The Broken Prince's Love

Few people dared to cause issues during a royal ball. Only some selected idiots were stupid enough to do so. Apparently, one of them had appeared today. That was unusual.

The fact that Cedar was boiling was even more unusual though. He had to hold himself back from finding an excuse to pull that man into a private room, just to show how happy he was about him bothering Lucille so much that she almost cried. The prince was glad that she had agreed to stay with him, or he might truly have ensured that that marquess held back.

For a while, everything was fine like this. Cedar could just escort Lucille and stay by her side to make sure that no one hurt her.

The biggest problem was the fact that people were staring at them. But in the end, people always paid attention to the royal family, and that the prince suddenly escorted a woman certainly caught the others' attention. It was only natural. Cedar had even stepped away from the royal couple in hopes of reducing the attention they gathered, but that didn't help much.

Lucille was uncomfortable being watched, but she didn't complain even once. She just avoided eye contact and moved closer to him when someone stared at her for too long.

That only made Cedar want to protect her even more. Holding her hand was good and felt way too pleasant, but he would like to hide her from the people with vile intentions. Unfortunately, that wasn't possible. He had hoped that his presence would be enough to keep troublesome people away, but he was wrong.

At some point, that strange marquess dared to approach them.

Lucille immediately tensed, which made Cedar want to put an arm around her, but he was forced to hold back and just decided to deal with this issue for her.

The prince leaned over and whispered. “Relax. I will make him go away.” He turned to the marquess and just gave him a little smile.

Everyone should know that not being addressed meant that the concerned person was unwilling to speak. Usually, this was enough to get rid of people who would need to be greeted later. Sadly, that didn't seem to work out here. The marquess didn't get the message.

So, Cedar did the next thing that was impolite and showed that he wanted to be left alone. He greeted the other man without acknowledging his title. “Good evening.” He already feared that this wouldn't work out either, and unfortunately, he was right.

The marquess bowed to him and spoke up. “I wish you a relaxing evening, Your Royal Highness. I hope that I am not bothering you at the moment.” He was.

The prince almost said that directly but just put on his colder smile. That should be enough to make the other man understand. “Thank you for your concern. Please enjoy the ball as well.” He didn't want a conversation. Any other person would have backed out by now.

The marquess was still standing here though. He was actually going through with this. He was serious about bothering Cedar. “I sincerely apologize for chiming in like this. I do not wish to interrupt you, nor do I wish to trouble Your Royal Highness. I merely wish to express my congratulations upon your return to the capital. It is a great pleasure to meet you.”

By now, Cedar was almost completely sure that this wasn't just related to that man and Lucille's father knowing each other.

In the case that the marquess was just an idiot who wanted to cause problems for Lucille, he would have turned away by now. But this man stood here despite obviously seeming uncomfortable, probably because he knew that the prince wouldn't take this too kindly. This meant that he had another goal.

Cedar scanned the marquess until that man started shifting around and then spoke up. “I am honored to hear this. But my presence is not very important. Not when other matters in the capital are much more exciting. I thank you for your congratulations. However, I must inform you that we will leave now. There are a lot of people we have to meet. I wish you a wonderful evening.” This time, he had voiced this with a bit more sharpness in his voice.

The marquess pressed his lips together. For a moment, his gaze wandered to the side, to the person who was probably at fault for this. Then he forced himself to look back to continue his stupid plot. “I sincerely apologize. I know that we cannot bother His Royal Highness for too long. That is why I wished to offer to escort Lady Valerian in your stead. After all, you have much better things to do and-”

Cedar cut him off there. His mood was getting worse with every second. Maybe that man should be more careful. Cedar wouldn't lose his temper anymore, but he knew how to scare others if it was necessary. He didn't need to do that with such a small fish though. He could just be direct. “Saying that you are a bother would be wrong. But I can assure you that no one here has qualms about voicing it when other people aren't needed. There is still something I need to discuss with Lady Valerian. Would you be so kind to leave us alone?”

The marquess clenched his jaw and barely managed to meet the other's gaze. It took him a few seconds before he replied. “I...need to discuss something with Lady Valerian as well. Would you perhaps give us-”

The prince showed him a bright smile. “No. I am currently escorting her with her permission, so I believe that I do have the right to decline for her. She was not willing to go with you before, which you completely ignored, and now she is busy. So, excuse us. Or was there something else?”

