Stop trying to control me, Miss Moriarty!

Chapter 10 The Scandal in Bohemia

"Ceylon tea, with honey and milk." Erin gently pushed the bone china teacup towards Ophelia. "I think you'll like it."

The boy's gentle voice and the soft light in his eyes made Ophelia feel dazed, as if she had returned to the banquet hall three years ago.

That's an annual celebration of the Bohemian royal family's birthday.

If you're an ordinary person, you'd probably hold a small party at home on your birthday and spend a happy day.

However, this is not the case for people of royal lineage.

Even though she was just a figurehead princess with the third right of succession, she was still a public figure representing the Bohemian royal family and had no private life.

Whether he likes it or not, he will invite distinguished guests from various countries to a grand celebration banquet.

Ophelia had no time to rest, constantly receiving praise and blessings from people. She was very hungry, but didn't even have the chance to enjoy a luxurious meal.

Being born into royalty is not the kind of happiness that ordinary people dream of.

For the sake of royal authority, everything is bound and forced, making them less free than anyone else.

Just as she made an excuse to go to the balcony for some fresh air—

A strange figure approached her. He was more like a boy than a teenager, yet he was more dazzling than any of the men in the banquet hall.

Erin Adler's smile was as bright as a midsummer day. Instead of offering the usual platitudes, he handed over a steaming cup of black tea and a small piece of sweet-smelling almond cake.

"Beautiful lady, would you mind dancing with me after you've finished eating?"

"His Majesty?"

Ophelia snapped out of her reverie and took the teacup.

She lowered her eyes to hide her earlier lapse in composure and took a small sip from the rim of her glass.

The rich, full-bodied black tea blended perfectly with the aroma of milk and honey. It was exactly the taste from three years ago, and he remembered it so clearly…

"Why..." Ophelia put down her teacup. "Why, exactly?"

Her virtues, once praised by others, were like armor protecting her—noble, elegant, and dignified…

Everything was completely stripped away at this moment.

Tears streamed uncontrollably from his golden eyes, down his cheeks, and onto the brown table, leaving dark stains.

"Why are you doing this to me?"

Her shoulders heaved, and she sobbed, completely losing her queenly composure.

"You said you'd bring me unbearable pain... and then you gave it back to me... and now you... you're doing it again..."

The woman sitting here now is no longer the Queen of Bohemia. She is just a pure-hearted girl who has been trapped for far too long by the carefully woven tenderness and coldness of the young man before her, and is now at a loss, filled with grievances.

Erin paused for a moment, then looked out the window:

"...It's very simple."

He withdrew his gaze, his ruby-red eyes fixed on her, filled with a complex and unspoken emotion: "I'm jealous."

"...What?" Ophelia looked up at him with teary eyes, confused.

"I don't want to see Your Majesty... no, I don't want to see you get married and become someone else's bride."

He leaned forward, his hands clasped tightly on the table, as if gathering courage to begin this long-planned yet still difficult confession: "Because I love you. In my fifteen years of life, the only person I have ever truly loved is you."

"Liar!" Ophelia's voice rose with emotion, tears welling up again. "Do you still think of me as that little girl I used to be? I know everything! You were in London! With countless women..."

"No." Erin suddenly reached out and gently pressed his hand against her soft lips, stopping her from saying anything more.

The gesture was too intimate, and the slightly cool touch of her fingertips momentarily stunned Ophelia.

Erin's voice was soft, yet every word was clear: "This is not a lie, my Ophelia. I only want to numb myself through these absurd acts because my soul is empty and I've lost you."

Ophelia flung his hand away as if burned, her chest heaving: "Don't lie to me anymore! I won't..."

At this moment, Erin took a paper file bag from his pocket and gently placed it on the table between the two of them:

"It was only when I heard the news that you were about to be engaged to the second prince of Scandinavia that I finally understood what the burning, unquenchable emotion in my heart was."

His gaze fell on the file folder, his expression one of disgust:

"The thought that my Ophelia would have to spend the rest of her life with a hypocrite... I knew I had to do something."

He gently pushed the file bag toward her.

"He's so much better than you! At least he represents a powerful kingdom, and that's for the future of Bohemia!"

