MLTK 02

#2.

For a moment, I became so frustrated that I stared intently at that handsome yet infuriating face. Vincent then tilted his head slightly and observed my expression.

“Amelia, are you angry?”

“No, why would I be?”

“Perhaps you’re angry enough to want to kill me or something?”

“…….”

Does he even realize what he’s saying? He might as well openly announce that he’s a regressor. And the one who wants to kill someone isn’t me, it’s you.

I desperately pulled up the corners of my trembling lips. Then I took a deep breath without making a sound. Let’s not give him anything to pick at.

“Not at all, Your Highness. How could I be angry over something like this? And even if I were angry, I have never once thought about killing anyone. That would be horrifying.”

I firmly denied it, even trembling my shoulders as though I were horrified.

It might seem despicable to him, considering he had been killed by Amelia before his regression, but what could I do? The Amelia of now knew absolutely nothing about it.

“Is that so? I sometimes feel that way. I suppose I have a bad personality.”

Vincent said that with a bright smile.

Unable to keep my expression under control any longer, I hurriedly lowered my head and stood up from my seat.

“I’ll go outside and call someone to clean this up. The broken pieces are dangerous.”

How was it that there wasn’t a single attendant serving the Crown Prince nearby?

‘He must have dismissed them all himself.’

After dying like that, he would naturally be suspicious of everyone around him.

Before leaving the room, I glanced back slightly, only to regret it immediately.

‘His eyes are seriously no joke.’

I had seen those emerald eyes, cold and deeply sunken.

A shiver ran down my spine, but I forced myself to slip outside the door.

“Haaaa.”

The moment the door closed, the tension suddenly released, and a long sigh escaped me.

I leaned against the wall for a moment and closed my eyes.

‘Still, I have to live. I’m going to survive.’

I really couldn’t die a meaningless death over something I hadn’t even done. To do that, I had to escape the Crown Prince’s blade of revenge.

‘What should I do from now on?’

First, I needed to distance myself from the Crown Prince. And the best way to do that was, of course,

“…Breaking off the engagement.”

Since the Duchy couldn’t dare request the dissolution of an engagement with the Imperial Family, I needed the Crown Prince to be the one to break it off.

As I wondered what method would be best, I remembered why I had come out here.

‘Oh right, I said I was going to call an attendant.’

I pushed myself away from the wall and turned around when suddenly a voice came from behind me.

“Amelia, didn’t you say you were going to call someone? What are you doing here?”

When did he come out? I didn’t even hear the door open. He was almost like a ghost.

“I’m going now. Just a moment….”

But Crown Prince Vincent suddenly stepped in front of me and stood facing me.

I ended up trapped between him and the wall.

“Lady.”

He called me in a serious voice.

Why was he suddenly acting like this?

“Your High—?”

There was something sharp and murderous in those emerald eyes staring directly at me.

Could it be… now? Here? No, it was still a long way before Amelia was supposed to die….

“Stay still.”

A low command came, and he suddenly reached out his arm.

“Eek!”

At the moment I squeezed my eyes shut, I felt a hand gently brush past the side of my head.

When I opened my eyes again, Vincent had stepped back and was showing me something held between his gloved fingers.

It was a small black bug.

“There was a bug sitting on your head.”

The bug made a crunching sound as it was crushed in his hand.

“…Ah, I-I see.”

When I looked at Vincent awkwardly, he smiled brightly with that beautiful face of his. Then he took off his glove.

“Something unpleasant touched you.”

He meant the bug by ‘something unpleasant,’ right? Not… me?

As I stared at him putting the removed glove into one of his pockets, I thought that perhaps this might still be possible.

‘Yes, maybe his resentment isn’t that deep yet. He doesn’t have much affection for Amelia either, so maybe it’ll work.’

Let’s just go for it. Even if it doesn’t work, I have nothing to lose.

Firmly resolved, I clenched my fist and called out to him.

“Your Highness, I have something to tell you.”

“Go ahead. Since it’s something my fiancée has to say, I should listen to anything.”

