Chapter 1.7

On the following day, I arrived at the imperial palace and was led by the chamberlain to where the crown prince was, his handsome face contorted as he received a report from someone. I caught a faint sound of the names being mentioned and realized that this was around the time when the crown prince, now elevated to his position, would be purging the remaining contenders for the throne. There was a half-brother, and someone he used to call his uncle. It couldn’t have been an easy task for him.

Looking at him, I was reminded of Han Hyuntaek. He, too, had to fight a fierce battle during his succession. As the knight who had just finished his report left, a beautiful, habitual smile appeared on the crown prince’s face. This smile, too, was one I knew. It was similar to the one Han Hyuntaek used when he wanted to show that he was unfazed by anything.

“I apologize for keeping you waiting, my future fiancée.”

“It’s all right.”

“No, it’s not. To make up for keeping you waiting, I’ll personally escort you today.”

“No, that’s not…”

I gently placed my hand on top of his, just as he had done.

“It’s all right. That wasn’t Your Royal Highness’s fault.”

For the first time since I met him, the crown prince’s eyes showed a flicker of emotion. He wore the expression of a child caught doing something they shouldn’t, then the expression of an adult who had a lot to say. He looked completely flustered by the mixed feelings.

As I watched his expression, I comforted him just as I had comforted Han Hyuntaek before.

“You’re both fighting on a battlefield. There is nothing to be criticized for killing an enemy in a war. You were just protecting yourself and your mother. You did well. You are magnificent. And you worked hard.”

He shoved my hand away, covering his mouth as he turned his back on me.

“No, I… I…”

“I can’t possibly measure the weight of the crown, but I’m certain that you didn’t do anything wrong. So, from now on, rule well. That will be enough.”

The confusion on his shoulders settled and receded. I waited quietly for him to calm down. It seemed that people were the same no matter where they lived.

“Let’s walk.”

He walked toward the door without looking at me, and his escorts followed.

“You don’t need to follow.”

I walked through the imperial palace garden with him. There was no special conversation between us. When we saw a flower, I would exclaim in awe, and if a tree was green, I would ask for its name. Then, he suddenly took my hand.

For some reason, even though he had held my hand before, it felt strange. It wasn’t a gesture of comfort, nor was it an intention to block my way. It was just an ordinary man holding an ordinary woman’s hand, without the power of the crown prince.

I adamantly refused his offer to escort me and returned home. Strangely, I wanted to see Adrian.

Gathering my courage, I stood in front of Adrian’s door. If he told me not to come in today, no matter how much I wanted to, I didn’t think I’d be able to try again next time. So, I just knocked and opened his door without getting permission.

My sudden visit seemed to genuinely startle Adrian, which was a rare sight. Looking at what he was doing, I saw letters on a piece of paper. He quickly tried to hide it, but I had already seen it.

CLAIRE

It was my name.

‘Is that a hit list?’

“I’m sorry, Adrian. I startled you, didn’t I?”

When you meet the Grim Reaper, it’s best to pretend you didn’t see anything. He also pretended not to have been startled and spoke to me.

“Are you just getting back? You’re later than last time.”

Adrian must have known I went to meet the crown prince today.

“Yeah. He wanted to take a walk in the garden today…”

“…Always the same.”

“Huh?”

“Are you going again?”

“Probably? But I’m not sure. I don’t think it’s a good idea to get too close. Oh, right. I brought this.”

I carefully chose a book from the mansion’s library. I wanted to help him find his memories, but the contents were all too gruesome, so I was worried. So I chose a book about the founding of the empire, written in the form of a fairy tale. I carefully walked over to him, gently placed the book down, and turned to leave.

“Adrian, I’ll go now. Good night.”

I still couldn’t get a single reply from him.

***

After that, peaceful days continued for a while. I played with the knights during the day, training at the drill ground, and in the evenings, I read books with Adrian. The fairy tale book about the founding of the empire was also a great help to me.

