Chapter 28
Chapter 28
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: A Ridiculous Relationship
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“Ah, ngh, ugh!”
A red tongue greedily licked her slender neck. A large hand groped her waist. When he pressed one spot on her side with his fingers, Daphne shuddered.
His thumb caressed the protruding iliac crest before his hand slid smoothly between her legs. Daphne gazed at the man stealing her reason, her face a mix of pleasure and pain.
Her golden hair scattered like gold thread across the Crown Prince’s pristine bed linens. His long fingers invaded Daphne.
Almond-shaped green eyes observed her mockingly. Whenever she twitched or made a different sound, Asherad persistently targeted that spot.
And so, she had to fall into a mess of pleasure once again.
“You say you hate me so much.”
“…….”
“Hm? Daphne, you say you hate me so much. Then why are you like this right now?”
Daphne looked up at Asherad with tear-soaked eyes. He brought his face close and licked her flowing tears.
Ever since the Emperor had fallen ill in bed, Daphne had been summoned to the Crown Prince Palace. Asherad didn’t hesitate to embrace her with his hot body.
Was it because she had tried to run away?
Was it to mock her, showing her this was her fate?
“But I love you.”
Asherad mocked her again, speaking of love. Daphne stared up at him with a dazed expression.
There had been a time when she longed for this man’s touch.
When he shone so brightly. When she couldn’t bear how much she loved it when he quietly called her name.
“Ah, ah!”
Their fingers interlaced, and he thrust inside her. As it rubbed against her cheek as if she were so lovable, Daphne thought she couldn’t understand why he was doing this.
If he loved her, why only now?
Why say it only when she tried to run away?
It really wasn’t even funny.
“Aah, ahhh!”
Daphne couldn’t hold back her cries at Asherad’s hip movements. Even as her mind blurred with a face full of pleasure, she thought.
It really was a ridiculous relationship.
* * *
“You vulgar thing!”
Olga ground her teeth and shouted. Daphne brushed off the words. It didn’t matter what she said.
Anyone close to the Crown Prince would naturally know. The Crown Prince had been continuously involved with a woman, and that woman was Daphne.
“You seductress. How vicious can you be!”
If it had been a noble lady, it might have been somewhat acceptable. But for the Crown Prince, who was on the verge of ascending the throne, to be entangled with a mere maidservant—no, the daughter of that ominous seductress. It was enough to make Olga faint.
“Take off your clothes!”
Daphne frowned. No matter how much she had given up on herself, she couldn’t get used to this kind of humiliation.
“What, you think you’re something just because His Highness has taken you in?”
Seeing the displeasure on Daphne’s face, Olga spat with all her might. Olga had an uncanny nose for the scent of power.
But it wasn’t mere intuition—it was a wise judgment based on all the precedents she had witnessed while living in the Imperial Palace.
By Olga’s judgment, this filthy maidservant had no power at all. Because Asherad was leaving her as she was.
“So what if you are? You’re still stuck in that filthy room.”
“…….”
“A mere doll for His Highness’s urges. How dare you!”
Daphne stared blankly at Olga. Yeah, that was right. It was the conclusion Daphne herself had reached.
Asherad didn’t have to provide everything just because of “payment.” But even knowing where Daphne lived, he showed no intention of improving it.
It was the difference between Fabian, who had risked his life to help her escape, and Asherad.
“So, what do you want to check?”
“…….”
“That I’m pregnant with his child or something?”
It had already been two months. If she were pregnant, it would be about time. Daphne spoke in a tired voice.
“I had my monthly bleeding last month, but this month, I’m not sure.”
“…….”
“And even if I am, what kind of child would come from a lust-relief doll?”
Daphne had no future. She couldn’t become Empress, and at best, she’d be a concubine. That meant ending up just like her mother...
Even if she bore a child, it would be targeted and eliminated by Asherad’s legitimate line.
A child? What child?
Daphne let out a wry laugh. She didn’t want to create a child like herself. Seeing that, Olga asked Daphne. This made things easier.
“Is that so? Then will you take this?”
“…….”
