ODBP 07

Chapter 7

After that, I snuck out of the Ruby Palace two more times. I was worried Lily might catch me, and it was hard for me to go out every night, so my secret outings happened once every few days. By then, I’d gotten pretty used to this, so I could move more cautiously than the first time. Still, my legs felt heavy, like I was running with weights strapped to them.

It’s not like I didn’t feel conflicted every time I did this. The truth was, I loved my life in the Ruby Palace so much that if I could, I wanted to keep living like this forever.

But there was a huge time bomb named Claude living in this palace. No matter how good this life was, I couldn’t just gamble with my life, right?

So these pretty little things… let’s call them my insurance. Yes, insurance so I could leave this palace at any time, for that D-day that might come any day.

I walked through the flower garden along a path that felt familiar by now—this was my fifth time. A little while later, I slipped into a palace as silent as a graveyard, just like any other day. But today, instead of heading straight to the rear garden, I turned toward a place I’d scouted out last time.

Hah! There it is! Until now, I’d only seen them from afar and wasn’t sure, but they were exactly what I thought: angel statues displayed in the first-floor corridor of this open-style palace.

They varied in size—some taller than me, some as small as my forearm. And they were all made of gold. Oh my god! The statues in my palace were marble, but these were gold!

I was thrilled. There were so many angel statues that I figured no one would notice if I swiped just one. I couldn’t do it now, but maybe when I was a bit older, I could snatch a small one. But this was really gold, right?

I examined the closest angel statue from every angle, then casually bit its chubby little butt at eye level. My baby teeth were pretty sturdy by now. Om.

Tap.

Then I felt a presence behind me. I froze, still biting the angel’s butt.

“Since when did my palace have bugs like this?”

An icy voice pierced my stiffened ear. The moment I heard it, a strange chill ran down my spine. I reflexively turned around, only to stumble backward at the shadow looming over me.

Clunk. My back hit the hard statue. When had they gotten so close? Two people had approached me without a sound.

One stood farther away—I could see his face, and from his clothes, he was probably a knight. And the one right in front of me…

Thud. Clatter!

The moment I saw his face, my limbs went weak. The pouch in my hand fell to the floor, spilling its contents. The jewels I’d been hoarding one by one for three years glittered colorfully on the white floor.

The knight behind me glanced down and made a subtle expression. But the man planted right in front of me didn’t look away even once. His gaze was fixed on me, unwavering.

“That face.”

His eyes, gleaming as coldly as his low voice, pierced through me. Mysterious eyes that never faded even in backlight, shimmering with an eerie hue.

They were just like mine, like looking into a mirror. But his eyes held not a trace of emotion—truly worthy of the name “jewel eyes.”

“I think I’ve seen you somewhere.”

I’d never seen his face even once, but I knew in an instant. The thick golden hair tousled by the wind. The jewel eyes born only to the imperial family. The expressionless face gazing down at me lazily. The predatory aura radiating from his entire body.

Claude de Alger Obelia. Athanasia’s father. The emperor of this nation. He stared at me as if I were a pebble on the side of the road.

“Ah, yes. The dancer from Theodore. You resemble that woman.”

I was so frozen by the unexpected encounter that no words came out. My mind went white, like a blank sheet of paper.

Was this what they called a mental breakdown? That’s him, right? The emperor who kills Athanasia at age eighteen. Wait, why is he in front of me right now?! I’m five years old! And this isn’t even the rear garden of the emperor’s palace!

The man, who looked to be in his mid-twenties, quietly gazed down at my panicked self, then murmured.

“Not that it matters who you are.”

I didn’t even have the presence of mind to wonder what that meant. While I stared blankly up at him, the man raised his hand very slowly.

“Your Majesty.”

The knight behind him called out in an unsettled voice. I simply watched the hand reaching toward me, still wearing a dumb expression.

Suddenly, his hand stopped. The next moment, his emotionless eyes slowly scanned my face again. Then, incredibly, a faint sneer appeared on the face that had only shown a mineral-like gleam until now.

“Now I remember.”

His jewel eyes had darkened to a deep blue, almost black.

“The name that woman gave you.”

And then, the moment his lips finally whispered my name, I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.

“It was Athanasia.”

It sounded like a death sentence to me. My heart, which had been pounding heavily, began to race as if it had finally grasped the situation. The knight behind me looked shocked by his words, as if he hadn’t known of my existence until now.

“Back then, you were just a squalling lump of flesh who couldn’t even hold up its own head.”

