31 – The Saint Desires the Truth.
Until the late lunch was finally over, Elaine couldn’t say a word.
Only when the empty plates were cleared and tea time began could she finally speak.
“Oh, I just got on the bed because it looked so soft!”
She blurted out without being asked.
It was a loud enough sound to easily be mistaken for anger.
It was the result of thinking that the intrusive thoughts in her head were so noisy that she had to shout.
And her flushed face was an added bonus.
“Ah, yes….”
It was an extremely sudden shout.
The Emperor was taken aback, and even the woman who spoke was belatedly startled.
But thanks to the shattered silence, there was a strangely relieving feeling.
That was why the question she had been curious about naturally came out.
“But why does Your Highness keep getting those wounds…?”
Only after asking the question.
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She realized that she hadn’t expressed her gratitude for being saved in the Empress’s palace.
“Oh, um, thank you for saving me….”
The heat on her face, which refused to subside, had long since given up.
“No, I’m more grateful to Elaine, who saved my life so many times.”
The returned voice was sweet, but Elaine’s face could only be filled with astonishment.
Even the heat that seemed like it would never go away suddenly disappeared.
…Goodness.
Elaine, she said….
She said… Miss!
It felt like drawing a line as if dividing a plot of land and putting up a sign that said never cross.
“How can you….”
Even her status is lower….
And on top of that, she’s probably younger, so how can she call her Elaine….
She couldn’t even imagine that such a short sentence could contain such a powerful force.
The moment our skin touched, it felt so sharp that red blood flowed down.
How is this possible? This man…
We were about to be engaged, and he had appeared like a knight on a white horse, saving me from the Marquis and the Imperial Palace.
He even held me so tightly just a moment ago…
There was no way to suppress the overwhelming sense of disappointment.
It was painfully heartbreaking, to the point where tears welled up in my eyes.
So I had to speak, even if it meant avoiding the Crown Prince’s gaze and speaking with a trembling voice.
“Elaine. Please call me Elaine from now on. Don’t use honorifics anymore…”
The Crown Prince scratched his head awkwardly.
“Ah, yes…”
Of course, there was a hint of surprise in his eyes again.
“Try calling me that, right now… Right now!”
The extreme disappointment turned into anger in an instant, and her delicate expression that couldn’t hurt anyone transformed the burning anger into confidence.
“Uh, Elaine.”
Of course, the Crown Prince showed a slight tremor in his response to her dignified expression.
And with that, the cruel distance that had formed between us like a gap between cliffs inevitably decreased.
A reconfiguration of our relationship.
And a new beginning.
A small smile formed at the corner of Elaine’s mouth.
To think that she had been so disappointed by just a single word like “Mr.” and now felt so happy just by being called her name once.
Elaine took a sip of tea and asked the question that had been on her mind.
“Please tell me, Your Highness. Why do you keep getting these terrible wounds? What exactly are you going through?”
“….”
The prince paused, his expression filled with contemplation.
“If you don’t tell me the truth, Your Highness, I will reconsider our engagement.”
Elaine’s thoughts were firm.
There should be no secrets between lovers.
After all, as her mother’s friend, Margaret, always said, secrets between lovers are like small cracks in a rock. No matter how big the rock is, no matter how small the crack is, when water freezes and yearns for freedom, it slowly pushes itself out from within. It was the natural order of things, emphasized over and over again.
And so, Margaret would always nag her to be a good girlfriend to her man.
That’s why she had to know the truth.
Why does the prince keep finding himself in life-threatening situations over and over again?
Elaine focused her eyes intensely.
The prince flinched once again, but it didn’t matter.
Of course, she believed in the reason behind taking their engagement hostage.
According to what the prince had said to the emperor and her father.
He undoubtedly desired to be engaged to himself.
And clearly.
He would surely like himself more than anyone else in this world.
Of course, the time they had spent together was far from enough, and she had not seen or heard it firsthand, so she couldn’t be completely sure.
That’s why she also had the desire to test the Prince’s heart once again.
Even if she was completely sure, any woman would want to confirm the true feelings of the man she likes.
So today, she would definitely listen and speak.
