I Wasn't Trying to Seduce with the Male Lead - Episode 77

“Even I get a bit shy when you stare at my lower half like that,” Sky said to the stiffened Zenith in a jocular tone.

“If you wanted to see me naked, there are more gentle ways.”

“I was just taking responsibility for the mess I made and cleaning it up.”

Zenith’s indignant question was directed at the composed Sky. “Did you enter a contract of servitude just to make the princess believe you and enter a love contract with you?”

“Yes. And the plan succeeded. Lian Calabria is free from the contract, and she has been released. That was what I wanted, so let’s drop the lecture.”

Then, Sky nonchalantly took off his robe and stepped into the bathtub.

Even with Sky’s attitude of ending the conversation, Zenith didn’t back down.

“If your feelings for that woman were so genuine, why didn’t you just let Lian Calabria die from the contract? That would have been a much more fitting and rational method for you!”

“I couldn’t have rescued her from the underground without his power,” Sky stated firmly.

After escaping from the beast and groaning in pain from his injuries, he had considered countless ways to save Eleanor. This was the method that gave her the highest chance of survival.

“This isn’t a matter of love; it’s a matter of pride. I can’t accept a miscalculation. Putting things back in their proper place, no matter what. That’s what’s true to me.”

He had his back to Zenith, but Sky knew what kind of reaction his words would elicit.

The surface of the water glowed red from the scented oil. ” Lian Calabria and the imperial family, now free from their contract, will face each other, and one will be destroyed. I hope they both suffer devastating damage.”

While Sky was lost in these self-serving thoughts, Zenith’s accusations continued.

“Do you care at all about the future of the Phaedra Dukedom, which hangs on you alone?”

“The Dukedom will do just fine without me. You know that well.”

He answered carelessly, then paused slightly.

Zenith’s sharp eyes twitched around the edges.

He felt sorry for the shock he had caused, but since he meant what he said, Sky didn’t take back his words.

“No matter what happens, someone will appear to fill the void in the Phaedra Dukedom without a hitch. My father is still young and vibrant, so a younger sibling might be born right away.”

He had no intention of letting that happen, but after hearing Sky’s words, Zenith, who had been sitting, stood up.

“Were you the kind of person to say such a powerless thing?”

“I was just considering the worst-case scenario because you’re so anxious. I was saying it wouldn’t be so bad.”

“Not so bad?” Zenith asked, looking down at Sky with a rigid face.

“What if your prediction is wrong and you end up subservient to the princess, a mere puppet who rules the Dukedom as she pleases? Can you guarantee that will never happen?”

It seemed his intention was to rub salt in Sky’s wounds by presenting a miserable reality, but Sky didn’t even blink.

“If that happens, you can dispose of me.”

At this concise conclusion, Zenith shook his head as if in a convulsion.

“I can’t do that.”

“Why not? It shouldn’t be difficult for you since your power is far superior to mine.”

“You know that’s not the issue, don’t you?”

“The Phaedra Dukedom is what’s important, isn’t it? There’s no need to be swayed by emotions. Anyway, by then, you won’t recognize someone like me as your master.”

Zenith’s expression, which was already not good, now looked completely betrayed.

He clenched his trembling lips, then grabbed Sky by the shoulder and turned him around.

He lifted Sky’s chin to face him and spoke with an impassioned tone. “Listen closely. What you did was just foolishness, not pride or anything. You were just so deeply infatuated with that woman that you were afraid she might die, and your reason was paralyzed. To sacrifice yourself, knowing she would never be yours this way!”

The doubts that Zenith had been harboring poured out in a torrent of words at Sky.

“And what was that crude act at the end? You weren’t really trying to rape her at the Count’s mansion, were you? You just wanted her to resent and hate you so she wouldn’t feel any guilt or sorrow later, didn’t you?”

Sky just looked at Zenith with his sea-colored eyes without saying a word.

Zenith paused for a moment before asking again.

“You said I wouldn’t feel you as my master by then?”

As if it wasn’t a question seeking an answer, Zenith continued before Sky could say anything.

“I don’t feel you as my master even now. The person I know wouldn’t make such an irrational judgment.”

Sky tilted his chin up slightly and asked calmly, “Then do you want to leave my side?”

“…I don’t want to follow you right now.”

Zenith, who said he didn’t want to follow, looked much sadder than Sky, who was left behind.

“I’ll go and clear my head.”

With that, Zenit turned and began to walk away.

Sky rested his arms on the edge of the tub, watching Zenith’s retreating back.

