Crash!

Jeremy, who had returned to his palace, threw whatever he could grab.

After throwing everything he could get his hands on, Jeremy let out a loud scream, still not satisfied.

“Aaargh!”

His roaring figure in the chaotic room was too pitiful to believe he was once the Crown Prince who held the expectations of many.

Shattered glass fragments were scattered all over the floor, and objects dented from being thrown filled the floor, leaving no room to step.

Through the open door, a maid watching this caught Jeremy’s eye.

The maid who met eyes with Jeremy’s hideous face froze in shock.

She tried to run away belatedly, but the maid was already grabbed by her hair by Jeremy.

The maid let out an agonized scream as he made a gesture to mercilessly tear her scalp.

“Kyaaaah!”

“You lowly maid, do you look down on me too?”

“I-I’m sorry, Your Highness. I, I just… was worried about you…”

The maid appealed for sympathy with trembling lips.

Seeing the melting face with bones exposed made her stomach churn.

When she heard his face was ruined, she thought how bad could it be, but facing it in person made her want to vomit.

As the maid covered her mouth with a contorted face, Jeremy let go of her hair.

The maid’s relief at escaping was short-lived as Jeremy grabbed her neck with both hands.

“Aaaaargh! Die! I said die!”

The maid desperately struggled to live, but it was not enough to withstand Jeremy’s strength.

Soon, the maid’s body went limp.

Jeremy glared at the corpse of the maid he had killed, then called for the knights.

“Is there no one outside?”

Ten knights rushed at his call.

The knights who had heard the maid’s screams but pretended not to out of fear for their own safety, deliberately ignored the agonized screams.

Deep sympathy flashed in the eyes of some knights seeing the corpse lying limp on the glass shards.

“You, you, and you. These three, gather as many imperial knights as you can and find Ben, the Empress’s closest guard knight.”

The knights hastily bowed their heads at Jeremy’s angry voice.

“…Yes, Your Highness.”

“When you find him, don’t kill him, you must capture him alive. Absolutely!”

Jeremy glared with bloodshot eyes. The knights fixed their gaze on the debris on the floor to avoid looking at Jeremy’s melting face.

“You two stay and clean up that filthy corpse and the room.”

“…Yes, Your Excellency.”

The knights moved as ordered, trying their best not to think.

It was natural for him to be mentally unsound when his face suddenly turned monstrous.

Whoever the crazy bastard was who poisoned the Crown Prince, the one who gave him that poison would have three generations of their family wiped out.

“The rest of you, find my concubine who ran away and bring her before me. Right now!”

The knights hesitated. No matter if he was the Crown Prince, this was too cruel.

If it was before his face was ruined, maybe.

Celiya was everyone’s first love, a beautiful woman any man would covet.

With that hideous face that made one want to vomit, wasn’t it absurd to threaten to covet that woman?

Shamelessly so.

A strong feeling of rebellion arose in the knights’ hearts.

It stemmed from a twisted desire to possess what one could not have.

Resentment towards the one who arbitrarily plucked the only rare flower in the world blooming on a high cliff.

A one-sided love for a woman so beautiful it made one’s heart ache.

Although that love was one-sided, accompanied by dirty desires, it could be said to be deeper than the loyalty given to a master who had gone mad.

“What are you all doing? Go out and search right now!”

The knights who usually followed orders without a word did not budge from their spots this time.

The ones who didn’t lend a helping hand when the maid was dying now found it too much to even show Celiya before him.

Jeremy let out a laugh of disbelief.

Indeed, his eyes were accurate. If he hadn’t declared Celiya as his concubine, she might have been taken by another man long ago.

Separately, Jeremy felt his insides twisting.

Jeremy thought his knights were disrespecting him because his face was ruined.

“Do you really want to die so badly? You call yourselves men, how dare you covet my beautiful concubine!”

Jeremy shouted loudly.

“If you want it so much, I’ll kill you all right here.”

It was then that a gentle voice, completely unsuited to the heavy atmosphere, settled.

“Crown Prince.”

The sound of rustling cloth was heard.

The one who appeared wearing a large white robe was none other than Ileon.

His long silvery gray hair that was close to dark gray flowed with a soft luster, and his clear blue eyes were like the blue sky itself.

