“You……!”

As soon as Maximo came in, he glared at Renato. Overwhelmed by his ferocious attitude, Renato reflexively closed his eyes and curled his body as much as possible. It was a reaction he learned from perpetual fear. Maximo, who was fuming while approaching, paused his steps when seeing that appearance.

‘Even if you are angry, you must not provoke His Imperial Highness, Your Majesty.’

Goddamn it. Recalling the palace doctor’s advice, Maximo swore internally. For the past few months, he had been keeping an eye on Renato who wasn’t in his right mind.

After his chief attendant’s death this summer, Renato’s body and mind rapidly collapsed. Shortly after the incident, Maximo looked for Renato as usual and was shocked to see him shedding tears like a broken wind-up doll. It was the first time he had seen Renato out of his mind like that. Sensing that Renato’s condition was serious, Maximo urgently called the palace doctor.

‘It seems that he has developed a mental illness due to excessive stress and shock. He is also showing symptoms of selective mutism and needs immediate treatment.’

After carefully examining Renato for several hours, the palace doctor diagnosed that he was suffering from severe depression.

‘Treatment? Until now, if we just leave him alone, he will heal on his own.’

‘There is a difference between a disease of the body and a disease of the mind. Fairy blood doesn’t help much with curing mental problems. The late Emperor also passed away without being able to overcome depression.’

‘Ha, that blood is always praised as outstanding blood, but it can’t cure just one mental problem?’

‘Honestly, it is thanks to fairy blood that he has survived until now…… Ahem, no. In any case, His Imperial Highness’ state right now is like a broken thread after being stretched to the limit. If this thread isn’t connected again, it may result in the worst possible situation.’

Maximo’s face stiffened in response to the palace doctor’s explanation. Worst possible situation, does that mean Renato will die? When he had that thought, his heart sank.

‘His depression is enough to cause selective mutism, so this shouldn’t be left alone. If something goes wrong……’

‘What if something goes wrong? Will he take his own life?’

‘……My apologies for saying this, but that is not impossible.’

Frightened by Maximo’s urging, the palace doctor cautiously answered. The Emperor’s abuse of Renato was so famous that rumors even spread outside the capital.

The palace doctor, who had taken care of Renato a few times when he fainted after being harassed by Maximo, hoped that Maximo’s violence would be reduced a little this time.

A palace doctor like him wasn’t in a position to sympathize with an honorable imperial family member, but with his conscience as a doctor, he still pitied the poor Prince.

‘Fucking hell!’

Maximo spat out a curse, then turned his gaze to Renato who was still sitting blankly. Renato didn’t show any reaction back when he came and back when the palace doctor examined him.

Eyes out of focus, a face without any expressions, skin as pale as a corpse…… Seeing Renato who was as lifeless as a doll, Maximo felt an incomprehensible fear.

Renato will die? Really?

Maximo momentarily felt as if his blood was draining from his body. Feeling urgent, he inquired with the palace doctor.

‘Then what should we do?’

‘We have to reduce the stress factor as much as possible to let him rest. Well, you, uhm, must not provoke His Imperial Highness, Your Majesty……’

The palace doctor, who knew Maximo’s fiery personality, looked at his countenance and trailed off at the end of his sentence. Realizing what he was trying to say, Maximo gritted his teeth. In the end, he was saying that Maximo was the reason for Renato’s condition.

‘……First, increase the surveillance of the Prince’s Palace, and I will appoint you as the Prince’s personal doctor. Make him become better somehow. If you can’t cure him, you will lose your life.’

From that day on, Maximo’s violence against Renato ceased. He stopped visiting for a while and only listened to the palace doctor’s report. Then, a few weeks later, when hearing that Renato’s condition had improved, he went to visit him. However, when seeing Maximo, Renato immediately convulsed and fainted, so he had to turn back without being able to do anything.

‘Damn it, why the hell are you like that to me…… Fuck!’

Maximo was furious at Renato’s apparent rejection. He wanted to kill him, but the thought of Renato dying suffocated him, making him incapable of doing anything. In the end, a few months passed while he couldn’t do anything.

Meanwhile, something got on Maximo’s nerves. About four months ago, Khalid, who became the Khan Kingdom’s new King, sent a letter. It wasn’t strange up there. After all, it was an international custom for the monarchs to send a personal letter to each country when they were crowned.

The problem was that the letter contained a message asking about Renato’s well-being. At the end of the letter, Khalid stated that he would like to reconnect with Renato, whom he had been friends with during his stay in the Empire as a diplomatic ambassador.

‘How dare……!’

When Maximo read Khalid’s letter, he was furious. He wanted to tear the letter apart, but he couldn’t.

Now Khalid was not a grand prince, but the monarch of a country. He was also the Khan Kingdom’s hero who suppressed all rebel forces despite being heavily outnumbered. He had become an important figure that even the Emperor like Maximo couldn’t recklessly touch.

