Chapter 93

“Would you please remove your hand?”

“…Hmm?”

I naturally pushed Igrid’s hand away.

“I’m not fond of physical contact.”

“Ah… I-I see. I’m sorry.”

As I stood up without a word, he looked up at me, abashed.

“Guild Master Astell? Why are you standing?”

“Didn’t you say you were leaving? I’ll see you out.”

“Ah, no, you don’t have to see me out. But what I just said…”

“Ah, that.”

I cut him off with a gentle smile.

“I appreciate the sentiment. However, I don’t think it would be proper to consider another relationship while things with the Second Prince are unresolved.”

“Then…”

A flustered Igrid hastily asked.

“Does that mean you’ll see me once you’ve settled things with Dante?”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think that’s possible.”

“Is it because of Dante?”

“No, it’s a matter of my personal taste. I’m rather particular about looks.”

“A-are you… saying… I’m uglier than Dante?”

“Don’t be too upset. Your Highness isn’t bad-looking, all things considered.”

*Bang!*

Igrid shot to his feet, slamming his hand on the table. His fair face was flushed crimson.

“You think I’m uglier than that bastard? Take it back! Right now!”

*Oh, so he’s finally showing his true colors.*

I shrugged, feigning ignorance.

“I don’t understand why you’re so agitated. Isn’t beauty subjective? If I think you’re unattractive, you are. If I think you’re handsome, you are.”

Igrid’s face contorted horribly.

His hands were clenched so tightly they trembled as if he wanted to strike me. A vein bulged on his forehead.

He was raging to an extent that anyone would find odd.

*’He must have an inferiority complex about his looks compared to Dante.’*

Igrid was the chosen successor to the throne, backed by the entire nobility.

And yet, he was jealous of his younger brother’s appearance. Even though he had everything else.

*’How petty.’*

After fuming for a moment, Igrid managed to compose himself.

I thought he’d cause more of a scene. It seems he had a shred of reason left.

“I am deeply disappointed by your attitude, Princess. It is quite troublesome for you to act this way when I have personally graced you with my presence. It makes it difficult for me to look favorably upon the Guardian, doesn’t it?”

“Look favorably? That’s an odd thing to say. Isn’t that something you could only do if Bluebird were superior to the Guardian?”

“Princess Astell!”

“I am not a princess. Call me a Hunter, or call me Guild Master.”

“…You will come to regret this.”

“Enough with the typical loser’s parting words. It’s time for you to leave.”

With a face stained by humiliation, Igrid stormed out of the drawing room.

I walked to the window and watched the Bluebird members depart.

Igrid, surrounded by his Hunters, climbed into his carriage.

“His guild members find him difficult to approach?”

And here I thought he was being ostracized.

“Well, they certainly seem to find him difficult.”

The way they fussed over him, as if he might trip and fall.

They wouldn’t dote on a five-year-old child that much.

“If you’re going to lie, at least make it believable.”

I hadn’t seen through Igrid’s lies from the start.

His benevolent expression and earnest tone made him seem like a sincere person. Besides, those were the very traits I was weakest against.

If he hadn’t claimed Dante invited a flock of women to a party, I might have fallen for it completely.

“Dante, inviting women to a party…”

Dante, doing something so typical of an ordinary nobleman?

“That’s a laugh.”

He should have at least said something that made sense.

Dante had no interest in the opposite sex.

That’s not to say he was moral or ascetic. He simply had no interest in people whatsoever.

Above all, Dante was not the type of person to lie.

*’He’s the kind of person who doesn’t even have the desire to impress anyone enough to bother fabricating a persona.’*

So, his claims of hating noise, disliking parties, and not drinking because he couldn’t get drunk must have all been true.

In other words, everything Igrid said was a lie.

“What’s his motive?”

I couldn’t understand why he would go so far as to lie just to drive a wedge between Dante and me.

It’s not like he’d gain anything from Dante and me breaking up.

