Chapter 52

The carriage continued to run like nothing had happened.

“Where do you intend to bring me?”

Only the man in red and I were inside the carriage. I calmly glared at the man in red sitting opposite of me.

“Where do you think it’ll be?” The man in red answered gleefully, I was so annoyed.

“The labour camp in the North…” I blurted that out unconsciously; what was my head thinking?

The BL game had ended, while I was free from being convicted and escaped the fate of being sent to the labour camp. I honestly thought so. But when I tried to guess where I would be transported to, I could only think of that place.

“No, I don’t wanna go to a place that takes ten days to arrive. Why do you wanna go there?”

“No, I don’t.”

I directed my grumpy face the other way, and the man in red watched me as he giggled.

“Didn’t you think that I would be bring you to a more terrible place”

“Terrible place?”

“Yes, like brothels.”

“I’m a guy, they can’t make money out of me.”

“No-no-no. Young master, there’s no one as cute as you, so many people would buy you.”

“Hmmn.”

“Ow? Seems like you’re not that worried.”

The man raised a brow when I didn’t respond to his threats.

“You’re not doing something like that, are you? You purposely went to all the trouble to come ‘save’ me after all.”

“…..” The man in red looked at me in surprise.

If I were a hindrance, rather than kidnapping me, the other party would just kill me off. And to cause a disturbance while still inside the royal capital, the risks were too high for that. Moreover, the reason why they made a disturbance was because there was a need for them to kidnap me before I reached the House of Arginia. The kidnapping was essential in saving me.

That was to protect me from the bigwig of the Second Prince’s faction who wanted to render me dead. In order to not hand me to evil clutches of that bigwig—Rudolf Arginia—who would not hesitate to exterminate me. To save me from my biological father.

Once my engagement to Al was annulled, there was no reason for me to stay at the Royal Palace. I had no choice but to return to the House of Arginia. However, if I return now, my father would take this advantage to throw me out of his sight or simply kill me off. It was because, as long as I lived, Al would seek after me. To my father, I was someone who couldn’t be allowed to live.

Surely, he would not think twice about killing me. Precisely because of that, there was a need to obstruct my returning home. And then, by kidnapping me and making my whereabouts unknown; this was the best means to mislead my father.

Up till then, I led a carefree life under others’ protection, but I was advised by Princess Consort Jane that it was vital for me to know by whom and how I was protected and who were my adversaries. Since then, I made my own efforts to ascertain who were my friends and my foes.

Therefore, this man in red was not my enemy. Not exactly this man in red, it was more appropriate to refer to the one behind him who pulled the strings.

When I went to visit Jil and the others, I heard they suffered from heavy injuries, yet they were hale and hearty. They were still warded but they were already nearly recovered. Only a week had passed, could someone with heavy injuries recover that quickly? Afterwards, I also heard that the knight who was in a critical condition was soon discharged to recuperate at home.

Despite being attacked by such a large number of thugs, the damages were so light. It was as if they had barged in while restraining the damage they incurred.

Well, I probably was sent out as a bait to vanquish that Grand Duke party. It seemed like they intentionally led Louie’s bodyguard to move according to their wish, and Al’s arrival must have also been timed. In short, I was a safe hostage. For the kidnapping this time as well, I bet the knights who escorted my trip home to the Duke residence should not suffer bad injuries.

My father must’ve utilised the man in red and his group to vanquish the Grand Duke and also to eliminate me in passing. However, the man in red actually served another person—someone even higher than my father. It’s unknown how my father could get in contact with the man in red, but he probably didn’t realize about the one behind the latter. He didn’t even realize that he was only dancing to someone else’s tune.

*thunk* The horse carriage stopped with a slight vibration. It hadn’t even been an hour since the man in red joined the ride. I suppose this carriage didn’t directly travel to the destination so as to avoid being tracked. The windows were covered so I couldn’t discern where the horse carriage had traveled. But distance-wise, it should be inside the royal capital, or somewhere nearby.

