**Stalker Duchess Episode 8**
**Stalker Duchess Episode 8**
Regardless of time or place, it's only natural to want to look good to the person you like.
Looking at the Crown Prince with such eyes, he flinched upon grasping the intent behind my words.
...I hadn't even hoped for him to think I liked him, but upon hearing me, his face suddenly hardened.
For some reason, he looked flustered, as if he'd heard something he shouldn't have.
Duchess Serabi must have tormented the Crown Prince quite a bit usually. To turn pale at such a simple statement about wanting to look good to him.
Still, it wasn't unreasonable for the Crown Prince to suspect even pure feelings of wanting to impress him.
Duchess Serabi's feelings for the Crown Prince were closer to obsession than normal love.
She thought only about how to possess him more, rather than wanting to look good to the one she liked.
And this was the result.
A deformed relationship where one side hated the other to death, and the other loved to death.
After hesitating for a long while, he spoke with great difficulty, his face paling as if facing death.
"D-don't... lie. What you want is my body and the power I hold, isn't it?"
"Pardon? No, it's not."
I shook my head and immediately denied the Crown Prince's words.
His face twisted subtly upon hearing my response.
There was one part of the Crown Prince's statement that absolutely needed correction.
To be precise, I wanted neither the Crown Prince's heart, nor his body, nor his power.
That was the meaning behind my denial, but it seemed the Crown Prince had interpreted my words differently.
Misunderstanding me, he flushed bright red, as if feeling mocked.
He seemed to think I now desired something beyond his body and power.
Misunderstandings are free, but... I awkwardly scratched my cheek at his reaction.
I didn't want to become lovers with the Crown Prince; I wanted to normalize this relationship worse than with a stranger.
To do that, I first needed to dispel his misconception that I liked him.
"Anyway, there's no dirty ulterior motive behind my actions as you imagine, Lord Raven. Moreover... I actually think I can be of help to you."
"What?"
At my confident words that I could help him, the Crown Prince reflexively let out an incredulous sigh.
To the Crown Prince, I was someone better off nonexistent. My claim of being helpful must have sounded like baseless arrogance.
Thus, he seemed to dismiss my words as a lie to gain attention. Glancing at his expression, I cautiously opened my mouth.
"Um... Your Highness dislikes nobles, doesn't he?"
"......"
The Crown Prince stared at me with cold eyes, as if reading my innermost thoughts, his face chillingly hardened.
The nobles of this era were often depicted as corrupt, indulging in luxury and extravagance while tormenting commoners.
Appearing refined on the outside but engaging in filthy deeds behind the scenes. They didn't work yet were the most extravagant.
Naturally, the Crown Prince loathed such nobles. To the point he wanted to eradicate them all right now.
What held him back was his youth—his body and political power not yet mature.
The Crown Prince had poor relations with the nobles. There were heaps who curried favor seeking his power as Crown Prince, but he wasn't sly enough to compromise with enemies for his goals.
At the novel's end, the Crown Prince purges all guilty nobles, returns their wealth to the commoners, and earns the title of the king of the lowliest.
House Prineus, my family, must be the thorniest enemy to the Crown Prince.
Moreover, though it hadn't happened yet, House Prineus would rebel against his decisions. The rebellion naturally fails, and while what became of the ducal house afterward isn't described, it's probably better for mental health not to know.
"...Lord Raven plans to eradicate all nobles once he becomes emperor, right?"
"...Hah."
At my words, the Crown Prince twisted his lips into a sneer with coldly chilled eyes. A look saying, 'As expected from you.'
He even seemed relieved somehow, speaking with a refreshed face as if a long-held frustration had eased.
"...I see. So that's what you were after, even fasting for it. Planning to look good to me from now on to save at least your own skin? I don't know how you figured out my plans, but I have no intention of compromising with nobles."
"No, as I just said, I will definitely be of help to Lord Raven."
