Chapter 19: 18

“That bastard?”

“I mean the grand prince. You two look pretty close today.”

“There’s no way we are close. We just first met the day before yesterday, didn’t we?”

“Compared to that, your attitude is……!”

For a moment, Maximo raised his voice. His expression became even worse, but unable to say more, he grumbled.

“Huu, damn it.”

Maximo took a deep breath, suppressing the anger rising from within, and then exhaled. It wasn’t good to get agitated here.

“Why did you ask to escort the grand prince?”

“I made that offer because I was worried that he didn’t have a partner to attend the welcome banquet with. It’s my job to help the grand prince quickly adapt to the Empire.”

Renato answered with some lies mixed in. Maximo wouldn’t be able to directly confirm with Khalid anyway.

“But you could have just introduced him to a suitable Omega, couldn’t you?”

Despite Renato’s answer, Maximo looked somewhat unhappy. Renato looked at him as if he couldn’t understand why Maximo kept questioning him.

“Do you think I’m acquainted with any Omegas? And the grand prince is not just a diplomatic ambassador, he is someone holding half the military power of the Khan Kingdom. What would we do if I introduced the wrong person and caused a problem?”

“That……”

“More than anything else, this is what His Majesty the Empress and the Marquis wanted. They both wanted me to become close to the grand prince. That was why I made an offer to escort him. I thought it was a good opportunity to get to know each other.”

Maximo felt a strange sense of incongruity as he heard Renato’s rebuttal without losing a single word, and frowned.

Was this punk always like this?

Maximo looked at Renato with confused eyes. The Renato he knew was absolutely not the kind of person that looked straight into his eyes and countered his words like this.

On the contrary, every time they met, he would be busy looking at him with a frightened expression. If they ever made eye contact, he would be startled and avoid his gaze, and with the slightest threat, he would shrink his shoulders and fidget like a puppy wanting to urinate.

So what the hell does this mean?

His dark magenta-colored eyes sank. Maximo looked at Renato with a hostile gaze as though looking at a stranger.

“You…… just what’s wrong with you?”

Approaching Renato, Maximo growled in a low voice. His fierce gaze reached Renato’s face. He felt the will to dig up everything Renato was hiding.

“What’s wrong with me?”

Renato tried to remain composed and responded as calmly as possible. But contrary to his voice, his body was frozen stiff. His spine shuddered because of the stare that pierced his skin, the nape of his neck becoming stiff. The pain on his scar on the side, which he had felt from the moment he met Maximo, also worsened.

“You are really strange these days……”

Maximo murmured, perhaps finding something suspicious. Renato’s face became white at his threat and his voice slightly trembled just like usual, but his sharp tone and cold demeanor just kept tickling his nerves.

When he thought again, it was even stranger when Renato was with Khalid earlier. Renato didn’t seem to be aware of it himself, but Maximo immediately noticed that Renato was very friendly to Khalid.

Renato’s eyes, expression, attitude, voice…… Everything was different from when Renato behaved toward him or the Empress. It perhaps felt similar to when he was with that cheeky 2nd Prince.

That was why he suspected Renato and questioned him. He couldn’t pinpoint exactly what had changed, but it bothered him that Renato had somehow changed.

“Be honest. What are you scheming? What are you thinking with that little head?”

Tap. His long index finger lightly poked the round forehead. In an instant, Renato’s body froze. He managed to resist the scream about to come out.

It wasn’t a big action, but goosebumps rose all over his body. Along with that, the fear that had been etched into every nook and cranny on his body in the past few years revived. The composure he barely maintained was broken when the memories of brutal violence came to his mind.

“D, don’t harass people, just go away.”

Renato involuntarily stuttered. He wanted to pretend he was okay, but his tongue twisted and his voice terribly trembled.

Thump thump.

The sound of his heartbeat echoed in his body, and his back became wet.

Beep beep……

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Tinnitus rang in both of his ears as if warning him to run away.

Renato gasped for breath, leaning his back against the wall like a pursued rabbit. His head was dizzy as though the world around him was spinning.

