The Fault Lines of Fate

‘…So.’

Who on earth was he conversing with?

I considered for a fraction of a second that he might simply be speaking with a local merchant, but my instincts instantly rejected the notion. Staring at Prince Eighteenth’s broad back, I shifted my gaze to the elite shadow guard trailing a step behind me. The sudden, razor-sharp intensity hardening the warrior’s features gave me all the confirmation I needed.

If there was one absolute truth in this world, it was that anyone approaching Prince Eighteenth in secret boded nothing but ill fortune. I accelerated my pace.

“…However, I—”

Perhaps due to the roaring din of the crowded marketplace, Prince Eighteenth’s words didn’t filter through clearly. Yet, even through those fragmented cadences, the profound wave of distress he was experiencing was instantly palpable.

I couldn’t decipher the exact nature of their conversation, but one thing was entirely indisputable: Prince Eighteenth was currently caught in an immensely awkward dilemma. Watching him go so far as to frantically wave his hands in a defensive refusal, I quietly closed the remaining distance and stepped up directly to his side.

“Ha?”

I had wondered what wretched soul was cornering him, but I never expected it to be him.

The moment I materialized out of thin air, Yeon Ji-oh’s eyes widened to the size of saucers. Staring at him in absolute silence, I slowly cut my eyes toward the royal prince beside me.

“Young Master Seo-yul!”

Despite having explicitly claimed inside the carriage that he wished to grant me space to sort through my thoughts, the sheer, unadulterated joy radiating from Prince Eighteenth upon seeing me was staggering. Yet, the delight lasted for only a fleeting second. Suddenly freezing mid-sentence, Prince Eighteenth’s eyes darted around in a frantic, profoundly guilty panic.

If he was happy to see me, he should have just left it at that. Acting so suddenly flustered only left me entirely bewildered as to how I was supposed to react. Observing the royal prince, who was completely unable to conceal his intense awkwardness, I shifted my gaze back toward Yeon Ji-oh and shifted my weight, leaning heavily onto one hip.

‘…’

If they were fated to cross paths for their historical first meeting, they could have done it literally anywhere else. Why did destiny insist on forcing them together in a situation where I had no choice but to witness it? Following our disastrous encounter at the lake, my favorability toward Yeon Ji-oh hadn’t just hit rock bottom—it had violently blasted a hole straight through the earth. I harbor absolutely zero desire to look upon that face. Furthermore, watching Prince Eighteenth squirm in an anxious panic before a creature like Yeon Ji-oh made my stomach twist with pure aversion.

The moment an incredulous, mocking scoff slipped past my lips, Prince Eighteenth desperately began to blurt out an explanation.

“The truth is, Young Master, I was merely on my way to retrieve the commissioned item when I accidentally collided with this individual. I was simply offering my formal apologies for the mishap! There is absolutely no connection between this person and myself!”

dishonesty“Yes, is that so?”

‘If I recall correctly, in the original novel, Prince Eighteenth desperately denied any attachment the first time he encountered Yeon Ji-oh as well.’

Offering a thoroughly detached, mechanical response, I let my eyes slowly sweep over Yeon Ji-oh and Prince Eighteenth once more.

‘…’

“Truly, there is absolutely nothing more to it! I am by no means a man who permits his eyes to wander to another!”

I hadn’t even uttered a single accusation, yet he was already spiraling into a frantic frenzy based entirely on his own wild assumptions.

In the grand scheme of things, Prince Eighteenth’s heart was destined to inevitably bleed for Yeon Ji-oh anyway. Even if he chose to discard me and walk away with that boy this very second, it wouldn’t inflict a single scratch of damage upon me.

Leaving the royal prince to drown in his blatant anxiety, I locked my gaze back onto Yeon Ji-oh. The exact moment our eyes met—as if he had been desperately waiting for that precise cue—Yeon Ji-oh elegantly raised one hand to press against his forehead while his other hand gripped the massive wooden support pillar for stability.

“Ugh…”

‘Look at this kid.’

Right on cue, he executed that perfectly timed, theatrical stagger. Staring at him with a gaze flat with absolute disbelief, I watched as Prince Eighteenth spoke up once more.

“He claimed to be feeling quite unwell, so I feel immensely apologetic for the impact.”

“…It is perfectly fine.”

‘Hmm. For a man claiming to feel profoundly apologetic, his voice sounds remarkably hollow and dry.’ No, wait. Now wasn’t the time to analyze Prince Eighteenth’s vocal inflections.

‘…Ha.’

‘Unwell, you say?’

I meticulously scanned Yeon Ji-oh’s pristine, unruffled appearance from head to toe before tilting my head in a sharp, mocking angle.

“Exactly how and where did he collide with you to warrant such a profound state of physical distress?”

“That is… I was in such an immense rush to step outside the boutique that I inadvertently bumped into him. He did not collapse or sustain any physical injuries, but it seems he was deeply startled by the impact.”

‘…’

In other words, according to Prince Eighteenth’s own testimony, the boy hadn’t fallen down, nor had he suffered so much as a single scratch.

