The Proposal
“Why would a mere bodyguard be so curious about an assassin’s poison?”
A man strode toward me with purposeful steps after calling me over.
Silver hair, much like Violetta’s.
Thin, squinty eyes that looked either open or closed.
That unmistakable arrogant tone that seemed to look down on everyone.
“…You should just stay by your master’s side.”
The man with unreadable eyes approached and sneered.
‘Is he from the imperial family, after all?’
The place where I currently worked was the Inner Palace, the very heart of the imperial court. It was entirely possible.
Moreover—
No one has ever seen the Second Prince with his eyes open. Do you know why?
Because everyone who has looked into those eyes is dead.
The description matched the rumors I’d heard while stationed in the outer palace perfectly.
Even the silver hair color was the same as Violetta’s, another member of the imperial family.
“Knight Armand, at your service, Your Highness the Prince.”
In the empire, members of the imperial family were godlike beings.
I immediately assumed a proper posture and paid my respects.
Especially since this was the infamous Second Prince, known for his cruelty and debauchery.
“Look at how slow your reaction is. The standards of the royal guard these days are truly pathetic.”
“I only recently arrived at the Inner Palace… My apologies.”
He called me over out of nowhere just to pick a fight. Were all members of the imperial family this self-indulgent?
“So, it’s only been two days since you started guarding my little sister, correct?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“And in those mere two days, major incidents have occurred one after another. Right after you were appointed, no less.”
I could feel the Second Prince’s sharp gaze boring into the top of my head.
My knightly instincts picked it up clearly. A stare thick with murderous intent swept over me.
It was obvious he had called me here with a very specific purpose.
“I consider myself truly fortunate that such events happened after my appointment.”
“Why is that?”
“Because if I hadn’t been there, Her Highness the Princess would not have survived.”
“Hah! I can’t tell if that’s overflowing confidence or sheer audacity…”
The Second Prince trailed off and crouched down, bringing himself to my eye level.
“Raise your head.”
“Have I somehow offended Your Highness?”
“Shut up and listen.”
When I lifted my gaze, the Second Prince was right in front of me.
Between his bangs, those sinister squinty eyes wriggled like the gaze of a snake staring at its prey.
“It’s not just my mood you’ve disturbed. You’ve ruined the entire atmosphere of the imperial family.”
“I have merely been protecting Her Highness the Princess.”
To be precise, the incidents were the backlash from failed assassination attempts, but—
“No. That’s not how I see it.”
“What exactly do you mean by that—?”
“You. You’re after Violetta’s life, aren’t you?”
“……?”
For a moment, it felt like I’d been struck in the head with a hammer.
How on earth had he figured it out?
A fact that only I knew.
Even the investigators from the Information Bureau hadn’t suspected me.
“I’m quite surprised. May I ask what led you to that conclusion?”
I had to ask. When everyone else was drowning in misunderstanding, I was curious how only the Second Prince had seen the truth.
“I despise lies.”
“Lies… you say?”
“Indeed. When you hold the leashes of dogs, you can see everything from above.”
The Second Prince raised himself back up and looked down at me once more.
His pupils were still invisible, but a faint, murky gleam flickered between those narrow slits.
It was far from the sharp, penetrating eyes of someone who could see through truth.
It was simply an unsettling, ominous gaze.
“I’ll ask again. Why are you so interested in the poison used by the assassin?”
“I requested it because I wanted to investigate personally. If I could identify the type of poison, I thought I might be able to pinpoint the assassin—”
“Investigating incidents is the jurisdiction of the Information Bureau. A pet should simply stay glued to its owner’s side. Yet here you are, overstepping your bounds?”
How insolent. The Second Prince let out a short laugh, as if the very idea was ridiculous.
“By the way, how does Your Highness know the details from the Information Bureau? Even the contents of the interrogation that just took place?”
“Because I am the master of the Information Bureau.”
The Second Prince confessed it openly.
As if it were common knowledge.
