Translator: Nox

Chapter 139. A Knife Leaking from Between Teeth

He was like a predator approaching to tear at her throat.

Noah, clad in a jet-black coat, approached with a pace that was neither fast nor slow. No one could escape his snare.

Noah's shadow encroached upon Olivia's abdomen, chest, and neck, eventually swallowing her whole.

His chilling gaze slowly drifted down, landing on the business card in her hand. As if his gaze contained physical thorns, Olivia felt a stinging pain wherever his eyes lingered.

Noah slowly turned his gaze away, taking out a cigarette and lighting it. The acrid smoke scattered in the desolate wind.

He fixed his eyes on the reporters who had come to his home with their presumptuous courage before opening his mouth.

"From third-rate paparazzi to major newspaper reporters, there shouldn't be anyone who doesn't know what happens when you bring a camera to my house without permission."

As his words fell, the reporters' faces turned ashen. Just then, a wretched scream echoed from the alleyway.

"Please, please forgive me. Please...!"

Startled, Olivia instinctively tried to move, but Noah grabbed her arm with a strong grip.

"……!!"

At the same time, there was a gruesome sound of something shattering into pieces.

"No! Waaah!!"

Olivia couldn't even guess what was happening. She looked up at Noah with wide eyes, while the reporters beside her began to beg him.

"We never took any pictures. Please forgive us, Your Highness."

"Yes, that's right! We didn't take a single one. Please, please..."

"Your Highness! This camera is my entire fortune. Your Highness, please..."

Their kneeling figures were even pitiful.

But Noah seemed to feel not a shred of pity. He threw the cigarette he had been smoking on the ground, stomped it out, and then coldly ordered the waiting guards.

"Handle it according to the rules."

The despairing, suppressed sobs of the reporters erupted.

"Waaah."

Regardless, Noah moved towards the wide-open main gate.

Olivia, held by his hand, walked as if being dragged, then turned to look behind her. The reporters were weeping and handing their cameras to the guards.

Above her head, a cold voice settled.

"Look ahead."

"……."

"Don't concern yourself with useless things."

A harsh winter had come to the Prince's castle.

Noah didn't seem to care about Olivia's pace. As he moved his long legs with large strides, Olivia, her arm held by him, had to almost run to keep up.

Olivia stumbled several times as they climbed the stairs and crossed the hallway, and the Princess consort's hat fell to the floor.

The servants shrank back, and Betty looked at the Princess consort being dragged away by the Prince with pitiful eyes. But no one stopped the Prince.

This was the Prince and Princess consort's residence, but the master of the residence was only one person.

Bang!

The bedroom door slammed shut.

Only then did Noah release Olivia's arm. Unlike Olivia, who was panting roughly, he seemed merely calm.

Noah took the reporters' business cards from her hand as if it were the most natural thing in the world. And he walked towards the fireplace with steady steps.

Olivia, who had been watching him in a daze, snapped back to her senses when he tried to throw them into the fire.

"Noah!"

Noah turned his head to look at her as she rushed towards him. For a brief moment, Olivia thought he might stop. But even as he looked at her, he didn't stop his actions.

Thud.

The reporters' business cards were scattered like trash onto the embers.

Olivia helplessly watched as the crimson flames devoured the business cards. The business cards, which had been burning from the corners, soon disappeared, leaving only black ash.

"Didn't Jonan tell you not to get out of the carriage?"

Noah asked Olivia, who had been staring at the flames. Olivia slowly turned her head to look at him. His handsome face, with the golden light melting into it, was as calm as ever.

He took off his gloves and ordered.

"For the time being, follow his guidance."

"For the time being... how long is that?"

At Olivia's question, Noah gestured with his eyes at the ashes spat out by the flames and said.

"If you receive things like that, the period will be longer."

Each syllable struck Olivia sharply.

"Why?"

At Olivia's retort, Noah frowned as if annoyed.

"Why are you like this? I was going to let the guards handle it, why did you get out of the carriage and receive this kind of thing?"

"……."

"Wait. Until people's interest in you disappears."

He left those words behind and turned away. Olivia could feel a deep sense of fatigue from him as he unbuttoned his coat.

From his back, Olivia clearly felt what he wanted from her.

He wanted her to just say she understood.

He wanted her to obey his words and not question him.

To follow his will, to fawn over him in the palm of his hand, to live smiling, adorned with the expensive jewels he gifted her.

Since she had risen in status entirely thanks to him, shouldn't she do that?

"Olivia, do you want to take the first path?"

