Chapter 60
The Prince Died and Starts Over From the Beginning!
The cat turned its head to look at me and meowed. Somehow, it felt like it was telling me to follow.
“…You want me to follow you?”
“Meep!”
“I can’t go. If I suddenly disappear, Anna will be terrified.”
“Meeeeep—!”
The cat perked its ears and twirled its tail in circles. At that, my body floated up into the air.
“Cat! Wait—hey, cat!”
Startled, I tried to stop it, but the cat didn’t seem to care about my protests at all.
I was dragged—no, magically pulled—by the cat and forced out of the room.
Servants were going about their duties all throughout the hallway.
But strangely, not a single person reacted to me floating through the air.
I must have been invisible. Still, thinking they might hear me, I held my breath just in case.
The cat led me to the most secluded part of the palace.
It turned several corners and climbed multiple staircases before finally stopping.
“Meep!”
The cat sat down in front of a remote room.
“…Here? You want me to go inside?”
“Meep!”
The cat puffed out its chest proudly.
I hesitated for a long time before finally placing my hand on the doorknob.
Even though I prided myself on knowing every corner of the Rudbeckia Palace, I had never been here before.
The door was stiff, likely because it saw so little use.
Even though it was daytime, the room inside was pitch-black. Someone had drawn the curtains completely shut.
“…Cat, where are we?”
The room carried an eerie atmosphere. Feeling uneasy, I talked to the cat behind me.
But there was no reply.
The usually noisy cat was suddenly silent, which felt strange.
“…Lady Lurupell?”
Suddenly, a familiar voice sounded from somewhere ahead.
“…Third Prince?”
“…Is it truly Lady Lurupell?”
I couldn’t be sure if the voice calling me was really the Third Prince.
The Third Prince’s voice I remembered had been light and chirpy, like a canary.
But the voice now was hoarse, heavy with sorrow.
“…Your Highness, is that you?”
I cautiously walked toward the source of the voice.
A faint silhouette curled up in the darkness gradually came into view.
I reached blindly toward the wall and pulled at the curtains.
As the curtains parted, I saw the Third Prince sitting on the floor with a desolate expression.
It had been two whole months since we last met—though I barely felt it.
Seeing him again after so long, I couldn’t help but gasp.
“Goodness, Your Highness!”
Why hasn’t he grown at all?
The Third Prince looked frighteningly thin, as if someone had starved him.
I couldn’t help but think of the young viscount who visited me that morning—he’d already grown another joint on his finger.
Kids are supposed to grow fast…but why hadn’t our kid grown even a little?
I rushed over and lifted the Third Prince up.
He dangled limply in my hands like a paper doll with its threads cut.
“Why are you in a place like this? Did someone lock you in? Was it Count Lurupell? If he—!”
But the Third Prince said nothing. He only stared at me from head to toe.
“Are you truly Lady Lurupell?”
“Of course. Who else would I be?”
“Then… I suppose you really did die.”
“…Pardon?”
“You must have come to exact vengeance upon me.”
“What are you talking about? Why would I take revenge on you?”
I had no idea what kind of nonsense this adorable brat had stuffed into his tiny head.
Regardless, he squeezed his eyes shut and made a grand declaration:
“You may k-kill me!”
“…Excuse me?”
“Even if I fall with Lady Lurupell into the underworld, I—”
“Hold on. Why are we going to the underworld together?”
He cracked an eye open at my question.
Then, after thinking seriously for a moment, he changed his statement solemnly:
“Lady Lurupell is right. Then Lady Lurupell shall go to the heavens, while I shall go to the underworld, but even then—”
Why is he so eager to go to the underworld? He didn’t bury a pot of honey down there.
I stopped walking, dumbfounded.
And he continued rambling nonsense about being burned by lightning in the underworld or whatever.
“Even if a demon cleaves my soul into six pieces and feeds it to the hellhounds, I would gladly—”
“Shh!”
Before he dug himself even deeper into whatever grave he was describing, I quickly covered his mouth.
He must think I’m a ghost or something.
“I’m alive, Your Highness.”
I softened my voice as much as possible.
The prince’s tightly clenched eyelids trembled.
After a moment of hesitation, his watery eyes finally met mine.
I took his small hand and placed it over the left side of my chest.
“See? My heart’s beating.”
His trembling eased, little by little.
“…You truly did not die?”
“Of course not.”
“Perhaps this is a dream or illusion…”
“Of course not.”
Tears welled in his blue-violet eyes, but he seemed unable to either cry or wipe them.
“I truly thought you had died… Everyone said you would…”
His words tumbled out in panic.
It was as if he feared I would vanish right in front of him.
“They said I was a child of misfortune… that everyone near me would suffer misfortune… And they did suffer, so…”
Good grief.
Who would say something so cruel to a child barely old enough to walk?
I clicked my tongue and held his thin, cold hands.
“It’s okay. I haven’t suffered misfortune. See? I’m alive and well.”
“But they said you never know what misfortune may come… And because of me—”
“No. Since you never know, it also means you can’t assume it’s your fault. It’s simply something you don’t know.”
He blinked blankly, his once-chubby cheeks noticeably gaunt.
He must have worried terribly the entire two months I was unconscious.
“Have you eaten?”
“…Pardon?”
“Why were you in such a dark, out-of-the-way place all alone?”
“That’s…”
“Well, never mind. You should eat first. We can talk while you eat.”
I looked around for a bell to call a servant.
But this shabby room clearly wasn’t built for nobles.
“I’ll step out and bring someone.”
“D-Don’t go.”
When I tried to leave, he grabbed my sleeve in a panic.
“Then shall we go together?”
“That’s…”
He trailed off, clearly reluctant to go outside.
“Just wait a bit.”
“Can’t we just… stay here?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be right back.”
He didn’t look convinced.
I reached for his little finger and hooked mine around it.
“I’ll come back. I promise.”
“…It’s a promise.”
“Yes. A promise.”
We pinky-swore like children.
Reluctantly, he let go of my sleeve.
But I couldn’t keep that promise.
Because the moment I stepped outside to summon a servant, the cat’s magic dissolved.
“My lady!”
I had opened a door—but suddenly found myself lying on my bed.
According to Anna, three days had passed since the last time I woke up.
I was dumbfounded.
Another three days?
Magic really could be unbelievably inconvenient.
“…Anna.”
“Yes?”
“If someone you thought was dead suddenly appeared in front of you, then vanished into thin air right after—what would you think?”
“…Did you have a dream?”
Anna frowned, clearly confused by the sudden odd question.
“Just answer. I’m in a hurry.”
“What’s so urgent…”
“It is urgent!”
I whined until she finally answered.
“Well… I’d probably think it was a mistake. Or maybe a ghost or hallucination…”
“You wouldn’t think they had just come back alive normally?”
“Probably not. If they were alive, they’d have greeted me and left normally.”
“…Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
This was bad. I must have made the Third Prince misunderstand even more.
Even if he later learned the truth—Andrew couldn’t possibly hide everything from him—the meeting three days ago had too many suspicious parts.
Even if he was just a child, no way would he believe someone who had been unconscious for two months suddenly got up and came to find him, walking around perfectly fine.
And to begin with, the Third Prince loved to dig his own emotional grave.
My little mole was surely blaming himself now, convinced he had imagined me because he wanted to relieve his guilt.
