TVIOWHFW 88

Carlos’s golden eyes were truly burning with sincere desperation. No matter how clueless someone might be, they would have to notice his intense feelings, and that made me even more flustered.

“Why is this happening?”

When I last met the Crown Prince, I wasn’t this desperate.

“Nothing special happened in between.”

Even though I had become the Duchess of Blanchet, the fact that I needed Carlos, who was once so proud and arrogant, was unbelievable.

“That’s just impossible.”

“You’re saying I’m needed?”

“Yes.”

“Why on earth?”

As my confusion eased a little, genuine curiosity took hold.

“Wasn’t I the person you didn’t need?”

“That… ”

“Please, just let go of my hand. It’s unpleasant.”

My irritated words caused Carlos’s golden eyes to flicker.

“You’re saying I’m unpleasant?”

Carlos bit his lip and looked as if he was pondering what I had just said.

“Suddenly showing up and doing this—wouldn’t that be unpleasant? We didn’t exactly part on good terms.”

“Why is that?”

Carlos tightened his grip on my arm and asked.

“Why do you think we ended things?”

“Shouldn’t it have ended?”

If Liandro and I hadn’t even built a proper relationship, then the Crown Prince thought we had some kind of connection, and I was just misinterpreting it.

“Well, we weren’t even at the point of ending anything.”

“…Wasn’t it love that he had for me?”

A strange tenderness flickered in Carlos’s eyes as he looked at me.

“I still keep that last letter you sent me.”

“…”

“Isn’t that letter your true feelings? You said only I could save you from hell.”

At that moment, I felt as if my heart had stopped.

Carlos and I exchanged quite a few letters. I don’t remember every detail of what we wrote, but I could never forget that last letter, that one letter in particular.

“Your Majesty.”

I asked with a light smile.

“Did you read my letter back then?”

“Yes. I read everything.”

The Crown Prince brushed his hair back with his other hand, not holding mine, and said.

“I always read the letters you sent.”

“You never even properly replied.”

“That’s because I just couldn’t think of a proper response.”

A strange anticipation appeared on the Crown Prince’s decadent face. He seemed to believe that if I told him my story, something would change.

“So, what are you going to do about it?”

I roughly shook off the Crown Prince’s hand.

‘Ouch!’

It hurt so much, it felt like my arm might come off from the force.

‘Why is my body so weak!’

But I didn’t want to appear fragile in front of the Crown Prince, so I looked at him with icy eyes.

“When have I ever asked about Your Excellency’s circumstances?”

No matter what expression I wore, I couldn’t threaten him. Still, I responded as sincerely as possible, with a hint of sarcasm.

“If you remember the contents of that last letter, then you should understand better than anyone why I’m doing this.”

“…”

“Now, what’s the point of letters and explanations? It’s all useless now, isn’t it?”

That last letter was written when I was imprisoned in Libertan. It was a desperate plea, a token of hope, begging the Crown Prince to save me, refusing to give up hope in him.

Unknowingly, a buried memory resurfaced.

~·~·*· . ·*· . ·*· . ·*·~·~

It was around the time I remembered the original story.

Back then, I was extremely anxious. I did everything I could to escape Libertan, but nothing worked.

Yet, the fall of Libertan was imminent. I desperately wanted to avoid marrying John.

‘There’s really no way left now.’

So I held onto the slight hope I had in the Crown Prince, who had shown me some kindness.

‘…I don’t know if the Crown Prince will actually save me.’

From the very first meeting, he openly disliked me and looked down on me as “base blood,” and he often made me do errands under the pretext of an apology.

But even then, the Crown Prince sometimes did strange things.

“Why is this base blood here? Because I called for it.”

“If I want, even someone with such base blood can rise to a noble position. So even if I ignore you, someone like you can’t just do as you please.”

“Why do you act so arrogantly, when you’re not even the Crown Prince?”

Sometimes he protected me from people who hated me, and he even sweetly called me his future Crown Princess.

“Do you want to become the Crown Princess too?”

We exchanged letters frequently and felt like we shared some unspoken understanding.

“Yeah, if you’re going to dream, then dream big—aim for the Crown Princess position. Wouldn’t that be less miserable?”

“If you try a little harder, maybe you could make that dream come true.”

But that was just my delusion.

One day, the Crown Prince who called me was fooling around with another noble lady and greeted me coldly.

“Wait, your turn isn’t here yet.”

The Crown Prince always needed a new toy, and at that moment, I was the most fresh and interesting one.

Still, the only person I could rely on now was the Crown Prince.

I sent him my final letter, putting aside all my despair, asking for salvation.

[Your Majesty.]

I wrote, with a light smile.

[You probably won’t believe me, but the fall of Libertan is imminent. If things continue like this, I might die.]

[If you’ve felt even a little sympathy while exchanging letters with me, please show some kindness.]

[Please, save me.]

Even I thought that letter was pathetic.

But at that time, I believed the Crown Prince was my last hope. So I kept waiting for his reply. But as if stomping on my hopes, no response came.

‘Ah, I was so stupid again.’

That’s how I managed to organize everything that had happened between the Crown Prince and me. And I decided to come up with a new plan to survive.

~·~·*· . ·*· . ·*· . ·*·~·~

That was everything.

