[Side Story 6] Annoying men (3)

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Epero was literally smashed.

A maid let out a low scream, seeing him carried in on a stretcher.

"I'm... Cough! I'm fine. Cough, don't make a fuss..."

With each cough, he spat blood.

The maid covered her mouth with both hands and ran to call the doctor.

Epero grimaced and moved himself from the stretcher to the bed.

It was a guest room located in a corner on the third floor of the party hall.

Bang bang bang! Bang-!

Victor burst in without knocking.

Epero quickly turned his back, confirming that Blie had come with him, but Victor was much faster.

He was lifted up without being able to make a sound when Victor grabbed his wide shoulders and lifted him up.

"Ah!"

An incredible pain shot through him, as if several of his ribs had been broken. Blie exclaimed in surprise at Epero's more serious condition than expected.

"What happened!"

"The Crown Prince! He hit me!"

"Victor, get out! Cough-. No, it was a duel. I hit my brother a few times too."

"If it was a duel, you should have stopped the moment the wooden sword slipped from your hand! I saw it! Epero dropped the wooden sword but Roardnes shouted for him to take out a real sword regardless! As soon as Epero took out the real sword, he smashed it again!"

"Why are you suddenly speaking the Imperial language so well? Why did you call the little duke? Shut up and get out of here!"

Victor explained his eyewitness account smoothly and disappeared with a sullen expression. Along with the words, "Call me if you need me."

Epero searched his pockets for a handkerchief because he was about to spit up blood again.

Blie, who had calmed her startled heart, handed him the handkerchief in her pocket.

Epero flinched at the handkerchief fluttering in front of his eyes and quietly took it to cover his mouth.

After that, the doctor came.

He said that he had a slight crack in his ribs and many bruises on his body, but it wasn't fatal.

"...See? I'm fine. So now go away. Why come to see such a miserable sight?"

"Why would I want to see you beaten up? That bear-like Elacon prince dragged me here."

She considered it another karma sown by Adriene and just played along, but it never ended.

He would ask her to dance, even though she couldn't dance well, and she would end up making a fool of herself.

He would suddenly run somewhere urgently, and then come back to find Blie and nag her that Epero was hurt and she had to go see him.

Blie had come to ask Epero to get rid of this annoying prince, only to see him in such a state.

It was hard to turn away coldly now that she had seen him.

Epero, leaning precariously against the headboard, turned his head towards the wall.

He clearly didn't want to talk.

'As if anyone wants to talk to you...'

Blie stared at him, trying to calm her impatience, which wasn't very big.

They had met almost every day for the past year, so much so that there was even a separate guest room for Epero at the Duke's mansion.

Since she had received so much help from being close to him, she decided to be patient.

"Is His Highness the Crown Prince worried about his brother who isn't attached to the palace? Even your decent-looking face is all bruised. Look, I can't apply medicine to your back, so I'll apply it to your feet. When else am I going to touch a prince's body like this?"

"You're so casual about saying things like that..."

Epero turned his head towards Blie, looking a little angry.

It was an exaggerated reaction to a remark made to lighten the mood.

But only for a moment. Epero looked down at Blie's bewildered face and turned his head back towards the wall sharply.

"Everyone is really out of their minds. How can they be so cold?"

"...Your Highness, what are you talking about?"

"As if it was only yesterday that we were biting and sucking each other to death. Someone is getting married to my sister right away and having a child on their first night. Someone else is saying all sorts of things about how handsome my sister is and how good his body is, flirting with him. I knew from the beginning that Ronta was an incredibly open country, but this is too much."

Blie finally understood what Epero was saying.

The secret between her and Adriene was known only to a very few people, and Epero was not one of them.

It was a decision made because there was nothing to change even if Epero found out.

Blie took a deep breath and picked up the medicine the doctor had left.

She approached Epero, who stubbornly refused to look at her and only looked at the wall.

"...So why did you get beaten up like that?"

"The right to marry. I told him not to abolish it."

"!"

Blie, sitting on the edge of the bed, opened her eyes wide in surprise.

Did this prince find out the secret?

"So, are you going to kill your brother for my love and take Adriene?"

Blie listened intently to his words, her face stiff.

Epero said nothing more. Finally, impatient, Blie spoke first.

"Why?"

"..."

Silence again.

Epero didn't answer for a long time.

But his bare upper body, wrapped in bandages, was completely red, and his chest was rising and falling repeatedly because of his gradually rough breathing.

"Promise you won't run away."

"...Run away?"

"Even if I tell you why. Promise me you won't run away."

"I will. Tell me quickly. I don't have that much patience."

His red hair trembled briefly at the words about his lack of patience.

Having watched Blie closely for a year, he knew very well where her limits were.

Epero's face, which was red and chapped, turned cautiously towards Blie.

He didn't realize that Blie was that close, and Epero's eyes flickered strongly when he saw her face, which was closer than he thought.