When the marquess stayed even after that, it became obvious that he was forced to do this. Most likely, he would risk losing something if he left now. So, it was quite obvious who could be behind this. “I... Your Royal Highness, please forgive my insolence. But this is an important matter. Lady Valerian agreed to come with me. After that, she suddenly changed her mind and ran to you. Now she is causing trouble for you, so I feel guilty.”

Cedar's patience was slowly running thin. He wasn't quite sure how someone managed to be so infuriating. But right now, it was getting dangerous for the other man. Provoking royalty wasn't clever, and Cedar would gladly be honest about why. The only reason he couldn't act carelessly was that he did his best to keep people from looking at them. He couldn't afford to anger his brother now by getting into a fight.

The prince just smiled at the other man and spoke up in a lower voice. “So, you are here to apologize for ignoring her opinion?”

The marquess' eyes widened at that. “No!” His voice was shaking now. “She agreed to come with me. I told you-”

The prince cut him off. “Maybe she did agree. I cannot tell since I wasn't present during the conversation. But I would still insist on you apologizing. No matter what happened, you made a young lady uncomfortable and then ignored it when she visibly tried to distance herself. Apologize. If you don't want to do that, you have no reason to be here. I must ask you to leave.”

The marquess balled his fists. “Your Royal Highness, you can't...judge based on her words. She is the one...who...who...” It seemed like he didn't even dare to voice a full lie.

Cedar felt a tug at his side and looked down at Lucille, who had gotten much closer to him without noticing it herself.

She gazed up at him with an expression that made it seem like she was about to cry again. “I didn't agree.” Her voice was so weak, but apparently, she still felt the need to let him know that.

The prince smiled at her and whispered back. “I know. He will probably not leave us alone. Give me a moment before my brother notices. I fear that I was a bit careless.” He lifted his gaze to the other man and spoke up in a normal voice again. “Since you're already here, we might as well be honest though, right? You aren't just here to bother me. You probably don't have a death wish nor do you want to offend the royal family. But still, you are here and disturb us. That only tells me one thing. You have a reason as to why you are going so far, even though you may notice that you are upsetting me. That reason has nothing to do with Lady Peril, yes?”

The marquess froze at that exact moment. All blood drained from his face. Then he muttered the response under his breath. “How?”

Cedar would have liked to glare at him, but he was stuck to his stupid wide grin. “I just guessed that she was blackmailing you. She often does that. She has access to all sources of rumors in the capital. If you did something wrong, she knows. And she probably threatened you by revealing that if you hadn't done this. Her plan was to ruin Lady Valerian's reputation or to find out how I would react. That's why you couldn't stop Lady Valerian when she ran to me. Am I right?” He glanced over his shoulder. He made eye contact with Lady Peril, who quickly lifted her fan to hide her face.

Apparently, even that woman knew some shame upon being found out. It had been too obvious from the very beginning.

Cedar gritted his teeth. He should have made sure that nothing like this would happen.

The marquess cast his gaze downward and looked like he had noticed that he wouldn't be successful. He had just caused problems for himself.

Cedar focused on him again while speaking up in a lower voice. “You have two choices. The first one would be leaving the capital as soon as you can. The second would be finding out whether making Lady Peril or me angry is worse. You won't like the second option, so I suggest that you leave now.”

The marquess still looked like he was scared. That emotion mixed with a small trace of fury and caused him to speak up without turning around to check whether someone could hear him. “You...have no power at all. You can't order me around. This will not cause a problem for me.” It might have sounded more convincing if his voice wasn't trembling.

The prince didn't even have to respond though.

This was the perfect moment for the silent spectators to chime in, and it seemed like the empress wasn't too happy about the situation. Blanche spoke before even warning the marquess, who flinched as soon as he heard her voice behind him, about her presence. “Do I have enough power, or will you only listen if the emperor tells you this? What is going on here?”

The marquess stiffly turned around. Seeing that the royal couple stood behind him after he had caused such a scene had probably not been a pleasant experience.

Cedar ignored that and quickly turned to Lucille. He leaned down to whisper. “Everything is alright now. Are you fine?”

