Chapter 91: CH 91

Gabriel let out a laugh.

Daphne is nice and pure. That’s why she sees the world so beautifully.

Gabriel shook his head. Everything is frustrating. Even his status that Gabriel is sitting it.

No matter how much I think about it, it’s just as difficult as if this position didn’t belong to Gabriel.

But the frustration was bearable when Daphne was by his side.

That was why, even though Daphne said she didn’t want it, he had to be her.

Gabriel stormed out of the room.

The knights followed him, but he held them back. There were days when I wanted to be alone.

Gabriel left the mansion. The knights hesitated and he could feel them following him in the distance.

Gabriel staggered as he walked down the street.

Then Lee Jong-Woo appeared suddenly again as before.

“You’re always alone, aren’t you?”

“… You always show up unexpectedly.”

Gabriel said coldly. Lee Jong-woo shrugged his shoulders.

“Maybe you have business around here, or maybe you’re here to see Daphne.”

Lee Jong-woo coughed in vain.

It was true that he had been circling the neighborhood to check on Daphne’s well-being.

Gabriel said Daphne was safe, but it was frustrating because he couldn’t check it himself.

Of course, there was one more reason to come.

“I came to see my friend. We asked to see each other again, but didn’t exchange any contact information. If you have a cell phone… No.”

Lee Jong-woo scratched his forehead with a troubled face. He couldn’t think of any way to contact him.

“Me? You can reach me at this mansion. 5 Royal Street 31st Street. But everyone would know when it was called the Crown Prince’s residence.”

Gabriel tilted his head.

“Hmm… I see.”

Lee Jong-Woo patted his chin and nodded.

“I have figured out how to contact you, mate.”

Lee Jong-Woo caught up with Gabriel and stood next to him.

“… What business do you have?”

“Do friends have to have a reason to meet? Friends are the things you can meet even if you don’t have a business. I came here to see my friend. I am worried.”

Lee Jong-woo realized that Gabriel’s emotions were also shaking as the original story went wrong.

Besides, I was worried because Gabriel seemed to be obsessed with Daphne.

“I wanted to see you.”

Gabriel let out a laugh.

“I thought Daphne would tell me such a word. You are so strange. Don’t you know who I am?”

“Of course, I know.”

Lee Jong-woo smiled brightly.

“You’re a friend, that’s all that matters, but you look so troubled. What happened?”

Friend…

Gabriel glanced at Lee Jong-woo. He said he knew who Gabriel was, and he spit those words out casually.

Now Lee Jong-woo was not making any calculations against Gabriel. His eyes were filled with only a transparent smile.

Gabriel’s eyes twinkled.

I’ve seen a look like that before. Daphne was just like that.

It was Cesare who saved Gabriel.

At that time, Cesare had an arrogant look at Gabriel as a slave.

Daphne, on the other hand… had a smile on her face and a warm hand outstretched to Gabriel, with no prejudice whatsoever.

It wasn’t the gaze that judged Gabriel as a slave or anything else.

Gabriel had been in Daphne’s heart.

But Lee Jong-woo looks at himself with the same eyes as Daphne.

For a moment, Gabriel’s mouth was blocked.

After discovering Daphne’s things in Lee Jong-woo, I couldn’t figure out what to say.

After staring blankly at Lee Jong-woo for a while,s he was able to speak.

“What if I told you something happened to me?”

“Well, I can help you with what I can, and… if not that, I can at least listen to your story, which is always helpful, isn’t it?”

“In what way?”

“In the way that it makes you feel lighter, knowing that I’m here to share the burden of my friend’s heart.”

Gabriel laughed briefly.

I don’t know what kind of connection between Daphne and Lee Jong-woo, but they really do resemble each other as if they were printed out.

Is it because they know each other?

Gabriel shook his head.

Gabriel’s lips, which had been tightly closed, opened.

“… I am a person who belongs to nowhere.”

Gabriel looked at Lee Jong-woo with a broken expression. A shallow wind blew between Lee Jong-woo and Gabriel.

In fact, Lee Jong-woo was quite surprised.

