CH 13

“His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince has arrived!”

At the knight’s announcement, the noble ladies surrounding us dispersed and all bowed and curtsied. But even as everyone stopped what they were doing to bow, Ively continued to glance at me. Or to be more accurate, she was staring at Cassadin.

“Your Highness.”

I could see the Crown Prince walk in from the banquet hall’s entrance. Every time he took a step forward, his neatly combed golden hair fluttered in the wind. Appearing to the banquet in a red uniform, the Crown Prince sat down on a large chair on top of a stage.

His golden eyes resembled pure golden ingots as they scanned the audience. After observing the people for a moment, the Crown Prince raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth.

“I appreciate your attendance at this banquet amidst your busy schedules.”

The Crown Prince’s voice echoed throughout the banquet hall. I lifted my head slightly to take a better look at the owner of the voice.

‘…Leon de Crasibel.’

“Since you’ve all come, I shall show gratitude equivalent to such.”

The Crown Prince commented arrogantly as he held the crystal cup handed to him by a servant. Looking at him smirk as he nodded at the people, I felt more sorry than annoyed.

Originally, Cassadin should have been the Crown Prince’s closest aide and Commander of the Knights, and not the man named Leon who was sitting on top of the stage right now, Since I snatched Cassadin before that happened, I felt that I basically stole the Crown Prince’s right hand.

‘It was the best choice I had to protect our family.’

If I wanted to save Father and safely approach Damian without putting my head at risk, I had no other option but to bring Cassadin into our family.

Damian was the one who won the swordsman tournament, where the empire’s most skilled swordsmen gathered, despite having a heart condition. The only way to face a monster was to bring in one that matched his strength.

So I thought it was a good decision to capture Cassadin, regardless of whether he was hiding his true intentions from me.

Whether he knew what I was thinking or not, the Crown Prince smirked and uttered the exact same words in my memory of the past.

“Let us forget about the burdens of our lives and enjoy today to the fullest.”

The Crown Prince lifted his cup above his head as he finished his speech. Taking that as a signal, the people raised their cups simultaneously and shouted.

“Congratulations on your birthday!”

“May the Crown Prince’s future be only paved with radiance!”

Then the Crown Prince took a sip from the wine glass filled with red wine with a faint smile on his face. His Adam’s apple bobbed as the red liquid passed through his throat, and everyone else in the hall followed his lead, raising their glasses to their lips.

I was also about to take a sip when I noticed something strange.

Cassadin had a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth next to me. Pretending to bring the glass to his mouth, he was holding back laughter. As if this situation were unbearably amusing.

‘What’s going on?’

Cassadin was always strange, but he was acting even stranger today. What could possibly be funny about this situation?

Just as I cocked my head in confusion, a sharp scream reverberated throughout the hall.

“Kyaaaaaahk!”

Turning my head towards the scream, I encountered a sight that I could hardly believe. The Crown Prince’s face was ashen, blood was coming out of his mouth as he coughed, and his wine glass shattered onto the floor.

“Argh…!”

The Crown Prince collapsed to the ground. It seemed like the damage was severe, as he fell unconscious the moment he fell.

“C-Crown Prince, sir!”

“Who on earth did this…?”

“It’s poison! Someone must have poisoned his drink!”

The banquet hall became chaotic in an instant, and the imperial knights rushed to the Crown Prince’s side. Face sickly pale, he was lifted onto the back of a knight, who then quickly carried him away.

The merry chatter from just moments ago was replaced by panic. The banquet, which should have been a joyous event, was now only a symphony of screams and wails.

I was stunned. The Crown Prince had never collapsed like this in my past life. The party should have continued into the night, and Damian would appear late…

The only difference was that I brought Cassadin here, who should still have been at the gladiator arena at this time. That was the only change.

Then I recalled all the words Cassadin said to me.

‘You said the Crown Prince’s birthday banquet was next week?’

‘I’m incredibly curious what the imperial palace will look like.’

‘But if it’s the Crown Prince’s birthday banquet, will it be held in the Crown Prince’s palace?’

Were his questions from a week ago about the palace relevant to this plan? Or was he planning this even before that? My head was throbbing.

‘Why would Cassadin do such a thing…?’

The way Cassadin was smiling, turning his head away so the people wouldn’t notice, felt so bizarre.

Why would Cassadin, who in my past life was loyal to the Crown Prince more than anyone else, do something like this? Why? For what reason?

“Why did you do such a thing?”

I whispered softly, making it audible only to Cassadin. At the same time, Cassadin slowly turned his gaze toward me. His face was completely devoid of any trace of a smile, and he looked down at me with frigidly cold eyes.

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

Even after creating this situation, Cassadin was lying through his teeth.

If I hadn’t brought him along, the Crown Prince wouldn’t have collapsed like this. I needed to figure out why Cassadin had done such a thing.

I had to sift through the truths and lies of Cassadin’s words.

‘I have no family. They all died a long time ago.’

