Beast’s Flower - Chapter 19

 

Thank you kuroneko_chan for the kofi~!

 

***

 

It was a relaxed smile.

 

The image of the Crown Prince sitting on the honorable seat at the Baron’s drawing room with his legs crossed, was like a painting. The atmosphere was so gentle that it would be nice to call in a portrait artist to paint right now.

 

That was why the Baron could not quite understand the words that came from the Crown Prince’s mouth.

 

“Yes? What do you mean…?”

 

“I’m asking if Baron Valencia is screwing with me right now?”

 

Still with a relaxed smile, the Crown Prince said as he gracefully draped his hand from the armrest over his thigh.

 

“O-of course not. Unless I’m crazy, how can I do such a disrespectful thing to Your Highness.”

 

“Ah, then are you crazy, Baron Valencia?”

 

“N-no. Your highness.”

 

Because the Crown Prince spoke with a smile from the start to finish, the Baron was even more indecisive. Clearly, his expression was kind and unfathomable, but the words that came out from his mouth were so cruel.

 

“You seem to be misunderstanding something.”

 

“Misunderstanding…”

 

“Yes. Your Highness.”

 

“It’s a misunderstanding.”

 

Bioust tapped his finger as if he was thinking of something. And as if his life depended on them, Baron was only looking at his finger.

 

“I’m sure I told you, Baron, that I would make your daughter my Crown Princess.”

 

“Yes, yes. That’s true.”

 

“But the Baron dared to try to burn and kill my future bride?”

 

“That’s not it, Your Highness.”

 

“If not, then what is it?”

 

As if he was a very generous person by giving him enough time to explain, Bioust leaned back slowly to the backrest and watched the Baron.

 

“That is, as you have said, I have a daughter. I have two daughters. That caused some misunderstanding. I thought that Your Highness was talking about my second daughter.”

 

“Didn’t you already talk about that with my attendant?”

 

“Yes, yes. That’s right. So I tried to get things right, but, I mean, my eldest daughter that you are talking about, I mean, Layla, has a little problem with her birth…”

 

Words did not come out straight. The Baron was pondering about it right now.

 

Whether he should go around with smooth-talking, or does he have to say it with his own mouth that his daughter was a witch.

 

“What do you mean there’s a problem with her birth?”

 

“That, I mean…”

 

“There’s a curse on my older sister.”

 

It was Ariadne who suddenly opened the door and came in between them.

 

Ariadne, wearing a black dress as if it was a mourning dress, entered the place with a sad expression and paid respect to the Crown Prince. Bioust just looked at Ariadne with an indifferent gaze.

 

“We have hidden it all this time, afraid that someone in the family would be like that. I apologize, Your Highness.”

 

As Ariadne bowed her head deeply, her voluptuous breasts appeared right in front of the Crown Prince. He doesn’t know if it was intentional or not. And Bioust didn’t really want to know.

 

“Can I sit down for a moment?”

 

Whether she had assumed that the Crown Prince’s silence was  permission or not, Ariadne walked with soft steps, just like when she first came in, and sat down next to her father.

 

“My sister has had a stench since she was born.”

 

“Dear.”

 

“Father, I can’t hide it from the Crown Prince any longer.”

 

As if she had made up her mind, Ariadne bit her lip and looked at Bioust with a pitiful gaze and expression on her face.

 

“We don’t know what curse my sister received, but she was already stinky the moment she was born. We searched all over the country to cure her, but it was not within the reach of humans.”

 

Ariadne lowered her tear-stained eyes.

 

“Her disease could not be cured, and we lost all of our family’s fortune. Moreover, as the villagers learned of my sister’s stench, she became known as a witch.”

 

She let out a single deep sigh, and looked at the Crown Prince. Ariadne was ecstatic seeing him watch her attentively listening to her story.

 

Those shining golden eyes were truly stunning. Moreover, when she thought that those eyes were looking at her, she was even more thrilled.

 

“We had no choice but to get her sister out of her mansion. That way, we’ll be able to support my sister. The Crown Prince will not know how it feels to live apart from someone with the same blood. It feels like the cold in the middle of winter.”

 

“Ariadne. You…”

 

The Crown Prince’s lips moved slowly. Ariadne pricked her ears, wondering what those sexy lips would say.

 

“You really have a knack for turning b*llsh*it lies sounds like the truth.”

 

“Yes?”

 

However, without even pointlessly pricking up her ears, she thought she had heard it wrong.

 

When she blinked her eyes and looked at the Crown Prince, he still had an elegant, gentle expression on his face. His shining golden eyes were still stunning, and his lips with smooth curves were too beautiful to say, ‘b*llsh*t’.

 

“For a moment, I almost made a mistake thinking that the person sitting in front of me is a dog, not a person.

