Chapter 70
- Prayer
2023.12.09.
"I don't think I'll be able to watch the game tomorrow because of urgent business. I'll probably be back the day after tomorrow."
It was a low, soft voice.
"Ah. ...Yes."
Olivia's excited heart sank slightly, but she smiled and replied, not wanting Edgar to worry.
"Is that all you have to say?"
"Pardon?"
Her gaze, which had been directed at the balcony floor to hide her disappointment, sparkled again as she looked at Edgar.
"I was expecting a more disappointed reaction."
Edgar said mischievously, slightly raising the corners of his mouth.
"You said it was important."
"If you tell me not to go."
Edgar wrapped his arms around Olivia's slender waist and pulled her close.
"I might consider it."
"D, don't do this."
Olivia, horrified by the natural closeness in broad daylight, pushed Edgar away, conscious of the view beyond the glass window.
Edgar let out a soft chuckle.
The clear midday sunlight made Olivia's bright red cheeks even more prominent.
A few strands of hair fell down her pure white neck.
"You've tied your hair up today."
Edgar whispered in her ear, rubbing his gaze on her alluring neckline.
As he lowered his head, his lips touched her smooth neck. Olivia trembled as if electrocuted.
"Please, Edgar. You can't do this here."
"Then where can I?"
Edgar asked playfully, laughing. Olivia did not stop wriggling in his arms.
"If you keep moving like that, it's going to be difficult. Not that I mind."
Edgar said, biting his lip.
His languid voice and the smile that bloomed on his attractive face looked somewhat lewd.
It was not an expression that would befit a bright sunny day.
Olivia, realizing the meaning, froze like a log.
He was madly in love with Olivia, who was staring up at him, frozen without even blinking, but he let her go at that point.
Honestly, he was the one who would be in trouble.
Olivia, placing both hands on her chest, let out a low sigh of relief. Her whole body felt hot, as if it were on fire.
"I'll be back soon."
Edgar, who had returned to being a proper gentleman, said kindly.
Olivia couldn't even make eye contact and just nodded.
"Good luck with the game."
Edgar, gently cupping Olivia's face, lowered his lips to her round forehead.
Olivia, startled, widened her eyes.
"Don't smile too much at Russell Junior."
Edgar said, smiling as he took his lips away.
"You'll grant me that request, right?"
He lowered his gaze and admired Olivia, who was held captive by him.
The woman's face, burned red under the bright sunlight like a spotlight, was incomparably beautiful.
This smile that was directed only at him, these eyes that contained only him, should have made him happy. But as happy as he was, Edgar became afraid.
The woman he had wanted was openly showing her undeniable love for him, and he was afraid that something would go wrong.
He was afraid that she would find out about his baseness and abandon him.
Please, let this woman know nothing.
So that this brilliant smile would continue to be directed at him, Edgar prayed to God for the first time in his life.
Wait, what did I just see?
Elaine and Russell Junior also froze in a different sense.
Th, this is crazy!
Russell Junior dropped the cigarette in his mouth. His large, deer-like eyes blinked slowly.
The movement of the shadowy, opaque figure beyond the lace curtain, which was draped like a secret curtain, was unusual.
Looking at them like that, don't they just look like lovers?
No way.
Russell Junior glared at the slightly taller figure before exclaiming, "Ouch, it's hot!" and jumping up.
While jumping around like a chicken with its tail on fire, he kept cursing.
"He should be focusing on the game. Why is he shaking up the players? Isn't he a real bad guy? Is he?"
Elaine agreed with Russell Junior for the first time.
Edgar Lancaster Lancelot was a bad man.
What is Marquis Lancelot thinking?
The atmosphere between the two men and women was unusual.
Is he really trying to love her? Or is it just a playful curiosity about an attractive divorcee?
Elaine was filled with regret.
She should have mustered the courage to confess the truth that day.
It was the day before Olivia left for Briar, when they had dinner together.
'Edgar. Be careful of that man.'
That was all she could say.
'Because he's the Princess Anne Boleyn's man. You said you're going to keep living here. It means it's not good to get involved.'
She had received money from him. She wasn't honest with Olivia either.
But now. Now that she had a friend she could call a friend in her life, what should she do?
The more Elaine liked Olivia, the greater her fear grew due to guilt.
She didn't want to break their friendship.
At the same time, for the sake of true friendship, she had to tell Olivia everything.
But then she worried about Marquis Lancelot's retaliation.
Elaine's worries deepened.
It would be nice if it was just a light, passing emotion.
