Chapter – 43
That wish seemed unexpected even to Avian. He stared at Kiana with bewildered eyes.
“Uh… um, why would you make a wish like that…?”
“It’s a secret.”
Kiana replied expressionlessly before stretching once.
“Anyway, let’s go now. I’ve already made all the wishes I needed to.”
Avian stared at her quietly before speaking in a low voice.
“…My lady.”
“Yes?”
“For the upcoming imperial banquet, have you decided on your escort yet?”
“Yes. Marquis Levin said he would come pick me up.”
Kiana answered calmly.
“As you know, my grandfather and Joshua haven’t attended banquets in a long time, and Alex isn’t in the capital. Why?”
“Ah… if it hadn’t been decided yet, I was thinking I might escort you myself. Um…”
Kiana looked at Avian with an expression that clearly said, Why exactly would you do that?
Avian smiled awkwardly and continued.
“I felt like I wanted to observe you more closely, my lady… but I suppose I missed my chance to be your escort as well.”
The moment Cesare heard that, he clenched his fist tightly.
Just as he was about to reveal himself without thinking about the consequences, Kiana blinked and replied,
“Even if you escort me, you won’t be able to observe me more closely though?”
“Is that so? Then what should I do?”
“Well, first you’d need to get a microscope.”
“Pardon?”
“One with a high magnification rate.”
Silence fell for a moment.
Even Cesare, who had been about to jump out, froze in place.
“…Let us leave now, my lady.”
Avian sighed once and refrained from asking further as he climbed back onto the horse with Kiana.
“It’s already late at night, so I’ll ask what I originally wanted to ask another time. You should rest as well, my lady.”
“Yes, it’s not urgent anyway, so ask slowly.”
“That’s usually something the person asking says, not the one answering…”
“So you’re dissatisfied? How dare you? You owe me a favor, remember? Don’t forget that.”
Kiana shamelessly acted as though she were threatening him, and the two gradually disappeared into the distance.
Even after they left, Cesare remained standing there as though bewitched.
The conversation he had shared with Ranyak before departing resurfaced dreamily in his mind.
“Ranyak.”
“Yes?”
“Telling a stupid thug-trash bastard that he can do it too… what kind of emotion do you think that is?”
“Rehabilitation?”
“Saying he can become a good person?”
“Comfort?”
“Telling him to become happy?”
“Sympathy?”
“And what exactly is this emotion I’m feeling right now, where I hate every single one of your answers?”
“…Abuse of power?”
Cesare could not criticize Ranyak.
Because objectively, he knew those answers were correct.
The reason he felt miserable was not Ranyak’s fault.
It was Kiana’s.
Why had Kiana said things like that?
That he could become a good person. That he could live well. That he should become happy…
Those kinds of words…
While looking directly into his eyes in a way that made his heart tremble…
‘If she hadn’t said those things, I wouldn’t have been thinking about them all day.’
In the end, Cesare forcibly changed the subject in order to escape those thoughts.
“Ranyak.”
“Yes?”
“Besides His Majesty the Emperor, do you think there’s anyone left in the capital who genuinely wants me to return? Even just one person?”
“How would I know? I only came to the capital recently.”
He had asked Ranyak that question because he wanted to remind himself that he was lonely down to his bones.
And yet…
“Please let His Highness the Crown Prince return safely and ascend the imperial throne without harm.”
A wish spoken without even the slightest hesitation.
Why?
Only the goddess statue, silently watching over everything, stood quietly before the dark sea at night.
Suddenly, he became curious about what Kiana had written in her note.
The image of her calmly standing there, bitterly pocketing the diamond before elegantly writing the note, remained vivid in his mind.
The pink strands of hair fluttering in the wind.
Her somewhat troubled expression.
The small note being carefully folded twice by her tiny hands into a neat shape.
How had she accepted his sincere message telling her not to involve herself with dangerous things?
Cesare stood silently for a long moment before pressing the fish scale on the goddess statue once more.
Strangely, his heart pounded rapidly.
Somehow… it even felt a little exciting.
Just like the way his heart had sunk when he first discovered her note in the hidden compartment.