Yet, solely because he was ‘startled,’ he had boldly seized the robes of an Imperial Prince and refused to let him leave.

Given that the timeline of their meeting had already violently fractured from the original plot, it didn’t particularly surprise me that the nature of their encounter had mutated as well. That wasn’t the issue.

However…

I narrowed my eyes into a razor-thin squint, scrutinizing Yeon Ji-oh.

Sensing my intense gaze, Yeon Ji-oh, who had been casting sly, calculated glances toward Prince Eighteenth, accidentally locked eyes with me and hurriedly averted his stare in a panic.

‘…’

Ultimately, they were bound by the absolute laws of the original author to entangle themselves, so it wasn’t my place to meddle in their destined romance. However, between his stunt at the lake and his theater production today, I absolutely refused to tolerate him continuously incinerating my perfectly wonderful mood.

I deliberately muttered the words Prince Eighteenth had just spoken, raising my volume just enough so the surrounding pedestrians could hear every single syllable crystal clear.

“A minor collision that resulted in no fall, yet he is profoundly startled… and suddenly experiencing immense physical distress?”

The absolute second the words slipped past my lips, Yeon Ji-oh’s entire frame flinched violently. Watching his reaction, a cold, vicious smirk twisted the corners of my mouth.

“You truly are a fascinating creature the more one peels back your layers. I find myself immensely curious as to how a man suffering from such a fragile, failing constitution managed to wander all the way to this bustling avenue entirely unassisted.”

Even the layers of a wild onion couldn’t possibly reveal such a jarring contradiction.

Recalling the sheer arrogance Yeon Ji-oh had displayed when he had the audacity to march straight into the Mangeum Bank, I continued to dissect him with my eyes.

It was then that I realized the boy was vibrating with an immense, suffocating wave of pure tension.

‘…’

There was absolutely no logical reason for Yeon Ji-oh to display such overwhelming anxiety in my presence.

Indeed, if this was merely a chance encounter, he could have simply gone on his way. There was absolutely no reason for him to be sweating through such a frantic state of panic.

I stared at his bizarre, inexplicable behavior for a brief moment. Yet, even through his trembling, Yeon Ji-oh stubbornly forced his spine to remain rigidly erect. Seeing that defiant posture, I bared my teeth in a razor-sharp smile.

“It seems you truly possess absolutely zero concept of fundamental etiquette.”

dishonesty“…I fail to comprehend why I am legally or morally obligated to display formal etiquette toward you, Young Master.”

“Come to think of it, your words are entirely correct. Given the circumstances, throwing yourself flat onto the earth to beg for my mercy wouldn’t even begin to suffice, yet here I am wasting my breath demanding mere etiquette.”

“…Young Master Seo-yul?”

Utterly stunned by the sudden, venomous shift in my demeanor, Prince Eighteenth called out my name with a thoroughly dazed expression.

Shifting my gaze toward the royal prince, I softened my features and offered him a beautifully sweet, crinkled-eye smile.

“Would you be so kind as to grant me a brief moment, Your Highness? I happen to possess a rather intimate familiarity with this individual’s true nature.”

‘…’

The moment the request left my lips, Prince Eighteenth instantly shut his mouth. Meeting the gaze of the royal prince—who was entirely unable to conceal his chaotic mixture of profound worry and absolute shock—I snapped my attention right back onto Yeon Ji-oh.

“Therefore, I must ask: what exactly is your true motive for seizing this noble lord and refusing to release him? Ah, could it perhaps be driven by the exact same pathetic ambition that prompted you to barge into the Mangeum Bank in a desperate bid to corner my older brother?”

dishonesty“…Your words are excessively cruel.”

I had been mildly concerned that his fragile brain might have forgotten our little chat by the lake, so it was a profound relief to see that he understood my implication instantly. Watching Yeon Ji-oh violently tremble as if he had been struck, I dismissed him entirely, lazily waving my hand through the air as if shooing away a wretched stray dog.

“…I have yet to receive a formal apology for the impact.”

“An apology?”

‘An apology is something I have never once received in either of my lifetimes, you absolute hypocrite.’

The moment I echoed his words in a voice dripping with incredulous, bone-chilling mockery, Yeon Ji-oh’s face flushed a violent, burning crimson.

“Seeing your face turn such a brilliant shade of red, it seems you do retain a modicum of human shame after all.”

If he possessed shame, how could a person act like this?

No matter how deeply Namgung Hwi had been brainwashed by his main-bottom aura, the moment Yeon Ji-oh realized the man possessed a legitimate fiancé, he should have drawn a clean, absolute line and retreated.

In truth, while a formal wedding ceremony hadn’t occurred, from the perspective of the original Geum Seo-yul, Yeon Ji-oh’s catastrophic intrusion was nothing short of a lightning bolt that shattered his entire existence into ash.

Despite explicitly knowing Namgung Hwi possessed a bonded partner, Yeon Ji-oh had happily marched straight into the Namgung Clan estate to live under their roof. Furthermore, whenever he flaunted his sickening affection right in front of Geum Seo-yul’s face, that wretched boy had never once offered a single word of apology to the man whose life he was destroying.