If she could tell him a secret that she couldn’t tell anyone else, then he was surely someone who liked her.
That’s why.
While desperately hoping for an engagement with the Prince, she had taken the engagement as a hostage for that reason.
Even though she knew that it could be nothing more than her own pitiful delusion.
“Elaine. Do you really want to know the truth?”
The Prince’s attitude, which even hesitated to use informal language, suddenly changed.
It was somehow difficult to meet his gaze when faced with his overwhelming presence.
Seeing the brilliant smile embedded in his relaxed expression, her heart began to race again.
Before she knew it, her body felt hot, embarrassed, and ticklish.
“Yes… I, I want to know the truth.”
“Good, then. Tell me everything.”
***
It had already been a day since Elaine came to the palace.
I told her almost all the truth.
I excluded things like being possessed by a book or problematic knowledge about the future.
After she heard my words, I wondered if I had said them for no reason when tears suddenly welled up in her eyes.
Because of the pitiful life of Prince Eos, I felt like I was being sympathized with, and somehow it made me feel uncomfortable.
But I couldn’t help it.
As soon as I met her demanding gaze for the truth, the guilt that I had forgotten about lifted its head again.
It was as if she knew everything about my innermost thoughts.
So, I could tell her.
It seemed like those calm blue eyes knew that I was thoroughly using her.
In the end, every word I said was directed towards that point.
That I was using her to stay alive.
It was so sinful that I thought I would feel a little less guilty if I told her at least some truth, within the limits of what I could do.
But when I thought about her face, which had cried for a long time, I wondered if it was really the right thing to do.
At least, it was fortunate that she didn’t break off the engagement even though she knew everything about me.
That must have been enough.
I, too, wasn’t completely at ease.
In my dream last night, I had been running away from the people Eos had tormented for a long time.
It was a very difficult night.
And after enduring that night unscathed.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
I had been riding on a horse since early morning, making my way towards the imperial border at a fast pace.
I was in a hurry to prevent the war between the empire and the elves, already on the emperor’s prearranged plan.
I had been changing horses repeatedly, already several hours had passed.
The sun, which had been relentlessly rising, was now slowly descending.
Astia and Glentino were right behind me, and behind them, ten knights from the imperial knights’ order that the emperor had assigned were following closely, keeping a slight distance with uncomfortable expressions, endlessly pursuing us.
Everyone was carrying spare horses to go as fast as possible, and there were no separate soldiers following behind.
But why is that bastard, Rufus Erdante, included there?
The knight who had beaten me up in the palace’s training ground is now here to help me? And of all times, at this moment when I have to accomplish something difficult?
Just by thinking about it, it felt like the foul stench of rotten feces had permeated for at least a few years.
If I had written a letter in advance, it must be Count Schlein.
No wonder.
Unlike usual, the gazes of the other nobles looking at me this morning were filled with obvious hostility.
Of course, they wouldn’t think of killing me.
Probably, with a very low probability, they planned to take advantage of the situation if it seemed to improve.
Certainly, even though I didn’t have any expectations for the Crown Prince to do well, it must have been prepared as a precaution according to the empress’s orders.
Is Rufus alone…?
Because the empress is such a wicked woman, there was nothing certain.
All the knights who followed behind could have received the count’s orders.
In the worst case scenario.
The authors could just be decoys, and really formidable people could appear out of nowhere and cause trouble.
So you must never let your guard down.
Of course, even if the worst-case scenario happens, I have already prepared countermeasures.
Duke Pelios, hiding his identity, was supposed to lead the knights of the duchy and secretly head towards the border.
And last night.
I secretly left the palace and went to find Lergio.
I made a lifelong slave contract with him, assuming that he would obey my every command.
While signing the contract full of absurd clauses, Lergio couldn’t hide his joy and kept shouting “Aurora!” repeatedly.
He must be marching towards the border alone by now.
In moments of urgency, I had planned to use him, the high priest of the Goddess Religion, as my shield.
“Let’s go!”
Suddenly, the sky was filled with a blazing sunset.
It seemed as if the blood and grudges of the deceased were flowing magnificently together.
Somehow, the ominous color warned that the future would never be smooth.
Nevertheless, I urged the horse to run faster.