Chapter 58
I was startled.
‘Execution? Me?’
Why would I be executed? And why is His Highness the Crown Prince angry?
‘Because I refused the dance he requested? Because I avoided him whenever he tried to talk to me?’
Is this execution somehow connected to what Father said he was doing to save me?
Or is it because of the murder my brother committed long ago? Could it be that the execution is being carried out again?
Since I knew nothing, I could only keep my expression blank, even while my mind was in chaos.
Of course, I didn’t nod either.
“When you don’t understand the situation, or when it’s something I never trained you for—just stay still with a doll-like face.”
That was Father’s teaching.
“Yes. This is the kind of human you always were.”
The Crown Prince spat the words out with contempt.
“See, Charlotte? Talking to her is pointless. Every time, it only ends in disappointment.”
“Your Highness, please, just listen to the girl for a moment.”
“Lotte, I agree with His Highness. Let’s stop. We know this woman better than you do.”
The candyfloss-like girl, the Crown Prince, and the Marquis all seemed very close.
They overlapped in my mind with the Crown Prince and the Marquis I’d first met—cold, sullen, and openly disappointed when I turned out different from their expectations.
And yet, their kindness back then had been the greatest warmth I’d ever received in my life.
Because I was grateful, I cherished it for a long time, and eventually, I even admired them—those who treated me like a person.
But now, seeing how they treated Charlotte, I had no choice but to realize the truth.
The kindness they showed me hadn’t been genuine. There had been no true affection in it.
Just as I was fake, their kindness was fake as well.
‘That kindness… had no value at all.’
The transcendents turned away coldly, looking at me with eyes full of contempt.
Even the candyfloss-like girl, flustered, followed after them.
‘…Don’t feel miserable. It’s fine. I still have my family.’
Father’s orders came before the shattering of any admiration.
So I endured, endured, and endured again inside the prison.
If I kept enduring, my family would come to pick me up again. As always.
When I opened my eyes, I saw an unfamiliar ceiling.
‘This isn’t even a mental debuff, so why was that dream so vivid?’
It had been so real that the moment I woke up, I checked to make sure my tongue was still attached properly.
‘Why did I dream about the mental debuff I suffered two days ago?’
It hadn’t been a mental debuff this time, nor a dream I created myself.
It was a dream shown by the necklace.
“Do you have a will of your own? Why do you keep blindsiding people like this?”
I muttered irritably at the necklace.
‘Why make me experience that kind of dream twice? At least don’t make it feel so real.’
Suppressing the sinking feeling, I pushed myself up and checked my surroundings.
After coughing up blood, my body felt much lighter. If only the timing hadn’t been right in front of Viktor, it would’ve been better.
I opened the necklace to check the time.
‘Good, I was only unconscious for about two hours. But why did it bring me to the Crown Prince’s palace bedroom?’
It felt familiar, though I’d never been here before—because it was identical to the Crown Prince’s palace in Dan Guwon.
If Viktor had carried me all the way to the Imperial Palace, he probably hadn’t gone to put out the fire at the research institute. Before long, a massive riot in the slums would have broken out.
Thankfully, I had somehow stopped Viktor from going to put out the fire.
‘But what was the point of leaving me here?’
If he enjoyed watching me collapse, he should’ve dumped me back at the mansion or left me where I fell. Damn bastard.
And right now, Madam Becker’s stolen jewels still hadn’t been found, so Mother was tearing the house apart to catch the informant.
Since she thought I was illiterate, I was excluded from the suspect list from the start. Still, if it was discovered that I suddenly disappeared from the mansion at this time, it would stir suspicion.
‘It would’ve been better to be found in the garden.’
Of course, I’d be scolded harshly by Mother for leaving my room without permission, but I had already accepted that risk when I decided to use the ring.
‘Do transcendents just have a habit of making everything complicated?’
I sighed. The most important thing now was to return to the mansion quickly.
Also, who had changed my dress?
‘Even if I’m in nightclothes, there’s no time to find something else to wear. I just need to hurry back—’
Just as I was about to rise—knock, knock—the door opened.
“Ah, you’re awake.”
“…Your Highness?”
“Viktor brought you here and immediately left. A great disturbance has broken out in the slums.”
Saying that, he sat down in the chair beside my bed.
The hard expression on Johann’s face reminded me of the Johann I’d just seen in the dream—his face full of resentment, disappointment, and contempt.
“Your Highness, I’m truly sorry for troubling you. I should return home now.”
“Home? You just called the Count’s residence your home?”
Johann scoffed as if the idea was absurd. I froze in surprise.
‘Could Johann be this sarcastic?’
Even when he lost his sight to a berserk incident and we became sworn enemies, I never saw this side of him.
“The physician who examined you said so. He tried to avoid leaving scars, but judging from the bones that had broken and healed again, the abuse has been going on for a long time.”
He had me examined?
Viktor would never bother with something so troublesome… It must have been Johann, compelled by chivalry.
“Who would believe that you, who should be treated as the most noble in the Empire, have been subjected to this kind of treatment?”
Johann let out a harsh, irritable laugh.
I stared at his face, unfamiliar. In Dan Guwon, I had never seen him make such an expression. I couldn’t tell how best to respond.
‘No, more importantly… what is he angry about?’
It was hard to grasp the exact nature of his feelings. Hadn’t he already been informed about the abuse by Zion?
Why was he suddenly reacting so emotionally now?
“They say they couldn’t even determine the cause of your coughing up blood. Likely from repeated bouts of consumption. But unless you’d been locked underground and beaten hundreds of times, you wouldn’t have spat blood like that.”
“Your Highness.”
“And now you want to go home? Do you even think of that place as a home?”
“…”
“I cannot allow you to go back there. You—or rather, anyone—shouldn’t have to endure that kind of treatment.”
Not wrong, but to me, it was an empty ideal.
‘It would actually help me more if he just sent me back quickly.’
“Your Highness. Forgive me for interrupting, but I must return as soon as possible. If my mother realizes I slipped out, it will be a disaster.”
“Don’t worry. That damned household isn’t even looking for you. My officers have checked dozens of times, and they’re still checking.”
The Crown Prince’s officers? B-rank transcendents, no less. Why would such valuable forces…?
“I just received word your mother is asleep. So please, just rest.”
Johann’s demeanor was strangely desperate. While trying to make sense of it, my eyes landed on his shirt—stained with the blood I had vomited.
‘With Johann’s personality, he wouldn’t come visit without changing that shirt first.’
Given a transcendent’s physical abilities, there was no way he hadn’t had time to change. The more reasonable explanation was that he had been in no state of mind to.
‘Ah. I see now.’
Realizing it, I smiled inwardly.
‘That’s… guilt.’
Raised in uprightness and abundance, the Crown Prince must not have truly understood what abuse meant, even when he was told about it.
At most, he probably imagined harsh words or a few slaps.
To him, following military law, imperial law, and knightly codes was natural. He had no imagination for the “real bottom of human cruelty.”
Wasn’t there even an episode in the game that showed Johann’s rigid morality?
A soldier whistled at a passing woman, harassing her—Johann immediately exercised his authority to cut the soldier’s arm off on the spot.
‘Someone like that, faced with abuse beyond his imagination, must have been shaken to the core.’
Now he had finally understood the true reality of abuse—and fallen into guilt.
That was why he was acting so uncharacteristically. He was furious at himself, blaming himself for not protecting the weak properly even after receiving reports of abuse.
…and if that was really the case…
‘I have to use Johann’s guilt.’
I quickly made my decision.
