Chapter 24
Karpel paused.
The hand that he raised to knock on the door slowly lowered, then he turned around.
He felt lightheaded. He couldn’t form any cohesive thoughts. He just wanted to run away from this place.
As he walked away in a hurry, he bumped into a maid along the hallway. Without even noticing that the maid flinched and retreated in surprise, Karpel kept walking.
Karpel left the building.
It would soon be dinnertime, so the butler who saw him walking away called out to him.
“Your Highness, where would you like to eat dinner?”
At that question, Karpel came back to his senses.
“…I don’t care.”
He was so frustrated that he couldn’t form a proper response.
When the butler left him alone, Karpel stood blankly for a moment before he went to the training grounds. He had nowhere else to go.
A broken engagement.
Why would she say that all of a sudden?
But the reason didn’t matter anyway. She finally came to this conclusion. This was a good thing.
However, what continued to echo in his blank mind was a constant “Why?”
Lost in his thoughts, he couldn’t find an answer.
With a sword in his hand, he stood motionlessly in the middle of the training grounds, then he turned his gaze to where Inaila had been standing before.
Her face flashed in his mind, this lovely girl whose eyes widened in surprise when he met her gaze.
Why did she come here?
What was the meaning of her visit?
Why did it lead to breaking off the engagement?
Karpel slowly raised his hand and reached behind him to touch his back.
A scar that grew larger the same way he grew taller over time.
He knew it didn’t look good.
It must have been horrifying to look at.
After realizing this, reality came crashing down on Karpel.
He stared blankly at his sword.
Before he knew it, light from the torches in the training grounds flickered and was reflected on his sword.
‘What if I stab my uncle with this sword and kill Radiev? Then, can I be with you?’
Karpel smirked as he pictured the future in his head.
Even if he did not avenge his father by killing his uncle, he wouldn’t be able to stand next to Inaila.
If he took the path of revenge, Inaila would never accept him.
He couldn’t imagine just how many people’s blood would stain his hands once his revenge was complete.
Would anyone be able to accept him like that?
…It’s late at night right now.
He needed to go back to his room.
Karpel sheathed his sword and went back to the mansion.
As he entered the mansion and was about to climb the stairs, he saw Inaila in the dining room.
She had her hands on her cheeks as she stared at a servant in front of her, tilting her head to the side.
As soon as the servant made eye contact with Inaila, a blush appeared on the servant’s nape.
But then the servant, and the others around him, suddenly felt Karpel’s sharp gaze.
“I-I’m sorry, Milady! I-I committed a sin worthy of death!”
All the servants’ frightened expressions were directed at Karpel.
Inaila felt that it was strange, so she turned her gaze to where the others were looking.
But Karpel sneaked up the stairs to avoid her gaze.
Perhaps she didn’t see him, but she was silent for a moment before speaking to the servant who dropped to the ground to bow his head.
“Did His Highness Karpel eat dinner already?”
As he was climbing the stairs, he stopped and went down one step, thinking that maybe she sought out the servant to ask about him.
Was she worried that he didn’t show up for dinner?
If that’s the case, then he wanted her to tell him personally.
He was still her fiancé. He wanted to see her face even a little more, considering now that she was trying to forget him.
At that moment, he wanted to face her.
“Should I just break off the engagement?”
But then, what he heard earlier rang loudly in his head.
Inalia would soon say that directly to Karpel.
Karpel was frozen in place. He wasn’t ready to hear it yet.
Karpel shook his head at Inaila’s question to the servant, hoping that the servant wouldn’t say that he was there.
“He said he didn’t want to eat, Milady.”
Karpel cradled his forehead.
That wasn’t it. Anyway, the servant’s complexion was starting to darken and his confidence was crumbling.
Inaila asked carefully.
“Is he in his room now?”
The servant glanced at Karpel, but Inaila didn’t notice.
Karpel glared at the servant, but soon started climbing back up the stairs.
He could still hear Inaila’s voice as she thanked the servant who replied that Karpel had returned to his room after his training.
