~Chapter 89~
“What?”
Albert raised his voice without meaning to. The maid flinched in surprise but continued speaking.
“It is late, but since it’s the news you’ve been waiting for…”
“……”
“Lady Hartmann said that although it isn’t a planned visit, if it’s about treatment, she thought Your Highness would accept. She asked me to tell you that…”
“I understand. Bring her to the reception room and tell her I’ll come down right away.”
Albert quickly pulled a robe over his nightclothes.
His heart was pounding.
Why had Irene come to see him at such a late hour?
When he left his chambers and went down to the reception room, he saw a woman sitting quietly in the dim light.
The woman he had longed to see so much… the one who had quietly entered his heart.
“Irene.”
Irene, who had been sitting with her back straight, turned her head.
When her eyes met Albert’s, she rose to her feet.
“…I greet Your Highness the Crown Prince. It’s been a while, Albert.”
Albert sat across from her. His heart was still racing.
“Why did you come here so late at night?”
“Ah, I asked Fabian to bring me. Since it’s forbidden to use magic tools in the palace unless they’re approved, he dropped me at the entrance, and I walked in.”
“I see…”
The fact that Fabian had brought her bothered Albert a little, but he didn’t linger on it.
“Then… why have you come to me tonight?”
“Treatment. I’ll try it.”
“…What?”
Albert’s mouth fell open.
He couldn’t believe his ears.
He had thought there must be a serious reason for her to come at this hour.
But to really hear her say she would try treatment…
Was it truly Irene who had just said that?
It felt strange. These were the words he had waited for all along, yet hearing them left him dazed.
Albert stared at her blankly. She continued.
“But there’s a condition.”
“…What is it?”
“I don’t want to overdo it. I don’t want to live a life where every day is only for treatment.”
Her voice was firm.
“In the end, the treatment might fail anyway, so I want to enjoy my life, too.”
“……”
“What I mean is…”
Seeing Albert’s eyebrows twitch, she sighed lightly.
“What I mean is, as long as it’s not excessive, I’ll try the treatment you suggested.”
“…Alright. That’s fine.”
Albert nodded.
His reaction was still flat. Irene tilted her head.
“Don’t you wonder why I changed my mind?”
“……”
Albert looked at her. Irene slowly lowered and lifted her eyelids, then spoke again.
“…I heard everything from my parents. About the proposal you made to them.”
“……”
“It seemed like you had thought a lot about how to save me, Albert.”
“…Strictly speaking…”
It had been Fabian’s advice, but Albert hesitated, unsure if he should mention it. He stopped mid-sentence.
At that moment, Irene spoke again, looking straight at him.
“Thank you. For giving me at least a little will to live.”
“……”
“Thanks to you—if I borrow my parents’ words—I want to stay in this world a little longer. Within reason, of course.”
“No… I’m the one who should thank you. Thank you for deciding this, Irene.”
Wanting to save Irene was, in the end, Albert’s own selfish desire.
To forgive his past self who had treated her so coldly.
Because now he knew—without her by his side, he could never be happy.
All he felt was gratitude that she had changed her mind.
“And… I’m sorry for treating you so harshly before.”
“What?”
“I just… I thought about it. You must have had a really hard time in society.”
Albert slowly began to share the thoughts he had been having alone.
“If I had been more of a strong friend by your side, maybe you wouldn’t have fallen apart like that. I felt sorry.”
“No, that was partly my fault too. Really, it’s fine.”
Irene waved her hand with a smile.
“Still… thank you for saying that. It makes me feel better.”
“……”
“From now on, let’s get along well. I’ll also try… to be a little less sensitive.”
Irene reached out her hand as if asking for a handshake. Albert looked at her.
Her eyes truly looked brighter than before.
As if she had really spent happy time with her parents.
Like a flower that had just begun to bloom after soaking up the love around her.
Finally, it felt real to him.
Irene had really changed her mind. She truly wanted to live.
More than the fact that she had agreed to treatment, it was her newfound will to live that filled him with joy.
Albert smiled and took her hand.
“…I promise I’ll do my best. I’ll use all my strength to find a way to treat you.”
It was the moment the two of them reached an agreement about her treatment.
“Phew…”
As I left the Crown Prince’s palace, I let out a deep breath.
I hadn’t realized it, but I must have been very tense. Only after breathing in the night air did I feel my stiff body finally relax.
While I waited at the entrance for a moment, the coachman and a few knights approached.
“Lady Hartmann, we will safely escort you back to your estate.”
“Thank you.”
I could have asked Fabian to take me back home, but I didn’t want to trouble him.
I also wanted to move quietly and organize my thoughts on my own.
So I had asked Albert to lend me a carriage and a few knights to escort me back to the territory, and he gladly agreed.
Not long after I stepped into the carriage, it began to move.
Listening to the sound of the wheels rolling in the darkness, I sank into thought.
“Did I make the right choice…?”
I had at least shown my will to receive treatment, but I wasn’t sure if it was truly the right path.
‘The method Fabian suggested didn’t seem to have much chance of success, either.’
[There is a way. The chances are extremely slim, though.]
[Even now, you would have to recklessly use a lot of mana.]
That was Fabian’s reply when I asked if there was really any treatment at all.
His proposal was for me to start using my dormant mana as much as possible, even recklessly.
Ever since my mana first manifested, I had never truly used it properly. He suggested I push myself to use it now and force my body to adapt.
But it was not a method that promised any real hope of survival.
That was why Fabian had been so blunt with me at the start.
The chances were too slim. It was more like false hope, the kind of cruel “hope torture” that might leave me worse off than before.
And yet…
‘Just because the chances are slim doesn’t mean I need to refuse treatment altogether.’
Of course, I still didn’t know what kind of treatment I would eventually end up receiving.
But there was no reason not to at least try.
If it worked, good. If it didn’t, then I would simply die as originally expected.
‘But one thing is certain…’
I placed a hand over my chest. I could feel my heart, beating strongly.
What was certain was that I wanted to feel this beating heart for a little longer.
That inside me, a will to keep living had truly begun to grow.
…Could I really survive?
Could I enjoy life as Irene just a little longer?
‘I don’t know if gods exist or not…’
I lifted my eyes to the dark night sky. Bright stars twinkled above me.
I picked the brightest one and made a wish—for the first and perhaps the last time.
‘Whoever you are, if you pity me, please show me a miracle.’
As someone who had transmigrated into this novel, I boldly demanded this from the heavens.
Just once more.
I would take a chance on that tiny possibility of survival.
Because this life was not the same as my past one. This life as Irene was not the life of Yoon Se-hee.
And so, I decided—I would resume the treatment I had once given up.
