Chapter 20
Chapter 20
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Who Did You Want to Show It To?
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“Argh, Asherad!”
Callista’s face lit up the moment she spotted him. Just his appearance was enough to halt the maids’ hands as they tried to strip Daphne.
Daphne stared at Asherad, her face flushed red. She couldn’t read his thoughts at all.
It was the same gaze he’d given her back then, when she’d nearly been assaulted by the Prince of Pindus. If it had been the look of someone eyeing a bug crawling on the ground, that might have been better. But no, it was the expression of someone appraising a piece of furniture in the room.
He’d said he cherished her.
He’d told her to stay by his side.
He’d said he thought of her like a little sister.
So why did this man always look at her with that expression in situations like this? Not hostility, not contempt, but the indifferent, cold face of someone regarding something worthless.
“What brings you here, Asherad?”
“There was a commotion, so I came to see.”
At that moment, Fabian’s eyes narrowed, but no one noticed.
“This concerns discipline within the Imperial Palace. I’m merely punishing this incompetent maid. If a maid goes wandering around in private clothes, what becomes of the palace’s order?”
Asherad let out a low sigh at Callista’s words.
“How could I dare interfere with Mother’s authority?”
His expression was one of concern.
“But you know, don’t you? That we don’t have time to waste on a mere maid.”
“……”
“You’ll spend the day with me, won’t you?”
His voice was smooth. Softer than what he’d used with Daphne, laced with affection...
Callista’s eyes widened at Asherad’s words. She glanced back and forth between Daphne, who was like a thorn in her side, and Asherad. The answer came all too easily.
An aged husband or time with her handsome adopted son? Callista’s choice was clear. In this rotten palace, Asherad was the only one she could lean on.
“I’ll discipline you myself. Wait in my room.”
When Asherad spoke in a cold voice, Daphne bowed her head. Callista frowned at the sight.
“Asherad, this matter is mine to...”
“I’ve told you before.”
The reason the Emperor had spared that woman.
The Emperor clearly showed interest in Daphne. Regardless, he hadn’t humiliated Callista by taking a maid’s side in front of her.
If she pushed further, who knew how the Emperor would react.
To the somewhat impulsive and emotional Callista, Asherad was a fine advisor. Above all, he knew how to soothe her without crossing her.
“Fine.”
“Shall we go, then?”
Asherad extended his hand, and Callista shyly took it.
Callista’s maids released Daphne and followed behind her. Daphne watched them go.
The fact that Callista and Asherad’s relationship seemed overly intimate for stepmother and son didn’t register with her.
She was too busy grappling with her lowly position and the humiliation coursing through her body.
Daphne knelt, staring at the ground.
The Emperor’s mockery, Callista’s tyranny, Asherad’s disregard.
None of it was pleasant. The focus faded from Daphne’s eyes once more. That was when Fabian looked at her.
She couldn’t tell what his expression meant. Pity for her pitiful oppression? Disgust at the squalid reality of her life that he’d witnessed? Or fear?
He stared at her with wide eyes, unable to offer even a word of comfort, and something inside her crumbled.
Fabian had always been the one to comfort her. Like a dream of her daddy, she’d hoped he might do so again. Perhaps she’d even thought this man was different from the Asherad she loved.
With Fabian, she felt like an ordinary person again. But she’d learned all too well how powerless the world he created was in the face of the powerful.
Daphne closed her slightly parted lips. If she didn’t, she might whine to him. Instead, she looked at him with the same unfocused eyes and blank expression she’d had before meeting him.
Fabian saw it, then turned and walked away without hesitation. Daphne couldn’t bring herself to stop him. Tears simply streamed down her face.
The sunlight was warm, spring filling the garden. Amid the bright flowers and gentle rays, Daphne trembled.
It was cold.
She felt like she was in the depths of winter again.
* * *
Daphne stood in the Crown Prince’s room, a mess. The room was as warm as ever. It was neat and tidy. But everything in it was too precious for her to touch.
She liked this room. Yet it always made her uncomfortable.
So did its owner.
That was why Daphne tried to content herself with the affection he showed her like a little sister. But in moments like this, Asherad felt repulsive to her.
Even that repulsion was a luxury, though. Waiting for Asherad amid the deathlike time, she floundered in the familiar swamp of despair.
All that was left for Daphne was despair. All she could do was pity herself.
What else could she do but pity herself?
Nothing was within her grasp. Asherad’s affection for her wasn’t special—it was just occasional whimsy. And Fabian’s affection had vanished from her reality all too easily.
She might have hoped, just a little...