‘Prevent the King of the Khan Kingdom from contacting the Prince. Communication with him will be left to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.’

Maximo thoroughly prevented Khalid and Renato from contacting each other. However, Khalid persistently sent letters to Renato despite being unable to contact him. The Khan Kingdom’s diplomatic ambassador also requested an audience almost every day, saying he had to deliver the King’s words. Maximo sent the ambassador back each time using Renato’s illness as an excuse.

‘It is disrespectful to ignore the diplomatic ambassador who is the King’s representative…… It could escalate into a diplomatic issue.’

‘We need the Khan Kingdom’s help to stop the monster wave that is expected to occur this autumn. We shouldn’t provoke the King……’

The nobles did not understand Maximo’s continued refusal of Khalid’s request and condemned it. After Maximo’s accession, the Empire was in chaos due to a series of inexplicable droughts and floods. It would be difficult if they had friction with the Khan Kingdom now.

However, Maximo stubbornly refused Khalid’s request. After several scuffles, Khalid used an excessive method that no one could have imagined. He formally proposed to Renato.

Khalid Nur Hakan, the monarch of the country where winter begins, wishes to welcome Renato El Fleurette, who belongs to the country that receives the Fairy King’s protection, as my companion for the rest of my life. Therefore, I formally propose as a human being rather than a King……

Not long ago, Maximo was extremely indignant when he received Khalid’s proposal letter from the Khan Kingdom’s diplomatic ambassador. A letter could be roughly answered, and a representative could be rejected. However, it was difficult for even Maximo to ignore the marriage proposal sent by the King of a country.

As Maximo kept interfering with his contact with Renato, Khalid used a method that left Maximo with no choice but to unconditionally reply. And above all, the man didn’t only send a proposal letter. The diplomatic ambassador said Khalid was coming to the Empire to propose to Renato himself. 

With that, Maximo couldn’t stand it any longer. He took Khalid’s proposal letter and headed to Renato. He wanted to know what the hell was the relationship between the two, and why that fucking King bastard was so obsessed with Renato.

“Huu.”

Maximo resisted the urge to shout at Renato at any moment and brushed up his disheveled hair. Then, he held out the marriage proposal letter in his hand in front of Renato.

“Look at this. Just now, the King of the Khan Kingdom has sent you a marriage proposal. Does this even make sense?”

“Huh……?”

“Khalid Nur Hakan! Why would that jerk propose to you?!”

“Pro……pose?”

Khalid? To me? Renato responded a beat late to Maximo’s words. It was something he had never imagined. When Renato looked at the proposal letter with a puzzled expression, Maximo became even angrier.

“What’s your relationship with that goddamn bastard? Just what, that punk…… Fuck! You just pretended to be docile, how dare you!”

Maximo, unable to contain his rising anger, mercilessly crumpled the proposal letter in his hand and threw it on the floor. Then, he reached out and tightly grabbed Renato’s shoulder. His fierce eyes became sharper.

“Just when? Since when have you had that kind of relationship with that bastard?”

“That kind of relationship? We didn’t have anything……”

“You didn’t? Do you really think I will believe that? Come to think of it, you have been in touch with that jerk from before, right? Damn it! How the hell?!”

Maximo interrupted Renato’s sentence and poured out sharp words. Feeling the force on his shoulder become stronger, Renato grimaced. He couldn’t understand Maximo who was acting as if he had suffered a great betrayal.

“Sending letters wasn’t enough, so he put pressure on me through the diplomatic ambassador every day, and now he’s even proposing? Ha, this shitty bastard! Fuck!”

Unable to suppress the annoyance that had risen to the top of his head, Maximo screamed in anger. The more he thought about it, the more his stomach boiled.

He of course knew that the two were close from before. He saw Khalid being friendly with Renato several times back when the man was in the Empire as a diplomatic ambassador, and he also saw the two exchange letters even after Khalid had left for the kingdom. Maximo imprisoned Renato in his palace for the reason of secretly communicating with a foreign country because of that.

Still, amid the civil war against the rebels, Khalid had sent several people to contact Renato. However, Maximo interrupted his attempts, threatening him to continue if he wanted to see Renato die from the crime of secret communication with a foreign country, so the man stopped.

So he thought the man had given up. But then, the man did nonsensical things like sending a proposal and asking to have Renato as his companion.

Why would a dominant Alpha like Khalid choose a Beta like Renato as his companion? Even if they got married, they wouldn’t be able to have an heir.

Maximo’s common sense couldn’t comprehend it. If a union between Alpha and Beta was possible, he would have……

“……What did you just say? Letters?”

Renato’s voice interrupted Maximo’s thoughts. He blinked his reddened eyes with a slightly dazed face. Then, Renato with an astonished expression entered Maximo’s clear vision.