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Letters? Diplomatic ambassador?
Renato pondered over Maximo’s words and exclaimed ‘Ah’ in a small voice. Only then did Renato realize Maximo had blocked all contact from Khalid to him.
It wasn’t that Khalid didn’t contact him. The man still tried to keep his promise to him. Maximo just interrupted.
‘I will definitely come back. Even if I can’t come back, I’ll keep my promise somehow…… So please hold on a little longer.’
Two years ago, Khalid repeated those words several times before leaving the palace. This marriage proposal must have been the way Khalid chose to keep his promise.
He didn’t forget. Either me, or the promise.
In an instant, there was a quiet stir in Renato’s heart. As if wetting a dry land, various emotions that started from his chest formed a wave and spread throughout his entire body.
As his cold body warmed up like the ground frozen during winter now melted in the warm spring sun, his pale face similar to a withered flower became lively after a long time. The red corners of his eyes, pressed down by the tears falling out every day, were slightly bent, and his white, chapped lips faintly curled up.
“What, you……”
Maximo blankly looked at Renato who was smiling after a very long time. His vision was completely engrossed in the faint smile that seemed to crumble at any moment.
Renato was always trembling with fear whenever he saw Maximo, and just stared at everything with resigned eyes or cried all the time for the past few months. But now, he smiled so happily when hearing that Khalid sent a marriage proposal?
In an instant, his stomach heated up as if on fire, and his vision turned red. Seized with jealousy, Maximo twisted Renato’s shoulder and flung him away.
“Why…… Just why the hell?!”
“Agh!”
Renato fell to the floor and groaned. His smile was gone, and the only thing left on his face was fear. When Maximo saw that, he was choked up with irritation. Maximo grabbed Renato by the collar and shook him.
“You are a Beta! That bastard is an Alpha! Just why?! Damn it!”
“Huff…… Ugh.”
“You are mine! Mine! Rather than losing you to that bastard…… Right, why don’t I just take you?”
Maximo’s movements abruptly stopped. He looked down at Renato squirming in pain with an enlightened face. Until now, Maximo had not thought of Renato that way. To be exact, he struggled to turn away from that desire. Instead, he resolved it with violence toward Renato. It was because of his deep-rooted ideas ever since he was a child.
Alpha and Beta couldn’t be together, especially for a person who needed to rise to the top.
It was the shackle that had bound Maximo for over 20 years. From a young age, when his mother told him that a Beta like Renato could not be his companion, Maximo had been placed under a terrible curse.
So every time he saw Renato, he found fault with him. Renato was the reason why he suffered this much. It was because Renato was a Beta.
But he was now the Emperor of the Empire. Not long ago, the Empress, a dominant Omega, was also brought in. He was liberated from the troublesome successor problem when the Empress became pregnant. So it didn’t matter if he took Renato.
In addition, both Marquis Medus who interfered in every detail, and the stupid and arrogant Blanche died at his own hands. His mother, who said Alphas and Betas couldn’t be together, had already passed away. Currently, no one could stop him from doing anything.
How come he didn’t realize this until now?
Maximo looked at Renato with ecstatic eyes. He moved his hand that was holding Renato by the collar to clasp the slender chin.
Renato, who just groaned in pain, trembled because of the hand covering his face. Maximo’s face filled his blurry vision. For some reason, the distance between the two was too close. The purple eyes, darker than usual, were filled with clear desire. Unmistakably different from before.
“I, I hate it!”
“Ugh!”
Enveloped in an instinctive rejection, Renato pushed Maximo away with all his might. Maximo lost his balance, stumbled, and bumped his back against the bedpost. Taking advantage of that, Renato crawled on the floor. He wanted to run away, but his legs which had lost strength couldn’t support his body.
“Where are you running?!”
“Let go of me, I hate that! I said I hated that!”
Renato’s ankle was quickly caught by Maximo, but he struggled to get away. He didn’t just helplessly accept the violence as if resigned to everything like usual. Maximo sneered when seeing Renato screaming in rebellion against him.
“Hate? Me?”
But you smiled when hearing Khalid propose to you. Sparks flashed in Maximo’s eyes. Enraged, he kicked Renato. Renato, who was struck at his side, gasped and crouched down. Maximo hit Renato who was groaning in pain once more.
“That jerk can, so why can’t I?!”
“Agh! Huu, ugh……”
“Do you think that bastard will come and take you away? Rather than letting it happen……”
I will kill you. Killing intent appeared on his hideously distorted face. Maximo, whose reason was clouded by uncontrollable anger, pulled the sword from his waist. It was an ornamental sword to show the Emperor’s authority, but it was enough to kill people.
“Die!”
