The Villainous Family Loves Me Too Much!

“What are you up to?”

Sylonne, who entered the dressing room, sharply asked as she closed the door with a bang.

“There’s nothing like that.”

Despite the stern interrogation by his commander, Conrad didn’t blink an eye. It was a valor worthy of a disciple personally selected by Archduke Felosite.

“What are you trying to do, Gebino Augusto? You to my sister…”

“That’s absolutely not what you think.”

However, Sylonne knew very well that his denial was merely superficial.

“Then, what is that?”

“…”

“I’m asking you what that means.”

Even though Sylonne was ignorant about love, she entirely felt Gebino’s feelings towards the princess.

“Remember the duty you have to fulfill for Felosite. Regardless of what your past is, or whatever the nature of your feelings towards Her Highness the Princess. Once the world ends, Her Highness the Princess you are trying to protect will no longer exist.”

Sylonne didn’t like this situation at all.

‘Stupid kid. Why does it have to be my new sister.’

Why did she have to play the role of hurting someone?

“Her Highness the Princess is now a married woman, also your lord’s wife. Accept it.”

Gebino nodded with a calm expression.

‘But isn’t it just a fake marriage made out of necessity?’

It was just on the tip of Gebino’s tongue, the truth that he had been holding back.

He could know the answer to that statement without having to hear it directly.

‘All royal marriages are nothing but contracts out of necessity. But looking at the fact that the succession has never been broken, can we call that a fake marriage? It means they do everything necessary.’

He didn’t want to accept it. But he had to endure it for the princess. She would be safest by the Archduke’s side now.

It had been already two years since Gebino, a priest of the Julius altar, started living a double life as a trainee of the Felosite knight order, Conrad.

It was obviously for maintaining the peace and stability of Felosite.

All the lords of Felosite possessed strong magical powers, but the balance of magical and divine powers within the continent severely collapsed when Lucian Felosite, the owner of the most potent magic power among all the lords, became the new Archduke of Felosite.

Because of this, strong monsters, attracted by magic, incessantly emerged from the mountains surrounding Felosite, starting to harm the citizens.

To make things worse, no more saints emerged from the only holy family in Felosite, Count Kenoch, who was also Empress Helena’s maternal home.

In the end, to find a balance, the Felosite Kingdom had to either secure more powerful divine power or find a powerful sacrificial vessel to contain the Archduke’s magic power.

And the only ones capable of that were imperial family members with divine powers.

Surprisingly, Gebino, who was a commoner, exhibited late-blooming divine power. And it was a divine power so strong that it couldn’t be compared with any other priest.

Ordinarily, the divine power, which should have manifested around eighteen, suddenly manifested at the age of fifteen, three years earlier.

Lucian Felosite approached him when Gebino, a trainee of the royal knight order, manifested the divine power, just before being transferred to the temple of Julius altar.

– Half at the temple, half at Felosite. That’ll do.

The hesitant Gebino accepted the Archduke’s proposal because of someone’s name mentioned during the conversation.

– Lastly, we have someone to protect.

– Who is that?

– Karena Litia Leblanc, the princess of Castien Empire.

* * *

“Gosh, it’s like a heaven of handsome men around. Our princess is quite lucky.”

Karena’s maid and friend, baronial lady Colin Piaget, was watching Karena and Gebino from afar.

She wasn’t a beauty like Beatrice or Karena, but she was a cute black-haired young woman who could catch a man’s eye at least once.

‘Huh? I think I’ve seen that person in the palace. What’s his name?’

She was hiding behind a distant pillar, scribbling something on a small note.

Morning: Went to a downtown store for wedding preparations. Looked for white cloth but it was sold out. Delfia Guild bought them all. There seemed to be a problem with Delfia Merchants.

Afternoon: Walked to the bakery but suddenly had something to do and went to find the knight order. Saw the bakery owner driving the men away, suddenly decided not to go to the bakery and returned to the castle. (Was she scared looking at the owner?)

The note detailed Karena’s daily schedule and what she did.

Colin observed the current situation penetratingly, filling the bottom corner of the note.

Engaged in conversation with a half-naked handsome man (presumably a knight). The atmosphere between them is unusual. Jealous…

Colin erased what she had written and smiled lightly.

‘Oh, I almost wrote I was jealous. It’s about our princess.’

She finally dotted the end and quietly closed the note.

‘That should do for now. Nothing much else seems to have happened.’

Soon, Sylonne appeared, and now the three of them went their separate ways.

Princess Karena seemed to be walking back to the palace.

In that case, about an hour remained before mealtime, a free time.

‘I need to find that person quickly.’

Besides watching and aiding Karena, Colin had one more task.

‘He said he’s definitely in the Felosite Knight Order.’

To avoid suspicion, Colin brought apple pie.

If someone sees, just say came to see the knight she has a crush on.

“Excuse me, I’m looking for Lord Mackeon. Do you know where he might be?”

The young knights saw the apple pie Colin brought and told her where Mackeon was without any suspicion, even escorting her to his room.

“Oh my, how kind. Thank you.”

Some of them were scanning Colin’s full figure with regret as she smiled and acted coy.

“Colin?”

“It’s been a long time, brother.”

“How did you get here…”

“You look good.”

Seeing Colin, Mackeon seemed to see a ghost and went pale.

“But… you haven’t done what you’re supposed to, have you?”

“Oh, no. I need to adapt to this place first.”

“It’s been 2 years already, do you still need to adapt?”

Mackeon, with his giant, bear-like figure and rugged appearance, was trembling in front of small and slender Colin.

“I, I made a mistake. But the guards here are so strict, I couldn’t muster the courage…”

Bam.

The knife dug deep into the apple pie on the desk.

“Brother, come here.”

“Uh, uh, Colin.”

Mackeon knelt in front of Colin, his body trembling.

“Don’t worry, brother. It will be alright. Now that Colin is here.”

As Colin pulled out the deeply embedded knife, the apple’s flesh was stuck to the blade.

She licked it off and said:

“Shall we start again from here?”

Some time passed. Colin quietly left Mackeon’s room.

For some reason, she was heading not to the main palace where Karena was, but to the windy forest behind the secluded palace.

The blue-tinted windy forest was the only area outside the magical barrier surrounding Felosite.

Recently, it had become a rare place as monsters started to appear again.

Whistle-

At the whistle, a large hawk appeared, spreading its wings and landing on Colin’s arm.

It seemed to have just finished hunting, as there was red blood on its beak.

“You didn’t hunt humans, did you? If you did, we’d expose our identity, Brother Mackeon.”

Unlike her usual tender and warm demeanor, the venomous expression on Colin’s face seemed like a different person.

Uncomfortable, the hawk flapped its wings, and Colin grimaced, grabbing its neck roughly.

“Stop.”

The hawk, its neck grabbed, became calm in an instant and was placed on a thick branch.

“Take this to Prince Liam. Don’t divert, go straight to the palace.”

Colin tightly tied the rolled-up note to the hawk’s leg, grabbed its neck again, and released it into the sky.

Watching the hawk fly away vigorously, Colin murmured softly.

“Oh, I miss you. I should go see you soon, our lovely Princess Your Highness.”

Finishing her monologue, Colin’s face reverted to its gentle look as if nothing had happened.