Meanwhile, Charlen couldn’t focus on his surroundings, even as he exchanged greetings and pleasant conversations with acquaintances from other countries whom he hadn’t seen in a long time.

His head kept turning towards where Casalin and Parnes were.

Whether it was his imagination or not, he had a strange feeling that the two of them were getting physically closer as time passed.

‘Why?’

Why does the sight of those two being close make me feel like my insides are turning upside down?

For Charlen, who had always lived lightly, going with the flow and following his heart, this sensation was very unfamiliar.

Though he didn’t know the reason yet, one thing was clear.

If he allowed Casalin to continue flirting with Parnes like this, it might bring shame to the honor of the Khan royal family.

At least, that’s what Charlen believed.

With a determined expression, he pushed away Rose’s hand that he had been holding.

Rose looked at him in bewilderment.

“Your Highness?”

“I have something to tell Casalin. I’m sorry, but please wait here for a moment.”

“What? By myself?”

This might be acceptable in the Khan Kingdom, but here they were in the Renel Empire. It was unthinkable for a husband to leave his wife alone at a social gathering in a foreign country.

Rose’s question, filled with obvious confusion, failed to reach Charlen as it was drowned out by the lively music.

He crossed the vast banquet hall in an instant, where golden melodies wafted through the air, and reached Casalin. Without a moment’s hesitation, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, he took her hand.

“Your Highness?”

Casalin looked up at Charlen with wide, surprised eyes.

However, Charlen, as if Casalin’s thoughts or feelings didn’t matter at all, fixed his gaze directly on Parnes standing opposite them.

“I apologize for the interruption, but I cannot allow ‘my maid’ to cause any more trouble. Please enjoy the rest of the banquet. Come, Casalin. Let’s go.”

“You’re being excessively rude.”

A voice that seemed to scrape the depths of a deep underground made the back of Charlen’s neck feel chilly for a brief moment.

As Parnes, who exuded an overwhelming presence even while standing still, visibly hardened his expression, Charlen instinctively hunched his shoulders.

But thinking that he shouldn’t show a cowardly appearance as a man with Casalin watching right beside him, he quickly regained his proud demeanor throughout his body.

However, to Casalin, it seemed like he was forcing himself to appear manly.

“Do I need permission to take our maid with me?”

“If you were going to be so attentive, you should have done so from the entrance earlier. After hurling all sorts of reproaches and mockery at the lady for trivial reasons. Isn’t that right?”

Parnes muttered in a voice that others couldn’t hear, but which seemed to fly straight into Charlen’s ears and lodge there.

Not wanting to lose, Charlen reflexively opened his mouth, but he didn’t know how to refute.

Having been hit right on the mark and at a loss for words, he quickly changed the subject.

“Now that I listen carefully, your words seem a bit harsh. Is it my imagination?”

“No. It’s not your imagination. I only treat sensible people sensibly.”

“What did you say?”

“That’s precisely why I treat this child more sensibly than you or your queen. Because this child is far more admirable than a petty person who is desperate to bully a poor maid, or a scarecrow who knows nothing but applying makeup to her face.”

Charlen’s expression twisted with displeasure at the blatant insult.

Those words firmly struck Charlen’s last bit of self-esteem. He made a mistake he would never have made under normal circumstances.

“You should be careful. Even I won’t endure this forever!”

As he raised his voice, the smooth flow of the orchestra’s performance abruptly stopped.

People stopped dancing and turned to look this way with surprised eyes.

At that moment, Charlen felt deeply embarrassed by his own behavior, having completely fallen for Parnes’s provocation and failing to control his emotions.

And for good reason, as the expression of Emperor Parnes, who had maintained a relaxed attitude until now, changed to that of a demon rising from hell.

Contrary to the brutal rumors circulating among the public, Parnes was generally patient enough to overlook most things.

He was well aware of how much impact his every word and gesture could have.

Although he was born with an aggressive nature, he had been living while suppressing that fierce temperament well, but there was one thing he could never forgive from the past.

It was challenging his authority.

“If you won’t endure it, I welcome it.”

Parnes said quietly, looking down at Charlen as if to crush him.

His voice, low like that of a beast, seemed to strike the ear.

A strong warning rang in Casalin’s mind that these two shouldn’t be left like this.

Unable to stand by any longer, she gently grasped Parnes’s arm.

“Your Majesty. Please calm down.”

The firm muscles protruding under his sleeve twitched, perhaps startled by the sudden contact.

He stared quietly at Casalin, who was looking up at him with large eyes, then let out a short sigh as if spitting it out, and gradually softened his expression.

With that, the precarious atmosphere calmed considerably, but Casalin realized that nothing good would come from her continuing to stand between these two men.

Casalin paid her respects politely to Parnes, then made her way through the quietly murmuring crowd to the lower banquet hall, as if escaping.

However, one man seemed determined not to give her time alone.

“If you were going to run away, you should have returned that coat before coming down.”

