Rolling in Bed with the Male Lead

"I wanted to be your confidant."

He said it with all the sincerity he could muster.

Though Elica was the first woman to stir his heart, what he desired and yearned for even more was Bilmar.

A confidant, a rival, and a friendly competitor.

I might be rejected...

Raios bit the inside of his lip, forcing himself to smile.

Because I wanted to grow closer to him.

He had taken a liking to Bilmar Chesika.

Had his sincerity gotten through?

A few days later, Bilmar sought Raios out of his own accord.

"Let's be confidants."

"!"

Raios felt as though the heavens had opened.

"Really... Is that true, Your Grace?"

"Of course. I have no reason to lie to you."

From that day on—

"Would you care to join me for lunch, Your Highness?"

"Shall we go hunting together?"

Bilmar, who had opened his heart to Raios, began actively seeking him out.

Thus, the two became confidants.

They always shared their meals,

occasionally took walks together,

and even when they argued, as they often did, they quickly made up.

However.

Even so, one problem remained.

"Your Highness... you like me too, don't you? So why can't we?"

Elica Lowen.

As if unable to understand why Raios kept rejecting her, she choked back a sob.

"I'm sorry, Elica..."

That day, too, Raios turned her down and went to meet Bilmar.

To him, a confidant with whom he could share his heart was more important than a lover.

"Haah..."

Perhaps sensing Raios's unusually prolonged sigh that day—

"Your Highness."

Bilmar, who had been reading a book with him on a hill, spoke in his usual flat tone.

"Marry Elica Lowen."

"Bilmar."

Raios furrowed his brow deeply.

"She was your former fiancée, wasn't she? I can't do that."

"I don't mind."

Bilmar turned a page of his book as though it were of no concern.

"It was merely an engagement arranged for political reasons. I had no feelings for her."

"What?"

"So marry her. I truly do not mind."

As he said this, Bilmar seemed to harbor no emotion or lingering attachment whatsoever.

"..."

Finally, after agonizing over it for days, Raios...

"I've decided to marry Elica. I'm sorry, Bilmar."

...decided to follow his advice.

Because Bilmar had said he had no feelings for her.

And because Raios was not the type to fall for someone easily in the first place.

So—

It will be fine.

He thought it would be fine.

But.

"Congratulations."

He should have noticed that Bilmar seemed somehow different from usual.

Because after that day, everything changed.

"Kyaaah!"

"There's poison in Her Majesty the Empress's carriage!"

A maid's scream.

Not even three days had passed since the wedding.

Elica nearly died.

But that was only the beginning.

"Your Majesty, there were assassins again today..."

"There was poison in the meal as well."

The relentless threats against her continued one after another.

It can't be.

Raios desperately tried to deny it.

It could not be.

Bilmar was not that kind of person. So...

"I am now the head of a family as well. It seems it will be difficult for me to spend time with Your Majesty as I did before."

"..."

However, after the wedding, Bilmar began blatantly avoiding Raios.

"Your Majesty. It is clearly Duke Chesika."

"No matter how close a confidant he may be, you must believe it. He is jealous..."

Raios was not a fool.

He knew it too.

Bilmar was behind everything.

There were people like that in the world.

People who would rather destroy what they could not have...

"..."

But.

Even so, Raios did not punish Bilmar.

Instead, he tried to change his mind.

Because Bilmar was his closest confidant.

"Bilmar. If that's what you want, I'll even get a divorce. So—"

"Your Majesty."

But Bilmar merely passed Raios by, his eyes cold.

"I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about."

"Bilmar!"

Years passed like this.

No, even after more than a decade, Bilmar did not change.

He no longer shared meals with Raios, went on walks with him, or joined him on hunts. He distanced himself from Raios.

At the same time, the threats against Elica only increased.

"Haah, Elica..."

Raios resented the situation and grew increasingly afraid.

If this continues...

What will I do if even Elica leaves my side?

Then I will no longer...

Then, one day—

"Your Majesty, Her Majesty the Empress... has..."

She died so pointlessly while giving birth.

Not at the hands of an assassin sent by Bilmar,

nor from drinking poison,

but simply, pointlessly.

"Elica, Elica..."

Raios felt as though he were going mad.

Even she had left him.

There was an even more despairing truth.

"Your Majesty, the child who was born..."

The child born at the cost of Elica's life had inherited neither her brilliant golden hair nor her golden eyes.

Jet-black hair and crimson eyes.

The child merely resembled Raios's own cursed self...

"Take it away!"

Leaving the newborn child behind, Raios stormed out of the Imperial Palace.

It felt as though he were under someone's curse.

No, he probably was.

Yes, how fiercely Bilmar Chesika must have cursed him!

"Bilmar Chesika!"

Leaving the handling of her remains to his attendants, Raios immediately went to see him.

"Are you satisfied now? Ha, ha!"

He seized Bilmar by the collar and shouted.

"Are you happy now? Are you content? If you hated me this much, why didn't you say so from the beginning?"

"..."

"You should have told me not to marry her! You should have told me not to even look at her!"

"..."

Bilmar did not answer. He merely allowed Raios to seize his collar and drag him upward, a faint, inscrutable smile playing on his lips.

"You find this amusing?!"

Raios roared, his eyes bloodshot.

"Your Majesty."

Looking at Raios, Bilmar seemed unable to suppress his rising laughter any longer.

"Shouldn't handling the remains be your first priority?"

Beneath the cold moonlight—

"Who knows? Someone with a terrible personality might..."

His violet eyes gleamed eerily.

"...even lay hands on the remains—"

"!"

Raios immediately released his collar and hurried back to the Imperial Palace.

But.

When he arrived at the Imperial Palace—

"Y-Your Majesty! Please kill this servant. The remains, the remains!"

Elica's corpse was gone.

"Ha, ha..."

Raios collapsed on the spot.

"Hahaha, hahahaha!"

Why in the world?

He could not understand.

I only wanted to be close to you...

I only wanted to be your confidant.

Arguing sometimes, cooperating at other times, just like that.

I only wanted us to govern the Empire well together...

No.

Hadn't I known?

Yes, he had known from the beginning.

Bilmar Chesika had never truly intended to become his confidant.

Raios had simply wanted to believe it.

"You..."

Shedding tears hot with hatred, Raios muttered.

"Why do you hate me so much?"

"I wanted to change his mind until the very end."

"..."

"But he..."

Raios gritted his teeth.

"...betrayed me in the end."

"..."

"Therefore..."

The Emperor's eyes shone with determination as he spoke, chewing over each word.

"I will kill him."

"..."

Richard swallowed hard and nodded.

Somehow, a sense of foreboding washed over him.

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