Chapter 74

With hollow eyes that looked like he hadn’t slept in days, Ramande still poured divine power into Minuelle without holding back. Watching him closely, Esadien cautiously asked:

— The knights who found us said they contacted your unit. You didn’t receive it?

“That’s none of your business.”

— …

Ramande, feeling Esadien’s silent gaze, realized he had overreacted. He was so exhausted it took him a few seconds to even register it.

“…I’m sorry.”

— Don’t worry. You should get some rest.

“I can’t do that.”

His eyes remained fixed stubbornly on Minuelle’s pale face, and he knelt beside the bed, holding her hand as if he would never let go.

Esadien also sat down next to him and rested his head on the bed. Instantly, a sharp glare was cast his way.

“Don’t you even think about getting on the bed, you perverted prince.”

— That’s unjust. I wouldn’t dare disturb her sleep.

Of course, the urge to climb up beside her was overwhelming, but Esadien knew better than to say that out loud.

“You, on the other hand… What happened? What the hell tore her up like this?”

Trying to stay awake, Ramande squinted as he asked. Esadien told him everything — how he separated from the group, borrowed the strength of animals, used the spirit’s power to kill Austin, and returned to the castle — all in a voice so low it would sound like growling to anyone but Ramande.

The more he spoke, the more the sleep drained from Ramande’s eyes.

“Minuelle…”

His voice cracked slightly. He wet his chapped lips and spoke again.

“Minuelle gave me the protective charm the High Priest sent for her.”

‘I figured something might happen when we go looking for the spirit stone… Take it. I have Gabbie.’

He had told her no, that he’d be fine. But it was impossible to win against Minuelle’s stubbornness.

‘Something this important should be with someone important.’

‘What are you saying, old man? Who’s more important than you!’

When she said it with such certainty, it truly made him feel like someone precious to her.

‘You’re always going around with the knights. Just in case — don’t take it off, okay?’

He hadn’t been able to push away the hands that tucked it deep into his inner pocket.

“In the end… she was right.”

After Esadien left, the knights split into two groups to resume the search. It wasn’t long before Ramande’s group encountered a suspicious crowd.

They were all draped in deep black robes. Some cast spells from scrolls, others formed sinister signs with twisted fingers.

Hearing that, Esadien bared his teeth.

— So Austin had hidden allies.

“Austin… That Prince…”

Ramande let out a short sigh and lowered his heavy eyelids.

He could still picture the deadly strike that had pierced through the knights’ guard.

Had it not been for the charm Minuelle forced into his hand, he would’ve died then and there.

“I’m grateful to her. But…”

Ramande’s hand trembled as he spoke. Esadien pretended not to see it and quietly turned away.

“But I can’t help wishing she’d kept it for herself.”

If she had, she wouldn’t have been injured or poisoned this badly. Maybe they wouldn’t have even had a chance to drag her out of the carriage.

— Minuelle would say it was enough that you’re safe.

“…I know.”

It was exactly because he knew that it hurt this much.

Ramande stroked her hair with his trembling hand, then gently took a pink strand and pressed it to his lips. A faint line of light traced her now slightly hollow cheeks.

Watching this, Esadien couldn’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy. If only he had hands, lips, a human body — he wouldn’t just sit idly by.

— Priest, why do you never show your feelings to her?

“……”

For a moment, Ramande just sat silently. It looked like he was choosing his words carefully, or maybe he was just about to fall asleep where he sat.

Just as Esadien gave up on an answer and began to doze off, Ramande spoke: “I’m simply trying to be the person Minuelle wants.”

— The person she wants?

“Someone who knows her completely. Who’s seen all sides of her. A dependable friend who’s always there. Someone she can lean on, anytime.”

Esadien didn’t respond immediately.

“Is that strange?”  Ramande gave a faint smile.

— Not strange… but it feels like you’re erasing yourself.

“I’ve never thought of it that way. Especially hearing that from someone who even gave up his humanity just to be near her.”

— …

Esadien snapped his mouth shut hard enough to click.

“The one who saved me, back when I was a street rat dying in a back alley, was Minuelle. She gave me a reason to exist.”

Still, Ramande hadn’t always felt this way about her. He used to resent the idea of her — some pampered noble’s daughter.

