Rolling in Bed with the Male Lead

"I cannot... understand you."

Richard thought to himself as he maintained the Emperor's facade with practiced perfection, his appearance altered by the Potion That Changes One's Appearance.

I wonder if he's managed to get into the basement by now.

Richard's plan was as follows: While the Duke's attention was fixed on him, Enoch, dressed as a servant, would quietly slip away with the Empress's body. Since Richard was pretending to be the Emperor, all the guards and security would be entirely focused on him, allowing Enoch to seize the opportunity. It was a perfect plan.

"Your Majesty."

The violet eyes turned icy. Bilmar, who had been tapping his fingertips against the end of the table, spoke.

"Do you know how terrible love can be?"

His gaze slowly lowered. Deep shadows fell beneath his eyelashes.

"What are you talking about all of a sudden?"

"Love is irrational, isn't it? It paralyzes reason, halts thought, and ultimately destroys even the person in love."

"Ha."

Richard, in Raios's form, snorted contemptuously. Well, that was definitely how Raios would have reacted.

"You're acting as though you're experiencing some grand love."

Richard ground his molars, just as Raios would have.

"Was that why you refused to let her rest in peace even after death?"

"Hmm."

Bilmar rested his fist beneath his chin and paused.

"Isn't it obvious?"

He smiled crookedly.

"Wishing for the one you love to be happy with someone else... I... am not that kind of person."

His expression, perhaps a sneer, was obscured beneath a complex blend of emotions.

"If I could not possess her, I wanted to destroy her instead."

"..."

Richard struggled to maintain a nonchalant expression.

An obsessive, one-sided love tainted with madness.

It was a pattern he had anticipated from the start.

"Her being by another's side... living in a world I knew nothing about... that alone was unbearable."

His gaze briefly swept through the empty air. Strangely, it seemed to pass straight through Richard.

"I wished she wouldn't be happy."

"..."

"I wished for her to suffer her whole life, to lose the one she loved, and to spend the rest of her life regretting it."

Richard let out a disgusted laugh inwardly.

He's insane.

This man was truly insane.

"And ultimately, to never be able to forget me."

His words carried an unusually heavy weight. Bilmar raised his head and looked at Richard.

"That is not love."

Speaking as the Emperor, Richard narrowed his eyes. This was not love. Something so destructive and selfish could not be love. At least, that was what Richard believed.

Bilmar did not answer. He gave a small laugh, then murmured in a low, strangely drawn-out voice.

"Well, now. Your Majesty doesn't seem so different, either."

"..."

Richard, still in Raios's form, furrowed his brow deeply.

"What does that..."

"Didn't Your Majesty also orchestrate this scheme to force the Crown Prince into marriage?"

Bilmar slowly raised his head. Violet eyes gleaming coldly stared straight at Raios—no, at Richard.

"!"

Richard's body went rigid. Bilmar smiled faintly.

"It was quite a convincing performance, but..."

"..."

"That's enough games, Young Master Friedrich."

"That's enough games, Young Master Friedrich."

As if the play had come to an end, the air turned chilly. Even the flames in the fireplace seemed to hold their breath, flickering slowly.

"..."

"..."

"When did you notice?"

Richard gritted his teeth. When? It had undoubtedly been a flawless performance. If he had truly been the Emperor, then surely. Surely...

"Young Master Friedrich."

Bilmar slowly lifted his teacup. A sweet, low baritone flowed between his lips as he paused briefly, as though savoring the aroma.

"Do I look that foolish to you?"

"..."

"You should have realized from the beginning that I had noticed."

Bilmar smiled faintly as he righted the teacup and brought it to his lips.

"Your Excellency."

Richard's mind raced. Yes, that was it. The Duke had known from the beginning that he was a fake. In that case, Richard had no choice but to keep stalling for time and hope that Enoch managed to steal the body in the meantime.

"Ah."

Bilmar spoke as he set down the teacup.

"The basement was unusually noisy today."

Damn. He noticed even that?