Unlike himself who had become a hideous monster, he had a very handsome appearance.

With the usual gentle, saint-like smile on his lips.

Jeremy’s mood, which was already low, fell to the depths beyond the abyss at the feeling of being infinitely shabby.

However, Jeremy could not harm Ileon here now just because he disliked him.

He had not yet inherited the throne, and he needed to capture Ben alive to interrogate why he did such a thing, and find a way to restore his face to its original state.

The biggest reason he couldn’t do anything to Ileon was because he was the head of the Gredrick ducal family, the core of Abelon.

“How did the Duke enter my palace? My birthday banquet should have ended yesterday.”

Ileon showed a surprised expression at Jeremy’s words.

“Have you not yet heard about me from Her Majesty the Empress?”

“What?”

Ileon continued speaking without showing any sign of displeasure at Jeremy’s monstrous appearance.

“Her Majesty the Empress has entrusted me with Your Highness’s imperial coronation ceremony.”

“…What did you say?”

“I thought you would have heard by now. That is why I came to your palace like this to discuss Your Highness’s coronation ceremony.”

Ileon’s blue eyes curved gently. Jeremy stared at Ileon with a blank face.

“That can’t be! Why would the Duke prepare my coronation ceremony?”

“How could I lie to Your Highness? Her Majesty the Empress even wrote me a letter of delegation like this.”

Ileon took out a letter from his bosom and showed it to Jeremy.

Jeremy’s eyes shook violently as he saw the letter of delegation.

The letter of delegation had Erphia’s handwriting delegating all of Jeremy’s imperial coronation ceremony to Ileon, along with a red seal.

There was no way he couldn’t recognize it.

The handwriting and seal all matched Erphia’s without a single discrepancy.

Jeremy felt his breath catch.

“Did my mother really entrust my imperial coronation ceremony to you, Duke?”

“It seems Her Majesty the Empress was very worried about Your Highness. Seeing as she entrusted such a big task to me, a person from the same family. But…”

Ileon continued in a rather regretful tone.

“Who dared to make Your Highness’s face like this?”

Jeremy hurriedly covered his face with both hands.

But what difference would it make to cover it up belatedly? Ileon had already seen his face.

“Will Your Highness show that face as it is on the day of the imperial coronation ceremony?”

Jeremy flared up at Ileon’s words.

“Duke, are you daring to threaten me! Do you think anything will change because you’re preparing my imperial coronation ceremony! I am the only direct imperial descendant in this Abelon!”

“Your Highness.”

Ileon’s blue eyes shone clearly.

“I am trying to help Your Highness. Not to harm you.”

“…How, how can I believe those words! Didn’t you come to laugh at me too knowing my face is ruined!”

Ileon gave a truly regretful look towards Jeremy who was seized by madness.

Ileon carefully opened his mouth.

“If it’s alright, I will try to find a doctor.”

“…!”

Jeremy’s eyes widened. Hope filled his grotesquely distorted eyes.

Like a moth flying towards a flame not knowing its own body is burning, Jeremy before him was no different.

Ileon smiled gently, curving his eyes, as he watched Jeremy harboring a shred of hope towards him.

“Ten years ago, I heard there was a famous healer in a country far from Abelon.”

“…Ten years ago, isn’t that a very long time ago!”

“I recently found out by chance that the healer is in Abelon.”

Jeremy’s Adam’s apple bobbed.

Even the imperial doctors had sighed and declared it impossible to restore the completely melted skin to its original state.

But if it was possible to return his face to its original state…

“Can that healer really restore my melted, monstrous face to its original state?”

“If there’s a possibility, we should try. We can’t leave the throne empty for too long either. For the sake of Abelon’s people as well.”

Ileon offered Jeremy warm words of comfort.

“Don’t worry too much. Your Highness, I will return soon.”

Then, Jeremy grabbed Ileon’s robe.

Seeing the wrinkles on the spotless robe, deep contempt flashed in Ileon’s blue eyes.

But he was a master at hiding emotions in his narrowly curved eyes, so even Jeremy right in front of him didn’t notice at all.

“Do you have anything else to say to me? Your Highness.”

“Duke…”

Madness swirled in Jeremy’s eyes.

“On the day of my birthday banquet, what conversation did you have with my concubine after leaving the banquet hall?”