Chapter 155
A real madman.
Cheshire gazed at Itar with eyes full of curses.
But Itar didn’t care.
To put it precisely, he seemed not to notice at all.
‘To still be like this after being locked up in the heresy interrogation room.’
His mental re-education was clearly incomplete.
“Hahaha!”
Itar burst into hearty laughter, then grinned and asked.
“But you’ve changed a lot in appearance, haven’t you?”
Cheshire, dangling in the air, faced him directly.
Itar narrowed his eyes slyly and scanned Cheshire from head to toe.
“From a baby to a child. And peculiar clothes too. As expected of a fairy’s daughter….”
He even shook her gently as he said it.
Cheshire rattled along with the rabbit doll.
“Brother!”
Unable to bear it any longer, Aran jumped up from her seat.
She slammed her small hand on the table with a bang and glared fiercely at Itar.
“Put Cheshire down.”
“Up we go.”
Itar smiled broadly and set Cheshire down on the floor.
Aran quickly snatched Cheshire’s hand and hid her behind herself.
“She’s my guest, so don’t handle her carelessly.”
Even under his little sister’s glaring stare, Itar was too busy laughing.
As Aran pulled Cheshire away, she said.
“I’ll go change her clothes first. We can talk later.”
Then Itar leaned against the table and winked at Cheshire.
“You’re not sneaking out the back door again, are you?”
Cheshire, who had a history of ditching Itar before, flinched inwardly.
But outwardly, she feigned ignorance, widening her eyes roundly.
“Back door?”
She asked curiously while hugging the rabbit doll, and Itar pressed the back of his hand to his mouth for a moment.
In a voice that seemed drawn from deep in his belly, he murmured.
“So cute….”
While Itar was swooning, Cheshire swiftly escaped with Aran.
“Sigh, really.”
Aran stomped her feet as she held Cheshire’s hand and headed to the dressing room.
“Since we’re similar in size, let’s put you in my clothes for now.”
Aran dismissed the maids and began personally selecting outfits she liked.
Cheshire’s current attire did stand out too much.
‘I look like a fairy popped out from some strange land all by myself.’
It would be better to wear Skaya Kingdom’s clothes.
Aran pulled out several outfits, muttering to herself.
“This would suit you, and that one looks great too….”
Something casual would do, but she was getting increasingly serious.
She only stopped after pulling out about ten outfits.
Holding a light, breezy pair of pants and a skirt, one in each hand, and pondering deeply, Cheshire reminded her of their interrupted conversation.
“But why are relations bad with His Highness the Crown Prince?”
“…Ah.”
Aran, who had been absorbed in choosing clothes and forgotten the main topic, turned back to Cheshire.
“My brother… found out you’re the witch’s daughter.”
Having picked up the information from somewhere, Itar immediately tried to reach out to the fake father Kierne had set up.
Naturally, he was caught by Kierne right away and received a warning.
It would have been good if it ended there.
Later, when a request came to the kingdom to cooperate in searching for ‘Cheshire Basilian.’
In front of the third son of the Basilian family who had come in person, Itar spouted idiotic words he shouldn’t have.
“Ah, of course we should cooperate.”
“But if we find Cheshire Basilian, can I adopt her? Since I’m going to marry the witch, you see.”
“It would be better for the child’s emotional well-being to form a complete family.”
Itar’s remarks were relayed in full by Isuel.
Kierne wasn’t one to sit quietly after hearing such nonsense.
He began pressuring Skaya Kingdom using every method available.
And today, Samid had come with at least a bit of good news.
News that they might secure permission to attend the upcoming birthday banquet of the Palen Empire’s Emperor.
Of course, nothing was set in stone, and even if they went to the empire, they might be turned away at the border.
But Skaya Kingdom was in a position where they had to cling to even uncertain, faint possibilities.
“My brother still hasn’t given up on his intention to marry the witch.”
As Cheshire changed clothes with Aran’s help, she fell into deep thought.
The situation was tricky in many ways.
For one, her power had drastically diminished, leaving her able only to perform minor tricks.
Long-distance travel was out of the question, so she had planned to return to the Basilian family with Aran’s help.
‘But since relations are completely soured, I can’t make contact under the Skaya royal family’s name.’
And she couldn’t ask to contact Hailon either.
He was a rebel of the Holy Empire.
If the Skaya royal family attempted contact with Hailon’s side, they would be lumped in as fellow rebels.
She couldn’t ask Aran to do something so dangerous….
‘In conclusion, there’s nothing I can do?’
To find other means of contact, most messages wouldn’t even reach the Basilian County.
With a huge reward on Cheshire, there must have been countless false reports and imposters.
Unless it was from a trustworthy sender, communications would obviously be filtered out at the lower levels.
The best option seemed to be tagging along when the Skaya royal family attended the Palen Emperor’s birthday banquet.
But seeing how Itar was acting now, it didn’t seem like he would let her go, which was the problem.
And that’s why Aran was fretting like this.
After pondering hard, Cheshire reached a conclusion.
‘No choice.’
She’d have to do something a little bad.
Better for Cheshire to commit a well-intentioned misdeed now than for Skaya Kingdom to be destroyed later if caught harboring her.
Having finished changing, Cheshire smiled brightly at Aran.
“Princess.”
For some reason, Aran looked shy as Cheshire held up a finger and proposed.
“Shall I let His Highness the Crown Prince meet the witch?”
An unclear humming scattered through the night air.
The one singing the lullaby in a mess listened to the hallucination brushing his ear and smiled.
“This is a lullaby.”
“I don’t know where I learned the song. I don’t remember the name or anything, but it keeps circling in my head….”
“I’m sure someone sang it to me because they loved me.”
“So, Kierne, I’m singing you a lullaby too.”
“Because I love you.”
Long fingers caressed the silver pocket watch.
Fingertips traced the letters engraved inside the watch lid.
The whispering voice grew louder and clearer.
No longer a distant hallucination, but distinct like a voice speaking right beside him.
Knowing it had reached a dangerous level, Kierne just stayed still.
He wanted to listen just a little longer.
“I want to be with you all day.”
“Me too, Rose.”
“But we can’t…. So this is instead of me. You have to carry it every day?”
“Yes. Every single day.”
“Really?”
“Yeah….”
“But why am I still dead?”
“It hurts too much. It’s agonizing. I miss you. I want to be by your side.”
“Bring me back to life, Kierne!”
She screamed.
For a moment, his head spun, but Kierne didn’t cover his ears.
He didn’t shake his head to dispel the hallucination either.
Knowing Rose would never say such things, he simply listened meekly and replied weakly.
“I’m sorry.”
Perhaps because his response was lukewarm.
This time, the hallucination brought another voice.
“Daddy!”
Kierne slowly smiled.
And while smiling, he spat out curses.
Spewing vulgar profanities like a street thug, his eyes flashed.
“My daughter isn’t dead.”
She was a child who was perfectly alive.
Blood boiled upside down at the attempt to lure him with a hallucination mimicking the dead.
It was while he swung his pitch-black magic sword, indiscriminately slashing the monsters of the Black Forest.
A winged unicorn made of purple magic appeared in the sky.
The unicorn illuminating the Black Forest gently flapped its wings and approached Kierne.
Kierne sighed and placed his hand on it.
“Come back to the capital now, Kierne—enough is enough.”
Kierne indifferently wiped the blood while listening to her message.
“Attend the birthday banquet.”