"I think I like you."

What kind of nonsense is this?

Blie stared at him blankly, not understanding what he meant.

Didn't he realize that when he asked to abolish the right to marry, it was because he realized that Adriene, his wife, was the woman he loved?

"Are you listening?"

When Blie didn't answer because she was untangling her thoughts, Epero said impatiently.

"I said I like you."

"What does that have to do with... the right to marry?"

It was a question asked out of genuine curiosity. Epero's face gradually turned to disappointment.

It was a rather interrogative way to answer a confession of love. But Blie couldn't help it.

"You're good at scheming."

"..."

"You're good at scheming. I thought that even if you were a brother, you would betray the Crown Princess and eventually take the position of Empress if something went wrong. I thought that you were studying so hard to become a successor... to gain strength and betray me later. There is another saint in this country, so if someone encouraged you, you could become Empress. It's common for sisters to become empresses in this royal family."

"So, are you going to kill your brother for my love and take Adriene?"

Blie's mouth gaped open in disbelief.

"With the lack of mana stone mines in Ronta, monsters are now a blessing, not a disaster. Your brother's power kills them, and high-purity mana stones form in the monsters' hearts. Your brother doesn't spare himself, so he might die someday if he's unlucky while killing monsters for the country."

"...So?"

"If my brother dies..."

"You'll take care of your brother and become the Empress?"

Epero's face was now completely the same color as his hair.

Blie got off the bed, crossed her arms, and looked down at him.

What should she do with this prince who had such an overactive imagination?

And how could Adriene have told Epero things that made him think so naturally that Blie would plot against Adriene and take her place?

"Oh, come on..."

It was worth getting beaten up for having such a dangerous thought and asking Roardnes to keep the right to marry.

It seemed quite merciful to have answered his brother's declaration of war, which was tantamount to saying that he would take his brother's wife after his death, with a few broken ribs and bruises.

Whether or not Epero knew what was going on in Blie's absurd mind, he was quietly looking down.

"Your Highness."

"Yes."

He looks up at her immediately when she calls him.

Blie looked at Epero with somewhat complicated eyes. And feeling uneasy at her subtle reaction, Epero swallowed nervously.

"Why do you like me?"

Epero blinked slowly, looking a little stupid.

"Tell me why you like me. Since when? We're friends, aren't we?"

"I liked you as a friend. Humanly. I was attracted to you because I thought you were cool."

Hmm.

Blie listened silently, feeling a strange sense of peeking into Adriene's romantic relationships. Thinking that Blie didn't have a negative reaction, Epero hesitated and added.

"But I felt like you... I mean, I was sexually attracted to you for just a moment."

When Blie raised an eyebrow as if to tell him to continue, Epero took a deep breath and answered like a sigh.

"I want to be the Duke of Pireta."

"?"

"If I become the Duke of Pireta, can I have two or three men?"

"What did you say?"

"You said so. When you were going to get rid of the Duke of Pireta. I felt a thrill then."

Surprised by the unexpected answer, Blie recalled the past.

Moments when she half-heartedly answered her father, who was no different from an enemy. Moments when she said she wanted to be the Duke of Pireta, not the Crown Princess, when asked what she wanted.

"Before, it was more like... I just admired him. Just like I admired and wanted to follow my brother. I felt an invisible wall too. But because of those words, I saw you completely differently. Even though you did dangerous things, you always felt a little stubborn, but you weren't. You weren't bound by rules, you were much more open than I thought, and you were interesting and I wanted to know more. It was the first time I felt that way in my life."

"..."

"Because I knew you were my brother's woman, I tried to hide my feelings... but I got angry for no reason when your brother abandoned you and you didn't seem to care. I know it's presumptuous, but I just felt that way. Are you upset?"

Blie took a moment to catch her breath.

"I've been growing fonder of you over the past year that I've been close to you."

"..."

Summing up what he said, didn't Epero mean that he didn't feel any romantic feelings for Adriene, but rather after Blie found her own body?

Her head went blank for a moment.

"I know. You don't think of me that way yet. And you probably don't like the fact that I'm your brother's sister."

Epero looked disappointed, unable to hide his disappointment because Blie's reaction was still subtle, even after he had talked so much.

"I'm sorry if I upset you. Thinking about it, I said such things to you while getting beaten up by my lover, damn it. Just forget it."

Epero looked seriously at Blie, who was dazed.

"I'll say it nicely again, so forget it."

And with the same arrogant and arrogant expression of a prince as before, he made the request.

Blie closed the door and left the room, looking at Epero who was lying down and covering his head with the blanket.

'Are you upset?'

Blie carefully examined her feelings after closing the door.

'I can't believe it.'

Embarrassingly.

Very embarrassingly.

She didn't feel bad at all.

'Rather than feeling bad...'

It was very irritating.

That was the problem.

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