KLRE C4

Chapter 4

“…Was it that obvious?”

The composure on Laon’s face had already faded, replaced with a trace of embarrassment. Seeing that unfamiliar expression for the first time, Kina felt not joy, but despair.

So… he’s getting married.

Even though she had always believed it could never happen, a hollow feeling still crept in.

“I’ll keep it a secret. So don’t worry.”

She concealed even that behind a gentle smile. If it was an emotion she had to bury anyway, perhaps this way wasn’t so bad. The flutter she had briefly felt sank again, like cotton soaked in water.

“I will be sure to repay today’s kindness.”

After a long day’s journey, the carriage returned to the Senet Barony. The sky had already grown dim. Laon wanted, at the very least, to repay her for helping him all day.

“It’s alright. Versha is my friend too, after all.”

Was it too much to hope that the ill feeling she had briefly harbored might be washed away with this?

“You don’t have to tell me right away. There will come a day when you need my help. When that time comes, I’ll repay you.”

“…Then I’ll take you up on that.”

Would such a day ever come? Even if death loomed before her, or if a moment came when she desperately needed money, Kina knew she would never go to him. But Laon did not know that, and she gave nothing away.

“Then, please get home safely.”

The carriage of the Greys Ducal House she rode for the first time, the time they spent alone for the first time—like magic from a Cinderella story, it was time to awaken from that brief happiness.

Laon watched Kina’s retreating figure as she grew farther away.

At the jewelry shop, Kina had carefully and sincerely helped him choose a gift. After narrowing it down to two or three pieces, she had asked for his opinion.

‘Is my opinion important?’

Laon had asked her that.

‘Of course. If it were me, I’d like a gift chosen by my lover while thinking of me the most. I think all women would feel that way.’

Realizing the meaning behind her words, Laon deliberated and chose the gem he thought would suit Versha best. Even as they went from the jeweler to the wallpaper shop and then to the bedding store, the final decision was always his—while imagining how much Versha would like it.

If Kina hadn’t helped, he might have simply chosen what looked expensive, without considering taste. That was why he truly wanted to repay her someday.

“Return to the estate.”

After confirming that Kina safely entered the residence, Laon gave the order.

All nobles knew how much Versha cherished Kina. And Kina was the same. Unlike the other young ladies who distanced themselves out of jealousy and envy, she had remained steadfastly by Versha’s side—even while aware of the rumors about herself.

Though Laon had watched Kina beside Versha for years, he still couldn’t easily define her.

At times, she seemed naïve and clumsy. At others, she endured in silence like someone who had lived through far more years than she appeared to have. Because of that, he sometimes found himself wondering how she would react this time.

Suddenly, he recalled the look in her eyes when she had faced Chris’s rude remark at the imperial event—and the way her hand had clenched her dress as if swallowing it all down.

“Honestly, that was too much.”

Frowning slightly, Laon quietly rebuked Chris before leaning back in his seat and closing his eyes.

If he had to define it, his feelings toward Kina leaned closer to fondness—simply because she had always stayed by Versha’s side, from the moment they first met until now.

“What do you mean I can’t see her when she’s in pain?!”

Chris’s voice, sharpened by frayed nerves, cut through the air. The attendants blocking his way flinched at the fury in his tone.

“It is His Majesty the Emperor’s command. Just in case…”

“‘Just in case’? Are you saying my wife has some dreadful disease?!”

“That is not the case, but…”

The attendant wiped the sweat from his brow. According to the imperial physician, Stella’s condition had steadily worsened. Her complexion had grown paler by the day, and now she couldn’t even rise from bed. That morning, after examining her once more, he had only shaken his head.

There was no hope.

“Please… just once.”

Chris spoke as if coughing up blood.

Even yesterday, Stella could barely open her eyes. The hand he held had no strength, and her pulse had grown faint. For the first time, the pale hand he once called beautiful now filled him with hatred.

“Please…”

“Your Highness!”

A scream from inside drowned out Chris’s desperate plea. The sound sent a chill down the spine of everyone present.

“No… no…!”

Chris shoved aside the attendant blocking his way. This time, the man stepped back easily and followed behind him. Chris rushed forward, his frantic steps halting only when he reached Stella’s bed.

“Stella. I’m here. I’m here!”

He clutched Stella’s already lifeless body and broke into sobs. But there was no response from her.

For a long time, he clung to her, howling like a beast.

“Please…! Didn’t you say you would stay by my side forever?”

From Chris, whose voice had already gone hoarse, a final, faint cry escaped.

It happened not long after the orphanage event.

“We give thanks that she was once among us…”

All the people of the Estin Empire mourned Stella, who had returned to the heavens as the Daughter of God. It was a death far too sudden.

The first day she collapsed with a fever was the day after visiting the orphanage. At first, they thought it was simply exhaustion from preparing for the event. But she gradually lost her vitality, and in the end, she returned to the skies.

Anyone in the empire knew the fated, beautiful love story between Crown Prince Chris and Stella, who was to become Crown Princess. Though it had been a political marriage under imperial law, the two had genuinely loved each other. The sudden tragedy, people said in unison, must have been born of the heavens’ jealousy.

Lying in a glass coffin, Stella looked as though she were merely asleep—her face so peaceful it seemed she might rise at any moment.

At least, that was how she appeared to Chris.

His eyes were empty. After collapsing, losing his mind, and collapsing again, he had only just accepted her death today. Stella, who had always steadied Chris—who seemed composed but unpredictable—was now gone.

It was the day his heart finally died.

Beside him stood Laon and Versha. Overcome with grief, Versha leaned against Laon, weeping. As she sobbed endlessly, Laon held her firmly, supporting her.

Far from them, at the very back of the memorial, Kina stood alone.

Those who attended mourned Stella in their own ways.

It was the beginning of something that would change many things.

“Tell me about her movements that day.”

The maid who had accompanied the Crown Princess that day was in extreme tension, her back damp with sweat.

“The children… called her a princess and… r-ran toward her.”

She strained to recall every detail. Chris, his expression rigid, gestured for her to continue.

“The children… yes. That’s right.”

“Her Highness had always been very good with children, so… I never thought it would become a problem…”

At the maid’s words, Chris fell silent for a moment. To her, that silence felt like an eternity.

“So you’re saying… you never stopped anyone from approaching Stella, even normally.”