Emilone’s Temptation Labyrinth – Chapter 130

Side Story: Alois Eseah, Ronella Nestro

So… it was shortly after I had returned to the Empire.

“Lady Emilone!”

“…Ronella.”

Under the glittering chandelier, at the party held to celebrate the Saintess’ return, one woman stood out above all the rest.

The moment I called her name, her green eyes sparkled.

“I was disappointed you never replied to any of my letters!” Ronella burst into my arms, voicing her complaint.

Her soft-looking face was framed by drooping eyes as she spoke.

It was the first time we had met again since learning her true identity, so I thought it would be awkward… but she greeted me with a bright, familiar smile, as if meeting an old friend of ten years.

“…You sent me letters?”

“I did! Several times, to the Kingdom of Eseah!”

“I never received them.”

Having Ronella clinging to me did have the advantage of keeping other nobles at bay, but putting up with her clinging wasn’t exactly easy either.

Yet her green eyes looked utterly innocent. Before, there’d been something unsettling about them, but now I could see held pure goodwill toward me.

I considered pushing her away, but knowing where her affection came from, I decided to simply accept it.

“Your Highness, you’re making Lady Emilone uncomfortable.”

Right at that moment, Alois appeared with two glasses of red wine and offered one to me with a friendly smile. He gently disentangled Ronella in the process.

Ronella narrowed her eyes at him.

“And how would you know whether Lady Emilone is uncomfortable or not?”

“We’re close enough to know each other’s hearts.”

Alois gently clinked his glass against mine and the wine sloshed, releasing a hint of sweet aroma.

‘Close enough to know each other’s hearts,’ huh… the way that sounds…

Ronella’s eyes sharpened as she looked at Alois.

“I’m the same, you know?”

…Since when?

Ronella, dropping her usual demure princess act in front of Alois, spoke sharply and Alois met it effortlessly.

“If pity is a feeling of the heart, then I suppose you do share hearts.”

“……”

Alois gave Ronella a soft smile.

Watching their gazes intertwine, I quietly brought my glass to my lips.

Unlike before, Ronella’s affection felt pure. If before she treated me like a shimmering ornament, now she was seeking genuine affection.

“Pity or not, how could you know? Right, Lady Emilone?”

Ronella tilted her head, her luscious black hair, dark as the night sky, spilling over her shoulders. Her emerald eyes, brighter than any jewel, looked straight up at me.

‘How does she know I’m weak to beauty?’

Ronella was beautiful. Of course, her brother, Veron Nestro and Alois standing beside me were no less so, but there was no denying that Ronella was the most beautiful of them all.

“Isn’t that right?”

There were countless reasons why no man in the Empire could escape Ronella’s charm.

And perhaps her beauty was one of them.

“…It’s not just pity.”

This time, Alois seemed slightly annoyed. He wet his lower lip with his tongue, quickly hid his discomfort, and smiled. Ronella smiled back at him.

Seeing the two of them like that gave me a strange feeling. As I watched them in silence, someone else addressed me.

“Greetings to God’s Bless. I am the heir of Count Sartune.”

Even though Ronella and Alois stood beside me, he approached without hesitation. It was bold of him, I thought and when I turned, I saw a young man in his early twenties with a noticeable belly.

He looked about Ronella’s age.

“Pleasure to meet you, Young Lord Sartune.”

I put on the practiced smile I used for public occasions. I didn’t know why he’d come up to me, but if someone spoke, I felt obliged to respond.

He smiled back, his chubby cheeks trembling slightly.

It wasn’t the same kind of smile Alois and Ronella had exchanged. More like… a smile with some intent behind it? Though, to be fair, even Alois’s and Ronella’s smiles weren’t exactly pure.

“I, Um,…First, I would like to welcome you back to the Empire.”

He stumbled over his words once before clearing his throat.

I extended my wine glass behind me, and Alois smoothly took it from my hand.

“I appreciate your greeting.”

I’d lost count of how many times I’d heard that same greeting today. Nobles offering gifts disguised as bribes all saying the same thing.

“And what business might you have…?”

“Oh! It’s just… I was hoping to have a brief conversation…”

He glanced at Alois and Ronella behind me. To have the attention of two such beauties at once must have been intimidating because his ears flushed red as he offered the wine glass in his hand.

“And this is…?”

A strange liquid, tinged with a mix of green and yellow, swirled inside the glass.

It looked like wine at a glance…

‘Did he not see me hand my glass to Alois just a second ago?’

If he was offering me a drink, he was truly bold. In this society, offering a glass of wine was practically the same as expressing romantic interest.

“This is a new wine we’ve started selling at our trading company. If you’d be so kind as to give it a taste…”

It seemed his face was flushed, not because of Alois or Ronella, but because of me.

