Episode 8
Meanwhile, Xavier rubbed between his brows at the scene unfolding before him. It was a habit of his whenever he found himself in an irritating situation.
“…So the young lady said that?”
“Yeah.”
Though he outwardly acted calm at the sight of his friend coming to see him, Xavier was utterly dumbfounded.
She’s completely dumping this on me.
Eve Estella.
With that gentle, mysterious face of hers, she had long mastered the art of smoothly shifting responsibility onto others.
As he was thinking this, Valerian asked with an anxious expression,
“Nothing happened to Eve, right?”
Xavier let out a sigh and lifted his teacup. He didn’t like deceiving his friend, but since things had come to this—
I have no choice but to lie thoroughly.
A firm resolve flickered in Xavier’s green eyes. Right now, what mattered most to him was breaking off the engagement between those two.
Because of the prophecy he had learned about five years ago.
<On the day the crimson full moon rises,
Black fiends that blot out the sun will fill the world with screams.>
The prophecy had first appeared exactly twenty years ago.
Xavier had learned of its contents five years ago, when he was named Crown Prince.
Its meaning was clear.
We are once again on the brink of what happened a hundred years ago.
A century ago, the demon invasion that turned the capital into a sea of blood had been a nightmare in history. Had it not been for Ella, who wielded the power of the sun, this world would have fallen under demonic rule.
In the twenty years since the prophecy, the crimson full moon has not yet risen.
The crimson full moon appears roughly once every hundred years, a time when the power of mages grows stronger.
That could mean—just like a hundred years ago—that a mage would summon the demons.
But there were no mages in this world.
Perhaps they were hiding somewhere, but finding a mage among countless people would be like searching for a needle in the desert.
And now, Valerian—the man who must stand at the forefront and slaughter the demons—had changed ever so slightly after meeting a certain woman.
Xavier’s sharp instincts told him that whatever intangible thing this change would bring… it was dangerous.
“What I’m about to say may be hard to hear, and harder to believe.”
At Xavier’s words, Valerian’s lips tightened.
“Say it. Now.”
A chilling aura settled in Valerian’s blue eyes.
He was always like this whenever it concerned Eve Estella—displaying an unsettling obsession.
“Some time ago, Lady Eve Estella requested to meet the imperial physician.”
“…The palace doctor?”
“After hearing her circumstances, I arranged for her to be examined by Caniel, the highest authority of the Imperial Medical Bureau.”
Valerian froze completely as the gravity of the situation sank in. Fine cracks began to form in the water glass in his hand.
“…And the results?”
“They’re not good.”
Crash!
The glass in Valerian’s hand shattered into fragments. Blood flowed from his palm, and Xavier quickly summoned an attendant.
“You called for me, Your Highness?”
“The Young Duke Ludwig requires treatment—”
“I’m fine. Call Caniel Lideban.”
Cutting Xavier off, Valerian ground out the words through clenched teeth. The ferocity in his gaze made Xavier’s legs feel weak for the first time.
He had never seen Valerian like this before, and it left him shaken.
“If you must hear it directly.”
Nodding, Xavier turned to the trembling attendant.
“Bring Caniel Lideban of the Imperial Medical Bureau.”
“Why are you suddenly saying you’ll skip meals?”
Seeing their daughter refusing to eat, the Count and Countess looked at her with worry.
“I need to lose weight.”
“What?! Where do you have any weight to lose?”
“Who dared say you were fat?!”
The Count, especially, turned red with anger. If there was some insolent fool who had said such a thing to his daughter, he would drag them in and beat the nonsense out of them!
Reading his thoughts plainly, Eve shook her head.
“It’s not like that, so don’t worry. Please leave.”
Fasting had drained her strength. Eve flopped onto her bed and carefully reviewed her next plan.
Once I secure a physician to declare my death sentence, it’s over.
That physician would likely come recommended by the Crown Prince. Someone from the inside would carry far more credibility than one bribed with money.
