The carriage stopped in front of the beautiful palace.
The Imperial Palace geography was hardly known because I had not been coming since the hunting competition.
At best, I knew the way between the imperial palace and the library. Moreover, the imperial palace area was several times larger than the duchy. 'It's not easy to escape anyway...'
Eclise mobilized his men who surrounded me thoroughly to cover me up and move into the palace.
It was empty inside the unfamiliar palace whether it was a lie that the rebels had taken over the palace.
I thought he'd drag me down to a basement or something and lock me up, but it was a spacious and fancy room that I walked through the long hallway.
"Please pull out everything in your pocket."
When he reached the table in the middle of the room, he turned to me and said. The sight of a man standing tall in an antique palace felt quite strange.
I looked at him with unfamiliar eyes and soon put my hand in my pocket and took out the piece. And put it on the table.
'It's earlier than I thought.'
Moreover, I did not have to suffer the roughness of being forcibly taken away by Yvonne, who threatened with hostages, so I did not know if I should be pleased with this.
Even though I put out the piece, he just stared at me. "What?"
I replied crookedly. I opened my mouth.
"Do you want me to poke on my own pockets?" "You could've given me a piece."
I was half-hearted to the man who told me to brush off all my pockets.
Then he tilted his head to his side and murmured to himself as if he were talking to himself. "When I start touching you, I'm not confident I'll just search your pockets."
"Crazy son of a bitch."
I spat out curses and thrust my hand roughly into my pockets.
All that came with were four leftover potion and a shriveled rose flower. Bang! I throwing them down on the table.
"This is all it."
I thought I'd go through it myself again, so I flipped the pockets of the robe and showed them out. "This"
The sight of the man who took them and looked them over suddenly stopped at the withered rose. At the look of his eyes as if asking what it was, I said without showing my feelings.
"It's a relic left by a dead wizard killed by Yvonne's hand."
"Is it preciousitems?"
"Yes. He was the guardian of the orphans she was holding hostage. He was the one who arranged the volunteer work."
"........"
"You brought me here, and I can't help feeling sad."
He was just tied up in the Magic Circle, but I turned a man who was still alive into a dead man in a moment.
'I'm sorry.'
I, who apologized inwardly to Vinter with slight guilt, tried to pretend to be grave.
"In the future, while you slaughter me, I will be trapped here a few more times and feel the misery of today."
"............"
"Are you satisfied now?" Will this work?
I glared at Eclise and held my breath.
-Because this rose bloomed as a reflection of my unconscious mind, it's like a crystal of my magic.
-I gave it to you in case of an emergency, hoping it would help you......
To get rid of the complete Leila, I had no choice but to return the piece. But returning the piece to Yvonne meant that I might end up in danger.
~ Once in an emergency, the defense magic will be activated. But there's a starter. It's......
As a result, he was right. Eclise really took the mirror wand from me. Now that the sword was gone, I had to defend with the shield to escape.
Eclise stood up and stared at the withered rose as if to measure something.
In the carriage, I was impulsively reminded that he would not touch the people around me. To be honest, I didn't have many expectations.
A man who had been brainwashed and turned away, can't be as emotional as he is...
"Get some rest. You look pale."
But my prediction was clearly wrong.
Eclise turned his back, without touching anything except the piece. Not only rose flowers, but even magic potions.
When I saw his back moving away towards the door, I felt strange. "Eclise."
Unknowingly, I opened my mouth and called him. I regretted it right after I called.
I wished he hadn't heard, but the movement towards the doorknob stopped abruptly. I hesitated and struggled to open my mouth.
"You'rebeing brainwashed by Yvonne."
" .......... "
"I can help you. It's not too late now. So, stop it."
If Eclise was sane even now, things were much easier.
Save the hostages, and no one died or got hurt because of the fighting with the rebels.
If he joined forces to remove Yvonne, the final boss, Vinter would not turn the time again and this crazy game won't happen again.
What a neat and beautiful ending. "If you stop."
But it seemed to me that it was my own idea.
The face of Eclise, turning back to me, was as hard as a stone statue. "If I stop now, there's nothing left."
As if to question me, his tone of voice stood sharp.
"At least, I wouldn't want to kill you because I hate you." "Didn't you try to kill me?"
In my answer, he tapped his forehead with his finger. "If you'd used magic then, you wouldn't be here now." Speaking like that, injustice suddenly soared.
'I didn't know what grace that saved him.'
I could have killed enough him while I was tied to the swamps, but I didn't.
