Don’t Ask, It’ll Hurt If You Know - Chapter 66

Chloe didn’t necessarily expect an answer, so when Bianca actually replied, she was startled but did not let go of the mirror. She didn’t know how this was happening, but one thing was certain: she could not let this opportunity slip away.

“What on earth are you? Why did you trap me in your body? And what was that dream about? What exactly are you trying to gain by going this far!”

Her voice grew louder in proportion to the rising heat of her anger.

“What is it? What did I do so wrong that you’re doing this to me!”

Eventually, driven by spite, Chloe screamed with all her might, but Bianca didn’t even blink. She simply continued to smile prettily like a doll, a sight that was quite chilling.

However, thanks to that, the rage that had filled her to the brim began to subside, and the reason buried beneath it reared its head.

Whew. With a short sigh, Chloe fully regained her composure. She looked directly into Bianca’s face and asked the most vital question.

“Is it enough if I fulfill all the items on the bucket list you wrote in your diary? Will you set me free then?”

The moment the bucket list was mentioned, Bianca’s face instantly stiffened. Her face, now completely devoid of laughter, was cold. Though her expression had changed, her silence remained the same.

“Speak!”

Watching her, Chloe’s anger flared up again. She slammed her fist hard against the mirror and shouted.

“Tell me what you want! Tell me what I have to do for you to send me back!”

“……What I want?”

Only then did those tightly set lips part. Bianca looked straight at Chloe’s face, which was contorted with rage, and slowly continued.

“What I want is, with the Prince…….”

Just as the crucial information was about to be revealed, a sudden knock was heard. Chloe instinctively turned her head and then looked back at Bianca, only to widen her eyes as she noticed the mirror beginning to crack, starting from where she had struck it with her fist.

“No!”

Sensing that if the mirror shattered, she would no longer be able to talk to Bianca, Chloe frantically reached out to touch the cracked area. In that instant, the mirror shattered completely.

Bianca’s image was caught in the shards of glass like puzzle pieces, scattering in every direction. Chloe reflexively squeezed her eyes shut and raised both arms to shield her face.

* * *

“My Lady, My Lady!”

“!”

Chloe, who had been protecting her face from the mirror shards, was startled when someone gripped her shoulders and shook her violently. She fiercely shook off the hand. When she opened her tightly shut eyes, her blurred vision settled on a woman with an expression just as startled as hers.

“……Dorothy?”

“Yes, it’s me. Are you awake, My Lady? Goodness, look at all this sweat.”

Dorothy didn’t even care that her sleeves were getting dirty as she wiped the cold sweat from Chloe’s forehead. Chloe’s blue eyes stared blankly at her before surveying her surroundings. The lace canopy reflecting Countess Elena’s taste, the velvet sofa, the wooden table, the vanity… it was definitely her own bedroom.

Chloe Elena’s bedroom, not Bianca Lloyd’s.

“Am I…… back?”

“Pardon? Back from where?”

Dorothy asked in confusion, but Chloe didn’t answer. She was too preoccupied confirming whether the scene before her eyes was a dream or reality. She felt the soft texture of the duvet and touched her own cheek. She pinched it hard enough for it to turn red, and felt a stinging pain.

“……It’s not a dream.”

Chloe muttered to herself and turned her head. Next to the bed stood a large, full-length mirror that hadn’t been there before. Seeing her own reflection clearly in it, she let out a deep sigh of relief and pressed a hand to her forehead.

“Are you alright, My Lady? I’ll go get the Doctor right away……!”

Thinking she was in pain, Dorothy was about to dash out in a panic, but Chloe grabbed her arm.

“I’m fine. I just have a headache because I slept for too long.”

“Ah, well, you’ve been asleep for two days, so that’s to be expected.”

Two days?

Now that she mentioned it, the sunlight filtering through the curtains was bright and dazzling. Since it had been evening when she returned to her room after teaching her stepmother and Maria a lesson, it seemed an entire day had passed while her body was swapped.

Sometimes the swap only lasted ten minutes, while other times it took a full day, making the time difference difficult to gauge.

“What about my parents? They must have been very worried since I didn’t wake up for two days.”

“Of course they were. Especially Young Master Mars, he was the most worried.”