At least at that moment, that tiny note had felt almost like a path.
Just like the saying that had been passed down through the bloodline of Tailize for generations.
Within the note received by Tailize, there shall be a path.
After waiting a little before the mechanism, a neatly folded note emerged.
With trembling hands, Cesare unfolded it.
[Stop stalking me.]
“……”
Cesare folded the note again and carefully placed it back into the mechanism.
That night, in the distant southern region, Alex was dreaming.
“Why are you like this, Alex? Is Kiana really that cute?”
“Yes, Mother. How can a baby possibly be this adorable?”
“You used to complain that you didn’t want a younger sibling.”
“That’s because I thought all younger siblings would be like Joshua. But Kiana…”
“Kiana what?”
“…She’s so pretty because she looks like you, Mother.”
“Then later, whenever you miss me, you can look at Kiana and think of me. Someday, Hyde and I will leave too, and a day will come when only you children remain in this world.”
Kiana and Alex had a five-year age gap.
That was why Alex faintly remembered Kiana as a baby.
Though Kiana herself probably did not remember those days.
And then…
“Madam… it seems she ran away with that coachman bastard, Paul!”
At that time, Alex had only been ten years old.
And Alex, too, was a Prelai.
“Whenever you look at Kiana, you can think of me.”
How was he supposed to treat that child?
Because he did not know the answer, he had been afraid to even speak to her.
Meanwhile, Kiana had treated everyone sharply.
“Don’t touch me. Just leave me alone!”
She locked herself inside her room, refusing to communicate with anyone.
Back then, Alex had also suddenly lost his parents in an instant.
At the time, even handling his own emotions had been overwhelming enough.
And so their childhood passed.
Now that he was much older, although late, he still wanted to properly talk with Kiana at least once.
Even though Kiana had ignored every letter he had sent to the Academy…
Still, hadn’t her return to the Prelai Ducal Estate meant that she had taken one step toward her family?
If so, then he too needed to take one step closer.
No—even two or three steps if necessary.
He thought that once he returned to the Prelai Ducal Estate, he should finally try having a conversation with Kiana.
“Whenever you look at Kiana, you can think of me.”
Alex, the eldest grandson of the Prelai Ducal House, abruptly opened his eyes.
It was one of the recurring nightmares from his past that he kept having.
Short blond hair.
Deep, fierce red eyes.
A rugged face with strong features.
Black clothes he always wore.
He was the young man most often said to resemble Scari Prelai the most, with his intimidating appearance.
A very long time ago…
There had once been a time when everyone laughed happily while saying that Alex resembled Scari, Joshua resembled Hyde, and Kiana resembled Enerus perfectly.
And the moment Alex opened his eyes, reality returned, souring his mood instantly.
He had come all the way here to investigate the mastermind behind the maid who had attempted a pathetic assassination against Scari.
Because of that, he had not even seen Kiana’s face, despite arriving only a few hours apart from her that night.
And yet even after coming this far, he still had failed to uncover who was behind the maid, meaning he would have to return to the ducal estate empty-handed.
As he sat up, the messenger bird perched beside his pillow flapped its wings once.
Out of habit, Alex immediately spat out a curse.
“If you arrived, then screech properly, you bird-brain bastard.”
Then he snatched the letter from the visibly displeased messenger bird.
“…What the hell?”
The moment Alex checked the contents of the letter, his red eyes became filled with madness.
“Those Academy trash bastards…”
<Master?>
Beside him, his summoned beast—a gray wolf named Wolf—opened its eyes with a yawn.
<Why do you look even crazier than usual in the middle of the night? At least while you were asleep, you only looked slightly crazy.>
“I need to head to the Principality of Lilon immediately.”
Alex spoke in a chilling voice.
“There’s something there that needs to be wiped out.”
<Oh. So it’s finally time for another sword dance?>
Wolf stretched broadly.
Then, with crazed eyes, he shouted:
<Let’s go! Let’s kill them! Let’s wipe them all out!>
Those eyes looked exactly like Alex’s.
Alex mounted the gray wolf, his red eyes gleaming dangerously.
“Take the shortest route possible. I don’t care how rough the path is.”
