What Your Majesty Desires - Chapter 4.4

Knowing full well Jerome knew his situation that he was barely clinging to life, his body ready to give out at any moment, why was Jerome so eager to make him do it?

“You used to say it was unthinkable for me to marry a woman of unknown origin, but secretly summoning her to my bed at night is apparently acceptable?”

“Marriage and this are different matters.”

“How so?”

“Marriage is an official event of the empire, and this is…”

This is?

Apparently, this was within the bounds Jerome could tolerate because it was a very unofficial event.

“I found it suspicious that a woman was alone in a remote stone tower, and after learning she was a princess, I simply saw her a few times. It’s not what you think.”

“Your Highness.”

“If you’ve tested the waters enough, why don’t you leave now?”

“…”

He spoke definitively.

But Jerome didn’t move.

He just wished Jerome would do as he was told without thinking.

“Did you know?”

“…”

“There are more men than women in prison.”

“…”

Jerome had too many thoughts to be a subordinate.

Other thoughts.

“Wouldn’t it be dangerous if a princess were mixed in with them?”

It wouldn’t be easy to be so audacious in front of the prince.

He must be acting this way because he thought Hernis cared for him.

“Are you really going to leave the princess there tonight?”

He was confused.

Was it loyalty or just stubbornness that he possessed?

“Your Highness.”

“…”

When he didn’t respond and left him be, Jerome let out a soft breath.

It wasn’t that he seemed uninterested in Marilyn, but he was apparently very curious about Hernis’s true intentions, as he still didn’t tell him to bring her.

“Understood.”

Had he finally given up?

Hernis also turned his head in relief at Jerome’s slight nod.

Almost. Almost.

“I dared to speak out because I thought it would be safer for the princess to be with Your Highness, but if you don’t care, I won’t worry about it anymore either.”

He wouldn’t care anymore what happened to the princess overnight.

The atmosphere was threatening.

Perhaps it was an ultimatum.

“Jerome.”

Hernis reluctantly stopped Jerome, who was about to turn away.

“You didn’t put the princess in with the male prisoners, did you?”

He wasn’t getting involved.

Just checking.

He was just asking to confirm.

“I don’t think Curtis would have done that, but shall I check?”

As expected, Jerome immediately turned around with a brightened expression at Hernis’s question.

He was a two-faced bastard.

Before coming to this room, he had vehemently opposed when he said he would consider a political marriage with her, but now that it was night, he was telling him to bring her and keep her warm.

He didn’t like her as a marriage partner for the Gler Empire, but it was okay for him to play with her without a commitment, was that it?

“Isn’t it a bit, messy to mix male and female prisoners in one place?”

Hernis stared at Jerome with a frown.

“Surely you wouldn’t arbitrarily detain prisoners who need to be in court tomorrow like that, would you?”

“I don’t think so, but since Your Highness is worried, I’ll go and personally escort the princess.”

“I mean take care of the soldiers, not the princess.”

It was Jerome who had initially raised questions about the princess’s safety.

Prisons were usually full of men, and unless the space was separated, it was difficult for the weak to protect themselves there.

Especially women.

The safety of prisoners was either guaranteed or jeopardized depending on the actions of the guards, and if they were unlucky, they could suffer the worst at the hands of those guards.

So, instead of talking about how dangerous it would be to leave the princess there tonight, or how she wouldn’t be safe unless Hernis brought her up, it would be more in line with his duty to properly control the soldiers there.

Did he really want him to say this?

Staring intently at Jerome’s face with displeased eyes, Jerome, who had been pretending not to understand, finally gave up.

“You are absolutely right. I was worried that the soldiers’ service might become lax because the occupation of the castle was so easy. I will personally inspect them tonight to ensure that the soldiers’ discipline does not become lax in a foreign country.”

He should have done that from the start.

Before ruining someone’s mood with unnecessary words.

“If you’re done, get out.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

There was no point in talking any further, he would only earn Hernis’s glare.

“Then, rest well.”

Jerome bowed politely and left the bedroom without delay.

He wouldn’t leave even when he told him to earlier, but now he seemed very busy leaving.

Inspecting the prison to prevent any unsavory incidents from happening overnight was a natural order that a superior could give, but Jerome seemed to have understood that he was only talking about the princess.

He really wasn’t interested in her.

‘He doesn’t believe me.’

He clearly didn’t believe him.

After Jerome left, he sent all the royal guards who were guarding the bedroom out of the room.

And alone, he went to the mirror in the room and slowly took off his top.

The pain had been so severe today that he had tried to look at it alone first, but looking in the mirror, he seemed to know why it hurt so much.

Bright red blood was clearly seeping through the bandages wrapped around his chest.

There were days like this and days like that, so he could have just brushed it off as, ‘There’s a lot of blood today.’ But for some reason, feeling uneasy, Hernis slowly unwrapped the bandages while looking in the mirror.

And after unwrapping them all, as expected.

Pieces of linen soaked with blood were clinging like a part of him between the newly formed skin on the left side of his heart.

It was a wonder that the blood hadn’t stained his outer garment.

If he called Jerome or the other guards, they would make a fuss about having to go into surgery immediately.

Hernis clenched his teeth and steadied his breath, placing the tip of the tweezers on one corner of the linen.

Why did something like this make him hesitate so much?

“Ugh.”

He wished he could get used to this pain.

But it was impossible to tear off the pieces of linen buried in his skin without pain.

As he grabbed one layer and tore it off, blood poured down like rain from the spots where new flesh was torn off along with the cloth.

This much was nothing.

He picked up the bandages he had taken off earlier and roughly wiped the blood flowing from his chest, then removed all the pieces of cloth that had been placed on the left side of his chest.

Then, his appearance in the mirror.

The shape of a thick tree trunk, embedded in the center of his heart as if it were its home, was reflected in the mirror without filtering.

Whenever he saw it, it was a gruesome sight.

[Nanny, Nanny! A young man is hurt here! He has a tree stuck in his chest. What, what do we do!]

It was already 13 years ago.

Ten-year-old Hernis, who had come hunting with his brother, was chased by the suddenly changed party and fell off a cliff.

He hadn’t died instantly, so he thought he had avoided a fatal injury.

But only after seeing the surprised face of a girl who had run over after hearing the sound did, he realize that he was holding a tree in his chest.

[Are you okay?]

A tree trunk, complete with verdant leaves, was stuck in his chest, and judging by the shape of the leaves, what he had obtained while falling was, of all things, a palm tree trunk, the symbol of the Dextin Empire.

He had crossed the border while fleeing from Kaulus.

[There’s too much blood. I’m going to die like this.]

The girl urgently placed her hands on his chest to stop the gushing blood.

The child’s fern-like hands were quickly stained red.

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