Chapter 83

A few hours ago.

Not long after moving Liat to her room, Michael collapsed. He couldn’t move another step.

Even with Heishar’s help, moving Liat with his injured body wasn’t easy.

Everything felt distant, like a midsummer night’s dream. He took out the drawing Liat had given him from his pocket and examined it from side to side.

If nothing else, he had been able to protect this one drawing.

“This is terribly drawn.”

She could be arrested for insulting the royal family right then and there. The thought that the owner of this drawing was safe drove away the anxiety in his heart.

At least he had done everything he could.

‘I want to rest now.’

The fatigue of what he would have to deal with in the future weighed him down. Soon after, a great commotion arose when a knight discovered Michael collapsed in the hallway.

It was time to keep his final promise to Heishar.

“Quickly call for the priest! His Highness has collapsed!”

“Where were the guard knights and what were they doing that allowed His Highness to get injured? Quickly inform Her Majesty the Empress!”

“We’ll call for a doctor right away, so you must not lose consciousness.”

He felt nauseated by the gazes of the many people surrounding him. Michael clutched his aching shoulder where the bone was broken and gasped for breath.

He remembered what Heishar had said when entrusting him with the aftermath.

“Taking responsibility for one’s actions is only natural.”

‘Responsibility and consequences.’

When he moved according to his mother’s wishes, nothing went wrong. Both the results and the responsibility were all under his mother’s control.

Even going out with a friend was a dangerous act for him now.

‘I need to grow stronger.’

If he could wield power in the imperial palace as much as his mother, would many things be different from today?

‘My opinion, what I want.’

If they met again, he didn’t want to be separated from the child. Wasn’t he much better than the Grand Duke who had only recently become family?

Above all, he knew the wish that Liat harbored.

“I’m not sure, but someday I’m going to escape from this place.”

Lucas and Tristan probably didn’t know the child’s true feelings either. If she wasn’t happy at the Grand Duke’s residence, it might be nice to live outside with her.

Of course, that would require considerable preparation.

The doctor who rushed over was shocked at Michael’s condition. Michael, who had moved his battered body through willpower alone, barely endured the pain.

The flustered doctor asked while examining his body.

“Full-body contusions and fractures? What on earth happened to you!”

“……”

“What ruthless people would dare do this to Your Highness!”

“I fell down the stairs.”

“Pardon?”

Michael spoke, knowing the doctor wouldn’t believe him.

“I fell. I slipped.”

The doctor’s mustache twitched at the kindly added explanation. A timid rebuttal followed.

“That’s impossible……”

The elderly doctor was quite timid for one of his mother’s people. In other words, he was the type who was susceptible to threats.

Michael grabbed the doctor’s collar to make him look at him, then whispered.

“I fell. Understand?”

The doctor’s eyes wavered at the murderous intent in Michael’s eyes.

“I cannot lie to Her Majesty the Empress. Those wounds……”

“It may be advantageous to live with such an attitude for now.”

Michael continued, not hiding his bored expression.

“But I will be the Emperor in the future. Isn’t it a shame to maintain a life by throwing away your dignity?”

The doctor had never seen the Crown Prince speak to subordinates in this manner. The Crown Prince, he knew, was as docile as a doll.

The weight of his words was too heavy to dismiss as childish talk.

The doctor, who had inwardly judged Michael as a person without will, withdrew that judgment at this moment. With a face turned pale white, he nodded.

“I will follow your orders.”

“That’s right.”

There was no weakness to be found in the Crown Prince’s satisfied smile. His true nature was not soft.

He simply hadn’t had occasion to reveal it.

Like a beast raised in captivity, he had forgotten how to bare his teeth. With no goals, there was no need to cling desperately to anything.

For the first time, he had found someone he wanted to obsess over.

***

Meanwhile, in southern Wisten.

Gerard wandered through the market district holding a small piece of paper. Since he couldn’t trust Stephanie to find the way, taking charge himself was the best option.

A passerby stopped at his gesture.

“Do you know where this bookstore written here is located?”

“Go straight down this road, then turn right at the alley.”

“Thank you. Please accept this small token of appreciation.”

Gerard gave the passerby a gold coin from his pocket. It was quite a large sum, but not at all wasteful as payment for ending this long wandering.

‘Going in the completely opposite direction.’

It was a disaster caused by entrusting Stephanie with directions. That shameless woman showed no remorse at all for taking the wrong path.

Instead, she questioned him with an unconcerned expression.

“Does it seem like we came the wrong way?”