“It’s an infertility drug.”
Daphne looked at the vial Olga held out. The medicine in the blue bottle was in an enormous quantity.
“Let’s not tire each other out unnecessarily.”
Even as she said it, Olga felt a slight twinge of fear that this wench might run off and tattle to Asherad.
But before Olga could collect her thoughts, Daphne snatched the vial, uncorked it, and drank. The medicine was bitter. Heat surged up hotly.
“Is that enough?”
Olga was dumbfounded by Daphne’s actions. Was she that desperate for infertility? To Olga, who had aged, infertility was no different from giving up life as a woman.
“Vicious thing.”
At least it was clear she wasn’t the type to scheme from the shadows. As long as she didn’t bear a child, she was nothing more or less than a woman touched by the Crown Prince.
In any case, what power could a Crown Prince’s attachment doll, unable to even produce an heir, possibly grasp? Daphne’s future was over.
Olga sneered smugly.
* * *
Daphne’s ordeal didn’t end there. The next day, though she had previously been excused from all duties by the Emperor’s orders, she was now assigned to the laundry by the head maidservant’s command.
“Hurry up, can’t you?”
It seemed the head maidservant thoroughly despised her. Perhaps because she had sided with Calista, the head maidservant treated Daphne like a thorn in her side.
The laundry piled up every day. The imperial family’s sheets had to be changed daily, and wet laundry was heavy. There were the imperial family’s garments, the knights’ training clothes from the training grounds, the maids’ filthy rags for cleaning waste—everything had to be washed.
Daphne had to wash diligently as they ordered. Having given up on a better life for herself wasn’t without its pain.
Daphne panted for breath and looked at the sun in the sky. The sun would set and rise again, and Daphne would exhale pained breaths and cling to life once more.
She no longer knew what she was living for.
Daphne thought with a dazed expression.
Even so, she mechanically scrubbed the ruined tablecloth. It reeked of spoiled food, as if someone had spilled milk.
Daphne laundered the massive tablecloth alone.
After finishing the laundry, Daphne looked at her reflection in the water. She looked utterly like a woman worn down by labor. Her empty eyes weren’t particularly pretty, and she was ragged beyond measure.
That was the appearance of a suffering woman.
Was it the hardship of the work that made her suffer, or the endless hell? If she had left the palace and done this work elsewhere, would she have this expression?
The answer was no.
Her head spun, and her vision blurred. Ever since taking the infertility drug yesterday, she had been plagued by abdominal pain and fever.
Of course, a drug that made a woman infertile wouldn’t be harmless. Some part of her body must have been badly damaged.
Daphne pressed her hand to her forehead. Her body staggered and collapsed.
It would be better if she just died...
Daphne truly wished for that.
* * *
Daphne lay feverish for days in the musty sheets. It had been a long time since she’d been this sick. Clutching her stomach, she lay staring blankly at the ceiling.
It had been years since she started staying here. The small bedroom where she had stayed as a young girl was too cramped for her now.
A storage shed for cleaning tools and trash. When Daphne first arrived at the palace and learned that was her bedroom, she cried.
The only improvement was that she had taken a bed from a maid who died of illness and made a proper sleeping place. She had tried to decorate it prettily like the other maids’ rooms, but it was crude and dirty, and her room still smelled.
Daphne hated this room. It felt like a coffin. Lying there made her feel like she’d die any moment. Daphne could barely get up. Occasionally, Sara came to bring food.
“Daphne, are you okay?”
Daphne found some small comfort in Sara’s kind words. But that was it—Sara was simply being nice, not harboring any affection for her.
Why did Asherad come to mind in this moment?
Daphne couldn’t understand. But that man was like that, as always. He didn’t care if she was sick or not.
After their heated trysts, he didn’t even bother with what became of her. Asherad had upended Daphne’s life, but she hadn’t impacted his in the slightest.
Daphne knew that well.
Tears streamed down as she clutched her stomach. It hurt. The pain was unbearable. The loneliness hurt more than the twisting agony in her gut.
Daphne fell asleep, collapsing into tears.