CH 31

Fakes don’t want to be real

~ 31 ~

“It’s the tenth time.”

“Yes?”

“It is exactly the tenth time that I have pointed out why the power of the princess is not a curse.”

Verndia looked like he was about to die with annoyance, then pressed his temples tightly.

“Enough of this, we’ll talk later. I’ll find a way, so rest now.”

Bang, the door was then slammed shut.

Psychke stared blankly at the closed door, before turning at her bandaged arm.

He couldn’t understand his behavior at all.

‘Did I fall asleep?’

Her last memory was when she held Verndia’s hand and when he carried her up to the room.

She remembered that she asked him to put her down because she felt too burdened. After that, she couldn’t remember anything else as she had fallen asleep.

And now, she doesn’t know when they arrived, but she herself is once again in Lestir mansion.

He had even finished treating her arm.

Psychke bit the soft flesh in her mouth tightly.

‘No matter how tired he is, just how.’

She doesn’t know why, but she was glad that the duke didn’t kill her.

Had it been discovered by others; she would have died while she was asleep.

Moreover, their discussion didn’t stop there earlier.

‘Why are you telling me that?’

‘Isn’t it fair to hold on to each other’s weaknesses?’

Verndia has revealed that he has no control over the ‘unquenchable flame’.

Psychke couldn’t understand.

To be sure, when she found out his secret, she was relieved to think that she wasn’t the only one caught up.

Perhaps Verndia also spoke out to induce reassurance to her.

‘Then why in the world are you revealing me all of this?’

The Verndia she knew was never, not once, like this.

He was a man who would do anything for Lestir.

He wasn’t kind enough to take care of his fiancée’s, who is merely in contractual engagement with him.

He could attack Silkisia in the name of being engaged to the cursed Princess, but it could not be consumed in this way.

There must be other reasons.

‘Are you aware of the Leas case?’

After a long pause, he asked a strange question.

She doesn’t know why that was happening, but she said that she knew.

‘Then the princess is Leas’s daughter… ha, damn it.’

He frowned abruptly and stopped his words, then took a deep breath and brushed his head with his hand. He was like a man trying to calm his rising anger.

‘If this goes on, I’ll pass out again.’

He exhaled slowly, uttering incomprehensible words. He revealed the reason for revealing his secrets.

‘It’s because of the princess’s ability, the ice that doesn’t melt.’

It’s ridiculous. There must have been some big misunderstanding.

To remind him of this, Psychke said that her ability is not great, rather it is a curse.

Then Verndia-

‘This is the tenth time.’

‘It is precisely the tenth time that I pointed out that your ability is not a curse.’

He got annoyed and left the room, leaving some unknown words to her.

Could it be because that she fell asleep due to exhaustion and couldn’t listen to him till the end?

Yes, that must be it. She doesn’t know why he said that ten times without waking her up.

It happened often in Silkisia, so he thought his case was a similar to it.

‘I guess it wasn’t important.’

Psychke stopped digging deep.

It wasn’t because her body felt heavy, as if she was submerged in an abyss. It also wasn’t because she couldn’t stop her eyelids from closing again and again.

It’s just that it doesn’t matter that Verndia behaves abnormally like he did in the past.

The important thing is her curse, and he found it out. Therefore, she must leave this place as soon as possible.

As if brainwashing, she whispered to herself.

So-

‘I have to run away.’

She fell down in attempt of getting up from her seat. She was so sick that she couldn’t overcome the rush of her blood.

The sky outside the window was red as it was dawning.

***

“Oh, this. A failure I couldn’t kill you.”

The room was so dark that only the outlines of things could be seen.

A woman squatting at the edge of a huge red magic circle raised her head.

A wolf was dying in front of her with its tongue sticking out. The place where the lower body was supposed to be, was empty.

The charred fur had lost its original red color.

“Are there any more sacrifices left?”

The woman who squawked as if singing glanced at the center of the magic circle.

The blood of young animals, such as sheep and goats, were scattered ugly.

The man following her gaze opened his mouth.

“Let’s put it back together.”

“If not now, it will be too late. Because Lestir saw the beasts.”

The woman jumped up and crossed the magic circle. The sound of heels echoed through the room.

The place where the hoof stopped was in front of the man outside the magic circle.

Just then, the wind blew. The moonlight, which had just leaked through the clouds, poured down on the man’s hair.

It has a blood color, which was exactly one of the colors in the woman’s dress.

At the unwelcome name he heard from her, he furrowed one eyebrow.

“Lestir?”

