Ruans tore the letter from Carlien of the Poloiden Empire into shreds and threw it on the floor.

“Dammit!”

-Crash!

A vase with a beautiful scenery painted on it shattered. Sharp fragments of the vase flew everywhere. Despite the continuous sound of objects breaking and shattering, no one could react.

The once clean floor became a mess with the shattered objects.

“Your Highness Ruans. Please calm down.”

“Do I look like I can calm down? Princess Charlotte didn’t die, she’s alive!”

Advisor Yuriya let out a small sigh. Ruans had pointed to Charlotte returning to the Poloide Empire, gleefully saying she would die from monsters on the way. And with conviction at that.

But as soon as he heard the news that Charlotte was alive, he smashed everything like a madman who had lost his mind.

“Why isn’t she dead? Why!”

“Your Imperial Highness, Prince Ruans. It is said that a pillar of light appeared in the Poloide Empire.”

“A pillar of light? What’s that?”

“Because a child of the goddess Ella appeared in the Poloide Empire, all the monsters were purified.”

Ruans screamed and stomped his feet on the floor several times.

“According to ancient texts, the characteristic that appears when they, who are called witches but also known as children of the goddess Ella, emerge is the pillar of light.”

At Yuriya’s explanation, Ruans’ green eyes gradually widened. Suddenly, he came to his senses. He only thought of Lorencia who had returned to the Poloide Empire.

“Don’t say such nonsense. A child of the goddess Ella is like a monster. Have you forgotten that only the saint of the Ella Temple is a child of the goddess Ella?”

“No. I only told you what was written in the ancient texts.”

“Dammit! Nothing is going right.”

Ruans threw an object again. Yuriya slightly dodged the flying object.

“We need to bring Lorencia back from the Poloide Empire.”

An indescribable uneasiness rose from his heart, through his blood vessels, to the top of his head. What if Lorencia mistakenly thinks she is a child of the goddess Ella and stops loving him? A chill ran down his spine.

“For that, I need to become the emperor. That’s right! I have to become the emperor.”

Ruans picked at his thumbnail. To become the emperor, he had to kill Adolf and Irena. But how?

“This is all because of that bad guy, Duke Spencer. He kidnapped Lorencia from me and this happened!”

Ruans, who had been pacing restlessly, sat at the desk and shouted for pen and paper. Ruans checked the quill pen, inkwell, and stationery that the attendant had hurriedly brought, and wrote a letter.

“Send this letter to Duke Carlien. Right now!”

“Understood.”

As soon as the attendant left with the letter, Ruans screamed again and threw the inkwell. Yuriya had a headache. How long could he assist someone so violent and self-centered?

Indeed, rumors are not to be trusted.

A righteous royal family member who helped the illegitimate child of the Pol Heredian family? I had expectations for Ruans, who became the crown prince because of that. But the more I experienced him, the greater the disappointment grew compared to my expectations.

What I have to do is assist. There was no work that could be called the duties of an advisor, and all I did was send apology letters to the noble ladies Ruans enjoyed for a night and clean up afterwards.

Or mediate fights between ladies Ruans two-timed, which is not what I studied for.

Not a single day passed without him causing trouble with women. Just causing trouble with women would be enough, but there was another problem with Ruans.

It was his obsession with red hair.

“Duke Yuriya. Didn’t I clearly tell you to fill all the maids in my palace with red hair?”

“Since red hair is not a common hair color, we dyed everyone’s hair.”

“Then dye it red every time the hair grows out. Didn’t I tell you not to let it be seen by my eyes? Did I not? Are you taking the words of the Crown Prince of the Isuter Empire lightly?”

“No, I am not.”

“The reason I’m so angry is because you advisors are not properly assisting me… You can’t even do the tasks I order properly.”

Yuriya expressed the current situation with tightly closed lips.

He was sick and tired of seeing Ruans vent his anger on objects and people. It was a truly hopeless situation with nothing to say.

Ruans kept getting angry, and the advisors, including Yuriya, took all that anger. Things that were once vases made by craftsmen and various objects became garbage in an instant. Several maids came in to clean the messy floor.

“Look at this.”

Ruans’ eyes widened in surprise.

Ruans grabbed a handful of hair from a maid trying to clean the floor. And to check inside her hair, he grabbed the maid’s head and shook it.

The maid was so terrified of Ruans, who seemed to be examining her scalp up close, that she trembled. The maid clenched her teeth to avoid making a sobbing sound. The other maids kept their mouths shut and focused on cleaning the floor.

“This maid. The ends of her hair are unluckily black, aren’t they?”

Just like Teishar.

“I apologize. I will take her right away to dye it red. Please let go of the maid’s hair, Your Highness.”

