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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: An Unforeseen Attachment
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I placed both hands on his chest and pushed with all my might.
“Darcy, that’s enough…”
Darcy, who had been listening quietly, didn’t budge. What was he thinking?
I furrowed my brow and lifted my head, only to feel a tingling sensation on my ear.
“Ah!”
Darcy had bitten my ear.
I let out a small shriek and shoved him away, and this time he yielded easily. My bitten earlobe throbbed.
“What—what do you think you’re doing!”
As I stammered in shock, a corner of Darcy’s mouth lifted into a smirk. The playful glint I thought had vanished was back in his half-lidded eyes.
“I remembered how you ignored me last time. Your ears were looking rather mischievous.”
His sparkling eyes were infuriating.
I sighed, trying my best to reason with him.
“Darcy, you can’t just…”
“Do things like this? A shame, but I wouldn’t know, having never had a first love, let alone friends or a lover. I’ll be more careful in the future.”
…He always knew how to leave me speechless. But to have never had a first love? That was a bit much.
Seeing my conflicted expression, Darcy tilted his head.
“Perhaps you could be my first love.”
His lighthearted words comforted me. By now, I had grown accustomed to his prickly remarks.
“There’s that smile.”
“I’m sorry for showing you this side of me at the end.”
Being an emotional person, the thought of someone I’d grown fond of leaving for the first time in a while made me sad. I had definitely become more affectionate and vulnerable than usual.
I really need to spend some time recovering at home.
Standing before Darcy, I steeled myself and offered the best smile I could muster.
“Well then, goodbye, Darcy.”
And I waved.
Darcy simply stared at me without a word.
Only after a long moment did his eyes curve into a smile.
“Goodbye, Marso.”
It was the same farewell we always shared.
That was our last conversation.
***
Today was the last day he would see Marso.
He had gathered enough magic stones. Thanks to their contract, not only could he break the magic circle, but he could also use the generous amount she had given him today for travel expenses.
‘Finally.’
The day had finally come to break free from the chains encircling the palace and the curse that bound him.
It was what he had yearned for ever since being abandoned by his mother and dragged here by the Emperor.
To escape his mother’s life-draining curse and live an ordinary life, as if his wretched existence here had never been.
The life he had always longed for was the single ray of hope he had clung to.
Every time he was dragged into battle, he thought the same thing.
He wanted to start a new life elsewhere rather than pursue a futile revenge that would only consume his own.
Even if it was against the biological father who had used him his entire life, revenge took time, and his own time was too precious to waste on it.
…And there was his mother’s plea not to ruin Kies.
What was it about blood ties? Even knowing she had abandoned him, he couldn’t forget her final request.
Meeting Marso had never changed that goal.
He had known her for a short time, but his wish had lasted a lifetime.
‘But why?’
Darcy’s eyes narrowed.
His feet felt rooted to the spot. He couldn’t bring himself to leave first as he usually did, and it was only after Marso had left the drawing room that Darcy realized it.
He finally considered that he might have given his heart to Marso.
It was by chance that he overheard their conversation.
After saying her goodbyes, Marso must have run into the Marquis in the hallway.
Marquis Etoile’s voice was louder than expected, and Darcy’s hearing was sharp.
Their exchange was painfully awkward. It wasn’t surprising at all.
Seeing Marso always alone, he had long abandoned the idea that she had a proper family.
He supposed he had felt a slight kinship with her, thinking their situations were similar.
Marquis Etoile spoke haltingly.
“His Majesty the Emperor has sent you an invitation, Marso.”
“…”
“He has invited you to a banquet with Prince Ryan. It seems he considers you a candidate for Crown Princess. The investiture ceremony will likely be held soon.”
The moment he heard Ryan’s name, a bitter laugh escaped Darcy’s lips.
‘That bastard son of a bitch.’
The curse, a familiar comfort in times of turmoil, slipped out on its own.
The Emperor’s bloodline, who had elegantly studied the qualities of a ruler, including *The Prince*, and wielded a sword while Darcy suffered to the point of death.
Ryan.
The reason the only publicly known prince had not yet been invested as Crown Prince was simple.
Emperor Kies used the position as bait.
Kies had used Darcy until his body and mind were in tatters, repeating over and over that he was doing it because he considered him the Crown Prince.
He hadn't hesitated to string him along with false hope, asking why else he wouldn't have given the position to Ryan yet.
‘As if I had a choice. I would have had to obey because of the curse anyway.’
The methods used to exploit Darcy more effectively were utterly vicious.
Darcy let out a bitter breath.
