My Fiancée Hates Me novel Chapter 120

[Erik's Perspective]

After leaving Father's office, I ran into Viscount Craig Corrine.

"Greetings, Your Highness," he said as he bowed his head slightly to me.

"Greetings, Viscount," I said.

"You seem a bit shaken...Is it because Your Highness just found out that you are not an only child?" Viscount Corrine whispered.

Such private information and he has his hands on it already?

"...What do you know?" I asked.

"...Nothing much...If you happen to find that child alive, you will no longer be the only possible heir to the throne," Viscount Corrine said as he said with a smug grin on his face as he left.

It almost sounds as if Viscount Corrine knows who the missing Prince is...

When I started investigating males of the same age and birthday, I figured that the child would have entered an orphanage around the same time, unless he was brought up by a Noble family. In that case, it would be much easier to find him.

I also began investigating Viscount Corrine in secret. He did not have any heirs supposedly due to his barren wife.

I also heard that he had begun looking into young boys whom recently left orphanages due to their coming of ages.

Was he hoping to find the missing Prince to adopt him and give himself more political power?

"I am a bit surprised that you asked me for tea," Arielle said as she sat across from me.

For some strange reason, I found myself asking Arielle to have tea with me once I saw her walking through the Castle.

"...I am [surprised at myself] too," I said awkwardly.

"Pardon?" Arielle said as she tilted her head slightly.

She seemed to be shining brightly even more than usual today...

Ah! Ugh! Calm down, my heart...

"I mean...you seemed to be wandering around," I said as I quickly made up an excuse to talk to her.

"I was planning on going to the Library to kill some time," Arielle said with a smile.

She looked pretty as usual with her neatly straight hair and in her short yellow dress with long sleeves and matching hairband.

"...A date, is it?" I asked.

She seemed a bit embarrassed when she answered, "Yes."

I could hear my heart shattering.

"...I was just on break and happened to see you, so I called you over as a conversation partner," I said.

"Did you have to justify your actions?" Arielle asked.

I suddenly felt embarrassed.

"...I guess not," I said.

Arielle chuckled softly.

"Even you have your awkward moments," Arielle said with a charming grin.

It had been so long since I saw her genuinely smile...Nevel Pillar's death must have been a large influence on her, or is it because she is with Garett?

"It is a bit sudden, but do you know much about Viscount Corrine?" I asked.

"Currently...or do you mean in the past?" Arielle asked as her expression suddenly turned serious.

"Both," I answered.

"...In our past lives, he was among the people I purged," Arielle said with a cold smile.

"Why did you purge him?" I asked.

"He has close relations with Marquis Pillar and was the one who also hurt Charlotte just so that he could help Marquis Pillar escape from his execution. At the time, I did not have any definite proof other than the words of the witnesses, but even the information from witness testimonies can be skewed as well. That is why I looked up other information that I could use to implicate him. I found things like him money laundering and exposing military secrets to The Balik Empire and had him quickly disposed of, so that may be why your memory of him is not as strong as the one I had of him," Arielle said.

"Border control is particularly tight now ever since Kaya Ouchi brought in foreign mercenaries...It would be difficult to contact The Balik Empire," I said.

"Is the Viscount particularly bothering you?" Arielle asked worriedly.

I sighed.

"Not for now....It is just that I wanted to confirm a few things with you," I said.

It irks me a bit from how her information networks seem to always be a bit more reliable than mine...Are they biased towards women?

"If you need any of my help, please come to me," Arielle said with a smile.

I would rather not rely on you more than I have to again...

"I would like to try some of your cooking again," I said.

"...I seem to only remember being able to make simple food apart from survival food," Arielle said.

"Survival food? Have you increased your repertoire?" I asked.

"...My mother is a rather paranoid person, so I picked up a few survival methods," Arielle said nonchalantly.