“Yeah…. ah, dear me. Did I kill the wrong person? That Hillace bastard. I am sure to kill him for burning my research.”

The woman sighed exaggeratedly and pulled her hair straight through her thumb and forefinger. It was a pretty pink hair.

“I didn’t know it wasn’t within range. I made that I checked it and activated it.”

“You can see it as a sign that your skills have become insignificant.”

The man appeared to be in his mid-twenties.

But the pressure in his voice was by no means his age.

It had a texture like chewing sand in the desert, but the woman smirked.

“Don’t you think the sacrifice was insignificant?”

The man’s fingers twitched at the woman’s arrogance.

The gray eyes that glistened menacingly seemed to want to strangle her.

The woman didn’t mind it and clasped her hands and stretched them out.

“It’s true. Maybe it’s because it’s been a long time, but I had a hard time controlling the beasts.”

She hummed an unintelligible melody as if she were trying to sublimate her struggles into a song.

Then she suddenly opened her eyes.

“Yeah, I saw that.”

“… ?’

“I mean. Ice!”

She giggled, describing with her hands a mass of ice falling in the air, which she saw through the beast’s vision.

“Ice just spattered here and there. It froze everywhere, and chunks of ice are dripping from the air.”

“…. What?”

The man’s voice shook.

It was a precarious atmosphere, like a lute string being pulled taut.

Like an undetected person, the woman continued with a sarcastic voice.

“No matter how late it was, it won’t be settled within ten years, but it must have been because it was revealed late- Ugh!”

“The child’s powers were manifested?”

“Ugh, that’s right.”

His strong hand gripped her slender neck. The woman gasped for air but did not show any fear.

The man’s eyes shook with an unknown emotion.

“When the hell… wait. The child was there?”

“Yeah, ugh, I blocked her from coming in outside the target, but how did she break through, ugh, when returning…”

“Did Lestir see?”

“What, ugh, what do you mean?”

“The child’s ability.”

“Has he seen it? I think he saw it, but ugh, I couldn’t see it in detail because of the fire. I even barely escaped. It hurts so please let go of me!”

He was a man who would let go immediately when she said that she was hurt.

But today was different.

“Did he see it?”

Instead of loosening his grip on her, he pulled her towards him, bringing her up to his eye level. His gray eyes glistened with anger.

“It’s because of the beasts, the reason why Lestir saw her powers. Is that right?”

“Oh, heuk, that’s right. Please, let me go…”

“Do you know what mess you’ve done? Psychke, it’s not enough that you almost killed that child, but you made her use his powers in front of Lestir?”

“Heuk, I’m really going to die like this…!”

When she made an impression that she was going to die, he threw her away.

A woman who collapsed violently on the floor, grabbed her neck and groaned.

“Ah, ugh, really-”

“…. Ha.”

The man who looked down at the woman annoyedly covered his eyes.

He worked for over a decade to get Psychke Silkisia while avoiding Lestir’s eyes.

In a moment’s mistake, it collapsed like a sandcastle.

He wanted to kill her right away, but he couldn’t because there was no one to replace her.

“It wasn’t on purpose, it’s already happened! It’s no use trying to get angry with me.”

“… ”

“Hah, really. Aren’t you doing too much? I also told you who ran the auction house.”

Hadn’t for her, the man wouldn’t have seen the visions of the mercenaries back then. The woman grumbled.

“And I think Lestir already knew the princess’s powers.”

“… What?”

“The behavior was just that. Isn’t his action was somewhat someone would do if he didn’t know it?”

The woman explained what she had seen.

A flame that was too big and strong to be dealt with the demonic beasts.

Unlike before, when she controlled her powers not to leave evidence every time, the power melted even the bones of the beasts.

The walls of the alleyway collapsed unnaturally.

The eyes on the woman who was plucking the hem of her clothes turned to the secret note stained with blood on the desk.

“A pathetic bastard.”

It was a reckless self-talk, but there was no one in this place who could understand her words.

The woman recalled the lump of inferiority she had brought with her and her father’s note and raised her red lips seductively.

“Now that it’s like this – I think it’s a secondary idea to get the princess, and I’m a little more active in completing the eternal magic line. We really don’t have time anymore, right?”

The woman clasped her hands behind her neck muttered soothingly.

“You know? The purer the blood used as a material, the higher the intellect that dwells. that it works better.”

“… Not animals, but children?”

“Oh, I didn’t even think about that. How cruel.”

The woman’s eyes softly curved as she let out a clear laugh.

“Don’t worry about anything, just prepare the ingredients, Your Majesty. I will prepare a curtain to cover the mistakes of that man.”