Chapter 84. Yuan’s Specialty2023.12.23.Having smoothly provoked him, Yuan Pelliese momentarily wondered if Noel Euphris was turning into a sweet potato being roasted over a fire.

The young prince trembled with rage, as if every word from her was a dagger piercing his stomach, clenching both fists tightly.

Injustice brimmed in his eyes, and his rapidly moving lips and tense jaw seemed ready to unleash a scream at any moment.

“What do you know?”

His clear voice shattered the silence.

“Don’t pretend to know something when you know nothing.”

The prince turned his head, hesitated for a moment, then showed his back and walked away from her.‘What do you know?’‘What do you know? Don’t act like you understand when you know nothing. Just do your job.’Left alone in an instant, Clade Euphris’s cold voice flooded Yuan’s mind unbidden. Yuan froze as if doused with cold water.

Even after leaving Clade, Yuan couldn’t escape his memories, feeling as though she were drowning in them whenever she had a moment.

Some days, she recalled their fleeting smiles or the moments their skin brushed against each other.

Other days, like now, only the times he pushed her away came to mind, fraying her nerves. She felt suffocated.

“What don’t I know?”

The tall man reached the entrance of the annex, paused briefly, then quickened his steps.

Yuan stood up, shouting with anger.

“What do I not know compared to Your Highness? Stop dismissing me and tell me what I need to know! You claim to admire Clade Euphris, but it’s just words. You’ve had countless opportunities in the palace, yet you abandoned Roxenheart, the Black Manor!”

Yuan didn’t have much time.

She had no time to waste in this annex, watching Empress Marilyn’s moods or dwelling on Bollonico Euphris’s hunting trips.

She didn’t want to squander opportunities practicing her abilities on mosquitoes.

She had to do something.

Whether in this wretched annex or elsewhere, she needed to adapt quickly, train, and eliminate her enemies.

As if reacting to the word “abandoned,” Noel’s ears perked up, and he turned to look at her.

His gentle eyes glared as if questioning how she could say such a thing, his breathing rough.

“You’re the one who abandoned. Didn’t you abandon your husband and cling to power as a spy? No matter how I think about it, there’s no other explanation. That’s how it’s always been. Always!”

Noel turned fully, glaring at her as he shouted.

“Didn’t you and Bollonico plot from the start to harm Clade? Two people from Pelliese went to Roxenheart. Both abandoned it and fled. And you dare say such things to me? Are you in your right mind?”

Noel Euphris knew everything.

That two sisters from Pelliese had gone to Roxenheart.

That both had left it behind.

How much did he know, and from where?

She thought he was a stuttering prince, cut off from the world, hiding under Empress Marilyn’s skirts, but he tracked his brother’s movements through a single line in a newspaper.

Could his constant surveillance of her, day and night, really be explained as mere admiration for his cousin?

Yuan trembled with faint excitement, calming her intensity.

Then, soothing her racing heart, she gave a faint smile to Noel, who glared at her defiantly.

“You’re not stuttering.”

Noel’s increasingly crumpled face slowly relaxed.

Only then did he reflect on the words he’d spat out in anger, touching his lips with fingers resembling Clade’s.

“D-did I, I, not s-stutter?”

Yuan recalled that only the medical books in the practical and foreign book sections bore traces of being read once.

Perhaps this prince was struggling alone to cure his condition without showing it to others.

He likely hadn’t noticed that he stopped stuttering when he was furious.

Because no one was there to listen to him.

“Let’s stop fighting among ourselves. We’re both trapped here, so let’s think about how to make this situation better.”

Yuan couldn’t hide her flushed face.

Noel, his intensity faded, stood dazed, touching his lips. Yuan seized the moment.

“I have a proposal.”

Healing the sick was Yuan’s specialty.

So was becoming useful in a place where she was treated as an unwelcome guest.

“If Your Highness wishes to overcome your stuttering, why not make use of me?”

To the still-dazed Noel, Yuan calmly proposed.

“You didn’t stutter when you spoke to me just now. If we talk daily, you’ll improve significantly.”

“N-no, I, I don’t want to get better. I don’t n-need your help.”

“Empress Marilyn brought you to this annex. The court physician never shows up. Among the gifted books, only the medical ones have been read.”