With the Queen Consort's question, Olivia thought again about why she had made this marriage.

That day, in the dark carriage, when Noah had said to her like this.

"I need you, Olivia."

Olivia had felt something like a thrill, and she had made up her mind.

She had never wanted a life of just breathing for even a single moment.

"Go to Hamuel tomorrow morning. I'll stop by Hammington for a while and follow you."

Noah, who had even taken off his jacket, buried himself in the sofa. She could feel his stubbornness as he closed his eyes.

Olivia clenched her skirt tightly and mustered her courage.

"Tomorrow is difficult, Noah."

Noah slowly opened his eyes and looked at her.

Her heart was pounding fiercely. Her stomach felt coldly melting, but Olivia opened her mouth with all her might.

"I'm going to the Hamel Cathedral orphanage tomorrow."

"……."

Noah leaned his elbows on his knees and looked at Olivia with a dim gaze before saying.

"Did Mother ask you to go with her?"

"She gave me an invitation that came in my name. So I told her I would go with her."

"No, you don't have to go. I'll tell Mother instead."

As Noah got up from his seat, Olivia approached him and asked.

"Noah, why do you hate me going somewhere so much?"

Noah also hardened his face coldly and got up from the sofa, approaching her.

"Why are you so restless to do something?"

"The commemorative address for the Royal School founding ceremony was done with His Majesty's permission, and tomorrow's visit to the orphanage is planned to be with Her Majesty the Queen Consort."

"……."

"Noah, I'm... I'm doing what I can do. As your wife, as the Princess consort..."

Hearing her words, Noah suddenly turned away. He took something out of the inside pocket of the jacket that was lying carelessly on the sofa and placed it on the table as if throwing it.

Olivia, who had trailed off, looked at what he had put down.

'Les Duing.'

Under the name of an unfamiliar newspaper she had never heard of, there was a picture of a very familiar landscape. And below the picture, in bold letters, was written this phrase.

[The house where Princess consort Olivia lived before her marriage]

It was a black and white photo, but in Olivia's eyes, the unique colors of the landscape seemed to be added.

The old stone path, the dark brown walls, the overgrown trees that had not been pruned, even the low chair.

Olivia picked up the newspaper and unfolded it.

[...The house where the Princess consort lived before her marriage is located on the outskirts of the capital... In this old house, which seems to have been built about 40 years ago...]

"The reporters who wore a kind mask and kept their manners in front of you publish articles like this. Because it makes money."

Olivia raised her eyes.

"People like sensational stories more than facts. So they are very interested in things that are very good or very bad. And the most interesting thing among them is the flaws or downfall of those of high status."

"……."

"This is just the beginning. The more you show your face at events, the more the media will tighten its grip on your neck. Articles like this are just cute."

Noah struggled to suppress the rising emotions.

Last night, he couldn't sleep a wink. He looked at Olivia sleeping over and over again.

Her white face had delicate features, as if they would be smudged if touched. Her slender neck, shoulders, wrists, fingertips.

Noah held her absurdly small hand and buried his face in it. Even so, she didn't move. It was because she was exhausted and had fallen asleep as if fainting.

The reporters weren't even interested in him. Rather, they were busy avoiding his eyes.

From some point on, his name no longer appeared in the newspapers. It was because all that interest had completely shifted to Olivia.

It was because this small, slender woman had taken everything that even he had struggled to bear, without leaving a single grain.

At that event yesterday, he ridiculously thought that he would rather all the attention be on him. If countless gazes, questions, and doubts were all poured on him, he could just stand there and block them. Like a barrier.

Even though he had wanted to run away from it.

The intense interest of people he didn't even know.

Even if it was just interest, it was suffocating, but behind it, there was even a malicious envy hidden.

I wonder if she'll crash? Let's see, are there any flaws?

Since she's risen so high, it would be nice to see her fall a little.

Newspapers with bad news sell better than newspapers with good news.

In Noah's eyes, it was a monster with abnormally large eyes, ears, and mouth. He had slaughtered countless Magical Creatures, but none of them were more disgusting than that.

The monster that had been opening its big mouth in front of his face was now opening its mouth in front of Olivia's face. It was baring its teeth to devour this small woman.

Sure enough, today's newspaper was filled with Olivia's face.

Olivia, Olivia, Olivia.

Each of those names looked like the face of a monster. The article in 'Les Duing' was like a dagger to him, who had been barely controlling his emotions.

While he was seeing the illusion of the monster, Olivia asked.

"...Do you think I can get away from the media's attention?"