CH 27

【Chapter 27 – Awakening, Villain Material】

I arrived at the imperial palace as I muttered like that, but the answer came back that Esadien was going out.

“If the prince had been here, he would have been very pleased, I’m sorry.”

The servant bowed deeply.

“No. Is the prince doing well these days?”

“Yes, he has become very…. busy.”

Busy?

‘Did the Emperor or Crown Princess entrust anything to you?’

She was curious, but it was strange to hold the servant and ask questions about this and that, so she stopped.

‘I’ll find out next time.’

Thinking like that, I felt a bit uneasy, so I looked around the palace of Esadien several times.

“What are you doing, Minuelle?”

Until Ramande urges.

***

And a few days later, I followed sister Elga, who is going to meet the Crown Princess, and I also entered the Imperial Palace.

But again, Esadien was out.

‘You must be very busy…..’

Anyway, while I was here, I accepted my sister’s suggestion to spend time together and headed to the Crown Princess’s Palace together.

“Who is this? My baby, did you come with our pretty Minuelle? Did I have a good dream today?

The Crown Princess welcomed us with joy.

In particular, I was embarrassed by the fact that my sister, Elgar, who was her original appointment, greeted me and hugged me as if she couldn’t even see me.

Still, it was because they were so close that the older sister and the Crown Princess didn’t care.

“But what about Lady Celeste? I didn’t see her.”

I asked politely, but I was curious about the news to some extent. Still, she’s the female lead.

I thought she would meet me here, but she didn’t seem to have gone to the main palace.

The Crown Princess’s answer was not much different from what I expected.

“I went to the main palace because His Majesty called her as a companion. It’s been a while, so I think she probably came home.”

I can’t believe she’s leaving work early. It’s a pleasure of office workers.

“How is she?”

“Well, she doesn’t talk much about herself.”

Considering the Crown Princess’s answer and the atmosphere surrounding the maids, she did not seem to get along with the people here.

“By the way, does the Prince have a job these days? He seemed busy.”

“Eddie? If he asks for it, I will include it in the expedition, but he deosn’t have to do anything else. He hates to stand out.”

“Oh, I see….”

While sister Elga and the Crown Princess talked for a long time, I continued to drink tea like a broken doll.

‘Why am I so anxious again?’

It was chilling as if someone had rubbed ice on my back. To get rid of that feeling, I didn’t feel better even if I kept pouring warm tea and putting it in over and over and over again.

***

When I returned home that day, I wrote the first letter to Esadien.

「It’s awkward because it’s my first time asking how you’re doing in a letter.」

The letter that started like that ended with the words of saying that I will see you after a long time when the time comes.

However, late the next afternoon, the imperial messenger returned the answer:

「It’s hard to find time because the Crown Princess made me do something. I’m sorry.」

The hand holding the letter fell down.

Beep―

My head was pounding as a tinnitus was ringing in my ear.

‘I would have believed this if I hadn’t met the Crown Princess yesterday and had not asked.’

Dizzy, she touched her forehead and tilted her head back.

‘No, would it be better if I didn’t know anything?’

Esadien, who came to visit me, said this.

“I think we should have trust even if we can’t expect love between us.”

Trust…..

‘Who should I believe between the Crown Princess and Esadien?’

There is a saying that love is believing in each other. So should I trust Esadien?

Her Highness the Crown Princess would have said that it was difficult to inform outsiders. That’s what you think?

“Ha….”

My stomach began to boil again.

Now I know that this is a piece of spirit power. But every time I did this, I still didn’t get used to it, and I felt like there was something inside me that didn’t turn off.

“Minuelle, can I come in?”

At that moment, Ramande’s voice was heard outside the door with a knock, but I didn’t have the energy to answer.

Even my eyes were burning as I closed them tightly. The arms fell weakly and hot breath came out through the lips.

“It’s time for dinner. Let’s go down now.”

“…..”

Ramande and I were together just thirty minutes ago. And I was originally someone who rarely walked around.

“Minuelle?”

But he must have thought it was weird because I didn’t answer.

I heard the door open slightly. And in the next moment, the sound of a rushing run.

“Minuelle! What’s wrong!”

“Don’t shout…. head ringing….”

“I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

Ramande’s hand, which touched my forehead and cheek, was cold. He clicked his tongue as I groaned and rubbed my face on the cold palm of his hand. 

“You have a fever again.”

Ramande immediately grabbed me and took me to the bedroom.

“I’ll bring you a meal, so take a rest.”

Today, of all things, I was wearing tight waist clothes.

Ramande sat me on the bed and tried to loosen the ribbon on the back of my back, but I managed to block it with a helpless hand.

“Why?”

“I don’t want to worry my mom and dad. Just go eat.”

“You know that submerging with divine power is a temporary measure.”

