OPDPS 143

Sir Dervan almost let out a gasp. The man’s face was exactly the same as the youngest prince’s portrait.

The Grand Duke, who had remained still until now, quickly approached Aeryl as soon as he appeared.

“Why did you come out? Go back inside.”

The Grand Duke tucked Aeryl’s hair behind his ear. Aeryl, looking a little awkward, replied,

“No. I think this has something to do with me, so I can’t just sit by. Let me take this opportunity to prove I’m not the person you’re looking for.”

“…Is that truly your will?”

When Aeryl nodded, the Grand Duke turned to Sir Dervan.

“How do you intend to confirm it?”

“I’ll confirm it privately.”

“State the specific criteria.”

“…I need to see his eyes. Please remove your glasses.”

Sir Dervan hesitated, but had no choice but to compromise. The fact that the youngest prince had run away might be exposed to the Grand Duke of Asirion and his people, but it was better than failing to retrieve him altogether.

“Glasses?”

A flicker of hesitation passed through Aeryl’s eyes. Sir Dervan didn’t miss it—and inwardly cheered. Why hesitate to take off glasses if he wasn’t hiding the golden eyes?

“Take them off. Now.”

“…”

When Sir Dervan pressed him again, Aeryl slowly raised his hand to his glasses. Painfully slow, he took them off.

With the large glasses gone, the fully revealed face was breathtakingly beautiful. But Sir Dervan froze for a very different reason.

“They’re brown.”

“They are. You can see that even with the glasses on, can’t you? Why all this fuss over me taking them off…?”

“T-That can’t be!”

This Aeryl wasn’t the youngest prince? Sir Dervan had been so sure—he couldn’t believe it.

“There must be a trick!”

He lunged and grabbed Aeryl by the collar, staring into his eyes. But no matter how he looked, they were just brown. No tricks, no magic.

“Then what about the hair?!”

“Ahh!”

Sir Dervan yanked a few strands of Aeryl’s hair and held them to the light. The roots were flawlessly brown.

The youngest prince had golden hair…

“This can’t be… This doesn’t make sense. He’s really not…?”

“Seems you’ve confirmed it well enough.”

“I… I…”

Sir Dervan felt cold sweat soaking down his back.

Ruined. He wasn’t the prince. Sir Dervan had believed it so completely that he’d dared to do something this reckless.

But no matter how many times he looked, Aeryl’s eyes were undeniably brown. How could someone look so identical and still not be the same person?

“…I apologize. I’ve acted rudely due to a grave misunderstanding.”

He immediately bowed at a right angle to the Grand Duke. His vision blurred. The Grand Duke slowly approached and pulled the sword from Dervan’s waist.

“It’s fine. His Majesty will deal with your rudeness.”

“Your Grace!”

“Take him away.”

“Your Grace! Please—just once!”

Sir Dervan struggled, but the Grand Duke’s attendants subdued him and dragged him out the back.

Aeryl—or rather, Derbas, who was pretending to be Aeryl—covered his mouth as if in shock, all the while grinning wildly to himself.

To toy with the Emperor’s knight like this? It’s exhilarating! What a rush!

Meanwhile—

“Whew…”

The real Aeryl, hidden in the dressing room and peeking out, let out a long breath of relief. With the golden eyes ruled out, there was nothing to worry about from the Emperor’s knights for now.

‘I’ll go back to the castle with the Grand Duke, wait until we’re snowed in, and then reveal my identity…’

Aeryl waited for Derbas to return to the dressing room. But instead, Derbas quickly clung to the Grand Duke’s arm.

‘That’s too much! I said pretend to be me—not touch him!’

“I was so scared…”

Derbas leaned into the Grand Duke’s arm, feigning weakness, and Aeryl found it absolutely revolting.

“You did well. You didn’t have to come forward.”

“How could I not? That was an imperial knight raising his voice at Your Grace. I can’t just stand by and let that happen. Hmph.”

Derbas took it even further—he buried himself in the Grand Duke’s arms. The Grand Duke gently patted his back.

“Thank you.”

“Can we go back to the castle now? I’m really tired.”

“Shall we? Let’s go together.”

“What about the inspection?”

“We can go out again later. Let’s go.”

Derbas—still looking like Aeryl—was having a tender, intimate exchange with the Grand Duke.

Aeryl felt his blood boiling. But he couldn’t reveal himself, so all he could do was wring his poor sleeve in frustration.

Even then, the Grand Duke began to leave the dressing room with Derbas.

