It was already a mess since the beginning.
Adrian frowned. Dresses and other items were thrown off at random places and were scattered all over the place.
In one look, you would think that it’s an empty room that no one resides.
Adrian gritted his teeth as he looked around the room and couldn’t find any human presence.
He could feel his head spinning due to the intense emotion swirling inside him.
“Ethan is gone!”
Terni, Adrian’s aide, who followed him into the room of the prospective Crown Princess, shouted in surprise.
Then his other confidant, Diano, followed.
“Woah, what the·····.”
His aides looked at each other’s faces as Adrian gazes around the room alone.
Adrian was emitting dark energy with his own fists clenched.
“Oh, so what do we do now?”
Diano scratched his head. And Terni looked over the chaotic room once more and grumbled.
“Wow, Ethan, you bastard. You should’ve sent a notice if you’re going to run away.”
However, Diano immediately countered Terni’s complaint.
“Then we would have prevented him. Are you stupid?”
“Right.”
The two frowned as they approach and stood beside Adrian.
Adrian took a quick glance at Terni and Diano who were still having a friendly conversation even at the current situation and struck the chair next to him.
He’d just hit the thing lightly, but the chair created a very loud noise at the same time as it collapsed.
Adrian shook his head, holding back his fury and annoyance.
“I didn’t expect he would run away.”
Adrian agitatedly picked out his breath as he thinks about the scuffle this past few days.
The two men glanced at each other then at the mess Adrian usually creates at his pit of anger and took a step back.
Adrian’s whole body spews out a tremendous amount of hideous energy, and it seemed that anyone would know the taste of hell if caught in it.
Adrian, who grit his teeth and tried to calm his raging emotions, stared at the two people standing in front of him.
“Find him. Now!”
He wanted to run out and turn the palace upside down but he condoned himself. This was to be kept confidential at all costs.
But what’s waiting for Adrian after he returned to his office was a report that they could not find Ethan.
“After thoroughly searching, he was not found in Poinsettia Palace. There are many witnesses who said they have seen a man presumed to be Lord Ethan, but they are not only one or two, so we’ll need some time to figure out the situation.”
“Then why are you still here?”
Diano laughed awkwardly at Adrian’s cold words.
Terni grinned and teased Adrian.
“Our Majesty was very angry because his fiancée ran away.”
“If you know, then shut up.”
“But because your fiancée was a man, it was very easy for him to run away. What should we do now?”
“What do you mean?”
Terni shrugged, unyielding to the sharp eyes that seemed to warn him.
“Your Highness, are you really thinking of marrying that woman?”
A fleeting spark flashed into Adrian’s eyes staring at Terni.
“Find him. By any means.”
It was the moment when Terni and Diano nodded.
Crash-!
A sound that shouldn’t be heard came beyond the office.
There’s no other explanation to it than he was so damn lucky. And it doesn’t matter to him whichever part of the world his luck came from. He’s going to grab it.
Adrian was in a hurry, and the color of her hair and eyes were similar to that of Ethan’s.
At first, Adrian thought to kill the maid. But at heartbeat, Adrian’s hand stopped. The trigger was simple.
The words that the maid uttered that she will do anything. And the blue eyes that he thought were particularly similar to Ethan.
“I’ll have to seize every opportunity that was provided to me.”
That’s all. That’s how Adrian came to a simple conclusion.
Before making an unknown maid as her fiancée, Adrian first did a background investigation about the woman.
He doesn’t think that she would be a pawn from the Prime Minister or the other nobles, but the confirmation process was a necessary procedure for her fiancée candidate.
“Viola Billbaoria. A fallen nobleman.”
“There’s no particular suspicious thing about her. I think she’s clean.”
Terni, who finished all the investigations of the maid, Viola Bilbaoria, in just a day, grinned.
But although it was a good thing to have no issues about the woman, Adrian had no specific expectations regarding the maid.
Suddenly, his head throbbed due to exasperation towards the persons who caused this situation.
Hah, I can’t believe they’re forcing me to get married. I want to kill all of them.
“How’s the search for Ethan going?”
“Diano’s still relentlessly searching.”
After answering roughly, Terni calmly sipped his tea. Seeing his aide’s relaxed expression, Adrian frowned as his irritation shoots up.
“And you, why are you here?”
“Oh, taking a break. Why are you always trying to make me work like crazy?”
Terni whined.
But Adrian wasn’t merciful enough to listen to Terni’s whining.
Furthermore, Terni is the one responsible for solving one of the most critical problems at the moment.
And that was to transform Viola Billbaoria, a maid, into an honorable daughter of Marquis Oviedo and the fiancée of the Prince.
“Go and educate her right away.”
“Eh, why? We don’t have to rush anyway.”
“Because it’s an urgent matter. Go now and get lost.”
“Can’t you let me take a break for even a bit?”
Terni pouted his lips and went to work. And Adrian just turned deaf to Terni’s complaints.
While heading to the door, Terni’s complaining continued.
“Hah, I really don’t know how I got into this job.”
“Do your obligations and make yourself useful.”
Terni could only reply with a slant smile at Adrian’s resolute words.
“Yes. Of course, Your Highness.”
My world changed overnight.
A mere maid like me suddenly became the prince’s fiancée.
Yesterday, something I couldn’t even imagine happened to me.
Where am I, who am I?
“Please take care of me, sister!”
A man who popped out of nowhere greeted me with a smile.
“I’m your brother, Ternie!”
A man with black hair like the night sky and shiny golden eyes looked at me playfully.
I knew this man. It’s Terni Aguila Oviedo, the closest aide to the Prince.
I can’t believe he suddenly became my brother, I must have lived long enough to have arrived at this moment.
“You know I’m your brother, right?”
I’m sorry but I don’t even want to know·····.
I’d really love to say that, but I only have one life. And even that, has long been mortgaged.
“Haa·····.”
I sighed as I recall what had taken place.
Yesterday, after the prince suddenly recognized me as his fiancée, I was immediately taken to Lily Palace.
Lily Palace was the place where the prospective Crown Princess stays to learn the rules of the imperial family. He told me to take a break, saying that I would do a full-fledged job tomorrow, but there was no way I could sleep properly with all the events that had taken place during the day.
And as soon as the morning came·····.
Because I am now the Crown Prince’s fiancee, I have to learn palace etiquette, said the man who came early in the morning like a breeze and deposited me on the parlor couch.
It was hard to believe that this situation was real, but everyone except me was acting casually like everything that’s happening was normal.
The maids, the attendants, and even the Crown Prince’s entourage had greeted me in the Lily Palace!
“You might already know. But I’ll explain it to you one more time just to be clear.”
Terni looked at me with a big smile on his face.
“I’m Terni Aguila Oviedo. And you will be Athena Sheville Tabatha Oviedo starting today. The Rose of the Marquis House.”
“Yes!?”
They said she’s a very timid lady, I can’t believe they made such an exaggerated lie.
Terni muttered as he rubbed his chin.
“The truth is, you wouldn’t have to suffer in this situation if he had not run away. Ah, no, even if he didn’t run away, since you’ve heard the secret, you would’ve been already dead by now.”
It’s so incredibly scary how he talks about death in a way like it’s nothing to him.
Ethan. It was the name of the man who was likely to be the prince’s pretend fiancée.
The crown prince’s infamous beloved, in other words, the drag queen.