It’s okay. He can’t do anything.

Huu, Renato took a deep breath to calm down his panic. If he showed a strange appearance now, he would draw people’s attention. He had to quickly regain his composure.

However, his selfish body did not move as Renato wanted. He was trembling even though he rationally knew Maximo couldn’t beat him here since they were in a banquet hall with numerous people.

“What? Why are you like this?”

Maximo was remarkably perplexed when Renato gasped and broke into a cold sweat when threatened. The memory of the other day flashed through his mind.

The image of Renato, who was startled as if Maximo’s hand was a lethal weapon, slapped his hand and fled away.

“Last time too, just what the hell……”

Wrinkling his eyebrows, Maximo reached out to Renato with his hand. He wasn’t going to let Renato run away like last time. Renato looked at the hand approaching him and took a deep breath.

I have to run away.

The chaotic violet-colored eyes moved from side to side, looking for a place to escape. He just wanted to get away from Maximo, but there was nowhere to retreat because of the wall behind him.

Renato, driven to a dead end, shrank his shoulders as much as possible and tightly closed his eyes. At that time, a low, deep voice saved Renato.

“You are here, Your Imperial Highness.”

Feeling the warmth gently clasping his stiff shoulder, Renato quietly opened his eyes. Khalid’s figure entered his blurry vision.

“…… Your highness?”

Why is he here? Renato called out to Khalid with a blank face. Khalid slightly pulled Renato towards him instead of answering. Then, as if protecting Renato, he turned his body to block Maximo’s face.

“What is it?”

Maximo’s frown deepened when he saw the sudden appearance of the uninvited guest. Khalid calmly smiled at Maximo who was staring at him.

“The dance song started, so I came to find my partner. In any banquet, shouldn’t the first dance be performed with one’s precious partner?”

“Ah.”

Hearing Khalid’s answer, Renato’s mind completely returned to reality. As soon as the thick, firm voice wrapped around his ears, the tinnitus that had been bothering him disappeared, and the sounds from his surroundings also returned.

As Khalid said, the calm and soft music had turned into an elegant and cheerful dance song. He could also notice the nobles heading toward the center of the banquet hall with their partners.

“My apologies. I should have accompanied you…… Uhm, this person is lord Maximo Florence of Florence Duchy.”

Renato came to his senses and hastily apologized. Then he introduced Khalid to Maximo. He would like to just leave while ignoring Maximo, but it was better to have the two greet each other for the sake of later.

“My greetings. I am Maximo Florence. I’ve heard of your reputation, your highness. It is a great honor for me to be able to meet the ‘Red-Eyed Slaughterer’ who has given the ruthless barbarians a terrible nightmare.”

Maximo asked for a handshake with a friendly smile as if he had never stared at Khalid. But his eyes were not smiling at all.

“I am Khalid Nur Hakan. Pleased to meet you. Since the dance song started, I was in a hurry and made a mistake when interrupting you two’s conversation.”

“Not at all. Rather, I should be the one to apologize. And we were just about to end the conversation anyway.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Then, may I take His Imperial Highness with me?”

Khalid exchanged formal words with Maximo and asked with a relaxed attitude. The form of his sentence was a question, but in fact, it was a notification.

“……Of course.”

Maximo paused for a moment, then replied one beat later. If it was the usual him, he would have gotten angry with Khalid who interrupted his conversation with Renato. However, he held himself back for now because the other person was Khalid.

“Thank you very much for your consideration. I hope we can have a relaxed meeting next time.”

After finishing the conversation, Khalid lowered the hand holding Renato’s shoulder and naturally wrapped it around his waist. Seeing that, Maximo widened his eyes. Regardless of that, Khalid smiled and held out his other hand to Renato.

“Shall we go, Your Imperial Highness?”

“Ah, yes.”

Renato glanced at Maximo once, then took Khalid’s hand and headed towards the center of the banquet hall. He felt a stinging gaze behind his back, but tried to ignore it.

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