By Zephyria 
On a night when rain poured down, thirty members of the royal knight order, including Commander Claude, gathered outside the castle gate, heavily armed.
On the surface, it was a night training for the knights, but the real reason for their gathering was to find the runaway Cecile Adrian.
Fortunately, the royal family was still unaware of this fact. They had been given the grave mission to bring him back safely before a major incident occurred.
Alexis first tried to guess where Cecile might have headed.
Having grown up in the palace for most of his life, it was unlikely that he would have hidden in a rugged mountainside or rural area. The most probable direction was indeed towards the capital, and they needed to focus on the bustling city and residential areas.
Alexis, leading the group, shouted to the knights in front of him.
“Our goal is to find Cecile’s whereabouts before dawn. Report to me as soon as you discover anything!”
“Yes! Your Highness!”
With a resounding reply, the sound of hooves began to shake the ground. With the elite knight order in motion, it was clear that finding Cecile was just a matter of time.
Before long, Claude, who had set out as part of the advance team, returned with significant news.
“Your Highness, there is something you must verify.”
He then presented a healthy horse and a bundle of jewels to Alexis.
“It’s a horse managed by the palace.”
“Yes, judging by the mark on its ear, it’s definitely one of ours. And these jewels as well…”
The jewels were disassembled, making it difficult to discern whether they were originally a necklace or a bracelet, but they all radiated a clear and transparent light, indicating their high quality.
Seeing this, Alexis narrowed his eyes coldly.
“Where did you find them?”
“They were with a group of bandits hiding in the mountains. We’ve captured them, so you can interrogate them yourself.”
“Bring them here!” Claude shouted, and the knights dragged the captured bandits in front of Alexis.
The bandits, who had been rampaging as if they feared nothing in the world, now trembled and shook in front of the knight order and the crown prince.
Among them, the presumed leader suddenly knelt in the mud.
“P-please spare my life! Just my life, I beg you!”
“I will decide after I hear your answers. Who did you take all this from?”
“It was a young man. A very young and quite pretty young man.”
“Was he the one with dark brown hair and green eyes?”
“Yes, yes! That’s right! I remember clearly.”
Alexis sighed softly. This confirmed that the bandits had targeted Cecile.
“…What did you do to him?”
“We only took what he had and let him go. I swear! He looked like a rich and precious young master, so we didn’t touch him!”
Should he be thankful that they hadn’t harmed him? The thought of Cecile, who must have left empty-handed and without a horse, made Alexis increasingly anxious.
“Tell me where he went.”
“I-I don’t know exactly. Just that he went west…”
“To the central district, then.”
Alexis gestured to Claude, who summoned the remaining knights to relay the orders. They needed to gather all the scattered search teams towards the central district of the capital.
“Your Highness, what should we do with these men?”
“Bind them tightly so they can’t escape. We will decide their fate after we find Cecile.”
There was no time to worry about the bandits’ punishment. Leaving only that command, Alexis firmly grasped the reins. With a powerful command, the horse he rode galloped swiftly down the winding forest path.
The rain continued to pour from the sky. With Cecile’s safety still uncertain and the harsh weather adding to the anxiety, Alexis found himself increasingly engulfed in unease.
* * *
Cecile gasped for breath.
That filthy, ugly pig! The Marquis was trying to touch him, and the reality that he had no choice but to endure it made him feel like he might faint from anger.
“Let me go right now!”
Unable to contain his rage, he struggled once more, but the strange ropes wrapped tightly around his body only constricted him further with every movement.
“Indeed, red looks best on white skin. Just as I expected. I knew you would appreciate it.”
Marquis Valery licked his lips and smiled. The glistening saliva on his lips mirrored the bizarre gleam in his eyes.
Binding someone with ropes was one of Marquis Valery’s favorite pastimes. He derived pleasure from watching them gradually crumble as they resisted while being stripped of their freedom.
Cecile, before him, appeared like a work of art.
The thrill he felt was incomparable to when he had tied up other one-night partners.
Perhaps it was because his target held a high status.
Just imagining Cecile Adrian bound to his bed and subjugated made the Marquis’s lower body swell with excitement.
The Marquis reached out and gently stroked Cecile’s cheek down to his neck.
Cecile recoiled in horror at the sexual implications of the touch, shaking his head. But no matter how much he struggled, he couldn’t escape from the Marquis’s grasp with his limbs tightly bound.
“I will definitely kill you; I will make sure you die!”
“I assure you, Sir Cecile, you will not be able to do that.”
“Do you think you can touch royalty and get away with it?”
“Yes, I have no worries. I will tame you to the very core. I guarantee that you will not be able to live without me from now on.”
Marquis Valery laughed confidently, bending his waist to the side.
He brought over a beautifully crafted incense burner and fanned it. White smoke slowly drifted towards Cecile. It was the same incense that had been making his head spin.
“Take a deep breath. This is a medicine I went through great lengths to obtain. You can drink it directly or inhale it like this. It has an extraordinary effect in relaxing the body. Moreover, it’s highly addictive; just one day later, you’ll crave it again.”
“Is it… a drug?”
“Please refrain from using such lowly expressions.”
Marquis Valery chuckled.
As the smoke thickened, the eyes of the other men on the bed became glazed over. They were clearly already addicted to this smoke.
“Ugh, Master. Please love me too. Kiss me.”
“Master, my hole itches. Ah, hurry, ah, scratch it for me.”
The men all opened their mouths, their arousal evident, reaching out to Marquis Valery. They were eager for him to touch them first.
“Oh, you cute little things. Wait a moment. You don’t even know how to take turns.”
As Marquis Valery pulled on one of the men’s arousal, the young man writhed and let out a cry.
Cecile felt nauseated at the disgusting sight. Unable to bear it, he tightly shut his eyes.
The problem was that even with his eyes closed, he couldn’t block the smoke that flowed into his nose. He felt his strength draining away against his will, so he bit down hard on his tongue.
The search team that had entered the central district began to thoroughly investigate the surroundings. It was already late, and there were very few people passing through the streets.
However, they couldn’t just sit idly by. The knights entered every shop that was still open late and inquired about Cecile’s appearance and whereabouts.
Fortunately, Cecile’s striking appearance meant that many people remembered him.
After some time, the knights returned with new information to report to the crown prince.
“Several people have seen Sir Cecile.”
“They said they saw him taking shelter from the rain in front of a fruit shop.”
“The innkeeper said he asked to stay for a day without any money. He looked utterly disheveled from being soaked in the rain…”
The knights spoke, but they couldn’t dare meet Alexis’s gaze. With each report, the crown prince’s expression grew increasingly grim.
“So, he has been wandering the streets for over six hours now?”
“We are currently searching all the inns and taverns in the area. We will inform you as soon as we receive any new information.”
Alexis wiped his rain-soaked face with his palm.
Was it the weather? He couldn’t understand why he felt so anxious. Cecile wasn’t even a child; he was a fully grown adult.
“Your Highness! We have received an important tip!”
At that moment, several knights rushed in to report.
“There is someone who claims to have seen Sir Cecile get into a carriage! It was a very luxurious four-horse carriage.”
“Who was it? Which family?”
“…The witness was unfortunately a vagrant, so they couldn’t identify the family crest.”
Still, it was a sufficiently meaningful tip. A four-horse carriage would surely belong to a noble family, and seeing Cecile being taken away meant that they were aware of his royal status.
“Commander Vandell, immediately gather the knights and search all the nearby noble houses.”
“Yes!”
Then Alexis himself mounted his horse to join the search. While it was fortunate that Cecile had asked someone for help, it didn’t mean he could relax.
He needed to see his unscathed figure with his own eyes right away.