Seduce the hero's mother (GL)

She even began to wonder: what had this harmless rabbit done wrong? That was what Maxie had asked her about first, upon her return to her duties as bodyguard.

About the strange trip with Rachel Cassius, she preferred not to mention it at all… Frankly, she didn\'t quite understand what had happened herself.

When Rachel returned, she remained very taciturn. Even more than usual. The commander of the guards tried in vain to see if she had managed to find out anything. All he got in return was an order to do nothing and to wait for her decision.

But… what kind of «decision» could there possibly be? When it was already obvious.

Never before had the girl thought that killing a man would be so difficult for her. And not even the process itself, but the consequences of it. What eyes would Leriana look at her after all that had happened?

As she pondered this, Rachel locked herself in her chambers until the evening. Should she kill him before the wedding or after? Either way, the celebration would be ruined. Should we set it up as an accident?

Rachel tiredly meticulated her hair, realizing that she would have to do it anyway. And how could she even then mitigate such consequences…?

She wasn\'t worried about that man conspiring with the crown prince in a coup d\'état. The whole adventure could be covered up at any moment. But, most importantly, after that in the eyes of the entire empire, he would be a criminal…

Why the hell is everything so complicated?

When Rachel found out about everything, her condition deteriorated greatly that evening. This sometimes happened during times of intense emotional stress — related to Leriana. It caused her curse to reactivate.

The girl had almost no energy left. Trying to figure out what order to give to the commander of the guards for their next action the next morning — by the middle of the night she found herself exhausted not only physically but mentally as well.

Rachel lay on the couch in her office, intent on spending the night here. Going back to her chambers for a couple of hours just didn\'t seem to make sense.

She rested her hand on her forehead while her eyes closed on their own from fatigue.

Because of her condition, Rachel didn\'t immediately notice that there was someone else in the room. A girl with golden hair had crept into the study half an hour ago, but she hesitated to approach. She was afraid: what if the queen was already aware of what had happened?

But no. Since Rachel hadn\'t punished or scolded her in any way, Camille thought everything was all right. She decided to take things slowly.

This was a rare chance when there was no way the queen could confront her. The viscount\'s daughter couldn\'t help but take it.

— Your Majesty, you want to sleep, don\'t you?

She whispered this as she took advantage of the moment to climb on top of Rachel. The girl knew that even if she did anything now, Rachel would still not remember anything in the morning.

She was vaguely aware of what was going on around her and mumbled:

— What… What are you doing…

Even in that state, there was anger in her tone. But Camilla was not going to back down.

— Your Majesty, look at me. I\'m beautiful, aren\'t I?

She wrapped her palms around her face while she tried in vain to shake her hands off. But the curse was making her head all foggy.

Just at that moment, Leriane was heading down the corridor toward the imperial office. She knew that Rachel was always working late, and she was probably awake even now. The girl wanted to talk to her about what had happened.

But in the end she couldn\'t.

For she had barely grasped the doorknob and frozen on the threshold. The incidentally caught scene struck her.

Rachel was lying on the couch while Camille was on top of her, and… What… What the hell are they doing there!

They were very close together, which only shocked Lerian even more. What\'s more, apparently Rachel didn\'t seem to mind!

The crown princess herself didn\'t understand why, deep down, it made her so angry. Shouldn\'t she break in loudly and whip both of them properly? But for some reason, the girl hesitated to come any closer.

Camille herself had already noticed her presence and grinned. Thought that later she would not be able to humiliate the bitch the way she would do it now. At least a little: but she wanted to piss off the princess.

A kind of revenge for the failed incident with the maid.

Continuing to watch the expression on Leriane\'s face, Camille moved closer and kissed Rachel right in front of her.

***

The next morning, the unexpected happened: Leriana herself called Rachel for breakfast together. The latter had never expected it to happen.

Both acted casually, as if nothing had happened.

Sitting at the dinner table, I watched Rachel sideways, having no idea what she was thinking right now. Honestly, I really didn\'t expect Rachel to be capable of this!

After all her talk about the wedding, the last thing I imagined was finding her in the office with her secretary. In that position and in the middle of the night!

I couldn\'t believe to the last minute that Maxie\'s possible assumptions might have been true. But then why all this farce…?

And while I burned the girl with my gaze, she was nonchalantly drinking her red wine and didn\'t seem to understand what the problem was. That made me even more indignant.

What a…!

Finally, noticing my scrutiny, Rachel calmly asked herself:

— Is something wrong?

«Happened…?!» Oh, it\'s happened! — I wanted to tell her, but instead I just snorted.

— Nothing happened,» I muttered, turning my gaze to my plate of turkey.

— It\'s nothing,» I muttered, turning to look at my plate of turkey. I think you have something to tell me.

She\'s so intuitive.

But until she admits it first, I definitely wasn\'t going to bring it up on my own. She would think I was jealous…

I really didn\'t understand the situation, though. Rachel had gone to so much trouble to lock me in this place and make me her fiancée. But at the same time committing this kind of thing with a girl she barely knows…

And was this even cheating?

I sighed heavily, but I was sure I\'d seen them kissing. Wasn\'t that enough?

Honestly, I never thought I\'d ever be in a situation like this. But… Could this be my chance to escape?

If Rachel had found a new hobby so easily, then she didn\'t really need me, either. There was no point in keeping me here.

With that in mind, I decided to take my chances and talk to her about it.

There wasn\'t much time before our wedding day: but enough time for Rachel to change her mind and call it off. I hoped so.

The Imperial Palace was not a place I could call home. And even in the future, that was unlikely to happen.

«Can I at least live this life the way I want to live it…?»

I put the cutlery on the table — intending to have a serious conversation. Rachel was surprised by my sudden change in mood.

— If you want the queen so badly, then…» I held my breath, «Would you really consider Camille?