Chapter 112 · A Precious Person (1)

Aquila’s eyes changed. If it wasn’t my imagination, she seemed to have begun perceiving me no longer as a child but as an equal human being.

We stared at each other for a long while without blinking once.

“Someone who wants me dead? You mean someone used that prince to attempt an assassination?”

The king broke the silence in surprise.

“Otherwise, there’s no way Leo’s mana would have suddenly rampaged.”

At my words, Aquila quickly retorted.

“Isn’t that too far-fetched? What method could possibly make a perfectly fine person’s mana rampage?”

“We’ll have to find out from now on. It doesn’t seem particularly impossible. You just need to cause an abnormal reaction in the mana inside the body.”

“Our niece is making unreasonable moves to protect that prince.”

“Then why did Sir Parsiel end up like that?”

I raised my arm and pointed at Paeon. He hadn’t moved at all even while we argued noisily.

“No matter how strong Leo’s mana is, he’s still eleven. Could he match Sir Parsiel’s divine power? Couldn’t Sir Parsiel have fully blocked it? So why is he like that…”

My throat tightened and I hesitated, unable to continue.

“Dying, you mean.”

I had to struggle to hold back the tears surging up. Acknowledging with my own mouth that Paeon was dying was unbearably painful.

“That prince is from Kalisa.”

Alter spoke harshly.

“He may have learned some powerful curse from the Demon King that we don’t know about.”

At that moment, Paeon, who had been lying as if dead, groaned. Everyone turned toward him in surprise.

Paeon was suffering, covered in cold sweat. Sierra quickly ran over and wiped his face with a dry towel.

“Can Sir Parsiel truly not improve at all?”

At the king’s question, Belus answered with a dark face.

“Sir Parsiel is showing a strong rejection reaction to divine power, so there is nothing I can do. This is the first time I have seen symptoms like this…”

“How much longer can he hold on?”

Belus hesitated, then answered.

“At most three days… I believe.”

Three days?

The king sighed. The three priestesses also covered their mouths with their hands. But Alter showed no sign of pity. He didn’t seem to feel the need to put on an act.

“He must have used a curse learned from King Pereus. No one but the King of Kalisa could commit such a vile act!”

Hearing Alter’s words, I became certain.

A curse.

He had used a curse. Not Leo, of course, but Alter.

But how? Santra had classified all mental magic and curses as black magic and strictly forbidden them since long ago, and had even obliterated related materials. Where had Alter learned such a curse?

Suddenly, my first life came to mind. Documents about Kalisan magic had been found in my room. That was how I was framed.

Could those documents also have been a joint effort by Aquila and Alter? They weren’t betrothed at the time, but perhaps Aquila received them as payment and later became betrothed to Alter after I died.

‘If Paeon really has been cursed, there’s only one way.’

Leo might know about this kind of curse. I urgently grabbed the king and pleaded earnestly.

“Your Majesty, please let me meet Leo. I have something to ask him.”

At my words, the king’s pupils wavered.

“Absolutely not! That prince will surely try to get out even if it kills him.”

“Your Majesty, it would be better to let our niece rest. She has completely lost her reason.”

When Alter and Aquila raised their voices and strongly opposed, the king eventually shook his head.

“Yes… that won’t do, Anastasia. I cannot let you meet that child.”

“Your Majesty! Just for a moment!”

“Rest for now.”

The king gestured to Belus and turned away.

“There is something we must discuss, so follow me.”

“Wait!”

I grabbed the king as he tried to leave.

“What about Sir Parsiel? Are you going to leave him like this? Without doing anything?”

“It is regrettable, but there is no way, is there? The priests will take good care of him.”

The king said in a bitter voice and left the room with Belus.

“Niece, rest comfortably.”

Alter and Aquila also left.

“…”

I stared blankly at the closed door.

‘The king won’t completely believe Alter’s words. He may have sensed the general situation…’

He probably wants to avoid revealing the truth. Because he fears the aftermath.

‘If it were revealed that Aquila was involved in this, he would have to discard Aquila.’

He still isn’t willing to abandon Aquila for my sake.

‘Even though he abandoned me!’

The accumulated resentment felt like it would explode. In this life too, the king had not fully taken my side.

“Princess, please rest as His Majesty said. We will take care of Sir Parsiel.”

Sierra tried to soothe me in a kind voice, but I lowered my head and muttered.

“Just let me be alone with Papa for a moment…”

“Princess…”

The three priestesses looked at me with pity.

“Please cheer up. We will also find a way to heal Sir Parsiel somehow.”

“Who is Sir Parsiel? He will surely wake up.”

Even in a hopeless situation, they did their best to reassure me.

After everyone left, I quietly approached the bed.