She nodded. And it seemed like she was feeling better now. She didn't shiver anymore and just looked up at him with round eyes. “Yes. Thank you.”

Cedar wasn't sure why she had calmed down even though the situation was much more uncomfortable all of a sudden, but he wouldn't complain. After all, it was better if she wasn't close to crying. Now he could focus on the discussion that would without a doubt arise. He had been a bit worried about how the royal couple would react, but seeing their faces now proved that they were rather upset with the other man and not with the prince.

That wouldn't keep the marquess from complaining though. A few seconds of silence followed, in which he tried to come up with an excuse, but he was too slow.

Theodore already narrowed his eyes at him. “I feel like this is close to an offense directed at the royal family now. You are not only insulting my brother, but you also ignore my wife. I hope you have a good reason for that.”

The marquess probably hadn't expected that listening to Jenna would cause such a big problem. But now it was too late to back out. He had to say something intelligent, or there would be an unfavorable ending for him. At least he seemed to be clever enough to bow immediately. “I sincerely apologize, Your Majesty. It was not my intention to ignore Her Majesty. I was merely surprised.” If his voice had been a little more steady, he might have sounded less pathetic. “I did not wish to cause trouble during a ball. I truly didn't, and I am sorry from the bottom of my heart. But His Royal Highness suddenly threatened me, and I...panicked...” Seemingly, he had never heard Cedar voicing a real threat. If he did, he would have run away already.

The prince barely managed to hold back a small chuckle and just turned to the emperor.

Theodore was well aware of how his brother acted when he got really upset. He had no issue recognizing that Cedar was much too calm at the moment. He made eye contact with the marquess. “He probably had a good reason then.” This earned him an expression of disbelief, but he ignored it. “Do not seem so surprised. I grew up with him. If Cedar gets angry and stops being nice, he has a valid reason to do so.” He shifted his attention to his brother again. “What happened?”

Cedar gave him a bright smile. “Thank you, Your Majesty. I told this man to leave since he kept bothering Lady Valerian. He ignored me. I said that he would make me angry if he didn't listen. That seems to have offended him. Even though I clearly did not threaten him.” He wasn't stupid enough to voice an open threat in the middle of a ball. He would have sent the message in private.

Theodore scanned the marquess with a cold gaze before speaking. “I see. Then I have to ask you to leave now. We cannot allow anyone to make the guests of our ball feel uncomfortable. If you do not accept that reason, then you offending royalty should be enough to make you understand. You will apologize and then return home to rest early.” Now that the dowager empress was weakened, Theodore was less careful with his words. He seemed to be much more confident in his position as the emperor.

By now, the marquess seemed to have noticed what was going on. He was quick to bow. “Of course, Your Majesty. I sincerely apologize. I did not wish to offend anyone. I apologize to Her Majesty for not speaking immediately. I apologize to His Royal Highness for misunderstanding him. And I apologize to Lady Valerian in case I made her feel uncomfortable. I will have to excuse myself now.” It almost seemed like he wouldn't return to the capital so quickly. Good.

Blanche was the one who replied. “You are excused. Return home and have an uneventful journey.” She turned to wave to Leonard, who quickly rushed to her side. “Get someone to escort this man out.” That was another insult.

The secretary nodded and immediately took care of that. And so, a few guards appeared seconds later to bring the marquess back to his carriage.

The marquess himself looked like he was a little relieved to retreat, but he couldn't keep himself from glancing at Lady Peril. That woman truly seemed to know about some dirty secret of his.

Cedar looked after him for a moment before turning back to Lucille. “That person is gone now. He won't do anything to you.” He wasn't sure why he felt the need to explain that again when she didn't seem too worried anymore at all.

Lucille was quiet for a moment longer before she looked up at him. “You saved me again. Thank you very much.”

“Gladly. I didn't do that much.” In all honesty, Theodore had made this much easier. After all, Cedar had wanted to avoid making a big deal out of this. They were only half successful since many people were staring at them, but at least the marquess hadn't started yelling.

Blanche waited until the man was led out of the room and then addressed the couple in front of her. “What an unpleasant person. Are the both of you fine? He didn't try anything bad, did he?”