It was because of a little responsibility and sympathy for him being brainwashed by Yvonne. I had continued to persuade him now.
"You know it now. Even if you succeed in the rebellion and kill the Crown Prince and gain control of the Empire, I will not love you."
"So, why!"
It was then. The man who was staring at me suddenly shouted out loud. "Why not me?"
"That's"
"I have been sticking to the knights with patience, with all the trouble I had ever gettin' stuck with the knights."
"Eclise."
"I wielded and swung my sword day and night to be the knight for you. There was no day when my hands didn't bleed."
"........."
"Even so, you are so far away, that I can hardly reach you! That's why I got out of slavery by becoming a traitor!"
I only looked with astonishment at Eclise, who was pouring out passion. I thought I'd seen all the new sides of him, but I was mistaken.
"Then why do I deserve to be pushed by you away? Why—!" Thick drops of water dripped down from the gray eyes.
He cried like a helpless child with candy in his hand. I stared at him absentmindedly.
In those days when he spoke, I couldn't afford to look back on how deep his feelings were. I was desperate to survive day by day, and I shuddered at his betrayal.
And now that everything was over. "BecauseI love someone else, not you."
To tell you why there was only one.
At my answer, Eclise flinched and shouted.
"Just lie like you used to. You said all kinds of lines like 'You're the only one, Crown Prince or whatever, you're the most precious' and so on!"
"........"
"You know what? I have been fooled by those remarks, and I might be willing to give up all this shit and die in your hands."
"I don't want to kill you."
I meant it. I wanted to finish everything I was fed up with, and move on.
And I hoped Eclise did it, too. Trapped in anger, frustration, and broken hearts, he was too young and immature.
"Soplease forgive me."
I couldn't wipe away his tears like before. So, I approached him and touched his hand. But. Taak-!
I felt a cold pain. I saw a cold drooping hand. "That's why I'm at this point."
"........"
"Unlike him, I don't make up a bit for the Crown Prince"
When he picked up his glare, he looked at me as if he was disgusted and grated at each and every word.
"I don't need your love. I'll have your outer." ""
"Because from the moment I knew you were using me, I didn't expect to be loved by you." At the end of the remark, he opened the door and went out of the room.
Gwang-! At the end of a wild closing roar, I was left alone in the desolate room.
*. *. *
I was literally locked up in an unknown palace.
When I looked outside the window to explore the escape way, I saw soldiers in armor, standing at regular intervals, surrounded the outside of the palace.
'You son of a bitch. You've got it all prepared out.'
When it was time to eat, neither Eclise nor the Imperial maid, but the soldier brought lunch and dinner. With no appetite, I laid on my bed.
I was exhausted so that it wouldn't be surprising for me to pass out immediately. However, I couldn't sleep because of the magic potion or because of a hopeless situation. I tossed and turned and looked at one of my hands.
Fortunately, the tracking spell that Jean cast in the morning remained the same. 'You must be very worried.'
I disappeared without a word, so how angry he must have been. I felt sorry for Callisto belatedly.
But it was inevitable.
Now that I had to finish here with Yvonne.
'I hope you don't think about coming to save me and just focus on recapturing the palace"
My eyelids slowly became heavy while I was thinking about this and that.
I didn't want to sleep in a strange place, but I couldn't resist the fatigue that came. I closed my eyes for a moment.
kuung,kung-!
The sudden heavy noise startled me and soon my eyes opened.
The view was dark. I thought I closed my eyes for a moment, but I fell asleep without realizing the time went by.
I sat up with surprise.
The room was silent as if all the sounds were just my dream. 'What? Did I hear something wrong?'
It was then. Hung, Hong, kuong-!
A dull noise rang out again as if it were not an illusion.
I glanced through the darkroom with my eyes wide open. kuung,kung-!
The sound grew louder and closer. Thanks to this, I could easily find the source. It was the sound from the fireplace in the middle.
"Wha, What"
Did Yvonne send a monster?
I got up and found something that deserved to be a weapon. The candlestick on the table by the bed touched my hand.
It was about time to hold it tight and stare at the fireplace with nervous eyes. Hong, kuang-!
Suddenly, someone rolled out of the fireplace with ash and dust. "Ugh, fuck."
Black-figure coughed mixed with ash and cursed roughly. It was a very familiar voice.
My hand that had been lifted up to swing the candlestick went down slowly. "Your Highness?"
Callisto, who was coughing at my puzzled voice, raised his head. "How are you, princess?"
"Your Highness, why"
Get out of there?
