* * *
He gave a cold, mocking smile, as if seeing straight through me.
My body froze.
Was it the pressure he exuded that made me go rigid?
This was exactly why controlling my expression was important.
I shouldn’t have revealed hostility so carelessly.
It was even harder to control my face during a first meeting.
The moment I saw him, all the obscene and appalling scenes from the original story came rushing back, uninvited.
He came closer, standing right in front of me, looking down at me with a blank expression.
For the first time, I felt like I was meeting Kamil not as the mechanical, inhuman crown prince, but as a man.
The kind of look that stripped you bare and measured every thought inside you.
And Anakin knew—this was the crown prince’s true nature.
“It really is a misunderstanding. I apologize for being rude that day… I wasn’t feeling well.”
Like a mouse before a cat, Anakin forced a friendly smile.
The crown prince had no real weaknesses, but if he had to name one, it might be Anakin’s appearance.
If the face that matched his tastes smiled at him, anyone’s heart would soften.
“……”
The prince’s cold, barren expression shifted in a strange way.
Not the reaction I was aiming for, but at least that terrifying blankness eased.
“I only made a short appearance before returning to my estate, so I didn’t think I’d be invited to the gathering… I can’t tell you how happy I was to be summoned by Your Highness after leaving early.”
“I doubt you were happy.”
Anakin’s eyes sparkled as he gave a sweet smile.
“Ahaha… You wound me, not believing my sincerity.”
You can’t spit on a smiling face.
Especially not this face.
“Well, we’ll see soon enough. That’s why I called you.”
So it was a hostility test?
No wonder something felt off.
As Anakin made an awkward face, the crown prince leaned in, bending at the waist.
Startled by the handsome face suddenly so close, Anakin’s lashes fluttered.
“What I said then—I meant it.”
What was he supposed to say when someone smiled like that and said something like that?
As he stepped back in confusion, the prince’s fingers slipped into his hair, gently holding a single strand.
“Up close, you really are beautiful.”
So this was seduction, was it?
If he hadn’t known the original story, he might have fallen for it.
Still, immunity or not, his face flushed and his words stumbled.
The prince’s inhuman smile curved upward.
“…Your Highness!”
From that mischievous look, Anakin could tell—he was only doing this to tease him.
Yes, this was the crown prince.
This playful cruelty was exactly what had tormented Anakin so much in the original story.
“Stop teasing me.”
Snapping back to his senses, Anakin stepped away, freeing his hair from the prince’s hand.
The prince stared for a moment at his now-empty hand, then looked back at Anakin with a blank face.
It was such an arrogant gaze that Anakin thought—ah, so this is what they mean by “alpha.”
“Well, go on in. I’ve been blocking your way long enough.”
The kindly smile as he stepped aside made Anakin suspicious.
It felt like the same “playing with me” attitude from the original, yet… subtly twisted somehow.
Odd. Peculiar.
It was only then that he realized—he might have threaded the first stitch completely wrong.
“Anakin, can’t you… not do that?”
“Do what?”
“Lessons with the crown prince.”
Because I’d been visiting the palace often, I naturally spent more time with Leo.
Sometimes he showed violent tendencies, but when I was around, he tended to restrain himself.
Or maybe he was just hiding it—I couldn’t always tell.
“Why? Nothing’s happening.”
“I just don’t like you being with him.”
Leo’s expression had been stormy for a while now, clearly displeased.
“Why?”
At Anakin’s question, Leo said nothing.
He just pressed his lips together and kicked at a stone.
The uncharacteristically childish display made Anakin stare for a moment before turning his head and calling out.
“Leo, look at this!”
It was a small butterfly he’d found in the grass.
The butterfly landed on his finger and, instead of flying away from the strange human, stayed still.
Maybe his beauty worked even on insects—it didn’t flinch even when he leaned in close.
“Pretty, isn’t it?”
Anakin crouched down, smiling harmlessly, communing with the butterfly.
Since they were holding hands, Leo was half-forced to crouch beside him.
But Leo didn’t look at the butterfly at all—only at Anakin.
To Leo, he shone brighter and more beautifully than any living creature.
Innocent, pure beauty.
More dazzling than any noble.
