Chapter 121
When Lynette saw Sillian’s face, an indescribable feeling came over her.
Seeing her expression, the man asked with slight concern.
“Did something happen?”
“Something good happened.”
She knew, at least in her head, that it was true, that it was supposed to be good… But her heart simply couldn’t agree.
At her answer, the man’s lips parted slightly, as if he didn’t know what to say, then closed again without a word.
“Miss Eshar has awakened.”
“Ah.”
A short reply.
He should have been glad, and yet… perhaps because he understood how Lynette felt, he showed no further emotion. He didn’t urge her to move on, nor did he say anything more. He simply waited for her to continue.
The two of them walked slowly through the garden, holding hands, as if nothing had happened.
In moments like this, it felt as though there really was no change at all.
Tomorrow, she would lightly make contact with Euphen again. They would look at each other and smile, as if he had never told her to leave.
They would fall asleep, worrying over a future that would never come.
“There won’t be any reason to come into contact with His Highness anymore, will there?”
“That would be for the best.”
Sillian answered calmly.
“It will be less painful for that man as well if he no longer touches you.”
Was that his way of comforting her? Lynette gave a faint, bitter smile.
“I spent so long worrying about how to tell him I was going to leave, but it turns out… I didn’t really need to.”
She hadn’t expected that the man would be the one to push her away first.
She realized now how arrogant she’d been, assuming Euphen would hold on to her no matter what, by any means necessary.
Perhaps it was because she had never once imagined he’d be the first to speak of separating.
Come to think of it, it wasn’t strange at all for His Highness to act that way.
In the past, when he had known nothing about Lynette’s condition, the very idea of ‘letting her go’ hadn’t existed for him. But now he knew all too well. It was understandable that the thought of consuming her life little by little tormented him.
“His Highness told me… to go far away.”
At those words, Sillian’s eyes widened in surprise.
“He was the one who said that first?”
“Yes.”
“…And what did you say in return?”
She didn’t say she understood. Nor did she tell him that she would go. She was too much of a coward, too frightened to say those words outright.
Though she’d given a roundabout answer that could be taken as agreement, she hadn’t stated it clearly.
‘Not that it would change anything anyway.’
A bitter smile crossed her lips.
“He told me to go very far away.”
Instead of answering Sillian’s question, she spoke on.
“So far away that he wouldn’t be able to find me.”
“I’ll go. Somewhere His Highness could never even imagine.”
Calles was certainly far… So far that even within the Empire, few people knew its name.
Euphen probably wouldn’t think of it easily either. Even if he did, it wasn’t a distance the Imperial Prince could travel on a whim.
No. Once he becomes the Crown Prince, it would be even more impossible.
The position of Crown Prince is heavy and dangerous. The further one went, the harder it became to leave.
Lynette pressed her lips together tightly.
‘He will become the Crown Prince, won’t he?’
She’d been so consumed with the thought of leaving this place that she hadn’t once properly considered Euphen’s circumstances.
No… perhaps it was because he had never explained his situation to her, leaving her unable to know for certain.
From the moment he took Eshar’s hand, he had set his sights on the throne.
That was all Lynette knew.
Beyond that, all she understood was that his life was constantly under threat.
‘If he loses… he’ll die.’
A chill ran down her spine.
Euphen had always seemed so calm, so peaceful. The man she knew was always composed and relaxed. She couldn’t quite picture him in such a fierce struggle.
If he loses the fight for the throne, he will die.
She wasn’t well-versed in history, but she knew at least that much.
That such things had happened dozens of times before.
So long as a contender for the throne remained alive, they were a threat. Killing them was only natural.
Even if Euphen became the Crown Prince, he would likely do the same.
Conversely, if someone else took that title, it would mean that Euphen’s only remaining future was death.
Without realizing it, Lynette clenched her hand tightly.
‘If, after I leave, His Highness…’
If he were to die…
She couldn’t even complete the thought.
Just imagining it made her afraid because it might actually happen.
She thought she’d already come to terms with everything, but the idea that he would no longer exist in this world made her lose her composure entirely.
If, one day, a moment came when she could no longer bear it, when she longed to see him again… only to find that he was no longer alive…
“Lynette.”
Sillian leaned forward slightly, lowering his head toward her.
Worry filled his crimson eyes.
“…It’s nothing.”
Perhaps it was better not to know anything.
If she went far away, to a place that’s unreachable, just as he had said… then she would never even know who became the Crown Prince.
Maybe then she could live, believing that Euphen was safe.
Lynette faintly shook her head.
The harder she tried to push the thoughts away, the more her mind filled with the matter of the throne.
Why hadn’t she thought of it before?
Even knowing that Euphen had been forced into the struggle for the crown, that he had staked his life… she had, without question, taken it for granted that he would survive.
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