“Are you crazy? Don’t provoke him, just stay quiet. I’ll figure out what’s going on.”

The prince lowered his voice and scolded her.

When I first saw Prince Norton at the entrance of the main palace, I didn’t recognize him.

But upon closer inspection, it was indeed that mercenary knight who had eloped with my younger sister.

I thought he was dead, how is he alive and well?

If I had known this would happen, I should have ordered his head cut off and thrown off a cliff.

The difference between just Norton and Norton with the surname ‘Asalman’ is like heaven and earth.

Things have gotten extremely complicated.

‘When things get too tangled, you don’t untangle them.’

It was better to just cut it off cleanly.

“I need to reopen Norton’s closed heart towards me. And melt his heart again.”

Princess Resilia spoke as if to herself, steeling her resolve.

“What?”

Prince Tessler, who had been lost in thought for a moment, suddenly raised his head at his sister’s nonsense.

“That way he won’t be an obstacle in my path.”

Princess Resilia smiled brightly, remembering Rinel’s face which had made her heart flutter at first sight.

“Please, Resil! I’m telling you not to provoke him and just stay still!”

When a fool is stubborn too, there’s no hope.

Prince Tessler was about to say something more but stopped himself, hitting his own chest with his fist.

“No, I know him well!”

The princess raised her voice, not backing down.

“If I coax him well again, he’ll surely do something for me.”

Because Norton loves me.

Because he has no choice but to love me.

She still believed that.

“What exactly do you think that guy would do for you?”

Prince Tessler, who had been irritably running his fingers through his hair several times, paused and asked.

“Do you think someone like him would push the woman he eloped with and had a child with to remarry another man? And to Emperor Raphion, no less?”

“Do you think I’m stupid? I won’t reveal all those facts.”

“Then what are you planning to do?”

“First, I’ll let him approach Zelda.”

“…And then?”

“I need to create something that will tarnish the Empress’s honor.”

“You trust that guy? That he’ll move according to your wishes?”

Prince Tessler listened to the princess’s words for a moment, then mocked her again.

“He was a man who would even pretend to die if I told him to! I’m going to meet Norton. I have things to ask too.”

“What things? Don’t tell me about the child?”

“Yes, Rams… He must be being raised in the Partsha Imperial family, right?”

Prince Tessler’s eyebrows twitched.

‘Should I tell her everything now?’

He hesitated for a moment.

His sister didn’t know what had happened to Norton and the child.

The fact she knew was that ‘the royal knights let Norton go that day, and Norton left the Kingdom of Shateonil with the child.’

‘Rams’s face…’

Princess Resilia recalled her son after a long time.

But surprisingly, the face of that small, pretty child was already blurry.

In fact, the child she remembered was just an annoying existence that whined and cried.

The biggest reason she had set out with the royal knights again was the stress of childcare.

“Brother, I’m going to meet Norton. Something’s different… That look in his eyes keeps bothering me.”

My sister isn’t completely clueless after all.

The prince snorted inadvertently.

“Resil, what if, let’s say. If you can’t win Emperor Rinel’s heart, then what will you do?”

That probably won’t happen.

No, it shouldn’t happen, but still.

“Then I’ll have to go to the Partsha Empire with Norton without hesitation.”

Princess Resilia replied with a fresh face.

The problem was that her mind was too fresh as well.

“Ha, are you serious?”

“It might not be as good as being Empress, but being a prince’s wife isn’t bad either. If Norton’s older brother ascends to the throne, he’ll become a Grand Duke and I’ll be a Grand Duchess, but that’s not bad either.”

“Sister, you’re quite positive.”

Prince Tessler nodded at her calculating attitude.

But the probability of Norton accepting her… was almost zero.

“Anyway, royalty is royalty.”

Princess Resilia continued to chatter with a dreamy face.

“Who knows? My son might ascend to the throne. No, before that, Norton might become Emperor.”

“Give up on that Norton guy.”

“Why…?”

To the princess’s slow question, Prince Tessler revealed all the truth about ‘that day’.

