Chapter 25
Translator: wuttisyun
“… You have something to say to me?”
Just as I expected, he was not an easy opponent to take down. He soon regained his composure and sharpness.
However, all he did was fix his slouching back. He fixed his expressions as well but I could tell he was shocked.
He had tried to calm himself down but all that did was reveal how unnerved he was. But I still had no idea what the reason behind his shock was. Was he shocked because of my identity or because of my shameful wound?
“Yes, I do perhaps have something to say.”
I laughed sadly.
“I could be asking for a favor.”
His cloudy green eyes scanned me from top to bottom.
“A favour you say…”
“Yes.”
He looked like a crouching beast on high alert. At the same time, there was a feeling of curiosity that he could not hide and a sense of confusion stemming from this situation he had never expected to occur.
“Tell me about it.”
If I had looked into a mirror then, I would have seen a blue glow in my eyes. I would have looked like a castaway looking at her only rope for survival. At this moment, the urgency of my situation had no effects on my sincerity.
“… Brother, do you understand the fear of dying suddenly one day?”
In astonishment, Amor’s eyes widened. Before he could speak, I quickly cut him off and spoke first.
“I’m going to die in 3 days.”
Confronting my dark future, I took a step forward into somewhere I cannot turn my back against.
“Nonsense.”
“It’s the truth.”
The opportunity has finally arised. The path to my oasis had opened up.
“I’m going to die.”
Please save me. Give me an answer. These days I had been feeling like a ship trapped in a storm.
Please help me end my suffering. My cheeks began to glow red with the heat.
“The Crown Prince, my first brother, will kill me.”
In the 13 years since I had been reincarnated, all the men I had seen here were handsome. Fleon and Dane were needless to say good-looking but even Sir Ray was not bad looking himself.
“So my brother is going to kill you.”
By the way, what was going on with the Crown Prince and the Duke from the other day? Since I had been living in a palace filled with only women, it would be natural for me to ogle at the very few men I encountered but all the men I had seen so far were handsome. Perhaps the only exception would be the old teacher that teaches me?
I have been blessed to have all the men surrounding me to be good-looking because that never happened in my previous life. All the men I had in that life were old men with bulging bellies, my thin manager who reminded me of the anchovies that I would eat for breakfast and a colleague that packed pimples that looked like craters on his face exuding testosterone.
“Is Castor the one who is going to kill you?”
“Yes.”
I feel bad for comparing them but the 4th Prince is much more handsome.
He might have been speaking sharply but if I looked closer, I could see how there was barely any flesh on his nose and chin and how his complexion was pale. He looked weak.
If I had not been in such an urgent situation, I would have tried to do something to help this handsome man.
“Sigh… Haha.”
On such a relaxing and sunny day, we should have been talking about our ideal types over a cup of tea. Now, we were discussing whether or not I will die immediately the day after tomorrow.
Brothers who loved the same woman. I have read <The Light of Rusbella> but the relationship between Amor and the Crown Prince was very mysterious. They did not hate each other nor did they love each other. It was like a cup of black water mixed with a cup of white making the two colours indistinguishable. The relationship between the two was in that gray zone. It looks simple but can be very difficult.
“Where is your proof?”
This was definitely not what I was expecting. The atmosphere surrounding us turned a lot more brutal. Seeing how he was so flustered after I brought up the ‘Crown Prince’, I could tell that he was a very important existence to Amor.
“I have no proof.”
I could not just tell him that my diary stated that I was going to die.
“But.”
I stared at him straight in the eyes before narrowing them.
“If you could just listen to the words I said, you will have no choice but to believe me, Brother.”
I then listed all of the Crown Prince’s misdeeds that should have happened by this point.
“He was responsible for the sudden death of the Senate’s Chief of Justice when he was only 16.”
This was not the best way to go around this but I had no time. I could die two days from now.
“What else can we talk about? What about the time he cut off the tongue of the envoy who came from the West?”
But he gave an unexpected reaction. He began laughing by himself. The Amor that wanted to kick me out like he was Nolbu was now listening to my story quietly[1]? The sickly Prince just made a mistake in his own room. He expressed how he truly felt for the Crown Prince.
‘You should’ve hidden it well.’
Whatever this child was saying, he was listening to it well. He should not have given me a chance to speak at all.
“Oh yeah, he had also pulled out the envoy’s eyes.”
When I began talking about how the Crown Prince had pulled out the eyes and tongue of the envoy who came from the West 5 years ago, Amor’s face was quite a sight to see.
‘He seems just as surprised as he is shocked.’
As far as I know, the Crown Prince had cut the necks of anyone who saw what happened that day so that no word would spread and no one would know what happened. This was with the exception of the Duke who was also one of Amor’s closest allies.
“Ha. Hahaha.”
After I finished talking, Amor laughed.
“That’s right, of course. Indeed, it must have been very shocking.”
Amor swept his face down with his hand before raising his head languidly.
“Alright, my brother is trying to kill you… Did he do something against you or did you dream another dream? Let’s hear it.”
Seeing the Prince smile so sweetly, I thought that I had found myself stuck in a very complicated maze. A maze in which I might get lost forever if I took one wrong step. My anxiety helped to save me from any accident that might occur.
Was this the right direction to go? I thought I might be trying to defeat a mid-level boss but I was getting goosebumps realising that Amor might be a bigger fish that I expected.
