Love, huh…
I quietly looked down at Redian. It wasn’t that the words felt particularly special to me. Oh, but it seems like something has definitely changed.
Redian had been a pure psychopath, fitting for the protagonist of an extremely tragic story. It was simply amazing and somewhat moving that those words came out of his mouth.
“Yes. Love.”
Redian spoke of love to me. In other words, love was an emotion possible for anyone in any kind of relationship.
You’re better than me, Rere. Having lived hundreds of lives, it seemed my heart had dried up completely. If you look at the formula, it would be ‘love=something between the main characters= nothing to do with me.’
I, who was supposed to teach Redian about emotions, couldn’t afford to be like this.
“I love you too, Redian.”
“…”
At my casually thrown words, Redian’s expression became peculiar. He looked momentarily flustered as if doubting his own ears.
What’s with that reaction? So cute.
Even I, who prided myself on how close we’d become, had never seen this face before.
Let me say again, I had a strange personality that wanted to tease anything cute.
“Rere, why aren’t you responding when your master speaks?”
I should tease him just once more.
“I said I love you.”
“…Just a moment.” Then Redian suddenly stood up. “I’ll be back.”
What kind of reaction is this? Does he mean he doesn’t want to hear it, so he’s leaving? But his face was so expressionless that it was hard to read.
“Go ahead.” Curious to see what he would do, I nodded.
Then, as Redian was about to turn and leave, he paused for a moment. “No matter how much you love me…”
He took a step back, putting some distance between us, and smiled. I found his expression in the moonlight intriguing.
“It won’t be as much as what I’m enduring right now.”
“What?”
Before I could ask more, Redian left the room. But at that moment, I saw it.
What is he enduring so much?
The prominent veins on the back of his hand from gripping so tightly.
* * *
“Are you all right?”
The next day, I called Vallentin to the office.
“That brat is so terrifyingly ruthless…”
Vallentin stared at me as if he was curious the moment he walked in.
“Nobody could get near you, Princess.”
“What do you mean?”
“When you suddenly collapsed yesterday, that brat… Ah, well.” But he soon laughed away his words. “I thought he was a dog, but it turns out he was a wolf cub.” Vallentin, muttering inexplicable words, glanced at the catalog on my desk.
“It doesn’t seem to capture even half of the real thing.” Then, looking at the cover, he muttered in dissatisfaction.
After the awards ceremony, images of me and Norma appeared on the covers of various fashion magazines. Thanks to the praises of those who saw us in person, which were greatly exaggerated as they were passed along…
Well, I’m grateful.
Some artists had even depicted Norma as angels from a holy painting.
“This brat turned out well.” Vallentin, looking at Redian’s picture, mumbled.
“You’ve heard of the underground library passed down to the kings of Decilio, right?”
“Of course, I’ve heard. It’s famous.”
A place said to hold rare artifacts even Meteora, the only empire on the continent, couldn’t obtain. It was even more famous because no one knew its exact location or what it contained.
“There’s a reason why the previous kings valued that library more than their lives…” Vallentin’s voice dropped to a whisper. “There’s a holy painting of Lucifer in there.”
“What?”
“Oh, oops.” He shrugged and added in an extremely insincere tone. “It’s a secret, but I made a mistake.”
So, there was a painting of Lucifer, who evolved into Peidion, left in there. If it were true, it would be an incredibly precious artifact.
“When I saw it for the first time, I wanted to become a king just to own that painting.”
I could understand immediately what he meant.
If Vallentin thought that much about it. How beautiful must the protagonist of that painting have been?
“Looking at him like this…” Vallentin, looking at the picture with an unwilling expression, furrowed his brows. “It’s annoying how much it resembles him. This face here.”
I looked down at the cover Vallentin was staring at. Is he saying Redian looks like Lucifer?
Redian had silver hair and blue eyes and was dressed in a pure white uniform. Though, it certainly had a more fantastical atmosphere added by the artist’s imagination.
“But why did you call me here?”
