Two-Faced Princess

New Embers (14)

“I am not the person. You don’t know me, My Lady.” He spoke bitterly.

“N—-?” Apollonia’s lips parted.

“What is it?”

“Knox. Knox Bayan.”

She remembered his name. The man looked suspicious as if he hadn’t expected her to know it, but soon nodded.

“Do you know me?” He demanded bitterly as he sat down beside Apollonia’s bed. Knox Bayan. He was Sid’s only son. Knox took over Sid’s title as the Count at the young age of seventeen. After his father’s death, he remained with his mother in their estate and stayed out of the capital. Apollonia looked at him with eyes now fully recovered. He really looked like Sid. It wasn’t only his face but also his tall, muscular body and spirit that one could feel even if he hadn’t done anything yet. Just by looking at his posture and the way he walked, she could see that he was a formidable warrior. However, his expression and gaze seemed different. Unlike Sid’s eyes which contained pure, stubborn loyalty and warmth towards Apollonia, his was rather cold and sharp. Apollonia’s mind suddenly felt overwhelmed. Sid was already dead. He would no longer come back. However, this man in front of her was clearly the alter ego that he had left in this world. The two looked at each other for a while and Knox seemed to be searching her face. After a long silence, he spoke first.

“Aren’t your restrictions too loose for someone who had been kidnapped and detained? People might think that we’re seeing each other for the first time in a while.” He said with a smile. When Apollonia heard that, she thought about the image she must have reflected on him. Tears were still welling up in her eyes as she couldn’t erase her joy of possibly seeing Sid again.

“Do you know why I brought you here?” He glowered at Apollonia. It was obvious that he was still interested in her but hostile. Apollonia forced her mind, which had been overwhelmed a moment ago, to quickly judge the situation. He was right. Knox had kidnapped Apollonia through careful planning. It was neither an accident nor a misunderstanding. Apollonia felt her head getting colder as she recounted what had happened for several days. Count Aeter, a man who knew her and the people around her too well that she couldn’t even suspect him, had introduced this person. The man approached her using her memories of the lily garden at Albrate. Even Uriel or Caelion had no idea about this.

“Sid was the only one who knew about this.” Aporonia muttered half to herself. Knox nodded.

“That’s right. I’ve heard from an early age what kind of garden the precious princess likes, and the seal of Count Aeter was stamped on the papers inside the man’s drawer, so I could easily forge it. My only problem was to let the intrusive one off the side. I bribed Lyla Trion’s handmaid and let her wind in there, and it was resolved.”

“Did you hear about the top, too?”

“No.” He smiled again.”Do you know? He doesn’t confide such a grave secret to his family either.”

“The place where important documents were kept was written in the will he left me long before he died. He told me not to look at them when he died and to burn them all. My mother tried to keep it and I missed a few things. The top and that little Bella were all there.” When he finished speaking, he stared at Apollonia as if the explanation was enough.

“Are you done with the questions?” When she said nothing, he asked slowly as if he had been waiting for another question from Apollonia. “Aren’t you wondering why I kidnapped you?”

Of course, she was curious.

If she hadn’t seen his face, she wouldn’t have believed it if someone told Apollonia in advance that Knox Bayan was after her.

Since she couldn’t want to wait any longer, she began. “Are you colluding with Petra?”

Apollonia thought about that possibility and erased it again. Duke Lipper wasn’t kind to Knox Bayan either before or after Sid’s death. The reason why the Bayans were still avoiding the capital was that their positions were almost disappearing. Apollonia looked at Knox up and down once more. Aside from the fact that she was kidnapped, her bitterness and slight hostility towards her at the mention of Sid was an attitude that didn’t go well with Sid, who was her hero, and loyalist.

“Do you blame me?”

The moment she asked the question, she knew the answer. Knox’s face, which had been relaxed until a while ago, was all crumpled.

“Because Sid died because of me?”

A terrible memory from five years ago came to Apollonia’s mind. The assassin’s sword penetrated Sid’s body as the flames soared. Knox’s anger at the loss of his father at such an early age might be directed at her. Apollonia understood. Even if she wanted to deny it, she herself had sympathized with him deep down.

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