Episode 75: Don’t Covet My Woman

However, the man before him was expanding his influence without needing the backing of a central political giant like the Marquis of Offreze.

As if he had already rehearsed life itself. Like an old general who had built his experience through relentless struggles in a world tainted by political strife. Even those who had been at odds with the Emperor would have found it difficult to penetrate his defenses…

Lawrence was gripped by an overwhelming fear and couldn’t open his mouth. He bitterly regretted underestimating the prince. He had judged him solely from a distance, never having faced him alone before.

Perhaps, even as he witnessed the prince’s unrestrained advance, he had scoffed, convinced that he would eventually stumble and fall.

After all, he despised the nobility, including the prince himself. Though he followed the Marquis of Heslow, he remained cynical and pessimistic about him—ultimately, because of the marquis’s origins. The same held true for the prince.

“Read it.”

The prince tossed a thick stack of documents onto the table. Lawrence picked up the papers and scanned them. The reports detailed the misconduct of Gillian, who had been stationed at the border defense of Lagros.

The marquis had secured a high-ranking officer position for Gillian, despite him never graduating from military school, and had even bribed newspapers to cover up his eldest son’s numerous offenses.

And the Emperor, despite knowing this, had turned a blind eye. He feared the consequences of opposing a political behemoth like Offreze more than anything. Although reports on Gillian’s actions had reached him multiple times since his deployment, the Emperor had dismissed them every time.

He seemed to believe that as long as the press remained silent, no major issue would arise. Perhaps that was why he had outright shut down any newspapers that directly mentioned Gillian’s transgressions. He also violently suppressed protests from journalists who objected.

Lawrence read the densely packed text carefully. The list of Gillian’s misconduct since his appointment as a colonel three years ago was staggering at a glance.

Lawrence continued reading. The reports contained records of all of Gillian’s atrocities that had never been formally reported to the central government.

“How did you manage to gather all of this…?”

Lawrence swallowed hard. According to the documents, from the very beginning of his assignment, Gillian had been calling prostitutes to the officer’s quarters for wild parties.

An ordinary officer had occupied a residence reserved exclusively for generals without any official approval and had even embezzled military funds to refurbish the mansion.

If that was how it started, there was no way his actions improved afterward. A man with no training had been put in charge of the border defense—disaster was inevitable.

The Marquis of Offreze may have thought that if he sent Gillian to Palandos, he would at least achieve some merits and prove himself.

But Gillian was nothing more than a civilian with no military experience. On the very first day of his posting, he had prostitutes brought in to throw a debauched party. This fact had been reported to the Emperor early on, making it impossible for the marquis to completely deny it.

The testimonies of officers who had attended those gatherings had been recorded in the reports. The marquis only admitted to a fraction of Gillian’s misdeeds, claiming that his unauthorized occupation of the residence was due to his lack of knowledge about military protocols and that the parties had been funded with personal money, not state funds.

As for the mansion renovations, he argued that they were merely improvements to the official residence and therefore shouldn’t be an issue. The Emperor nodded in agreement and chose to overlook Gillian’s behavior.

But the real trouble began afterward. Gillian continued to hold orgies with prostitutes, frequently skipping mandatory military training that he was supposed to attend per his father’s instructions. This was the moment when the marquis’s plan to shape his eldest son into a high-ranking military officer crumbled.

“The central newspaper hesitated to report any of this.”

The prince lit a cigarette, his secretary watching him with concern. The cigarette wasn’t made from ordinary tobacco.

“With the Marquis of Offreze and the Emperor watching closely, they wouldn’t dare publish anything directly.”

“Fear of a tyrant’s retaliation does not justify abandoning one’s duty as a journalist. That would be a dereliction of duty—a betrayal of the late Langcollier daily journalists and editors who were executed.”

Lawrence was at a loss for words. The prince reclined, his tall, broad frame sinking into the chair. His expression was impassive, but the exhaustion behind his sharp eyes was evident. Wisps of smoke curled from his lips.

“Is that really just a cigarette?”

“Lately, the burden on my mind has been too heavy. I smoke it as a painkiller.”

“And what is it that troubles you…?”

“You touched my woman, didn’t you?”

“…….”

“You touched what’s mine.”

The prince’s brows furrowed. His face contorted into something fierce, radiating pure hostility. His previously cold, tranquil expression was now flooded with rage and possessiveness. Lawrence pressed his lips together.

“Do you have a preference for married women?”

The prince’s words were slow and cutting.

“Why would you think that?”

“The women you get involved in scandals with are always either married or widowed.”

“With all due respect, I have never considered Your Highness’s wife a married woman.”

The corner of the prince’s mouth twitched into a twisted smirk. His eyes gleamed with a predator’s amusement. But Lawrence did not back down. Acknowledging the prince’s authority was one thing, but he refused to compromise on his views regarding Lara.

“I’ve been too lenient with your insolence. Do you think I wouldn’t kill you? It would be nothing for me.”

“Even if you say so, the truth remains the same. The woman Your Highness calls a wife is not your wife. She is a woman carrying your child.”

“And?”

“That’s all there is to it.”

The prince didn’t respond. His piercing eyes narrowed.

“Don’t covet my woman.”

“…….”

“Even if, as you say, she is not my wife, Lara is still my woman. She carries my child, and I respect her as my wife.”

The prince’s voice was low, his warning unmistakable. Lawrence suppressed the churning emotions within him.

The prince had summoned him here to recruit him. The reason he had revealed these confidential reports was to make Lawrence his subordinate.

And Lawrence could not afford to defy such a powerful figure.

If their goals were different, perhaps it would be another story. But the prince had declared with his own mouth that they shared the same objective.

This was an opportunity. If the prince truly sought to turn this country into a republic… If he intended to abolish slavery and create a world where all people were equal…

“There is one thing I wish to ask.”

“Go ahead.”

“Do you know what my dream is?”

“You wish for a world where, even if an emperor dies, another does not take his place.”

“That is correct. But do you not wish for the throne?”

“I do not.”

The prince’s voice was firm and unwavering.

“And why is that…?”

“If I become emperor… No, in a world where status exists, my wife will never be happy.”

Lara had told him—some things in life could never change. No matter how hard one tried, certain things were predetermined from birth.

So they were never meant to meet, never meant to love each other.

‘We’ve already lived through it once.’

They had fought against fate before. Lara had struggled endlessly to overcome the barriers of class, believing that if she walked, spoke, and acted like a noble, she could become one.

‘We’ve already seen how it ends.’

They had been broken once before. And now, the prince was willing to destroy everything—so that this time, they would not be.