And yet, here he stood on a public street, arrogantly demanding an apology for a bump on the shoulder.

‘It truly is utterly hilarious.’

He was merely dancing to the tune of the original author’s script, but remembering the sheer, suffocating fury that used to warp my chest whenever I read those chapters made my blood boil. Naturally, the exact same rage flared within me right now. As I clenched my fists tightly, desperately forcing the explosive emotion back down, Prince Eighteenth smoothly wrapped his hand completely around mine.

“Allowing yourself to succumb to such intense fury will only inflict severe damage upon your fragile health, Young Master.”

I had spent the past five consecutive years executing flawless performances of a venomous psychotic villain, screaming and raging until my throat bled.

If my body had survived those catastrophic tantrums entirely unscathed, a trivial interaction like this was absolutely nothing.

I offered a reassuring, firm tap against the back of Prince Eighteenth’s hand before locking my eyes squarely back onto Yeon Ji-oh, who still showed absolutely no intention of vacating the premises.

“Given that you have sustained absolutely zero physical trauma, I shall ask you one final time. What exactly is your true objective for clinging to this noble lord?”

‘…’

“Answer me. Do you perhaps harbor a specific, covetous desire?”

Indeed, if there wasn’t a calculated motive driving him, the Yeon Ji-oh of the original novel would never have aggressively cornered a complete stranger on the street. Recalling the saintly protagonist of the text—the boy who would merely smile and forgive a stranger even if they violently trampled over his foot—my suspicion regarding his bizarre behavior today mutated into absolute certainty.

In truth, the fact that the pacing of the original plot had fractured didn’t particularly distress me.

However, Yeon Ji-oh’s current behavior was thoroughly, violently grating against my nerves.

A dark, ominous premonition twisted deep within my gut—a terrifying whisper that this creature was about to hurled a catastrophic boulder into my beautifully peaceful life. I leveled a lethal, unadulterated glare straight into Yeon Ji-oh’s eyes.

“Young Master Seo-yul.”

It was at that exact moment.

Prince Eighteenth’s voice cut through the heavy atmosphere, his cadence entirely transformed from the frantic, stuttering tone he had used just a moment prior.

Simultaneously, I immediately inclined my head toward him.

“Exactly what kind of wretched creature is this individual to warrant such an intense display of fury from you?”

dishonesty“…That is…”

If I chose to expose Yeon Ji-oh’s true identity to a royal prince right here, I would be taking the reins and violently shattering the original plot with my own hands.

Yet, deliberately withholding information when explicitly interrogated by a member of the Imperial Court was an equally catastrophic choice.

As I hesitated, unable to smoothly formulate an answer, Prince Eighteenth’s gaze flicked between myself and Yeon Ji-oh before he let out a heavy, sweeping sigh.

“I have already delivered my formal apologies for the collision, so I shall take my leave now. I still possess an immense mountain of matters to oversee today.”

At Prince Eighteenth’s decisive intervention to cut through the stalemate, I offered a clean nod of agreement.

“I shall follow your noble decree, Your Highness.”

“Furthermore… you.”

Nodding back to me in approval, Prince Eighteenth shifted his gaze, his voice pinning Yeon Ji-oh directly to the spot.

“Y-Yes?”

Utterly blindsided by the reality that the royal prince was addressing him directly, Yeon Ji-oh’s eyes widened as he looked up at Prince Eighteenth. I caught the briefest glimpse of a truly bizarre, indecipherable emotion swirling within the boy’s pupils before Prince Eighteenth gave my hand a tight, reassuring squeeze. Releasing the pressure, the royal prince let out a voice that was entirely coated in a bone-chilling, arctic frost.

“Seeing how your presence has incited such a profound depth of fury within Young Master Seo-yul, it is blatantly obvious that you have committed a staggering transgression against him. You would do well to offer him a sincere, deeply repentant apology.”

‘…’

‘Oh… now this is a remarkably magnificent plot twist.’

Utterly stunned by the completely unanticipated declaration, my eyes widened to their absolute limits as I stared at Prince Eighteenth. Catching my stunned reaction, the royal prince snuck a brief glance at me, let out a soft cough, and smoothly used his other hand to completely envelope the back of my palm.

“Then, let us depart.”

Never in my wildest dreams did I anticipate that a man who possessed absolutely zero context regarding our history would blindly and thoroughly side with me.

It felt entirely surreal.

After all, Prince Eighteenth was explicitly written into the original novel as a prominent sub-top—the tragic, fiercely obsessed second male lead destined to bleed for Yeon Ji-oh.

Yet, for this brief moment, I couldn’t care less about the absolute laws of the original novel.

Looking back at Yeon Ji-oh, my mood skyrocketed into pure, unadulterated ecstasy.

Indeed, staring at the sheer, suffocating despair and absolute ruin darkening Yeon Ji-oh’s face, I felt a wave of profound satisfaction wash clean through my soul. Unable to suppress the wild, triumphant joy bubbling up from the very depths of my chest, a radiant smile bloomed across my face as I tightly gripped Prince Eighteenth’s hand.