‘I mean the sword. Where did you get it?’

‘That couldn’t be. It should have the sheath with it.’

How did he know that the dagger I gifted him originally had a sheath? It was something one wouldn’t know unless they were the original holder.

And when I asked how he knew, Cassadin’s eyebrows furrowed for a split second.

‘Daggers such as these usually come with a sheath. Especially if it’s such a fine one like this, it’s even more unlikely to be so.’

A fine dagger. How did he know that the dagger wasn’t fake? It was something that he couldn’t know unless he knew about the sword beforehand.

‘Oh my~ Miss, you have a keen eye. This sword is said to have been used by the Crown Prince of the fallen Hyran Kingdom!’

If the dagger I gifted him was real, and if Cassadin was the Crown Prince of the Hyran Kingdom, which had completely vanished from history, then it would make sense why he both knew about the dagger and caused such an incident.

But why was he so loyal to the Crown Prince in the past? For a full three years at that. What was his true objective?

‘Is that it? Revenge.’

Maybe that was his reason for volunteering to become the closest aid to the person he hated enough to kill—to drive the empire down to complete annihilation?

Cassadin was remarkably similar to me.

I now understood all the lies Cassadin had told. How many of his own emotions did he have to crush down for revenge? Was it possible to understand all of the feelings he must have shoved tight into that shell?

Then I spoke to Cassadin in a soft voice,

“It’s you. You’re the Crown Prince of the Hyran Kingdom.”

Cassadin’s face distorted dramatically.

“…what did you just say?”

The tone of Cassadin’s question was nothing short of icy. And I felt an intense sense of bloodlust from his cold face, as if he could kill me right on this spot.

His deep purple eyes wavered precariously, like a candle flame in a storm. The look in his eyes was a mix of all sorts of emotions.

It was a boiling hatred with a clear intent to kill and confusion from his identity being exposed. Truly…. This was a side of Cassadin I’d never seen before.

Then I averted my eyes and surveyed the banquet hall, which didn’t feel too different from hell now.

Ively, who had been staring at Cassadin with sparkling eyes, passed out from the shock of this sudden turn of events. The people that came to the banquet were trying to leave the hall, fear overtaking them.

But the imperial knights blocked their way with a glint in their eyes.

“No one is allowed to leave the area until the questioning is over.”

“Th-that’s unreasonable!”

“There have been orders from His Majesty the Emperor under the suspicion that the culprit may be at the banquet hall. Anyone who seems suspicious or attempts to leave will be considered a suspect.”

His Majesty the Emperor’s order. Hearing those words, the fear sprouting inside the people in the banquet hall grew even more. They came to this banquet and were now on the verge of being executed. And the nobles, who barely managed to keep their composure, were trying to explain to the knights their innocence.

Coming to the banquet seemed to have put their lives in jeopardy. The nobles, barely holding onto their sanity, argued strenuously that they were innocent.

“Does that mean the culprit is among us? How is someone bold enough to do such a thing on His Highness’s birthday! I can’t be the culprit.”

“I’m also not the culprit. I can swear it on my rank.”

Despite the nobles’ reasoning, the knight remained steadfast.

“We will know once the questioning is complete.”

If things continue like this, they might figure out that Cassadin was the culprit. So having assessed the situation, I grabbed Cassadin’s wrist.

His muscular arm was trembling, clear enough to see with a passing glance. It wasn’t from fear, but from anger towards me. Having his identity revealed, he seemed like a beast, unsheathing the claws he had kept hidden.

Maybe the man whom I had taken in as a younger brother was actually a beast.

“It’s okay, Cassadin.”

I wrapped both of my hands around my dear younger brother’s wrist. Then, without his noticing, I used my healing ability. I cast a spell that would soothe his troubled mind, speaking to him in a soft voice.

“Just don’t do this again. I’m saying that for your sake.”

Cassadin’s eyes widened. He blinked several times, as if trying to understand what I meant.

“I’ll protect you.”

This was the first time, so I would protect you just this once. But if you ever do this again, what should I do with you then?

I slowly pulled away from Cassadin. I would soon be summoned to treat the Crown Prince with my healing abilities since I was the most powerful healer in the Serkia family’s history.

As long as one wasn’t dead and still breathing, I could consume my mental energy to save them. That was also the reason why Damian had kept me by his side for three years.

“Lady Aren Serkia. His Majesty the Emperor is calling for you.”

At the urgent words of a royal knight directed at me, all eyes in the hall turned to me. It was only natural for them to look at me like that since they didn’t know about my healing abilities.

Suspicious about the reason for my summoning at this time, they were most likely going to make more ridiculous excuses to reason with, as they always have. Probably rubbish about how I was the future Crown Princess and such. It was always unpleasant being the center of attention, but I’ve become accustomed to it.

“Understood.”

Cassadin looked at me with a puzzled face. I smiled at him to tell him it was okay. Then I followed the imperial knight out of the hall.