Ruans threw the maid to the floor. The maid, who had fallen weakly, curled up, then relaxed her posture and knelt. Tears that kept coming out flowed down her cheeks and dripped onto the floor.

“You.”

“Yes… Your Highness, the Crown Prince.”

“What’s your name?”

“I am Jasmine of the Corolton family.”

“The Corolton family…”

Ruans pressed his thumb hard on the white neck revealed between the loose red hair. It seemed like her neck would break with just a little force.

“Jasmine.”

“Yes. Your Highness, the Crown Prince.”

Ruans turned Jasmine’s head to make her look at him. No matter how hard Jasmine tried to hold back, she couldn’t stop the tears that leaked out from the fear he gave her. She just wanted to run away.

“Brown eyes, I see.”

Ruans spoke with dissatisfaction as he brushed aside Jasmine’s tear-soaked hair. He tilted his head and looked down at Jasmine, cupping her sharp chin. Ruans, who had been intently scanning Jasmine’s face, raised one corner of his lips crookedly.

“Let’s go to the room.”

“Pardon? The next room? I am just a lowly maid.”

“I know you are a trivial and insignificant maid. You don’t understand what I’m saying? Oh… You’re so dense. The white nape of your neck is pretty like our Loa, so I’ll treat you well.”

“You can’t, Your Highness Crown Prince Ruans. Even if she is a maid from a humble baron family, she is a noble lady.”

“Duke Yuriya. Why are you always objecting to what I do?”

Yuriya tried to stop Ruans. Ruans was looking at Jasmine not as a maid, but as a courtesan. The maid wanted to scream that she was not a courtesan and slap Ruans hard across the face.

“Give money to the Jasmine family. Then they’ll agree.”

“Your Highness!”

“Becoming the woman of the crown prince, how dare a baron family refuse?”

Even if she was a powerless and poor noble lady, she had not lost her pride as a noble, but Yuriya clenched his fists at his order to just give them money and be done with it. He bit the tender flesh inside his mouth again and again. He tasted the metallic blood.

“If you don’t want to die, shut up quietly. Lorencia.”

“Your Highness. I am not Lady Lorencia.”

Jasmine recalled Ruans who had been defeated in a duel of honor for Lorencia of the Pol Heredian family. And she now understood the reason why he ordered all the maids to dye their hair red.

“You say you’re not Lorencia? This red hair… No, that’s right. Someone like you can’t be Lorencia.”

“Your Highness.”

Ruans roughly grabbed Jasmine by the collar and threw her to the floor again with all his might.

“But when I call you Lorencia, you become Lorencia!”

“Your Highness, the Crown Prince. I am Jasmine.”

“Lorencia. Didn’t I tell you to stop talking back?”

“Please spare my life. I beg you, at least my life… I have a family waiting for me.”

Ruans grabbed Jasmine by the hair and pulled her up. Rather than the pain, the faces of her family waiting for her came to Jasmine’s mind. Her kind grandmother. Her affectionate father, warm mother, and even her younger brother… Would she be able to return to the embrace of her warm family?

Jasmine couldn’t think of anything. Other than trembling so much that her teeth chattered at the fearful things that would happen to her, there was nothing she could do.

“Your Highness. You can’t. Let go of that maid…”

Yuriya tried to stop Ruans’ actions. Then, at the sound of a slap, Yuriya’s head turned.

“The reason the maid named Jasmine died is all because of Duke Spencer. Because of that filthy snake who took my Lorencia!”

Being dragged away was the last sight of Jasmine, and she was not seen again after that day.

However, a maid who worked in the imperial palace took her own life by hanging herself. The maid returned to the arms of her family outside the palace on a dark night when no one was around.

Having experienced Jasmine’s incident, Yuriya began to place people well-suited for Ruans as advisors. Someone loose-lipped, competent at work, but petty enough to betray at any time.

Fortunately, Ruans was very pleased with the newly selected advisors. It had to be that way. Unlike Adrian, he likes being flattered.

“Duke Yuriya. These days, you’re only doing things that I like. It seems you’ve finally come to your senses.”

“It is only natural to show loyalty to the one who will become the Emperor of the Isuter Empire.”

“Even if I become the emperor, don’t forget the meritorious service.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

Yuriya knelt on one knee and bowed his head to Ruans. Seeing that, Ruans began to laugh loudly.

“And there is important news.”

“What is it?”

“I heard that His Majesty the Emperor and Her Majesty the Empress will be going down to the White Villa for recuperation soon.”

“The White Villa? Ah, that villa?”

There is a White Villa that Emperor Adolf bestowed upon Empress Ines as a gift. It is considered one of the most beautiful villas, with rare magicite stones embedded in the walls that emit a white glow, making it appear enveloped in a white light when viewed from afar.

Ruans grinned crookedly.