And then he added proudly,
“Since I manage it personally, every piece of information the Bureau obtains contains not a single lie or error. It is the most perfect institution in the empire.”
‘…So that’s how it is.’
It seemed the rumors of fierce power struggles in the Inner Palace over the next emperor’s throne were true.
Which meant the Second Prince had taken control of the Information Bureau—an agency that was supposed to serve only the emperor.
I had heard that the Second Prince would stop at nothing to secure the throne, but I hadn’t realized the imperial court was in such chaos.
Having lived solely with the goal of assassinating the princess, I had never learned the finer details of the Inner Palace’s affairs.
“Therefore, I intend to personally correct this erroneous information once again.”
The Second Prince crossed his arms in an arrogant pose and looked down at me as he spoke.
Correct the information? More like he was openly declaring he would manipulate it.
However—
“Armand. You are the accomplice in this latest assassination attempt, are you not?”
It was strangely unsettling that this information manipulation was pointing toward a sliver of truth.
‘So it really was an assassin sent by the Second Prince.’
The reason for wanting to eliminate me was obvious. He must have judged me as an obstacle to assassinating the princess.
But what could he do? The assassin’s dagger had failed to pierce the princess’s skin and had died instead.
“That is quite the leap, Your Highness.”
“It is no leap. You asked the investigator to return the poison so its origin couldn’t be traced, didn’t you? To destroy the evidence.”
“I only asked for a portion of the poison. How could that possibly constitute destroying evidence?”
“No. You clearly asked for all of it to be returned.”
“What are you—?”
“It means I can fabricate the records however I please if I wish.”
“No matter that you are a member of the imperial family, forging official documents is a serious crime.”
“But the crime of attempting to assassinate a member of the imperial family carries far greater weight. And once it passes through my hands, that document will no longer be false.”
The Second Prince’s squinty eyes curved into a smile.
It was an extremely confident grin.
As if he had done this sort of thing many times before.
He was clearly determined to frame me as the assassin and remove me from Violetta’s side.
It was truly a foolish judgment. If handled well, we could have become allies.
“…What is it that you want?”
First, I needed to test whether there was any room for negotiation.
If his goal had simply been to dispose of me, he wouldn’t have revealed himself like this.
“That’s more like it. Do you finally understand whose hand holds your leash?”
“I am Her Highness the Princess’s sword, not her dog.”
“Look at you, clinging to your knightly pride.”
“Why are you targeting Her Highness? She is the lowest in the line of succession.”
“You speak far too freely. If someone overheard, they might think I’m targeting my own sister for the throne. I am simply doing my duty as her older brother to catch the mastermind behind the attempts on her life, am I not?”
The Second Prince hid his true intentions until the very end.
Indeed, he had never once said outright that he wanted to eliminate the princess. He merely twisted his words to play the part of a concerned older brother.
For someone who claimed to hate lies, every word out of his mouth was steeped in deception.
“In that case, shall I relieve you of that burden, Your Highness?”
“Exactly. Now we’re finally speaking the same language.”
“What would you have me do?”
There was only one path I could choose here: cooperate with the assassination.
There was no need to pretend to be burning with loyalty as her bodyguard.
After all, I too wished for Violetta’s death.
In the end, our goals aligned.
“Hmm. It seems a bit early to discuss such matters right now.”
“Pardon?”
“You must be hungry from all the tension. Why don’t you go have a meal first?”
And keep what we just discussed to yourself—. The Second Prince added in a whisper before suddenly stepping back.
Almost as if he were fleeing.
‘…He’s gone?’
The Second Prince’s figure twisted and vanished in an instant.
It looked like high-level spatial teleportation magic.
The faint vibration of mana I sensed was proof of it.
Learning he was a mage made me frown involuntarily. Mages were the natural enemy of knights, after all.
I was muttering unpleasant thoughts to myself as I stood up when—
“Armand, where have you been? I’ve been looking for you forever.”
“My lady?”