 

She wasn’t wrong. It was the handsome Crown Prince in front of her who said the word b*llsh*t just now.

 

“To say that you lost your fortune, don’t you think this mansion is too splendid? And right now, all the young lady’s dresses and jewelry are all gorgeous.”

 

“Besides, I asked why you tried to burn my bride alive, and not about what happened because my bride is a witch.”

 

“That’s why, Your Highness. That is exactly what I am trying to say.”

 

Flustered, Ariadne leaned her body slightly towards Bioust with her hand lightly touching the table.

 

“We didn’t want to sacrifice my sister either. Isn’t that obvious? What family would want to kill their own blood? But, it was a choice made because it was inevitable.”

 

“…”

 

“She’s a witch. We know that she was a witch, how could we dare to let her become the Crown Princess and become disloyal servants…”

 

“… Can you take responsibility for those words?”

 

Finally, Bioust’s patience ran out. His cold voice was so cold that you wouldn’t think he was like the friendly Crown Prince.

 

Besides, he wasn’t even using honorifics like usual.

 

“You dared to say that my bride is a witch. You can take the appropriate responsibility for this, right?”

 

“My sister definitely stinks…”

 

“There wasn’t.”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Your older sister, the woman that you called a witch, and Layla, there was no stench at all.”

 

“Yes?”

 

Watching the Bioust speak, pointing to the same person one by one with his cold eyes and a chilly voice, Ariadne asked with a blank expression.

“I’m saying that I met Layla myself, and I didn’t smell any stench.”

 

“T-that’s impossible.”

 

“Are you saying that I’m lying?”

 

“T-that’s not it.”

 

Even as he looked at the flustered Ariadne, Bioust’s eye did not waver. Ariadne’s skin was tingling at the sharp golden eyes that seemed to pierce people.

 

The current Crown Prince seemed to be different from the kind Crown Prince. From the moment he started speaking impolitely.

 

“You dared to lie to the Empire’s Crown Prince, that’s treason. We can’t have traitor nobles in  Orlion. From this moment on, I will deprive you of the title of Baron of the House of Valencian.”

 

“Y-your highness…”

 

The bewildered voice came out of the Baron’s mouth, who had been quietly listening to his daughter speak.

 

“For daring to frame my bride, who will become the Crown Princess, that she was a witch or that she stinks, is also a crime of treason, and as a punishment, the Baron Valencia’s mansion will be burned down.”

 

“Y-Your Highness the Crown Prince!”

 

This time it was Ariadne in a hoarse voice shouted. But just because she did so, doesn’t mean that Bioust would say no in an instant.

 

“It’s a misunderstanding. It’s not like that.”

 

Ariadne’s hand hurriedly grabbed Bioust’s arm. With a glance, Bioust’s gaze turned to that hand.

 

“Everything is a misunderstanding, Your Highness.”

 

Seeing Bioust looking at her hand, Ariadne forced a smile. Then, as she slowly moved her hand from on his arm upwards, her eyes met the Crown Prince’s eyes and just stiffened in fear right then.

 

There were no beautiful golden eyes. Only cold eyes were staring at her. No, maybe the cold feeling was only Ariadne’s own perception of the emotion.

 

The eyes of Bioust in front of her showed no emotions. She only felt coldness from his eyes because he was looking at her like an object rather than a person.

 

“Who did you dare to grab with your filthy hand?”

 

There was no emotion in the voice that was flowing slowly.

 

He said it was filthy, but he didn’t feel any aversion. He said she dared but he didn’t feel any rage.

 

It was as if everything was a fabricated screenplay.

 

“Suli!”

 

The loud voice calling for his attendant and his attendant, who came in as if he was waiting. Ariadne just felt like everything was a directed stage play.

 

So even at the moment when the Crown Prince drew his sword from the attendant’s waist, she thought of it as a prop from the play. Perhaps Ariadne thought so even at the moment when her arm was cut off.

 

If only there was no enormous pain.

 

“Ahhhhhhh!!”

 

“Ariadne!”

 

At that moment, when blood gushed like a fountain from Baron’s esteemed daughter’s arm, a light of emotion flashed in Bioust’s eyes for a brief moment and then disappeared.

 

“Burn it.”

 

“Yes, Your highness.”

 

The Crown Prince held out the blood-stained sword, and his attendant received the sword as usual.

 

He didn’t say what to burn, but he acted as if he knew everything. The two came out of the room, not paying any attention to the suffering Baron’s esteemed daughter, or about the Baron, who was confused about what to do when he saw his daughter in such a state.

 

And after a while.

 

Gray smoke began to rise from the Baron Valencia’s mansion.

 

***

 

T/N:

 

Burn them all!