“Adrian, by any chance…”

Adrian didn’t exactly stop me from coming, but he wasn’t very cooperative with my visits either. Since Adrian’s room wasn’t very big, I couldn’t stay far away, but he usually sat on the edge of the bed looking out the window, and I sat at a small desk, looking at his back.

I felt like it would be easier to talk to a wall, but I didn’t give up and persistently knocked on his door.

“Would you like to try dictation?”

“Dictation? What’s that?”

For the first time in a long while, Adrian reacted to what I said.

“I’ll read a sentence out loud to you, and you’ll write it down.”

Adrian seemed to think for a moment, then walked over to me and sat on the chair across from me. I was so touched by just that, I almost cried. I hurried to get a piece of paper and a pen before he changed his mind.

“All right, number one.”

As Adrian picked up the pen, I started reading the very next sentence from the part I had just finished.

“The first emperor loved Ophelia.”

I could hear the scratching sound of the pen nib.

“Number two, but Ophelia did not love the emperor.”

I wondered what this sudden genre change was, after all the talk of war.

“Number three, so the emperor imprisoned and tormented Ophelia?”

Adrian seemed to have lost the will to write anymore and quietly put down the pen.

“Ahahaha, since it’s the first time, three questions should be enough, right?”

I laughed awkwardly and went to get the answer sheet Adrian had written, but I accidentally knocked over the ink bottle. Fortunately, there was barely any ink left, so it didn’t stain the desk, but as Adrian and I both reached for it at the same time, I unintentionally ended up grabbing his wrist.

But Adrian, whom I expected to push my hand away as soon as I touched him, waited quietly until I realized what had happened and let go.

“Oh! Sorry!”

“Your hand… you have calluses.”

“Oh, I’ve been doing sword training lately…”

At my answer, his expression suddenly soured. As if to prove my thoughts were right, Adrian went back to the bed where he had been sitting and turned his back to me again. I was about to leave the room without saying a proper goodbye to him.

“Claire.”

My heart dropped to the floor at the sudden sound of my name. Had Adrian ever called my name before?

“Yes?”

“Could you finish reading the fairy tale?”

“Now?”

“Yes. I’m curious about the story…”

I yelled ‘of course’ and sat down in the chair at the speed of light. The story of Ophelia and the emperor turned out to be quite sad. Especially when Ophelia finally realized her feelings and went to find the emperor, only to discover that he had already killed himself. I found myself sniffling without even realizing it.

Just then, a plain white handkerchief was held out in front of me.

I looked up at Adrian, surprised, forgetting I was sniffling. But he had already turned his back on me again, as if he hadn’t just brought me a handkerchief.

***

“Miss, Miss. Please wake up. The Count is looking for you, and I have a bad feeling about it.”

Honestly, nothing good ever came from the Count looking for me. And now, the situation was something I could easily guess. Glenn Doherty had gone to the docks to board a ship a few days ago, so he had probably returned to the Count’s mansion by now.

“Did the aide come?”

“Oh? Yes. How did you know?”

“Please help me get ready.”

I intentionally took my time getting ready and walked slowly to the Count’s office. I’m only human, and I didn’t want to be scolded for a misunderstanding.

However, the atmosphere inside the office was a little different from what I had expected.

“Sit down, Claire.”

“Yes.”

“It’s before breakfast, so we’ll skip the tea.”

“…”

“How did you know? No, did you really know in advance?”

“What are you talking about?”

When I looked up at the Count, Glenn Doherty answered for him.

“When I went to the docks to board a ship, all the tickets were already gone. But I waited, hoping to board a ship two days later.”

“Ah… I see.”

“And when I went back to the docks, the captain told me an interesting story.”

“Oh, what…?”

My lips trembled as I tried to pretend I didn’t know.

“He said that if I had taken the ship two days earlier, I would have definitely died. The sea changed so suddenly, he said.”

“Oh, that’s a relief.”

I knew it was useless, but I feigned surprise, even clapping my hands together.

