124. One Wrong Decision

2024.02.01.

Brother Rev’s gaze darted back and forth between the woman willingly kneeling on the ground and Clade, whose eyes remained calm and composed, now that he had realized who she was.

Lily Companni collapsed flat onto the floor and opened her mouth.

“That day… thank you for letting me go, Your Highness.”

Only then did a glimmer of warmth light up Lancelot Rev’s sweet, caramel-colored eyes.

“Clade… you…?”

The same spark flickered in Eddie Rev’s eyes as well.

The moment they saw the woman and her daughter belatedly expressing gratitude through tears, they instinctively understood.

Lily Companni hadn’t died—Clade had helped her escape.

Which meant the mysterious letter from the south.

The sender who had repeatedly expressed gratitude for the kindness shown to Clade was none other than this Companni mother and daughter.

Despite the Rev brothers’ questioning looks demanding an explanation, Clade soon dismissed them.

***

Federico Companni observed the Crown Prince before him.

Apart from her tearful expressions of gratitude, his aged face grew increasingly cold and distant with each passing moment.

Though he had acted as though willing to offer a woman to win favor with the royal family, in truth, he had brought her here without suspicion solely due to Lily’s earnest plea.

The Crown Prince had made excellent use of all the women sent to him.

Through them, Federico Companni had thoroughly shared with Clade information about the power dynamics of southern noble families, expected participants in the upcoming swordsmanship tournament, and details on the current Marquis Companni, Harol Companni.

The women he sent were daughters of retainers who had loyally served the Companni marquisate since ancient times.

After the headship shifted to Harol Companni, these families had all been pushed into insignificant positions, and their resentment created willing cooperation.

There was no risk of secrets leaking out.

To avoid suspicion, he pretended to conduct interviews—including other women—and veiled the women when they came and went under the pretext of protecting their identities. Thus, there would be no unnecessary rumors later about them spending nights with the Crown Prince.

After secretly carrying out their orders, the women discreetly used their connections to spread rumors about the Crown Prince’s private life throughout the Companni marquisate.

Spreading such sordid rumors had been the Crown Prince’s own instruction.

Federico Companni, though greatly surprised by Clade’s decisive actions in using both the information and the women without hesitation, was gradually beginning to feel burdened.

Such momentum was impossible without absolute trust.

And reflecting on where that trust originated only brought bitterness.

It was proof that the Crown Prince understood Federico Companni’s plight better than anyone.

He struggled to endure the continuing silence, desperately trying to gauge the intentions of the Crown Prince, now freed from his curse.

Of course, even if he could discern the Crown Prince’s intent, there was nothing he could actually do.

“I assumed you’d keep sending women indefinitely. To actually come in person like this—I’m quite honored.”

“My apologies, Count. Given my position, I will do my utmost to ensure Your Highness’s comfort during your stay. But beyond that, it would be difficult. Hence, I’ve come with my daughter, even if it seems excessive.”

“Are you saying this isn’t a welcome, but a farewell?”

Federico Companni lowered his head deeper in silent affirmation.

The reason he, the Empress Marilyn’s own younger brother, expressed gratitude to the Crown Prince was simple.

The Companni marquisate had participated in a rebellion, resulting in the execution of its head.

Harol Companni, a distant relative, had taken the title in a mocking manner and, as Bolonico’s close aide, advanced into the capital.

He, who should have been the rightful lord, had been reduced to a mere “caretaker,” managing the Companni marquisate.

During those bleak years, when he had endured such humiliation, Emperor Igor commanded that his daughter, Lily Companni, be offered as the Crown Prince’s bride.

Despite Empress Marilyn’s fierce opposition, the Emperor refused to withdraw the order.

No—more accurately, he ignored it completely.

The chain of being a queen with a rebellious father bound Empress Marilyn tightly, rendering further resistance meaningless.

Federico and his wife were thus forced to offer their cherished daughter to the Crown Prince, a man widely rumored to be a “monster.”

The justification was remarkably noble.

To comfort the Crown Prince, whose mind and body were exhausted, by giving him the beloved niece of the Empress—his own aunt.

But how must the parents have felt, helplessly sending their daughter to a monster? And how must Lily herself have felt? Yet they had no choice.

The Companni marquisate, despite having produced a queen, had joined a rebellion.

