Chapter 12
I reflexively turned my head—and froze on the spot.
“I asked what you’re doing.”
Damian was standing at the entrance of the annex, staring at me with an openly hostile expression.
Since when had he been there?
Cold sweat trickled down my back.
I quickly turned my body, hiding my bandaged arm behind me.
“It’s nothing.”
“It is something when Her Highness the Princess is here. The guest rooms are in the main building, not the annex.”
His sharp tone, laced with undisguised hostility, pierced my ears.
The quiet haze I had been lost in just moments ago vanished, replaced by tension.
I had tried so hard not to run into him, and yet of all ways, it had to happen like this.
It was widely known throughout the Empire that the sole heir of the Carter Grand Duke’s family despised the princess.
Even at the moment he was ultimately driven out of the Empire under my command, Damian had cursed the imperial family.
‘I thought I had won back then.’
But in the end, I was the one who lost.
At that moment, Damian’s gaze shifted over my shoulder. Simultaneously, his face twisted violently.
“Don’t misunderstand. I just came here—”
Before I could finish, Damian strode across the corridor and grabbed my arm roughly.
Of all places, it was the one wrapped in bandages.
The flesh beneath the cloth was crushed, and dizzying pain surged through me.
“Ugh…!”
“Where did you go in? How dare you—do you even know what that place is?”
Damian’s green eyes gleamed darkly.
I hurried to shake off his hand, but he didn’t budge.
‘Why is he so strong?!’
I clenched my teeth and twisted my wrist.
It hurt. It felt like the wound was tearing open again.
Just as I managed to wrench my wrist free—
“To think that Her Noble Highness the Princess would now stoop to scurrying around the Grand Duke’s estate like a rat.”
With a mocking tone, Damian abruptly let go of my arm.
I quickly clutched it to myself.
It throbbed. It might have started bleeding again.
But I couldn’t show it.
“That room is not a place for the likes of you to set foot in.”
“…I didn’t go in on purpose.”
“Of course not. When has Her Noble Highness ever done anything intentionally?”
He sneered blatantly.
‘Endure it. There’s no good in talking back here.’
If I were still the princess I used to be, there would have been dozens of ways to shut that mouth.
But now, I was merely someone staying at the Grand Duke’s estate on sufferance.
After searching desperately for something to say, I answered in a small voice.
“I was only looking for the dispensary. And I am a guest here—with your father’s permission.”
“Ah, a guest.”
Damian lowered his head and let out a short laugh.
“Since the word’s been mentioned, let’s make something clear.”
He bent down to meet my eyes.
His low voice slipped out like a mutter.
“Your Highness, whatever scheme you’re plotting, you’d better conduct yourself carefully. I won’t willingly let myself be deceived by you like my father does.”
I kept my lips tightly sealed and met his gleaming eyes head-on.
There was a murderous glint in them, as though he wanted to cut down the princess standing before him at any moment.
“Never set foot near my sister’s room again.”
His words stabbed into my ears like a finely honed blade.
“A filthy, cunning spawn of the imperial family has no right to enter that place. Do you understand?”
I swallowed dryly.
My throat bobbed.
Perhaps the one who hated the imperial family even more than Carlos was Damian.
‘He said my sister’s room.’
That phrase caught strangely in my chest.
Sister.
There must have been a time when I was this boy’s sister.
But to him now, I was nothing more than the daughter of the enemy who stole his sister away.
“Leave. Before I find you even more suspicious.”
Damian stepped back, glaring at me.
His eyes told me to get out.
After staring at him for a moment, I obediently turned and walked away.
‘It’d be best not to run into him for a while.’
My arm, hidden beneath my long sleeve, throbbed painfully.
In the end, I hadn’t even managed to apply any medicine.
After that encounter with Damian, I stayed cooped up in my room like a dead mouse.
It wasn’t fear exactly—but facing him was uncomfortable.
Before my regression, every time I ran into that man, my blood pressure had shot through the roof. He would sneer the moment he opened his mouth, and even standing still, he had a talent for getting on my nerves.
But back then, I had viewed Damian purely as an enemy. Now it was different. I had no idea how to respond to the sharp, cutting words he threw at me.
The only time I left my room was to prepare lunch. With careful steps, I would head to the kitchen and, together with Mia, make dishes to deliver to Carlos.
Every single one was made with ingredients good for detoxifying demonic energy.
At first I had been clumsy, but now I was getting used to it. Though Mia still did most of the work.
Still, fortunately, even though Carlos would look subtly displeased each time, he accepted my food without protest.
That alone felt like a relief.
Today, as usual, I knocked on the office door.
“I’m coming in.”
When I entered, Carlos was reading documents as always. Even when I set down the tray, he showed little reaction. It seemed he had grown somewhat accustomed to it as well.
I placed the tray on one side of his desk.
“Today it’s a detox juice made with carrots and kale, and a sandwich.”
A detoxifying juice to calm demonic energy and a sandwich filled with herbs.
It was a recipe Mia and I had chosen together.
There was no reply.
It was a familiar response.
I was about to quietly straighten the tray and step back when Carlos suddenly lifted his head and spoke.
“Damian will accompany you to the West, Princess.”
“What?”
What did he just say?
I froze and stared at Carlos.
“What do you mean?”
“Didn’t you request an escort to accompany you to the West?”
Carlos replied flatly, as if asking why I was even questioning it.
Wait.
I had certainly requested transportation and an escort to accompany me to the West.
But Damian?
What I meant was a few suitable knights.
‘Even if it’s an escort in name and surveillance in reality, is he trying to suffocate me before we even reach the West?’
My mouth fell open.
“But… isn’t the young duke still a minor?”
“Is that a problem?”
“It’s not that….”
What was I supposed to say?
I couldn’t outright say I didn’t want Damian.
But agreeing meekly meant envisioning the journey ahead—and it was already suffocating.
Just as I was searching for words, the office door opened behind me.
“You called for me, Father?”
It was Damian.
His gaze met mine. His expression turned icy.
“What are you staring at?”
I think I’m doomed.