Lucille looked to the side while she replied in a quiet voice. “We're...alright. He suddenly wanted to drag me into the garden. I don't know why. But...Cedar said that that man might have been forced by Lady Peril.”

Cedar had planned on keeping quiet about this for now, but it seemed to be too late.

Theodore's expression was sufficient to show he was displeased. He glared at the person who wasn't even here before making eye contact with his brother. “Are you certain about that?”

The prince smiled back. “I can't guarantee it. But he probably wouldn't provoke me for no reason. I assume Lady Peril wished to poke around a little to find out what my relationship with Lucille is. So, she used one of the people she blackmails. That's only my guess though. He could also just be an idiot that can't read the mood.” Due to Jenna's reaction, he could be rather sure about his guess, but even that didn't serve as proof. “But I doubt that discussing this during the ball is a good idea. Let us continue to enjoy the evening and do everything else later. We shouldn't let the guests wait.”

Theodore understood that he had been asked to move on and complied. “Then we will continue as before. But it might be better if the two of you stay with us. I do not wish to take any risks.” He sounded as if he proposed that, but his voice revealed that he hadn't asked.

So, Cedar and Lucille spent the rest of the evening with the royal couple.

At some point, Viscount Valerian came back. He got angry upon seeing Cedar with Lucille, listened to the explanation and then got even angrier. It might have been good that that odd marquess had left, or there might have been a harsher fight because of Raymond's obvious fury.

Luckily, the rest of the evening was calm though. Cedar accompanied Lucille for the whole time to avoid making it seem like he suddenly abandoned his partner in the middle of the event. And even after a few hours of holding her hand or arm, it felt a bit strange. Maybe because he finally had the chance to escort a person he genuinely liked instead of dragging around his mother to keep her from starting a fight with Theodore.

So, the ball ended up being much better than what he was used to. When the royal couple retreated, the prince and Lucille followed them out while he was asking himself if this really had been it. It was surprising that Lady Peril had given up after seeing this. Normally, he would have expected her to come running to explain how inappropriate it was for an unmarried and unrelated couple of different statuses to be so close together.

But it seemed like that woman was still embarrassed about being caught. If so, it might help keep her quiet for a while, which sounded tempting.

Cedar made sure to remind her. Usually, he avoided looking at her, but while they left the room, he met Jenna's gaze directly.

Lady Peril didn't look away this time, but she still covered the bottom half of her face with her fan. She seemed to understand the silent threat his gaze showed.

The events of this day had been a direct challenge. When only Cedar was involved, he could ignore it. But if Lady Peril dared to attack Lucille, he would gladly change his strategy. Normally, Jenna would pull back if she noticed that her enemy was stronger, so Lucille should be safe after Cedar had escorted her, but he wouldn't bet on that.

In the end, both results would be good though. If Jenna stayed still, Lucille was safe. If Jenna tried something again, the prince finally had a valid reason to make a move Theodore couldn't complain about.

Without knowing it, Cedar had tightened his hold on Lucille's arm again. When they stepped out of the room, he looked at her and met her gaze with a smile. “It's over now. The evening was somewhat successful, wasn't it? I didn't ruin my return to the capital.”

As soon as the doors closed behind them, Lucille slouched her shoulders, and her tension seemed to ebb away. She dared to smile back at him and replied. “Of course, you didn't. You always appear perfect in public. The only problem today was me.” The corners of her lips sank as she moved a bit closer to him. “I'm sorry for making you walk around with me the whole time. I didn't-”

He didn't like hearing her say that she was a problem. He cut her off before she could say anything else. “You didn't bother me. I was glad that you were with me. After all, I could not only keep away bothersome people, but I also had the most charming companion I could imagine. So, I have to thank you. It was an honor.”

Lucille blinked at him before replying while averting her eyes. “That's...good to hear. I liked being with you too. Thank you for helping me. You really were my savior back then.” It sounded strange when someone called him that instead of describing him as a threat.

Cedar scanned her face for a moment. “I don't truly deserve that title for doing what every normal person should have done. But I will not be upset if you say it either. I gladly did it, My Lady.” He smiled at her before considering hinting a hand kiss. That would certainly make her blush again, so it should be fun. But right now, they were in front of the royal couple, which meant that he should hold back.

