Chapter 456

What was on the throne, which made him cry out loud? He wasn’t crying, but he looked like he wanted to.

Ha, rotten bastard. How did I get into such a situation? As if it wasn’t enough for me to get caught in an unknown place, now I was a prisoner.

I should really think about it. I wasn’t hoping to be a VIP, but this situation was messed up.

Prisoners who commit treason are placed in dungeons till their death! What crime did I commit?

I was stuck in a place where I could never walk away from, so all kinds of horrible thoughts passed over my head.

The smelly room was so dirty that I could never sit or touch it. On the walls were moss and mold, the smell of urine soaked throughout the room.

Even the corpses of insects that died were lying here and there.

Ugh, my eyes were destroyed.

To live in such extraordinary places. Such an experience.

I sighed.

Without Caitel, I realized how useless and worthless I was.

Right, it must be what Ferdel used to say. The fate of a girl called Ariadna, who depended on her father.

I had a subtle feeling that my destiny was in someone else’s hand. No matter how much I tried to develop myself, the shade that Caitel provided me was too massive.

That was why my father was great.

I only moved a little, but the dust in prison moved with me.

Ugh, I was to live in such a place. I was sure of dying from lung disease. I felt like I knew a little about the sixth Prince, who had been hiding until then.

I fucked up!

“Ah, cold.”

‘Give me a blanket, have some manners!’

It was a deep underground prison; how was it so cold? I hugged myself while walking around the room, but the cold didn’t go away.

Ha, damned life. The light of my life was fading away.

If I were to die in this hole, I would die from the cold. Honestly, I knew I would.

Whether it was because I wasn’t born as a man or simply because I had no ambition, I couldn’t understand the sixth prince. What the hell would the man do to get the throne? I didn’t know!

“Bullshit!”

There must have been a lot of dirty things he would do.

Of course, I knew what the emperor acted like since I was born in the royal family and grew up as a princess. It was annoying yet striking.

In the beginning, it didn’t make sense that one man ruled a vast land. Of course, all the land belonged to nobles, but the Emperor made many decisions. That was the only reason why I didn’t want to take the throne.

Apart from such complicated and bothersome things, I wasn’t sure if I would control the land properly. It was tough for someone like me to rule it. Above all, it was difficult for me to be neutral and not biassed towards anyone.

“Well…”

My point of view and the sixth prince’s thoughts were entirely different.

It wasn’t something I couldn’t understand. A man born to be the Emperor, the sixth prince, was supposed to be the king, but then my dad appeared out of nowhere and took away the throne. The hatred between them made sense.

That didn’t mean I sympathized with him.

“The sixth prince tried to kill dad first, right?”

Wasn’t that basic? There was a man who died because someone tried to kill them?

I still couldn’t understand his desire to be a king. Was it just an ambition? Or his pride?

I didn’t know. It was something a person like me couldn’t understand.

“Ha…”

I didn’t even know what kind of person the sixth prince was. Until that day, I didn’t even remember that he was alive.

On the day my father ascended the throne, the prince had disappeared. A war fought only to capture the sixth prince. At first, the pursuit of nobles who supported the sixth prince. Such a thing always happened with a new Emperor. However, Caitel destroyed everyone who supported the sixth prince, which led to numerous civil wars.

In the end, Caitel won.

A natural result.

However, because of that, Agrigient fell into chaos.

Fardel, who was the prime minister of that time, recalled that he wanted to kill Caitel for continuing to wage wars.

However, Caitel said that, even though the country was destroyed, he aimed to capture the sixth prince.

‘That is very much like dad, right?’

Eventually, the sixth prince fled.

Of course, Caitel decided to capture the prince who fled. Ugh. Sigh.

He made requests to the neighboring countries to kill the sixth prince, but unfortunately, all countries except Ancief refused.

After that, a war broke out.

Agrigient’s war of conquest.

The result was the current Agrigient Empire.

It started as a sibling rivalry, but it ended with almost all nations falling to Agrigient, and when the war ended, a vast empire was formed.

Caitel made it all.

Although he couldn’t capture the sixth prince, he built an empire so huge that no one would even speak about the sixth prince. Anytime his presence was mentioned, Caitel would pull on a sword without fail.