Violetta’s figure appeared before me as she approached.
He must have sensed her presence and disappeared in a hurry.
“What are you doing here? Didn’t you hear that Father invited us to dinner?”
“I was just about to come escort you.”
“Really? Then why didn’t you come sooner? What were you doing here?”
“Ah, well—”
Suddenly, Violetta grabbed my arm and pulled it close.
She pressed it firmly between her breasts, where her Dragon Heart pulsed.
It was the kind of intimate gesture that would make anyone think we were lovers.
Hmm-hmm~♪
Her face as she looked at me was quite bright. It was hard to tell who was the owner and who was the puppy.
But that cheerful mood didn’t last long.
“Ah? Wait a second.”
“What is it all of a sudden?”
“You weren’t with that snake-eyed bastard, were you?”
Killing intent instantly flooded Violetta’s face.
✧
Sniff, sniff.
Violetta, still clinging to Armand’s arm, twitched her nose.
Each time she did, her eyebrows furrowed deeply. Wrinkles formed in real time on her once-smooth forehead.
She looked exactly like a detection dog sniffing out clues from scent alone.
“Answer me.”
Violetta turned to him with a hardened expression.
‘…Did she really notice just from the smell?’
Armand swallowed dryly, visibly flustered.
“By snake eyes, do you mean the Second Prince?”
“Yes. That obnoxious snake-eyed older brother of mine.”
“That’s correct.”
“As I thought.”
If you lie and get caught, you die—. Armand instinctively sensed this and answered immediately.
“But how did you know?”
“How? You reek of him. And it’s a horribly nasty smell of blood, too.”
“The smell of blood…?”
Armand focused on his sense of smell, but a human nose could detect nothing.
All he could sense was Violetta’s sweet, fragrant scent.
“Never mind that. What did you talk about with him?”
Violetta looked displeased as she released his arm and put some distance between them.
—Throb.
The crushing pressure finally eased, and blood began flowing back into Armand’s arm.
“We briefly discussed the assassination attempt from earlier.”
“Assassination? Oh, right. There was that bug that interrupted my sleep, wasn’t there?”
“Yes. He asked me questions about that incident. I simply gave him short answers, that’s all.”
“I thought that familiar stench was oddly familiar—”
It stinks. Violetta muttered as she took another step back, waving her hand in front of her nose.
Yet her eyes never left Armand.
“What exactly did you talk about?”
“Well—”
Armand trailed off and quickly spun his thoughts.
Could she really distinguish lies by scent?
No, that couldn’t be it. If she could, the first assassination attempt couldn’t have been mistaken for a healing act.
Still, one thing was certain: Violetta harbored extreme hatred toward the Second Prince.
‘I should just tell her the truth.’
Having reached that conclusion, Armand continued.
“…We talked about you, my lady.”
“What? That man talked about me?”
“He seemed worried about you as your older brother. He even suggested that I might have planned the assassination with the attacker—”
“Is that true? What you just said?”
Violetta’s voice dropped low.
And it wasn’t just her voice.
Her expression was completely twisted as well.
As if she were facing something utterly disgusting and repulsive.
Yet even that looked devastatingly beautiful.
“Yes. He seemed to suspect me, since I’ve been closest to you recently. He pointed out how incidents keep happening almost every day.”
“That’s the worst. That snake-eyed bastard is clearly trying to pin you as the culprit, isn’t he?”
“It certainly seemed that way. To a third party, the circumstances would look quite suspicious—”
Armand answered as neutrally as possible. After all, if it helped with assassinating the princess, the Second Prince was worth using.
“Do you know where that damned bastard went?”
“I’m not entirely sure. He seemed to notice your presence and vanished right before my eyes.”
“As sneaky as ever. Anything else besides that?”
Grind. Violetta clenched her teeth as she asked.
It was completely different from her usual indifference toward others.
While she had shown interest toward Armand, the emotion she displayed toward the Second Prince was pure, unmistakable disgust.