At that moment, Karpel felt that something was amiss, so he glanced back.
Inaila was patting the servant’s head with her small hands.
‘What is it?’
The employees were thankful when Inaila’s business with them was finally over, and the servants that remained there desperately tried to avoid Karpel’s cold eyes.
They were terrified of the prince, who continued to look at the spot where Inaila had been standing.
Karpel wondered why Inaila touched that servant.
He had just started working at the mansion.
He wasn’t a spy sent by anyone. He was just an ordinary servant.
And he wasn’t a servant who worked closely by Inaila’s side. He was someone who did menial chores around the mansion, just following the directions of his superior.
His face wasn’t special, and his physique was lacking. And he evidently seemed weak and timid.
Karpel stood his ground, his eyes focused on the trembling servant.
Surprised to see this, the butler ran to the servant’s side.
“Your Highness, it hasn’t been long since Vit had been employed, so he is still lacking in many ways. Please have mercy on him…”
“Keep him out of my sight.”
Karpel spoke coldly and returned to his room. It was dishonorable on his part, but he couldn’t stand it.
As soon as Inaila touched that man’s head, several realizations came rushing in his mind.
Inaila would have nothing to do with Karpel any longer once the engagement was broken, then she would move on and love and marry someone else. Someone other than him.
Could he watch when this would happen in the future?
He wasn’t confident.
Just a moment ago, he almost slit that servant’s throat just because Inaila had touched him.
Karpel had killed not only assassins who attacked him with the intention to take his life, but also spies and mercenaries.
Therefore, it wouldn’t be a big deal to kill a thief who dared to covet his most precious treasure.
But… she wasn’t a treasure that he could hold on to.
‘That’s why it should be alright. I’ll have to leave anyway.’
He went to his bathroom and bathed while repeatedly saying it was okay, and that he was going to leave anyway.
He tried to wash away his negative thoughts.
He was about to lose control earlier, but now he was fine again.
If today was like this, then tomorrow will be better than today.
Karpel quietly leaned back on the wall separating his and Inaila’s room and searched for her presence.
But the room was empty.
It had been a while since he washed up, and it’s late at night.
‘Ina…?’
Inaila always went to bed early.
She said she wanted to grow up fast and become a woman who could stand tall and proud next to him.
Children grow up fast if they sleep a lot.
Recently, she was going to bed later in the evening because it seemed like she was writing something down, but now wasn’t the time for her to wander around the mansion.
‘What is she doing?’
When he was about to go out and look for her, grabbing the doorknob, he heard her voice.
“I’ll hold it now. Go ahead and eat.”
“Yes, Milady. I’ll get going.”
With a faint rustling sound, Karpel heard retreating footsteps, and only signs of Inaila being outside his room remained.
She wasn’t going back to her room. She just stood in front of his door.
He waited for a while, but he didn’t hear a knock.
It was too late in the evening for a visit to someone else’s quarters, even if it was one’s fiancé.
As Karpel waited, he realized that Inaila had taken something from the maid who left.
‘Maybe her hands were full? What is she carrying?’
Karpel couldn’t resist his curiosity and opened the door.
As soon as he did, the fragrant scent of cinnamon flowed through the air. It was a scent that he hadn’t been able to smell for a long time.
Inaila, who raised her foot slightly, seemingly in the middle of doing something, put it back down nicely.
On the tray in her hands were a bottle, two glasses, and a plate of cookies.
The blue eyes that met with Karpel’s gaze instantly went down.
She looked very frightened.
Karpel felt a sense of déjà vu. There was another time that they faced each other at night with a door between them.
‘Are you feeling scared of my wound again today…?’
Even before this, Karpel realized that Inaila had started to fear him.
Inaila must have found out something about Karpel. That must be why she was avoiding him and thinking about calling off the engagement.
‘What did she notice?’
Going through the waterways under the mansion to go to the rebel forces?
Poison mixed with food?
Killing assassins that sometimes appeared through his window?
While Karpel was agonizing, Inaila, who had a tight grip over the tray in her hands, suddenly shouted.
“Karpel!”