Why not just let him die? What was there to live for in a world like this?

That was all he had believed.

But even with her frail body, constantly feverish and sick, Minuelle bustled around with infectious energy.

She laughed, got sick, got mad, and got even sicker. Bit by bit, those memories stacked up — and one day, when he was feeling particularly unwell, she came to find him. Naturally, like she always did.

That’s when he realized: ‘She needs me.’

He was the one keeping this precious girl alive.

For someone who had been discarded at the bottom of society, called worthless, it was a breathtaking realization.

“In the beginning, that’s how it was. But… ten years is a long time.”

Looking back, the sharp-edged feelings he had once held had been worn smooth beside her, like a river-polished stone.

— You once asked me if I could stand to see Minuelle marry someone else.

Ramande gave a small nod. He remembered.

— So now I ask you. Could you bear it?

Ramande let out a long breath.

“You think love is about possession, don’t you?”

— Is that… not normal?

Esadien responded hesitantly. He thought love meant devoting yourself only to one another.

“So Minuelle should have no friends and live only for you?”

— That’s… a bit extreme.

“It is, isn’t it?”

Ramande’s ready acceptance left Esadien speechless.

“Mm…”

Minuelle stirred. Ramande immediately wiped the sweat from her brow and let more divine power flow into her. Once she relaxed again, he continued: “Whoever Minuelle chooses, so long as she’s happy and smiling — that’s enough for me.”

His face as he said it was almost reverent.

“Because, in the end, she always comes back to me. I’m the one she feels most at ease with — even more than her sisters.”

Ramande finally looked up at Esadien and smiled wryly.

“Of course, I’m not so virtuous that I don’t wish she’d love me, and no one else.”

— …Even though you’re a priest.

“Yes. Even though I’m a priest.”

Ramande didn’t hesitate.

“I can take off these robes anytime. That is, if Minuelle wants me to.”

He said it lightly, but to abandon the name of Plendena was no small thing. Especially for someone like Ramande, who wielded divine power like an extension of his own body.

It would be like having his sword taken from him — a loss too great to imagine.

Esadien could only guess at the weight of that.

“There are many kinds of love, Prince.”

And with that, Ramande ended the conversation. He didn’t ask what kind of love Esadien believed in.

***

With Minuelle in a deep sleep for days, the atmosphere at Karnian Castle remained subdued.

Though both Ramande and the physician claimed the poison had mostly been expelled, she only woke briefly from time to time before falling back into slumber.

“Mm…”

Because Esadien was always by her side, he was the first thing she saw whenever she stirred.

Every time her drowsy eyes took in his still-transformed form, she would gently pet his head, and he would respond by licking her cheek. Then she’d close her eyes again with a peaceful expression.

Gabbie didn’t show himself either, huddled inside the fireplace like a proper contracted spirit. They could only guess he was there when the flames turned bluish after they put a branch of Yoshicho as kindling.

Meanwhile, Austin, seemingly unaffected by the somber atmosphere, prepared to return to Roquate.

Even during a private meeting with the Duchess, his arrogance remained intact.

“I must say, Duchess Karnian — I am quite disappointed to be insulted in such a manner. His Majesty will not be pleased, I assure you.”

“Did His Majesty even send you here to propose to my daughter?”

“…”

The Duchess had seen through the Emperor’s ways before. If the Emperor had known — or supported — the proposal, his personal letter would’ve arrived long before Austin did.

Furthermore, while the Karnian family and Minuelle insisted she and Esadien had broken off their engagement, the Emperor still quietly sided with Esadien’s claim that it was not so.

Even if the imperial court tried not to show it, everyone knew Esadien was the Emperor’s greatest weakness.

And now, barely out of hiding, Austin was attempting to propose?

It would only reopen the cracks in the father-son relationship the Emperor had tried to mend.

That was Austin’s fatal flaw — underestimating Esadien, pretending no one else would care.

“We do not wish to create unnecessary conflict, Your Highness.”

“…Ha.”

Austin, flashing a brief dark look, quickly returned to his usual nonchalant smile.

“Surely no one in Preseria desires conflict with House Karnian.”

As soon as the Prince left, a sharp crack echoed from the armrest of the Duchess’s chair — something had snapped clean in half.