I Became the Abandoned Prince Whom the Saintess Is Obsessed With

7 – The Maiden at the Palace

Katia Bart.

It had already been the fourth day for her.

Every night, she was tormented by nightmares.

It was always the same dream.

In a dream she couldn’t wake up from.

Every time, she was chased by the Crown Prince and her body froze.

At the moment when she let out a soundless scream, the Crown Prince inevitably ran towards her and strangled her.

No matter how much she struggled, she couldn’t escape.

When she woke up, belatedly letting out an unfinished scream.

Her whole body was soaked as if she had been caught in a downpour.

Even in the lack of sleep and inevitable afternoon nap.

She only dreamt the same dream every time.

The Crown Prince in her dream was truly a cruel person.

With his shining silver hair. His lively emerald eyes.

And even his handsome face.

All of it.

It was a profound beauty that ordinary humans could never possess.

That’s why it looked even more cruel.

Recall the past memories.

I was convinced that it wouldn’t be much different in reality.

Dull. Duller.

Anxious, restless, and fearful.

Once again, I was gnawing at my bitten nails.

It was already a difficult day.

But now.

I had gone as far as calling it a palace.

I felt like I was truly going insane.

I didn’t want to do it if I could help it.

No.

If I were to go there, I would inevitably face the Crown Prince, and I absolutely did not want to go.

A desperate desire suddenly struck my head.

Is this really reality?

Does it make sense?

Think about it again.

No matter how much I think about it, I come to the same conclusion.

The Crown Prince wouldn’t want to see me.

If it was the Emperor, it was even more so.

There was no way the Crown Prince would not be aware of what happened that day without going crazy.

He would have been talking about it in every nook and cranny.

Just by doing as he was told, he would have been satisfied.

And she was actually in a state of doing her best to fulfill what the Crown Prince had ordered.

So there was no room for doubt.

There was no reason for her to be called to the palace.

Then why…

Why did someone come to fetch her in the name of the Emperor…

Could it be?

Was it because the Crown Prince was selling out the Emperor to properly punish her?

No.

That couldn’t be it.

If that were the case, the Crown Prince would have come himself. It would have been quieter and more certain.

And then, in an instant.

She suddenly realized.

The maid who delivered the message had definitely pointed at her.

But when she asked the maid, trying to figure out the reason.

– I have come to fetch the daughter of Count Bart.

That’s all she heard.

She only said “daughter.” Her name was not specified.

If that’s the case, perhaps it’s not me that the Emperor is looking for, but Elaine.

No, that can’t be right.

If there really is someone that the Emperor wants to meet.

He must be.

Elaine, who was rescued by the notorious Prince of Ruin.

His face, as dark as the night sky outside the window, brightened in an instant.

“He’s alive. I don’t have to see the Prince of Ruin. I’m really relieved.”

“Elaine!”

Katia rushed out, calling her half-sister’s name.

***

Elaine felt strange.

From morning till night, she felt restless.

It had already been four days.

Every day, without exception.

Whenever she had a moment, the face of a man would come to mind.

The notorious Prince of Ruin who saved her.

And every time, her heart would beat fast.

It was incomprehensible.

The man’s cold expression and ruthless voice were never affectionate.

But somehow.

Inside the cold mask that gave birth to spring, it felt like there was undoubtedly a warm heat.

It came without warning, like the last snow of early spring.

And then it melted away, just like that.

Yet, I don’t know how much has changed because of that man.

Of course.

When a day had passed since the prince left.

Everything felt like a dream.

The next day.

I cried tears of a dream still lingering.

And the day after that.

I finally realized that reality, stronger than any dream, had fallen like a meteor.

There was no way I couldn’t know.

The touch of salvation, like a ray of sunlight in a shadowed life.

It was offered by the notorious abandoned prince, who suddenly appeared one day.

To make it more certain.

After a long struggle, I even asked my step-sister, whom I can now call “sister,” subtly.

“Is your change because of the prince?”

With an anxious expression and cautious gestures, she returned.

That alone was enough explanation.

There was no room for doubt.

Every change in her life had been caused by that man.

Her once darkened vision had become bright.

When she woke up this morning, laughter came naturally.

She no longer had to work as a maid.

Her shabby room had been replaced with a much nicer one.

Yesterday, she even had the chance to meet her mother after a long time. Katia and her escorts accompanied her all the way to the escort.

Even though she was only eighteen, Elaine knew what was right.