“… Why would my brother try to find and kill you?”
The moment Amor asked softly a feeling I have never experienced since I was born arose in me.
“Uhm.”
It was a feeling that was a mixture of both fear and confusion. Considering the questions he was throwing at me, I did not want to push him any further but my life was currently like a flame burning on a candle facing the wind.
“Tell me now.”
The cloudy green eyes glared at me. I looked down at the marble floor. His glare was so intense that I felt like I was being estranged with fear.
“How dare you? You must have been prepared to cause such a disturbance using the name of the Crown Prince.”
If I avoid him here, I won’t just die. Let’s relax. Acting like a clumsy young kid who knows nothing better would no longer work on him.
“No.”
I raised my head, pressing the groan that threatened to surface down my throat and held it in.
“Are you threatening me right now?”
I smiled.
Our presences clashed in the air. In the brief silence in which no sounds came from the both of us, Amor gave a bitter smile.
“Is it worth the threat?”
Amor plastered an unparalleled expression of harshness on his face.
“Yes. I haven’t even brought up the secret I’ve been keeping for a long time now, you know? If you stare at me like that, how can I possibly tell you?”
A cold silence befell the room leaving only the sounds of our breaths as the two of us continued to face each other. When I shifted my gaze to the plants lining the walls to avoid Amor’s, I could see the plants rustling as if they were moving in beat to Amor’s breath.
“You said that you came to deliver the message of the 8th Imperial Child. State your business. There’s a limit to my patience ‘Anna’.”
The silence was broken unexpectedly easily.
“I told you it’s Ashley and not Anna.”
“I was just accepting what you said the other day, Anna.”
For some reason, as I continued to stare at him, I felt cold.
“So, are you going to kill me?”
“Kill you?”
If I were to give up so easily, I would not have been able to come this far.
“Yes. All of you, you’ve been watching haven’t you?”
I closed my eyes before opening them again. At this moment, Ashley the Imperial Princess will not back down. If I had not showed up, how would she have lived? She would have faded from this place faster than she came.
The situation was becoming increasingly urgent though it was a real shame that the number of facts I have to bring up was more than what I planned. The Crown Prince, Amor and me. This group of siblings are far worse than that of others.
“You are your brother’s eyes, ears, hands and feet.”
There was so much that I already knew from reading the novel. In other words, the information I had to convince Amor was immeasurable. Anything I use could work. For example, I knew what he wanted to hide the most.
I decided to stop trying to measure what I had at hand and make my move.
“You already knew I was going to die.”
What a pitiful boy. He was the one with the most weaknesses but he himself did not know it.
“Since you were the one who sent me on the path to meet the Crown Prince.”
21-year-old Amor was very good at controlling his emotions. Was it what you get after enduring a long-term illness? His patience could last long enough to be able to smile at the woman he loved on the last day he would ever get to see her. I remember admiring him for that.
“Using that ability of yours.”
Unlike how he was written in the book, the boy was tough, spiteful and glared at me all the time.
“You were planning on watching me die.”
He wanted me to die in the hands of the Crown Prince. Die in the Holy Land. The Prince continued to stare at me calmly. The way he carried himself reminded me of the person I thought I knew.
“The fact that my brother left yesterday. The fact that I met with the Crown Prince. The fact that I used the powers of the Holy Land where just by touching on its powers I would have been swept away and killed.
“…..”
Just when I finished telling my story, I felt something prickling at my back. It felt like if I did not remain vigilant, my words would come back and bite me.
“So you knew everything.”
“Do you know how I knew?”
I laughed as the corner of my lips pulled up.
“Because I saw it.”
For a moment, the annoyance in Amor’s eyes disappeared and in its place was awe and surprise. Soon though, his eyes narrowed. So far, my voice when I addressed Amor had remained monotonous.
“… How did you find out again?”
But I decided to break it off and replied playfully.
“See, I told you that you won’t believe me.”
My eyes widened before I snorted in front of him. This was all to provoke Amor. His beautiful face crumpled.
Clang.
Suddenly, a pot fell. For the first time, Amor frowned as he looked at me disapprovingly. His forehead wrinkled thinly as his lips drew a thin line. He had reached the limits of his patience and could not stand it anymore so he began to shout.
“Ha, how dare you try to poke fun at me when you’re the one visiting my room!?”
The flowerpots that had been neatly arranged behind him shook slightly. He must have been really pissed. I quickly noticed it and got my act together.
“You’re a templar, brother.”
I gave a look that seemed to say ‘So what?’. This truly warms my heart. The fact that the sickly 4th Prince has no choice but to lie in bed all day was something that everyone from the clerics to his maids knew.
“Yes, this is a fact that everybody knows but what about this?”
Then, I wiped off the gentle smile I had been wearing on my face.
T/N:
[1]: Korean folktale. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heungbu_and_Nolbu#:~:text=Heungbu%20and%20Nolbu%20were%20brothers,half%20for%20each%20of%20them.&text=Heungbu%20chased%20the%20snake%20away%20and%20treated%20the%20swallow’s%20broken%20leg.
Ahhh sorry this was so late my comp was not cooperating n i cldnt access my google drive thru my phone bc i forgot to sync it n i forgot my pw well done me. Anws its back up now thanks so much for ur patience!
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