Chapter 26
After a brief silence, the prince answered.
“I mean the King of Lutea — my brother. He was never that kind of person, but it seems my illness has become a hindrance. Or perhaps… it’s because of Malachy. Malachy O’Doherty is Lutea’s chancellor, scholar, and royal advisor. My brother trusts him above all and keeps him close. That old man has been scheming to have his daughter marry my brother in a second union. I was probably the biggest obstacle to that, wasn’t I? After all, like most noblewomen, his daughter was infatuated with me.”
“…”
“To be honest, I’m in no position to speak. I should have been my brother’s proud younger sibling, yet I fell ill and ended up like this. I can’t even show myself in public anymore. I have to be cautious of everything because I never know when a seizure might strike. I wasn’t always like this. And now, I can no longer claim to be his successor.”
Maeve somehow felt she had just learned the decisive reason why the monarch had chosen to cast out his younger brother.
Regardless, the prince continued rambling on about himself.
“My brother must be hoping I die somewhere far from home. He wants me to die quietly beyond the borders. That way, even if the people hear of it, they’ll mourn only briefly and move on. In a sense, this is a planned murder, isn’t it? My most loyal attendant never truly served me — instead, he tried to feed me a strong sleeping draught to hasten my death…”
“…”
“He would have gone back to the kingdom to report my death to my brother. Yes, that’s exactly why he was sent in the first place. They wanted me dead as soon as possible, didn’t they? And yet, I truly… I truly thought of him as family. If not a foster father, then at least like an uncle.”
When he finished speaking, the prince fell silent.
Maeve stood there quietly, her hand resting on the doorknob, blinking slowly.
An overwhelming flood of unasked-for information had just been poured upon her all at once.
No matter how much the prince trusted her, to reveal so much—he was, without a doubt, naive in this regard.
“You may go now.”
The prince’s low voice came from inside. The sound of water splashing had ceased.
“Yes, then.”
Maeve opened the door and left as if she had been waiting for that moment.
Declan sat crouched down with his knees together, burying his face in them. Droplets of tears fell one by one.
He thought to himself that he must have truly been lonely and mad to have said all that to a maid. But if he didn’t confide in someone, he felt he might lash out at anyone for no reason, and he simply couldn’t endure it any longer.
He had been abandoned.
He couldn’t understand his foolish brother. No matter how much others may have tried to sow discord between them, how could his brother abandon him like this?
Of course, he had acted in ways that might have caused some misunderstanding, but that was not out of greed — it was purely for Lutea’s sake. For the beautiful kingdom of Lutea that he and Aidan had inherited from their parents.
He had truly intended to devote everything to his country.
After all, Aidan and he were now the only remaining blood relatives in the world. Aidan was Declan, and Declan was Aidan.
Declan believed that was only right.
His foolish brother.
Sniffling, Declan stepped out of the now-cold water. Then, leaving the screen behind, he lay face down on the bed with his wet body.
He buried his face in the musty-smelling blanket, letting his tears spread and soak into it. Then, suddenly, the door burst open from the other side.
Declan stopped crying and lifted his head blankly to look.
“Would you like to go out together?”
It was Maeve.
Declan, still lying naked on his stomach, stared blankly at the red-haired maid who waited for his answer, showing not even a hint of embarrassment.
“…That…”
Maeve quickly spoke up.
“You can refuse if you’d like.”
“No, it’s just…”
Declan’s tears instantly dried up for a completely different reason.
“Could you… turn your eyes away for a moment…?”
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