Chapter 9

“Or are you doing it on purpose? Does this make your body warmer or something like that?”

Edwin looked at Herietta and laughed. It didn’t suit him; he spoke like a gigolo. Herietta couldn’t think properly. The one in her memory and the one in front of her eyes overlapped, and her mind was all mixed up. It felt like being slapped in the face by a monster.

The hand that had been resting on Herietta’s face gradually went down. His hands, which had reached the edge of her chest, were clenched and stopped in front of her dress.

“By the way, you’ll have to use a very strong drug to get my mind moving. I’m sorry, but you’re not my taste.”

He tilted his head at an angle and rolled his eyes down to look at her. One of the corners of his lips went up. It was dazzlingly attractive and sensational.

“It doesn’t matter because they will all look the same when you’re drunk.”

He fiddled with the laces that held the front of the dress tightly and then fumbled around as if he were about to untie them.

The crown prince’s last words kept coming to mind. He didn’t know if what the Crown Prince was saying was right or wrong. Still, the words floated through his mind like a curse.

The days he endured became a month, and a month became a year. And over the years he slowly crumbled and ripped apart. The man who reigned at the top of the world suddenly got stuck in a dirty gutter and had to look up from the bottom of the world.

At first, he despised and hated those who made fun of him, but now he was not convinced. Was it they who did the wrong thing, or was it him who had fallen so horribly and accepted it?

If their purpose was to lose himself in this way, they had already achieved the goal, he laughed. He laughed at himself, saying that sooner or later he wouldn’t even remember what he was like in the past.

And it happened. He really did forget about how he was in the past.

“Sir Edwin. I met you at a ball in Lavant.”

The woman with clear eyes confessed.

“That day, you shined brighter than anyone else in the ballroom. No, you were the most brilliant person I’ve ever met in my life. Looking at you, I realized that a person can be so strong, beautiful, noble, and unique at the same time. Even if the stars in the night sky were to come down to the ground for a short time, it wouldn’t be as wonderful as you, I thought.”

“…”

“I followed your trail, not forgetting that unique experience. Who knew that just seeing it once would enchant me for so long. But it was worth it to me at the time. And no one will be able to refute it.”

As she recalled the events of that day, there was longing in her eyes. Her voice was soft as she spoke.

“I only found out a few days ago through my aunt in Lavant that a lot has happened in your life. As you said, Philioche is very insensitive to the flow and change of the outside world. Until you showed up, I thought you were doing well in the capital.”

Herietta said calmly. At the same time, Edwin’s chest plummeted. If what she said was true, it was highly likely that all of this was coincidental, not planned. Then she probably didn’t approach him deliberately to achieve any purpose.

He rolled his eyes. After arriving at the mansion, he remembered her actions, where she hung around him and continued to do him favors. At no point did she ever show any sign of trying to satisfy her self-interest.

Edwin then thought about what he had done to Herietta a little while ago. The moment he thought that even the last faith he had left behind had been broken, he let go of his unstable sanity. Now it was just what it was. In desperation, he didn’t think about it and acted like a madman at his own will.

The vulgar, lewd words he said to Herietta, and the rude touch he had given her. And because of that, her face was in despair while falling into a crucible of shock. He remembered it all in such detail that it hurt. His throat was dry with shame.