After her parents left, Noah, who remained in the room, spoke to his sister as if she were strange.
“Are you really sick?”
“I’m going to be.”
“You’re going to be sick?”
Even under her irritated glare telling him to get lost, Noah stubbornly waited for her answer.
Knowing how persistent he was, Eve reluctantly revealed part of her plan.
“Are you insane?”
At his immediate outburst, Eve grew tired. She didn’t want to explain further.
“Then go convince Valerian.”
Noah worked in a military administrative post at the imperial palace and was fairly close to both Valerian and Xavier.
As a child, he had often visited the palace with their father, so he was already familiar with both men.
“When he’s stubborn about something strange, no one can stop him.”
Noah sighed deeply and shook his head.
“Then get out. I’m tired.”
Her one and only brother was utterly useless. Eve turned away. Noah shot her a glare and left the room.
But soon the door opened again, and she shot upright.
“Just leave me alone—!”
She thought it was Noah, but the voice that reached her ears was entirely different.
“E-Eve. Valerian is here…”
Her mother called her in a slightly trembling voice. Eve flinched at the familiar face visible behind her.
“Eve.”
It was Valerian. She had seen him at the palace only hours ago. Now all the color had drained from his face.
He entered the room and looked her over. She seemed a little thinner than usual, but nothing appeared obviously wrong. Yet he had been told it was an incurable disease, untreatable even by the imperial family.
“…What is it, Valerian?”
To hide her fluster, Eve deliberately spoke with a dry expression.
I didn’t expect him to come see me this quickly.
She had thought he would visit the next day, or perhaps the day after. And right now, Valerian was clearly not in a normal state.
“Rian, what happened to your hand…?”
Eve was startled at the sight of the rough bandages wrapped around his hand.
What on earth happened?
Did he get into a fight with Xavier?
She looked up at Valerian with suspicion.
“Eve, is everything Xavier said true?”
His voice was thick with emotion. She realized at once that he had completely fallen for the Crown Prince’s lie.
The Crown Prince is better at lying than I thought.
If he had deceived Valerian so thoroughly in an instant, he must have presented undeniable evidence—or a witness.
Most likely the imperial physician.
“Why didn’t you tell me until now?”
Valerian asked as though restraining something within himself.
“I’m sorry… I should have told you sooner. I held onto you for too long.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
Suddenly, he grasped her hand.
The eyes that had always resembled a clear sky were now clouded with dark storm clouds, as though rain might fall at any moment.
“Eve, get proper treatment—even now.”
Eve was troubled. She hadn’t expected him to cling to her so desperately.
Was he like this in the original story too?
There had been a time when Yuri collapsed after being poisoned by a demon. Back then, how had Valerian reacted?
He said he would slaughter the demons.
The Empire currently believed that demons and mages were working together. Her parents insisted it was a false accusation, but—
People only believe what they want to believe.
Even if she tried to plead the mages’ innocence to the Emperor, what awaited would only be a cold death.
She gently removed her hand from his and said,
“I want to quietly spend the rest of my life where I wish to live.”
“Eve…”
His face twisted in anguish.
“Then I’ll follow you, Eve.”
Eve stiffened internally. If he stayed by her side, she’d have to act like a terminally ill patient all day.
Absolutely not.
She wrapped her true feelings in something far more convincing.
“I don’t want you to see me when I die, Valerian.”
“……”
He stared at her for a long time before standing with a hardened expression. Without another word, he left.
“Whew…”
Was it finally over? Eve felt utterly drained.
“I’ve never seen someone act as well as you.”
Noah, who had been watching from behind the door, clicked his tongue in disbelief. Eve blinked blankly.
“He won’t come again now, right?”
“Probably not…”
Noah replied.
Just now, Eve had truly looked like someone facing the end of a short life—fragile and sorrowful.
For a fleeting moment, it almost felt as though she really were terminally ill.
When someone about to die begs like that, what can he do?
Valerian had no choice.
For him, the only option left was to leave her side.