“Huh? Mars?”

“Yes. He was throwing a fit, saying this isn’t simple narcolepsy and that you must be suffering from some other illness or a strange curse.”

That brat Mars, he’s unnecessarily quick-witted. Chloe clicked her tongue inwardly.

“So, the High Priest of the Basilock Temple is scheduled to come here in two days.”

“What?”

At those added words, Chloe bolted upright as if her backside were on fire and grabbed Dorothy’s shoulders.

“What does that mean? Why is the High Priest coming here!”

“T-that’s, of course, to check on your condition, My Lady…….”

Startled by her violent reaction, Dorothy stammered slightly.

The High Priest was actually coming. Dark clouds gathered over Chloe’s face. It was because of the anxiety that the High Priest might discover she was under the influence of dark magic.

If he realized the situation, she would be branded a witch or a heretic and put on trial. The fear grew because she knew that no matter how much she cried out that it was unfair and that she was a victim, they wouldn’t listen to a word of it.

“I have to see Father immediately.”

If not her father, she had to meet her mother and somehow stop the High Priest from coming. While she was at it, she planned to write a letter to Jeremy and shut Mars’s big mouth, but Chloe couldn’t accomplish any of it.

“Ah, you’re awake, My Lady.”

The butler, whom she encountered in the bedroom hallway, smiled with immense relief and stated the reason for his visit.

“His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has arrived.”

“……What? Who?”

When Chloe asked, doubting her own ears, the butler gave a more specific answer.

“His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of the Empire has come to visit you while you are ill.”

“…….”

Naturally, the image of the obnoxious face she had seen in the tea room came to mind, and Chloe’s face contorted hideously. It was shocking enough that the Crown Prince had personally visited the Count Elena’s mansion, but to hear he had come for a sick call made Chloe recoil in disgust.

“Tell him I’m unconscious. Tell him my condition is so bad that I’m in no state to see anyone, so he should just go back.”

“Pardon? But His Royal Highness has visited in person, so meeting him would be…….”

“Forget it. I have no intention of meeting him……!”

Chloe, who was cutting off the butler and firmly stating her opinion, faltered because she sensed a presence. When she turned her head, she saw a figure shimmering in brilliant gold in the distance.

It was the Crown Prince, Antonio de Adrian Phasis.

* * *

Because she had been caught bickering with the butler, she couldn’t use the excuse of being unconscious or too ill to meet.

Chloe, who had briefly considered acting sick even at this late stage, changed her mind upon seeing the Crown Prince’s face. She remembered how, two days ago in the tea room, the Crown Prince had acted coercively toward Ian, telling him to join the Imperial Knights.

She also remembered that she was the cause of it and that she hadn’t completely resolved the matter.

I have to stop it now.

Telling herself it wasn’t too late and that she must stop it, Chloe burned with resolve as she looked at the Crown Prince sitting opposite her.

An air of elegance and leisure emanated from him as he drank his tea. His fingers holding the teacup were so long and slender it was hard to believe they belonged to a man. His facial lines were also delicate and graceful, so she could understand why people praised his beauty until their mouths ran dry whenever they saw him.

He’s not my type, though.

After finishing her brief assessment, Chloe picked up her teacup. She had never been interested in marriage or men since she was young, but one thing was certain: she didn’t care for pretty-boy types like the Crown Prince. She disliked men who looked like they had a hundred sly serpents living inside them even more.

“I was very worried when I heard you were too unwell to even leave the house, so it is a great relief to see you look better than I feared, Miss Chloe.”

Was that why everything the Crown Prince said sounded so disagreeable?

Thinking that while it wasn’t the only reason, it might be the biggest one, Chloe set her teacup down on the saucer.

“I’m glad I appear that way to you, but contrary to appearances, I am still not in good health. I ask for your kind understanding that I cannot engage in a long conversation.”

It was a roundabout way of telling him to cut the small talk and get to the point. There was no way he wouldn’t have understood, yet the Crown Prince continued to ramble on with useless talk, saying things like he wouldn’t keep her too long or that he could send an Imperial Physician if she wished.

“If it isn’t rude, may I ask the reason you have come to find me?”

Growing frustrated, Chloe finally asked him point-blank.