Chapter 105: 104

“Your Imperial Highness?”

Khalid tilted his head when Renato couldn’t easily speak.

“You may feel bad about this, but…… I hope to know how precious Their Majesties are to you.”

“May I ask why you are asking that?”

“It is to set the direction of what I should do in the future.”

If his memories were not wrong, Laila would soon die. Renato couldn’t figure out how to tell Khalid about that. No, he wasn’t going to tell the man, he had to decide by himself. Would he save Laila, or would he turn away?

“Do you want the two of them to be happy? Would you be sad if misfortune happened to them?”

“Misfortune……”

Khalid was lost in thought when asked an unexpected question. Maryam and Laila were indeed important people to him. If it weren’t for the two of them, he wouldn’t have been able to safely adapt to the royal family.

As circumstances changed and their positions altered, they could no longer go back to their previous relationship, but Khalid hoped that Maryam and Laila would be happy if possible. He thought he could shake off his childhood debt and start anew that way.

“I don’t know exactly what misfortune you are talking about, Your Imperial Highness, but if something bad happened to them, I think I would be sad. I would be worried, too.”

“Even if Her Majesty the Queen continues to keep you in check and be suspicious of you, your highness?”

“……Yes.”

Khalid was quiet for a moment, then gave a short answer. Pondering his words, he scratched the back of his head and continued to speak.

“I know my answer seems silly and foolish. It seems that I don’t have any pride even after being treated like that.”

“No, I don’t think so. I just…… As I said earlier, I’m not sure what actions to take in the future to benefit both of us……”

Unable to finish his sentence, Renato closed his mouth. Laila’s matter had concerned him ever since his trip to the kingdom was decided, but he couldn’t resolve it. In the end, he decided to meet Maryam and Laila in person to decide which direction would be better for the future. However, after arriving in the kingdom, his anxiety deepened again.

Would it help Khalid or not if Laila did not die?

He pondered for days but couldn’t make a decision. He knew that Laila was a good person after today’s meeting, but she wasn’t someone that Renato needed.

But Laila was probably an important person to Khalid. He could tell that just by looking at how Khalid treated her a little while ago. In Renato’s eyes, the two seemed quite close.

That was why he hesitated. He decided to live selfishly to protect Trudy, but it was difficult to turn a blind eye to someone’s death. Especially when the person was Khalid’s family member.

Would you be disappointed to know I was weighing the Queen Consort’s life?

Renato looked at Khalid with anxious eyes. The politics he knew were cruel and filthy. To survive in that mud, he also had to be like his enemy. But he kept hesitating. He was scared that Khalid would be disappointed if the man later found out that his choices had changed the future.

“The outcome will change depending on what I do. But I don’t know which is the right direction and which is good for us.”

“Then please do as you please.”

“……But what if you are disappointed, your highness?”

Renato reluctantly confided his concerns. After coming to the kingdom, he learned what Khalid looked like when facing enemies and strangers. Recalling the man’s cold eyes and frigid expression, clearly different from toward him, Renato inadvertently trembled. He thought he wouldn’t be able to bear it if Khalid looked at him with that face.

“I don’t want to be hated by you for making the wrong choice, your highness.”

“Do you think I will hate you, Your Imperial Highness?”

“……Perhaps.”

Renato weakly nodded and mumbled. Saving Laila would change the future. And it would change in a direction that he didn’t know despite having returned to the past. So he had to be careful.

And above all, another cause made him hesitate to step up for Laila. It was none other than Maryam. Renato was very disappointed in her.

Maryam, whom he knew through Khalid’s stories in his previous life, was not a good sister, but she seemed to be a good monarch, unlike Maximo. However, the Maryam he actually met was much worse than what Khalid had told him. They didn’t have any chance to talk alone, but what Renato had seen and experienced in the past few days was enough for him to figure out what kind of person she was.

It was not a lie that Maryam cared about Khalid. However, it was also true that she was keeping Khalid in check for fear that he might be a threat to her throne. Maryam’s eyes, voice, expression, and attitude toward Khalid showed both vigilance and guilt. In short, she was greedy, yet indecisive.

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“I can’t trust Her Majesty Queen Maryam.”

