Chapter : 02
Leticia thought that the Herta Imperial family didnât make much effort to make a commoner orphan look like a prince. She came to this conclusion while directly experiencing the imperial education.
Even the teacher in front of her was half-hearted about Leticiaâs education.
âYouâve memorized everything we learned yesterday, right? Letâs move on to the next lesson.â
It was perhaps natural that the older woman who had come to the prison with the Emperor took charge of Leticiaâs education, as few people needed to know of her existence.
Moreover, this middle-aged thin woman controlled not only Leticiaâs education but everything else under the pretext of being the real Prince Sionâs nanny.
Leticia thought that the Herta Imperial family didnât make much effort to make a commoner orphan look like a prince. She came to this conclusion while directly experiencing the imperial education.
Even the teacher in front of her was half-hearted about Leticiaâs education.
âYouâve memorized everything we learned yesterday, right? Letâs move on to the next lesson.â
It was perhaps natural that the older woman who had come to the prison with the Emperor took charge of Leticiaâs education, as few people needed to know of her existence.
Moreover, this middle-aged thin woman controlled not only Leticiaâs education but everything else under the pretext of being the real Prince Sionâs nanny.
Everything from eating, dressing, to sleeping.
Thanks to this, Leticia was half-imprisoned in Prince Sionâs palace. She couldnât go outside, and the only visitor was Emma, this woman who educated Leticia.
Due to Emma, who didnât even allow cleaning servants to enter, dust was piling up in the room that used to be clean.
âMemorize this by tomorrow.â
Emma turned away after placing a thick book and a few pieces of fruit on the dusty table.
Leticia just nodded. She was too hungry to even speak.
ââŚâŚâ
Despite being in charge of education, Emma didnât stay long with Leticia. She would come once every day or two, throw some food and books, and leave.
Even that food consisted of things like fruits or cookies, seemingly bringing whatever was placed in the outer drawing room.
From what she said, it seemed she spent most of her time with the real Prince Sion.
âI guess she wants to spend more time with Prince Sion before going to the Grand Duchy of Basilinte.â
Emma was scheduled to go to the Basilinte territory with Leticia as her nanny.
Leticia would die soon anyway, so they wouldnât be apart for long, but Emma was making such a fuss.
âIs it because heâs a precious prince?â
Looking at the fruits that would probably be her only food for today, or at most until tomorrow, Leticia vaguely realized.
Perhaps it wasnât the imperial family starving her, but Emma.
The contemptuous look from the first day, saying how could this thing imitate our prince, had gotten worse over time.
âItâs not like a person will shrink from starving. Theyâll just look more like a beggar.â
As someone with experience living as a beggar, Leticia thought that plump cheeks were more characteristic of a prince, but Emma wouldnât listen to her.
âAnd Iâm too hungry to even speakâŚ.â
Leticia reached for the water bottle to at least fill her stomach with water.
Of course, if they werenât given proper food, they wouldnât give proper water either. The rainwater she had collected in the bottle three days ago was dirty.
Leticia glanced around the empty room, then slipped her hand into the water bottle.
The moment her index finger touched the waterâs surface the dirty water began to clear from her fingertip. Like magic.
Leticia looked at her face reflected in the purified water.
Short blonde hair, purple eyes, gaunt cheeks.
Except for being thin, it was the same face as before. No different from before the big fire that devoured the theater that was Leticiaâs home.
During the great fire of the Borba theater troupe, Leticia thought she would die too.
No matter how much water her brothers and sisters poured on Leticia, she was right behind the stage where the fire broke out.
âGet out, Leti!â
âRun!â
âGo quickly, hurryâŚâŚâ
The fire took over the theater in an instant, and despite her siblingsâ efforts, she fainted without even leaving the stage.
And when she woke up, she had become a death row inmate in prison.
âIâm not the culprit.â
The reason she could survive at the center of that fire wasnât because she was the culprit. It was because of the water droplets her siblings had desperately poured on her.
Even in prison, the water that kept her body damp dried up and disappeared as soon as she felt cold.
Thatâs when Leticia realized she had developed a strange talent related to water.
Though its only use was to make dirty water clean.
âIf itâs not me, who could be the culprit?â
Was it just an accident where coincidences overlapped, or was there really an arsonist?
Even though she would soon leave the empire to die, she was very curious about it.
Why did her brothers and sisters die? Why did such good people have to die in the fire? Why did her brothers and sisters have to die instead of her?
Having thought that far, Leticia sneered at her reflection in the water bottle.
âWhat are you curious about when you canât do anything, you fool. Just die quietly.â
After all, all that was left for Leticia was her final performance which would end with her death.
The setting was a far-off barren land. Her co-star was the Grand Duke of Basilinte, called a demon by the people of the empire. Her role was that of a hostage prince who would die as soon as he appeared.
âStill, I should do my best.â
Even if itâs a minor role appearing only once on stage, an actor should do their best.
That was the truth Leticia had learned in the Borba theater troupe.
***
The Grand Duke of Basilinte arrived at the imperial palace to receive the promised hostage.
It was later than expected, but no one expressed displeasure to the Grand Duke about it.
That was because the reason the imperial family was giving up a hostage was due to a major defeat in the border dispute with the Grand Duchy.
What could the losers say to the victor who had come to collect what was essentially a spoil of war?
Trying to act stiffly to maintain pride would only make the imperial family look foolish.
Meanwhile, Ferik, the Grand Duke, merely nodded at the Emperorâs response that he wouldnât show his face, using the excuse of the late hour.
Since there was no need to meet the Emperor anyway, the Grand Duke announced that he would leave immediately with the hostage prince.
Then Yen Laudi, Ferikâs aide, stopped him with an uneasy face.
âCouldnât we take him tomorrow? The prince is only 8 years old, surely we could give him one more dayâŚâŚâ
âIt will disrupt the schedule.â
Yen shook his head at the Grand Dukeâs indifferent reply.
âIsnât it partly our fault for being late?â
âThe empire blocked the main road first.â
âThey say there was a big fire at a theater troupe on the main road, so it couldnât be helped. It wasnât intentionally blocked, and what could we do about an accident? So, just one dayâŚâŚâ
âYen.â
The Grand Duke cut off Yenâs words. At the warning-laced call, Yen quickly responded.
âYes, Your Grace.â
âI donât care if you sympathize with the prince or not, but donât show it.â
In front of the princeâs palace they had arrived at, he quietly added.
âIf you pity him so much, itâs no different from letting him know we have no intention of keeping him alive.â
ââŚâŚYes, Your Grace. Iâll keep that in mind.â
It wasnât as if Ferik enjoyed discussing the death of a child.
Well. In fact, it had been quite a while since he had felt the emotion of âenjoyment.â
While everyone on the continent talked about the cursed land of Basilinte as if it were barren, the truth was that it wasnât just the land of Basilinte that was cursed.
Like the land of Basilinte that was increasingly turning into ruins, the children of the Basilinte family grew more emotionally barren as they grew older.
Not only intense emotions like affection or anger, but even normal empathy didnât function properly.
Thatâs why Ferik needed the prince. The bloodline of the first Emperor of the empire who had cursed Basilinte.
âYouâve arrived, Your Grace. I am Emma Rowan, the princeâs nanny.â
An older woman bowed her head with a stiff face to them as they entered the princeâs palace.
âI will accompany the prince to the Basilinte territoryâŚâŚâ
Ferik interrupted Emmaâs words and asked directly.
âWhere is the prince?â