If they couldn’t get rid of Prince Norton from the Raphion Imperial family right away, the princess needed to know the truth about that day properly.

“The day you returned to the royal family. That bastard fell off a cliff. With the child.”

“…Wh-what are you saying?!”

“But somehow he miraculously survived? Hah, I don’t know how he managed to survive… Damn it.”

Prince Tessler said quietly, suppressing his anger.

“That bastard will want revenge on you. Don’t you think?”

Princess Resilia, now knowing the full truth, sat down heavily in a chair with a complicated expression.

“…Um, Rams is dead, right?”

That was her first words.

As if she thought it would be more troublesome if the child was alive.

“We’ll have to find out now.”

Prince Tessler’s gaze deepened further.

“Even in this situation, you don’t want to try to make up with that guy again, right?”

“But…”

“Wouldn’t you rather be Empress than become the wife of a prince who wants to kill you?”

“W-well, that’s true”

Princess Resilia inadvertently agreed with her brother’s words, as Rinel’s face, which was much more handsome than she had imagined, came to mind.

“Listen carefully. If Norton interferes with our plans or gets in the way, we’ll have to get rid of him again. If the child is alive, him too.”

“…Huh?”

To her dull response, Prince Tessler put strength in his voice.

“If not, you and I will die!”

Princess Resilia frowned at Prince Tessler’s words.

Norton loved Rams very much.

If such a child died from a cliff…

If so, she thought Norton might really kill her.

“The probability of not becoming Empress of the Raphion Empire is much lower than the probability of not becoming a prince’s wife of the Partsha Empire! Do you understand?”

“When you say getting rid of them… it doesn’t necessarily mean killing them, right? Not Norton.”

Princess Resilia asked with a confused face.

Then does that mean the child is okay?

Prince Tessler looked at her with an equally confused face before speaking.

“Whether we get rid of them by killing or by keeping them alive somewhere else, let’s think about that later. For now, we need to make sure they can’t become obstacles.”

“I’ll… find out.”

“What?”

“If Rams is safe. And if he’s alive, where he’s been taken.”

In fact, in this situation, finding out through Resilia was the most accurate and easiest method.

After hesitating for a moment, the prince nodded.

“Alright, approaching to gather information should be fine. But if it doesn’t work out, we need to take action immediately. Resil, are you okay with that?”

Prince Tessler asked, observing the princess’s complexion.

Even if Norton was one thing, she must have been shocked to learn that her own child had fallen from a cliff.

But.

“If he’s dead, there’s nothing we can do.”

Princess Resilia replied, dusting off her hands and standing up from the chair.

“I can have another child. As long as Norton is alive, it’s fine.”

“!”

Prince Tessler was surprised anew at the fact that his sister was of a tougher disposition than he had thought.

But what was more surprising was that despite still having affection for Prince Norton, she quite liked Emperor Rinel.

“I should change my dress and go to Norton.”

Princess Resilia disappeared into the dressing room with her ladies-in-waiting, her face cheerful again.

‘You’re still as reckless now as you were then.’

Prince Norton looked at Princess Resilia, who had come to his bedroom uninvited, with an emotionless gaze.

“What brings the Princess of Shateonil here?”

The prince asked coldly.

At that, she swayed her body with a coy gesture, her eyes moist like a rain-soaked deer.

“I missed you.”

“You’re still as shameless as ever.”

“You’re still handsome. No, you’ve become even more handsome!”

“What are you trying to do?”

Prince Norton spoke informally to the princess for the first time.

Incredibly, Princess Resilia’s heart began to race suddenly at this.

Even when they had run away and lived together, he had never spoken informally to her.

Of course, he was probably acting like this because he felt betrayed and angry, but there was something strangely sexy about him treating her carelessly.

It seemed to feel that way even more now that she knew his true identity.

Princess Resilia, who had been standing far away, ran up to Prince Norton, who was leaning against the window, carefully watching his reaction.

“Are you crazy?”

The prince glared at her with contempt as she came right up to his chin.

“I’ve always been crazy about you. That’s why I ran away with you!”

“Then running away must be your hobby. Seeing as you abandoned me and Rams and ran away again.”