The conversation between Marso and the Marquis continued.
Marso said she didn’t want to go. Marquis Etoile tried to coax her.
“Marriage to the Prince is not a bad thing for you. We cannot refuse this engagement, so go and think it over.”
His detached voice was incredibly grating.
‘If I go out there and snap his neck, will he finally shut up?’
It was laughable how he pretended to listen when he had no intention of accepting Marso’s opinion in the first place. His words were infuriating.
…No, it wasn’t just the words that bothered him.
The time after he met Marso had passed like a scene from a play.
He didn’t know how they had talked so much in such a short time. Thinking he was about to leave made everything easy—speaking without thinking, revealing his true feelings.
But he couldn’t leave.
He couldn’t return to the Saisen Palace, where everything was ready for his departure.
Darcy asked himself.
‘Why am I standing here, frozen, fixated on the voice of a marquis I don’t even know?’
It was all over.
He could truly let everything go.
‘It seems he considers you a candidate for Crown Princess.’
Ryan, of all people. Marso was far too good for him.
He couldn’t let Marso get engaged to that son of a bitch. Anyone beside her would be inadequate. They should at least be as handsome as he was.
As for personality, well, as long as it was tolerable…
The feeling was new to him. He’d never cared who stood next to whom before.
It had been similar when he’d heard the rumors about that theater actor.
‘Is it because she’s my first friend?’
He had read in a book that when people become close, they start to look out for each other.
This was a disaster. The thought of Ryan and Marso standing side by side made his stomach churn.
It was all the more agonizing because he knew it would happen naturally if he left.
Ryan’s opinion didn’t matter. Emperor Kies had a tendency to push through with whatever he decided.
‘…Damn it.’
Cursing inwardly, Darcy ran a frustrated hand through his hair.
This wasn’t right.
He should have been gone by now.
The plan he had crafted for a perfect escape had become the very chains holding him back.
It was a disaster. He was already caught in a trap.
The more he struggled, the deeper the chains dug in.
At this point, he had to admit it.
He was worried about Marso Etoile’s future.
He couldn’t leave Marso alone—the woman who appeared composed but was incredibly fragile on the inside.
The moment he thought that, valid reasons began to surface one after another.
Because he knew what a piece of trash Ryan was.
Because he knew how different Marso was from the rumors.
‘Above all else.’
The fleeting, quiet happiness he had felt in his time with her was lodged deep in his mind, refusing to leave.
She was the one who had made him feel a happiness he never thought he would find here.
How could he turn his back on that?
He couldn’t leave.
The realization was instantaneous.
He couldn’t be sure what this feeling was. But one thing was clear.
He couldn’t bear to watch Marso walk into a life of misery.
Even if it meant completely changing his own life’s plan.
Darcy smiled ferociously. The photograph in his hand crumpled mercilessly.
Perhaps it was a fit of pique directed at Marso, who had unsettled his mind after only a few meetings.
Glancing at the photo, he erased the remnants of his emotion.
‘I can just take another one later. As many as I want.’
She had given it to him as a final gift. Now that it was no longer the end, it had lost its meaning.
‘If I hadn’t seen that expression on her face today, would I be this concerned?’
Darcy rubbed his lips, recalling Marso’s face.
The emptiness and loneliness in her eyes when he said he was leaving. The satisfaction that swelled within him when he glimpsed a side of her so different from her usual confident self. The thrill of knowing he was the only one who had seen it. A jolt he had never felt before consumed his entire body.
Once he admitted he couldn’t leave, everything became simple.
A change in life plans.
He would prevent Marso’s unhappiness, and then he would leave. Until then, he had to protect this place.
But Kies would not bend his will easily. To defy the Emperor and let things go Marso’s way, he would need power.
Lost in thought, Darcy raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms.
‘…And while I’m at it, I might as well get some revenge.’
His hatred had faded over long years of emotional numbness, but now that an opportunity had presented itself, there was no reason to refuse.
The moment he had that thought, his heavy footsteps quickened. The pace was so fast it surprised even him.
There was much to consider. He had no time to waste here.
Perhaps, from the very beginning, he had wanted to betray his mother’s last wish and choose revenge.
Inside the drawing room, Darcy vanished in an instant.
He arrived, as always, inside a bathroom.
Darcy immediately noticed the air was different than usual. It was a scent he knew all too well.
Straightening his clothes, Darcy knew at once who had come.
The protagonist of a memory he would never forget.
“You’ve finally arrived.”
The scent of Emperor Kies’s incense filled not only the room but the bathroom as well, thick and cloying.