Indeed, Claude had met Athanasia once, four years ago.

“Its name is Athanasia?”

In the original novel, Athanasia was said to have met Claude at age nine, but their true first meeting was right after she was born. That very day was the day of the massacre at the Ruby Palace. And on that day, Emperor Claude heard the name Athanasia.

Originally, in the novel The Lovely Princess, names related to immortality could only be given to the official heir who would one day become emperor.

Moreover, since only the emperor himself could bestow such a name, even the heroine Jennette’s name simply meant “God’s grace,” not “immortal” or “eternal.”

That was also why Jennette’s aunt, the countess, always looked at Athanasia like a thorn in her side. But Diana, a mere lowly dancer, for whatever reason, gave her daughter the imperial name Athanasia.

What an audacious woman.

“Interesting. I wonder if she’ll manage to survive tenaciously, just like her name.”

The truth was, he had intended to kill Athanasia along with everyone else in the Ruby Palace. So if Diana hadn’t given me that name that day, maybe I would have…

Whoa, so I’m actually standing face-to-face with someone who once meant to kill me? Crazy. Of course, since I knew the novel, I was well aware that this bastard was a person of interest, but actually coming face-to-face with him was making my head spin.

“You’ve grown a lot in the meantime.”

You’ve grown a lot in the meantime. Now that you’ve lived enough, just die! N-no way, right? He even ignored nine-year-old Athanasia and just walked past her! What about my grand plan to quietly lie low and escape the palace before I turn eighteen?

Thud! Clatter!

While I was thinking all sorts of things, something slipped from my leg and fell to the ground. All three of us, including me, fixed our eyes on the source of the sound.

There lay the pouch, spitting out jewels in a glittering display of presence. The little rabbit-eating-carrot pattern that Hanna had personally embroidered on it was quite adorable.

“…….”
“…….”
“…….”

C-crazy. Screw it. I thought the string tied around my leg felt loose, and now this! I’d been caught with both my darlings, numbers 7 and 8, that I’d brought strapped to my legs today! Cold sweat poured down my back as I stole a glance at the person in front of me.

Claude’s expression was unreadable. He tilted his head slightly and looked back and forth between the pouch on the floor and me. Then, after a moment, he took a step toward me.

Whoosh!

And then, of all things, he slipped his hands under my armpits and lifted me up into the air!

At eye level, I met his jewel eyes, still unreadable. I was so startled that the swear words that had risen to my throat got stuck like a stone in my throat.

Wh-what is he doing?! But whether he knew how flustered I was or not, he simply stared at my face for a moment before suddenly opening his mouth.

“You’re heavy.”

I was struck dumb by his indifferent tone.

“No wonder your cheeks look like they’re about to burst. I didn’t know you’d be this heavy.”

…You crazy bastard! I’m not heavy at all! And my cheeks are perfectly standard! But more than that, why are you talking to me? You’re that bastard who only loves Jennette and completely ignores Athanasia!

“But what were you doing in my palace?”

The moment I heard that, I shrank back. My palace. He said my palace. Well, technically, every palace in the imperial grounds belonged to the emperor.

But given his relaxed attire and the way he spoke, as if out for a stroll, this was probably the palace he actually used.

Ugh. Great. Looks like I stepped on a landmine. Is this really the emperor’s palace? This place, even more modest than the Ruby Palace?! Crazy. I’ve lost it. So it wasn’t a coincidence that Athanasia saw the banquet lights and ended up at the emperor’s palace in the story; it was because they were practically within spitting distance.

The bastard’s gaze, which had been staring at me expressionlessly, shifted to behind me. Knowing what was there, another wave of cold sweat ran down my back. The knight, who had followed Claude’s gaze, looked at the embarrassingly distinct teeth marks left on the angel’s butt and said.

“She must have thought it was a toy.”

Aaaah! Are you going to kill me? Kill me for coming into your palace without permission? Kill me for leaving teeth marks on your angel statue? Kill me for still being alive?

“She must have gotten lost while playing in the Ruby Palace.”

I was so deep in mental breakdown that I hadn’t even noticed he’d turned around while still holding me.

“Felix.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Take her.”

My body was transferred through the air, regardless of my will. The knight up close was quite handsome. He looked at my face with an expression mixed with surprise and bewilderment.

Well, he’d suddenly been handed me because of Claude, so it was understandable. We stared at each other in an awkward position, our pupils wavering.

“I think I’ll have some tea and refreshments with our guest.”

What Claude said next struck me like a thunderbolt