[Chapter 006] Always beautiful, always crazy

"Madam! Madam!"

Before the shock had even subsided, another maid rushed into the reception room.

"Someone outside is looking for the person who went to the Grand Duchess's funeral!"

"What?"

"Madam! What's going on outside again?"

Mazi's eyes, as if certain that I had done something wrong, immediately turned to me without any doubt.

"What did you say?"

"Yes? Ah, they said they weren't looking for the Madam directly, but everyone who went to the funeral, so I said I would check and came in right away!"

"I'll go out myself."

"Yes? What… ! It's the middle of the night, do you know who it is? Find out who it is and go to the reception room on the first floor for guests with the butler… ."

Mazi's interference simply crumbled in my ears.

"No, I think I need to go out and check myself."

I hastily adjusted my clothes. It's Noah. It's definitely Noah. 

Vincento swallowed hard, looking at the pale, sensual lips in front of him. It wasn't just because the lips were beautiful, but because the mouth, which would normally have spewed out harsh words, wasn't even thinking about moving.

"Your Highness?"

"… ."

A faint light touched the arrogant tip of the man's nose, who was silently staring out of the carriage. But his expression remained dark. The beautiful injured man's face, which had been tense in a way that didn't suit him, was not only stiff but also pale. Considering his record of not batting an eye even when he saw countless corpses or monsters, it was a face that made one wonder if he had become a corpse himself. Vincento also looked in the direction of his gaze. A woman with unusually beautiful black hair. And another aide, Neil, scratching his head and saying something in front of her. The woman, who had exchanged a few words with Neil, looking wary, turned back to the Count Acacia's mansion, and Neil, as well as the lord in front of him, couldn't take their eyes off the entrance to the mansion.

"…What's her name?"

Roardness, whose face had been pale ever since he saw the woman's face, finally spoke after a long time. Roardness was so distracted that he didn't even hear the sound of Neil returning to them and knocking on the carriage door. Vincento sighed deeply and opened the carriage door instead of answering. Neil, with a flushed face, quickly got into the carriage and started talking nonstop.

"Her name is Mazi. She's a maid. She went to the Trovica Grand Duke's cemetery. She said she stayed late because she was looking for the Countess of Acacia, who disappeared without a word. She said she doesn't remember seeing Your Highness."

"…Your Highness!"

Vincento and Neil desperately tried to stop him from kicking open the carriage door and getting out. Even though he was badly injured, he was so strong that the hands holding his massive shoulders and arms trembled.

"What are you going to do when you get there?!"

"Just say you're smitten!"

A cold air filled the carriage as Neil, still red-faced, said that.

"…Are you insane?"

Your Highness is the most insane one here! Neil barely managed to speak, holding back the words that were about to burst out.

"If you ask a girl if the ghost you met at the cemetery is the man wrapped in bandages all over, how scared would she be?"

"A girl?"

"She was a beautiful and timid girl! She's not the ghost Your Highness is looking for."

Neil answered Vincento's question. And as soon as Neil saw Roardness's cold face, he gasped. In a flash, Neil was kicked out of the carriage.

"Ouch!"

"How dare you call her a ghost."

"Your Highness! Your Highness!"

I thought he was always a little crazy anyway. Roardness's eyes had been rolling ever since he heard the news of the Grand Duchess's death this morning. I had barely managed to stop him from asking anyone with that face, saying that anyone would run away, but now that he hadn't gotten what he wanted, he was acting as if a part of his sanity had snapped.

"Who is she, that you're looking for her so much?"

"…I don't know."

"Your Highness! I'm sorry, but… ."

Vincento spoke softly, blocking Roardness with his whole body.

"If you show yourself like this… ."

He wasn't simply referring to his appearance, with a wound that had pierced his abdomen. Roardness's problem was his eyes, with a cast hastily put on one arm by Vincento, a bandage roughly wrapped around his abdomen by Neil, and only a jacket over his bare body.

"She'll be very surprised. You don't show your face often, do you? And she's a commoner, so she won't understand."

"Yes, that girl was so surprised when she saw me! Her body went stiff as soon as she saw my red eyes, so maybe… ."

"Neil!"

At Vincento's low shout, Neil straightened his body, which had been hunched over, clutching his kicked shin, and saluted. Roardness, who usually would have cursed and kicked him, was unusually quiet. Neil cautiously stepped out of the carriage and looked up at his lord, who was looking down at him.

'Ah… .'

The beautifully sparkling red eyes weren't looking at him. They were simply staring at the Count Acacia's mansion, filled with a thick longing. With a face so pale that it wouldn't be strange if he died soon.

"Let's go for now, Your Highness."

"I'm sorry. I made a mistake… ."

"…You're right."

The burning emotion in Roardness's eyes wasn't directed at Neil. Neil watched Roardness enter the carriage silently and smacked his own head. Roardness, the Second Prince, with his brilliant blonde hair and ominous red eyes. He was known for his beauty and strength, but to ordinary people, he was simply a source of fear. Neil, feeling he had spoken too much out of a sense of duty to protect the lady, slapped his own mouth, this time with Vincento's hand. Click. The window opened as if by magic. Neil approached it to properly apologize and gave a sharp salute.