“Rams… our Rams… is he healthy? Is he doing well?”

Princess Resilia asked with sad eyes.

He stared intently at her teary eyes and said,

“That’s not something you should be asking, is it?”

“Why not? I’m Rams’s mother.”

“The day you abandoned your child and left, you were no longer a mother. What? You’re asking if Rams is doing well when you don’t even have any affection?”

Princess Resilia could feel the anger in his voice.

It’s alright. It was anger she could handle.

“Why do you say I have no affection? If I didn’t have affection, I wouldn’t have run away with you to give birth to Rams!”

People tend to lash out more when they feel guilty about many things.

“Let’s speak properly, Princess.”

Norton’s gaze fell fiercely on her pretty face.

“Until you heard about the royal marriage with Emperor Rinel, you didn’t even know you were pregnant. And you said that if you gave birth in the royal family, your status would fall.”

“Th-that’s because it’s true. But I ran away for Rams’s safety.”

“No? You just wanted to have a fling. Moreover, who was it that said Emperor Rinel must be flawed in some way?”

At his interrogation, Princess Resilia’s face turned red and she just moved her lips without speaking.

“Rams was just born because you had no choice, right? Because it was too late to do anything about it. Isn’t that right?”

“No, that’s not true! I, I really regretted it a lot. How much I cried every night thinking of you and Rams…”

She unknowingly let out an irritated voice, then immediately softened her tone and put on a pitiful expression.

“Don’t worry about Rams from now on. Just forget about it.”

At Prince Norton’s words, her expression, which had been bowing her head, twisted slightly.

‘He’s still… alive…’

Princess Resilia unknowingly clenched her molars.

Now that she heard her son was alive, it felt like a cumbersome burden.

“Just tell me why you came here. Even just facing you like this is painful.”

“Why? Why is it painful?”

“What?”

“Is it because you still love me? Because you love me even though you hate me to death? Is that why? Hm?”

She looked up at him, blinking her long eyelashes.

“You’re being ridiculous.”

Prince Norton turned away coldly with an expression that said he didn’t want to exchange any more words.

“I still love you!”

Princess Resilia hugged his waist tightly from behind.

He mercilessly removed the princess’s hands wrapped around his waist and turned to face her.

“That’s enough. My patience is wearing thin.”

“It’s true. I realized it clearly as soon as I saw you today. Won’t you forgive me? You used to do everything I wanted before. Norton, please…”

“Why should I forgive you?”

“W-we have Rams! I’m that child’s mother. Rams must have missed me a lot… sob, sob sob.”

Princess Resilia cried as she took his hands and rubbed them against her cheeks.

“You said this before. That even my tears were precious to you. That it hurt your heart so much you couldn’t bear it.”

That was sincere.

Princess Resilia was a woman who looked lovely even when crying.

Prince Norton’s frowning expression softened slightly.

‘He’s wavering!’

She inwardly shouted confidently as she looked at his face.

She needed to shake him up more in this moment.

“I missed you so much every night. Norton…”

“!”

Princess Resilia stood on her tiptoes, grabbed his shoulders with both hands, and kissed him.

She forcibly opened Prince Norton’s tightly closed lips.

After kissing him one-sidedly for a while, Princess Resilia separated her lips and clung to him as if dependent.

‘Norton, I knew you’d be like this.’

As she had expected, he didn’t reject her.

She savored the feeling of victory for a moment, then looked at him again with a pitiful expression.

“But, where is… our Rams now?”

“Not far from the imperial palace here.”

Prince Norton replied readily.

Moreover, in a kind voice like before.

“H-here in the Raphion Empire?!”

“Yes, so don’t worry. Our son is healthy and doing well.”

He said in a much calmer voice.

Princess Resilia was greatly surprised by the fact that Rams was in the Raphion Empire, but quickly buried her face in his chest.

‘Good. Resilia. That you’re still the same.’

The prince patted her back and raised one corner of his mouth.

“Hold me. Right now.”

Princess Resilia raised her head again and pulled Prince Norton’s hand towards the bed, acting coy.