Paeon’s face was pale as a sheet from how much blood he had vomited. Even his lips, which had always been reddish, had no color. Looking at him quietly, I suddenly felt his appearance was very pitiful. I could hardly believe this was the end of the hero who had saved a nation.

He had risked his life fighting for Santra, but what had Santra given him?

A few cheap medals?

Such things are useless. After all, hadn’t he been unable to say anything even when insulted as a lowly slave at the banquet hall? Yes, Tanian had said that to him before. That he was worse than a slave groveling before power.

At the time I thought it was madness, but now it feels true.

He had escaped being a combat slave and become a holy knight, but he was still no different from a slave. Only his owner had changed from a person to the state.

The only action Paeon had ever taken with true free will was loving my mother, Princess Beatrice.

“Hngh…”

Tears burst out. I had held them back, afraid that once I started crying I wouldn’t be able to stop. I buried my face in Paeon’s body and wept uncontrollably.

He was the person I had truly resented to death.

The person who had failed to save me for nine lives.

The person who had turned away from me and tried to run.

The person I could never forgive.

And yet…

Still, my precious person.

It’s truly strange. To resent and love someone at the same time.

Until now, I hadn’t really known what love was, and I couldn’t understand why love made people so irrational.

But look at me now. My head wasn’t working as usual. As if I had truly become a child.

“But the young lady cannot escape her fate! To do so, she will have to sacrifice someone else’s life in her place! The life of someone very precious to her!”

A chilling voice came to my mind, which was a mess of fear and sorrow. It was what the fake gypsy I had met twice had said.

Could that nonsense have been true? Was I ultimately destined to sacrifice Paeon’s life?

I couldn’t breathe. What meaning was there in changing fate that way?

I held his hand, which had slipped out from under the blanket, and whispered.

“Papa, wake up.”

No answer came. I kept calling him even though I knew it was meaningless. Before I knew it, his chest was wet with my tears.

I whispered very quietly. The word I had never once said.

“A-Appa…”

Now that I actually said it, why did it feel so tender? Papa or Appa, it was the same thing. Was it because it was something I could never say normally?

I pressed my hand over his heart and said it again with effort.

“Appa.”

His body flinched.

Startled, I lifted my face, which was covered in tears and snot.

“…Papa?”

Paeon was barely opening his eyes.

“Papa!”

His red eyes had never been so welcome.

“Are you conscious? Do you… do you know who I am?”

He contorted his face, gasped for breath, and barely forced out words.

“Princess.”

Taking advantage of the moment he had regained some consciousness, I urgently explained the situation.

“Papa, they say divine power doesn’t work on you. They don’t know why. It seems to be a curse. Have you had problems with divine power before?”

Paeon couldn’t answer for a long while. It seemed his voice wouldn’t come out properly. Seeing him like that broke my heart.

“A few weeks… ago… there was a problem… When I used divine power, there was pain…”

“Then why did you hide it!”

A problem with divine power was a grave matter for the commander of Veritas. I couldn’t understand why he, who valued responsibility and duty in his own affairs, had concealed something so important.

At that moment, a transparent drop of liquid rolled down from the corner of his eye.

“…!”

Paeon was crying!

I couldn’t believe it and rubbed my eyes hard, but even after looking again, it was definitely tears.

He let out a shallow breath and barely continued.

“Because I wanted to stay by your side, Princess…”

I was so dumbfounded that I couldn’t speak. The man who seemed like he wouldn’t shed a drop of blood even if pricked was crying.

And what he said was even more shocking. So he had been afraid that if his divine power failed and he had to step down from his position as commander, he wouldn’t be able to stay by my side. So he had endured the pain alone for weeks like a fool?

“In that condition, you shouldn’t have taken Leo’s rampage! Why…!”

Paeon had always been wary of Leo and had hated him being near me. He was the son of an enemy; once he saved me, it would have been right not to care whether Leo lived or died.

And yet he saved Leo.

“Because it was your request, Princess…”

For exactly that reason.

In the end, I had driven this man to his death!

The storm of emotions made tears flow endlessly. Paeon looked at me with a pained face.

“Don’t cry… It is my fault for being inadequate.”

He was crying himself. He probably didn’t even realize he was crying.

“When you cry, Princess… I don’t know what to do…”

With those words, he closed his eyes again. The large hand that had briefly held mine fell limply. He seemed to have lost consciousness.

“Papa!”

Fearing his breathing had stopped, I pressed my ear to his chest.

Thump.

Thump thump.

Fortunately, his heart was beating, though very faintly.

‘Anastasia, you need to pull yourself together.’

I wiped my tears roughly and also wiped the tears that had flowed down his face. Then I sprang up. Little by little, my mind returned. My tasks organized themselves in my head.

“Papa, just wait a little.”

This time, I will save my father.