MFWSP 66

Chapter 66

“Your Highness, may I have a moment of your time?”

Grace, who had been watching Carsiel with a wronged expression for quite some time, spoke with determined resolve.

“What for?”

Carsiel asked indifferently.

Though his expression didn’t show hostility, his gaze was far from warm.

“Because you need my help.”

“What?”

“I… I know everything.”

Grace placed a hand on Carsiel’s shoulder and leaned in to whisper,

“That you’re enduring pain from the symptoms of poisoning.”

“……?”

“I can’t cure it right away, but I can ease the pain. If you just trust me and bear with it a little…”

“That’s rude, Lady.”

As if he had heard enough, Carsiel brushed off Grace’s hand from his shoulder and stood up.

Grace, caught off guard, stumbled and fell into the chair Carsiel had just vacated, flailing her arms to steady herself.

“Your Highness…?”

“It would be wise to break the habit of touching others without permission.”

Carsiel said coldly as he looked down at her shocked expression.

“Especially when it comes to royalty or high nobles. Such actions can easily be mistaken for an assassination attempt. You should be more careful in the future.”

“Y-Your Highness!”

“And I’ve already been cured of the horn-thorn poison symptoms with the help of Duke Apellemion. You don’t seem to know the past very well for someone claiming to be a prophet.”

At his words, Grace’s face turned even paler.

Perhaps she hadn’t heard about the detoxification.

Compared to the rumors about the advice on the terrain near Kahnab being key to victory, the story about curing the horn-thorn poison hadn’t spread widely.

That was because the Empress, who didn’t want suspicion that she was behind Carsiel’s poisoning, had worked to suppress the information.

Or maybe Grace, drunk on her own power, had simply ignored the news.

Either way, it didn’t matter now. Carsiel was staring at her with a cold, nearly freezing expression.

“Your Highness, I didn’t mean it like that…”

“My future with Duke Apellemion is something for us to decide. If you truly have foresight, use it for someone who needs it.”

Having said that, Carsiel turned to me and extended his hand.

“Let’s go.”

I slowly placed my hand in his palm, and he quickly led me away.

Leaving behind Grace, who looked like she was about to cry.

* * *

The place Carsiel took me was a balcony connected to the east door of the ballroom.

It was wide and ornate, but seemingly restricted—no one else was present.

“Are you alright?”

He turned to me and asked.

I straightened my posture and answered,

“Do I look unwell?”

“Judging by how you avoided the question, I’d say not completely.”

“……”

I quietly bit my lower lip.

Since when had he come to understand me this well?

He wasn’t wrong.

Even if my mind said I could face Grace, the shock of seeing her again was taking a toll on my body.

That second life where I had wandered between one misfortune and another, knowing nothing.

And during that entire time, Grace had always been one step ahead, seeming too immense to overcome.

Even after learning her true nature, the crushing sense of defeat I’d felt still lingered vividly.

“What exactly is the relationship between you two?”

Carsiel suddenly asked.

His tone was so calm I almost answered honestly.

“We’re nothing to each other. Just…”

After a moment of thought, I added,

“I just hate her. I hated her from the moment I first saw her.”

I probably sounded mean and petty.

But I couldn’t help it. He had likely already noticed, anyway. And thinking of the future, it was better to state my feelings clearly.

If he grew suspicious or distant because of this, so be it.

But Carsiel’s response defied my expectations.

“I’m the same. I didn’t like her from the first moment either.”

“What?”

I looked up at him, eyes wide.

He was agreeing with me this easily?

“Don’t you believe she’s the prophet destined to save the Empire?”

“How would I know? But while she was speaking of the Empire’s curse, her eyes looked far too joyful. I didn’t like that.”

Carsiel replied calmly, then added,

“And seeing her be rude to you made me dislike her even more.”

A faint smile touched my lips. There was sincerity in his eyes. It didn’t seem like he was just pretending to dislike her for my sake.

And oddly enough, his words gave me a great deal of comfort.

I knew it was childish and petty—but near the end of my second life, I had felt so bitter.

That everyone loved Grace, who had only brought me harm. That no one besides me knew who she really was. It had felt so unfair.

I had thought those feelings were something I’d have to bear alone forever.

“……”

Carsiel bent slightly to peer into my eyes. His lips trembled slightly as if he wanted to say something.

“Your Highness?”

Instead of answering, he took off his cloak and draped it over my shoulders, gently pulling both ends together.

Fwump—

I ended up practically half in his embrace.

Seeing his face so close, even his usually steel-like gaze looked slightly unsteady.

“Your Highness, why are you…”

“You looked cold.”

Carsiel said.

“The weather’s still chilly, isn’t it? Your dress is thin.”

His answer felt longer than usual.

“If you’re really not close with Lady Serbe, then the only reason your body was trembling must’ve been the cold. So I simply wanted to warm you.”

“……”

I swallowed dryly.

Of course, the trembling had started the moment I saw Grace. Yet the moment Carsiel placed his cloak around me, the warmth spreading through me had made that trembling stop.

“When you look like you’re suffering… I feel like I’m losing myself.”

But I couldn’t tell whether that warmth came from the cloak, his body heat as he stood close, or the subtle kindness in his eyes.

“I told you, didn’t I? That I worry about you too.”

Thump.

My heart gave a heavy jolt.

Realizing how close we were. Realizing how dazzling his features were.

“I… I should go.”

I took a few steps back.

“Duke.”

“I’ve been away from the ballroom too long.”

I turned to leave.

Carsiel didn’t stop me—he just let me go. I could feel his piercing gaze on my back.

“No, I should return to the estate.”

A thought I had forgotten resurfaced. I hate situations I can’t control. A side effect of my second life, where everything had spiraled beyond my predictions.

“I’ll see you again, Your Highness.”

And among the things I wanted to control, my emotions were one of them.

After offering a slight bow, I quickly left the balcony.

Resolving in my mind to keep a bit of distance between us moving forward.

* * *

“Damn it.”

Carsiel ruffled his hair and sighed.

Even tearing at his hair didn’t ease the shock he’d just experienced.

He had wanted to cup Iris’s pale cheeks in his hands.

It was the first time in his life he had ever felt such a strong urge. To touch someone. To give someone warmth.

That urge hadn’t faded even now, after she’d left his sight.

The moment he had seen her entering the ballroom hours ago—in a deep green dress that matched her eyes—he couldn’t take his eyes off her.

In fact, whenever he was with Iris, nothing else seemed to matter anymore.

When she was coming down the stairs, he had to restrain himself from running up and grabbing her hand.

And when Grace first appeared—

When he saw Iris’s eyes watching Grace, her gaze trembling with unease, her body shaking like a wounded bird, her breathing growing faint and irregular—

That was the moment he had wanted to hold her.

Not during talks of war, nor in the Black Valley facing the spirit spring, nor when her life had been in danger at House Adellon had she ever seemed so vulnerable.

And that vulnerability had made him want to wrap his arms around her—her back, her head, her neck.

“Haa…”

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

He didn’t want to dismiss it as a fleeting emotion.

He was someone who always faced reality. On the battlefield, in the sparring arena, amidst the political schemes of the imperial court. And now, too.

“…It’s love.”

He murmured.

He didn’t know exactly when it had started, but now he knew for sure.

It was the beginning of First Prince Carsiel Paranas’s very first love.