“…No, that’s all.”
Armand maintained his composure as he answered.
He deliberately omitted the proposal the Second Prince had tried to make.
“Really? You didn’t sense anything strange? You’re usually good at detecting demonic energy or ominous auras.”
Violetta closed the distance again slightly as she asked.
‘So she can’t actually tell lies by scent after all?’
Armand felt a small wave of relief inside.
“Ah, I did feel uneasy the entire time we spoke. Like I couldn’t read his true intentions.”
“You sensed it correctly. Don’t listen to a word that bastard says. He’s not worth associating with. The older one is the same.”
“The older one… Ah, yes. He suddenly approached me, so I had no choice but to respond.”
“Fine. Since it’s the first time and you didn’t know, I’ll let it slide. But there won’t be a next time, understand?”
Squeeze! Violetta pressed close again and wrapped her arms around his. It was as if she wanted to overwrite that unpleasant scent with her own.
Her wariness seemed to have eased somewhat.
In that state, Violetta led Armand by the arm.
She intended to head straight to meet the emperor.
‘Damn it. At this rate, rumors will spread all over the palace. Or have they already?’
Whenever they walked through the imperial court, people bowed their heads deeply.
None of them dared look directly at Violetta.
‘So the rumor that she fell for her handsome bodyguard was true.’
‘They say they make love day and night without rest.’
‘They make a good pair. I wonder if this bodyguard will last longer than the others.’
Everyone simply muttered their personal thoughts to themselves.
“Ahem. It seems you don’t get along very well with the princes?”
Armand cleared his throat, feeling the weight of the stares and the pressure on his arm, and asked.
He figured that bringing up the princes might make her let go of his arm like before.
“We get along terribly. A stone that rolled in and stole all of Father’s love. They probably want to kill me for real, don’t you think?”
But that will never happen—. Violetta added as she hugged his arm even tighter.
As if she would never let anyone take what was hers.
“…I see.”
“Yeah. They never even showed their faces when I was suffering from that illness. And today, they even sent a bug carrying poison, didn’t they?”
“So you also believe the Second Prince sent the assassin.”
“Haah, honestly, I’d love to just kill him.”
Violetta casually let out a terrifying remark along with a sigh.
“Is there a reason you’re holding back?”
“Father would scold me.”
“Pardon?”
She couldn’t kill him because the emperor would scold her? Wasn’t that missing the point—?
‘This family is even more dysfunctional than the rumors suggested.’
The strange logic left Armand at a loss for how to respond.
“He said that if I kill someone with my own hands, my symptoms will worsen. And I hate being in pain.”
“But you killed the assassin, didn’t you?”
“How was that a person? It was already a monster whose mind had been twisted.”
“Ah, that’s true…”
“And if anything happens, you can just treat me, right?”
“That is correct.”
Armand nodded, roughly convinced.
‘From now on, I’ll have to be careful not to let the princess kill anyone.’
He was sweating internally.
“Don’t worry too much. I don’t want to suffer from another mysterious illness either. But—”
Violetta trailed off and leaned her face closer. Then she whispered,
“I hate it even more when my person gets hurt. So if anything happens to you, I won’t just sit still.”
“…My lady?”
“That snake-eyed bastard will definitely keep bothering you. He’s realized how much I cherish you.”
Still holding his arm, Violetta suddenly stopped in front of the audience chamber and spoke calmly.
Swearing that when the time came, she would truly kill her older brother.
‘My person.’
Armand felt a strange emotion at those words, then turned his head as he felt her loosen her grip.
“But don’t worry. I’ll just make you even more precious so that bastard can’t even lay a finger on you, okay?”
“What do you mean by—?”
Armand couldn’t finish his question.
—Bang!
Violetta threw open the massive doors to the audience chamber and pulled him inside.
Once inside with Armand, the princess—
“Father, before we eat, how about we decide on a date for the engagement ceremony?”
—declared boldly, as if making a proclamation.