“And then I remembered. That you repeatedly told me to take the land route, not the sea route. And the captain said the same thing. That a young woman with black hair saved me.”

He suddenly knelt down. And I wasn’t the only one surprised by his actions.

“You…”

“Miss, you are my lifesaver. And you might be a genius and more.”

‘Please. Shut your mouth. I’m just a reader of a romance fantasy novel.’

If this world had spirits or divinity, I could base my story on that. Unfortunately, this was a place without even the most common form of magic.

“Ahahaha, it must be a coincidence.”

“But it was you who bought all the tickets for that ship, wasn’t it?”

“That’s true, but I only did it because I had a bad dream, Count!”

“A dream? What kind of dream was it?”

“Well, you see… Yes! It was a dream that the aide would fall into the sea and die if he took the ship.”

I ignored Glenn’s gaze and urgently shouted at the Count. I thought he wouldn’t believe such a direct dream, but at this point, it was the only way. But unbelievably, the Count nodded his head.

‘What? He’s agreeing again? Is this why this novel is a romance fantasy?’

Just then, the head butler knocked on the door and entered, handing a letter to the Count. The Count read the letter for a long time, then looked at me and Glenn, who was still kneeling.

“The person seen in the Eastern Continent wasn’t Celine after all. An Eastern Continent merchant has confirmed it.”

“Don’t worry, Count.”

At that moment, I saw the Count’s truly disappointed face. Yes, the Count was a man who had lost a daughter he loved dearly. His heart must be completely blackened with grief. So, I decided to sell another dream I hadn’t had. It didn’t cost a thing.

“Um… Count?”

The Count looked at me listlessly.

“I had another dream.”

“A dream?”

“Yes, I didn’t want to unnecessarily upset you, so I haven’t mentioned it before, but in my dream, I saw my sister.”

“Celine?”

“Yes, she was in a cottage, and an old couple was taking care of her. She was smiling so brightly.”

“I… see… Is that so?”

Seeing the Count who looked like he was about to burst into tears, I felt a real pang of guilt, but this was partly true. I knew the general plot of the novel.

***

Time passed faithfully, and it was now the end of autumn. There had been no further progress with Adrian since then. I didn’t think we could easily become friends after I had tormented him for so long, but I was a little tired.

“Miss, why are you in bed today?”

Hailey, who was softer-spoken than Sally, came into the room to wake me up.

“My body feels a little heavy today.”

“I’ll tell them to prepare a soft breakfast for you.”

“Okay. Thanks. Oh, Hailey!”

“Yes?”

“I’m so glad you’re back.”

“…Me too.”

I lazed around all morning, but my condition didn’t improve. However, it was almost impossible for me to let a day pass by without doing anything.

I was eating lunch and thinking about the next item for my Adrian strategy.

“Are you all right?”

Glenn, who had asked to have lunch with me, looked at me with concern.

“What?”

“You look a little tired.”

As I looked at Glenn’s concerned face, I remembered his background mentioned in the novel.

Glenn was the second son of a viscount family. The Quinze-Nouais Empire recognized only five noble titles as hereditary: Duke, Marquis, Count, Viscount, and Baron. A viscount title wasn’t considered a high rank, but since only about 30% of the nobility in this empire held a title, Glenn Doherty was undoubtedly a promising young man.

“I think I was wrong to ask you to lunch. You should go and rest.”

“Oh, yes…”

However, second sons who couldn’t inherit the head of the family’s title often became aides to count or duke families, with the dream of later passing the imperial exam to enter the royal court. In many cases, they would remain as aides to their own families or live and die as nobles without doing anything.

I couldn’t imagine what this person would become in the Quinze-Nouais Empire at this point. And I also couldn’t imagine that I would become his greatest inspiration.

“I plan to visit the St. Vincent Orphanage in a few days.”

“Oh? In that case, I’ll go with you.”

“Would you?”

“Of course. I’ll see you then.”