“Is that the kind of thing you like?”
“Not like… I just think it’s interesting.”
“……”
Leo’s gaze lingered on Anakin’s fluttering lashes as he smiled and held his hand.
“Leo, if you’re bored, call me. I’ll keep you company.”
Leo hesitated, afraid his voice might shake embarrassingly.
“…Anytime?”
“Yeah. You probably have plenty of people you could call, but… I’m your friend, after all.”
The mild wind, the sunny day, and the way Anakin whispered “friend” felt so sweet that Leo wondered if this moment was real.
Even his wind-tossed hair didn’t bother him—it just felt pleasant.
“Friend, huh…”
Leo frowned briefly as if thinking something over, then nodded.
Anakin spoke again.
“You’re royalty—doesn’t it bother you to be friends with me?”
Leo’s face instantly chilled.
“Not at all. I’d be more annoyed by those pathetic fools clinging to me wanting to be friends.”
“I’m nothing special, though.”
“You’ve got a beautiful face. Nobles and royals are especially swayed by appearances, so yes—you are special.”
Leo pinched his cheek lightly, without hurting him.
When Anakin squinted one eye as if in pain, Leo gently rubbed the spot to soothe it.
“I’m sleepy.”
With Leo’s hand on him, Anakin’s eyes began to flutter closed.
“Shall I escort you?”
Hayden, Leo’s personal attendant, approached and bowed politely.
But Leo cut him off bluntly, almost rudely.
“I’ll do it. Get lost.”
“…Understood.”
The attendant stepped back, clearly used to such harsh words.
Leo wrapped his arms around the tired Anakin and carried him to his own room.
Anakin complained it felt like he’d become a zoo exhibit and asked to be put down, but Leo ignored him completely and kept walking.
Once at the bed, Leo personally tucked him in and threatened the attendants outside—if anyone came in without permission, they’d be beheaded.
Alone together in the room, Leo watched Anakin’s sleeping face for a long time before finally leaving.
Anakin must have been truly exhausted—when he opened his eyes, it was the dead of night, when everyone else was asleep.
He rubbed his eyes and realized he was alone in the dark, spacious room.
Where was Leo?
Sleeping in another room?
He felt a bit guilty, as if he’d stolen the room’s owner’s bed.
The attendants had probably told his mother in advance that he’d be sleeping at the palace tonight.
He’d slept so much that he wasn’t the least bit sleepy now.
Throwing on a light outer robe, he stepped outside and wandered the palace grounds.
He had been walking for quite a while when—
Slap.
The blow landed with such vicious force that even from quite a distance, I could hear the sharp, skin-crawling crack of it.
“A fitting look for someone of such lowly blood.”
“……Ugh.”
“This is how it should have been from the start.”
Smack!
The boy’s pained groan was met with the cruel laughter of the attendants who mocked him.
Anakin began walking toward the sound.
The tall, tower-like building had shockingly lax security—anyone could walk in.
As if no one cared who saw.
Through a small gap in the window, he saw it.
A boy with his arms bound above his head, unable to move.
Attendants lashing him mercilessly with a whip.
And, finally, a beautiful woman calmly watching it all without lifting a finger.
“Your mother was a vicious bitch.”
Anakin swallowed hard, fixing the scene firmly in his mind.
It was terrifying, horrifying, and… grotesque.
How many people in the modern world could say they’d witnessed such brutal torture with their own eyes?
The merciless whipping continued until the boy’s tender skin tore open and scars were etched deep into him.
Eventually, the woman left, telling them to “finish up as they saw fit,” and the attendants—finding the act far too amusing—added their own creative tortures.
Once they grew bored, they tossed the whip aside and left the building.
Anakin quickly slipped into the now-empty torture chamber to check on the boy’s condition.
His hands trembled in fear, but one thought hovered in his mind: ‘What if he dies like this?’
The boy’s eyes were not the imperial violet, but black—deep as the night sky.
Though he had the same crimson-gold hair as the Crown Prince, his eyes were black, his frame tall but pitifully thin.
And yet… the way he looked up at Anakin—so fiercely—was unforgettable.
Yes. It was him.
The one who would become the future Emperor.
* * *
W0W