To obtain a protective order against her father, Tilia would have been better off relying on the laws of Ontario rather than the laws of Acansis.
The question arose whether the law would apply to foreigner Tilia Ambrose, but Ilex decided to take advantage of the fact that she would be an employee of the Ontario Foreign Affairs Consulate.
Of course, no judge would look for loopholes in the law to help an as-yet unappointed consular officer who has not yet provided any evidence.
Therefore, Ilex decided to take advantage of his position.
After all, no matter what anyone said, he was the son of a princess who once bore the royal surname of Bardeen, and the second son of the illustrious Duke of Davenport.
Was there ever a time when he found his status so useful?
As luck would have it, one of his cousins, with whom he had a close relationship, took a keen interest in victim assistance laws.
She seemed to think that he, too, was deeply concerned about laws protecting the weak, but as always, Ilex didn't bother to correct that misunderstanding.
If the misconception led her to push for stronger laws to protect victims, then he was more than happy to accept that misconception tenfold.
His cousin Iris quickly figured out the matter and sent her answer.
[If you time it right, you may be able to get a travel ban... but a restraining order will be difficult to achieve. Even for citizens it is rarely issued.]
Even though two members of the royal family were working on the issue, it was not as easy to resolve as he had hoped.
Pondering how to renegotiate the terms of the restraining order, he went outside to clear out his troubled thoughts.
At that moment, a strong smell of perfume touched his nose.
-What are you so engrossed in?
Turning his head, he saw a woman whose presence was so overwhelming that her scarlet lips seemed to engulf her entire face - his mother.
With an indifferent expression on his face, Ilex turned the letter from Ontario over, as if throwing it away, and opened his mouth.
- I'm just reading gossip.
- Leah mentioned that you and Iris have been exchanging letters quite often lately.
Leah was Iris's mother - his aunt and his mother's younger sister.
With the same distant expression as her son, the woman sat down next to him and spoke with cold detachment.
“I don’t know what you’re up to, but I hope I don’t have to worry.”
- This won't happen.
Ilex answered casually, without even looking at her.
“You just need to continue your life of peaceful indifference.” Just like you always did.
At these words, Seraphina, who had been looking in the same direction as her son, looked up and looked at him.
She was so beautiful that it was hard to believe that she gave birth to two adult sons. Decorated with dazzling jewels that outshone even the setting sun, she smiled elegantly.
- Ilex, do you know why I accepted your father’s offer?
Even when she smiled, not a single extra wrinkle appeared around Serafina's lips. This was the result of her pouring enough wealth onto her face every day to support several commoners for years, all in an attempt to defy the passage of time.
- This happened because our values coincided. We agreed that after the birth of an heir, each of us would enjoy our own personal lives.
Personal life.
Ilex barely restrained himself from curling the corners of his lips into a contemptuous smile.
Only then did he finally turn his head and look at his mother.
Despite her graceful appearance, there was nothing memorable about her features except extravagant beauty - she was like a peacock, dazzling, but not making any lasting impression. Her languid voice continued.
- You may not want to admit it, being so young, but there are marriages like ours. I value your father very much. Without him, my comfortable life would not exist.
- Yes. I understand.
“I don’t want this peaceful, happy life to be disrupted.”
Ilex turned away, making it clear that he did not intend to continue the conversation.
- Do you understand, Ilex?
However, Seraphina, persistent as always, continued to look at him and whispered:
“I will not tolerate anything that threatens the ideal life I have built.”
***
Perfect life, my leg.*
(*P.P. My foot / my foot – idiom, literally means “what nonsense”)
Ilex pursed his lips in disgust as he watched the young woman walk confidently into his father's bedroom.
If this is the ideal life, then it is better not to live at all. If this is the kind of marriage that is required to maintain personal affairs, then it is better not to get married at all.
Treasured? Nonsense...
Turning away from the disgusting sight, Ilex closed the curtains and returned to his desk.
However, after looking through the scattered books for a while, he took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair.
He raised his hand to his frowning forehead, but the tension did not subside.
An amendment to Ontario's Foreign Victim Protection Act has been stalled for months. Meanwhile, time flew by, and now Tilia was a fourth-year student preparing for her final exams.
This year he must find a solution - no matter what.
Looking through the letters, Ilex began nervously tapping his fingertips on the table.
He must send Tilia to Ontario. He couldn't let her marry that perverted count.
The moment the image of Tilia in a white dress standing next to this decrepit old man came into his mind, all expression disappeared from Ilex's face.
“Should I just kill them all?”
If you think about it, this was the simplest and cleanest solution. Bradley Ambrose and George Ambrose were useless people anyway. Even if he fakes their deaths as an accident, no one will investigate it too seriously...
"No."
Awakening from his thoughts, Ilex ran his hand over his face and shook his head.
No matter how much he wanted it, he could not cross this line. Because if by even the slightest chance Tilia ever finds out, there will be no turning back.
However, no matter how much he clung to the faint hope of solving the problem within the framework of the law, his cynical attitude soon returned.
And if he finds out, so what? What will change? In her eyes, he is already worth less than a cockroach.
Disappointment and resignation flashed in his gaze. He couldn't help but remember his ridiculous behavior last semester.
Ever since he realized how much Tilia Ambrose despised him, he had never stopped trying to change her perception of herself.
Ilex quietly lingered near her, trying to show another side of himself - the one that contradicted the rumors.
For the first time since he was ten, he dressed neatly and kept his hair in order. He went to lectures as if he had never been late or absent in his life.
He threatened and drove away the idiots who were always swarming around him. He even did something so crazy as to spend his entire vacation reading classical literature just to excel in rhetoric, Tilia's favorite subject.
Yet Tilia never spared him a glance.
Literally - not a single glance.
The entire academy was delighted with his strange behavior, but the only person whose attention he wanted to attract remained completely indifferent.
Oh yes, although there was one exception.
That time in the library. When she frowned suspiciously at what he was studying, it was a reaction, albeit a minor one.
But in the end, all the absurd efforts he made for months turned out to be pointless.
After seeing her throw out the chocolates he had secretly put in her locker for the thirty-second time, Ilex finally gave in - throwing away those chocolates in the same way.
After that, he simply kept his grades up.
The title of top student - he instinctively knew that if he lost even that, Tilia Ambrose would consider him nothing more than trash, unworthy of recognition.
And so, until she reached her fourth year, Ilex was just a fool who couldn’t even talk to her properly.
Even if he successfully sends Tilia to Ontario, nothing will change. He will remain the same pathetic man who never had a normal conversation with the girl he loved, but still stupidly provided her with the opportunity to leave for another country.
Then what is the point of all this effort? Why did he waste so much energy on a girl who would always hate him?
But even in the midst of this self-loathing, he could not stop. He continued to reach for books, leafing through the pages, searching for a solution.
He knew it was the stupidest thing in the world. He knew it was more than pathetic.
But some people still picked up the ax, even knowing that they were cutting their own legs.
He wanted to see Tilia Ambrose smile. Just once, he wanted to see her chatting excitedly.
Even if she smiled without him next to her. Even if she only smiled because he wasn't there.
Even if from afar, he wanted to see it.
And so, despite the gloomy expression on his face, he continued to look for a way out.
The only thing that kept his hands moving was the laughter he had never heard from her.
A sad impulse.