The Crown Prince's Courtesan - Chapter 17
‘Time is a joke.’
The life of the proud and arrogant Marie Alphrose was actually quite harsh and difficult.
She was alone.
The one who had saved her was a commoner, and apparently a kind-hearted one, because she seemed to be doing her best to repay the debt of gratitude. Even though she herself looked barely able to hold on, he protected her younger sibling like her own child.
What kind of responsibility was this?
Russell grew curious about the daughter of his enemy.
He even got angry, wondering what on earth she was thinking living that way.
So he decided to see her with his own two eyes.
At the Academy, Marie Alphrose was famous, and not in a good way, so finding her in person wasn’t difficult.
That’s how he came to see the Omega.
The woman stood alone.
Her wind-blown hair was the color of fire, and her sharp eyes shone a vivid gold. Her face was pale and slender, and the lines of her body were soft. Objectively speaking, she was beautiful.
That was the problem.
Despite having nothing, she drew everyone’s attention. Even the insults and sneers were, in truth, a form of attention — something Russell was keenly aware of.
Absurdly, even that irritated him. The daughter of his enemy ought to be more loathsome, more arrogant, more pathetic.
And yet this woman, Marie Alphrose, was…
‘A bothersome woman.’
She didn’t know how to bow her head. She didn’t know how to grovel. She had even the foolishness to think that if she just endured, that would be enough. Even he could see that Marie Alphrose was barely hanging on, struggling to survive.
She didn’t smile much, nor did she look happy. And yet, her eyes had not lost their light. It was unmistakably the face of someone who endured.
Curiosity turned into irritation, and then into a nagging sense of unease. That’s why, when he bumped into her by chance and saw her face up close, he froze.
‘…I’m sorry.’
‘…’
Russell was surprised in more ways than one.
First, unlike everyone else around him who desperately tried to forge some sort of connection with the crown prince, she showed no interest at all. She might not have even realized the person she’d bumped into was the crown prince.
Second — her eyes.
He had expected her to have tired, worn-out eyes — the look of someone barely holding on. But when he saw Marie Alphrose up close, her eyes were clear. They blazed with light. He could see it — her refusal to fall and her sheer will not to be broken.
He went blank. Then, suddenly, a firestorm of rage surged up within him.
‘How dare you… How dare you look at the world with eyes like that?’
He wanted to drag her down into the same pit he had fallen into. He needed to see her break, to see her scream and collapse. That was the vengeance owed to him — the justice he had pursued for years.
That must have been why he couldn’t stop watching her. Why she kept invading his thoughts. Why his gaze kept following her.
So then why? Why did he hesitate?
Why had he not yet set his plan into motion? Why had he granted her a reprieve — just a little longer?
What on earth was the reason?
‘Your Highness, someone’s approached the girl.’
But now, the time had come. The filth of her childhood had returned to haunt her.
Her father, a dead servant, had been a pitiful man. He was a degenerate gambler who used his wife and daughter as collateral.
Though the debt had long been repaid, that had only been on the surface.They still held a stack of blank, illegal contracts just in case. After all, the servant’s wife had been a beautiful Omega — and by that logic, the daughters likely were, too.
Now they had come to the capital, and they were preparing to blackmail Marie Alphrose.
She was about to fall — far deeper than before. Perhaps even that bright, defiant light in her eyes would finally die out.
Just as he hoped.
‘Just as it should be.’
It was the moment he had dreamed of again and again. There was no reason to feel anything but satisfaction.
Logically, that was the truth.
All he had to do was stand by and watch. Let her crumble under the hands of debt collectors and fall straight into hell.
And yet, somehow, he found himself moving — in an entirely different direction.
He persuaded an Academy professor to guide her into becoming a courtesan.
