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Only then did I have the leisure to look around, turning my head this way and that to survey the area.
The first floor—where I was currently standing—looked like a dining hall or a tavern.
The space was divided by a bar table; one side was a kitchen piled with beer kegs, and the other was lined with round tables.
However, judging by the firmly closed front door, it seemed it wasn't yet time for business hours.
In other words, the dozens of people gathered here were all members of Yulan's guild.
‘The scale is much larger than I thought... Wasn't the Second Imperial Prince only twenty-three? He built a force of this magnitude in just seven years?’
I had jokingly referred to him as a "skeleton key" in the original work, but seeing the reality of that "skeleton key" with my own eyes was truly surprising.
No, beyond mere surprise, I felt somewhat intimidated.
That was why I couldn't shake off Yulan's arm and had no choice but to follow his lead.
Climbing floor by floor, we arrived at the fourth floor.
Since there were no more stairs visible, the fourth floor seemed to be the top of the building.
“There's... only one room?”
“I dislike having other people around me.”
Sure enough, the hallway, which was neither narrow nor wide, was utterly deserted.
The men—Jack, Sol, and Vic—who had gone up moments ago likely wouldn't have even glanced at the fourth floor if Yulan hadn't summoned them.
I felt I was getting a sense of what this small kingdom, built after abandoning the Imperial Family, felt like.
‘Hating the Emperor yet still caring for the Empire... is it for the sake of the Imperial Crown Prince?’
I fought to stop my thoughts from delving too deep.
If I dug into him any further, I was certain I wouldn't be able to escape.
To clear the clutter from my mind, I blurted out something random.
“The atmosphere here is completely different from the basement. Did you do this on purpose?”
“Haha. What do you think?”
I answered the returned question in a slightly grumpy tone.
“I'm the one who asked the question, so why do I have to be the one to answer?”
“Secrets aren't fun if they're too easy to find out, my lady.”
“Stop calling me 'my lady,' it's creepy...”
At that, Yulan tightened his arm around my shoulder and brought his face closer.
“If even the bastards who have nothing to do with this matter find out my lady's identity...”
“And if they do?”
It'll be annoying? It'll get difficult? ...They'll have to be eliminated?
I couldn't fathom what was going through his mind.
While all sorts of delusions scrambled through my head, he looked me straight in the eye and whispered with a curved, smiling gaze.
“I'll get jealous.”
My ears suddenly burned.
It felt as if my entire eardrum, where his voice had traveled, was bursting into flames.
I pushed him away abruptly and rubbed my ears frantically.
But the more I rubbed them, the hotter they became.
Seeing my face flushed with heat, he burst into laughter.
“Anyone watching would think you're a truly innocent lady, hm?”
I didn't bother answering and just kept rubbing my ears, but then he leaned down, met my gaze, and pressed firmly against my lips.
“I know exactly what you bit with these pretty lips during our last meeting.”
“That was because you...!”
“I did?”
“...I'm going crazy.”
No matter how empty the place was, it wasn't easy to talk about his secrets in such an open space.
In the end, after my lips flapped a few times, I had no choice but to shut them.
Instead, I pressed the back of my hand against my burning cheeks and glared at him.
“I know you're just trying to confuse me with strange words. It's so pathetic that I'm embarrassed for you, which is why my face is hot.”
“Aha?”
“You're doing this because you're afraid I might threaten the people gathered here. You want to create a loophole so that if things go wrong, you can claim you didn't know I was an Imperial Princess because I didn't reveal it.”
As he had shown just a moment ago, Yulan was incredibly skilled at uttering insincere words as if they were the truth.
Thus, he would be more than capable of manipulating the Duke's private soldiers who would raid this place under my orders.
The brief window of time created that way would be enough to evacuate everyone here using the underground passage.
‘Or maybe he'll make it so that's not even necessary...’
Perhaps even showing me the underground passage was a move for the future.
He could get rid of it as soon as I left, making me look like a crazy woman for mentioning an underground passage, or something like that.
Yulan... no, the man called 'Nox' had hidden motives behind every single action and word.
“Even if I tell you I have no intention of retaliating right now, you won't believe me, will you?”
The answer to my question was a faint, painted-on smile.
His cold eyes gave a more definitive answer than words ever could.
“Well, sure. It doesn't matter whether you believe me or not. As long as you carry out my request well, I'll reward you with overflowing money and forget about this cleanly.”
“Now that's a resolution I can get behind.”
“Stop talking nonsense and just open the door.”
There was definitely a reason why he had dragged out the time in front of the door.
‘It's a warning, most likely.’
Do not reveal my identity to everyone inside.
Put aside any thoughts of future retaliation.
I can ruin your reputation as much as I please...
Once those cold sentences were hammered into my head, it was certain that whatever happened inside that room would go exactly as he desired.
‘He's a complete lunatic, but he's so competent it's actually scary.’
It would be a lie to say my heart didn't flutter as he poured out sweet words from a distance where our noses almost touched.
But no matter how handsome a man is, if he reeks of danger to this extent, anyone would want to stay at least ten paces away.
I shook off the complex emotions by blinking hard.
The skin that had been flushed had cooled down in an instant.
Only then did the door to the room swing open, and I found myself locking eyes with three stiffened men.
Only after we had fully entered the room, without breaking eye contact, did the door shut with a thud.
The room, now cut off from the noise of the first floor which had begun to grow rowdy again, was infinitely silent.
Perhaps because we could hear each other's breathing, a needless tension filled the air.
Just then, Yulan approached me and lightly wrapped his arm around my waist, completely shattering the icy atmosphere.
“How can you be like this already? Where did my cold lady go? It feels like a spring breeze is blowing.”
The excessive proximity between Yulan and me, combined with a tone that felt like he was intentionally provoking me.
It was a disastrous combination that was enough to make the three men, who were already tense, freeze like stone statues.
“Please, why on earth are you doing this? You're just making the atmosphere awkward,” I whispered, growling low through gritted teeth while suppressing my absurdity.
I felt that letting the others hear me would only make the situation worse.
Despite the fact that there was no way he didn't know why I was acting this way, Yulan shamelessly tilted his head and whispered directly into my ear.
“I'm just saying what I feel, my lady.”
There was surely a reason why he emphasized the words 'my lady.'
But this time, I couldn't guess the reason at all.
The fact that he was spouting nonsense about romantic tension when there was barely enough time to explain my request and select the right people was also baffling.
‘Is he praising my acting with my eyes? I really can't tell.’
After racking my brain a few times, I simply gave up.
Either way, completely understanding him would be impossible, so it was easier on my nerves to just focus on the path I had to take.
Just as it was with almost everything I did with him.
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