She had to express her gratitude once again. Properly this time.

That was the duty of a human being.

Even though she had nothing.

Still, it was only right for her to convey a short word of thanks as a person.

But it was difficult to meet the Crown Prince again.

As the illegitimate child of a viscount, it was not her place to enter the palace without an invitation.

But what was going on?

“Elaine, at the palace… I, I sent someone to bring you.”

Her sister, with a more guilty expression than usual, blurted out the words without even meeting her eyes.

It seemed like a good opportunity.

Today, she finally planned to meet the Crown Prince and express her gratitude.

So, she confidently boarded the carriage that was waiting in front of the mansion.

The carriage, painted in red, was adorned with elaborate golden decorations.

The most impressive of all were the golden patterns symbolizing the royal family.

The dynamic figure of a winged lion, standing on its hind legs and slashing at the sky with sharp claws, was finely crafted.

As soon as the door closed, indicating that there was an urgent matter at hand, the carriage sped off.

The power exerted by the four black horses pulling the carriage was remarkable even to her, who was riding in it for the first time.

The road, the buildings, and the people all passed by in a blur.

Furthermore, almost everyone she saw through the window stopped in their tracks, eyes widening and mouths agape, whenever they saw the carriage.

Some even waved their hands, while others bowed their heads.

Neither people nor other carriages obstructed their way.

Everyone noticed first and made way on their own.

And every time, Elaine’s heart raced faster than the pounding sound of hooves.

The day had finally come for her to ride in the royal carriage.

Even just riding in a carriage was a new and intense experience for her.

Perhaps it would be something she would remember until the day she died.

In her agonizing life, this was something that stood out.

It was as unbelievable as the prince’s sudden appearance.

Arriving at the palace like that.

She was led straight to the prince’s bedroom.

In front of the bedroom door.

Elaine adjusted the fit of her dress with a slightly flushed face.

It was an expensive dress that her sister, who had a similar build, personally dressed her in.

It felt awkward, as it was the first time she had ever worn a dress like this.

As she thought about seeing the prince’s face again, her heart fluttered and her hands became sweaty.

If she had known this would happen, she would have worn gloves too. She regretted not listening to her sister.

“Please come in.”

Swallowing her regret and drying her tears, she entered the prince’s bedroom.

She was so shocked that she had to cover her mouth with both hands.

How is this possible?

Just a few days ago, the prince was perfectly fine, but now he had the face of someone dying.

His anguished, furrowed face was covered in cold sweat.

With every breath he took, a painful groan naturally mixed in.

His gaunt face presented an extreme contrast to just a few days ago.

She didn’t know the reason, but in that moment, she could be certain.

The prince, who seemed so vibrant just a few days ago.

He’s dying right before my eyes.

Beside Prince Hwang was Emperor, but Elaine couldn’t even greet him.

It was such a shocking sight.

The only thing that came to her mind at that moment was what the Prince said in the Marquis’s house.

– I want you to heal me when I am seriously injured.

Was it a vision of the future?

But if it really was a vision of the future, there was a significant error in it.

As someone who was just a maid, she didn’t have the power to heal the Prince.

“Are you the daughter of Marquis Bart?”

“Yes? Oh, yes…!”

Elaine, who finally saw the man next to the bed, was startled and replied.

“My son was looking for you. Can you wait a little until he wakes up?”

“Oh, if he’s your son…!”

Elaine realized that the man in front of her was the Emperor, and she was amazed and bowed down.

“I, I have committed a crime worthy of death…! I greet Your Majesty, the most noble sun of the Empire!”

The Emperor chuckled and said.

“Enough. Get up. If you’re my son’s fiancée, you’re practically family anyway.”

“Yes…?”

What does “fiancée” mean, and what does it mean to be practically family?

She was so bewildered that she couldn’t even think of anything to say.

What on earth is going on…

The more I try to understand, the more tangled my thoughts become.

And to make matters worse, it’s in front of the Emperor.

I was afraid I might say something wrong and provoke unnecessary anger.

So I was even more cautious. Even my explanation felt burdensome.

“How did you meet my son?”

“…W-We met at…at home…”

It was the answer I finally settled on after much deliberation.

After all, we did meet at the Marquis’s house, so it wasn’t a lie to say we met at home.

Of course, it was a highly ambiguous answer that could easily be misunderstood, but in this bewildering situation, it was the most prudent response she could think of.

“How often did you meet?”