“Please alight from the carriage. Or do you need to be escorted?”

“I’m not a lady, no need.”

I ignored the teasing tone of the man in red and placed my hand on the door. When I was about to leave the carriage at once, I swiveled my head to the back and glanced at the man in red,

“Please relay my thanks to Uncle1.”

The man in red popped out his eyes at my words, but immediately he grinned and nodded.

He confirmed that I had alighted from the horse carriage, as he remained on the horse carriage and rode it away. He took all the effort to kidnap me, yet I was dismissed so easily.

My mother was a cousin to the King. My grandmother was the little sister to the previous King from a different mother. My grandmother was the sixth princess and the daughter to someone of a low status who couldn’t even rise to be a concubine, so my grandmother did not even qualify to be used in political marriage; she ended up marrying someone out of love into the house of a Viscount. From that marriage, my mother was born.

A Viscount normally would have nearly no connection to the royal family, yet the current King, who at the time was still the Crown Prince, heavily doted on his cousin—my mother. The Crown Prince already had a fiancée then, but since she was his cousin, there was no problem greeting her into the Inner Palace.

However, his feelings towards her was not a romantic one; it was more like towards a beloved cute pet, so their relationship didn’t develop into lovers. Or perhaps, he didn’t have the heart to let his cousin who grew up free and unfettered in the house of a Viscount to enter the Inner Palace which was full of struggles and worries. Even now, for His Majesty, my mother was still his cousin who was the subject of his heavy pampering.

My appearance was very similar to my mother’s that it was said I was made by her alone. If you were to find any difference between us, I was called a pomeranian dog by Al, while my mother was a poodle to the King. The cute tiny one that can even fit into a cup. It’s a mystery how both of us were regarded as cute dogs by them. Of course, His Majesty also doted on me as much.

When I was poisoned and could no longer be an heir, he even intended to let the Viscount family where my mom was from to take me as their adopted son. If I stayed in that Duke house, regardless of my engagement with Al, it was unknown how my father would treat me. His Majesty also mentioned he would offer a title to me by cooking up whatever reason he could once I come-of-age and be independent.

Because Al wished to be engaged to me, I remained as the son of the Duke but stayed in the Royal Palace to learn good manners—this was an act of consideration by the King himself.

When I became Al’s fiance, the old codgers in the Second Prince’s faction sighed in secret. They lamented how loving cute things runs in the blood. It would be impossible to stop Al, so many of them in the Second Prince’s faction like the Prime Minister—Jade’s father—accepted me. Only my father was stubborn in eliminating me.

To His Majesty, this bigwig was a good pawn. The latter must’ve not realized how they were plainly made use of in removing the Grand Duke who was being a nuisance to the royal family. That bigwig should assume that after instigating Lucrecia to commit that crime, the responsibility would be held by the Grand Duke behind her, hence dragging the Grand Duke out of the political scene in one fell swoop, but never would they imagine that if the plan with Lucrecia were to fall through, the King would simply cut them off. The bigwig and Lucrecia were both ingeniously manipulated by His Majesty.

I had no sympathy for them though.

As for Al, he inevitably could not go against my father in aggressive ways. That was my biological father after all. I told Al that he didn’t have to bother about that, yet he intended to let my shitty father back away in peaceful terms. Just for my sake. No matter how I said it to him, Al would be prudent when it came to me. Honestly, I had zero attachment towards that shitty father of mine…

I focused my gaze towards a detached house in front of me. It was not that big, but it was elegant and luxurious. From the man in red’s attitude, I could faintly sense that this was the destination he meant to send me to.

The noise from the horse carriage led a house steward to come out of the house; his eyes widened as she saw me. Then, with a full smile, he lowered his head as he greeted me,

“Welcome home.”

With the steward’s greeting, I entered the open door. At the same time, I replied,

“I’m home.”