Resetting Lady

“…I apologize, Your Highness.”

Raymond’s face was clouded with sorrow.

Lewis watched him and fell deep into thought. He wanted to grant Raymond’s requests, no matter what they were. If Raymond asked for something, Lewis would have agreed without hesitation.

However, what Raymond had brought to him wasn’t an easy matter to decide on.

“My father… I had a feeling he was that kind of person, but still…”

Lewis sat in his room, resting his chin in his hand, lost in contemplation. His relationship with his father, Crown Prince Gueuze, was difficult to describe.

When Lewis was born, it was initially a good thing for Crown Prince Gueuze. It meant that the succession to the throne would go from Gueuze to Lewis. Having a son secured the crown even more for the prince.

However, things were different for Gueuze, as the king was reluctant to pass the throne to his son. Lewis had understood since he was five years old that his position could put him at odds with his father. But suspecting something and directly confronting the reality of his father’s increasingly secretive dealings were two very different things.

After hearing from Raymond about Crown Prince Gueuze’s secret chamber, Lewis’s youthful face carried wrinkles of worry that didn’t seem to belong to a child.

He had always suspected that his father was not a good man. The way people around Gueuze acted, the constant replacement of maids, and the rumors of injured or disabled people leaving his palace—these things had reached Lewis’s ears.

But the fact that his father was not only doing that but was also kidnapping people and murdering them in a secret chamber was overwhelming.

Lewis’s first thought was to save those people, but then a second, darker thought crept in: What’s going to happen to me?

“As the son of a murderer, I wonder how I should feel?”

“…I apologize.”

Lewis looked at Raymond, wondering what his other tutors might say. Some of them would argue, like Raymond, that anyone who knew such dark secrets of the royal family should be dealt with. Even if Lewis eventually opposed Crown Prince Gueuze, this was too serious a matter.

“Does Marquis Penceir know?”

“I think he suspects, but I doubt he knows for sure.”

“And the fact that he didn’t report it to me—do you think it’s because I’m too young? Or because this issue is just too big for him to handle?”

What Raymond had told him was too enormous a matter.

Gueuze wanted Lewis out of the way. Not in the distant future, but soon. Very soon. And Carynne was a key piece of evidence in all of this.

“I’ll meet with Miss Carynne Hare first, and then I’ll decide.”

* * *

The wedding preparations were rushed and done with little care. A wedding to become the king’s mistress didn’t need to be grand. The wedding dress was especially plain and unremarkable. ȐᴀɴòВЕś

Though the dresses Carynne had received from Gueuze were all beyond price, the wedding dress was different. It was cheap. In every country, in every era, a woman would wear her finest gown for her wedding, but not Carynne.

This was not a real wedding. Even as she looked at the stiff, oversized fabric, she knew it was a formality. Noticing how ill-fitted it seemed, Gueuze glanced at the dress draped on the mannequin in front of Carynne and asked,

“Do you need something better?”

“No, it’s unimportant. The dress doesn’t matter.”

Carynne willingly accepted the paper-like fabric, a plain white dress with no adornments. Everyone knew the wedding itself wasn’t important. It was just a formality.

What truly mattered was that she was becoming Crown Prince Gueuze’s mistress.

So there was no need to put too much effort into the wedding. In fact, it was better to downplay it, to show Gueuze that she wasn’t overly invested in it.

“Catherine left me after the wedding. This one will be held in the rear garden of the royal palace. It won’t take much time—it’ll be a simple affair.”

“I won’t make the same choice my mother did.”

“Do you really think I’ll believe that?”

Crown Prince Gueuze’s hand gripped Carynne’s chin, turning her head side to side. It hurt, but Carynne didn’t resist. She let him move her as he pleased. There was no point in letting pride get in the way.

“Being too obedient makes you suspicious, you know.”

Well, what exactly do you want me to do?

Carynne lowered her gaze, grumbling inwardly. Whatever she did, it was always a problem. She couldn’t understand how her mother ever got involved with a man like this. Carynne resented Catherine for not handling things properly and leaving her to deal with this mess.

“Your Highness has already given me all the riches I could ever desire. How could I possibly be more satisfied than this?”

“You say amusing things. It’s not your affection I’m after. I’m just trying to imagine what Catherine must have felt through you.”

“Is that really all?”

“It’s not just that.”

Gueuze licked his lips and pressed down on Carynne’s stomach.

“But I haven’t lost my mind enough to believe everything you say.”

His hand slid lower, nearing her groin, and his lips twisted into a sneer.

“Never once have I touched you, yet you claim to be pregnant with my child.”

Carynne smiled back at him.

“Yes, it is your child, Your Highness.”

Believe it or not.

Their smiles were sharp, full of venom.

* * *

At first, Carynne thought she had to hide her pregnancy. She feared that if Crown Prince Gueuze found out, he might cut her open to see for himself. He was exactly the kind of person who would do something like that.

“I’ve been curious about people’s insides since I was young. No matter how different people looked on the outside, inside, they were all the same… I liked seeing that.”

But soon, she realized something else.

Even if Carynne weren’t pregnant, Gueuze would still want to cut her open. He was that kind of man. As he placed his hand on her shoulder, he whispered to her.

“But I think your insides will be beautiful.”

“Don’t you think the outside is nice enough?”

“Of course, the outside is fine. But it’s only temporary. Beauty fades quickly. That’s why I like to preserve things… by swapping parts out here and there. But even then, they don’t last very long.”

“That’s unfortunate. Well, rather than a screaming hostage, how about taking me as your mistress, as I suggested earlier? If you keep dressing me up, my outward beauty will last longer.”

Carynne was willing to use her body however necessary to survive.

The thought of picking up her mother’s leftovers was still revolting to her, but this wasn’t the time to be picky. Whether she became a mistress or a pet, Carynne had to survive. She couldn’t let go of this life where she’d finally managed to get pregnant after a century of trying.

“I want to be the only person who truly understands you, Your Highness.”

But Gueuze only smiled, his lips stretching wide in a twisted grin as his eyes narrowed. His look said he could see right through her.

“Little girl, ever since Catherine left me, I’ve had no expectations of anyone. You’re not Catherine—you’re just the leftover scraps she left behind.”

“After all, how could I not love what Catherine left behind for me?”

***

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