It was amusing to see the Crown Prince making a pained face without understanding the topic.

‘Liandro and the Crown Prince are both really strange.’

I hadn’t changed much, but they acted as if I had become a precious jewel that I simply had to possess, acting as if I was incredibly different from before.

“Yes, it was my mistake not to save you. I thought I could live without you. I thought you were just one of the many women you brushed past.”

“Isn’t that true?”

“No.”

Carlos replied in a hoarse voice.

“No woman could fill the moment I spent with you.”

“Excuse me?”

“Seeing your face now, it’s clear. I thought you were insignificant, but now I realize you’re someone I absolutely cannot let go.”

Tears welled up in Carlos’s eyes as his eyes reddened. That Crown Prince, he was even crying while looking at me.

“Even if you blame me for being late, I can’t help it. I need you.”

“I don’t need you, Your Majesty.”

I looked around, searching for a way to escape. Now that I looked more carefully, the unusual surroundings caught my eye. There was a huge magic circle beneath the Crown Prince’s feet.

‘A magic circle?’

It was etched into the stone floor, spreading across the entire ground. The strange thing was, blood was flowing through the lines of the magic circle.

‘That blood…’

Surprisingly, the source of the blood was the Crown Prince himself.

Although I didn’t notice due to his strange behavior, before I arrived, it seemed he had been injuring himself to pour blood into the magic circle.

‘What on earth is this place?’

Even now, blood was flowing from the Crown Prince’s body.

“Really, you don’t need my help?”

Carlos focused solely on me, as if it wasn’t difficult at all.

“Don’t you see? Your infamous reputation as a wicked woman hasn’t changed.”

Carlos’s voice became subtly thinner, full of sly temptation.

“Duque of Blanchet cannot grant all your wishes. But if you come from a country with great influence in the social world, it’s possible.”

“…”

“I might even move to save the Libertan ducal family. Get them out of prison again. That’s a wish the Duke of Blanchet would never grant.”

“You’re talking absolute nonsense…”

Suddenly, Carlos, who had been lost in admiration, widened his eyes in surprise at my words.

“I’m sorry, but my relationship with you is over. If that’s hard to understand, I’ll put it more plainly.”

It seemed Carlos thought I loved him. I had tried my best to meet his expectations, just as he wanted, to the extent that I even concealed my own feelings.

“But after meeting John, I realize…”

I never loved Carlos. I only thought he was my only salvation, and I even lied to myself about my feelings to make myself look good in his eyes.

“The person you knew as me is dead.”

Carlos’s proud face crumbled as if it was falling apart.

“Why did you…?”

Kiiing—

An eerie sound echoed through the entire cave, stabbing painfully. Shocked, Carlos, who was listening with a stunned expression, staggered.

‘The atmosphere is turning strange.’

An ominous energy was spreading from the magic circle.

‘W-what is that?’

Carlos leaned his back against the floor.

“Fae.”

His golden eyes turned a deep purple.

“So, the last fairy, you were here.”

A black aura coiled and rose over the cave wall where Carlos was leaning. It transformed into an image—a creature of chaos assembled haphazardly, a monstrous figure.

That’s not the Crown Prince.

A chilling shiver ran down my spine, and I didn’t look back—I started running.

“I want that sacrifice.”

Shadowy figures seemed to dance as they climbed the cave wall.

“Offer me the last victim.”

Fortunately, I started a bit faster, weaving around the monster-like shadows to escape through the corner of the cave.

‘But if I keep going like this, I won’t last long.’

I had to find a way out now.

My breathing grew more ragged. The shadowy hand emerging from the ceiling reached toward me.

At that moment, an unexpectedly low voice whispered in my ear.

“Estelle?”

Just as the shadow hand was about to grab me,

“Why are you here?”

John suddenly appeared in front of me and shattered the shadow. I widened my eyes and looked at John.

“John, how…?”

“You said you were going to the temple today. And where did you put the bracelet I gave you?”

John’s sharp eyes flicked over my wrist, which was red and swollen.

“What happened to you?”

Thud! Thud! Thud!

A loud, heavy footstep sounded behind us. John, frowning briefly, pulled me into his arms and pushed me inside the cave.

‘We’re hitting something!’

I had braced myself for impact, closing my eyes, but when nothing happened, I opened them, bewildered.

‘There’s a space inside the cave like this?’

It looked like a solid wall of the cave, but it was a disguised barrier that concealed a space—just enough for two people to hide.

John pressed his finger to my lips.

“Shh, be quiet.”

Outside our hiding spot, the monster’s footsteps grew distant. I followed John’s lead and finally calmed my breathing.

‘But why is John here?’

Just as I had said I was going to the temple today, John said he was going to the palace today.

~·~·*· . ·*· . ·*· . ·*·~·~

Erich spoke coldly.

“What do we do now?”

Erich looked at the cardinals and priests, growling warningly.

“If Lady doesn’t wake up, your lord will never forgive this kingdom.”

~·~·*· . ·**##^^##**· . ·*·~·~

Hey there, It’s Green Rose 😉

Since I human I might have make some mistakes while translating so please if you find them let me know here in the comments or in the Discord group so I can correct them and be careful in the future so they do not repeat.

Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

~~~Next Chapter~~~

Next chapter will be released Tomorrow.

See you then!!