TPHRU 52

Chapter 52…

The Resolution of the Mirage Princess.

“Two years ago, on that day… I was right beside you, yet I couldn’t protect you, Felicia. At the very least, I wanted to do something to find out who was behind it.”
Alexis spoke with a face weighed down by guilt, his smile weak and broken.

“Your Highness, Crown Prince Alexis… I don’t know how I could ever apologize enough…”
Christophe and Felicia both stood and began to kneel before Alexis — having dragged even the Crown Prince’s life into the problems of their own family. But Alexis quickly stopped them.

“Please, don’t. Both of you. This is just… my own way of atonement.”
“But still…”
“Then, Felicia — would you call me Alex again? We may no longer be engaged, but you’re still my dear childhood friend.”

When he said the word friend, Alexis’s expression twisted ever so slightly with sorrow.

After their engagement was annulled, Felicia had stopped calling him by his nickname, out of respect for their changed status. She had intended to continue that way, but since Alexis himself now wished it, she decided to oblige. And she knew — the words he wanted to hear now weren’t words of apology.

“Yes. Thank you… Alex.”
At her words, Alexis’s expression softened.
“Thank you, Felicia. I wanted to hear you call me that… just once more.”

Seeing the two of them exchange gentle smiles, Yoan’s face contorted with complicated emotion beneath his mask.
By now, the two of them should have been married. The Crown Prince Alexis was certainly worthy of standing beside Felicia.
And in contrast — he, branded with the fearsome title of the Dread Demon King… If not for the goat skull mask hiding his face, his expression twisted with anguish would have been seen by Felicia.

Clearing his throat, Yoan brought the conversation back on track. What Felicia needed from him now was not his self-pity.
“It seems we’ll be able to prove Yvette’s connection to the Chalcedony Empire. But that alone won’t be enough as evidence.”
“And… we still don’t know anything about my brother,” Felicia murmured, her expression tense.

“Bernard’s death… don’t tell me Yvette had a hand in that too!?” Christophe exclaimed in shock.

Felicia bit her lip and nodded heavily.
“I cannot believe my brother’s death was natural. He’d been perfectly healthy until then — and yet he died within just a few days. It was clearly… abnormal.”

Yoan nodded in agreement.
“Our investigation shows that the noble in question obtained a slow-acting poison several years ago — right before Bernard’s death. The symptoms you described match precisely with those caused by that poison.”

Christophe went pale and slumped forward, utterly stunned.