Maryam never helped Khalid. Renato came to that conclusion after several days of observation. Just the way Maryam changed her attitude after witnessing Renato pressing Marquis Ishbart on the engagement day showed how calculating she was and how she tried to use Khalid. Despite being constantly suspicious of her younger brother, she didn’t want to miss out on the benefits she could get from him.

Truthfully, he was angry that Khalid in his past life had devoted so much to such an egoist. But he also understood why the man was so loyal to Maryam and dedicated his sword in the past. Sometimes, a small kindness or a warm word could be the salvation of someone’s life. Because it was the same for him, too.

So he pitied Khalid and disliked Maryam even more. Renato didn’t want to do anything to help her. If Maryam’s power was strengthened by saving Laila, she would likely harm Khalid.

But he couldn’t turn away from Laila, and if she died, he might have to part with Khalid just like in his previous life. That was why Renato couldn’t do anything.

“I understand why you can’t trust Her Majesty. After all, I can’t completely trust her anymore, either. However, I don’t think I can turn a blind eye if something happens to the royal family. But it won’t be like it used to be.”

“What do you mean that it won’t be like it used to be?”

“In the past, Her Majesty was my entire world. I wanted to serve her as my liege and thought it was worth devoting my life to her. At that time, I thought no one was beside me except noonim.”

Khalid’s eyes darkly sank as he recalled when he dedicated his sword to Maryam who wished to become the Queen. Even though it was only a few years ago, it felt like a long time had passed. Fixing his expression, he bitterly smiled.

“But not anymore. There are knights who sincerely follow me despite my shortcomings…… And now I also have someone to be responsible for.”

The man’s voice was full of determination, and his unwavering gaze turned to Renato. Khalid spoke again with a more resolute and serious expression than ever before.

“As long as our marriage lasts, my first priority will be you, Your Imperial Highness.”

At Khalid’s words, the pale purple eyes shook. Renato realized that ‘someone to be responsible for’ the man talked about was him. With that, his cheeks became slightly hot.

“In other words, if noonim asks for help but you oppose it, I will reconsider. If the interests of you two are in conflict, I of course will side with you.”

“Ah.”

“And if the relationship between noonim and I becomes irretrievable as a result, I will never resent Your Imperial Highness. Because it’s my choice. Is this enough as an answer?”

Just what is troubling this small head so much? Khalid softly smiled and tucked the silver hair strands disheveled by the winds behind Renato’s ears. He hoped that Renato would trust and depend on him a little more.

“No matter what choice we make, regrets are bound to follow. So please act in the way you think is best for you, Your Imperial Highness. I have no reason to hate you.”

The firm voice caused a small stir in Renato’s heart. Renato’s eye corners contorted as if both crying and smiling, and he gently squeezed Khalid’s hand.

“Then I will carefully think about what is best.”

“All right. Now then, shall we go back to the guesthouse? It’s getting cold.”

Khalid stepped closer and wrapped his arm around Renato’s waist. He slowly walked, half-hugging Renato so that the cold winds wouldn’t reach him.

VII. The Prince’s Realization

“I have taken care of everything you ordered as of this morning, Your Imperial Highness.”

“Good work.”

“This is the list of merchant guilds permitted to do commercial activities on the Esteban territory. Currently, Viscount Roman is finalizing the contract. If there is no problem, we will sign the contracts one by one starting tomorrow.”

“Hmm, okay. I think we can trust the Viscount with this…… What do you think?”

“I think it will be fine. He is extremely meticulous with his work.”

“Right?”

Renato received the list of merchant guilds from Arche and softly smiled. One of Tristan’s closest aides, Viscount Roman, was actively working with Renato after helping him with his marriage contract with Khalid.

“Ah, I want the merchant guilds run by the Black Wolf Knights Order’s families to be given more benefits than other places. We should charge them no port fees or significantly lower tariffs.”

Looking through the list of merchant guilds, Renato suddenly remembered something and spoke up. Over the past two days, he and Arche had been working together to choose commercial guilds to be allowed commercial activities in Esteban territory and the use of the port in winter.

During the merchant guild screening process, Renato’s focus was on whether they were favorable to Khalid and whether they discriminated against illegitimate children or not. Even the royal faction’s nobles that were hostile to Khalid or rude towards him in the past were excluded from the business.

As he narrowed it down like that, the number of merchant guilds to do business with was much smaller than he expected. Moreover, most of them were families with ties to the Black Wolf Knights Order.

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