Thump. Thump.

Along with the sound of footsteps following her down the marble stairs, Charlen’s voice pierced her ears.

Only then did Casalin feel the weight of the coat heavily resting on her shoulders, and she turned her head slightly and sighed secretly.

“I was just about to return it to you. And you should know well why I had no choice but to run away.”

Casalin tried to pass by Charlen’s side, clutching tightly with both hands the coat that smelled strongly of its owner’s warm yet sensual fragrance.

Charlen reached out his hand without looking back and firmly grabbed Casalin’s wrist.

“Stop it. Even if you go now, there won’t be a place for you to fit in. There are countless ladies dying to receive even a single glance from Emperor Parnes today.”

“…I understand, so would you please let go of my hand?”

Contrary to her expectation that he would back off since there were people around, Charlen pulled Casalin’s arm and pressed their bodies together.

Casalin looked around in surprise, but no one seemed to find them strange.

As a slow-tempo dance tune was playing, they probably looked like just another couple dancing to others’ eyes.

“What are you doing?”

“Why? You smiled so prettily when Emperor Parnes asked you to dance, but you don’t even want to hold hands with me? Surely you’re not still holding a grudge about what happened today.”

“What…?”

“Let’s not ruin the mood any further.”

While his manner of speaking was as gentlemanly as anyone’s, his actions were far from it.

Charlen gritted his teeth and forcibly twisted Casalin’s arm, which was resisting dancing, to interlock their fingers.

Even as his arm, which had embraced her countless times during their 10-year relationship, wrapped around her back, an unpleasant feeling swept over her as if a snake was slithering across her skin.

“As expected, Your Highness is a scoundrel who can’t even compare to a gentleman’s toenail. What man in the world would suddenly press his body against a lady without her permission?”

“Who do you think the Khan Kingdom belongs to?”

Charlen asked as he firmly held Casalin’s slender waist and spun around.

“It’s mine. The Khan royal family is mine. The employees working in the royal palace are mine. Therefore, you, as a maid, are no different from being mine.”

His molars were clenched tightly as if he were angry.

Casalin couldn’t follow or understand the flow of his emotions.

It was like watching a race horse going mad and running wild on its own.

“So listen carefully. You are a person under my management. Don’t you dare cause trouble to the emperor of a neighboring country without my permission and shamelessly accept help. For the sake of the Khan royal family’s dignity.”

Something suppressed deep in her chest boiled up like lava.

Knowing that if she let it out now, it would completely ruin today’s ball, all Casalin could do was push against Charlen’s chest.

“You of all people should know you shouldn’t say such things to me.”

“On the contrary. It’s because it’s me that I can say this.”

His face blurred beyond her sight, which was wavering with something transparent and hot.

Casalin desperately strained her eyes and bit her lower lip until it bled.

“Stop it. I don’t want to waste precious time arguing uselessly with you on a day like this.”

The time I’ve wasted is enough with those 10 years.

“Then promise me one thing. That you will never again approach Emperor Parnes pretending to be friendly and try to seduce him.”

“…You’re saying I’m trying to seduce His Majesty the Emperor?”

“I’ve seen countless women like you. Women blinded by money and power, trying to ride on the back of a successful man by any means necessary.”

That’s what they call not knowing your place.

Charlen stabbed Casalin in the heart one last time and went back to Rose.

To be truly honest, Casalin dancing while leaning against Parnes amidst the romantic melody could only be described as dazzlingly beautiful.

Her white ankles that peeked out slightly every time her skirt swayed gently.

Her hair that rippled like waves on her slender back made one feel sinful just by watching.

Parnes must have been greedily observing her appearance from an extremely close distance.

“Your Highness!”

Charlen, who had been lost in unconscious thoughts, snapped back to reality at the sound of Rose’s shrill voice hitting his ears.

A room dimly lit by a few old-fashioned candles.

Rose, wearing a chemise, was lying right next to him, grumbling.

“Tsk, what are you thinking so deeply about when Rose is right in front of you?”

“Was I?”

“Yes, you were.”

As Rose playfully tickled Charlen’s body with a mischievous voice, he subtly pushed her hand away and raised his upper body.

Realizing belatedly that he wasn’t in the mood to play along, Rose got up, watching his expression.

“You’ve looked gloomy since the ball.”

“That’s not true.”

“Tell me anything. This Rose…”

Before Rose could finish her sentence, Charlen suddenly jumped out of bed and hurriedly picked up and put on the clothes scattered on the floor.

The clock showed two in the morning, so Rose called out to him in confusion.

“Where are you going?”

“Something came up.”

“What? At this hour?”

“I remembered something I had forgotten. Don’t worry about me and go to sleep first.”

Rose couldn’t hide her bewildered expression.

Charlen, who had turned around after hastily buttoning up his clothes like someone late for an appointment, left and hurried somewhere.

The place he headed to without anyone knowing was Casalin’s room.