OPDPS 148

“Is that so? I told you all of my secrets. You know that. I trusted you and relied on you.”

“……”

“You were the only one I gave everything to. And yet you didn’t even tell me who you truly were.”

Hiello’s voice was heavy with resentment, and Aeryl had no words in response. He could only bite his lip and tilt his head up to keep the tears from falling.

“…I’m sorry.”

“I don’t need it. I won’t accept your apology.”

“Is that what you wanted to say, coming all the way here?”

Aeryl looked at the Grand Duke with desperate eyes—as if pleading for a different answer.

“I came to see it with my own eyes. Now that I’ve seen it, I should be going.”

“…How can you be so cold? Did you ever truly love me?”

Aeryl’s face twisted in disappointment, and in the end, he couldn’t hold back the question.

“That question isn’t even worth answering.”

The Grand Duke mercilessly cut down Aeryl’s last hope. Aeryl couldn’t say another word and barely managed to hold back his tears.

“Are you going back to the Grand Duchy?”

“Yes. And I assume Your Highness will return to the Imperial Palace. I hope we never meet again.”

“…I see. Farewell then, Grand Duke.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Their conversation ended in an instant. Aeryl stepped aside. At that moment, a tear slipped down from his eye.

He still held onto his imperial dignity, yet could not contain the sorrow. It was a pitiful sight. The Grand Duke glared at Aeryl for a moment longer before turning and walking out.

“He really just left after seeing that? Is Grand Duke Asirion even human?”

Dervan was truly shocked. Aeryl looked so pitiful, even an onlooker like him had been shaken.

“No wonder the suitors are at the Emperor’s mercy.”

His beauty alone could sway a nation, and on top of that, he promised strong heirs and untouched purity. He was worth risking a life on.

Which made the Grand Duke’s coldness all the more astonishing. Of course, accepting the prince meant becoming the Emperor’s son-in-law and being dragged into his control. But still, Dervan doubted he could have refused.

“What are you gawking at?”

Aeryl snapped coldly. Only then did Dervan come to his senses.

“My apologies.”

“Leave.”

“Rest well. We’ll depart at first light.”

Dervan ordered the attendants and maids to withdraw as well. Seeing the relationship between the Grand Duke and Aeryl collapse had made him let down his guard.

Where could Aeryl run now that he’d been abandoned? Dervan had feared the Grand Duke might try to take him by force, so this outcome was a relief. Had it come to that, stopping the Grand Duke would’ve cost him his life.

If the Emperor found out that his bait, Aeryl, had failed to ensnare the Grand Duke, he would surely be displeased.

“Still, that Grand Duke is impressive. He was falling apart from love just this afternoon, and now he’s already composed himself? Or maybe… the betrayal was that deep.”

House Asirion had long kept the imperial family in check. They may have shared a country, but the hostility was real.

“To find out your beloved is a prince from your enemy’s bloodline… For a man as proud as him, the humiliation must’ve been overwhelming.”

“To think Grand Duke Asirion failed in love—what a story. I won’t be paying for drinks anytime soon.”

With a faint smirk, Dervan left the room.

***

As night fell, Aeryl lay down to sleep. Dervan sat in front of the door, cradling his sword.

He wanted to keep his eyes directly on Aeryl, but he wasn’t worthy to watch a prince sleep. He had no choice but to guard from outside. Other soldiers were stationed at the door as well, and the Grand Duke’s party had already departed. It was best to stay this way until departure.

Meanwhile, inside the room, Aeryl had his ear pressed to the door before pulling away silently.

“Is he planning to spend the whole night out there…”

He paced the room anxiously, biting his lip. It was so quiet that only his own footsteps echoed. No matter how he looked at it, there seemed to be no way out of this room, and it made his nerves fray.

Then, ever so quietly, the curtain covering the wall lifted. A woman appeared through a secret passage just wide enough for one person.

“…!”

Aeryl instinctively turned and nearly screamed. The woman was none other than Baroness Berel, whom he had glimpsed briefly upon arriving at the fortress.

There was a secret passage there? But why her…?

Still frozen in shock, Aeryl blinked rapidly as Baroness Berel brought her finger to her lips and stepped aside.

From behind her, the Grand Duke emerged.

Aeryl pressed his lips tightly together, stomping in place with anxiety—then, the moment the Grand Duke opened his arms, he ran to him and clung on tightly. The Grand Duke embraced him with equal urgency, as if he had been waiting for that moment.