“W-what are you trying to say?”

“You don’t keep personal attendants and move alone because you want to fix it yourself without anyone knowing, right? Tell me if I’m wrong.”

“W-whatever I do, it’s n-none of your business.”

Noel’s cheeks flushed as if he’d been stripped bare, and he answered.

“But I could definitely help. As you know, I’m from Pelliese and have helped with family matters since I was young.”

Seeing Noel pause, Yuan quickly continued.

“And I’ve always wondered why Empress Marilyn had me stay in this annex.”

Yuan recalled claiming to Empress Marilyn that she had medical knowledge to stay by Bollonico’s side.

The Empress might have seen through the excuse, but perhaps she sent Yuan to the annex with some expectation.

After all, doctors can’t ignore a patient in front of them, can they?

If the Empress expected that, she wasn’t entirely mistaken.

“Her Majesty said it’d be good for family to get along. I understand now.”

Yuan wanted to hear about the palace, inside and out, through Noel.

Especially everything about Clade and Bollonico.

“Take a chance on me. We both seem to have plenty of time.”

“I-I said I don’t want to be f-friends!”

Noel flailed his arms like a priest performing an exorcism, shouting loudly before fleeing the garden.

Yuan’s expression grew darker as she watched the blond man disappear.

Sitting alone in the quiet garden, basking in the fresh spring breeze and warm sunlight, she felt no trace of spring.

It was as if she stood alone in the middle of a snow-covered field.

Since leaving Clade, Yuan sometimes felt truly alone in the world.

Like when she lost her sister and stood before the Black Manor.

Yuan’s eyes followed Noel’s afterimage, now gone from sight.

Clade and Noel were clearly very different people.

Despite needing his help, Yuan couldn’t help searching for Clade in Noel.

Not just his eyes, eyelashes, or fingers, but even the expression Clade Euphris wore when rejecting Yuan Pelliese.

As if she were desperate to capture even the most painful moments.

Looking at a mosquito biting her arm, Yuan gave a bitter smile.

She felt sorry for Noel Euphris, but Yuan had no intention of backing down.

She had already ventured deep into the territory of a man far more impregnable than him.

The mosquito collapsed on her arm, unable to draw blood, without even taking flight.

Yuan was certain.

Noel Euphris would never be able to refuse her proposal.

And as expected, from the next day, Noel began openly lingering around her.

Yuan’s daily routine was no different from usual.

When Empress Marilyn called, she quietly followed Trin to the main palace for tedious teatime.

On the way back, she glanced at carts laden with gifts, memorizing family names.

Mornings were spent on such trivial tasks, occasionally stopping Trin to ask if there were letters from Bollonico.

As these days continued, Trin shook her head from afar when called, vanishing quickly when Yuan gestured she could leave.

Whether due to Bollonico’s absence or Yuan’s lack of suspicious behavior, surveillance had clearly loosened.

At lunchtime, Trin set up a tea table in the garden with croissant sandwiches, snacks, and lightly brewed tea, and Yuan read random books from the annex’s parlor.

Noel’s routine began now.

Buried in books and newspapers all morning, he slipped into the garden, handed her a newspaper, and anxiously watched her reaction.

It wasn’t the gaze of surveillance but curiosity.

He acted generously, as if giving a newspaper was no big deal, circling her while pretending to stroll—an amusing sight.

From some day on, he’d purse his lips, resolve in his face, stride over, sit across from her, and begin observing her closely.

He keenly watched her reactions to articles, muttering abrupt soliloquies as if seized by a fit.

“W-well, goodness. T-this year’s wheat harvest is expected to be much lower than last year’s.”

When Yuan raised an eyebrow, scanning for the article he mentioned, he’d say next:

“E-even with annual hunting festivals, the number of magical beasts in the north keeps rising. It’s w-worrying.”

“……”

“A-aren’t you w-worried?”

To Noel’s vague approaches, one day Yuan chose to ignore him outright.

Noel huffed and fled the garden, only to return days later, hesitantly approaching.

While Yuan was practicing her abilities on mosquitoes, she noticed his presence and stared at him.

He flinched, pursed his lips, and with a resolved face, strode over and sat across from her.

“D-don’t ignore me!”

Despite his low growl, his hands were full of newspapers from the past few days.