“He can’t actually be in love with me…”

Is he perhaps trying to get his hands on the Guardian?

“Hmm…”

Bluebird must have taken a huge blow today. I took most of their guild members, after all.

He wants to turn the tables, but a fair fight would take too much time and effort, so he wanted to take the easy way out.

By making me his, he’d get the Guardian as well.

That must be why he perfectly played two roles.

The good and righteous older brother who lovingly embraces his troublemaking younger brother, and the naive young man who, tormented by the sin of coveting his brother’s woman, arduously confesses his love.

“The Taikans are quite the actors.”

But what can you do about him being an idiot?

Did I look like the kind of woman who would abandon her work, her life goals, everything, just because she was crazy about a man?

There’s a limit to misjudging someone. How could he be so blind?

“Dante is quite smart… Are they half-brothers?”

Poor Bluebird. Having a complete moron for a leader.

I stepped back from the window, recalling the one truth among the lies Igrid had spun.

That Dante couldn’t come today.

“What happened?”

***

A dark, gloomy basement.

Dante, who had collapsed face down, opened his eyes.

He blinked his blurry eyes, and his vision slowly came into focus.

Cold stone walls, a bathtub filled to the brim. Chunks of ice still floated on the water’s surface.

He seemed to have spent the entire night in the ice water, only crawling out of the tub after dawn… He couldn’t remember anything after that.

*’Did I pass out?’*

It had been a while since he’d fainted.

It seemed even his body, which had grown accustomed to a certain level of pain after the flogging just a few days ago, couldn’t endure it.

“Huu…”

As he sighed, a white puff of breath escaped his lips.

Outside, it was early summer, but the blue room was cold enough to see one’s breath.

This was because a magic circle had been installed to maintain a sub-zero temperature.

No one probably knew how much money was spent to periodically renew that magic circle.

Even if he soaked his body in ice water for a lifetime, this cursed body would never be purified…

*’How foolish.’*

Dante let out a small laugh, then his eyes widened.

*’Astell!’*

He belatedly remembered his plans to meet Astell at the Guardian today.

What time was it? How long had he been unconscious?

In this windowless place, he couldn’t even tell if it was day or night.

Dante tried to push himself up with a stiff arm but collapsed again. His cheek, pressed against the stone floor, throbbed.

He wanted to stand, but his body wouldn’t obey. His briefly sharpened consciousness was rapidly fading.

“No…”

Dante shook his head violently and pressed his forehead against the ice-cold floor.

For a moment, his senses returned, and his eyes flew open.

Having barely avoided fainting again, he slowly pushed himself up.

Though he tumbled over several times trying to support himself on his strengthless arms, he soon managed to get to his feet.

“Hah, hah…

He was panting heavily just from standing up.

His body was burning with fever, and each breath came out as a white cloud.

But why was he so cold?

Dante wrapped his arms around his bare torso.

“Cold…”

His voice was a wreck. His throat felt like it was tearing with every breath.

No matter how hard he tried to stop it, his whole body trembled. Goosebumps rose on his skin whenever a drop of water fell from his wet hair.

“*Cough, cough!*”

His condition was at its worst. If he passed out again, there was no telling when he would wake up.

I have to get out of here quickly…

“Ha… haha.”

An empty laugh escaped him. His own desperate struggle to live was so damn ridiculous.

“A monster who can’t even die.”

Dante hastily threw some clothes on his naked body. Then, he dragged his feet out of the blue room.

How many times had he paused to rest while walking down the dark, grim corridor?

When he finally reached his bedroom, brilliant sunlight poured over his entire body.

Dante shielded his eyes with his hand. The sunlight was painfully intense.

It was as if the sun itself was angry that a mere monster had dared to crawl out into the world.

*’The basement is a more fitting place for a monster, anyway.’*

He had, in fact, lived in a basement before.

Just as a bitter smile touched his lips at the memory of that distant past.

“Did you really throw a party?”

A voice that should never have been heard in this place rang out.