I was so flustered that even what I knew became confusing.

I counted on my fingers to help me.

And the Emperor naturally counted in his mind.

One. Two. Three. Four.

“I see. Have you already gone as far as you can go?”

The Emperor nodded first and spoke, depriving Elaine of the chance to answer.

Her face turned crimson for a moment, but it wasn’t noticeable against the redness of the candlelight.

Of course, due to the extreme contrast of light and shadow created by the candles, her expression, as if on the verge of tears, became even more pronounced.

The Emperor looked at the Prince’s face and murmured.

“He disobeyed my orders not to leave the palace. Once again, he has defied my command.”

The Emperor looked at Elaine again and spoke with a smile.

“I am grateful that you were by his side during his most difficult times.”

His lips curled, and his eyes crinkled, but it was a smile that seemed so sorrowful.

But those difficult times…?

As if implying a long period of time that had continued since the past, Elaine’s head involuntarily tilted at the strange nuance.

Only vague words continued to reach her, leaving her in a situation where she couldn’t refute anything.

And then, finally, she gathered the courage to ask.

“But how did you come to summon me…”

Her voice, which had been crawling, in front of the Emperor’s sad expression.

Eventually, like a ripple that gradually subsided, it trembled and faded away.

The Emperor’s gaze turned back to the Crown Prince.

“He was the one who asked for you. It seems he wanted to spend his last moments together.”

Last moments… Elaine’s pupils, murmured silently, quivered for a moment.

Her own speculation was not wrong.

The Crown Prince was truly fading away.

For some reason, tears welled up.

Only one day.

It was just a brief encounter that lasted a few minutes.

But somehow, tears kept welling up and overflowing.

In the midst of that, the prince woke up.

“Well then, let’s have a comfortable conversation.”

The emperor rose from his seat as if he had been waiting.

Between the flickering candlelight, their gazes met.

“……”

The prince couldn’t say anything.

Even in her eyes, it seemed like death was imminent.

Her appearance was so pitiful that eventually, the tears that had been welling up began to flow silently.

Eleanor quickly wiped away her tears.

“Thank you. For saving me.”

She bowed her head, just like she did a few days ago.

Deep silence settled in.

The only thing obscuring their meeting gazes were the occasional blinking eyelids of the two.

Then Eleanor spoke again.

“Although you said such words to me, I really don’t know how to do something like healing… I’m sorry.”

Eleanor bowed her head once again in apology.

When she raised her head, the prince’s eyes were closed.

It felt strange, as if she was looking at a dead person.

For a moment, she held her breath and looked at the prince’s abdomen. It was subtly sinking and rising again.

Phew… He let out a sigh of relief.

To think that he was looking at the face of the Crown Prince.

A feeling of pity, sadness, and apology swirled violently within him.

Suppressing all those emotions, the one thing that stood out was a sense of uniqueness.

It was all because of the certainty he saw in the eyes of the Crown Prince, who had asked him for a favor a few days ago.

Please heal me.

No matter how much he thought about it,

It didn’t seem like something a person would say without reason.

Why on earth?

Why did the Crown Prince at that moment, seem so convinced as if he had the ability to heal himself?

It was something that she, as a mere noblewoman’s maid, could never understand.

She was neither a magician nor a priestess.

She had no extraordinary abilities like healing.

Of course, if she could, Elaine wanted to heal the Crown Prince.

He was undoubtedly her savior.

So, if she had the ability…

Even without being asked, she wanted to help him first, out of her own will.

I truly don’t know what to do.

I couldn’t find a way, and all I could do was watch the dying prince, unable to do anything else.

It was so suffocating and heartbreaking to watch the prince, who was struggling to breathe.

There was something that the prince didn’t say.

Without a doubt, there was something.

But I couldn’t possibly know what it was.

Clunk!

At that moment, the prince coughed up blood.

It was the last signal announcing the arrival of death.

“Oh, no, you can’t die! I’ll call someone, someone!”

“Just… a… moment… please…”

I hurriedly went back, but when I heard the prince’s weak voice, I turned around again.

I quickly went back and held the prince’s trembling hand with both hands.

My hands were shaking weakly.

I was truly sad.

It was so pitiful and pathetic that I couldn’t even offer a small help to the person who saved my life.

Please.

I truly thought that if I had some healing ability, I would have nothing else to wish for if I could save him.

It was that moment.

Intense light burst from her hands, illuminating the bedroom brightly.