Ophelia almost instinctively retorted, casually pulling out the papers inside and glancing at them.

Then, her gaze froze instantly, and she flipped through the pages faster and faster, the paper making a rapid rustling sound.

An expression of disbelief replaced the sadness and anger on her beautiful face: "These...these are...?"

"This is the evidence I've gathered, the evidence of the Scandinavian Second Prince's crimes, that I've tried my best to collect. Human trafficking, slave ownership, arms dealing..."

Ophelia's voice lowered, and her eyes began to waver: "This is definitely a forgery, I won't fall for it..."

"This information will soon appear in some of Europe's most influential newspapers," Erin added with certainty.

"Of course, if you insist that all of this is a fabrication, then I have nothing to say. But... Ophelia, the girl who once told me 'I really want to be a bird' while riding a horse outside Warsaw, the girl who yearned for the vast sky and pure freedom... is she really willing to lock her future in such a golden cage?"

Ophelia remained silent.

After a long silence, she spoke in a low voice: "All of this is for the future of Bohemia..."

It was more like convincing myself than convincing Erin.

Erin gently shook his head: "I wasn't asking the country or the Queen, I was only asking Ophelia. What is it that she truly desires deep down?"

A deeper silence spread, and only the sound of their breathing filled the vast space.

Seeing this, Erin sighed dejectedly: "I understand, I cannot change the will of a queen."

He reached into his robes again and pulled out a pale blue letter with badly worn edges: "Then... please take this back as well."

"This is...?" Ophelia's eyes widened as she looked at the familiar letter.

She took it with trembling hands and unfolded it.

To my dearest Erin:

You are like an angel descended from heaven to earth.

Carrying the glimmer of redemption and sweet happiness…

Three years ago, she nestled in Erin's warm embrace, filled with sweetness and anticipation for the future, and wrote this sonnet brimming with passionate love.

And now, it's just sitting there on the cold table.

"Then, farewell, Your Majesty. The fact that Ophelia truly loved me will forever remain in my heart."

Erin slowly stood up to say goodbye, leaving her with a sad and lonely silhouette: "I am content to see you again."

"Wait, wait a minute...!" Ophelia's voice was filled with panic.

Erin didn't turn around, as if talking to thin air: "If only I were a prince of noble birth. Then, perhaps I could stand openly by your side and spend every dawn and dusk of the rest of my life with you."

"Erin! Wait!! Don't go!!!" The anxious shouts echoed in the cafe.

Erin stopped in his tracks. He didn't turn around immediately, but simply tilted his head slightly and waited silently.

Ophelia took a deep breath, gripped her skirt tightly with both hands, raised her head, and made up her mind: "I will annul the engagement..."

She paused, her eyes filled with guilt and helplessness as she looked at Erin, tears silently streaming down her face again: "Thank you, Erin. If only, if only we were a better match... if only I were just a princess... But now, as the ruler of a nation, I have lost the freedom to act as I please."

Erin then slowly turned around and walked back to the table.

"That's good, Ophelia." He reached out and gently wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes. "May your path in life be smooth from now on, free from all difficulties and obstacles. May you be bathed in true happiness every day."

His voice was incredibly gentle: "Because... your happiness is my happiness."

Ophelia's eyelashes trembled violently, her inner turmoil like a ship in a storm. Finally, she reached out her arms and gently embraced Erin.

The moment they embraced, she immediately sensed something was amiss.

The boy in her arms was thinner and frailer than she remembered, and his body temperature was abnormally high. He was trembling as if he might collapse at any moment.

"Have you run out of magic?" Erin timely removed the "disguise" magic from her body, revealing the burn marks that hadn't fully healed. "I knew I should have left earlier. I really didn't want you to see me like this at the end..."

Ophelia released him, cupped his face in her hands, and looked him up and down urgently: "What...what happened to you?!"

"Please don't worry," Erin smiled weakly, her face pale, "It's just a minor injury from last night's explosion. I'll be fine soon..."

Ophelia's pupils contracted.

The evidence gathered by Erin, last night's explosion, the Scandinavian prince...

These clues connected in her mind, forming a tight logical loop.

