Enoch de Eloise.
The moment he was born, his father slapped him across the face.
Smack—!
"You gave birth to my son? Ha! I will never acknowledge him as my heir!"
It wasn’t because he had been born a lowly bastard.
Enoch’s mother was the king’s lawful wife, the queen, and he was a legitimate son.
Nor was it because the queen came from a lowly background.
She was the eldest daughter of the prestigious Marquess of Montclair, a founding house of merit.
There was just one problem...
"Kehahah! Bring Latrina to my bedchamber tonight!"
...his father, the king, was a wastrel madly obsessed with his concubine.
So much so that he had three sons with his concubine before fathering even one child with his lawful wife.
"Another concubine today..."
"Her Majesty the Queen doesn’t even warrant a glance."
Naturally, the standing of the queen and her son Enoch plummeted, and Enoch, who should have become the Crown Prince, was given only the status of fourth prince.
Even after that, his misfortunes continued.
"Tsk, the first prince should ascend the throne..."
"Isn’t there some way to get rid of the fourth prince?"
The faction supporting the first prince, the son of the king’s favored concubine Latrina, began to view Enoch as a thorn in their side...
And finally,
they conspired to sell Enoch to an imperial slave trader.
"...”
Even after becoming a slave, his life did not improve.
"Didn’t I tell you?! I am the fourth prince of the Eloise Kingdom, Enoch de Eloise—"
"You crazy bastard! Keep beating him until he comes to his senses!"
No matter how loudly he insisted that he was royalty and shouldn’t be in such a place, the slave traders refused to listen. Every day brought more brutal whippings and beatings.
Smack—
Thwack!
"You are a lowly slave!"
"No, I’m—!"
"Bow your head and shut up!"
His royal pride was worn away day by day. The countless scars carved into his back refused to fade, as though declaring that he could never return to his rightful place.
Nevertheless, there were also those who offered to help him.
"I’ll get you out of here. I have plenty of money."
Imperial nobles who leered at his body with filthy eyes and tried to seduce him.
At first, when he knew nothing, he fell for their schemes a few times...
"Ha, ha... Stop!..."
"Tsk! Do you think I paid such an exorbitant price for nothing? Behave!"
But it never ended well. Enoch would resist with all his might, only to be "returned" to the slave market.
"I have no allies here."
Under the sun, in this imperial land, he had no allies.
Everyone merely concealed their filthy schemes behind glib words.
His ally... his true ally...
"Mother..."
...was his birth mother, back in the kingdom.
"I want to return to the kingdom..."
He wanted to return to the kingdom, to his homeland.
Because the people of this land saw him only as a laughingstock, a nameless slave...
Then he remembered what that man had said.
"You looked lonely."
That was exactly right.
He was lonely.
He resented this land, where he did not have a single ally. He hated the imperial nobles who concealed their black-hearted intentions, and he also...
A piercing ache.
"I’m lonely."
I want to go home. To my homeland, where my mother is...
He was so lonely that he could barely breathe.
He hated this land, filled with nothing but black-hearted nobles.
Kwaaaaah──!
"All of you, get lost, you sons of bitches!"
When "that man" completely destroyed the slave market, Enoch wasn’t particularly happy.
Because this man would be no different.
No one acted out of pure goodwill.
That was the lesson Enoch had learned since coming to this land, one he had felt deep in his bones.
This man had to want something too.
"What do you want?"
He spoke with venom gnawing at his heart.
"I said, what do you want?"
Imperial nobles are all the same. This man won’t be much different from the ones I’ve seen so far.
No, he might be even worse.
This man knew Enoch’s true identity and had deliberately approached him.
He had deliberately destroyed the slave market as though showing off his power.
"Is my body what you’re after, like those filthy imperial nobles? Or my status? Power? Money?"
Perhaps this time really would be the end.
Judging from his opponent’s skill with a sword, Enoch was unlikely to be able to resist, and there was nowhere left to run...
"Is this the end?"
Enoch’s heart sank into despair.
He truly felt like a lowly slave. A slave without hope, pride, strength, or power.
No matter what the man demanded, he would be unable to resist.
What exactly did he want? His body? Status? Money?
But...
What the other man demanded was none of those things.
"Leave the Empire and never come back."
"?..."
"Go back to the Eloise Kingdom and live happily. So happily that you never even think of the Empire."
The other man gripped Enoch’s shoulder tightly as he spoke.
He absolutely had to leave the Empire and return to his homeland.
"What?"
Enoch couldn’t understand. It made no sense.
"Got it? That’s all I want."
"What—"
Is that really all you want?
That can’t be.
All the imperial nobles I’ve met until now...
"Now go."
Thump.
Pushed back by the man’s hand, Enoch blinked blankly.
"Don’t ever come back."
It was an act purely for Enoch’s sake. The man truly left without looking back, ending everything just like that.
"Why?"
Standing where the man had left him, Enoch muttered vacantly.
You could still make use of me. No, you could at least extort money from me. But why... without doing anything...
Why would you simply tell me to return to the homeland I longed for so desperately...?
He doubted it, distrusted it, and turned it over in his mind again and again. But no matter how much he considered it, this was...
Pure goodwill.
"...”
Enoch slowly lowered his head.
"What do I do?"
His ears reddened, and his heart began to pound.
An empty lot swept by a cold wind.
"Finally!..."
Richard, who had been crouching and digging through the dirt, dusted off the book he had pulled from the hole.
[Book of Nullification]
It was the Book of Nullification he had buried underground to keep it from being taken while he was disguised as a slave.
I should head back now!
Tucking the book under his arm, Richard cheerfully straightened his legs.
Enoch had been dealt with, and he had retrieved the Book of Nullification, so everything was over. Now...
The Emperor’s birthday is coming up soon, isn’t it?
Richard rolled his eyes.
Right. That was it. The Emperor’s birthday wasn’t far away.
Which meant...
The "Main Event" is slowly approaching.
It meant that the [Main Event], the crucial turning point in this "story" where the female and male protagonists would become genuinely entangled, was approaching.
[Main Event]
The contractual engagement between the two.
On the final day of the banquet celebrating the Emperor’s birthday, Lady Daphne is attacked by an unknown assailant.
Fortunately, she is rescued by the male protagonist, Cailus... but after her life is endangered following the poisoned-tea incident, Cailus proposes a contractual engagement to her.
Her family accepts, and the two become engaged once again and entangled with each other.
This...
...had to be prevented at all costs.
Of course, his preparations were complete. He had already made a contract with the Emperor and retrieved the Book of Nullification.
I just need to proceed as planned.
The corners of Richard’s lips curved into a smile.
For now...
Let’s go back to the mansion and rest.
Tap, tap.
His footsteps were light.
Richard walked on and on.
Tap, tap—
"...”
Thud.
Sensing something strange, Richard stopped.
Or maybe not?
Scratching his cheek, Richard began walking again.
Tap, tap.
Footsteps sounded once more.
Tap, thud, tap, thud.
"...”
Whoosh—!
Richard whipped his head around.
And...
"!..."
He spotted a figure hastily hiding in the bushes.
"Enoch?"
Richard frowned.
Enoch, with only a small part of his head protruding from between the bushes, was peeking at him in a cold sweat.
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