According to the chamberlain’s words, the Crown Prince was in his office. He was even sitting alone at his desk, drinking a strong liquor from the Western Kingdom known for its potency.
“Your Highness.”
The Crown Prince frowned slightly upon discovering Hegelia. She, not unaware of its meaning, strode over and spoke.
“Why do you not keep your promise?”
“Since you will go there someday, why did you not wait and came out?”
“I came in person because I knew you would not come.”
“……”
The Crown Prince poured liquor into an empty glass. Then he downed it in one gulp.
“Did you come all the way here in that outfit.”
He slowly rose from his seat and took a cloak hanging on the wall. Then he draped it over Hegelia’s shoulders.
“The air is chilly at night as early autumn is just around the corner. So please wear this.”
Hegelia looked straight into his eyes that appeared kind yet indifferent. At times like this, he would act as if he loved her, but suddenly he would feel like a person too far away to grasp.
“Your Highness, please tell me the real reason you are avoiding the consummation. If there is anything lacking in me, I will fix it.”
Hegelia tightly gripped the cloak that subtly carried his scent. The Crown Prince’s golden hair shimmered even more under the moonlight.
“I know that you met him secretly at the Artenbach residence.”
Hegelia’s heart froze solid. She was afraid because she seemed to know what he was suspecting.
“There was never any impropriety that you are thinking of, Your Highness. We just happened to meet and talked about old times.”
“I’m sure… you talked about old times.”
The Crown Prince returned to his desk and refilled his glass. Then he downed the liquor with eyes that made it impossible to tell what he was thinking.
“We really just talked, that’s all. Is that really the reason you are refusing consummation today?”
With one hand propping his chin, he answered her who was full of resentment.
“That is just one of many reasons.”
Tears finally fell from Hegelia’s eyes. The ground she was barely standing on felt like it turned into a swamp in an instant.
“Hegelia.”
The Crown Prince called her name slowly. It was a name he had not uttered in a long time.
“I am enduring quite a lot of things. That is the nature of being the Crown Prince.”
He leaned his upper body against the back of the chair and continued.
“I also have emotions. Things like pain and regret torment me every day.”
“What are you trying to say…”
When Hegelia tried to interrupt, the Crown Prince raised his hand to stop her. Then he spoke in a low, quiet voice.
“And the one thing that makes it hardest for me is none other than you, Hegelia.”
Deep concern filled his face. But Hegelia’s eyes were already closed, so there was no way she could see the Crown Prince’s inner thoughts.
“Do you think you are the only one having a hard time, Your Highness! I am also having a hard time. Do you know what rumors are circulating about me? They say I am the Crown Princess hated by the God of Life. They whisper that if I become the Empress, the empire will walk the path of ruin!”
She did not wipe the tears streaming down. She just let them flow.
“This is really… too much. You might as well tell me honestly that your heart has changed.”
The Crown Prince said nothing. He just gazed at her intently with his black eyes.
“You are making me miserable to the end.”
Hegelia threw the cloak the Crown Prince gave her onto the floor. Then she turned around and went out.
[This is the timeline separator]Sitting on the swinging chair in the garden she sought out whenever her emotions were turbulent, Hegelia wiped away the tears that kept flowing with the back of her hand. Her chest felt stuffy, not knowing how her life would change in the future.
‘I really want to just run away like this.’
Would she be able to endure under the negative gaze of many people?
Would there be a bright future for her now that the Crown Prince’s favor was gone?
She raised her head to look at the sky. The golden stars densely dotting the dark night sky were like Aron and Rublion.
“Your Highness.”
While she was alone, chewing on her loneliness and facing the night air, a royal guard approached her.
“I have completed the task you ordered.”
Hegelia, who had been lying back with her head thrown back, straightened her posture, looked at the knight and spoke.
“Where is that person now?”
“I was told he is lodging at an underground gaming house in the bustling part of the capital.”
“He still has that habit…”
Her pretty forehead creased mercilessly. He was still enjoying a dissolute life.
Hegelia caught her breath for a moment. The Crown Prince would not consummate tonight. She no longer wanted to guard the vast bedchamber alone.
So she made a decision that she would never have made under normal circumstances.
“I will have to go out for a bit.”
The loyal knight bowed, accepting her order. And he did not bother to point out that her decision to leave the palace was wrong.
[This is the timeline separator]The more liquor he drank, the more sober the Crown Prince’s mind became. Even with a heart of cold iron, he was human and a man, so he was concerned about Hegelia who left in tears.
‘I have to act cold.’
In order to preserve the power of the royal family, he had to be a strong and resolute person. He could not appear like his father, the Emperor.
Although he kept her by his side as a tool to keep the ducal family in check, he was not heartless enough to sever the bond of a decade-long marriage in one fell swoop.
The Crown Prince put down the glass he was about to drink. It was not because he disliked or hated Hegelia that he avoided consummation. It was for thoroughly calculated political reasons.
He did not love her, but he respected her.
He was thinking of discarding her for his grand cause, but he had no intention of making her unhappy.
As the liquor entered his system, his heart became honest. He eventually rose from his seat and left the office.
His steps toward the marital bedchamber were quite heavy. He would not consummate, but he wanted to apologize for making her cry.
