“Princess! Happy 15th birthday!”
“I heard that puberty usually comes when you turn 15…”
“Hey, there’s nothing I can’t say in front of the princess.”
Time passed quickly, and Clana’s 15th birthday arrived.
“… go, thank you.”
Surrounded by maids, Clana receives an unexpected birthday celebration.
“Voila! This is the cake I prepared for the princess! It’s made by the best master of the empire, so the taste is guaranteed?”
“I prepared a lot of steaks that the princess likes!”
The table is full of Jinju Sacrament, which she encounters for the first time in her life.
“Hey, are you eating this much…?”
“yes?”
“What if I stay…?”
Clana looked at him anxiously and asked a question in a timid voice.
“Are there any leftovers?”
“It should be left in the first place. Would it be a big deal if even a princess ate all of it?”
“And what’s good for us, what’s left is us… Eupeup.”
The maids who responded with fuss to Clana like that shut the mouth of the ignorant new maid and put a smile on their lips.
“So, eat as much as you like. Don’t worry about the next day.”
“That’s right, it’s a day that only happens once a year.”
Although it was a little consideration for the maids, they were quite meaningful to Clana, who was sitting on a chair at the table wearing a birthday hat.
“……..”
“Princess?”
Now, no one will punish them for leaving food behind.
Where is that?
Now, her meals include soft steaks and soups instead of breads that are hard to eat even after soaking them in water.
Instead of the colorless and drab clothes she always wears, beautiful dresses are lined up in her closet.
Although they have to hide their identity, now there is no one to stop them from leaving the room.
“…Ugh.”
“”……!?!?””
It wasn’t the only change.
What has changed the most is that she has an ally.
The tutors Frey hired a few months ago are all socialites.
Also, she made several friends when she went out of the room to hide her identity, and sometimes, when she went out as her identity, a faction was created without realizing it.
And, crucially, there are maids who are loyal to them and black-haired butlers who take care of everything they need, even though they have no idea what they are thinking.
From any perspective, the situation has changed 180 degrees from a year ago.
“Ugh…”
Clana’s soft hands holding the knife and fork trembled as she recalled all of that.
– Jureuk…
Before long, beads of tears fell from her eyes.
“Wow, Princess? Why are you suddenly like this!?”
“It’s because of you, you, you! Because you said useless things…”
“I’m sorry, Princess! I’m not going to eat leftovers? Please calm down…”
The maids who stared blankly at Clana like that, got tired of blue and started making fuss again.
“…I’m sorry.”
The moment the rookie maid rushed to be the culprit was about to kneel on the floor, Clana opened her mouth first.
“The steak is… so delicious. I didn’t even know it.”
“”……..””
Behind Clana who answered with tears in her eyes, the warm morning sunlight came in and illuminates her.
“…Princess, you are very pretty.”
“I know.”
The first smile she made after her mother passed away, combined with the sunlight, created a mysterious atmosphere.
.
“Um, would you like to…”
several hours after that.
“You look pretty busy these days…”
Clana, standing in front of Frey’s door, stood with a timid gait with a letter in her arms.
“I must say thank you today.”
In fact, over the past year, Clana hasn’t gotten that close to Frey.
It was Frey who even used the ‘oath’ to promote his marriage, but it was because he and Clana didn’t have much time to meet.
Clana, who at first thought it was so, was able to realize it sooner or later.
that he is intentionally avoiding himself.
“…By the way, what if you go and get hit?”
So for today, Clana always wanted to face Frey and talk to her openly, but her fear of him remained to some extent.
Over the past year, Frey’s notoriety has only grown.
Now most people hate him, and he, too, does a lot of crazy things.
“Don’t act recklessly.”
“……..”
“If you do something wrong while acting alone…”
“…hiccup.”
“You’d better be prepared.”
Above all, the cold voice that Machuchin Frey whispered while clutching her neck with her hand while wandering around the mansion on the first day is not forgotten in her mind.
With that said, he could end himself at any time.
It wouldn’t have been a problem at all if Frey had then crushed her cervical vertebra with his hand.
“…Ugh.”
In a situation where she doesn’t know how to judge Frey’s existence, Clana continues to stand in front of the door and ponder.
“Are you crazy!!!”
“…Hey.”
Just at that moment, a tearful scream is heard from beyond the door of Frey’s room.
“The duke of the empire secretly interacts with the enemy!!”
“What are you talking about?”
“Thanks to you, things have gotten bigger!! Sooner or later there’s going to be a war!!”
Thanks to that, Clana, who had been slightly frozen, began to shed a cold sweat at the seriousness of the content.
“Do you know how much this war needs to happen!? The blow to the still faltering empire!? How many innocent people will be sacrificed!?”
