“Vivian, probabilistically, the Imperial family believes in superstitions more than the general population. Conservative and the most behind the times.”

“No, why do you talk like you’ve been talking about someone else?”

Vivian was so frustrated that he just laughed at this absurdity. If left as it is, the fire was about to blow out of her mouth.

Aiden stretched out his hand with a smile on his face. And he said, gently stroking her lips, which only spoke of lovely words.

It was a mysterious love.

“What?”

It was a small murmur, almost a whisper. But Vivian clearly heard what he said about ‘mysterious love’.

She stopped getting angry and stiffened herself. He was looking down at her as if he was looking at something lovely. His blue eyes were blatantly full of affection, to the point where she wondered why she had never known this before.

Vivian would sometimes get that look from Aiden. Because the gaze was so similar to lust, or anger, she arbitrarily concluded that he was possessive of her body. And whenever she did, she had s*x with him.

She was convinced that he wanted his body, but now she has a strong feeling that it’s not.

It was an epileptic look that seemed to desire something more than lust. The eyes that touch the heart more than the body.

Vivian opened her mouth with a blank face without realizing it. Why didn’t she know this until now?

Aiden stared persistently into her eyes, sounding thirsty. She now fully understands what he wants to hear now.

Vivian avoided his gaze when she felt her face burning red, now burning to the point of tears.

… really, what a fool.

She was ashamed of herself for trying to help the Emperor’s unrequited love without even noticing the explicit feelings toward her.

While Vivian was hesitating whether to confess or forget the situation, Aiden continued.

“There has never been a member of the Imperial family with black hair. Furthermore, the empress had dark brown hair. It wasn’t black like mine. My appearance was born heavily inherited from the Emperor’s blood, but the black hair was unknown to the root. They couldn’t help but feel ominous.”

“But that’s the only thing that’s all.”

“In conclusion, it is Julian who was chosen. I’m on the abandoned side, and it was normal for that to happen.”

It was just bad luck, he said, shrugging as if it wasn’t a big deal.

Aiden did not intend to recite his past history in detail, which neither the listener nor the speaker was happy about. Vivian, who was extraordinary in this direction, put together the pieces of the puzzle at once, as if it were enough or enough to understand.

In short, one had silver hair, a blessing from God, for resembling his brother as a twin, but one had black hair, a symbol of darkness, meaning he was out of sight despite the deficit that inherited the Emperor and Empress.

As he said, it was not a rare story among the Imperial family or aristocrats who fought hard for successors. Vivian herself used a similar story as the theme of the novel, saying that the male protagonist should have at least one unfortunate past.

It was a worn-out cliché that had been used since ancient times, and the reality was that it would not be less than the original novel.

But she couldn’t laugh at all.

The reason why he was the Black Prince, who had all kinds of bad rumours. She thought he was pretending to be the son of a bitch because he didn’t want to take over the Emperor’s post, but it wasn’t such a simple and lame reason. Aiden had been branded ‘evil’ since he was a child who knew nothing.

He was raised to be a shadow. For his younger brother, who will inherit the throne, staying in the shade.

“No scars all over the body in childhood…”

“Well, that’s what it is.”

“You were abused? How could the Emperor do that to the you…!

“No, I don’t think so. It’s not abuse, it’s just that I’ve been hard-pressed to live a little.”

Vivian was stiffened with one look at every blow, and then she burst into tears.

There were burn marks, too. She couldn’t bring it up but her lips were chapped.

The emotion contained in the purple eyes hanging tears was anger, not sympathy. He seemed to be okay because it was long ago, but her side was angry and couldn’t stand it.

“That’s what we call abuse.”

The first day she visited his mansion, she remembered the conversation she had with him in the carriage.

Did you like books when you were young?

I read fairy tales a lot. That’s unexpected. I think Ray would have read professional books when he was young.

Cause there wasn’t much of a choice.

At that time, she didn’t know the meaning of the word and passed it over without thinking, but now she could guess what was going on.

Aiden had said that fairy tales were a kind of escape for him as a child. The thought of young Aiden reading a fairy tale with wounds all over his body made her stomach boil even more.

Someone’s heart is shaking and can’t even touch it properly! How dare he, the Emperor! His childhood, when no one will ever compensate him, is so…