“Sia.”
I caught my nickname he called in my ear.
After the new oracle of the Daishin government, I thought a lot.
How can I not think about it because my life changed overnight?
I thought, and I thought, and I thought.
“Have you been waiting?”
I realized that it wouldn’t change the reality, so I quit thinking uselessly.
The Crown Prince had dark black hair, which contrasted with my pinkish hair that glowed brightly.
The pupils were of strange gold, just like the emperor’s.
“I didn’t wait that long. Sit down.”
I’ve seen this face once a day.
Except for war or the time ahead of important national affairs, we ate with a tea cup or tableware facing each other once a day, no matter what.
How precious that time was………. looking up at face to face for the first time in a long time.
No matter how tan he is under the sun, his red lips contrasted well with him, and his golden eyes, which are hard to tell what he is thinking after his high-rise nose, touched his eyes.
What should I say? The silence subsided.
He didn’t seem to want to open his mouth first.
“Come to think of it, I have something to tell you.”
I thought I’d end up drinking tea, so I tried.
“Someone has served as the chief of the Imperial City.”
It brought up a familiar subject. We don’t need to bring up the deep topic right away and make the situation heavy.
I was forced to leave work because I was no longer a member of the royal family, but it wasn’t that I couldn’t remember the last documents I had processed.
I always talked about work when we met, so I wanted to start a conversation like that again.
But even when he opened his mouth, he didn’t say anything. A slow blinking of his eyes only then he uttered.
“You ·····.”
A low voice penetrated the ear familiarly.
“You really don’t seem to care.”
I thought about the meaning of the word for a moment. Maybe I don’t remember my ex-fiance, and I didn’t want to ask him to reconsider once more.
I wanted to protect it* because it was my last pride. Maybe Vail would have cried because he cried.
(T/N: She’s saying she didn’t want to give up her pride.)
Maybe if I could hang on and stand by him again. But nothing will change.
I wouldn’t be doing this right now if it had been worth all that work.
It was him who let go of my hand first.
It was not this side but that side that notified his fiancée of the breakup without a word.
“You really didn’t come to tell me that, did you?”
Both my father and mother were busy, so I thought about meeting them once or twice a year.
I only had one real brother. No, he was raised as a person for the prince from birth, and it was only natural that there was nothing expected of him.
“Yes, actually, I’m here to say something else.”
“You can say it.”
“When should I leave this castle?”
It’s already been a few days since it was known to the world that the Oracle had changed.
She could have returned to the duchy on the very same day, but she was keeping her seat first because there was no word from above.
“His Majesty has not said anything, so I think you have to decide.”
I calmly lowered my eyes.
I liked the temperature of the moderately cooled tea water. Without realizing it, I dampened my thirsty throat with tea.
It was like a drought. After taking a sip of tea, when she put down the tea cup, the sound of glass hitting each other resonated widely in the real world and did not say anything else.
He looked at me for a long time. He lifted himself up watching me drink tea.
“Do as you please.”
When I raised my head belatedly to a sharp voice, I could only see his back leaving.
***
It happened when I was ten years old.
Unfortunately, I was not talented in martial arts.
It was ordered by the emperor that “she should have the ability to protect herself as a member of the imperial family”. However I neither had skill nor luck.
The crown prince, who was staring at me, approached me and asked.
“If you don’t want to, you don’t have to.”
I think he used a more comfortable tone back then.
“You’re talented in writing and you’re better at handling things than I am, so you don’t have to carry a sword.”
“But it’s what the Emperor wants.”
“Even if I talked to His Majesty separately, with his languid smile, he would understand if he sees your scarred hands.”
I remembered his face clearly.
“It would be better to spend your time with me.”
“…..”
“Would you like some tea with me? Or it would be nice to take a walk.”
I hesitated with a wooden sword firmly embedded in my hands. I’d liked to have a conversation with him over a cup of tea.
He also enjoyed taking a leisurely walk away from their status as crown prince and crown princess.
“And you don’t have to be strong. I’m not as good at handling things as you are. but I was recognized for my ability to be a sword. I will not lose against your brother.”
“……?”
“So why don’t I protect you?”
He was thirteen at the time and my older brother was sixteen.
In addition to his size, despite the age gap, he put down his wooden sword with his eyes shining when he heard that he had beaten my brother.
After that, I studied instead of holding a sword.
She read a book by lighting candles to avoid the eyes of a maid who threatened to make her sleep.
The crown prince told me that he lacked the ability to take care of the country’s affairs, and that he could not keep up with his studies. He often whined, but I knew it was a lie.
He was intelligent beyond his age, mature, and capable of encompassing his subordinates.
I always ran looking at his back.
“These things, I don’t need them all.”
It was very valuable data containing ways to organize things one by one in the crown prince’s room, collect a lot of water in preparation for a drought, and prevent the trade of slave traders in Amamri.
It was very valuable data, for example, how to turn people in slums into production workers, how to save water for drought, and how to stop slave traders from trading in the dark.
When he becomes emperor, he will try to hand over this document.
As soon as they ascended the throne, they were gathered with the desire to achieve achievements that would continue into future generations.
She picked up a candlestick and dropped the embers on the paper.
The red flame slowly faded away after eating only bits of paper.
It was all information in my head, so burning it didn’t hurt much.
To cover the traces of ash, I opened the window and blew the charred ash dust into the air.
I’ve been saving all my life, and seeing it burn so easily into the air, I felt like I was finally myself.
Sitting by the window, I tried to find the moon that I couldn’t see very well. Sadly, the moon covered by the clouds did not show its face until the end.
Sitting by the window meaninglessly. Lifting up a letter.
I was to read the letter from a bird that flew away from people’s gaze this morning.
Originally, invitations and useless letters fly in every day, but this was the first letter I received since the Oracle was changed.
I ripped open the envelope with a paper knife.
“Father.”
It was expected because he’s the only person in the ducal house to send letters to me using a textbook unlike the traditional way.
I knew he’d get in touch with me eventually because of the situation. I didn’t know it was gonna be today.
I read the contents of the letter slowly.
The smooth and neat handwriting was familiar to me.
After reading all the letters containing not too long but important content, I exhaled slowly.
I rang the bell and called a maid.
“Go and bring a servant who works in the stable. He’s a dark-skinned child, he’ll be there soon.”
“Yes?”
I’ve never seen her before.
If it were before, I would have asked who she was, but now I didn’t have the energy to do so.
“Why do you call a servant from the stable……”
The maid questioned me why.
The stable is far from here
It was more laborious than I imagined, going there at night.
“Is there any reason why you should know that?”
As soon as the response came out, the maid disappeared as if she had run away.
Then, by the time I finished drinking a cup of tea, the maid who I ordered to run an errand returned.
“I see the princess.” (T/N: The maid is bowing and greeting her here.)
With permission to enter the room, the maid and a dark-haired servant came into the room.
“You go out there.”
The maid walked away as she was commanded.
I broke the tense silence between us two and called out to the servant.
“Long time no see.”
“…Princess.”
Born in the country of Hazen, who is famous for having dark black hair, purple eyes, and difficult conditions to live with, the man’s name was ‘Asha’, a man planted by the Duke.