KLRE C5

Chapter 5

“…Pardon?”

“I’m saying—wasn’t it your negligence that led to Stella’s death?”

A heavy silence fell over everyone listening. Within that stillness, only Chris’s voice—unchanged from usual—sent chills down their spines. It was clear he was not in his right mind, yet the calm expression and composed tone he had learned since childhood concealed that madness.

“N-No, Your Highness…!”

The maid trembled like a leaf and collapsed to the floor. No one moved to help her. Perhaps, silently, they were all assigning the blame to her. In truth, everyone present wanted someone—anyone—to take responsibility.

“T-Then… isn’t it also the fault of the orphanage for failing to keep the children clean?”

Now prostrated, she blurted out anything that came to mind. Her fractured mind clung to a single instinct: survival.

“The orphanage?”

“Yes!”

At the Crown Prince’s response, the maid brightened and answered eagerly.

“Those children! They weren’t kept clean, and… and… the children! We warned them to be careful beforehand, but those who didn’t listen—what about them!”

The most important thing was her own survival. Chris listened quietly to her desperate struggle. As the silence stretched, the officials who had been listening with their heads bowed cautiously looked up at him—only to lower their gazes again almost immediately.

The Crown Prince has gone mad.

A dangerous warning echoed in their minds.

“Now that I think about it, you’re right. It is everyone’s fault for failing to serve properly.”

“Y-Yes…! Exactly.”

For a brief moment, hope flickered in the maid’s eyes.

“Therefore, I intend to punish them all. You will be the first.”

Chris gestured to the knights behind him.

“Y-Your Highness? Your Highness…!”

The knights dragged her away as she stood there in despair.

“Your Highness, the Crown Prince!”

With her final cry, the door shut, and silence returned. Not even the sound of swallowing could be heard.

Everyone present realized it instinctively: from now on, deaths born of inescapable responsibility would continue. Yet those who did not wish to become part of that death had no choice but to remain silent.

“Drag them all out!”

Royal knights stormed into the orphanage without warning, hauling out all the teachers who worked there.

“Why are you taking people away so violently?!”

Kina stepped forward to block them.

“By order of His Highness the Crown Prince. Please step aside.”

“You can’t just—!”

As she spread her arms wide to stop them, a single gesture from a knight sent her stumbling to the ground.

“Miss!”

“Move already!”

The knight shoved her with his foot in irritation.

The children of the orphanage watched with terrified eyes as their teachers were dragged away mercilessly. Some began to cry. Soon, as if the fear were contagious, most of the children were weeping.

“Kina.”

Devilito, the only one who hadn’t cried, approached and took her hand. But even his eyes brimmed with tears, as if he might break down at any moment.

“It’ll be alright. It’s okay.”

Kina pulled Devilito into an embrace. It was a spell she cast upon herself.

“Don’t come in!”

Bersha hurled everything within her room. The maids of the Crown Princess’s palace, who had tried to calm and persuade her, could only stand outside, unable to enter. Even they felt sorrow over the situation—so they could only imagine how devastating it must be for her.

“That kind of law…! Such a ridiculous law…!”

In the Estin Empire, the Crown Prince was to take as his Crown Princess the daughter of the highest-ranking family—provided their age difference did not exceed ten years.

At present, there were no eligible daughters in any ducal house. Thus, the opportunity fell to the daughters of marquis families. And by Chris’s choice—having fallen for Stella of the Fanny Marquisate—she had been designated as the Crown Princess-to-be.

With Stella now dead, the next Crown Princess was, naturally, Bersha. She had neither grounds to delay nor to refuse. In the end, regardless of her will, she was moved to the Crown Princess’s palace.

Bersha buried her face in a pillow and cried—so bitterly that even those outside could hear.

Despite the impending marriage, she had neither the mind nor the desire to prepare. Yet preparations had to be made. Unlike Chris, who could proceed immediately, Bersha needed a wedding dress tailored to her body and all new belongings prepared.

“Head Maid.”

A maid hurried over to Sheila, who stood helplessly outside Bersha’s room, and whispered something urgently. At her words, Sheila quickly stepped outside the palace—and saw Chris approaching with his escort.

“Your Highness.”

“Is she inside?”

After giving Sheila, who bowed hurriedly, a brief glance, he headed straight toward Bersha’s room. It was easy to guess why he had come. Numerous maids stood before the door.

“All of you, wait at a distance.”

At Chris’s curt command, the maids quickly dispersed. Only after they were gone did he open the door.

“Don’t come in—!”

Bersha threw a pillow just as she spotted Chris. Her face, turned toward him, was a mess from crying. The pillow she had thrown landed at his feet.

“Seems you still have some strength left.”

Chris spoke as usual, but Bersha knew—he was not the same.

“So, will you continue to resist?”

“…What brings you here?”

Sensing that he carried a deeper sorrow, Bersha asked in a slightly softened voice.

“This mess… it resembles mine.”

Chris glanced around the chaotic room before sitting on the bed beside her. As he drew closer, the scent of alcohol reached her.

“You don’t want this marriage either, do you, Your Highness?”

Bersha clung to his arm.

“I have nothing to like or dislike anymore.”

With the one he cherished gone, marriage meant nothing. Even being alive held no meaning for him. Stella, who surfaced in his mind every moment, made him want to die.

“Then say you don’t want it. Say you’ll choose another woman. You can do that, can’t you?”

With pleading eyes unlike anything she had shown before, Bersha begged him. Any other man might have been captivated by such a sight—but Chris only looked at her without emotion.

“It’s the law. You know it can’t be changed.”

“But you can change it, Your Highness. Right?”

Though she knew it sounded like petulance, she clung to him. She had no other choice. The thought of marrying someone other than Raon was unimaginable.

“Running away would be faster.”

“Please…!”

Tears, which had momentarily stopped, began to fall again.

The Estin Empire had unified vast lands. Even smaller nations beyond its reach were now requesting to be annexed. To think of running away from such a place—it was certain she would be captured before long.

“So, we’ll marry.”

Though those words should have stirred excitement, neither the speaker nor the listener felt anything. It was, in a way, the most fitting proposal for the two of them.

“And you can love Raon.”

Bersha, who had been crying without heeding his proposal, froze at the mention of “Raon” and looked up at Chris in shock.