Emperor Igor’s pressure—demanding they atone for their sin and prove their apology to the royal family by sending their daughter to the victim—was something they could neither refuse nor resist.

The survival of their house depended on it.

It was a deeply romantic tale—that the Emperor loved the Empress so much he forgave her family despite their grave crime of rebellion.

But whether the surrounding nobility accepted this was another matter entirely.

The Companni marquisate had to prove its loyalty somehow.

And aside from installing a distant relative as head, they had to do something all other nobles shunned.

The explanation would be endless, but to summarize: Lily Companni left Locksenhart about a month after entering the Black Mansion—her cold, lifeless body carried out.

The newspapers certainly made a loud spectacle of her tragic fate.

But that was not the truth.

Lily Companni still vividly remembered the Crown Prince’s face she had faced just a month after entering the mansion.

She had risked her life to confess the truth—that she truly loved someone in the south and had left him behind.

She even declared she would take her own life, as she could not serve him.

At that moment, the Crown Prince, who was then her husband, replied:

“That’s the most welcome news I’ve heard.”

Yet he did not allow her to take her life.

Instead, he helped her fake her death so she could leave the Black Mansion and live.

“I will repay this kindness.”

“I hope your father thinks the same.”

That was their final exchange.

Lily Companni trembled as she recalled that day.

Thrust into the Black Mansion against her will, she had a lover she cherished and even carried a child in her womb.

Rather than face an uncertain future with the Crown Prince, she chose to confess honestly and end her life, sparing her family further shame.

Facing the monstrous Crown Prince, whose face was half-charred black, she had risked her life, swallowing her scream—and received an answer.

In her eyes, the Crown Prince had rescued her from a situation even her own father could not resolve.

Ever since, she had lived with the resolve to repay the Crown Prince’s grace, even in a foreign land, attentively listening for news of the Euphris family.

It was Lily Companni who, upon hearing the news that the Crown Prince’s investiture ceremony would be grandly held at the palace, rushed aboard a ship and sped back to the Companni marquisate.

After all, their house had already been all but stolen.

Lily wanted to gather whatever remaining power and influence she could to support the Crown Prince’s cause.

But her father, it seemed, had a slightly different perspective.

“As Your Highness has said, today’s meeting is both a welcome and a farewell, Count.”

“Father…!”

Ignoring his daughter’s shocked expression, the visibly weary Federico Companni replied with firm resolve.

“I believe… it will be difficult. I understand why you’ve come all this way to the south. I can guess your intentions. But I… my family will no longer risk our loved ones in dangerous situations.”

Though Lily Companni had escaped the Black Mansion, she could no longer live as the precious daughter of the Companni family.

Lily had secretly married a man from the Torca Islands, disguising her identity, and to her parents, she remained a daughter who had died.

How could she not feel injustice?

She could only secretly send her thanks and congratulations, and offer whatever meager information she could—nothing more.

For the past few years, Federico Companni had drowned in terrible feelings of defeat, merely abusing his body day by day.

Overcome by a sudden surge of sorrow, he repeatedly bowed his head before the Crown Prince, who emanated a chilling aura, and wept.

Ah, how could his father have joined such an absurd rebellion, shackling his own children like this!

Just one wrong decision by the father he had once revered so deeply had given Igor the excuse he needed.

And so, he had lost his father, his title, and his daughter—yet remained trapped in the Companni marquisate, living like a ghost.

He clenched his trembling hands more respectfully and chose to shrink back.

At the very least, he could not afford to lose the retainers who had remained loyal to him since his ancestors.

Even now, caring for those still suffering under Harol Companni’s oppression, merely because they wished for his restoration, consumed his days.

He no longer wished to become a sacrifice in the royal family’s power struggles.

“What did you expect me to say?”

“No matter your words, my answer remains the same. I welcome you deeply in my heart, but I will only assist from behind the scenes.”

Federico Companni raised his eyes, now hardened with firm resolve, and finally looked the Crown Prince directly in the face.

The beautiful Crown Prince, his expression unchanged, remained utterly composed—as if he had never expected anything more.

After a suffocating silence, the Crown Prince finally spoke.

“How long will you live as a loser, blaming the past?”

And those words were enough to tighten around Federico Companni’s throat.

“If that rebellion was not a rebellion at all, but a conspiracy—would you still only offer to help from behind the scenes?”