Chapter 80

“Hoo, how is your body? You look better.”

Limapehus’s eyes shone strangely. It was like his gaze filled with suspicion. Ben stretched his stiff back in tension. His hands have been wet because he is afraid that Limapheus will find out he is not Alexdemikan.

‘I can’t get caught now that I’m not the real Alexdemikan. It’s not the time yet.’

Fortunately, the Crown Prince didn’t show any words or actions. He didn’t seem to notice it. Who could possibly have guessed this marvelous plan? Even the Emperor was deceived.

“Your Highness, I have something to tell you.”

“What do you want to say?”

“I can’t tell you right now. With all due respect, please come to Garsen at 1 am in two days later.”

“Are you ordering me to come there now?”

At the absurd remark, Limapheus’s eyes went up with a frown.

“Your Highness, it’s not like that. I ask you to think of the Empire and take a step forward. I will tell you everything then. If it is insignificant, I will give my life on the spot.”

The frowned expression on Limapheus’s face softened with Ben’s unwavering eyes.

“Since you’re telling me this secretly, is it something Your Majesty should not know?”

“Your highness, please kindly cooperate.”

Ben couldn’t speak for a long time, so he politely said goodbye and left the place quickly. Since there are a lot of eyes and ears of the Grand Duke, long conversations with Limapheus will raise suspicion. Now all Ben could do was hope that Limapheus would come to the promised place two days later.

* * *

“If you bring me all the way here and it’s not a big deal, you will pay a huge price.”

Limpheus appeared through the darkness. Ben, who was waiting alone in Garsen estate, was greatly relieved to see him.

“Greetings to the Crown Prince.”

“If you do nonsense, my hidden knights will not let you go.”

Limapheus approached, thoroughly examining the figure of Ben not wielding a sword.

“All right, what kind of story do you want to tell to bring me all the way here?”

Ben confessed everything about the rebellion planned by the Grand Duke. The Grand Duke secretly gathered his forces and grew the size of the rebels. There is also a plan to invade the Imperial Palace. Hearing all the stories, Limapheus’s complexion turned pale.

“Is that true?”

“It’s true.”

“How could uncle be like that…”

The Emperor especially cared for his only younger brother, Grand Duke Kantrid. It was to the extent that he turned blind eyes to the growing power of his brother after granting him the title of Grand Duke.

“How dare he on His Majesty’s back.”

Limapheus can’t believe that his uncle has hidden the knife. He ground his teeth and glared at Ben with his cold eyes.

“Aren’t you in the same team!”

“Your Highness, I have a different purpose with the Grand Duke. If you do me a favor, I will give you conclusive evidence.”

“How can I believe what you say? Aren’t you the same blood with the Grand Duke?”

“That’s right, I’m sharing the same blood with him, but I’m not Alexdemikan Shorevarce.”

Limapheues stared at Ben with an expression of what nonsense this was.

“I’m the illegitimate child of the Grand Duke. The Grand Duke, who decided that the sickly Alexdemikan could not be of any help to the rebellion, came to see me three years ago and dragged me into the Grand Duchy as soon as the Grand Duchess died.”

Ben told the story of what had happened to make the Crown Prince believe in him. He began by saying that he was Alexdemikan’s replacement, what he’s been up to for three years underground, and how he feels for the Grand Duke.

“What is this…”

Limapheus made a surprised face. It was because Ben took off his clothes and showed his back. Under the dim moonlight, a wound of unimaginable pain was drawn on his back.

“Your Highness, I know where the Grand Duke established the rebel base.”

Ben adjusted his shirt, adding that the Grand Duke did it to tame him.

“Where is it?”

“Right now, it’s negligible. You have to wait for the right time to be sure to uproot the roots. I will stand by your side. So please do me a favor.”

It was a proposal for a deal. Limapheus burst into laughter at Ben’s bold proposal, no matter how illegitimate he was to be the traitor’s son.

“Okay, I’ll listen to it.”

“Give me the title of the Grand Duke.”

“You want to maintain your family, the key pillar of the rebellion?”

“It doesn’t matter if you take away all of Shorevarce’s authority. It’s okay even if you give the authority as a fake. Just give me the title of Grand Duke.”

“You need at least the shell. Your reason?”

“There will be no harm to Your Highness and the Imperial family. I swear to myself.”