As he stumbled over his words, two hands crossed before me.

“I’m sorry, but Lady Emilone doesn’t care for alcohol.”

One was Ronella, who took away the glass…

“And she was already drinking something else.”

And the other was Alois, who had snatched the glass from Ronella.

With a showy flourish, Alois lightly embraced me from behind and brought the glass he’d been holding to my lips.

He tilted the glass, and a wine with a sharper fragrance than what I’d been drinking moments before flowed into my mouth.

This wasn’t the wine I’d handed him, but the one Alois himself had been drinking.

“What do you think? Is the wine I was drinking to your taste?”

I lightly brushed Alois’s hand away with the back of mine and gave him a look to which he smiled innocently, like he didn’t do anything.

“Come to think of it, you’ve been talking for quite some time and you must be tired. Would you like to rest over there?”

Ronella remarked with her big green eyes, acting as if the Count Sartune heir didn’t even exist.

Desire shimmered in her eyes. The same look she used have before I learned her true identity. A look filled with intent and green, like she might sink her teeth into someone’s neck at any moment.

I thought about what to do, but in the end, as always, I decided to play along. No matter what, I was weak to beauty.

“Indeed, the only one who truly understands me is you, Ronella. Shall we rest for a bit, then?”

The heir of Count Sartune naturally faded from our minds. It was a shame, but I didn’t much care for someone who lacked self-control and couldn’t manage themselves. After confirming that he had slunk away in embarrassment, I turned to Ronella with a bright smile.

“I suppose Count Sartune’s heir doesn’t have a good reputation. Look at how everyone’s snickering.”

“Are they?”

Ronella clung close as she guided me to a seat.

For an instant, an animalistic expression flashed across her innocent, pure face. It was the same look she wore when I first discovered her true self. The look of a victor.

“Well, with Lady Emilone and me here, who would dare speak ill of us? Right? Don’t you agree?”

As soon as I sat down, before Alois even entered, Ronella quickly drew the curtains as if she had been waiting. But before they could close completely, Alois’s hand slipped between them.

“Princess Nestro. You might want to be careful with your words. If anyone heard that, they’d be mistaken. It’s not just you and Lady Emilone here; I’m here too, am I not?”

He used to call her ‘Ronella’ casually, but since learning her identity, Alois always addressed her formally as Princess Nestro.

Smiling, Alois entered and delivered a pointed remark to Ronella, whose displeasure was written all over her face.

“Speaking of which, Your Highness, you’re of marriageable age now. How long do you intend to act so childishly?”

“…Excuse me?”

…It was the first time I’d seen Alois come on so strongly. The Alois I knew would normally take his time, slowly trampling down those who displeased him, without ever letting them realize they were his target.

“You say such amusing things, Your Highness, Prince of Eseah. But tell me, are you certain it was proper to leave your troubled kingdom and come here? Hmm?”

Of course, Ronella was a formidable opponent. Though slightly taken aback, she immediately countered without batting an eye.

“Allow me to correct you first. Since my eldest brother is currently in exile, I’m now acting as Crown Prince in his place. You should address me as Crown Prince, not just Prince. Princess Nestro.”

Alois dropped the politeness when he said Ronella’s title. Wow, how thrilling.

It was entertaining watching Ronella train and tame noblemen like fish in a bowl, but the exchange between these two was just as captivating.

“Very well, I will correct myself. Assuming, of course, that the rumor that the former Crown Prince was driven out by your scheming is false.”

She was testing him.

Though it was indeed true that Alois had driven out the First Prince, no such rumors had circulated. No, such rumors couldn’t possibly exist.

After all, no one knew the First Prince’s punishment and exile had been Alois’s doing.

‘Besides, thanks to the reputation and achievements Alois has built up until now,

he easily secured the position of Crown Prince.’

It was clear that once Alois, as Crown Prince, officially became my companion,

the Kingdom of Eseah would gain the right to call itself an Empire.

Even if the King of Eseah were to declare it an Empire right now, no one would oppose it.

“I did not expect you to be swayed by such baseless rumors.”

“They’re not entirely baseless, are they?”

Alois held his glass up, letting the chandelier light catch the wine.

Hmm. Pretty color.

With the sweet voices of Alois and Ronella in the background, I thought this wine would do just fine.

“Come to think of it, did you know, Lady Ronella?”

“I’m not sure what it is, but I have no desire to learn anything about you.”

At that moment, Alois approached me.

He gently took my hand and pressed his lips to the back of it. As I took in the sight of his crimson lips on my skin, I turned to Ronella, who raised an eyebrow.

“You’d like to know, wouldn’t you? About the rumor that I will become Lady Emilone’s official companion.”

‘Isn’t that right?’, Alois asked again.

I gave a small nod in response.

It had been decided on the way back to the Empire, after all.

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