Edgar was a good match for Olivia to enjoy the sweetness before dying in a honey pot and leaving without regret.
So she just hoped that Olivia wouldn't get hurt.
Elaine could only pray.
\\
Catherine slowly read the letter stamped with the Rondos royal seal.
Then, after a certain point, her eyes lost their composure and shook, and soon droplets of water swelled up.
The hands holding the letter trembled.
"What's wrong, Catherine?"
Her gaze, which had fallen from the letter, wandered aimlessly in the air before dropping tears.
Her white hands, shaking, blocked her mouth.
She had just returned to the West Palace of Britz after watching Princess Anne Boleyn's fourth round game.
Irene called Catherine when the express international mail stamped with the Rondos Kingdom's seal was placed on a silver plate, as it had been ominous for some reason.
"Catherine?"
Catherine, who was pale and speechless, finally burst into tears.
"...Brother, ...Brother..."
Catherine, unable to finish her sentence, buried her face in her hands and sobbed on her knees.
Irene picked up the letter that had fallen on the carpet.
The ink was smudged in places, but there was no problem understanding the contents.
"...!"
Irene's hands also trembled uncontrollably. The midday light that passed through the large window was so bright that she felt dizzy.
"My dear daughter."
It was a personal letter from Queen Katrina. It was to inform her of her son's accident.
Irene, who had read the letter to the end, let out a trembling breath.
If God exists, please break this man's legs and keep him by my side.
For the past two years, that desperate and desperate prayer had finally been answered.
The epitome of arrogant beauty. Crown Prince Christian became disabled.
\\
The Crown Prince's bedchamber, where the curtains were drawn even though it was midday, was filled with the unique herbal scent of aroma candles, unlike usual.
"Get out."
A small voice was muffled from the face buried in the cushion.
The always arrogant voice was cracked and weakened.
Yohan, watching the dust in the sunlight pouring in like a thin film through the curtains, pulled a chair and sat down in a suitable place.
"A letter of annulment has arrived from the Argent royal family."
"Cruel bastard."
Christian was still lying in bed, burying his face in the cushion with his head turned to the side, and muttered.
"Don't you think you should ask how I am first?"
"I'm not in a very good mood right now."
She was a woman he had lived with for three years but had never seen playing tennis even once.
Surprisingly, Olivia Blanchett had advanced to the Dumblin Championship final.
While he was drinking and falling off his horse during a polo match, becoming a paraplegic Crown Prince.
Christian chuckled. He sounded like a madman.
Roughly sweeping back his tangled blonde hair, which he hadn't washed since the accident, he turned his head.
"I have to live the rest of my life as a cripple, but what's more upsetting than that? Tell me. What is it!!!"
He screamed, his face suddenly turning red as he laughed like crazy.
The aroma candles, which were supposed to bring mental and physical stability, didn't seem to be working. They only made the air feel stuffy.
Moreover, perhaps because the effects of the tranquilizer had worn off, violence was swirling in Christian's eyes.
He was still unable to accept his situation and was in a mentally unstable state.
"Don't make it hard for the people around you because of what you did, and think about your future."
"Don't make it easy."
"What changes if I make it difficult?"
"You cold-blooded bastard. Get out of here right now."
Christian buried his face in the cushion again and muttered curses.
As if he couldn't control his exploding emotions, he punched the cushion randomly and screamed.
Then he reached out and threw whatever he could grab.
A glass water bottle that narrowly flew past Yohan's shoulder hit the corner of the marble table and made a sharp noise.
Christian clenched the water glass in his fist.
Yohan was starting to get annoyed.
Yohan, who had stood up from his seat, bent down as he was.
He grabbed Christian's chin with his large hand and lifted it up.
The crystal glass rolled weakly onto the bed from his powerless hand.
"...Y, you dare."
Christian, who had gasped for breath, flailed his arms and struggled.
"Touch my body? I'm still the Crown Prince of this country! Crown Prince!!!"
Yohan stared intently at Christian. His sharp eyes were desolate.
"If you know that, act like a Crown Prince. Don't act like a brat."
Yohan murmured lowly and withdrew his hand.
Christian rubbed his reddened neck with his hand and gasped for breath.
Even so, his gaze glared at Yohan. Water was welling up at the end of his deeply double-lidded eyes.
"Don't cry in front of me."
"I want to cry somewhere else, but my legs are like this."
Christian covered his eyes with his rough hand and chuckled. Tears streamed down his temples.
It was not a tear of repentance for his dissolute life, but a tear of unbearable anger.
