3. Dragon’s Eye, Human Mind (35)
The empress choked at Shien’s sudden question.
Her eyes narrowed blankly.
Even so, Shien did not stop and kept his mouth open.
“When you were young, you thought that every time you saw me. I wonder what it would have been like if I had been a son.”
“… … What do you mean?”
There was a deep sense of incongruity in those words that were uttered in a daze, but Shien’s expression was cold.
She continued talking.
“You thought of the seat of power while looking at me a while ago, right? You thought of assassination and all sorts of schemes about how to make me, the 5th princess, into an emperor.”
The Empress was silent. It looked as if it had become a stone statue.
After a long time, she managed to squeeze out a word.
“… … no.”
Coming back to that negative was another negative.
Shien shook her head roughly and looked up at the empress with bright eyes.
Before I knew it, the pupil was torn vertically.
It was a reptilian eye.
“Why are you weeping? Because people around me have disappeared? No, in fact, Mama is afraid that I am getting further and further away from the throne.”
“stop.”
“Tuk,” said the empress in a commanding tone. Her complexion had already turned white.
Suffocating words were spat out one after another.
“… … That, stop it.”
“Do you love me? What on earth do you love?”
However, the heated language of Shien could not stop any longer. Disappointment and hatred in Shien’s eyes burned into a faint flame.
The empress began to gasp.
Dense magical energy was rushing around. Just as it proves that Shien inherited the dragon’s blood.
“My eyes, these eyes? In fact, don’t you intend to assert the legitimacy of the imperial lineage with this power? My lineage, my eyes, and all of the human being I am! I love you as Mama’s tool… … .”
“I told you to stop!”
The empress’ hand gripped Shien’s slender neck.
Cuck, cuck, the sound of interrupted breathing rang through the air. The empress’ eyes had been red for a long time.
It was not the look of a benevolent mother. It would have been better to call it a demon.
Seen’s face was filled with despair.
yeah, that’s how it ends
“Oh no… You said no! Me, I’m not that kind of person… i love you! A mother who loves you!”
The voice that came out like a scream was rather close to an outburst.
Tears were dripping from the princess’s bloodshot eyes. Her mind, which had been driven to a corner, had driven her insane.
As the power in her grip increased, the princess’s consciousness grew farther away.
Only then could she be truly sure.
Yes, there is no existence in this world that genuinely cares about me.
Everyone is interested in my status as the princess.
You think of me as a tool, why didn’t you know that?
Why didn’t you know and longed for it?
The façade of that sincerity, love and worries, all of them felt pitiful, and the princess’s eyelids were wet with regret and slowly closed.
If it had not been for the head maid who had arrived after hearing the commotion, she would have died.
It was a big deal.
This news reached the ears of the emperor, and soon an old man called the most outstanding wizard of the time arrived in a hurry at the imperial palace.
He was the one called ‘The Great Sage’.
**
“It’s a curse.”
The old man with the white beard said so without hesitation.
In front of his eyes was a small girl sleeping with her eyes closed. Surrounding it, strange figures constantly flickered.
The man standing behind the old man let out a deep sigh.
He was still the emperor of the empire and the girl’s father. he murmured in a pitiful voice.
“… … I really have no hesitation in my words.”
“Because it is true, Your Majesty. You are the successor of the dragon blood script, don’t you already know?”
The old man’s voice was so smooth. Those blue eyes were unique even in dim surroundings.
It was proof that he had reached the ‘master’.
Having lived for hundreds of years, he was on the verge of death. However, the old man thought it was fate that he had met such a strange relationship just a few years before his life ended.
No matter how much the emperor of the empire, he could not neglect the old man who had reached the end of the truth.
He couldn’t point out a word to the great sage, who seemed a bit cheeky, and just shook his head.
“… … It’s my fault.”
“How can there be good and evil in bloodlines? I just wanted to ride it. Dragon power is just a curse to ordinary humans. Especially with eyes that can see through everyone’s feelings, heh heh heh… … .”
The old man burst out laughing and looked down at the princess with pity and sympathy.
I was a girl abandoned even by my own mother.
I will never trust humans for the rest of my life. Even if that ‘eye’ was sealed, it was the same.
However, despite the great sage’s consolation, the emperor’s expression showed no signs of softening. He still let out a painful sigh.
“Anyway, I am the father, and that child is my daughter. Is there anything you can do?”
“You can temporarily seal your eyes. Even if that doesn’t completely calm you down, you’ll still feel fragments of someone else’s most intense emotion.”
The emperor’s eyes, looking down at the princess, sank in silence.
He silently listened to the words of the great sage.
“Perhaps the distrust of humans is getting worse day by day. Because the most intense emotion a human being has is usually desire. Still, if I tell you that I have sealed those ‘eyes’ completely, I think I can lead a normal life.”
“… … So, does that child never trust humans for the rest of his life?”
Hearing that voice, he could tell what answer the emperor wanted, but the great sage nodded his head broadly, not caring.
“of course. no one will believe it What you believe in is only the desire you see with your own eyes and the actions that accompany it.”
“Ha,” the emperor sighed as he touched his forehead. In his heart, he seemed to stumble and try to alleviate the emotional shock, but he was the emperor.
Emperor before father.
Even if he was alone, he shouldn’t have shown any signs of collapsing. His eyes were only stained with despair.
Perhaps it was unfortunate to see that, the great sage cleared his throat as he straightened his robe.
“… … But miracles are not without possibility.”
His gaze, which had calmed down, turned to the great sage. It was impossible to read the emotions in the eyes of the powerful man whose depth was unknown.
However, the great sage only guessed that there was a faint expectation in those eyes.