“That’s it for now. Really. Not because it hurts, just…..”

“Just? There’s no such thing as ‘just’ when you’re sick.”

Ramande’s frowned eyebrows reached my hand, which was still holding the paper tightly.

“Is it because of this?”

Since it was a letter with more space than letters, it didn’t take a second for Ramande to scan the contents.

Ramande’s eyes opened a little and then hardened.

“Haaahh.”

He said with a sigh.

“You… Even the veins in your eyes burst. Close your eyes.”

“Yes….”

I closed my eyes and leaned against Ramande.

“Breathe, take a long breath.”

Divine power poured from her as he hugged her with his whole body.

Ramande’s divine power, feels as familiar as Ramande.

At this moment, I was like a butterfly in a cocoon made of divine power. I thought my mind would be at peace in this peaceful place, but I kept thinking of Esadien.

“I keep thinking of you, but I don’t know what to do.”

You’re such a bad prince.

‘I don’t know what to do now.’

I wanted to ask Theodore, who had seen Esadien for a long time, for advice. However, he was dispatched to the desert area again after sister Juella wedding.

“I shouldn’t have said I will wait.”

In the end, I uttered regrettable words.

“I should have just… done as I used to.”

I should have stayed next to Esadien, as the threshold of the royal palace dried up and worn out.

However, as always, regret was late and things were going a little bit more wrong.

***

Like a withered foxtail, the gloomy days passed by again.

It was around that time that what happened between the Second Prince and Esadien came into my hands.

“Oh my gosh. This isn’t ‘what happened between the two of us,’ it’s just one-sided bullying.”

The bullying started right away when Esadien entered the imperial palace.

There were so many minor assaults that it hurt my mouth one by one, and among them, there were two things I wondered if they even did something like this.

One is that when Esadien was just starting out as a knight, he bribed trainees and lynched him.

The second was an attempt to kidnap Esadien and sell him as a slave after giving him the wrong map during mountain training.

“At that time, they saved you…. Judith Karinen. My mother and the Knights?”

“I have accepted the engagement in order to repay the favor to His Majesty and the Grand Duchess.”

“I wondered what kind of grace it was, and this happened.”

There are limits to how things can be covered.

Of course, the case in which Esadien was kidnapped was reported to the Emperor, and the Second Prince prayed fervently in front of the angry Emperor, but he was “deprived” and sent to the Chitrum.

Of course, the title is to study abroad, but if you can count the number of times he has returned to the Empire so far, anyone can see that it was half of the exile.

I took a deep breath as I closed the thin report.

“There was a villain who surpassed Minuelle here.”

Esadien became a prince when he was only nine years old. What the hell did such a little boy do wrong that the Prince was tormenting him so much?

“How hard it must have been.”

It was heartbreaking to think that little Esadien had endured all these things for the Emperor who accepted him.

How I wish I could meet Esadien earlier. Had she done so, she could have helped Ramande as well.

“I miss you…..”

This pity and the pain that surrounded me these days were all feelings I felt because I liked Esadien.

Now I realize that.

“You have to believe it, because I said I’d wait.”

You should believe the words that came to mind when you thought of me and you didn’t know what to do.

“I miss you, Esadien.”

Even if I can’t go back to Esadien’s parlor, which used to be like a small space just for the two of us.

I think everything will be okay if you look at my face and tell me it’s okay.

My eyes turned red, but instead of crying…. I vomited a little blood.

“Ugh…”

Is the idea that the anger seems to have become a little more intense after absorbing the fireball last time like an illusion?

Before anyone could see the blood-stained handkerchief, she shoved it under the ashes of the fireplace. The rushing fingertips were trembling for no reason.

***

“I’m sorry, Princess.”

However, the promise that I had put so much effort into that day was shattered as soon as I visited the imperial palace.

“……”

Esadien no longer replied to the letter, and was still absent.

“Princess?”

When I saw an unfamiliar servant, I felt down vertically, which was not good.

At one time, I was the one who knew the faces of the Imperial Palace servants as well as the servant who went in and out of the Imperial Palace as if eating.

This person, who was looking at my face in front of me now, was arguably the first face I had ever seen.

“No, it’s not your fault that the Prince is busy.”

“When the Prince returns, I will tell him that you’ve visited.”

“I was.”

Shaking her head, she immediately passed the servant and strode inside.

“Ah, Princess?”

“It’s not because I don’t trust you. I think the palace has changed a bit, so I’ll take a look around.”

Yes, Esadien’s Palace has changed.

An unfamiliar line of decoration, the mood changed accordingly.

‘While I wasn’t here…..?’

She bit his lips gently and opened the parlor door closest to the inner room. At the same time, the smell of chocolate was so sweet that it was sticky.

“……”

She looked around inside, speechless.