Maximo raised his sword and stabbed the fallen Renato. The sharp tip of his sword was precisely aimed at his heart. However, Maximo’s sword could not penetrate Renato and was stopped as if blocked by something.
Shatter.
A sound of glass breaking rang out, and a white light flashed from Renato’s chest. At the same time, a gust of wind blew in the room. Maximo’s body, caught up in the sudden wind, floated, crashed onto the bedside table, then fell. The window, unable to withstand the strong wind, shattered with a loud noise, and the door burst open.
“Your Majesty! Are you okay?”
“Your Imperial Highness!”
The imperial knights and Luna, who were waiting outside, sensed the disturbance and rushed inside. After quickly grasping the situation, Luna took the sword from the knight next to her and immediately stabbed him. The attacked knight collapsed, incapable of defending himself. After knocking down another knight rushing at her, she ran to Renato.
“Can you get up?”
“Lu, Luna……”
Luna, who was trying to help Renato, clenched her teeth when hearing the footsteps of several people running into the bedroom. Please wait a bit, Luna said to Renato and stopped the knights from entering the bedroom.
“Ugh, you, fuck, what did you just do?!”
While the knights and Luna were fighting, Maximo came to his senses and violently dashed toward Renato. Perhaps injured because of the fall, blood was dripping from the corners of the man’s horribly torn eyes. Renato hurriedly moved his body, but he couldn’t dodge it completely.
Stab.
In an instant, the sword dug into his left waist and cut his flesh, making his internal organs throb. Cough, blood gushed out of Renato’s mouth. Blood also dripped down from his waist stabbed by Maximo’s sword.
Drip, drip. Drops of blood trickling down from the sword fell onto the pocket watch rolling on the floor, shattered with the attack a while ago. At that moment, the watch flashed again. Unlike before, it was a red light.
“What? F, fire?”
“Agh!”
The light from the watch soon turned into a raging fire that struck Maximo and the imperial knights. Engulfed in an outrageous flame, Maximo and the knights were thrown into chaos.
“Ah, ugh.”
Renato, lying on the floor and clutching his left waist, gasped for breath and gripped the broken watch in his hand.
“Your Imperial Highness, please get up.”
Realizing that this was the last chance to escape, Luna rushed to help Renato. She was as wounded as Renato. The two, relying on each other, managed to escape the palace covered in blackish-red fire.
“Your Imperial Highness, I will buy time. In the meantime, please take Snow and run away. As far as possible. Do you understand?”
Luna settled Renato on her horse and earnestly asked. Renato desperately grabbed Luna’s hand, who was trying to send him away.
“Luna, you too……”
“No, I can’t go.”
“W, why?”
“Because I have to buy time for you to run away, Your Imperial Highness.”
After replying without hesitation, Luna held Renato’s hand and made eye contact with him.
“Renato-nim, please remember one thing. I have never regretted serving you, Your Imperial Highness. Maybe Louis was the same too.”
“No, go with me. Luna, I beg of you.”
“So please don’t feel sorry for us. Rather, the one apologizing should be me. My title is your guard knight, but…… I have never protected you properly, Your Imperial Highness.”
“No, it’s not like that. You always protected me. If it weren’t for you two, I would have, hic.”
“Our gentle Prince-nim, I will protect you this time.”
“Luna, Lunaa……”
“Please live, Your Imperial Highness. You must survive.”
After finishing her words, Luna signaled Snow to start running. She then turned around and ran back into the palace. That was the last time Renato saw her.
* * *
“Uh, agh…… Cough, hu, ah, it hurts, so hot…… ugh.”
Khalid frowned as he looked down at Renato, who was grabbing his scar and groaning painfully. From some point on, Renato was only groaning in pain.
“Is this really okay?”
Khalid raised his head and looked at Souad, thinking that it shouldn’t be continued anymore. At that moment, Renato screamed and struggled all over.
“N, no, Luna. You, too, agh! No, I beg of you, hic.”
“I don’t think we should continue anymore. His Imperial Highness seems to have almost encountered the memory of that incident, so I will end it here for today.”
When Renato’s seizures became worse, Souad hurriedly took out sedatives. It would be better to look into the memories a little more, but Renato was already at his limit.
“Your Imperial Highness, can you hear me? It’s over, you don’t have to think about it anymore.”
“Ugh, n, no, ah, please, ugh……”
“It’s okay, it’s not real, so please calm down.”
Khalid soothed Renato who was sobbing and put the sedative bottle near his mouth. However, Renato was unable to swallow the medicine and spat it back out.
“Cough!”
Khalid clicked his tongue when seeing the medicine dripping out of Renato’s mouth accompanied by a hoarse cough. Without hesitation, Khalid poured the remaining sedative into his mouth. Then, his lips touched Renato’s lips.