"Investigate that woman who just went in."

Damn, he wouldn't let it go. Vincento shook his head, looking at Neil, who was frozen, and opened the carriage door to check on Roardness's body, which he had treated. And… .

"Your Highness!"

He saw his beautiful lord clench his jaw tightly, enduring the pain, and then finally collapse.

"Your Highness!"

"Neil! You carry out His Highness's orders. I'll escort him back to the palace."

Vincento slammed the carriage door shut and urged the coachman on. Neil, too shocked, stared blankly at them as they disappeared, kicking up dust. And he thought about his lord, who had been going crazy since this morning. 

Roardness Kozma de Ronta was always beautiful, and always crazy. He approached battle as if he had no interest in anything other than stabbing, cutting, and killing, and he demanded more from his subordinates, knowing that no one could keep up with his stamina. At the same time, his features, delicate and masculine, as if carved from a jewel, were arguably the best in the empire. But perhaps God didn't give everything to humans, because he was extremely ruthless, in stark contrast to his beautiful face, and he couldn't utter a single kind word. They secretly called him the "Crazy Prince" among themselves, he was so cruel. The empire's playboy, who would say "Go ahead" with a calm face when women from all directions lifted their skirts and clung to him. Everyone said that he was so indifferent to the famous beauties who approached him because he was so beautiful. Moreover, Roardness was an unmarried prince who might be granted a high title in the future. Wherever he went to protect a territory, there were countless women who coveted his bedchamber. Today was no different. His lord, who was already crazy, had been even crazier for the past two years, and this morning, he had been badly injured while defeating a monster as big as a house that had suddenly appeared. He lived as if there was no tomorrow, so I was worried about him, having been treated so carelessly, and when I entered his bedchamber, I saw a woman almost naked, trembling. When I looked closer, I realized it was the daughter of the lord who had greeted us.

"Your, Your Highness…!"

The woman trembled, but she couldn't hide her flushed face and she stole glances at the prince. But Roardness, without even wiping the blood off his sword, held it right in front of the woman's nose and said,

"Get out."

He didn't even bother to enunciate his words.

Neil, who had involuntarily swallowed, saw the woman standing there, not leaving.

"Are you deaf?"

"I, I was just… trying to deliver the newspaper… ."

Roardness didn't say it twice. In the blink of an eye, he cut off some of the woman's hair, and the atmosphere was like walking on thin ice until the woman screamed and disappeared.

"…The newspaper is innocent, Your Highness."

Neil picked up the Imperial Gazette, which the woman had brought in as an excuse, fearing that he might be next, and handed it to him. Roardness, who would normally have slashed it with his sharp sword and told him to disappear as well, stood there frozen.

"Your Highness?"

The newspaper was snatched from his hand in an instant. The prince, who exuded a chill as if he had just washed in ice water, suddenly contorted his handsome face.

"…What kind of nonsense is this?"

"What is it?"

Roardness, who had muttered a low curse, was about to leave without even properly putting on his clothes, but he was barely stopped and his uniform was retrieved for him. He quickly skimmed the crumpled newspaper.

"!"

"Shocking! Grand Duchess of Trovica Dies of Chronic Illness in the Early Morning!" Was His Highness so close to the Grand Duchess of Trovica? While he was pondering, the sound of hooves cutting through the air violently reached his ears, and he opened the window in a panic.

"Oh, my god… Your Highness! Your Highness?!"

In the early morning, as dawn broke, he stared blankly at the back of the crazy prince, who was already galloping away, his cloak billowing. 

As the carriage carrying Roardness disappeared from sight, Neil finally relaxed his stiff body and contorted his lips. He wasn't sure if he was mistaken, but it seemed as if tears had flowed down his lord's cheek as he collapsed.

'I must have been wrong. The Crazy Prince crying?'

Neil thought that his crazy lord wouldn't cry over someone's death, but he was overwhelmed by the feeling that he should find out more about this woman named Mazi, and he got on his horse. 

It wasn't Noah. Noah hadn't come to find me. Not even his aide, Sir Jimsker.

"Madam, did His Grace…?"

"No."

I ignored Mazi's disappointed face. I was even more disappointed. But I didn't blame her.

'My name is Mazi, I'm a maid who works here.'

"I'm sorry, Mazi."

"Yes…? What for?"

Mazi's eyes widened and she stared intently at my lips as I apologized.

"Just."

Mazi stood there as if she had seen a ghost. I sincerely said that and looked out the window. The knight named 'Neil' who had come to find me was gone. My hands trembled a little.

'I couldn't help but lie. So, don't be scared.'

I didn't want to contact anyone until I met Noebian properly.

"Yona, bring some medicine!"

"Why? What kind of medicine, Madam Mazi?"

"…Madam must be really wrong somewhere."

And Mazi, who still looked stunned, started looking for medicine to give me.

************************************

Cheer me on 😍🤗🤩!!!!!!!!

Your votes, comments, and treats will really motivate me. You can treat me via 

Trakteer: trakteer.id/gurujadul/tip

Saweria: saweria.co/ibuibujadoel

Ko-fi: ko-fi.com/guru_jadul