Ever since the royal ball, Amanda has been hearing the rumor about her and a ‘mysterious man’ spreading all around. She feared that if everyone believed the rumors, it would inevitably cause problems with her marriage with Oliver. She desperately wanted to come up with a plan to strike back.
Despite all those rumors, she had to attend another noble gathering this day. It was then…
Someone entered the banquet hall with steady footsteps. One by one, everyone reacted with surprise at the unexpected visitor.
‘Who is…?’
Feeling a shift in the atmosphere, Amanda turned towards where everyone was looking.
“Hail his Royal Highness the Crown Prince! Eternal Glory to the Keith Empire!”
All those who noticed Oliver’s appearance raised their voices to greet him and then bowed, irrespective of their rank. For a moment, Amanda felt like she was in a completely different world. Everything around her seemed to freeze in the air, while Oliver was the only thing that moved. He was striding straight towards Amanda.
His blue irises burned with that mysterious heat that she always saw in them. He stood in front of Amanda and looked around.
“What are you doing here?”
Amanda suddenly remembered that he wanted to meet her today, but she had refused him.
“Your Highness, I–”
Oliver interrupted her with a calm voice.
“Didn’t I tell you to reveal the truth to the other nobles?”
At the same time, he took her slender hand.
“Why don’t you say you were my woman?”
Everyone’s expression turned to surprise at his gesture. But it was Amanda who was most stunned. She blinked like a goldfish.
‘If things go wrong, my identity as Len could be compromised…what is he doing?‘
She didn’t think he would carelessly reveal her…
“I heard someone talking about you. You should have been honest if these rumors were spreading.”
Amanda had just been about to ask, “What are you doing?” but she swallowed down her words. She couldn’t understand where he was going with this, but she would accept what he said with the knowledge that he was on her side.
“Everyone listen.”
Oliver fixed the room with a steely gaze.
“Amanda Windsor is my woman.”
Oliver’s voice rang clearly in the room, as everyone was holding their breath. At his sudden announcement, the nobles swallowed or gave a faint gasp of surprise. The truth about the rumor was moving in an exciting new direction.
“Lady Windsor has been seeing me for a long time. I was planning to keep it a secret before I officially announced it, but I didn’t expect this nonsense to spread.”
Oliver bore down the room with a reproachful glare, but Layla shook herself to her senses and intervened.
“Then she cheated on you! There was a man who said he was with Lady Windsor, and if you have doubts–”
Oliver’s expressionless face moved towards Layla.
“Who told you that bullshit? “
Oliver’s voice was dangerously low, but Layla’s only thoughts were excitement over having made eye contact with him. At first she inhaled in embarrassment, but soon she put on the most innocent expression she could make.
“A viscount said–”
But Layla’s words did not last long. Oliver issued a low order in the direction outside of the door.
“Bring it here, Jobbers.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Jobbers replied with a polite voice and strode into the party.
“Put it down.”
Jobbers began unwrapping a cloth from a round object in his hands. The object was released from its cloth binding and immediately fell to the floor and rolled forward.
Tong, tong, tong…
It bumped into a stop at the leg of the table. What everyone saw–
Was a man’s head.
“Kkyaaaaaa!”
The party was instantly filled with high screams of the women. Everyone, male or female of any age, had turned pale and watched the scene with widened eyes. Oliver’s calm expression was severely out of place.
“Is this the man who said that?”
Layla stared at Oliver with stunned shock, unable to answer. She couldn’t have been ignorant of who he was. He was the nobleman she had paid to pay false rumors.
“…Oh…oh my god…”
Layla was completely numb. Oliver responded casually.
“Look carefully and answer. If there’s another one like him, then I’ll do the same.”
The room, which once held the sounds of merriment, was now engulfed in silence. The music had stopped long ago, and everyone held their breath as they watched Oliver.
Howard had reigned for some time now. Up until then, the emperors of the Keith Empire were war-loving, brutal, and unafraid to spill blood. After Howard was crowned emperor, the country had stayed in relative peace. It was the first time that the young nobles had experienced something like this, while the older ones had a darkened face as they recalled the emperors of the past. For the nobility who had lived most of their days through the quieter times, Oliver’s actions had to be shocking.
No one said a word to Oliver. His presence was overwhelming.
“How dare anyone defame my woman. If anyone wants to continue to talk about this rumor, come forward now.”
No one spoke up, fearing for their necks. As it was, with Oliver as the crown prince and Leon as the second prince supported by the empress, there was little room to step out of line. The Keith Empire had been such a place since the beginning, and the bloodstained history of the emperors proved it. The nobility were crushed to silence.
“…Your Highness.”
A gentle voice broke through the tense atmosphere. All eyes turned to its direction.
And there stood Amanda.
“You can stop now. They have learned the truth about the rumors.”
Only then did Oliver turn away to look at her. His face looked calm as usual, but Amanda could see he was furious underneath the surface.
“You think this is enough? I won’t rest easy until I find out who started this rumor and tear them to pieces.”
Oliver’s cool eyes immediately moved toward Layla, as if he knew from the outset who was responsible. Then this may not be the end of it.
Amanda felt she should stop him. No matter how many former Keith emperors would have spilled blood, she didn’t want Oliver to turn into a tyrant before everyone’s eyes. And if he was doing this because of her, she wanted to stop it even more.
“That’s enough. I’m all right, Your Highness.”
Amanda took Oliver’s arm, and she could feel how solid he felt under her hand.
With that gentle touch and warm body heat…Oliver’s posture finally loosened.
“Lady Windsor, you are my woman. And I hate when others touch what’s mine.”
It was a warning for everyone to hear. Amanda nodded in understanding.
“I’m sure they all know. Don’t stay here anymore and come with me, Your Highness.”
Oliver furrowed his brow when she pulled on his arm, but allowed himself to be lead away. Amanda didn’t know it, but everyone was looking at her with the same astonishment as when the man’s head fell on the floor.
The butcher, the bloodthirsty devil, the conqueror–there have been numerous words to describe the emperor of the Keith Emperor, but they had never heard of a weakness to a woman. They could hardly believe there was someone that could take Oliver away with such docility when he looked ready to kill anyone in this room just moments before.
Eventually, Amanda and Oliver disappeared from the room.
Kwang!
The door closed, but the room was still quiet as they tried to process what had happened.
“…Heug.”
A sob broke the silence. Layla had burst into tears and was biting her lips. She wiped her cheeks with both palms and looked up, her eyes glazed with poison.
“…How dare she. I’ll kill her.”
Layla could not forgive Amanda any more for this. Oliver’s eyes had met hers. He must have admired her beauty, but suddenly, Amanda took Oliver’s arm and stole him away.
‘Disgusting bitch, taking my man from me.’
Layla left the party shaking with rage, her two companions beside her. Elice ventured forward carefully.
“M-my Lady, what do we–”
Layla cut her off coldly.
“Shut up! You useless thing.”
Elice and Hailey flinched at the sharpness in Layla’s eyes.