“…Selena.”
In such a serious situation, the sound of violent body clashing was heard immediately.
“Let go of this!!”
“Is there any proof that I did?”
“You’re the only one who can create a situation like this…!”
“It’s not that I have a heart attack, but that there is at least one physical evidence.”
There was silence for a moment at Frey’s voice, which contained no emotion.
“Not now… but I must…”
“Seeing you drive people away with emotions without evidence, you did a good job breaking up your engagement.”
“…wow.”
So, the suffocating confrontation falls into a lull.
“Go away. Just looking at your face now makes your head throb.”
“…Get ready, Frey.”
Serena spit those words out in a cursed voice and started to walk out of the room, shaking Frey’s hand.
“I will use all my discretion and power to stop you.”
“…I don’t think it’s a joke that the head of the Imperial Cancer Department would be able to make.”
“Shut up. I’m serious.”
After saying that, Serena, standing in front of the door, glances at Frey as if she were looking at a bug, then quietly opens the door and walks outside.
“…without knowing it, it has already started.”
“Ugh.”
“…..?”
And at that moment, Clana and Serena’s eyes met.
“”……..””
An awkward silence began to flow.
“you are…”
– Back…!
Serena, who was staring down at Clana, tried to ask a question, but before she could even say the first word, it was Clana who stepped into Frey’s room.
.
“Fh, Frey…”
“You’re leaving.”
As soon as Clana entered the room, she heard the cold voice of Frey, who closed the book she was quickly opening as she said that.
“……..”
“What are we going to do with this without knocking?”
Clana’s gaze rested on Frey’s old diary for a moment, but then fixed on Frey.
“So, handwritten… I want to deliver… the letter…”
“I don’t need your letter.”
It was Clana who reached out the letter with trembling hands.
– Cheeky…!
“…ah.”
Frey snatches her letter with a cold expression and rips it to shreds.
“The only thing I’m interested in is your position and body as a princess.”
Frey, who looked up at Clana, grabbed her chin and lifted it up, and whispered as she emptied the letter into the trash.
“Tonight, come to my bedroom.”
“……..”
“It’s fine, I’ll treat you like I always did.”
After finishing those words, Frey gently stroked Clana’s cheek.
“…Umm.”
But for some reason, when Clana just stares at her with a puzzled look, Frey frowns slightly and backs away.
“Anyway, let’s go. I have work to do now.”
‘Why are you lying like that?’
Clana, who had been staring at Frey like that for a long time, quietly questioned herself and moved on.
‘He never touched me.’
Since that day a year ago, for some reason Clana has never been anesthetized.
To be precise, the body was paralyzed, but the mind was still in a mysterious state.
‘The hell are you.’
Frey, who had fallen into such a state, was by his side, just guarding and protecting him all night long.
‘What is the identity?’
– Shaa…
A golden light was flowing quietly from Clana’s right hand, who opened the door while asking herself.
.
“There, you.”
“Whew.”
As soon as they left Frey’s room, someone approached Clana.
“Uh, what’s going on…”
“Shh, follow me like this.”
“yes?”
Serena, who was hiding in front of Frey’s room, took Clana’s hand and started heading somewhere.
“Are you being mistreated by Frey?”
“……?”
“I can help. I’ll be your shield.”
Serena, who was moving while being wary of her surroundings, whispered to Clana in a low voice.
“…so, let’s overthrow Frey together.”
However, Clana’s gaze did not turn to Serena.
“….ah.”
“yes?”
A yellow canary created by the unknown power she had since ancient times.
Her only friend who had been imprisoned in solitary for the past few years, her own secret that she did not tell anyone.
Clana was sharing the gaze of the little bird that had grown brighter and more capable over the course of a year.
“Yeah, yes. Serena has just taken the Crown Princess with her. Just checking her diary, it seems that something has changed. Of course, in a positive direction.”
– Jijik… Jijik…
“…don’t worry about poison. As long as it works for five years anyway.”
Although the only thing that was shared was vision, I couldn’t hear Frey talking on the phone.
“Hey…? Why?”
“…Also.”
Nevertheless, Clana was able to witness a decisive moment.
“Yeah, you’re… weird.”
“…Me?”
With Frey’s smile as he picked up the pieces of the letter he had torn up one by one and put them together on the desk.
“…cool.”
A single streak of blood was dripping from the corner of his mouth.
“I, am I not a strange person? Let me introduce myself…”
‘I need to know the truth.’
It was Clana, who was determined to keep her eyes fixed on the soft smile that appeared on Frey’s lips as he carefully read the letter, and the dark red blood that was still flowing.
This “IF” version is actually good