[BL]The Hero and his Party Won't Let Me Go-Chapter 88: Ch : Responsibility

"Lady Sera, you don’t have to be too disappointed. Prince Kaiden is just going through a phase right now. He has liked you for so long. There is no way he would turn away from you now."

One of Lady Sera’s followers immediately tried to cheer her up. She and her family had invested a lot in Lady Sera, so she could not have failed to become the queen.

The other ladies nodded as well, trying to make her feel good.

"Thank you, everyone. I feel a lot better with your support. But I would like to be alone for some time now."

She told them, and they nodded and decided to give her some space. They behaved like good friends all the way until they exited her room.

"Tsk, what is going on? We were so sure that Prince Kaiden was going to take Lady Sera as his wife, but look at all this."

"Not only does he not appear with her, but he has yet to see her son either."

"On the other hand, that outsider... should we change sides? It is not too late."

"Change sides and... do what exactly? It’s better to drive that intruder out of the palace as soon as possible."

"Tsk, you don’t understand. This all must be an act because that companion bore the prince’s eldest son. The crown prince does need to be in his good grace now. What a clever companion."

"Let’s see what happens at the next tea party. I am sure it will be a fun one."

Sera heard her ’friends’ talking outside her door. They were not even lowering their voices anymore in regard to her.

It made her realize that she had lost a lot of respect in their eyes, and it angered her.

’This all happened because of that outsider. If only he were not here...!’

She agreed with the girls outside and made a decision. She needed to teach that outsider a lesson. She would make it such that he would beg to head out himself.

As for his son... a prince won’t be able to leave the royal palace. So naturally, he would be handed to Sera to raise. And she would raise him with so much love and affection that the child would become hers eternally and only listen to her.

’That’s right. Prince Kaiden is doing all this because of his eldest son. If Sera were to have that child...’

Her own son started to cry, wanting her attention, and Sera rubbed her forehead in annoyance.

"Tsk, someone get this child to quiet down. I am starting to have a headache..."

She complained, and her maids quickly grabbed the child and took him away before Sera could do anything to him.

Finally, peace returned to her once more, and she decided she had her course of action.

"I will need to ask for Father’s help here. First, I need to make it seem like that guy is the most irresponsible person on this planet."

That would be easy enough.

After all, it was clear that the ex-companion had no training in handling imperial affairs.

Unlike Sera, who had been trained to look after such events, the man was not even close. Not only that, but he also looked like someone who got overwhelmed easily.

A small challenge would be enough to make him realize that this was not a place for him.

"I need a pen and paper. It’s time for me to start making my move."

She had not discussed this with her father, but it did not look like she needed to either-especially not with the way things were currently going for her.

__________

"Are you sure you will be fine? You tend to hide it when you are having a hard time. I do not want you to have a hard time."

Prince Kaiden pointed out, and Shuu just smiled at him.

"It will be fine. I am not having as hard of a time as you might think. The room is comfortable, and you have people keeping an eye on me. I will be just fine."

Prince Kaiden did not say anything. He neither confirmed nor denied that he had people keeping an eye on Shuu, but he did not need to either.

Shuu could feel the presence of eyes looking at him very keenly.

"Anyway, I will be fine. You should head out now."

He reminded Prince Kaiden, only to see Prince Kaiden frowning at him.

"Fine, I will leave now. But do call me if you feel like anything is wrong."

The crown prince kept looking at Shuu all the way until he left the hall. Shuu maintained a smile on his face, but his face was starting to hurt.

He dropped his smile only after Prince Kaiden was gone, and he flinched at his sore muscles.

"It’s a lot harder to smile all the time. No wonder all those nobles seemed irritable. They must have a hard time."

Not that Shuu did not have a hard time either. He had even had to pretend to be female to get by. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

But those were talks of a forgotten time...

"I have... not had those dreams for a long time now. Did things finally get better for me?"

It had been eight months exactly since he had a bad dream, but somehow, a part of him told him that things were far from over.

Still, it was not something for a blessing-less person to think about.

Knock

The knock at his door broke him out of his daze, and he quickly moved toward it and opened it. The messenger on the other side quickly handed him a letter. The poor maid looked nervous and shifted in her place.

"I-I have done my part. I will take my leave now."

She ran away before Shuu could ask her what this letter was, and he was left looking at the maid’s back with an awkward expression on his face, wondering what he should do with it.

Ultimately, he ripped the seal of the letter and decided to read it, and his mood soured as he realized who had sent it to him.

"A letter... from Lady Sera? I wonder what it says."