“They should act like siblings, ugh.”

One turns the world upside down. One turns me over.

Whenever Caitel popped out of nowhere, the prince would hide.

However, it didn’t seem like the story ended there. The sixth prince was always making his plans, a small scale one.

“But I can’t be sure of it.”

Will my dad ride here?

“Will he come to save me?”

Why wasn’t I confident…

I had been thinking about it since I was young. If I died, it would be due to my dad or someone who hated him.

I didn’t need a prophecy to know that.

I understood it from my younger days. I saw the reality. I was strangely calm, but my anxiousness was slowly building up in my bloodstream.

Right, I was so anxious that I couldn’t sit still!

“… will it be fine, daddy?”

If he knew I was there, I had a feeling he would rescue me. I was just worried about what it would do to my dad. I wasn’t sure that I would be pleased with the outcome.

I had always been alone!

“It will turn into a mess now.”

Though my body was in prison, I was thinking about my dad. I looked at the wall.

Sherto.

Dad must have been running all over the place.

Even I used to do that when I couldn’t handle my anger. Maybe he was getting his hands bloodied once again.

“I hope it doesn’t happen.”

I didn’t know why I was more worried about my dad than myself.

Even if I met my grandfather and aunt, Caitel would always be my dad.

Ugh, as usual.

Sturdy as a tree.

When I thought about it, a smile burst on my face. I imagined my dad would beat people up. That would happen! A high possibility!

“… It would be funnier to have him next to me.”

Of course, it was a future that I would have to see. Something felt good. At least, I wasn’t miserable anymore.

“Can he stay alive?”

I was out there holding my breath. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe in my dad, but the reality I was in scared me even when I tried not to.

Dying at 25, I managed to start a new life again, but it seemed like I was living my final days when I was 25. 18 years passed, but I was still stuck. My loneliness remained unchanged.

No, my body grew, but my mind was the same as ever.

I looked back at the life I experienced in my 18 years of living; it felt like my life was in my hands for once.

Right, my whole life as Ariadna.

I had never crossed paths with death in my life.

My plan for this life was not to die, survive under my father’s shadow, eat well, and live… nothing more. I couldn’t even think of anything else I did.

Pathetic. There was nothing that could be said. I had no goal. Until then, I had only been aiming to stay alive and grow up well under my strict father.

“If I am not going to be the emperor, I had to at least think about what I will do to live.”

Since I always had money, I didn’t worry about that.

I could get married.

In particular, I wasn’t in an era where women were accessories for men, but marriages were essential to receive an adult status in Agrigient, both for men or women. I thought I would die solo, but I had a marriage plan. It sounds a little strange.

“It would be possible if dad allows me to marry.”

That would be a story I would have to think about if I managed to leave this place safely.

A dark dungeon. Tiny lights were glowing in the hallways. A place with no moonlight or stars to be seen, a familiar darkness. Something I had been used to when I was young.

“… dad.”

The situation I was in.

Caitel.

The sixth prince.

Looking back at it, I knew very little about why my dad tried to hide me.

Just because I was away from Caitel’s shadow didn’t mean I was independent. No, it was because of me that I ended up in the situation.

Whether stupid or innocent, I acted recklessly. Going out of my dad’s reach ended badly for me.

No one else had as many enemies as my dad.

Me getting caught meant trouble for Caitel and Agrigient. There were so many things I didn’t know about.

“Whenever I was in danger, he ran for me.”

Dranste, what a liar!

I didn’t like the darkness, but this situation was scary. It was terrifying; I was so scared that I started thinking of seeing Dranste.

Dranste, damn it!

Shouldn’t he show up here?

He always appeared when I didn’t need him and acted as if he could give me everything, but Dranste was farther than anyone else when I needed him. In the end, I was alone.

I wish someone would be by my side, but my calls were in vain. I wanted to see Dranste, but I didn’t know how; he did tell me, but I couldn’t remember.

Haa, stupid me.

I tried to sit down on the dirty floor.

Was it night outside? Or day? I knew nothing because I was trapped. I didn’t know what was happening outside, but I hoped my dad wouldn’t get too worried about me.

‘Right, I’m still fine.’