The Princess's Double Life

“Why?”

“What do you mean why? Ha ha ha ha…”

Owen forced himself to laugh in an attempt to soothe his boiling stomach.

Owen Schwach. Rexid’s closest confidants, which consisted of six people including him, were a tremendously advanced workforce.

In other words, they were not ones to stick to the back of a lady and hang around, they used their heads.

“They’re busy, and you know I’m the best, right? Don’t worry, I’ll pick a few knights and place them in the castle, and I’ll even take care of Miss Rosica 24 hours a day personally.”

Owen held Rexid’s shoulder tightly and said, purposely not mentioning the escort.

Rosica, who was looking at the two alternately, called Rexid with a smile on her face.

“Take care of it, Your Highness!”

“What?”

“And can you give me a decent title, too?”

“What did you say?!”

It was Owen, not Rexid, who had answered in surprise.

“No, just listen. I’ll have to do a lot of things to make His Highness the Emperor, so I can’t keep playing in the shadows. I’ll have to come forward, but I need to have something that can back me up first.”

“What exactly are you going to do?”

“We can get to that later. We’re not claiming the title of some gangster, but the title of emperor. Won’t I need to come up with a good plan?”

Suspicious, suspicious.

Owen, determined to suspect Rosica for as long as she breathed, narrowed his eyes and slowly examined her expression.

She could’ve been thinking of cheating with that pretty face and innocent expression.

He just wished he knew.

Frustrated, Owen bit his lip and asked Rosica.

“I heard that you received the crown prince’s letter yesterday. May I ask how you plan to write it?”

“Haa, Butler. I’m going to get indigestion.”

“Yeah. Why are you so talkative today? Don’t bother me while I’m eating and deal with it later.”

Rexid had sided with Rosica in the end. Owen was furious, but still held a smiling face.

Seeing him like that, Rosica burst out laughing. He had an ugly expression.

“If you’re really curious, will you come up to my room later?”

Rosica said as she glanced Owen up and down.

For some reason, Owen was a little annoyed at her blatant gaze that seemed to appreciate his figure, but he nodded his head, saying yes.

They hired her for a large sum of money, so he couldn’t let it go to waste. So, they couldn’t be scammed like pushovers.

Owen firmly vowed to do it if Rexid couldn’t.

***

“Miss Rosica, I would like to tell you that if the contract is strictly adhered to, you’ll be good, I’ll be good, and His Highness will be good. It’ll be a way for everyone to be happy.”

As soon as she had finished her meal, Owen, who had followed Rosica to her room, spoke first.

He meant to work quickly, and not to play or cheat.

Rosica hummed calmly, nodded, then sat on the bed.

Flick.

Her index finger gestured him to come closer, and her sitting pose with her legs crossed was surprisingly arrogant.

‘Did you get offended by yesterday’s knife incident? Or are you doing this for a reason? What is it?’

Owen was furious again, but continued to smile and walked over to Rosica.

‘It’s a butler’s duty. Let’s not lose the duties of a kind butler.’

–while repeating that to himself.

“Hmm…”

She began to scan Owen’s body up and down, as if judging.

It was exactly the same as the unpleasant gaze in the dining room.

“So you said you were an assassin?”

“Yes.”

“You’re quick and smart. I can tell after talking to you. Very good.”

“Well, thank you for the compliment.”

“Height?”

“I’m 182cm.”

“And how much do you weigh?”

“77 kilograms. But why are you asking me this?””

“It would be perfect if you lost 3 more kilograms.”

“I am satisfied with my body.”

“Then you can gain it again after.”

“… After? After what?”

The conversation was suspicious.

That expression, sitting on the bed with languid eyes, and giving orders.

Owen was confused, but Rosica continued.

“Take off your clothes.”

***

At that time, Rexid had come to check out Rosica’s basement studio that Owen had prepared for her.

“… What is this, a den?”

That was Rexid’s impression after seeing the studio for the first time.

The underground room without windows was like a prison, and there were only a few mana stones that illuminated the dark interior.

Rexid’s eyebrows twitched with dissatisfaction. 

“Owen, why the hell did you give her such a lousy room?”

It was actually the optimal environment that Rosica had wanted, but by Rexid’s standards, it didn’t look good at all.

He held an expensive lamp, but somehow the light wasn’t bright, so it seemed like a matter of time before his eyesight would worsen.

“What are you going to do in a place like this where there is no sunlight? It’d be nice if you didn’t shrivel up.”

Rexid, who had slowly raised the brightness of the mana stone, looked at the crude desk and the bed next to it.

“Why did you put the bed in? Are you going to finish your work and just sleep and eat here?”

He didn’t like the idea of the small bunk bed next to the shabby-looking desk.

If that was the case, what was the difference from the treatment in the camp where criminals were taken?