‘You’re just going to leave like that? We need to switch back!’

Aeryl silently flailed from inside the dressing room—and for a brief moment, Derbas looked back and locked eyes with him.

Sorry!

Derbas winked with one eye, looped his arm through the Grand Duke’s, and casually strolled out of the dressing room.

‘Derbas!’

Aeryl burned with rage, but he couldn’t stop them.

‘If you just leave like that, what am I supposed to do?!’

That bastard Derbas! What the hell was he thinking?

Aeryl stood there in a daze, listening to the sound of the Grand Duke’s party departing.

‘Your Grace… can’t even tell me apart…?’

A feeling of betrayal crept in.

“Um, sir? His Grace and the others have left. I need to pack up the outfits to send over—can I come in now?”

The tailor called out carefully from beyond the door.

‘What do I do?’

Aeryl panicked. Even just getting out of here was a problem. The tailor would think Derbas was still inside.

To make matters worse, Derbas had taken the glasses, so Aeryl had no way to hide his Golden Eye.

“Just a moment!”

He quickly threw Derbas’s outfit over his own. Their builds were so different that it hung loose even over his clothes, but he folded it up to make the length passable.

Next, he found a scarf in the dressing room and wrapped it around his face, leaving only his eyes exposed. Then he shoved a wide-brimmed hat on his head and bolted out of the dressing room.

“Pardon me. Is there a back exit?”

“To the left…”

He kept his head low, holding the brim of the hat to shield his eyes, and hurried off. Anyone watching would think it suspicious, but he had no choice.

“…?”

The tailor tilted his head as he watched Aeryl’s retreating figure. The guest from earlier had been taller and more solidly built, hadn’t he?

“Eh, forget it. Just forget it.”

This was someone the Grand Duke held in high regard. It’s always best not to get tangled in the affairs of highborns—nothing good comes of it.

As a tailor to nobles, he quickly erased all thoughts of the suspicious guest from his mind.

“I’m not letting Derbas off.”

Aeryl retraced the route he had once used to sneak out of the inner quarters. Moving through the back alleys, he struggled to find the proper path and ended up wandering for quite a while.

He finally reached the forest connected to the Grand Duke’s castle, but trudging uphill through deep snow was brutally difficult.

His feet kept sinking, his clothes were soaked from the snow, and the path was nearly invisible.

After much struggle, he found the rear gate and slipped inside, but he couldn’t go directly to the central hall.

‘Why are there so many people today?’

He had to hide and shiver for ages, afraid of being spotted by anyone from the castle. Only after the sun set did he finally manage to enter the central building.

He rushed to his room—only to find Derbas, still in his guise, lying sprawled across the sofa like he owned the place.

“You bastard!”

Aeryl couldn’t hold back. He lunged at Derbas and began smacking him across the back with his palm.

“Ow, ow—stop!”

“Stop? You think you get to say that?! You bastard!”

Aeryl unleashed a flurry of blows. If it had been someone else’s face, he might have hesitated, but since it was his own, he had no guilt at all.

Smack, smack! The satisfying rhythm made it oddly fun.

“Ah! Oww! I—ack—ahh!”

Only after thoroughly beating Derbas did Aeryl’s anger start to subside. Sensing his chance, Derbas tried to butter him up.

“There’s warm water ready. Why don’t you take a bath?”

He fluttered his lashes at Aeryl in a teasing way. Of course, a man’s wink was about as seductive as a dead fish—especially one that wasn’t the Grand Duke—but after slogging through snow, the idea of warm water was very tempting.

So Aeryl headed for the bath.

He stripped off his clothes and slipped into the tub, letting out a long sigh as the warmth enveloped him.

“Haa…”

“Feels good, doesn’t it, Your Highness? I got it all ready for you.”

Derbas, acting dutifully, began to fluff up bubbles in the tub. Watching him only made Aeryl’s temper rise again, and he smacked the top of Derbas’s head with his hand.

“I seriously… You… ha…”

He couldn’t kill the guy. With a deep sigh, Aeryl leaned back as Derbas dipped his head into the bathwater.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness. But I couldn’t let the chance slip by, not knowing when the next would come. The person I love was right in front of me. I believe Your Highness will understand. I’ve repented a lot. Thought I could snatch a little gain, but it backfired big time.”

“What gain, exactly, did you lose?”

“…”

Derbas swirled the bathwater with his hand and avoided answering.

This guy… What is he hiding?