Her voice trembled with anger: "This, this... could he have done this?!"

"Probably." Erin turned his head, coughed twice, and a smear of bright red blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. "When I was collecting this evidence, I was targeted by quite a few people. But as long as I can protect you... it's all worth it."

"Don't worry, I'll be leaving England soon. As long as I'm careful, even that prince will have a hard time finding me..."

Seeing Erin struggling to stay afloat despite her illness, Ophelia felt as if her heart was being torn apart.

Guilt surged up like the rising tide, coalescing into a sense of guilt that almost suffocated her.

A thought flashed through her chaotic mind like lightning.

She took out a piece of parchment with a spell engraved on it from her handbag and immediately took out a pen and began to write quickly on it.

Finally, she solemnly signed her full name and affixed the emblem of a lion entwined with olive branches, representing the Bohemian royal family.

"Erin, I have something for you." She pushed the parchment contract and the love poem together in front of him, her eyes filled with tenderness:

"Come live in Bohemia. As long as you sign this protective contract with royal guarantees, no one in my territory can harm you. Even if fate prevents us from being together, I wish you happiness."

Erin took the parchment contract and pen, and wrote his name in the other column: "Thank you, Ophelia."

In the next instant, his sickly demeanor vanished, and his red eyes radiated a terrifying inorganic glow.

"Your Majesty, I want to teach you something—guilt and sin are emotions that a king should never have."

"...Eirin?"

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty." Erin calmly looked down at Ophelia, his voice carrying an unquestionable and absolute authority. "Now, kneel down."

"...What?!"

A chill ran through Ophelia's body.

An absolute force, like countless puppet strings, connected her every joint, beginning to manipulate her will and body!

She tried to resist, but it was utterly futile. In a daze, her knees buckled, and she collapsed forward, finally crawling at Erin's feet in an utterly humiliating position.

—Exactly the same as in the photo.

The cold touch of the floor stimulated her abdomen, and Ophelia trembled all over: "What...what did you do?"

"It's very simple." Erin waved the parchment in his hand. "When signing, I slightly modified the contract. Now, it's a slave contract based on the principle of mutual consent."

Meanwhile, on Ophelia's lower abdomen, the pattern symbolizing dominion gradually took shape, and a crimson light, matching the color of Erin's eyes, pierced through the gorgeous dress and illuminated the café floor.

"How is this possible?! You, who are you...?" Her voice was hoarse, filled with fear and confusion.

Modifying a contract in seconds? How is that even possible?

Besides, weren't slave contracts abolished long ago?

"You don't need to know the details, Your Majesty." Erin reached out and gently stroked the silver hair as if it were a pet.

Ophelia's trembling body gradually calmed down, and the confusion and fear on her face slowly faded. Finally, she suddenly smiled gently.

"Ha ha ha ha……"

There was little pain in her laughter; instead, it carried a sense of relief.

In this way, the duties of a queen, the dignity of the royal family, and the responsibilities of the country that had always seemed to be shackled on her no longer needed to concern her.

Because he, who had trampled everyone in Bohemia underfoot, had become Erin's eternal possession, and there was no way for him to escape.

"Hahaha..." Ophelia's face was filled with a blissful, almost chaotic smile.

It doesn't matter anymore.

She raised her hand and gently stroked the slightly warm red lines on her lower abdomen.

Suddenly, I remembered what my mother said when she combed my hair when I was little.

"Our Ophelia's hair is so beautiful, it's like silk woven from moonlight."

Such pure silver hair is rare even in the Bohemian royal family, and she worried about whether her future children would be able to inherit this hair color.

Perhaps, besides his dazzling smile, this is also one of the reasons why she fell in love with Erin at first sight.

The guilt and remorse that had plagued Ophelia vanished completely; her cheeks flushed, her eyes glazed over, and her heart fluttered.

She looked up at Erin and murmured to herself:

"That way, no matter who I nominally marry in the future... my child, the continuation of my bloodline... will all have beautiful silver hair."

The sun that shone over Bohemia willingly accepted its fate of decline, falling into the cage woven by moonlight.

She lowered her head meekly, like a puppy, and gently licked the tips of her owner's shoes, which were covered in mud and rain.