“And he didn’t even organize anything.”

Rosica’s belongings that Owen had bought yesterday were left haphazardly underneath the desk.

It was said that genius wizards and geeky researchers didn’t wash, eat, or clean their surroundings.

Maybe this girl was like that too?

Rexid kept grumbling to himself as he roughly organized Rosica’s things and put them aside.

“How can you concentrate in a room like this? It wasn’t without reason for her to say that she needed an attendant.”

As Rosica had said, it seemed absolutely necessary for an attendant to stay there for 24 hours a day and organize the surroundings.

Owen told him to not feel guilty after saving Rosica from death row and to pamper her, but that’s not how he’d done it.

But by nature, Rexid had no choice but to feel guilty.

Wasn’t this similar to catching and exploiting a woman who didn’t know English?

He wanted to provide the best possible environment.

“What’s so good about a musty basement room?… ”

Whether or not he knew he was nagging just like a mother in a house, Rexid grumbled continuously as he swept away the dust with his feet.

Eventually, as he approached the messy desk to roughly clean it, Rexid paused.

“I want to check the Crown Prince’s handwriting. If there is a handwritten letter, I would like to see as much of it as possible.”

Raven’s letters that he personally sent at Rosica’s request yesterday.

A bitter smile appeared on Rexid’s mouth.

After moving to Drax, the Northern Territory of the Empire, Rexid exchanged letters with Raven whenever he had a chance.

They, who were always together in the imperial family, had become so far away from each other that it was hard to meet up even once.

‘I won’t have to write to anyone anymore.’

Traces of Raven that he hadn’t consciously taken out since he had died.

Rexid, who smiled bitterly, picked up the letters and started reading them.

[Rex, Spring has already come. Tulips have bloomed in the imperial garden.

Did you know that tulips mean a confession of love? No, probably not. It’s hard to expect that you know about these kinds of things. I know, I know.

Anyway, men will give tulips to the woman they love when they confess.

And my wish is to see you give a woman tulips before I die.

Ha ha ha ha ha… !

I really can’t imagine it. It’d be faster for me to have three kids first.]

[Rex, did you get this letter? You got it, right? Are you doing okay?

I don’t know why you need to go and suppress the rebels from that small kingdom. It’s not usually dangerous because they’re all barbarians.

But what are you even using your mouth for? Did His Majesty tell you to go?

Haa…

If I send you a letter like this, you’ll probably reply, right?

My hands have started to itch from waiting, but all you’ll say is that you’re doing good.

You’re crazy about this war!

No matter how much you try, you can’t always win. You can never know what’s going to happen, so please take care of yourself.

If you get hurt, you’ll get in trouble with me!]

[Rex, I really miss you today.

I know you have a cold personality, but is it normal for you to come visit me only once a year?

Whew, to see your precious face, I’ll have to go there myself.

I’ll go see you soon. I have a lot of things I want to tell you.

Prepare to listen to all my complaints!]

[Rex, how’s it going there? How are you doing?

Ugh…

It’s been hard for me.

The older I get, the more I feel like the world I knew is breaking down.

I miss the time when I was in the imperial family with you. I often dream of those moments.

Perhaps, I want to go back.]

[Rex, am I doing well? I just, I just want to know.]

Raven’s anguish was evident in the last and most recent letter.

“Haa…”

When he noticed the tears clearly streaked on the letter, Rexid couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

Raven’s sadness, which he couldn’t even notice when he had first received it.

“Stupid, that bastard …”

The sudden pour of swears was a reprimand to himself, who was indifferent.

It was difficult for him. Too difficult. He really just screamed his heart out in that letter…

What did he reply…

Rexid didn’t even remember. As always, he would have replied indifferently by writing a couple of lines.

With a bitter look on his face, Rexid flipped to one more page.

Then, he paused.

“…?”

There was a letter that he had never received.

It was definitely Raven’s letter.

Written by Raven himself… 

[Rex, it’s me. How are you?

I’m no longer suffering anymore here. Actually, I’m very happy. But, I feel bad for leaving you alone.

I hope you don’t mourn after my death for too long. I want you to be happy after all… 

Please be happy. Until the day we meet again.]

… His final goodbye.

Rexid’s breaths grew shorter as he stiffened.

‘What is this? When, when did I receive this letter?’

His startled eyes trembled, and his dry lips parted as he vomited.

It was a letter he’d never received. The letter, as if written after his death, was completely unrealistic.

Nevertheless, Rexid was convinced that it was a letter from Raven.

Rex, which was the nickname that Raven used.

The kind tone.

His familiar habit of surrounding one in warmth.

Rexid, who had been exchanging letters with Raven for more than a decade, would never not recognize his handwriting. It was definitely a letter from him.