Recalling that innocent expression made the corners of his eyes redden with anger. Gerard approached Stephanie, who was squeezed into a corner as he had demanded.

“Have you reflected on your actions?”

“I was thinking that Gerard was being too harsh.”

“You should have reflected.”

Rubbing his forehead, he had to fight the urge to give up on the princess’s letter and everything else. He hadn’t expected this journey to be so long in the first place.

‘That conversation too.’

He was present when the Grand Princess spoke with Stephanie. What Stephanie said then bothered him.

<My… daughter Maria. I might not be able to meet her anymore.>

Perhaps Stephanie really did know the true princess. Otherwise, there would be no reason for her to mention such things to the Grand Princess.

His instinct as a knight also told him not to let this matter go. If that wasn’t the case, Stephanie would have been eliminated long ago to maintain secrecy.

Gerard asked Stephanie as they moved along the directed path.

“How is it that you’re good at deciphering codes but can’t find your way?”

“…Because I don’t always want to find what I’m looking for.”

“You could have chosen not to look.”

“That’s impossible.”

Gerard turned around and was at a loss for words at the sight of Stephanie standing there with a tearful expression. It was the first time during their long journey that she had revealed her emotions so clearly.

Stephanie smiled with a face that looked like she might burst into tears at any moment.

“You know. You can’t let go of someone precious.”

“Then shouldn’t you be happy to find them?”

“What if she’s dead?”

“……”

“What if the last letter was written knowing she was going to die?”

Until now, Stephanie had not mentioned the possibility that the princess might be dead. That’s why he thought she was an overly positive woman with excessive confidence.

‘Was it all bravado?’

Perhaps this woman, like him, couldn’t stand showing weakness to others. Gerard felt pity for her.

So, uncharacteristically, he offered an awkward consideration.

“You can give up. I can do this alone from here.”

Of course, at some appropriate time, she would have to die. But at least she didn’t need to suffer from unwanted truths.

Stephanie slowly shook her head and moved forward.

“I’m going. Because that’s my role.”

That back view resembled the Grand Duke he had seen on the battlefield.

How strange to see similarities between two completely different people. He extended his hand to Stephanie, who was walking in the wrong direction.

“Take my hand.”

“Oh my, are you escorting me?”

“If I leave it to you, reaching our destination will be impossible.”

“Can’t you try to speak more nicely?”

“I am trying now.”

Gerard arrived at the target location, the bookstore, with Stephanie.

Was that note really a signal sent by the princess?

Stephanie picked up a book from the bookshelf as they had decoded earlier and carefully turned the pages. With her gaze fixed on the book, she spoke.

“This is a bookstore I visited with my daughter before.”

“Are you saying that your daughter knew she would be taken as a slave later and left a letter when she came here?”

To him, it sounded as implausible as a fairy tale. Stephanie dispelled his doubts with a resolute voice.

“My daughter’s foresight was enough to make that possible.”

“Wasn’t she just a child when you came to the bookstore?”

“She was smart and extraordinary from a very young age.”

“Honestly, it’s hard to believe.”

He knew that the power passed down in the imperial family wasn’t just superstition.

It’s said that some Emperor predicted where wars would break out and set traps in advance. But that was a story from several generations ago.

None of the current imperial family members possessed such power. Even the Crown Prince, considered to have the strongest divine beast power, could only predict the weather at best.

If the imperial family knew this fact, there would certainly have been an uproar.

“Stephanie. There are several contradictions in your words.”

“Tell me.”

“If your daughter was born with such strong power, why didn’t she change her fate of being captured as a slave?”

“That’s why I’m looking for her letter here, to find out.”

Having been to that tower himself, Gerard knew its horrors. He could say with certainty that no sane person would want such a future, regardless of any purpose.

“What will you do if there are no traces of your daughter here?”

“No need to think deeply. You don’t even know my daughter.”

Stephanie’s hand stopped turning the pages, and silence fell.

Taking out a paper note folded into the shape of a bird from between the pages, Stephanie showed it to Gerard. Both of them stared at the note for a while, unable to speak.

“It’s really here.”

He decided to unfold the note instead of Stephanie, who could hardly calm down while clutching the paper.

‘What kind of person is the real princess?’

If she had the foresight Stephanie described, she might still be alive somewhere. In that case, how should he handle it?

Scanning the note, he froze at the name written at the top.

[To my treasure, Liat.]

It was true!

The ten-year-old princess already knew about the existence of Liat, who would be adopted into the Grand Duke’s residence under her name. As Gerard read down the letter, he felt goosebumps rising all over his body.