Left behind, the man let out a small sigh and muttered a few words. “She’s a devil.” What was with her bit about being a goddess from heaven? Ridiculous. There was no way she was any sort of goddess.
On his way back from an outing, he’d been riding his horse along the border toward Le Chantier Palace when a girl fell from the sky. Leonardo Orencia, the crown prince of Archaites, had been quick to catch her in his arms. When he did, he had seen a lovely girl looking up at him. She had purple eyes and wavy, silver hair that looked like silk, and she was probably still in her late teens. This was the second time in his life he’d been so captivated by a woman. She had looked at Leonardo with a dignified gaze, and he had felt his heart stir with some sort of sense of nostalgia.
But despite her pretty face, she was vicious and conceited, the worst kind of woman. She’d stabbed her savior with a poisoned needle, then robbed him of his earring, the symbol that denoted he would be the next emperor.
At first glance, the earring looked ordinary, but there was a small pattern engraved on the back. The pattern was Leonardo’s personal design, and it was enough to move an entire army. It would be a serious matter if it were misused.
In addition to all that, her companion had appeared with Leonardo’s men, whom she’d rendered unconscious. That masculine woman must have been very skilled indeed to defeat the crown prince’s own men.
“You lot! Get up!”
“Mmm? Where are we?”
“The forest along the border.” His men finally woke up two hours after the girls had taken their horses and fled. The numbness inside Leonardo’s body had finally subsided.
“What the hell happened?” The men didn’t seem to understand the situation. As long as the girl had the earring, Leonardo couldn’t tell his men about the illegal immigrants. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed.
“You must’ve collapsed from the exhaustion of the long journey. We’ll camp here tonight.”
“Y-Yes, Your Highness.”
Claiming both of them had fainted at the same time was a little unbelievable, and they were clearly suspicious, but they couldn’t refute the words of the crown prince. Whatever Leonardo said would be the truth.
Leonardo recalled what the girl had said as she was leaving. With an expression too frank for someone evil, she’d claimed she would be empress.
That unmanageable girl is going to be my wife? No way. The country will totally fall apart the day she becomes empress, Leonardo thought. But he felt he didn’t have to worry too much. There was no way an impudent girl like that would be chosen as empress. Women from all over the country vied for the role of empress, but only one of them could fill it. The girl would be eliminated quickly if she didn’t have the right qualities. Besides, as crown prince, Leonardo himself would be participating in the selection. He wouldn’t vote for her even in the worst-case scenario.
In any case, I have to track down that girl and get my crest back. What a hassle, Leonardo thought. But for some reason, Leonardo couldn’t get her earnest gaze when she said she was going to be empress out of his mind.