While they held each other, the voice of the Baroness’s husband could be heard outside the room. He exchanged a few words with Dervan and then led him away somewhere.

When Aeryl looked up, the Baroness had already returned through the secret passage.

“You can speak now. The soldiers outside the door are the Baroness’s s men.”

“What’s going on? I thought Baroness Berel and her husband were aligned with the Emperor’s knights.”

“Once I persuaded the Baroness, her husband naturally followed.”

“I see…”

Aeryl looked into the Grand Duke’s face. He gently traced beneath Aeryl’s eyes with his fingertips, concern clouding his expression.

“I was too harsh earlier, wasn’t I?”

“No… That’s not why I cried…”

In truth, the entire conversation they had under Dervan’s watchful eye had been an act. From the moment their eyes met, the two had confirmed—through their pheromones—that their love for each other was still unwavering.

They had communicated in a way that beta Dervan could never detect. Aeryl had expressed sorrow and regret; the Grand Duke, in turn, had offered comfort and reassurance. While pheromones couldn’t convey every thought, they transmitted emotion with perfect clarity.

Aeryl knew now with certainty that the Grand Duke would never give him up. He had waited restlessly all evening, sure the Grand Duke would find a way to reach him. Though he hadn’t expected it to be through a secret passage with Baroness Berel’s help, it all made sense now—down to the very room he had been brought to.

‘When did he start preparing all this? Had he known who I truly was all along? And if so, for how long? Why didn’t he confront me about it? What is he planning now?’

There were a thousand questions—but before all else, there was something he needed to say.

“I love you. You know that, don’t you?”

“Of course I do. And I love you, too.”

Aeryl rested his head against the Grand Duke’s chest again. The Grand Duke whispered softly by his ear.

“Earlier, I said it didn’t need answering because I obviously love you. Everything else I said was a lie—except that you’re the only one for me. Please forget the rest.”

“Me too. I said you were cold… but that was a lie. Even if it was just pretending, I hated saying that. And… I’m truly sorry for not telling you I was a prince.”

“Aeryl.”

Aeryl lifted his head. As if he had been waiting, the Grand Duke pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead.

“I already knew.”

“What? How? No—since when?”

The Grand Duke looked into Aeryl’s golden eyes, then kissed his eyelids. Even with their color changed, those wide, startled eyes were still precious to him.

“I was certain by the first day of the festival.”

He had already begun to suspect that Aeryl’s background wasn’t what he claimed.

These things revealed themselves over time. A person’s taste, their knowledge, their wealth—and especially the refinement shaped by long years of noble upbringing—could never truly be hidden.

At some point, he noticed that Aeryl never opened his eyes without glasses. Then came the odd insistence of the Imperial Knight to see Aeryl, and the strange silence surrounding the youngest prince’s disappearance. Taken together, it all pointed in one direction: He might be the youngest prince.

The decisive moment came when Derbas had taken Aeryl’s place.

Though the appearance was identical, something was off. Subtle, but different. And there was no trace of pheromones from him.

At first, the Grand Duke thought Aeryl was simply masking his scent, as he often did. But even after deliberately provoking a response with his own pheromones—nothing happened. That was when he knew: this wasn’t Aeryl. It was Derbas.

Fearing that revealing the truth would drive Derbas to flee, he’d pretended not to notice and brought him all the way to the castle.

Naturally, he couldn’t bear to leave Aeryl unguarded, so he’d assigned a knight to follow discreetly.

Derbas eventually confessed that he had only acted at Aeryl’s request. That was all the confirmation the Grand Duke needed. No one would go to such lengths unless Aeryl was the youngest prince.

“…And I got angry, thinking you couldn’t even recognize me… when you already knew.”

“If you were that desperate to keep your identity hidden, I wanted to pretend I didn’t know. I knew I couldn’t do it forever… but still.”

He had planned to drive out the Imperial Knight and wait for winter to truly begin. That way, even if Aeryl wanted to leave from guilt, the weather would make it impossible.

“I was thinking something similar. Maybe if we’d spoken sooner, things wouldn’t have turned out like this…”

“Is it strange that I’m happy we were thinking the same thing, even in this mess?”

“Your Grace…”

The Grand Duke shook his head.

“It’s Hiello, isn’t it?”