Episode 23
Yurian wasn’t as angry as he thought, but Princess Yvonne sleeping beside him annoyed him. So, he gently opened the gap between her lips with his fingers and inserted his thumb. The sensation of her soft tongue was transmitted through his fingertips.
He moved his face closer to her lips.
“When Kes achieves a significant accomplishment, we’ll be engaged.”
Perhaps due to the sudden thought of those words, Yurian stopped his actions. Although their lips seemed close to touching, it felt somehow unfair.
Engagements aren’t something you can casually mention.
Yurian sighed deeply, realizing that he could see now.
He wanted to see the confused face of Princess Yvonne, the royal Yvonne, that he imagined. The sloppy face she showed when she said she would reveal her face on the first day.
Yurian lifted his body, which was leaning on the bed, and gently placed her inside the bed. Even with the weight of the dress, the princess was quite light. After laying her next to him, he lay down, looking up at the ceiling.
He felt pleased at the thought of her waking up in a hurry and trying to escape.
Yurian slowly slid his arm under her neck. Then, with a clear view, he stared at her face.
He had seen her face up close before. The cherished princess of the emperor. Most high-ranking officials knew of the princess’s existence, but they had never seen her properly. Even when she appeared at significant events, she either wore a bonnet with lace or covered her eyes with a mesh.
However, Yurian clearly remembered her face from a distance. Although it seemed like she had no recollection of it, she had passed by him closely. She didn’t seem to remember anything.
Yvonne’s white eyelashes fluttered delicately, and his gaze was drawn to the vivid purple eyes underneath. The cute nose and red lips, accompanied by rosy cheeks.
She was undoubtedly a beautiful woman, like a well-crafted porcelain doll. However, her occasionally mature expressions seemed oddly premature for her age.
Yurian looked at Yvonne like that and fell back asleep.
Yurian woke up again because her breathing became louder. Despite not fully waking up, he burst into laughter at the sound of her surprised inhale.
Gently opening his eyes, she was looking at him directly. When he woke up, he grabbed her hand as she seemed confused and was about to get up.
“Yvonne.”
Then, she turned around. Seeing her face puzzled as expected, Yurian felt more like it was a mistake rather than satisfaction.
“You slept uncomfortably, so I did that. I didn’t do anything. I really didn’t.”
“…”
“I’m thankful for you releasing the restraints.”
As Yurian continued to explain, Yvonne’s face showed a subtle reduction in alertness. Although her face had the same confused expression that he had longed for until a moment ago, it wasn’t exactly what he expected.
It seemed that if she left with such an expression, she might never come back again.
“Ivon treated me, right?”
“…”
“Ivon. Can’t you answer something?”
“Yes.”
With a growing sense of anxiety due to the lack of response or reaction to my words, Yvonne finally answered. Yurian chuckled in relief as she rolled her eyes and avoided eye contact. Even a woman like her, who couldn’t hide her emotions, displayed a sense of familiarity.
Why was she staring at me so expressionlessly earlier?
“Yvonne.”
“Yes.”
“It seems like you’re under hypnosis, Yvonne.”
“Maybe. I don’t know what it is. It could be various things.”
Although he was hesitant to believe that the emperor would hypnotize even the princess he cherished, the answer indicated only one thing.
However, despite the shocking revelation, Yurian stared at her closely, reacting with a response that seemed more accustomed than unaffected. Yvonne slowly released his hand, then descended her legs beneath the bed.
“What’s afflicting you?”
“How would I know? It’s typical not to know when or what it is.”
She seemed to have resigned herself to that part, displaying indifference.
Yvonne remained silent about that particular matter, unable to speak. Her refusal to continue the conversation lingered in Yurian’s eyes like a lingering scar.
“As for the attempts to undo it…”
“You just need to distance yourself. If you leave and stay away from here, it’ll naturally loosen.”
She seemed to want to stop talking about it and got up from the bed entirely. Yurian also rose, sensing a change in her body temperature that had kept him warm until now.
“Yvonne.”
Watching her put on shoes and head towards the door, Yurian used his abilities without even blinking.
The restraint around his neck, which was still hanging, was connected to a long iron chain attached to the wall. Yurian wanted to cut it off. And he wanted to prevent her from leaving through the door.