"You sent someone, didn't you?"

The Duke chuckled, a sinister smile spreading across his lips.

"Your Excellency, I..."

Then, for now... for now... Was there any way out of this? The Duke had already noticed, and Richard's entire plan had gone awry. There was no other method...

It was then.

"Take it."

An indifferent voice drifted carelessly from the other side.

"Pardon?"

Richard jerked his head up. Take it? What...

"The thing you're looking for."

Bilmar propped up his chin and raised the corner of his mouth slightly.

"I reduced the security in the basement. If the person you sent isn't too foolish, he should be able to find it."

"..."

Richard blinked slowly.

Creak...

Huh?

Enoch, who had been trying to pick the lock with a long iron rod, froze.

It just... opened?

Was the lock merely for decoration? Without him exerting any force, the heavy door swung open without a single creak.

...

Enoch stepped into the basement, his mind filled with questions.

"Here."

Enoch carefully lowered a body at Richard's feet.

"What you were looking for."

"..."

Richard stared at the body in a daze. Peacefully closed eyes and long, flowing golden hair. The Empress. It was the Empress's corpse.

"Why on earth...?"

Richard muttered.

"What is it?"

Enoch asked, but his words did not reach Richard's ears.

Why?

Duke Bilmar Chesika. What on earth was he thinking, handing over the body so willingly?

"..."

His blue eyes turned icy as he meticulously examined the body.

The body is real.

It was not even a fake body that the Duke had handed over.

There's no trace of any trickery, either...

His face grew increasingly rigid.

"..."

The Empress's body was both the leash the Duke had fastened around the Emperor's neck and the Duke's own lifeline. Once his only bargaining chip was gone, there was no way the Emperor would leave the Duke alone...

"Why on earth...?"

Richard muttered, chewing on the tip of his fingernail.

That worry occupied him only briefly, and soon the day of the Emperor's birthday banquet arrived.

Hah...

Richard sighed as he climbed into the carriage. He had pondered it for days, but the Duke's true intentions remained elusive.

Could it be... that he wants to die?

It was literally no different from suicide. The more Richard thought about it, the deeper he wandered into a labyrinth.

"Is something wrong?"

Enoch, who had just struggled to lift a bulky box into the carriage, climbed in after Richard and asked.

"No."

Richard shook his head. There was no point in telling Enoch, who knew nothing. Ah. Come to think of it, Enoch still had not returned to his kingdom.

It seems like you've repaid the favor more than enough. Why don't you return to your kingdom now?

Although the Duke had yielded first, Enoch had ultimately played a decisive role in recovering the body. Richard had suggested that he return to his kingdom that evening, but...

No. Compared to the favor I owe you, this isn't enough.

Enoch had flatly refused.

"..."

This was giving him a headache in more ways than one. Just as Richard sighed and clutched his throbbing head—

"Is something wrong?"

Derek, who had just climbed into the carriage, asked exactly the same question Enoch had earlier.

"It's nothing."

Richard shook his head and glanced at the gift box his attendant was holding. It seemed Derek had also prepared a gift for the Emperor.

"Did you prepare your gift properly?"

Derek leaned back against the opposite seat and asked through a lazy yawn.

"Well, yes..."

Richard gave an evasive answer and swallowed a sigh. Though that gift was the problem right now...

What on earth is the Duke thinking...?

At first, he had thought the Duke might have planted a bomb inside the body or something. But no matter how thoroughly he examined it, he found no suspicious traces whatsoever.

Whatever.

After racking his brain for a moment, Richard let out a quiet sigh and looked out the window.

It's fine.

As long as the Duke did not try anything.

Richard forcibly shook off his miscellaneous thoughts. Whatever intentions the Duke harbored were no longer his concern. All he had to do was return the Empress's body to the Emperor.

The carriage set off, rolling smoothly along the gravel road toward the Imperial Palace. Each time the wheels passed over the stones, vibrations traveled through the carriage. Richard looked out the window and felt the cold wind brush against his cheek.

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