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"Stop, Clyde—"

Clyde picked up a silver pocket watch from the ground. "Look at this. Your pocket watch is lying here, all abandoned. Were you planning on leaving it for the lost-and-found?"

"Oh," Vyan let out blankly, his heartbeat steadying. "I didn\'t realize it fell."

Clyde shook his head and placed the watch on the nightstand. "Be more careful. It\'s a family heirloom, not a disposable toy."

Vyan nodded, wiping the beads of sweat that had formed out of nervousness.

"Why are you sweating, though?" Clyde arched an eyebrow. "Wait, were you tossing and turning all night again? Is that why you look like you wrestled with a dragon in your sleep?" He sighed heavily, shaking his head. "I knew I should have had the knights fetch some lavender incense."

"Hey, don\'t worry about it. I slept like a baby, honestly."

"Really?" Clyde asked, clearly skeptical.

"Yes. Maybe I was just worn out from all the heavy activities these past two days," Vyan reasoned, and Clyde finally seemed to buy the lie, albeit reluctantly. "Okay, fine! Now, get out. I need to change."

"Fine, fine," Clyde rolled his eyes dramatically. "You act like you are hiding a secret lover in here."

"What a hilarious joke," Vyan faked a laugh and firmly pushed Clyde out of the room.

As soon as the door clicked shut, Iyana emerged from under the bed, her face a mixture of amusement and exasperation. "You are so bad at lying to Clyde."

Vyan scratched the back of his neck, helping Iyana up with a hand. "I just get nervous because Clyde knows me too well."

"That surprisingly makes sense." Iyana dusted her clothes, nodding in understanding. "So how should we go about explaining to him why I am at the hotel?"

"I don\'t see any reason as to why he should know there were no rooms available for you last night," Vyan casually made up a reason, as if it was no big deal.

"Are you always such a morbid liar?" She raised a questioning eyebrow, and he shrugged his shoulders.

"You can guess the answer yourself."

She let out an exasperated sigh. "You are exhausting."

While they bantered inside, on the other side of the door, Clyde chuckled quietly.

"Vyan really is delusional to think he can fool me," he murmured in amusement, recounting all the clues in the room—the two pillows, the heels in the corner, the faint scent of flowery hair concoction from Vyan, and the champagne glasses on the table.

"But I will make an exception this time and not tease you about it," he smiled to himself, happy to find flaws in Vyan\'s supposedly foolproof plan to hide Iyana under the bed.

At times like this, it really showed Vyan was just an inexperienced, naive twenty-one year old boy. No matter how much he tried to portray himself as a perfectionist who has everything under control, Clyde knew better.

And he appreciated that. It would have been scarier if a boy who grew up hidden from the real world was so perfectly flawless in everything he did.

Then again, thanks to superior genes, he was annoyingly good at almost everything he tried.

Except playing piano and romance, of course.

And Clyde could pretty much swear that the latter would be the cause of Vyan\'s undoing. Because that absolute idiot would not recognize a romantic clue even if they hit him like a brick in the face.

———

"How was your adventure at the Forest of Beasts?" Althea asked with a sparkle in her eyes as Vyan settled on the couch in front of her.

Vyan and his troops had slinked back into the Ashstone main town late last night, and today he was already dragged into the imperial court for an update on the Monster Hunt Festival.

He figured Clyde and he would drop by Althea\'s office afterward, but apparently, palace security had tightened up. Clyde was held at the entrance, denied entry and left to stew in the lounge area, while Vyan got in because of his rank. Security at this palace was usually a joke compared to his own estate.

"Good, good," Vyan said with a lazy grin. "Though it was a tad exhausting."

"I know just the thing to cure your exhaustion!" Althea beamed, clapping her hands twice.

A maid appeared with a trolley laden with chocolate desserts and tea.

Vyan placed a hand dramatically over his heart. "Thea, if I didn\'t already see you as a sister, I might have just fallen in love with you."

Althea laughed, a light, airy sound. "This is the least I can do for you, considering I am only receiving one-sided help from you at the moment."

"Please," Vyan said, rolling his eyes as he cut a small piece of the cake slice. "I already told you, I never back off from a deal. Even if the reason for my end of the deal has vanished."

She smiled softly. "True, but you say you no longer have a reason to hate Lady Iyana. So in my opinion, you shouldn\'t really care about bringing Easton down anymore."

"Is it reason enough that I like you better than Prince Easton?" he asked sheepishly.

"Please, you flatter me," she chortled. "But speaking of Easton," she continued, leaning forward, "I have no idea why he is so stubbornly hanging on to his engagement with Lady Iyana. He even went as far as to stand up against Father and gave him his word that he would call off the wedding if either of them makes even a single mistake."

Vyan hummed thoughtfully, taking a leisurely sip of his tea, the gears in his head twisting.

"Thea," he began with a sly tone that made Althea\'s curiosity pique. She knew that tone all too well. "What if we killed two birds with one stone?"

"What do you mean?" she asked, her eyes narrowing. mvle,mp|y|r hosted

"Like we break off the engagement, and at the same time, dethrone him as the crown prince," Vyan said, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

Althea\'s eyes widened, and she whispered, "If we want to do that, we have to pull off something big."

"I already have it in mind," Vyan smirked, the corners of his mouth lifting in a way that promised trouble.