At my words, the Crown Prince furrowed his brow as if hearing something bizarre. He asked with suspicious eyes,
"Do... you even know what you're saying?"
"Yes, I know very clearly. I will betray my family and stand by Lord Raven's side."
Surprisingly, the Crown Prince was the flustered one at my blunt statement. He looked at me with confused eyes and said,
I wondered if I was being too reckless, but Duchess Serabi would probably say the same if she knew his plans in advance like I did.
"H-how... can I believe that?"
The Crown Prince eyed me suspiciously. His gaze held no trust toward me—not even 1%—filled entirely with distrust.
I pondered. No matter how I thought, there was no reason for the Crown Prince to believe me. He'd been burned by me multiple times already.
The mere fact he was asking this was surprising. After thinking, I gave a deflating answer.
"Um... because there's no way I'd betray Lord Raven?"
"......"
The moment I said it, I regretted it within a second. Even to me, it was a pathetically flimsy basis.
But the Crown Prince, whom I'd expected to get angry, wore an extremely complicated expression.
He seemed to have accepted that there was no way I'd betray him.
No matter how viciously Duchess Serabi had tormented him until now, at its root was affection, and it was true she was utterly infatuated with him.
His current fondness for me was below the rags rolling in the streets—no, rags would be fortunate. He'd just pass by without care.
Learning that Duchess Serabi's misdeeds were even more severe than I knew, I realized committing this much was barely enough to improve relations.
The best scenario now was for the Crown Prince to use me as he pleased, then discard me cleanly once drained.
That day's deal with the Crown Prince ended in clean failure.
Upon hearing me, he hardened his expression, said, "Pretend I didn't hear that," and left.
In the end, no gains.
Moreover, his fondness for me seemed to have dropped further.
There were still 6 years until the Crown Prince purges the nobles, so there was time to persuade him slowly.
Thus, time passed uneventfully with no harvest.
The first day was bearable.
I wasn't the type with a huge appetite usually, but thinking I couldn't eat made me hungrier than usual. Still, not unbearable.
On the second day, hunger kept me up all night.
On the third, while preparing meals at the base as usual, I couldn't resist the food's intense temptation and... fainted.
Aah, so unfair. Why is this body so frail?
When I opened my eyes again, the beautiful Crown Prince's face came into view.
He stood looking down at me with a stern expression.
Though younger than me, the Crown Prince looked fine even after a week of fasting.
For some reason, it felt unreal, so I just blinked, and he sighed and said,
"You have all sorts of ways to insult me. Fainting from malnutrition in the army I command?"
His words bristled with thorns, but the venom from our last meeting had softened somewhat.
In truth, I knew I'd meet the Crown Prince again soon.
As the Vice Commander said, he was too good a person.
Separate from hating me, he wasn't the villain to ignore someone collapsing because of him.
"...Eat."
At my faint voice, he looked irritated but persuaded me anyway.
"You really never tire of it. Even fasting a month leaves no harm to my body. And if hungry, I'll find food myself. I'm not a child, so no need for you to collapse worrying about... me."
The Crown Prince seemed to struggle immensely saying "worry."
I gazed indifferently at the hospital room ceiling and said calmly,
"Lord Raven may be fine fasting a month... but I might really die if I fast three more days."
"What nonsense?"
"Lord Raven has reached near superhuman realms, so you may not know, but my body is weak. Congenital... And ordinary people die without food for a week."
He was silent for a long while.
Mulling blankly over my words, the Crown Prince suddenly grabbed my shoulders.
He gripped so hard his fingertips whitened. His hands trembled with anger.
"D-do you think I don't know that?! Are you threatening me with your life now? What do you gain from this? Why are you suddenly doing this to me?!"
He too had his own built-up grievances, shaking my patient shoulders violently as he spoke.
His expression was deeply confused. He even looked pained at a glance.
With a resentful voice, he poured out his frustration at me.
He seemed to have something extremely unjust weighing on him.