Still, Cedar couldn't help but glance down at her fingers, only to realize that they were still holding hands. His small movement was enough for her to gaze down too.

Immediately, Lucille looked away again as a slight red blush appeared on her ears. She got red quickly, didn't she? It seemed like the prince might see something this adorable more often.

Cedar couldn't help but smirk at her when she didn't pull her hand away despite noticing what was going on. Apparently, they would continue to hold hands for a bit. He forced himself to look away from her and made eye contact with his brother.

For some reason, Theodore grinned too as he spoke up. “It seems like the evening drained you a bit. We will return to our room now. Have a wonderful evening and rest well.”

Cedar quickly replied with a bright smile. “Of course. May the two of you rest well too.” He gave his best to ignore how the royal couple exchanged an amused look before they left after Lucille and Blanche said goodnight too. He waited for them to go before turning his attention to Lucille. “It seems like most guests will leave now. Should we go say goodbye to your father before we go back?”

Lucille weakly nodded but averted her eyes. For a short moment, she chewed on her bottom lip before quickly stopping herself when she noticed. It almost seemed like she wanted to say something else but didn't dare to.

The prince could guess what this was about and gave her an encouraging smile before he brought her away from the ballroom. “We will go to a more private location, and then we can speak. We will go see your father after that, yes?”

Lucille quickly nodded at that and let him lead the way. She was way too trusting since she just went along with it when he showed her a smaller, empty seating room. Hopefully, she wouldn't be this relaxed if some stranger ever led her away.

Cedar looked around the room once more to confirm that they were alone. When he was content with it, he turned to her and let go of Lucille's hand. He would have liked to take it again immediately, but he ignored that urge and showed her a bright smile. “We're here. No one should be able to watch through the door. What did you want to say?”

Lucille began fiddling with her fingers again. Her expression was easy to read even before she began. “I'm...sorry. Even if you say that it was fine, people will spread rumors now, and that could damage your reputation. I didn't mean to cause problems. I should have dealt with all of this alone. I know that I can't always get help from others when something happens, but...” It got worse with each second. She seemed to be embarrassed with herself and indecisive at the same time.

This time, Cedar didn't wait for her to start overthinking before he acted. He moved slowly so that she could see what he was doing. Of course, she didn't pull away when he put his arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug. He gave her a short moment before whispering to her. “You have to listen to me before apologizing. I said it was fun to spend the evening with you. You did me a favor. Everything was much more pleasant with you being there. So, don't apologize.” He knew that he probably shouldn't say so much, but he truly didn't want her to think that she was a bother to him. After all, she might try to distance herself from him if the misunderstanding persisted.

Lucille was silent for a moment before she relaxed. “That's...good.” She buried her face in his shoulder, which gave him the perfect opportunity to stroke over the back of her head. The quietness that followed made it seem like she held herself back for a while. But after a few seconds passed, she didn't manage to do so anymore. “I like you. I like you a lot.” She said that with such conviction, as if she truly wanted to convey this despite having attempted to choke it down.

Cedar couldn't help but freeze at those words.

Lucille immediately tensed and hurried to blabber on. “I know that I shouldn't say that. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. Please forget that. I...shouldn't have spoken. No, I mean, I really like you. But I didn't want to...” She dejectedly gave up. “I'm sorry. I shouldn't tell you strange things all of a sudden.”

It was the other way around. He should stop her from saying such things to him, but he couldn't help it. He knew how dangerous this was getting, and yet, he couldn't bring himself to finally build a wall between them.

If Cedar messed up now, not only he would suffer. Letting this woman get too close was a horrible idea. He couldn't afford to care about someone, and Lucille wasn't off well with him either.

But what was the other option? Pushing her away? It was too late for that already. Cedar neither wanted to hurt her, nor did he want to fight against what every fiber of his being told him to do. This was the first time he felt this much affection for someone. Why wouldn't it be fine for him to like Lucille even in the future? He could try to hide it for a while, but he doubted that he would be able to do it for long.

So, Cedar closed his eyes and whispered his response. “I like you too. More than I should.” He shouldn't say that. Not when it put an end to all efforts to prevent this from becoming more than a casual friendship. But it was too late.

And when Lucille hugged him tighter in response, it didn't feel like such a great error at all.