It’s because I never imagined that Gabriel would bring up that kind of story.

Even in the original, Gabriel was a character with a festering problem.

It’s not Stockholm Syndrome, and that’s the reason why he had no choice but to love Cesare, who harassed and imprisoned Gabriel in many ways.

TL/N: Stockholm syndrome is a coping mechanism to a captive or abusive situation. People develop positive feelings toward their captors or abusers over time.

Gabriel was the bottom and became the Crown Prince.

He had to be pointed everywhere, and people constantly questioned Gabriel’s legitimacy.

Cesare was the only person who treated Gabriel without prejudice, constantly tormented him, and poured out his affection at the same time.

Lee Jong-woo seemed to know Gabriel’s affection for Daphne.

“Can I see your hand?”

Lee Jong-woo stared at Gabriel’s hand.

“There is no royal family or aristocrat with such hands. I never let my attendants touch my hand.”

There was a laugh in Gabriel’s voice.

“Who would accept a crown prince with such a deformity, even if I look at it, I am strange.”

“Friend… You’re not.”

Lee Jong-woo spoke the words that had been stuck in his throat.

No one knows the loneliness and emptiness of belonging to nowhere.

Lee Jong-woo had abilities that others did not have.

When people found out about Lee Jong-woo’s abilities, they often pointed at him or called him a monster.

That is why Lee Jong-woo hid his secret and began to keep his mouth shut.

“You decide where you want to be. If you want to be here, you can do that. Time will take care of everything, and… My friend.”

Lee Jong-woo smiled brightly.

“I think you’re a better fit for that job than anyone else.”

This was sincere.

Lee Jong-woo knew the ending of this novel. Gabriel becomes a saint. Because he was an Emperor who could understand what commoners felt.

Future descendants will praise Gabriel as the great emperor who laid the foundations for the welfare of the empire.

“… You speak like Daphne.”

“Yeah… Because we know each other.”

Lee Jong-woo coughed in vain.

Gabriel confided in his story as if Lee Jong-woo had become a little more comfortable. The walk that was supposed to be shortened became longer.

Gabriel’s heart was also opened to Lee Jong-woo. Very slightly.

*****

The empress drank her coffee with her eyes downcast. The aroma seemed to soothe her mind and body.

It’s been a while since I started my morning with this coffee. It has become a habit.

And there was one more thing that became the Empress habit.

“I wish the Countess would circulate and get rid of the bariol as soon as possible, Your Majesty.”

I looked down at my father, Marquis Gallard.

The Empress dismissed him.

The Marquis Gallard seemed to be twisted by the look of his daughter’s eyes, but he had no choice but to bear it.

“You must have more to increase the value of it… The more desperate those who want it, the more money you can take.”

“They say that if your tail is too long, you might get stepped on. I wonder if it was discovered by someone…”

“They’re probably asking for more money.”

The Empress spoke casually, as if nothing special.

Marquis Gallard invested in Count Peliard, and at the same time received a reward, he purchased some of the bariols and owned them.

No one in the family knew more about the many uses of bariol than the Marquis Gallart.

“At the moment, Count Peliard noticed that financing was difficult. They are trying to rub it against us.”

The Empress tapped the calculator in her head. If you pay Count Peliard now, you will be able to hold the bariol a little more.

“Then, giving Count Peliard more money…”

Marquis Gallard said, looking into the Empress’s eyes.

Now, the Marquis Gallard, and the rest of the aristocracy were relying on the Empress’ every word.

Because the Empress had an extraordinary and vicious brain as much as her pretty appearance, she was a person who could drive her family to death for her own benefit.

In fact, the aristocracy had lost a major pillar with the death of the previous crown prince. They had no shield to push for the next Emperor.

However, the Empress did not care and was putting pressure on Gabriel.

‘There is no need for an alternative. Can’t I just tame Gabriel and make it my own? The Crown Prince who just rolled around on the street. But I couldn’t tame this one.’

The way she glared at the nobles who had been complaining was eerie.

And the Empress was looking at the Marquis de Gallart with those same eyes now.