He didn’t feel anxious that Zenith wouldn’t return, but he couldn’t help the bitter taste in his mouth.

He slowly turned back and chewed on the words Zenith had left him with.

‘So infatuated that my reason was paralyzed and I was afraid… Me?’

He admitted he had a crush on Eleanor, but he didn’t think he was that deeply infatuated.

His thoughts hadn’t changed, but after hearing his sharp-witted subordinate’s words, he found some truth in them.

‘Swayed by emotions. It doesn’t suit me at all.’

Sky sighed and slowly submerged himself deeper into the water.

When his whole head was under, it felt as if his thoughts were being washed away.

He held his breath and began to swim in a deep sea of thought.

“Calling a meeting of the Troy Council? Has His Majesty gone mad?”

Minaz frowned at Claude’s rough remark, but he didn’t deny it.

Anyone who knew the former emperor would find the current situation difficult to understand.

“He’s gathering those old men to push us aside? He’s really taking the situation to a ridiculous extreme.”

Minaz, expressing his frustrated feelings, slammed the report with the news down.

“This is just a marriage issue. Aside from that, Lian is reasonable. He risked his life to fight the Hakmersia and now, right after he returns, they want to kill a hero? He’s completely insane. I can’t understand it.”

“It seems our collective defiance came as a shock to His Majesty.”

“It’s strange that he didn’t politically check the union of the princess and the grand duke from the beginning. We’re perfectly normal and have a legitimate cause.”

As Minaz said, this was a situation that had been repeated countless times in history.

They had stepped in using the past as a guide. But this time, it didn’t seem to be proceeding so rationally.

Show your power, pretend to be conciliatory, offer some appropriate concessions, and end it gracefully. A civil war? This is the worst possible move. Not just for us, but a self-destructive move for the imperial family as well.

“He must have lost his reason and is not listening to anyone around him.”

“That must be it. There’s probably no one sane left by his side to stop him now. On the contrary, they’re likely egging him on.”

Her words were proven true not long after.

The two of them received and checked the list of Troy Council attendees through an external route and sighed.

“Pritchard and Ricardo… And the rest are all people who would sell their souls to become a duke.”

Just reading the first few names made Minaz feel sick.

Lowen raised an eyebrow and asked, “This isn’t the situation you hoped for, is it?”

Minaz shook her head and spoke her mind freely and without reserve.

“I thought it would be a failure if the marriage succeeded, but advantageous if it was called off. It would be easier for the count to break up with the Calabria family if he had our support. I planned to adjust the conditions offered by both sides and take some of the crumbs that fell my way.”

Claude gave a wry smile at her very frank true intentions.

Minaz asked again, “What about you? You’re not going to say you joined me without a thought just because I asked, are you?”

“No. My intentions are similar to yours.”

The two, who had only ever grumbled at each other, now exchanged their true feelings and shrugged slightly at each other.

“Well, since it’s come to this, we have no choice but to fully side with the Count of Calabria.”

“We were already pretty much on his side anyway.”

Their loyalty to the imperial family had been severed since they were confined to the dukedom.

After a moment of silence, Claude scratched his cheek and said, “The things we’re talking about right now are treason against the empire. It’s a bit alarming how calmly and indifferently we’re deciding this.”

“It doesn’t feel like treason because we don’t feel that way. The emperor we should serve hasn’t changed.”

They had grown up believing that the next emperor would be the Count of Calabria.

“I’ve been telling you this. The Count of Calabria will be a just emperor.”

Minaz interrupted Claude’s somewhat boastful words. “Why don’t you embroider that on your shirt? I’m sure the next emperor will favor you.”

“Fine. I’ll give you one too. You can wear it.”

“Oh? You’ve got quite the comeback.”

Minaz patted Claude on the back, then stepped back.

“Alright, it’s time to use the duchess’s hawk again. Let’s contact the Count of Calabria’s mansion first, and we’ll act after that.”

Because the imperial guard’s blockade had become stronger, if the Duchess of Floyd hadn’t told them how to call the northern hawk, they would have been completely cut off from the outside world.

“It would be better to discuss this in person. I’m worried if it will be delivered properly.”

“I know. It’s questionable whether that womanizer will have time to reply to our letter since he’s busy digging into his long-lost lover.”

They had heard the news that Eleanor had been successfully rescued from the Duchess of Floyd.

Claude’s face turned red at Minaz’s joke.

“What are you imagining? What are you imagining?”

It was a serious situation, but at least there was some small fun in teasing Claude.

Chuckling, Minaz welcomed the pitch-black hawk into the room.

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