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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 62
Chapter Title: The Worn-Out Male Lead Picked the Wrong Opponent
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Masera lowered his eyes, thinking of the necklace draped around Cynthia's white, slender neck.
The red necklace that had driven his mother to her death. The hated royal blood that had killed his father and stolen his normal life.
Despite his efforts to sever ties, her eyes—like red roses blooming amid a blizzard—shimmered in his mind.
Why?
The more he thought of her, the tighter his chest clenched. Even though he knew he shouldn't.
Masera exhaled a hazy breath and brushed back his platinum blond hair.
He had realized earlier, while watching Karos, that the emotion stirring inside him was close to jealousy.
At that moment, Karos was approaching Valeria and asking her to dance.
His heart wasn't in it, but since he'd come with her as his partner, he needed to show some effort.
"Alright."
He headed to the dance floor with Valeria, who accepted the invitation. She asked nothing about the earlier embrace.
Karos couldn't focus on the dance at all, lost in other thoughts.
Every time Cynthia's contemptuous gaze flashed in his mind, his throat burned dry and his stomach churned with anger.
'How can she act so brazen when I have her weakness in my grasp?'
He couldn't shake the feeling that the power dynamic was starting to shift.
Meanwhile, Valeria's lips twisted as she watched Karos move without any sincerity.
She could hardly miss that the man was lost in his own world.
"I'm going to chat with the ladies."
As soon as one song ended, Valeria turned her back on him and walked away.
'If I can rise from crown princess to queen, that's just a minor nitpick...'
She had heard from her father about the plan to restore the monarchy.
He'd said that even if it wasn't in the Lutemia Republic, they could establish one in any of the colonies returned by the fallen empire.
'So I need to build my own allies.'
In her eyes, Helen didn't seem close to her younger sister Cynthia. That irritated glare suggested rivalry, not sisterhood.
Having sorted her thoughts, Valeria approached Helen and requested a private word.
Once in the banquet hall's lounge area, Valeria cut straight to the point.
"Duchess. I know it's indelicate, but since we're soon to wed, I feel I should know. Is the rumor about Prince Karos and Princess Cynthia true?"
Helen tilted her head, feigning ignorance.
"What rumor?"
Valeria replied calmly.
"An unseemly one. That they share feelings beyond siblings."
"No way."
In truth, it was a rumor Helen herself had quietly spread from the shadows, but she smiled and shook her head.
Valeria's father, the prime minister, had promised the Queensguard family's entry into politics as a marriage condition.
But confirming it outright might pin the blame on her.
'Of course, even if it were true, the prime minister would force the marriage through somehow.'
No scandal could block Karos from becoming his son-in-law. Marriages like this were just family transactions, after all.
From Helen's perspective, though, Valeria entering the marriage uneasy wasn't bad at all. She'd grow to resent Karos and seek someone to lean on.
'I'll turn Valeria and the prime minister into my network, then strip Karos bare through divorce later.'
To Helen, Karos wasn't family—he was a rival.
Sneering inwardly, Helen continued softly.
"My eldest brother does dote on our delicate little sister. But don't worry—I'll mediate smoothly."
As Helen hoped, Valeria wore a reluctant look of agreement.
Helen smirked to herself.
It was the perfect chance to undermine Karos's standing and pull Valeria to her side.
"Lady Valeria, come to me anytime with your worries. You're about to become family, after all."
"Duchess... Thank you for hearing me out despite the discomfort."
'My instincts were right. She doesn't care for her siblings.'
Of course, Valeria had confirmed their alignment from Helen's reaction.
No matter how adept nobles were at masks, a frown at family scandals was only natural.
After Valeria returned to the banquet hall, Helen summoned someone and issued a secret order.
"Deliver this note to Karos."
In the banquet hall, Karos was drawing attention from a crowd of ladies.
"Will you be staying in the capital ongoing?"
"What are your hobbies?"
As the handsome prince absent from the capital's social scene until now, he was an object of curiosity.
While Karos offered only perfunctory smiles, someone approached.
"A lady asked me to deliver this."
A masked servant whose face couldn't be seen handed him a note and vanished.
Puzzled, Karos unfolded it.
"......"
The note invited him to her room in secret.
No sender was named, but only one person came to mind.
Karos headed straight for Cynthia's room.
He knocked repeatedly at the door, but got no response. Had she dozed off briefly?
Cautiously, Karos opened the door—and beheld an unexpected sight.
"What are you doing......"
A maid in uniform was cradling the sleeping Cynthia—an unnatural scene.
The maid gave an awkward smile.
"I was just about to wash her."
Karos gazed at Cynthia, who slept deeply.
She looked drugged into slumber, so who had sent the note? It made no sense, no matter how he puzzled it out.
"Why bathe her in the bathroom instead of just wiping her down with a cloth?"
At Karos's question, the maid's expression grew steely.
"Luck isn't just an empty word, it seems. Showing up right now, of all times."
Hearing the maid's icy tone, Karos recoiled.
"What do you mean......"
In truth, the woman was a Free Assembly operative disguised as a maid.
She had timed her move for the guards' shift change to abduct Cynthia, but Helen's fake note had drawn Karos in at the perfect moment, blowing her cover.
"Well, it's still a chance to snag two royals who crawled out from hiding like vermin."
The disguised maid smirked and leveled a pistol at Karos.
As Karos panicked, someone else threw a cloth hood over his head.
Karos lost consciousness.
"Hm?"
The disguised maid picked up the dropped note and chuckled.
"They'll think it's some forbidden lovers' elopement."
Forging handwriting was child's play.
Masera hurried from the banquet hall toward Cynthia's room.
"The maid tending Cynthia was called away for urgent business. You should check on her quickly."
Helen's words to him had been a ploy to catch him seeing Karos and Cynthia together in one room.
But the plan had gone awry in ways she couldn't know.
'The door's ajar.'
Reaching the room, Masera sensed something off and quieted his steps. Cold wind seeped through the crack.
Realizing the window was open, he drew his pistol from his coat and entered slowly.
Whoosh—
The wide-open window and billowing curtains came into view. The room was empty.
"......"
Cynthia was gone.
He picked up the note on the bed. Then stared piercingly at the words scrawled there.
