TPOP 82

Chapter 82

***

A commotion erupted from the upper part of the hallway. The nobleman reciting the next agenda item glanced fearfully toward the doorway.

As if he had been waiting for this moment, Felix rose to his feet. He personally opened the study door.

A woman, leaning against the wall and gasping for breath, revealed herself before him. She looked quite different from her usual self.

Someone let out a small gasp.

The woman was no longer dressed as a maid, nor in a slip that might as well not have been worn. She wore a light sky-blue silk dress, its fabric and workmanship clearly of the highest quality at a glance. With each step she took, the sheer lace swayed like foam. Whoever the designer was, the unique yet fresh and elegant style maximized the woman's mysterious charm.

Felix also looked satisfied.

"Very beautiful, Diana. I should have used more diamonds."

With that single remark, Hugo realized it was Felix's creation. Along with the somewhat despairing fact that Felix had no qualms about displaying the woman before the nobles.

Hearing Felix's voice, Diana bit her lip hard.

"I don't know exactly what kind of... dress this is, but I never asked to wear something like this. Give me back my maid's uniform. Clothes befitting my station."

"I decide what suits you, Diana."

"No. You have no right to do that, Master. I'm going back to the palace. I was sent there as a maid from the start."

"I told you, you're not a maid anymore."

"I, I...!"

"You're about to become Crown Princess. You can't just wear whatever you find lying around."

Diana's face paled. She'd only descended one floor, yet she was breathless and her stomach ached sharply. Felix noticed her hand kept drifting down to her flat abdomen. The ease vanished from his face as he immediately approached Diana.

"Diana. You took your medicine before coming out, right?"

What did she know about pills? Diana, who had been panting lightly, suddenly fumbled at the back of her neck and undid the buttons. Terribly soft fabric slid down her skin.

Just before the lace slip she wore underneath was exposed, Felix yanked her dress up in one swift motion.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"A whore's... work."

Diana pulled at her own front, uttering the insulting word. Felix's eyebrows shot up sharply.

"Is this all I learned from Hilde? If I must prove I'm unfit for this place... Haa, I suppose I must show you this. The mark on my chest!"

Their conversation flowed directly into the ears of those inside. Hugo pressed his hand to his forehead, while the nobles, including the Marquis of Grandfar, exchanged looks of utter disbelief.

A woman who claimed to be a whore herself dared to glare at the Crown Prince, veins bulging on her neck? The nobles, forcing their gazes away, wore expressions dripping with contempt.

But Felix himself couldn't care less.

"Then shall I say something too? About how you are in no way lacking to become the Empress of Karman. Balestega's..."

"Master!"

Diana flushed crimson with rage, utterly flustered. This was a thousand times better than her corpse-like pallor.

Felix flicked his hand at the attendant, who handed him an object. It was the staff she had left in her room.

"Go back to your room, Diana. Don't get angry. Take your medicine."

Diana spun around abruptly. She flung the staff Felix had thrust at her into the corner of the hallway. The staff, studded with jewels, was dazzlingly beautiful, but equally heavy. To Diana, it was nothing more than a heavy iron rod she could barely lift.

Instead of the cane, Diana leaned against the wall, staggering as she walked. The attendant, catching the Crown Prince's glance, hurried after her to support her.

"Miss Diana, this way..."

What happened next was something no one, not even Felix, could have imagined.

Diana wrapped her arms around the young attendant's waist and pressed her lips to his.

Unfamiliar with his height, build, or features, her lips grazed the area around his jawline. Even that slight contact made the young man's pale cheeks flush bright red.

"Th-this, wait, over there..."

Diana desperately clung to this nameless man.

For the past two days, she had agonized over what she had done that Felix had reacted to so unusually sensitively.

She had long since realized there was nothing more foolish than trying to prove her worth to someone who possessed the entire world. Even pleading with this body of hers—the very body he refused to let go of, the one he insisted on making a child with—had been futile. An act Felix couldn't control. An act that made him anxious and impatient…

An act of self-destruction. Yes, that was the only answer.

It didn't necessarily have to be physical self-harm. The Crown Prince had clearly stated his disgust for prostitutes. So Diana clung to anyone she could find.

It didn't matter if they were male or female. Diana's gestures were less seduction and more a desperate plea for help, but they were enough to make Felix look away.

"Now, this."

A hand clenched with all its strength seized Diana's shoulder and wrenched her away from the attendant. Recognizing the Crown Prince's fury, the attendant scrambled back into the corridor and threw himself face-down on the floor.

"How dare you—in front of me."

The Crown Prince, his composure completely shattered, raised his voice.

The moment Diana embraced another man of her own volition, Felix's reason snapped. Rage burned his thought circuits white. It had been an age since anger had left him speechless, boiling over to his very scalp.

Diana murmured like a doll programmed only to repeat words.

"Because I'm a whore. I can kiss anyone, spread my legs for anyone."

"Shut your mouth."

"I can please any man, not just my master—."

"I said shut your mouth!"

Felix groped wildly at her lips, which had touched another man, his hands clumsy and frantic. Merely wiping them away wasn't enough; he pressed his lips against hers.

He licked her chapped, cracked lips, tangling his tongue with hers to erase the touch of another man that had been there. The kisses, crushing her tender lips again and again, were almost obsessive. Diana could barely breathe.

"I..."

Felix cupped both her cheeks, forcing her to meet his eyes. Her empty, pale green eyes made his stomach churn.

"I don't share my woman with some servant. Damn it, how dare you do this in front of me..."

"If you kill him, I'll find another."

"What?"

"If I smell blood, I'll find another."

Diana repeated like a parrot.

"Because that's the kind of woman I am. I lied to you, my master. Many men have used my hole. This isn't my first time whoring. It's true I grew up rolling around filthily in Hilde. I heard it so often it stuck in my ears—that the first time hurts, so you have to insert a dildo into the hole beforehand to stretch it open..."

Lewd words flowed from Diana's lifeless lips. Instinctively, he sensed he had to stop her.

Felix knew better than anyone how much Diana hated such vulgar expressions. She was the woman who always shook her head, eyes brimming with tears, when he made lewd jokes in bed.

And now Diana was cutting herself.

"So I'm unfit for the imperial palace. Abandon me to Hilde. Or just let me die here..."

"Stop it, Diana."

"—Kill me."

I think I should stop here. Diana whispered that in a hollow voice.

It's better to die than live here as your wife. Her eyes, devoid of any emotion, screamed it.

Felix struggled to catch his breath. It took time to refine the emotions boiling over like lava into words.

"...Do this one more time, and I'll cut the throats of every servant."

"If I smell blood—"

"There's no one else you can find. No one but me."

Felix picked up Diana, who stood alone in the hallway.

The new room Diana would use wasn't fully prepared yet. Felix carried her into the bathroom adjoining his bedroom.

He turned on the tap and placed her in the tub as hot water gushed out. He roughly stripped off the dress she’d worn for the first time today and scrubbed every inch of her pale, naked skin. He washed everything thoroughly—especially her arms, which had clung to the servant, her lips, which had been kissed recklessly, and her chin.

Damn it. His throat felt tight, like he’d swallowed a large lump.