The affectionate words ‘my fiancée’ were extremely irritating, but I steadied my trembling heart and slowly knelt before him.

“Your Highness, the truth is, I am far too inadequate to serve by your side. Therefore, I humbly beg you to be the one to request that we break off our engagement first.”

Of course, if the engagement were broken off now, Amelia’s father, Duke Wentworth, would go absolutely berserk. Even so, he wouldn’t kill me, even if he decided to sell me off somewhere else.

But if I stayed beside this man, there was an extremely high chance I would definitely die.

Vincent, wouldn’t it be easier on your mind to keep the woman who killed you at a distance rather than keeping her close every day, suspecting and hating her? Do you really have to kill me?

Vincent didn’t answer for a long time. I secretly looked up at him and immediately realized that I was doomed.

An incredibly deep smile had bloomed across Vincent’s handsome face. If this weren’t such a situation, that face would have been attractive enough to make anyone fall completely for him.

“Amelia, that joke has gone too far.”

At his words, I decided to use my last resort.

I would simply tell him the truth. He might think I was crazy, but wasn’t he a regressor himself?

“Your Highness, actually, I am a trans—”

I’m a transmigrator.

I’m not the original Amelia.

I came from another world, and so on.

I tried to say those things, but not a single word came out of my mouth.

‘Oh no.’

Apparently, some kind of force was preventing me from revealing on my own that I was a transmigrator.

“Amelia?”

Vincent was looking at me with puzzled eyes.

“I’m not joking. I know that… you don’t favor me. Your Highness, so please, let us break off the engagement….”

“Lady Amelia Wentworth.”

He interrupted me, then bent down and politely held out his hand.

His bare hand, without a glove.

I instinctively took his hand and stood up.

“I must have been too neglectful toward you. To think you would even say something you don’t mean.”

“That’s not it….”

“From now on, I’ll make sure that never happens again. In any case, I’ll be moving your residence to this Crown Prince’s Palace in a few days. Since we’re discussing it, I’ll also speak with Duke Wentworth immediately.”

“Wait, Your Highness! That’s not what I meant…!”

“So, Amelia.”

Vincent called my name in the lowest voice I had heard from him yet.

His beautiful golden hair was already close enough that I instinctively drew in a sharp breath.

“From now on, never utter the words ‘break off the engagement’ again. That would be disobeying an imperial order. I’ll let it go this time, but I can’t guarantee what will happen next.”

For a moment, I was speechless and simply stared at him. Vincent continued.

“I believe you, Lady, also know very well what happens when someone disobeys an imperial order.”

He even brought up an imperial order.

Disobeying an imperial order was treason, and treason meant death.

Yeah. Right.

So even if I went this way, I still ended up with a death ending.

“Amelia, answer me.”

I lowered my eyes and replied.

“I’ll… keep that in mind.”

Vincent answered my reply with a splendid smile before walking away.

‘His plan hasn’t changed.’

Vincent’s plan was to seduce Amelia.

Then, while controlling her emotions within his line of sight, he intended to use her as bait to bring Duke Wentworth to ruin as well.

The original Amelia would have fallen for it perfectly.

‘But I won’t let myself be fooled like that.’

Watching his retreating back, I shivered as a belated chill washed over me.

By the time I returned to the Wentworth Ducal House by carriage, the sun had already set long ago.

The enormous ducal estate, covered in darkness, gave off a somewhat eerie atmosphere.

‘Ugh, this place hardly feels like a home either….’

It wasn’t a particularly comfortable place for either Amelia or me.

‘I’ll have to leave someday.’

If the problem that had fallen upon me could be resolved safely.

After getting off the carriage, I passed through the garden and headed inside. Magical lamps were lit here and there, so it wasn’t difficult to see where I was going.

This was a world where magic had replaced science. Magic brought convenience, but it was equally dangerous, so mages were strictly controlled by the Imperial Family.

Caw, caw—

Before entering the building, I looked up and saw a large crow with yellow eyes sitting on a tree.