Daphne stood alone, with nowhere to lean, watching the sun set in the Crown Prince’s room. As twilight fell, Asherad entered.
He sighed softly as he passed the standing Daphne and sat at the table.
He pulled the chair out with a scrape and turned it toward her. Looking up at her face, he said,
“You look a sight.”
“……”
It was the first time mockery laced Asherad’s voice. Daphne gazed at him with an expressionless face. He reached out with his pale, thick hand.
Riiip.
Daphne’s doll-like expression changed in an instant. Asherad tore her clothes with immense force.
“Y-Your Highness!”
“……”
Daphne cried out to him, but he didn’t even furrow his brow as he kept pulling. Buttons popped off with a clatter. Daphne stared down at the rolling buttons.
Left in just her chemise and drawers, she looked at him blankly. Asherad was eyeing her body. Darkness seemed to deepen in his eyes. Then he lifted his green gaze to meet hers.
“Who told you to wear dirty clothes?”
“……”
“Who did you want to show it to?”
Asherad moved behind her. He undid her tightly bound golden hair.
As the tension released, a languid feeling washed over her somewhere. Daphne ran a hand through her hair.
“Tell me, Daphne.”
“That was...”
Daphne squeezed her eyes shut. To show Fabian, for her mother. That was true, too.
“I wanted to show it to you, Your Highness.”
Asherad said nothing.
“I thought you bought it for me.”
The sudden gift had seemed suspicious, but thinking it was from Asherad had secretly thrilled her. She’d wanted to show it to him. Ashamed, Daphne bowed her head. Asherad watched her with his usual impassive face.
Was it because he saw through her true intentions? His eyes didn’t even blink, fixed hard, but Daphne didn’t notice.
Having already felt shame once, these words didn’t embarrass her further. Standing there in her underthings didn’t either.
Asherad tidied the hair cascading down her back. His breath brushed hot against her half-exposed nape. As her body heated suddenly, he said,
“You were the most beautiful there today.”
“……”
“I mean it.”
Daphne squeezed her eyes shut and turned to him. His tone was like he was soothing her. For some reason, it reassured her, bringing forgotten grievances to the surface.
Perhaps it showed on her face, because interest flickered in Asherad’s eyes.
“Are you angry?”
“……”
“Because I kept my distance and took her side?”
“You had no choice.”
Daphne answered mechanically. Asherad chuckled at that. Glancing up at the sound, she saw he still looked amused.
What Asherad felt for her now was surely affection. But something felt stifling. Unbearably so.
As always, though, she suppressed it. She was the criminal’s daughter, and she had to endure it.
That was how it had to be.
Asherad looked at her face and said, his fingers caressing her cheek with exquisite tenderness.
“But you did it too, didn’t you, Daphne?”
“……”
“You were playing around with that knight. Fabian Fond.”
Daphne was puzzled by Asherad saying his name. Had he cared that much? At her confused look, he said,
“Daphne. What did that knight do for you today?”
“……”
“What could he do for you today?”
Asherad stroked her hair gently. Right. Fabian—the name had stirred her up, but then Asherad quietly bent at the waist to meet her eyes.
“That man can do nothing for you. Look at what happened today. He was utterly powerless.”
“……”
“Daphne, he’s a low-quality knight.”
“……”
“So...”
“We don’t suit each other anyway.”
“……”
“You don’t need to tell me. He left on his own.”
Asherad gripped her shoulders at her sullen words.
“I’m sorry. Were you upset?”
Daphne didn’t answer. It was a kind phrase. But cold. Perhaps because of that coldness, Asherad fell silent for a moment, then spoke as if resigned.
“The reason I can’t keep you close is...”
“……”
“Because His Imperial Majesty commanded it.”
It was overly cold for speaking of his own father.
“Yes, he ordered me not to see you.”
A chill scoff laced the words.
Daphne’s eyes widened in contrast. The Emperor had forbidden him from seeing her?
Why?
Why would he do that?
He’d kept her out of hardships, called her to check on her, gifted her clothes, and now ordered Asherad not to meet her. After ignoring her for so long, the Emperor was taking some kind of ‘action’ toward her.
Daphne felt a terrifying premonition that her entire life was about to change. And not for the better...
“Daphne, keep your distance from that powerless man. Before something bigger happens.”
“……”
“I’m the only one who cherishes you.”
Was it because he’d been kept apart from her? Because of his criticism of Fabian?
Daphne shook her head inwardly. Wasn’t the Crown Prince powerless too? Under the Emperor’s orders, Asherad couldn’t even approach her.
Asherad must have realized it by now. That his father, the Emperor, harbored desire for her.