The Arranged Suitor Was the Kidnapper

Zenox hastily left the store without even saying goodbye.

For a moment, Laria was left alone, her eyes wide in shock.

He suddenly found Whitie…

‘It must be a false report.’

Or he found someone who really looks like her.

It’s been three years, so he might not remember her face in detail.

‘It wouldn’t be bad if he mistook that fox for me.’

Wait. Does that mean someone else gets the reward of 10 billion pesos?

That hurt a bit.

‘Anyway, I’m glad it ended well without being caught.’

Holding a leaflet in one hand, Laria returned home.

Before she realized it, the carriage had passed through the gates of the Rohan mansion.

A garden full of various flowers surrounded the mansion built of white marble. As Laria gazed at the passing scenery, she chuckled to herself.

‘The more I think about it, the more ridiculous it becomes.‘

It was absurd from the start to see a match without any information just because of a prophecy.

She went out impulsively, but it’s likely that even her family didn’t know. If they did, there would have been an uproar.

Soon, the carriage stopped in front of the mansion’s entrance.

As she alighted, a familiar face appeared.

A man with silver hair and blue eyes, looking both handsome and assertive, was Herdin Rohan, the eldest son of the Rohan family.

“Why are you at home now, brother?”

He worked as the Crown Prince’s personal physician and was so busy he often worked even on holidays.

Being at home during the day. Did he finally lose your temper and cause trouble?

“Did you get fired?”

“…It’s a vacation,” Herdin responded with a look of disbelief.

He folded his arms and shook his head.

“I came home after a short errand this morning, and they said you were out. Where did you go?”

At his probing question, Laria sighed.

Everyone acted as if they’d eat her up the moment she went out.

Considering she’d been missing for half a year, their reaction might have been understandable.

“I went to see a match.”

“Really, a match… Wait, a match?!”

Herdin shouted so loudly that snake scales appeared on his cheeks.

His voice was so loud that even the distant workers looked over in surprise. Laria was also taken aback by his more intense reaction than she had anticipated.

With a twisted face, Herdin grabbed Laria’s shoulders and bombarded her with questions.

“Why did you go for a match? Did our parents tell you to? Did you suddenly think of getting married? Who’s the other party?”

“I went because it was the command of the Crown Prince.”

Herdin’s pupils narrowed vertically like a snake’s.

After a pause, Laria continued.

“The arranged suitor is Duke Krassium.”

The strength drained from Herdin’s hands on Laria’s shoulders.

“Ugh… they introduced you to that crazy guy?”

Crazy guy?

Before she could ask more, Herdin nodded as if he roughly understood the situation.

Herdin muttered with a sharp look in his eyes:

“I should kill him.”

“…Who?”

“The Crown Prince.”

Boldly making an assassination proclamation of royalty at the entrance.

“You know that killing a royal is treason, right?”

“Once in a lifetime, it’s good to be a traitor.”

Herdin seemed to have lost it.

Seeing he might genuinely cause trouble, Laria pointed to the scales on his cheek:

“First, put your scales away. Let’s go inside and talk.”

Herdin quickly retracted his scales and returned his pupils to their usual state.

The two entered the reception room of the mansion.

On the sofa, Herdin crumpled and sat, taking out a vial from his pocket and rolling it on his palm. She nervously wondered if it might be poison.

“I’ve mentioned you a few times to the Crown Prince, it seems he pushed the matchmaking on his own.”

The Crown Prince and Zenox Krassium were cousins. The Emperor’s sister married into the Krassium family, which is how the relationship started.

“I should’ve known from the beginning that Zenox Krassium was a decent man.”

His hand, holding the vial, trembled as if he was burning up again.

“…That’s not poison, right?”

She didn’t want to be executed because of him.

She had only thought about sending a letter of protest to the Crown Prince.

Instead of answering, Herdin opened the lid and downed the medicine.

He showed the vial to a shocked Laria.

[Sedative]

“I took it because it felt like I’d really poison myself otherwise.”

He still seemed angry, grinding his teeth.

“He introduced you to none other than Zenox Krassium?”

Frankly, looking only at status and wealth, Zenox was a great loss.

With a unique status as a Duke and immense wealth surpassing the imperial family.

However, Herdin reacted as if the Crown Prince had introduced a criminal.

It wasn’t hard to understand.

The fox tribe and wolf tribe despised each other.

Herdin, with a frowned face, closely examined Laria’s face.

“Are you okay? Your face looks pale.”

“This is how I normally look.”

Herdin looked annoyed at her nonchalant response.

Before he could nag her further, Laria tried to change the subject.

“What did you mean by calling him crazy earlier?”

“He’s crazy, so I called him that.”

Laria recalled the Zenox she had seen earlier. He acted cold, but he didn’t seem crazy.

If anything, the Zenox she met when she was a fox seemed crazier.

Over time, he became softer, and eventually, very gentle…

Herdin stared at Laria suspiciously, lost in thought.

“You surely rejected him, right?”

“I was the one rejected.”

“Why did he reject you!”

She had no idea what he wanted her to do.

“He doesn’t want to get married. It seemed like he was forced out because of the Crown Prince too.”

Thinking about earlier still made her heart race.

She hadn’t seen him in 3 years, and to suddenly meet him as an arranged suitor was surprising. She was thankful her fox ears or tail didn’t appear.

Herdin frowned disapprovingly at Laria’s response.

His gaze landed on her hand.

“What’s that in your hand?”

Laria showed him a flyer she was holding.

“Why did you bring this? We have hundreds at home.”

He had a point.

He glanced over the flyer, mumbling.

“Why is he fussing so much over a fox?”

Herdin, who usually had no interest in Zenox Krassium, showed hostility just because he was associated with Laria.

“You’re not marrying a man obsessed with pets.”

But that ‘pet’ is me…

Laria thought, but didn’t voice it.

Revealing that she was kidnapped by Zenox might change Herdin’s accusation from royal assassination to duke assassination.

Her family was still looking for the kidnapper.

If the Krassium and Rohan families clashed, Rohan would be ruined.

But for Laria, her family would willingly choose ruin.

‘It’s fortunate they think I have amnesia.’

There wasn’t a better shield than claiming not to remember anything.

Herdin murmured, letting out a sigh.

“I don’t know what the Crown Prince is thinking. He always did strange things.”

He warned Laria.

“Anyway, I’ll speak to the Crown Prince. Stay away from Duke Krassium.”

“There’s no need for that.”

Laria answered with confidence.

However, in just a few days, her confidence shattered.

“Whitie…?”

Because she ran into Zenox Krassium.