Chapter 12
It was so late that everyone in the imperial palace had long since fallen asleep.
At Nina’s expression—which clearly asked why are you here?—Cassian spoke as if it were mere coincidence.
“I was out for a walk. I saw a light in the hall building and came this way.”
“Like last time. You seem to enjoy strolling through gloomy places at night. Not exactly a good hobby.”
As she descended the stairs, Nina gestured with her chin toward the monster research lab.
They had crossed paths earlier that day, but dressed in a light shirt and trousers, she somehow drew more attention than when clad in battle uniform and armor.
Her straight shoulders, long limbs, and narrow waist stood out clearly even in the darkness, her silhouette distinct against the faint moonlight. She moved down the stairs with perfectly measured steps, as if making no sound was second nature to her.
Cassian’s gaze traveled from her feet stepping down each stair to her lightly swaying short blond hair.
Though the surroundings were dark, she seemed clearer to his eyes than ever before.
“What if a monster jumps out?”
After reaching the bottom, Nina passed him and spoke indifferently.
It wasn’t an idle remark. There had already been several incidents of monsters from Desmorak’s research going berserk.
“Don’t worry. I can protect myself.”
Nina nearly laughed.
Protect himself? Against a monster, without even a sword?
As a prince of Montreger, he would have learned basic swordsmanship. But as a hostage, he wasn’t permitted to carry a personal blade. And facing a maddened monster was a different world entirely—one that polished princes, trained with excessive praise, could never truly understand.
Still, Nina said nothing more and began walking toward the annex.
Under the faint crescent moon, the two figures walked as though on a brightly lit path.
So he really does have good night vision.
For Nina, this was a familiar route she had walked for over ten years.
Anyone else—even with a half-moon and eyes adjusted to the dark—would have walked tensely, focused on what lay ahead. But Cassian showed no tension at all. Instead, his gaze drifted to the arm she had tied with a handkerchief.
Nina pretended not to notice.
In her entire life, she had never used a healer for such a trivial wound.
When she called for a healer, it was only when she was so gravely injured she could barely move. Knowing full well that the healer who treated her would die—how could she summon one lightly?
Without turning his head, Cassian spoke quietly.
“Earlier—why didn’t you avoid it? You could have easily dodged Princess Lilien. It’s hard to believe the Cold Sword couldn’t evade such a clumsy attack.”
He had noticed her wound earlier and now brought up the brooch incident.
Nina walked in silence until they neared the monster lab.
No one had ever asked her that question before.
Except for Tilla, everyone in this palace treated her as Lilien’s rightful target for venting anger.
After a moment, Nina answered in a voice devoid of emotion.
“…It’s easier. Just getting slightly hurt and letting her anger pass.”
Easier? Even if she had an immortal body, pain was still pain.
Cassian’s brow creased faintly. Seeing his expression, Nina let out a short sigh.
“If I dodge, she makes a bigger scene. Then maids, attendants, servants all gather to restrain and soothe her. It’s not a sight fit for princesses.”
“So you always just accept it like that?”
“I’ve simply learned, over twenty years, which hurts less.”
“…Because of the prophecy?”
There was a subtle displeasure in his tone.
Unsure what stirred that emotion in him, Nina stopped and met his gaze.
His eyes demanded an answer.
“It may be early for you, but you should get used to it. Protecting the Empire of Arsed is your role—and your reason for existing.”
“Do not forget that protecting Lilien is the same as protecting Arsed.”
The emperor’s words bound her as tightly as the prophecy itself.
For a long time, she had suffered, unable to accept that she had to live such a painful life.
But in the end, she had accepted it.
There was only one thing Nina acknowledged.
The prophecy.
That absolute prophecy made her life so painful she wished to die—yet it was also what kept her alive.
“Yes. This immortal body without a heart only has meaning when it devotes itself to Arsed. That’s why I was born. Devotion to Lilien, who will become emperor, is part of that.”
Her voice was calm.
But as she finished speaking, a shadow of guilt darkened her face.
“Which means forming an alliance with you… is no different from defying that absolute prophecy.”
Cassian’s eyes flickered faintly.
“Until now, I’ve devoted myself to Arsed according to the will of the divine…”
The darkness beyond pressed in like her past.
She paused, memories suffocating her.
Thousands—tens of thousands—of times her flesh and bones had been cut, severed, shattered. The screams of nerves and consciousness echoed in her ears.
“I want to live as something ordinary. Not as a weapon. Even if it means abandoning my title as princess.”
Her lips trembled faintly.
It was the first time she had spoken aloud the wish he had glimpsed.
Born immortal by prophecy, treated as a weapon even by her parents, regarded by others as something unsettling—untouchable.
Thrown countless times into battle in the name of fulfilling the prophecy. Taking countless lives. Watching her own body break beyond counting.
How horrific it is… to exist only when you’re sacrificing yourself like that. No one who hasn’t lived it would understand. And no one in this world ever could.
If abandoning her title would have solved it, she would have done so before turning ten.
Cassian watched her quietly as bitterness spread across her face.
He had formed this alliance to gain everything.
She, it seemed, wanted to abandon everything.
Her calm, measured words slowly stirred something within him.
Under his intense gaze, Nina felt suddenly self-conscious.
Perhaps she had answered too seriously.
Her circumstances should have mattered only when he proposed the alliance. Now that it was formed, they were irrelevant to him.
Though… perhaps she had spoken because he wore the gem so openly, as if he did not fully trust her.
“Anyway, don’t come this way at night. If something truly dangerous happens, then—mmph!”
Suddenly, Cassian turned sharply.
He grabbed Nina by the waist as she was turning away and pulled her into his arms, covering her mouth.
He pressed her back against the dark wall of the monster lab.
“Shh.”
Still staring into the darkness, he raised a finger to his lips before slowly removing his hand from her mouth.
The sudden embrace was unfamiliar—and rude.
Instinctively, Nina tried to pull free from his arms.
But then she sensed it too.
A presence.
She froze, even halting her breath.
Moments later, a woman cloaked in black approached the monster lab, glancing around cautiously.
After confirming no one was nearby, she lowered her hood.
Moonlight revealed her face clearly.
Hidden in the shadows beside Cassian, Nina’s eyes widened.
‘Mother…?’