“Yurian, don’t use your strength.”
“…Okay.”
However, at her short warning, he halted the use of magic. Whether she saw the completely extinguished light around his neck or not, Yvonne, with a relieved expression, brought a paper she had taken care of and approached the bed again.
“What’s this?”
“What does it look like?”
“Inside the palace…?”
“Yes.”
The princess gestured for him to turn towards her. Yurian found her gesturing amusingly, but suddenly felt embarrassed as he saw the marks he had left on his neck.
“Why are you doing that?”
“I’m hungry.”
“Really? I fed you soup when you fainted earlier.”
“…Did you?”
“You ate a lot. Aren’t you full?”
He only said it to divert her attention, but instead, she seemed worried if he had been under some strange hypnosis. Now, even if he wanted to lie, it felt odd, so he remained silent.
“Oh, Yurian.”
“Call me more.”
“Yes?”
“I prefer being called by my name.”
“…Alright. Yurian.”
Yvonne stared at Yurian as if she had just awakened, seemingly less alert. Then, as if she remembered the purpose of calling Yurian, she spoke again.
“Dad probably mixed stabilizers in your food.”
Yvonne suspected that Yurian might have experienced something similar to what she had gone through. Above all, Yurian seemed quite fine for someone who hadn’t taken stabilizers for a long time.
“Maybe it was in the food I brought, or… Oh, now that I think about it, the water I bring as drinking water is originally for me. Is it in there?”
“…?”
“When did you feel dizzy? Yurian, did you feel dizzy when you took stabilizers?”
Realizing that she should not answer, Yurian didn’t want to talk. Every time she asked such questions, he couldn’t stand her short and concise answers, making it hard to listen to her voice.
“Yurian?”
However, when she realized he wasn’t going to answer, she continued speaking, uttering various words and phrases without him responding.
“Yurian.”
However, he knew he hadn’t taken stabilizers. He heard it from Emperor Hildebrandt when he came to torment him earlier. But if Princess Yvonne knew that…
She might not be sitting so close right now. She might be sitting far away, like a dangerous beast, restrained by an unbreakable iron chain, unable to get closer.
“It seems like it.”
She pointed to the map again, seemingly relieved. Yurian turned his gaze to where her finger lingered.
“There’s a passage leading outside in the back of the imperial palace. Did you already know?”
“…Yes.”
Yvonne mentioned how he had carried her in that direction, and Yurian recalled that moment.
“How do you know, Yvonne?”
“I happened to find out. Yurian, who doesn’t even live in the palace, how could you have known?”
“I happened to find out too.”
It was a lie. Yurian happened to find out about that passage through a not-so-pleasant incident. It wasn’t a good memory, so he didn’t want to recall it.
“For now, this is my plan. Dad will go on a royal visit in a few weeks, and Frances will also go. The palace guards and knights will move, so there will be fewer people.”
“Yes.”
“I’ll find the stabilizers and the key to the restraint on the same day they come. The key I got today can only unlock the handcuffs, so I couldn’t unlock the neck.”
“How about the eyes?”
“Oh, I manipulate the button behind the restraint to adjust it so that I can see.”
“I see.”
Perhaps because he could see the front now, he didn’t feel the urge to use his ability while looking at Yvonne.
“Anyway, keep the stabilizers you get for the escape day.”
“Yes.”
“I’ll draw the attention of the gatekeepers in front, so Yurian, you can just knock them out at once… Will that work?”
Yurian couldn’t help but smile at the way she seemed to be acting as if she knew he was watching. It was certainly annoying how she had been looking at him coldly until a moment ago.
“Yvonne, why did you act like that when you were next to the Emperor?”
“What?”
“Even when you saw me being mistreated by the Emperor, you acted as if nothing happened.”
Yvonne looked at him with a strange expression, as if she couldn’t understand what he was saying, as if today was her first time here.
“Yurian seems to be under a trance too.”
“That’s impossible.”
Remembering that the Emperor had never snapped his fingers when he came in, and being certain that what she saw was undoubtedly him, Yurian denied the possibility.
“I came here for the first time today.”
“Lies.”
Yurian pushed Yvonne’s shoulder, making her fall onto the bed. Her silver hair scattered as she tumbled, and he found the chandelier light reflected in her hair to be rather beautiful.