Ben needed the title, even if it was only a shell. Even the toothless tiger is still a tiger. It was the same with the title of the Grand Duke. It can be the power to protect even one person.

“In any case, if my actions lead to wrong results.”

Ben doesn’t have to be threatened by anyone under the pretext of Cersinia’s life.

“Take my life.”

The power to protect Cersinia with his own hands. Ben needed it.

* * *

“A few months later, with the help of Your Excellency, the Crown Prince raided the rebel base and was able to make a sweeping blow before the rebellion broke out.”

Archen ended the story with a calm face. Cersinia, who heard everything, felt her blood getting cold.

‘I thought Ben would have lived well…’

Her eyes were reddened by the unexpected, shocking story. To hold back her tears, she gripped the hem of her dress until her fingers turned pale. The dress was crumpled in her grasp.

“When the knights came to drag the former Grand Duke Kantrid in charge of treason, he was already dead.”

“…”

“Your Excellency was standing next to him.”

Archen, who had confessed everything based on the facts as much as possible, quietly stared out the window.

“It is not known in the public because the Emperor cared for his younger brother and buried that matter.”

It was such a long story that the sun in the middle of the sky was already setting.

“How could that happen…”

Cersinia’s watery voice was shaking. Ben’s past, written only in one line in the novel, was this painful. It’s something that no one knows about, and he can’t even spit it out for the rest of his life. Cersinia eventually collapsed. Because Ben is so pitiful that he has to live with someone else’s name instead of his own full name.

“I’m really sorry.”

Archen bowed deeply and apologized.

“I don’t even know about it…”

Ben disappeared without a word, and Cersinia resented him for not coming back. Some days, she poured out curses to him, some days she promised to give up and forgot about him, and on other days she just wanted him to live a good life. Time flies without him.

The corner of her heart was empty, but she had an ordinary day, and there were days when she laughed while staying with May. Occasionally, Cersinia spent the whole day without thinking about Ben. But Ben waited for the day when he could come to her from that dark basement. He endured that time to come to her side. His three years have been all about Cersinia.

“I need to meet him. I have to see him right now.”

Cersinia jumped up from her seat. Everything that she had been worried about so far was gone. After all, the fear of who she was, what she would do in the future, and the ending that she might not be able to escape from had all disappeared from her mind.

“If you go out now, you may not meet. So why don’t you wait in Your Excellency’s room?”

“Okay, I’ll get going now.”

Cersinia left the room and headed to Ben’s room. Her head was full of one thought.

‘I missed him. I wanted to meet him right away.’

Ben’s smiling face always looks at her, his big hands holding her hands carefully, and his friendly voice that calls her name are all there. Cersinia’s blurred vision caused her to be distracted. She took the wrong way over and over again, but she finally made it to his room.

She turned the doorknob and entered his room. There was no such thing as warmth in the quiet space. Cersinia slowly headed toward the bed.

Why Ben shudderingly hated the name Alexdemikan.

Why did Ben smile so happily when he was called Ben.

She just found out the reason.

‘If I hadn’t met you…’

Ben wouldn’t even have a real name, but just be called Alexdemikan. It made Cersinia’s heart ache. She sat across the bed with her body loose from her strength.

‘What should I say when I see you?’

‘No, can I say something?’

If she sees his face, she feels like she can’t even say a word. Cersinia bit her trembling lips and looked down. Then the less closed drawer next to the bed caught her eyes. Before thinking about anything, her hand opened the drawer first. In the empty drawer, only one bracelet was lying alone.

“Bracelet…”

She carefully lifted the bracelet and looked at it. It was the same bracelet as what they bought at the harvest festival, but it was different. The bracelet in her hand was woven with thread, but it looked old. The threads, not knowing what color they were, were entangled. Upon closer inspection, she saw the faint red and blue threads intertwined with each other.

“I think it would suit Cersinia well.”

At that time, while shopping in Mulain Village three years ago, what Ben said while looking at a bracelet made of red thread and blue thread came to her mind.

“Should I buy it?”

“What? N-No.”

“Why? You said it would suit me well.”

“L-Looking at it now, I don’t think it’s good.”

Ben told her not to buy it, but he boasted that he expected to receive a salary a few days later.

“No way…”

Cersinia’s eyes shook greatly.