian’s gaze followed outside. And the corners of his lips dropped.

It was Layla. Currently, as the only slave in the imperial city, Layla was mainly doing jobs that even the servants avoided, moving between various buildings.

As Adrian confirmed the sight of palace servants chasing after her, gesturing where to go, the emperor raised his eyebrows and made a mischievous expression while Adrian kept his mouth firmly shut.

“This father doesn’t care who you bring into your bed. But it’s important to use people in their proper position.”

Frederick’s meaning was to let a slave live like a slave. It was also a warning not to look after her just because he liked her.

The reason the emperor had stayed quiet while Adrian dealt with the 4th Prince was because he had maintained a perfect justification on the surface.

If he had taken unreasonable actions like improving Layla’s treatment, the emperor would have called Adrian in and taken measures.

In other words, it meant that it would have been Adrian going to the south today, not the 4th Prince.

“I’ll keep it in mind. And don’t worry, I consider that aspect most important as well. Wasn’t most of Your Majesty’s teaching about that?”

“I’m glad you haven’t forgotten.”

While listening to the answer, Adrian traced Layla’s movements with his eyes. Judging by the direction the maids were pointing, Layla seemed to be heading towards the basement of the imperial palace.

He was aware of most of what Layla was doing.

To exaggerate, it wouldn’t be wrong to say he was watching almost everything except for the time she was alone in her room.

When she was outside the building, he had Brian keep constant watch on her, and when she was inside, she would be working under someone’s supervision anyway, so it was enough to simply check through them.

However, the servants in the imperial palace are better trained than anywhere else in the imperial city. Even the servants’ mouths were rather tight, so it was difficult to find out exactly.

She wouldn’t be harmed in the basement of the imperial palace, would she?

As Adrian’s mind was suddenly filled with worry about Layla, the emperor’s voice reached his ears.

“But isn’t it strange?”

“What is?”

“Until now, children born of that bloodline have all had attunement abilities equally. So why is only that child an exception?”

Adrian countered the suspicion he raised.

“…Are you thinking she might be a child born outside?”

And suspecting the maternal line at that. Even the suspected illegitimate children of Duke Wessex all possessed attunement abilities.

“It’s a possibility. That’s why that cunning man might have sweet-talked you saying he’d give her to you. Though even that turned out to be a lie.”

“……”

“If that’s the case, isn’t it tragic? She became a slave despite having nothing to do with that family.”

Clicking his tongue, the emperor moved on, and Adrian followed behind him, unknowingly frowning.

Is that so, is there such a possibility?

In fact, Duke Wessex had been particularly rejecting of Layla. Even Adrian, who only encountered her occasionally, could feel it, so Layla must have felt it much more.

‘She does resemble her mother’s side.’

Layla’s features showed almost no trace of her father.

‘The refreshing feeling in the morning… was it really just my imagination?’

To be honest, he had secretly hoped that she might be able to use attunement abilities, even if belatedly.

In fact, the attunement abilities of the Wessex children are innate from birth, so the very fact that Layla had no ability was a bit strange.

However, among ability users, there were also plenty who had inherent abilities but couldn’t use them because they didn’t know how.

The use of abilities can be learned to some extent through training, but it’s almost based on animal instinct, so even if you shout how to do it as knowledge, it can sound like empty words.

It’s similar to how some people never learn to swim no matter how much you teach them, until they die.

Naturally, he thought Layla might be such a case…

‘But does it matter if she’s not from the Wessex family?’

At this point, talk of Layla’s origins wasn’t important. Because there was no one left to prove it anyway.

Adrian, who had reached the entrance of the imperial palace with the emperor, confirmed that the 4th Prince had arrived to pay his final respects to the Emperor of Hankin.

The empress, who was already at the palace entrance, saw Adrian walking out from inside with the emperor and hardened her expression.

She had always looked at him with disapproving eyes, but now it seemed she really hated Adrian.

However, Adrian paid no attention and looked outside.

The 4th Prince, armored in a way that didn’t suit his small frame, knelt before the emperor who had just stepped outside the palace with a tense face.

“I shall go to the south… and fulfill my duty as a member of the imperial family, Your Majesty.”

Frederick merely gave the customary words of blessing.

“I highly value your courage. As the Emperor of Hankin, I share your resolve, so go forth bravely and resolve this matter.”

Listening to Frederick’s words, the empress finally burst into tears. The 4th Prince’s nose had reddened as well, of course.

Watching them, Adrian etched in his mind that he needed to find Tristan’s whereabouts as quickly as possible.

At the same time, he strongly felt the premonition that this time, he shouldn’t leave everything to Lilburn, but should take action himself.

‘A room with four doors…’

It seemed he would have to infiltrate the imperial palace directly after all.

It’s not like he could entrust Tristan to someone else’s hands anyway.