Chapter 82

Story 48. The Person I Love (4)

Chapter 82

Prince Camille explained to me as we followed the underground path.

“This wasn’t something anyone could endure. That drug… No one can resist this drug… So the fact that you are still able to keep this much of your sanity is amazing. I am truly impressed and… I am certain my brother is impressed with you too.”

“…”

“Well, I guess maybe not, because my brother doesn’t believe in things like this… Maybe not now, but he will eventually realize the truth as time passes… When things progress, he will see it for himself and won’t be able to deny it anymore… So Juya… Just hang on a little while longer.”

I didn’t understand why the prince believed in me. I was already beyond my limit. I… I wasn’t sane anymore.

Prince Camille was holding the lantern, so I had to move as quickly as possible to follow him. I said to him, “It is all my fault, your highness. The warrior gave me so many chances, yet I disappointed him every time. I failed.”

“Juya…”

“And I cannot blame the drug for everything that happened. Others who also got close to the drug, including some of my brothers and the Goddess’ warrior himself… They did not succumb to it like me. Therefore, it proves that I was weak.”

We stopped when we reached the end of the path. It looked like the entrance I saw outside, well hidden with a wooden board. This time, there were a few layers of it. The prince sighed, probably wondering how he would rip all of them from the wall.

Prince Camille said to me, “Ninety-nine in hundred men go mad with this drug. If only a small amount is used on you, you can resist it, at first anyway. However, as time passes, you become more attracted to it. At some point, you become too addicted, and you begin destroying your own body… It’s usually only a matter of time. Things progress faster in some men than the other, but eventually, most people go mad with it.”

“Your highness?”

I meant to ask him how we were going to go through the wall. He was touching the boards but nothing more. If he felt too weak to rip them off the wall, then I may have to try.

“Juya, you can’t think you are weak just because you couldn’t resist this drug. I suppose my brother may think that way, but it’s not fair because my brother and I aren’t affected by this drug, unlike other people. My brother may claim that he is the strong one and the rest of the world is weak, but that is not a fair statement at all. He just doesn’t understand because he has never experienced anything like it. He would have no idea what kind of hardships you must have gone through this whole time.”

“But you aren’t affected by this drug because you are a member of the royal family. You are the descendant of the Goddess herself, but me… I am nothing.”

I walked up to him and took his sword. I began to cut into the outer edges of the boards. The prince didn’t stop me nor help me. He just watched me, and I guessed that this would take a long time.

Crack, crack.

“If what you are saying is right and that the royal blood makes you a better person, then don’t you think that we would have a sense of perfect peace? All the kingdoms would have been able to coexist peacefully if all the royal members were better people than the most… But Juya… None of the kings in history ever made an effort to become a better person. You, on the other hand, made a herculean effort to endure it all, and you succeeded. You have been such a perfect Innocent One that I think my brother always saw you as one of us. When you showed the smallest failure, he became furious. I think that’s what happened.”

“…”

I used the sword as a fulcrum to rip the boards out. As I pulled, it made a loud “thud” sound.

The prince continued, “But Juya… I couldn’t just watch and not do anything.”

I was able to pry it open enough so that we could squeeze through. The prince came towards me and offered me his hand. When I gave him his sword back, he took it firmly and placed it into his scabbard. Before walking in, he said, “Don’t be too shocked when you go inside.”

I followed him into the space that was familiar to me. It was the inside of the harem. I gaped in shock, “T-this is the harem…”

It was dark outside and the sky was filled with stars. We walked up the stairs slowly. At the top of the stairs, if I went a bit further ahead following the building wall, I would end up where I usually meet Fatima to get more drugs. That was also very close to Hawaki’s private quarter.

However, there was something very different here than before. There was a door ahead of us that was new. I was sure there used to be no door there; there was a wall instead. It seemed the prince knew what was beyond this door.

He said, “When people find out that I opened this door, they would be so angry… Both Hawaki and my brother… but I heard that they found you unconscious here before, right? That was how people from the inside came out to save you… So it couldn’t be helped the last time it was opened, so…”

When we walked into the mysterious space, I realized that it was a very large area. It was dark, and when we walked deeper inside, I heard a man’s voice echoing, “Oh… Oh… Oh… Your story! …story… story…”

“Gya!”

It wasn’t just the voice that made me jump. It was the sudden bright light that appeared in the sky like lightning. Then, an abrupt and enormous vibration from deep underneath earth began. It felt like it was strong enough to make the walls and even the grounds collapse.

And it was getting closer… Sharper…

“W-what is happening…! What the…! Gyaa!”

Rumbleeee!

Suddenly, I found myself in a strange place. There were odd yet beautiful flower petals falling from the sky like snow, and as I looked around, I realized that I was in the middle of a street… a city!

So many different types of flowers were being thrown on the road. White, yellow, and blue…

“W-where is this…?”

I looked around for Prince Camille, but he was nowhere to be found, and no one looked familiar to me. I didn’t know anybody here. Except for me, the people seemed excited as if there was some kind of festival happening. I couldn’t understand what people were saying. Everyone was wearing extravagant outfits, and…

I realized that everyone’s face was ashen, like that of a ghost.

“H-Hwenians?!”