**Stalker Duchess Episode 18**
**Stalker Duchess Episode 18**
I'd probably never meet another immature elf before their coming-of-age ceremony in my lifetime, but I nodded for now.
"Anyway, I can't just let you harass my subordinates. No matter how much they ignore me, they're still my subordinates."
"But the heteroraces keep tormenting people. A few days ago, villagers were even kidnapped by heteroraces. If they keep this up, we'll have no choice but to use force."
As I spoke in a troubled tone, the Elf Child pondered with a pained expression for a long while before suddenly perking up as if struck by a good idea.
"Then help with my coming-of-age ceremony. Then we can all live in peace!"
"Pardon?"
"Once I come of age, my subordinates will listen to me, and since I love peace, I'll make sure they never set foot near human settlements. Isn't that a much easier way than slaughtering them indiscriminately? Besides... truthfully, you don't want to kill heteroraces either, right? You seem like a good person."
"......"
The Elf Child gazed steadily at the Crown Prince as they spoke.
The Crown Prince clicked his tongue in annoyance and looked away.
"Why would I get involved in something so bothersome?"
At the Crown Prince's response, the Elf Child flashed a bright smile and said,
"If you won't help me, I'll tell you the name of the woman you like."
The Crown Prince's body flinched at the Elf Child's words.
"I don't have anyone like that."
The Crown Prince tried to hide his obvious agitation with a deliberately cold tone.
Then the smiling Elf Child suddenly hardened their expression.
The atmosphere shifted completely, as if their previous smile had been a mirage.
The child stared deeply into the Crown Prince's eyes, as if reading his innermost thoughts, and said,
"Your feelings are too twisted and filthy to call affection. Your heart probably flips between hatred and resentment dozens of times a day. But one thing's certain—whether you admit it or not, there's a faint fondness for the other person. 'Love-hate' fits better than affection. You should hide your true feelings from those around you. They'd all despise you."
Upon hearing that, the Crown Prince's face drained of color. It was the reaction of someone who'd heard something they shouldn't have.
The Elf Child's claim of being able to read hearts seemed to be true.
Since they were exchanging secrets in words only the two could understand, I grew bored and let their conversation flow in one ear and out the other.
Hmm. For some reason, the Elf Child was hostile only toward the Crown Prince.
Perhaps harboring a grudge from when he hurled them earlier.
I lightly placed a hand on the Crown Prince's shoulder, who stood dazed as if still in shock, and said,
"It's okay. It's just the name of someone you like."
"What?"
As I spoke as if wondering why he'd be embarrassed over something like that, the Crown Prince gave me an incredulous look.
"I won't tell anyone."
"......"
I said it as if asking him to trust me, but the Crown Prince just looked at me with a complicated expression.
"Anyway, it's not you... How can we help with your coming-of-age ceremony?"
I hadn't realized until now due to their childlike appearance, but since they were about 200 years my senior, I used honorifics.
"Promise to help me first."
"We'll help if it's something we can do."
The Elf Child eyed us suspiciously, especially the Crown Prince.
The Crown Prince had turned his head away from the Elf Child and said nothing.
He probably didn't want his true feelings read any further.
When I nodded on his behalf with a positive response, the Elf Child finally spoke.
"...Then marry me, Serabi!"
"Sure, I'll do it."
"What?!"
The only one shocked by my response was the Crown Prince.
He whipped his head toward me with a questioning look, his face turning blank for a moment.
Without a second's hesitation, my immediate agreement made the Elf Child beam happily as they grabbed my hand and hopped around.
After watching us blankly for a while, the Crown Prince finally came to his senses, wedged himself between us, and urgently blocked my path.
"Are you in your right mind? Marry them? Here? Suddenly? With a heterorace you just met today?"
"Yes."
As I simply affirmed every frantically poured question, the Crown Prince stared at me dazedly in shock before speaking firmly.
"Absolutely not."
"......"
What right did the Crown Prince have to dissuade my marriage?
And strictly speaking, I should be the angry one, yet somehow he seemed even more furious.
But the Crown Prince had no grounds to stop my marriage.
He wasn't family or a friend. To be precise, the Crown Prince and I were total strangers.
He knew that well, yet his resolve to block my marriage didn't waver.
