ESMLT 07

Chapter 7

On that day, the crown prince, who had been looking straight ahead, spoke slowly.

“…Milady, why won’t you let go of my hand?”

“What?”

What nonsense is he talking about, in a moment like this.

I almost thought about letting go and running away.

When I narrowed my eyes and glared at him, the crown prince chuckled, as if bewildered.

“I just don’t understand. Do you even realize that while saving me, you’re risking your life?”

“Who doesn’t know that…?!”

Behind me, a horde of zombies was advancing shoulder to shoulder with each other. Did he bring them along as friends?

“Ugh.”

I gradually lost strength and leaned forward.

The rebound caused my hair tie to snap.

With a soft swish, my silver hair struck the crown prince’s cheek and fell, our eyes meeting—his bright yellow gaze locking with mine.

Perhaps because of the serene calm in his eyes, every bit of strength drained from my already exhausted body.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

‘Ah… this is it. I can’t go on anymore.’

Just as his hand began to slip from mine,

Thud—. The crown prince grabbed my wrist with the other hand holding his spear.

“Milady.”

“…Ugh, why again?”

“…If I die like this, were you planning to die with me?”

I glared at him, wide-eyed.

‘Are you insane? Why would I—am I supposed to feel it’s unfair to die alone in a situation like this?’

I thought he was joking, but his gaze was serious.

His dark pupils shimmered with the opalescent colors of swirling water, dazzling in a way that reminded me of a child discovering a new toy.

Instinctively, I felt like I was standing at some crossroads. Some kind of intuition told me that my answer could change his next move.

‘Ah… I don’t know.’

Clenching my eyes shut, I shouted in despair.

“Fine! Fine! I’ll die with you! So just—”

Do something!

I yelled inside my head.

At that moment, a zombie broke through the others and approached from behind me.

A shadow fell over my head.

As I anxiously stared at the hammer that had fallen right in front of me, something flashed past my face.

Crack!

I heard the sound of bones being pierced, and a few strands of my hair fell to the ground.

Stunned, I looked at it for a moment before rolling my eyes to glance at the crown prince.

He was smiling broadly. The luster in his eyes was different from before.

“Hold on just like that, milady.”

The crown prince tightened his grip on my hand, planted his legs against the wall,

Tap-tap-tap—!

and, running along the wall, jumped high, landing safely behind me.

‘What the…’

I sat down in a daze, blinking, slowly turning to look at him.

“Get up.”

With a gentle voice, he grabbed my arm and helped me stand. My legs shook like a newborn fawn, and I looked up at him with a dazed expression.

“We have to go, into the forest.”

He smiled warmly, fending off attacking zombies as he held my hand and ran.

Instinctively, I picked up the hammer that had fallen and was dragged along.

“…….”

How long had we been running? The zombie horde began to thin, and the dense forest came into view.

At that moment, a thought surfaced through the fog in my mind.

“…Ugh!”

That crazy idiot! He could have come up earlier!

Crack!

I had to crush a zombie’s head instead of the crown prince’s, gritting my teeth.

By the time we reached the northern Sacred Forest, the sun had set and darkness was settling in.

The forest entrance seemed enclosed by a thin, transparent barrier, as if by magic.

I passed through the transparent barrier first, and the crown prince followed.

The strange moaning of zombies was blocked, replaced by the rustling of leaves in the wind.

‘So quiet… I like it.’

Walking ahead, I pulled out the map.

X-shaped engravings were scattered across the northern forest on the map. A note at the bottom explained that trees marked with an X would guide the way to a pond.

I took out the illumination stone from my bag (a flashlight shaped stone made by Heiton) and murmured the incantation written on it.

A bright white light made me squint, illuminating a tree trunk in front of me.

“Found it.”

An engraving was carved into the rough bark.

I traced the X mark with my fingers and checked the map as I moved.

After walking for a while, I started to feel cold.

I picked up twigs and pinecones one by one to start a fire.

The crown prince quietly approached and took the items from my arms.

“…….”

He tossed them down and walked ahead again.

After moving for a while, the crown prince suddenly spoke.

“Milady.”

“…….”

“Still angry?”

“…….”

“Persistent, aren’t you?”

Don’t talk to me.

I kept my lips tightly shut and focused only on walking.

Eventually, the smell of water became stronger. Pushing aside damp leaves, a radiant pond came into view.

The purity of the Sacred Forest pond also indicated the strength of its magical barrier.

“Clean…”

I had worried that recent earthquakes might have damaged the forest, but thankfully, it seemed fine.

I walked to the pond and stared at my reflection.

Ruby-red eyes.

Silver hair falling over my forehead and framing my face in layers down to my chin.

As I leaned forward, the hair reaching my waist flowed down my back.

‘Still beautiful.’

Even after living with this face for over a month, I still couldn’t get used to it.

‘Such a pretty face, and yet why did I live so recklessly?’

As I stared at my reflection, the crown prince surfaced next to me.

I glared at the one in the water before stepping away.

I took a hair tie from my pouch and tied my hair up, flattening the area by stepping on weeds.

“Here.”

Noticing I was preparing to make a fire, the crown prince brought the twigs and pinecones he had set aside.

Naturally, I took out paper and matches from my bag, struck a match, and lit the kindling.

Tapping the sticks to make the fire catch, the crown prince knelt beside me and took the twigs.

Just as when we built the raft, he seemed unusually skilled at rough tasks for a royal.

I took a step back, hugged my knees, and watched the fire.

After lighting it, the crown prince leaned against a nearby tree beside me.

“I apologize for startling you, milady.”

“…….”

After a while, he gave a simple apology. That was all.

That alone wouldn’t improve my mood.

“Milady.”

Sighing, I heard his low voice after some time.

‘If I leave him like this, he’ll probably continue talking even when I go to bed.’

I narrowed my eyes and glared at him.

His golden eyes trembled slightly.

Honestly, I was secretly surprised at his reaction. In the original story, a mere noble lady’s anger wouldn’t faze him at all.

I sighed and turned my head the other way.

“You were testing me. You don’t trust me.”

The firelight tinted his golden eyes slightly brighter.

“You probably considered the possibility that this incident was the emperor faction’s doing… or that I might be an assassin or spy sent by them.”

The empire was currently divided between the emperor faction and the crown prince faction.

The emperor often sent the crown prince on exhausting campaigns, even in minor conflicts, intending to see his younger brother perish—an intention everyone in the empire knew.

Yet the crown prince went forth and was praised as a hero. How frustrating that must have been.

So he likely planted spies and sent assassins.

Considering that, it’s understandable why the crown prince would distrust humans and even suspect me.

But… did he have to test me with my own life?

‘How much…’

The memory of that emotion came back vividly, making my eyes burn.

Was it sadness? No, anger.

Whenever I couldn’t control my anger, I sometimes ended up in tears.

The crown prince’s eyes widened as he watched me.