When Alfonso reached Taranto, he was a complete wreck, doubly so compared to when he had arrived at San Carlo.
Even the most resilient person would find it impossible to undergo a forced march day and night for three days without even 24 hours of rest. This was no different for a knight, let alone a prince. Out of the 10 knights who had set off with him, three had dropped out midway, so only eight people, including the prince, made it back to Taranto on time.
As a result, Prince Alfonso was in the perfect state to match his alibi, that is, “not feeling well,” and collapsed in bed as soon as he returned.
Bernardino, the Prince’s secretary, approached Alfonso carefully and spoke to him.
“Your Highness, I understand that you must be tired, but there is an urgent report you need to hear.”
“Dino, later.”
Alfonso had taken a bath as soon as he returned, but as his body submerged in the hot water, his eyes involuntarily closed. He was in no condition to listen to a report.
“This is about the Grand Duchess Lariessa….”
He really didn’t feel like listening.
“Dino. Let’s deal with this in three hours.”
Alfonso, dressed in his indoor tunic, covered his eyes with his arm, blocking the light. As soon as he did, Bernardino began to withdraw. Or rather, he tried to withdraw.
Bang!
“Your Highness!”
“Ugh!”
The Grand Duchess Lariessa had stormed into the room. Bernardino yelped in surprise. His admirable intention of letting his lord rest had failed.
Standing in front of Lariessa, who had almost broken the door down, Bernardino threw himself forward, spread his arms, and tried to stop her hurriedly.
“Duchess! You cannot barge into a man’s room like this!”
However, the Grand Duchess Lariessa brushed past Bernardino and advanced toward Prince Alfonso’s bed with a determined stride.
“Your Highness!”
“…Duchess?”
Alfonso’s response was absolutely perplexed. He had lost a good 34 rotollos (approximately 34kg) from riding hard for sixteen hours a day for a week, and his lack of sleep had darkened the bags under his eyes.
It even looked as if he had a fever due to his halfawake state.
Seeing the haggard Alfonso, Lariessa was startled and covered her mouth with her hand.
“Your Highness… You really are sick.”
She tried to touch Alfonso’s forehead.
“I’m sorry… I thought you were pretending to be sick because you didn’t want to see Lari. I didn’t realize you were really ill.”
Alfonso instinctively turned his head to avoid her touch.
Whether Lariessa didn’t realize that the prince had deliberately avoided her, or she didn’t care, she tried to touch the prince again. Bernardino threw himself forward in horror to block her.
“Duchess! You mustn’t do this! You should return to your room before anyone sees!”
Bernardino called out to the attendants.
“Is there anyone there? Guard… No, bring Count Levian!”
He instinctively called for a guard, but at the last minute, he switched to Count Levian. It would be inappropriate to call a guard to remove a Grand Duchess who was treated like a princess of another country.
However, even at the mention of Count Levian, Lariessa remained calm. It seemed that Count Levian was completely ineffective as a control mechanism.
Fortunately, Count Levian, who had been waiting nearby, ran to Alfonso’s private room. He hadn’t received permission to see the prince, so he waited outside the room and called Lariessa pitifully.
“Duchess! His Highness the Prince needs to rest! Please come out! Please!”
The sincerity flowed from his last word. Lariessa, hearing the mention of the prince needing rest, covered her mouth in surprise.
“That’s right, Your Highness. You need to rest.”
Alfonso and Bernardino, who had been worried that she might insist on nursing him, let out a sigh of relief.
“Then Lari will leave ‘our Al’ and go first.”
As she was about to leave the room, she paused and turned around. Lariessa, meeting Alfonso’s eyes, gave a polite, radiant smile and added.
“Our Al, you mustn’t forget our promise, okay?”
With a gleeful swirl of her dress, she left Alfonso’s chamber.
After the attack of the tempestuous Princess Valloa, Alfonso, whose sleep was fully disturbed, glared at Bernardino.
“Dino. It seems like you have something to report to me.”
“Your Highness, in fact……”
“Who the hell is ‘Al’? Is it my nickname?”
“That is…… I can explain everything.”
In Alfonso’s absence, Bernardino had pretended to be Prince Alfonso and exchanged letters with Princess Lariesa.
“And what about the promise, what promise?”
“I will explain that as well from now on!”
“Assuming it can be explained, can you take responsibility?”
“I can’t take responsibility.”
Alfonso covered his face with a pillow and screamed.
[This is the time separator]Maleta stared at her underwear with a defeated expression in the bathroom. Red blood. It’s another failure this month.
Epolito didn’t know, but Maleta had been actively trying to get pregnant, eating all that was said to be good for the body and even counting days.
My Step-brother Is Obsessed With Me (Female-dominant)
A gentle female protagonist vs pitiful in the early stage, and a sick male protagonist in the later stage
Cheng Songer transmigrated into the body of a vicious cannon fodder female supporting character with the same name as her in a female-dominant novel.
In the original story, the cannon fodder female supporting character was inhumane, committing domestic violence, gambling excessively, being lustful, and even wanting to sell her stepbrother to a brothel for money.
As luck would have it, she just happened to transmigrate at this time.
Seeing Cheng Qingzhi biting his lip, enduring the tears in his eyes, looking pitiful, her heart softened.
She stuffed the money back into the Madam’s hand and reached out to him.
“Brother, come home with me.”