Feeling slightly annoyed, I said to the Crown Prince in a bored tone,
"What does it matter to you, Lord Raven?"
"Because you...!"
The Crown Prince, about to retort boldly, suddenly stopped as if something stuck in his throat.
He probably meant to say, 'Because you like me.'
Even though everyone knew Duchess Serabi was head over heels for the Crown Prince, saying it himself seemed embarrassing.
After staring at me for a while with a flushed face, the Crown Prince irritably raked a hand through his hair and said,
"Ah, whatever. If it's no, then it's no. You're not even doing it for love!"
His words left me momentarily stunned and blank-faced in absurdity.
Marriage should be with someone you love?
From my memory, most nobles in this world married for political reasons.
Love marriages were rare enough to count on one hand.
I hadn't expected the Crown Prince of all people to hold such romantic ideals.
As I looked at him with such eyes, the Crown Prince wore a slightly self-loathing expression.
But he showed no intention of retracting his words.
Raven the Crown Prince was unexpectedly a romanticist.
I nodded, adding the new information.
Come to think of it, he mentioned having someone he liked.
Was this an extension of that conversation?
As Crown Prince, he'd naturally think of political marriages.
But if he had someone he liked enough to marry, supporting love marriages wasn't unreasonable.
Well, whoever he liked now, the Crown Prince would end up with the Elf Queen anyway.
It was just a fleeting emotion.
"I think marrying this elf is the most peaceful way to resolve this situation."
"Exactly. That's the most peaceful method. And Serabi, you want to marry me too, right?"
The Elf Child hugged my waist tightly and looked up at me with sparkling eyes.
They seemed to know they'd look cute like this.
Having lived 229 years, they undoubtedly knew they were adorable and cunningly used it to their advantage.
Realizing that, the Elf Child's sparkling appearance no longer seemed as pretty as before.
The me before knowing their true intentions would probably have nodded entranced, saying 'Yes.'
I stroked the child's head like a mischievous little sibling and replied,
"Not particularly, but it's not something I can't do."
At my response, the Elf Child—who'd been chattering nonstop—fell silent and looked up at me with a strange gaze.
They observed me intently.
Then the Crown Prince interjected.
"Do you even know what kind of person they are to marry them so casually? You don't even know their name!"
"That doesn't matter. We can get to know each other from now on."
I lightly cupped the Elf Child's face, who was staring at me intently, and met their eyes.
As I'd just said, I planned to learn the Elf Child's name starting now.
The moment my hand touched them, the Elf Child flinched and stiffened.
They'd been fine touching me freely until now, but disliked being touched in return?
"What's your name?"
"...My, my name is......"
The Elf Child stared entranced into my purple eyes for a long while before finally about to speak—when a loud 'bang' echoed from where the Crown Prince stood.
The Elf Child and I jumped in surprise and turned toward the sound.
"Serabi, come talk with me alone."
A tree there had been snapped in two by the Crown Prince's kick.
It seemed like a way to change the mood—or perhaps vent frustration.
His tone calling my name was gentle, but his ferocity made me wonder if he'd just issued a death threat.
I swallowed dryly in tension.
Leading me to the lifeless lakeside, the Crown Prince turned to me with a deliberately angry face, his tone utterly baffled.
"What on earth are you thinking?"
"......"
I was more curious about his motives for dissuading my marriage...
"Don't be deceived by appearances. They might look like a beautiful human at a glance, but they're not. It could be dangerous. Marry a heterorace? So easily? Heteroraces never leave the forest their whole lives. Marry them, and you'll rot in the forest forever too. No family, no friends! And yet... you of all people!"
The Crown Prince trailed off in frustration, swallowing the rest.
His calm explanation had turned into ragged breathing before I knew it.
After hearing him out, I calmly explained the surface reason for my marriage decision.
"...Elves love peace more than anyone. Even if I marry, nothing like what you imagine will happen, Lord Raven. And if I marry that elf, the rampaging heteroraces will quiet down. There's no more peaceful solution. It's a chance to subdue the heteroraces without spilling a drop of blood."
As I continued, the Crown Prince, whose face had paled, spoke in a trembling voice.
"Are you telling me... to sell you to a heterorace for the empire's peace?"
