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A few hours ago, when Victor asked about Elena's condition, his answer was as follows.
“At first, I doubted the Archduchess’s happiness, so I sent someone to monitor her.”
“This is normal.”
Benedict nodded.
Victor was a skilled soldier who had survived countless battles.
So, it is natural for him to feel wary of a strange woman who suddenly appeared and claimed to be the Archduchess, and to investigate her background.
There were suspicious aspects to that woman.
"She visited the doctor every day.
So, at first I thought your Excellency had become ill from the harshness of the prison.
Even this visiting room looks terrible, doesn't it?"
“It's impossible.”
Benedict responded coldly to Victor, who was trembling as he looked into the cold visiting room.
Benedict was generally physically stronger than others, and his body was well trained.
During the war, he spent days and nights sleeping in the woods in the cold dead of winter, so he couldn't get sick in a prison like this.
أمام هذا الردّ، حكّ فيكتور رأسه بإحراج.
“But now it seems that Her Excellency the Archduchess was the one who was sick.”
“……”
“When I investigated her background, I discovered that Her Excellency’s father and brother are very scoundrels.”
As Victor's report continued, Benedict licked his dry lips for no reason.
'Did she hide it on purpose?'
He remembered the bruises on Elena's delicate skin.
The woman claimed they were from catching insects, but as a soldier, he vaguely realized they were marks of beatings.
On her wrist, slightly visible from under the clothes, there were similar faint marks.
At the time, he was confused, but he brushed it off as none of his business, but it seemed to be the effects of constant abuse from her family.
'However, she was waiting for me every day in such a cruel place.'
She was a woman with pale white skin that looked malnourished, and a thin body.
Although her body was not well enough to need to visit the doctor every day, Elena came to the visiting room every day.
Thinking that she had been waiting for long hours inside the cold stone walls without him appearing, he felt a strange tightness in his heart.
“Plus, she visited the gun store every time.”
“Weapons store?”
Benedict raised his symmetrical eyebrows sharply.
If it's a doctor, that's fine, but if she's looking for a weapon, it's different.
Are you hiding bad intentions and planning something against me?
Victor continued, his face full of worry.
“I saw her looking for a dagger in the gun shop, so I think she was looking for a suitable weapon for self-defense.”
“...for self-defense?”
“In fact, I heard that His Highness the Crown Prince has shown great annoyance since the articles about you two were published.”
“……!”
Benedict's eyes widened in realization, then narrowed again.
It was kind of normal.
He was imprisoned for the murder of the Crown Prince's father-in-law, and from the Crown Prince's perspective, he would not be happy with Elena doing things against his will.
“In fact, the Imperial Knights were following Her Excellency the Archduchess.
In the end, I changed my watch to an escort.”
“……”
“It is clear that Her Excellency the Archduchess truly loves you, sir.
Seeing her lead things that might put her in danger, that's for sure!”
“……!”
اهتزّت عينا Benedict بصدمة.
Thinking about it, Elena Christie was a little strange from the beginning.
“I am confident that I can prove the Archduke's innocence.”
She was the first, apart from his subordinates, to say he was innocent.
Benedict recalled the moment he was accused of killing Devon Hayden, the Crown Princess' father.
The moment he discovered the bleeding body and lifted it to help him, he became Devon's killer.
It was so perfect.
The fact that he was the first to discover the body, that the crime tool was linked to him, and that there were disagreements between him and Devon weeks before the incident.
All circumstances point to him as a criminal.
At first, people were skeptical about the veracity of the matter, but when details of the incident were published in the press, they turned against him.
In fact, this was inevitable.
During the investigation, when he looked at the evidence provided by the police, even he himself doubted whether he had actually killed him under the influence of something or not.
Sometimes, the House of Lords intervenes to save a noble who has committed a crime, but this does not apply to them.
Born as the emperor's illegitimate son, he was sent away with his nanny to a remote castle, where he was always alone.
He did not see the face of his mother, who died while giving birth to him, and his father, the Emperor, treated him worse than strangers.
He was not the type to frequent society to build relationships and friendships, and with his half-brother, Crown Prince Laurence, publicly rejecting him, there were no nobles who would support him.
So, in this empire, the only ones who believed in his innocence and that he was falsely accused were a few soldiers under his command.
Even these people are far from society and politics.
As he gradually started to give in, Elena appeared and proposed the contract.
Now, she was risking herself for him.
Did you really do all that to defend me?
Just because of the contract?
This cannot be so.
“Perhaps… is that why you proposed marriage?”
Benedict's eyes lit up a little at this realization.
“My rule is not to work without a down payment.
But since you are the Archduke, I will make you an exception and work without down payment and take my fees only upon success.”
From the beginning, the woman did not hide that he was special to her.
The only thing Elena hid was that she was abused by her family.
“Maybe she did it because she was afraid I would feel anxious.”
Benedict breathed deeply.
When he thought back, maybe the harsh words she said to him when she mentioned Vivian were unintentional.
She must have felt complicated emotions at the mention of the woman he was rumored to love.
Maybe she was angry because of her jealousy.
“But why exactly...”
There was nothing between them.
He saw Elena for the first time in the visiting room that day.
Suddenly, he remembered the content of the newspaper article Victor had brought.
“To save the life of an ordinary person like me, His Excellency the Archduke did not hesitate to jump into enemy fire.
“I fell in love with him at first sight when I saw him.”
Maybe the content wasn't all a lie.
He saved the citizens of the empire in many battles.
When he reread Elena's interview article, the details were so precise that someone who was not present could not have remembered them.
Benedict finally concluded that the content of Elena's interview was a moving true story.
Even as he read the article, thinking it was a lie, he felt a twinge of sadness, but his sharp intuition like a soldier revealed the truth.
“That's why she responded to a police officer that way.”
Now everything is clear.
Throughout her narration of the conditions for saving him from prison, her eyes were sparkling with enthusiasm.
She did not care about the additional condition he added, ‘No personal feelings towards each other.’ As if she did not care about this condition.
'Because she really loved me.'
I assumed it was a condition she would not keep from the beginning.
Benedict rubbed his face with a strange feeling.
“No.
In the end, it will only be poison.”
Love makes a person weak and eventually becomes a weakness.
His mother, who was abandoned by the Emperor, Crown Prince Lawrence, who clearly lacked wisdom, all tragedies were caused by love.
Additionally, after the false rumor spreads that he is in love with Vivian, he is falsely accused of something he did not commit and is about to face his death.
That's exactly why this clause was put into the contract.
To avoid creating unnecessary weaknesses.
“The contract must be fulfilled, whatever the cost.”
Benedict clenched his fist as if to assert himself.
∗∗∗
The next day.
Also today, I waited for Archduke Richard in the visiting room.
Even yesterday he did not meet me, so what will change today?
“Hey, is there a way to hold a trial without the defendant present?”
I leaned my head back, making ridiculous assumptions as I ruffled my hair.
jingle-.
At that moment, I suddenly raised my head when I heard a sharp metallic sound in my ear.
“……!”
My lips parted at the sight of the welcoming man walking out the door.
Archduke Richard's sudden consent to my visit was unexpected, but it was also because of the striking change in his appearance.