“someone… Wouldn’t this poor child be different if someone showed sincerity? Originally, a curse is nothing more than a reversal of a blessing. If you face your true heart without a single deviation, this child’s eyes will be a blessing, not a curse.”
“… … Is that possible?”
At the words of the emperor full of skepticism, the great sage smiled bitterly.
“Isn’t that a ‘miracle’?”
That night, a ceremony led by the great sage was held in the imperial palace.
After that, Shien, the 5th princess, returned to her daily life, and was able to receive love as before with her friendly behavior.
However, except for the emperor and the great sage, no one knew her true intentions.
Shien’s despair when he realizes that he can’t buy true favors anyway.
Read at noblemtl
Just as she was just a tool to someone, the princess also came to see people as tools.
She made a vow to herself every morning.
I will never trust anyone again.
never.
**
After listening to Neris-senpai’s long story, my impressions were plain.
“… … The flower in the greenhouse dug the ground by itself.”
It was not known exactly what had happened on the day the ‘Great Sage’ visited.
However, hearing that she changed after that, it seemed that the things that happened before that left scars on the princess’s mind.
His disbelief would be so great that his mother almost died.
So it seemed that he would rather remain a feared being than belittled.
It was a natural reaction for a girl who had to endure hostility and contempt until then.
At my words that were spat out like that, Neris sunbaenim bowed his head without saying anything. Commenting on the imperial family was close to a taboo.
It’s just that I was the owner of the Dragon Blood text, so Neris-senpai didn’t say much either.
It was only natural for the emperor’s agent to evaluate the imperial family.
It was only then that honorific words returned from my attitude towards Neris.
“Good work, senior Neris. Now go back and rest… Oh, and during the homecoming festival, we do our best to make sure that non-combatants are excluded as much as possible.”
However, despite my banquet order, Neris-senpai was only hesitating.
As my curious gaze turned toward her, senior Neris, who had been looking at me for a while, carefully asked me.
“Well, did you pass the test…? … ?”
I stared at Neris-senpai for a moment without saying anything.
Come to think of it, only the Emperor’s aides could possess the Dragon Blood characters.
In other words, it was normal if I already knew about the secret history of the imperial family that senior Neris talked about.
Neris-senpai seemed to think I was testing her based on the information I already knew.
There was no need to correct the illusion. I blurted out a word bluntly.
“… … Watch more.”
No matter how you think about it, the academy branch of the Imperial Intelligence Service was strange.
Even the trainees did not follow the basic rules properly. It was even more so even though it was an organization that selected and selected the students of the academy, which is called the cradle of talent.
I felt that further investigation was needed on this.
It was a negative evaluation, but senior Neris let out a sigh of relief as if he was satisfied with that alone.
And right after that, senior Neris, who was about to leave, hesitated for a while to see if he still had something to say.
It didn’t take long to hear that question.
“… … Me, Ian?”
As if asking me to speak, my golden eyes glanced at her.
As always, senior Neris carefully asked me.
“So, what are you going to do?”
It was a question of how to dispose of the 5th princess who dared to challenge me as the emperor’s representative.
That’s a pointless answer, I said, swallowing a laugh.
“I have to save it.”
The princess, the students who participated in the homecoming ceremony, the citizens of the city, and the world.
It was sincerity without the slightest deviation.
As always.
**
That night, the princess gasped and opened her eyes.
Kek, kek, the strangling sound of the streets rang through the silent room. Panting, she hurriedly found water and drank.
It was a nightmare.
The dream of Mama squeezing her neck, her eyes burning red like those demons, were still vivid in her memory.
Everyone did.
The feelings towards the princess had a common feature.
Whether it’s lust for s*x, lust for power, or lust for money, desires that don’t please anything.
Even Irene, who was closest to her, and the maid of honor were like that. The desire for honor and the desire for power to serve the princess were oozing out from them as well.
If there is an exception to that, there is only one.
Recalling those golden eyes that only felt sympathy and pity, the princess immediately grinded her teeth.
I shouldn’t have looked down on it.
Only the strong could buy favor. The weak were often ridiculed or excluded if they deviated even a little from the frame.
Those were painful days.
Everyone in the world was against her. Recalling the memory of that day made Shien go white, and after that day, she lost her emotions.
Humans were unbelievable.
Then, the princess’ eyes landed on a small cat’s eye stone placed on the desk next to her bedside.
The light gray cat’s eye was something left behind by her mother, the 4th Empress, when she left.
After being strangled by the empress, the princess never saw her again. He only heard the news that her mother had gone down in disgrace for allegedly daring to lay a hand on the emperor’s daughter.
There was not even a letter written in detail.
Only her mother left that cat’s eye. The princess still couldn’t understand that psychology.
Does that mean you’ll come back anytime and put a string on my power?
Seeing that she couldn’t throw away that cat’s eye even when she thought so, she was still a child. Shien thought so and inadvertently held the cat’s eye in her hand.
And I thought as I tossed it into the air.
How could that man be so strong?
Even the princess perfectly knew the feeling that everyone in the world was hostile to her. I thought it was the most terrible retaliation, so I did it after much thought.
However, the man didn’t care and overturned the game, and sympathized with the princess as if it were natural.
cheekily.
The princess’s eyes sank coldly. It was hostility that felt desperate.
It shouldn’t be looked down on anymore.
Soon, hell will come to that man.
My sister’s company will be destroyed, and the Percus Territory will be ruined. And even his precious ones will leave him one by one.
It’s been a long time since all the plates were already laid. As soon as the vacation of the academy begins, full-fledged movements will appear one after another.
The day that becomes that signal, yes.
The princess’ gaze scanned the calendar without a word. Reminds me of the day marked in red there.
The day of the ‘Homecoming Festival’ was approaching.
I hope the b!tch dies.