The Price of Saving A Wicked Beast
Translator: Rae
“The Crown Prince is correct. This was nothing more than an accident. A most unfortunate accident.”
At the unexpected response, those who had been criticizing Killian fell silent.
“As a loyal subject, I believe Your Highness’s clear-headed judgment bodes well for the Empire’s future. I sincerely hope that such composure will never waver.”
Marquis Brundell said this while staring straight at Adelaide. Faced with his chilling gaze, she could not help but avert her eyes.
Marquis Brundel’s words were no different from a declaration of war. They were so curse-like that even fellow northern nobles swallowed hard. And yet, in some way, his feelings were only natural.
Anyone who knew him understood how dearly he cherished Katarina. The northern nobles, well aware of the marquis’s temperament—of how there was nothing he would not do for his daughter—instinctively knew that from this moment on, he would burn with vengeance against Adelaide until his dying breath.
“You said there was no evidence. Your Highness is correct. Although the Crown Princess brought up my child’s jewelry and tarnished her honor, that too must have been some sort of misunderstanding.”
“Marquis Brundell.”
“Please escort Her Highness the Crown Princess away. She appears deeply shaken. And regardless of this accident, my child…”
Staring at Adelaide with bloodshot eyes, he continued in a voice seething with emotion.
“My child would not wish for the Crown Princess’s condolences.”
***
After returning to the Crown Prince’s palace, Adelaide trembled uncontrollably. A person had d*ed before her very eyes. The marquis’ daughter, who had been hurling sharp accusations at her only moments ago, had become a cold corpse in an instant.
The fact that it had been done by the very nurse who had raised the marquis’s daughter was horrifying beyond words. Where, exactly, had everything gone wrong?
"Your Highness!”
Shaking Adelaide’s shoulders as though she were in a daze, Bertholdt snapped his fingers lightly before her eyes.
“I trust Your Highness understands how dire the situation is. You must collect yourself.”
His expression was gravely serious. Adelaide bit her lip and nodded. Bertholdt asked about what had happened on the stairs, and Adelaide began to explain haltingly.
“I, I didn’t respond to what the marquis’ daughter said. I thought it might give them some kind of leverage. The nanny kept trying to stop her at my side, and the marquis’ daughter… she grew angry at the nurse. She seemed unable to tolerate being interrupted.”
“What happened next is crucial. At the very moment of the incident. What did the nanny say?”
“Just a moment… my head is spinning. She, the marquis’s daughter, said something condemning the young Grand Duke. Then the nanny said, ‘How dare you speak that way to His Highness the Grand Duke.’”
“Wait. You said ‘His Highness the Grand Duke’?”
Bertholdt’s expression twisted. His Highness the Grand Duke—an honorific used by those who supported Fabian as a claimant to the throne. Adelaide finally realized how strange the words she had heard truly were.
“The nanny… was one of the Grand Duke’s people.”
A chill ran down her spine. Fabian’s words, urging her to stay with Katarina, echoed in her ears.
“The nanny has been by Katarina’s side since birth. She is like a mother to her. If anything were to happen to Your Highness, the first person suspected would be the nanny.”
At the time, it had sounded reasonable. Though Katarina had punished Bonnet mercilessly, Adelaide believed she would never dare treat her nanny so harshly.
Yet the trap Fabian had set was the complete opposite. From the beginning, he had not been aiming for Adelaide’s life.
“Marquis Brundell is a dangerous man. He will believe his daughter’s d*ath was Your Highness’s fault, and he will devote himself entirely to revenge.”
Killian washed his face dry. The situation felt bleak as another bad news overlapped before he could solve Viscount Romeo's work.
Killian rubbed his face roughly. Before the matter of Count Romeo could even be resolved, another calamity had struck, leaving the situation feeling hopeless.
Parents who lose a child are no different from having lost the entire world. Marquis Brundell would seek revenge on Adelaide at any cost, regardless of his own ruin. How were they to stop the northern forces that would swarm like moths to a flame?
What if—what if he made a single mistake and lost Adelaide forever?
I sincerely hope that such composure will never waver.”
Marquis Brundel’s rage-filled words—that he would see whether she could maintain her reason if their positions were reversed—kept echoing in Killian’s ears.
It could have been Adelaide, not Katarina, whom the marquis’ daughter’s nanny had pushed. If that had been the case, it would not have been the marquis’s daughter but Adelaide who lay cold and lifeless at the bottom of the stairs.
The realization that she had been attacked in a completely defenseless state made the warmth drain from Killian’s fingertips.
At that moment, the chief chamberlain arrived at the Crown Prince’s palace.
“Your Highness the Crown Prince, Your Highness the Crown Princess. His Majesty the Emperor summons you both.”
When the two entered the audience chamber, others were already present.
"Adelaide!”
Forgetting even the presence of the Emperor, the countess rushed toward Adelaide.
“Are you all right? Your face is so pale.”
As she spoke, the countess’s hand stroking Adelaide’s face was cold as ice. Unable to come closer, the count watched Adelaide’s condition from a distance, much the same as his wife.
“Everyone, take your seats. You all know we do not have the luxury of time.”
The Emperor spoke to the count and countess.
Looking over the four seated before him, the Emperor let out a deep sigh inwardly.
‘I should have attended the ball.’
A body once ruined did not recover easily. At least, thanks to Viscount Romeo’s herbs, his condition had not worsened and improving gradually.
Revealing his health before the northern nobles would have been unwise, so the Emperor had informed Fabian early on that he would not attend. His shrewd nephew seized that absence to carry out such a bold plan.
He had only just received a report about what had occurred in the banquet hall. Before he could grasp the full situation, others had stormed into the audience chamber: Count Afort and his wife.
It was hard to believe such strength resided in her frail body, but despite the guards’ objections, the countess forced her way into the chamber and, knowing full well how improper her conduct was, knelt with face down before the Emperor. She begged him to save her daughter. She begged him to save Adelaide.
The countess gripped Adelaide’s hand tightly. The force with which she held on, as though she would never let go no matter what, made the pale bones stand out starkly on her thin hand.
“Your Majesty, please grant your permission. I cannot allow Adelaide to remain in such danger any longer.”
The countess could see nothing else now. Who could have imagined the marquis’s daughter would die before so many people? Though she had not borne Adelaide herself, the countess knew her character well. Adelaide was not a child who could harm another.
“Countess, calm yourself. If Marquis Brundell intends to take action, the imperial palace is the safest place.”
“No, Your Majesty. I cannot agree.”
The countess shook her head stubbornly. The count shared her view.
“Your Majesty, if you wish, I will surrender my title and all my wealth. Please allow my daughter Adelaide to leave for Clayton.”
Clayton—the unexpected word made Killian look at the count. Unlike before, the count did not avert his gaze and met his gaze straight in the eye.
“Clayton? Count, Adelaide is my wife. Do you realize what you are saying?”
“Of course I do. And Crown Prince, before she is your wife, Adelaide is our child. Even though it could have been my daughter’s body lying on the banquet hall floor tonight, you still cling to nothing but your obstinacy.”
In the memories of the count and countess, Killian was always someone who used his power to crush others and take what he wanted. To them, what he felt for Adelaide was nothing more than obsession.
They could not allow Adelaide—who had been deceived by him and had effectively pawned her entire future—to be caught between the North and the imperial family and meet a meaningless d*ath.
The count gripped the armrest of the sofa as though he might crush it.
“This should never have happened from the start. Never. I should not have accepted the proposal you made to me. This is my fault.”
***
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