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It's not like he's ever smiled at me before. Cerden clearly didn't know how dangerous his smiling face was.
I blankly stared at Cerden. I felt like I couldn't breathe. Cerden's gentle gaze ensnared me.
I felt a little embarrassed that I was the only one conscious of Cerden. Cerden probably didn't think anything of me. The intertwined gazes felt strange, and my mouth felt parched with tension.
Cerden, who had tilted his head towards me, whispered softly.
"If you keep doing that, you'll get in trouble."
"G-get in trouble? Why? I didn't do anything wrong!"
The spell that had been cast on me was broken. I ended up shouting for no reason. I always get caught up when I'm with Cerden.
"Not by me. By someone else."
I understood exactly what he meant. It meant that I could get caught up in something dangerous and end up in a bad situation at any time. So it was also a warning to be careful. It was a pretty kind warning for Cerden.
But I smiled brightly as if I didn't know anything.
"Then my husband should punish them! My husband is on my side!"
This was my wish. Please be on my side.
"If I'm not there? I'm not always by Evelyn's side."
"Then... then, Evelyn will call for her husband. Then you have to come, no matter what!"
"No matter where I am?"
"Yes! No matter where you are."
Cerden laughed like a sigh. He didn't seem upset. I felt strange having this conversation with Cerden.
What is he thinking when he's dealing with me?
"Do you trust me?"
Cerden asked with a dark gaze. His blue eyes were lowered softly.
Do I trust Cerden? That's a difficult question. I trust Cerden as much as I know him.
Cerden was not the kind of person to abandon me first.
He's someone who values people.
Until the very end, Cerden did not abandon Evelyn.
'She's a pitiful woman. Leave her alone.'
Cerden pitied Evelyn. So I'm sure Cerden won't abandon me.
But what if he finds out I'm sane? What if Cerden becomes certain of his suspicions?
I don't know about those possibilities. My soul felt like it was shaking, as if I were on a shipwrecked boat.
Will he abandon me?
Will he use me?
Will he... hate me?
I felt drained. I liked being with Cerden like this. The smiles he occasionally showed me and his kindness. Even the mischievous pranks that I've become accustomed to.
Cerden at least doesn't poison me. He doesn't force me to do anything. He just watches, he doesn't use me.
"...Don't hate me."
I mumbled in a small voice. Cerden stared at me with widened eyes. It was a non sequitur, but in a way, it was the right answer.
"I don't hate my husband. So don't hate Evelyn either."
Cerden distorted his eyes. He smiled with a face that looked like he was about to cry.
My heart throbbed.
* * *
Just in case, he called a healer to examine Evelyn. Cerden, who had visited the interrogation room to interrogate the assassin himself, frowned.
Then he pressed his temple and blinked slowly.
'I don't hate Cerden.'
Evelyn's voice seemed to echo in his head. It was as if she was constantly circling around Cerden.
Cerden unconsciously tapped the table.
'So don't hate me.'
Don't hate me, she said.
With such a desperate expression.
'As if I'm the only one she has.'
Her tearful gaze remained in his heart like a stamp, and it wouldn't go away.
"It's driving me crazy."
Mortega's gaze turned to Cerden. In the suffocating silence, only the regular sound of tapping echoed. At that sound, the assassin's gaze also turned to Cerden.
The assassin swallowed. His mouth was dry with tension, causing saliva to pool in his mouth.
Mortega asked Cerden.
"What did you say?"
Cerden turned his sharp gaze to the assassin. As if he had finally noticed him.
"It's nothing."
The assassin flinched. He had only made eye contact, but he felt a languid murderous intent from Cerden's eyes. He's called the butcher of war, isn't he?
I heard that anyone who made eye contact with Cerden was sure to die. When I faced him directly, it felt like the red murderous intent in his eyes was tearing him apart.
It felt like blood was draining from him. Wasn't this a place he was dragged to because he couldn't die in the first place?
"...Do you remember how you were caught?"
The assassin swallowed hard and nodded his pale face up and down. Mortega took the cloth out of the assassin's mouth. The assassin's bound body flinched.
It wasn't a question asking for the client, but a light question that he could answer as much as he wanted. The assassin's mouth opened.
"I, I remember. I met a woman. She was a strange woman..."
"What did that woman say?"
"She asked if I was playing hide-and-seek."
It was a strange thing. It wasn't like he was hiding carelessly in the first place. He was one of the elite trained as an assassin, and he had been following the Crown Prince for weeks.
How many assassins stuck to the Crown Prince as soon as he returned? Some of them met their end at the hands of the Crown Prince.
His calmness and caution were worthy of recognition just for surviving. But an absurd woman caught him.
That expression that shone brightly like she had found a treasure chest, and the red lips that held a bright and innocent smile.
A voice full of joy.
'I caught you!'
The assassin trembled.
The woman was careless and her movements were so big that he couldn't even imagine that she was looking for him in the first place.
The rest was darkness.
He remembered everything, including the fact that what she was hiding behind her back was a weapon. Even the hesitation-free action of hitting his head.
And the pain too.
"Ugh..."
The assassin struggled. He could feel blood flowing from the back of his head.
"S-she was like a crazy woman! She wasn't in her right mind!"
When he remembered even the transparently shining whites of her eyes, he felt nauseous.
"...You're the one who's out of your mind."
Cerden said softly.
"You're talking too much when you were defeated by that small woman."
"T-that's!"
"Besides, according to your claim, she didn't seem to be in her right mind, right?"
The assassin swallowed hard.
"I, I was just careless!"
He shouted, flustered.
"Anyway, it seems like Evelyn had a fun game of hide-and-seek."
Cerden flicked his fingers. He didn't even expect those kinds of assassins to give him the answers he wanted anyway.
"Get rid of him, Mortega."
The assassin's eyes widened.
"A-aren't you going to ask me anything else?"
Cerden smiled.
"Do you even have anything to say if I ask?"
Goosebumps rose all over his body. His eyes had no emotion in them. The assassin's body trembled.
'...H-he's not in his right mind either!'
The assassin ran his tongue over his mouth. The poison he had been holding between his teeth had already been taken away.
"You won't die comfortably."
"W-wait a minute!"
"You shouldn't feel wronged either. You came here to kill me, after all."
"N-no! My target isn't Your Highness!"
The assassin shouted in a shrill voice. His mind was confused. Perhaps the pain that was still throbbing was paralyzing his reason.
"I, my target was Lady Veronica...!"
Cerden chuckled. Mortega stared at the assassin with a pathetic look.
"That's something to be proud of. Do you have anything else to say?"
The assassin pressed his lips tightly. He must never talk about the client. That was an unwritten rule in this world.
Even though he was suffocating with fear, there was nothing more he could say. The assassin lowered his head.
Cerden gave the order.
"Kill that guy and find the mark. Find out which guild he received the request from."
"Yes, Your Highness. And I will strengthen the security around Her Ladyship and your mother."
"Yes."
Cerden rested his chin on his fingers for a moment.
"...Around Evelyn too."
Mortega bowed his head.
"What about His Imperial Majesty...?"
"Which guy would target a well-behaved scarecrow? It would be helpful if he just kept gambling and getting high on drugs."
Cerden added.
"It would be even better if he died."
The assassin closed his eyes tightly. That comfortable conversation sounded like a death sentence. He was going to die anyway, so they didn't care about him.
Cerden got up.
He got everything he wanted.
'In the end, you protected Veronica again this time.'
That pitiful and pathetic woman who asked him not to hate her.
That pitiful, pathetic, and unhateable woman.
Evelyn.
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