When the Female Lead Went Off-Script, the Main Male Lead Became the Tyrant's Empress - Chapter 25.2
After the tearful reunion of the separated family came to an end, a man approached from behind Merea and greeted him formally.
“It has been a long time, Your Highness.”
“Uncle.”
Grand Duke Valtor was every inch a man.
His tall stature, broad shoulders, sharp eyes, and calloused hands all revealed that he was a soldier.
Arden felt sorry toward his imperial father, but when he grew up, he wanted to become a man like the Grand Duke.
“Haster, come and greet him.”
At Merea’s call, a boy emerged from behind the Grand Duke.
‘Huh?’
Arden’s eyes widened.
Although he hadn’t seen the boy’s face earlier, Arden recognized the clothing. It was definitely him.
‘I asked his name, but he just ran away.’
Seeing Haster put Arden in a foul mood.
Instead of displaying his usual friendliness, he pressed his lips tightly together and scrutinized his cousin with a meticulous gaze.
Haster was about the same height as him.
Perhaps because he had been outside in the cold, the tip of his nose was tinged red.
His firmly closed lips made him look stubborn, and his slightly wavy hair, as black as the night sky, made his intelligent blue eyes stand out.
Their eyes met.
Neither of them turned his head or avoided the other’s gaze.
Instead, they stared persistently at each other with challenging, searching eyes.
As though those eyes were trying to discover something within Arden that even he himself didn’t know.
“Don’t just stand there. Greet each other.”
Merea spoke to the two silent children.
At her urging, both boys opened their mouths at the same time.
“Hello.”
“Hello.”
“…….”
“…….”
That was all.
Merea tilted her head to the side.
The taciturn Haster was understandable, but she couldn’t understand why the lively and outgoing Arden was behaving that way.
“It appears His Highness is tired from his long journey.”
Madam Sentlique defended Arden in an attempt to dispel the awkward atmosphere.
“That would be understandable.”
The Grand Duke signaled to the butler with his eyes.
“Allow me to escort you to your room.”
The butler, whose hair had been slicked back smoothly with pomade, greeted Arden with a respectful bow.
While following the butler toward the guest room, Arden suddenly glanced behind him.
Over his shoulder, he saw Merea admonishing Haster.
After listening to her, Haster nodded with a calm expression.
Although Arden couldn’t hear them, he felt as though he knew what she was saying.
‘She must be telling him to get along with me. Adults always say the same things.’
Arden scoffed.
‘Hmph, even if that punk realizes what he did wrong and apologizes, I’ll never become friends with him!’
He should have become friends with him.
He absolutely should have become friends with him.
In the future, he would bitterly regret that decision in more ways than one.
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Haster blinked.
The anger and fighting spirit that had been raging inside him until moments ago went out with a hiss, like burning charcoal doused with cold water.
“……That…….”
“Wait! Don’t say anything!”
Arden shrieked, buried his face in both hands, and crumpled.
‘Should I run away?’
He vaguely remembered hearing somewhere that running away was cowardly but useful.
Clary must have said it.
She was the only person around him who said strange things like that.
‘That isn’t what matters right now.’
After briefly escaping from reality, Arden curled in on himself with a peculiar groan.
This was humiliating.
It was so humiliating that he couldn’t bear it.
What kind of thing was that to say? It sounded like something a petty, prideful man would blurt out after his courtship failed.
He had intended to make Haster fall for his personal charm and then skillfully coax him into doing what he wanted, but the plan had crumbled before he could even put it into action.
But Haster never gave him an opening, so what else could he do but resort to a scheme like that?
It wasn’t as though the child would stray down the wrong path because of it.
To be completely honest, he had intended to isolate Clary to a certain extent.
However, he swore that he had never intended to confine her for a long period and cut her off from society like her godfather had accused.
He had merely planned to keep her away until he earned Haster’s trust and goodwill.
At the longest, it would only have lasted until the coronation.
The more Arden piled excuse upon excuse to defend himself, the more pathetic and wretched he felt.
The emotion called conscience, which he had ignored again and again, raised its head proudly in a corner of his heart and made its presence known.
A groan escaped him.
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