Having impulsively arrived at the bedchamber, he approached the bed, aware of the chilly air. He naturally thought Hegelia would be there, but it felt like being hit on the back of the head.
He came out and walked aimlessly to the Crown Princess’s room. It was agonizing because of the contradiction that he hoped Hegelia would not fall into the trap he had set.
“Where is the Crown Princess?”
A knight guarding in front of Hegelia’s room spotted the Crown Prince and spoke.
“Her Highness has left the palace. It seems she went to meet the former Duke of Artenbach.”
The one who answered was the knight who had told Hegelia of Aron’s location.
‘In the end… is this how it turns out.’
It had now become an irreversible situation.
The Crown Prince sat on the edge of the cold bed and muttered.
“The one who kicked away the last chance was you, Hegelia.”
[This is the timeline separator]All the way to the underground gaming house in the busy district, Hegelia regretted the past.
If she had not given up on Aron, if she had not left the child behind, would she not be living a different life now? Such lingering attachment kept holding her back.
She passed through the nasal sounds full of feminine charm and entered the room where Aron was. The people enjoying the game with him did not recognize who she was, but Aron immediately realized she was the Crown Princess.
“Why are you here…”
Flustered, Aron said he would be out for a moment and pulled Hegelia’s hand. The two, who came up to the surface, turned behind the building and stood facing each other in a dark alley.
“Are you crazy? Coming to a place like this?”
Hegelia briefly looked around, then took off her hood. Then she spoke with wide eyes in surprise.
“What happened to your face?”
Aron strongly brushed off Hegelia’s hand trying to touch his face full of wounds.
“It doesn’t matter! No, more importantly, aren’t you not supposed to be here?”
“What is there that I’m not allowed to do.”
“You are out of your mind…”
Hegelia frowned deeply and grasped her wrist. The part that Aron had flung away ached.
“I heard you were expelled from the ducal family?”
“If you’re going to criticize, get lost.”
Aron’s nerves were quite sharp. Hegelia felt like she was really out of her mind. She could not understand why she was so happy to see him so rough and cold.
“Did you take your medicine? What about treatment?”
At Hegelia’s words full of concern, Aron shuddered.
“What the hell are you doing this to me for. We’re over!”
“Can you do that? Can you settle it so coldly?”
“What else can’t I do.”
Aron scratched his head roughly. Hegelia mustered the courage to say what she wanted to say when she met him as she came here.
“Aron, I just want to give up the position of Crown Princess and be by your side.”
Aron was startled like a person struck by lightning.
“You’re crazy. You must be out of your mind.”
He clicked his tongue and continued.
“That position is not one you can easily step down from. When did you change your mind, when you left saying it was good…”
Aron looked Hegelia up and down, wearing a black robe reaching her ankles. Then he smirked.
“I heard rumors that you are being mistreated in the royal family because you have no heir… Is that why you want to run away?”
“That’s not it!”
Hegelia spoke, tightly grasping the hem of her robe.
“If we divorce, a small amount of annuity will come from the royal family. You and I can live on that for the rest of our lives. I just want to stay by your side rather than this mentally desolate life.”
Aron’s face crumpled fiercely.
“Look at yourself now. For ten years, you wore clothes that others couldn’t even touch and lived in abundance without having time to be hungry. Do you think that habit can be fixed in a day?”
“Aron… I.”
“Let’s pretend I didn’t hear your suggestion. I don’t want to get on the royal family’s bad side and die young.”
He turned around. Hegelia, growing desperate, grabbed Aron’s arm.
“Let go! Leave me alone. We agreed to go our separate ways.”
To her rebuttal, Aron spoke in a cold voice.
“You’re the one who forgot the past well, Hegelia.”
Hegelia dropped her arm limply.
“I didn’t forget… I’m saying I still love you.”
Aron ground his teeth as if he heard something he couldn’t bear to hear.
“The Crown Prince would faint if he heard that. Hey, get a grip. Love? When you abandoned even the child you gave birth to in pain and left, wanting power that much?”
Aron laughed in disbelief.
“You don’t love me. You’re just trying to cling to me because you’ll have nowhere to go once you’re driven out of the royal family.”
Male lead is a Love-Obsessed Merman
When he discovers she has gone, he risks everything to pursue her on land, enduring agonizing pain to transform his tail into human legs…
One-line summary: Male lead chases female lead. The male lead’s love is a bit sick, an invincible love brain.
Synopsis
During a voyage at sea, Jiang Yang accidentally captures a merman.
Servant: I heard that mermen are fierce and brutal.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman obediently rubbing her palm like a puppy: “You call this fierce and brutal?”
Servant: I heard that mermen have no human nature.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman with wet puppy eyes, obsessively calling her ‘A Yang’ like a childish infant: “You call this having no human nature?”
With great difficulty, she releases the merman back into the sea and returns to shore.
Who would have thought that in less than half a month, the merman, who should have been freely wandering in the South China Sea, would shed his scales, endure the pain of losing his tail, transform into human legs, and come ashore to find her?
He kneels at her feet, rubbing her palm, with merman tears rolling down: “A Yang, don’t abandon me.”
_____
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