Vallentin flipped the cover over as if he were unhappy that I was only looking at the picture.
“Sign here.”
“Sign?”
“It’s a document for patent registration. Since you developed the new treatment for skin disease, your name should be on it.”
Vallentin, checking the blank space next to my signature, chuckled. “Just put your name on it, Princess. If my name goes up, it will only worsen public opinion about the treatment.”
From his past experiences and the events at the awards ceremony, he seemed to think nothing good would come from revealing his name.
“I’m not adding your name to sell more treatments, Vallentin.”
“…Yes?”
“I’m leaving proof that you made significant contributions to the Meteora Empire and the Rixon family.”
This continent is centered around the Meteora Empire, established by the power of the goddess, with kingdoms gathered around it. In other words, Meteora was the only empire, and the other kingdoms were its vassals.
“No matter how much your brothers mess with the minor kingdoms.” I twirled my pen and looked at Vallentin. “They can’t compare to a single line with your name here.”
“…”
“To surpass your brothers, you need to have achievements like this.”
Vallentin’s activities in Meteora would inevitably reach his kingdom. Just as a hero needs a narrative, Vallentin was building his qualifications to become a king.
“So, take your education seriously.”
Recently, I assigned professional educators to not only Francis but also the other Norma.
“That…”
“I heard you’ve already skipped several times.”
Vallentin, who didn’t seem to realize I was monitoring everything, stiffened unexpectedly.
“If you become the king of Decilio, I’ll be the tutor of the king.”
“…”
“If you mess things up, I’ll be the one criticized. Got it?”
“Do you really think… I can become a king?” After a long pause, Vallentin asked.
“Of course. Without a doubt.”
I answered without hesitation. It was a future already decided.
“You’ll be returning to the place that abandoned you.”
But not as a traitor who killed his father but as a hero making a name for himself.
“You need to have that level of ambition.”
“Now I understand why Redian…” Vallentin, who had been staring at me, smiled. “Seems so desperate for you.”
It was a rather affectionate smile.
* * *
Hmm.
After Vallentin left, I stared at Redian’s picture in the catalog for a long time. It felt strange to face him through a painting rather than in person.
That man in my dream. Although the memory was not clear, there was a sense of déjà vu.
In the painting, Redian somehow resembled the man in my dream. Why was he collecting fragments of the lives I had possessed?
It seems to mean something…
As I leaned back in my chair and thought, I checked the time. “Oh my.” As I confirmed the time, my thoughts instantly vanished.
I think they said they’d arrive around this time.
I was about to ring the bell to call Daisy when.
“Ack!”
“Shh!”
A large magic circle appeared on the floor, and someone suddenly popped out.
“Oh, since it’s the office, it must have a soundproof spell.”
Having experienced all kinds of worlds, I wasn’t surprised by teleportation. I just didn’t understand why people chose to teleport instead of using the door.
“Big Sis, it’s me.”
But to think it was our Juyong, I mean, the empress.
“Your Majesty, you said you’d send a maid.”
“I had to say that to people. The nobles cause a fuss whenever I step outside, and it’s even worse after the awards ceremony.”
Muttering that the nobles were a hassle, the empress took off her robe. It seemed she had sneaked out, leaving her mad hiding under the blanket in her place.
“Ah, it’s a big deal.” She grabbed my hand as if she had remembered something. “That cat-like or dog-like, anyway, that insanely handsome guy with silver hair and blue eyes who kept holding your hand!” Her eyes sparkled brightly as she looked at me.
“…Right?”
Ah. Come to think of it, the empress, Lee Juyong, was also a transmigrator. So, she knew the original story and thus knew Redian’s true identity.
“Wow, the plot has definitely changed. Who would have thought Redian would come out as Big Sis’s knight?”
The empress stomped her feet as if she was excited just thinking about it.
“Even with all that chaos, he only looked at you. In the original, he was a complete maniac, I mean, a crazy person. How did he change so much? And he’s so handsome, but he’s making it creepy.”
I felt like I should start calling her Juyong instead of empress from now on.
“The way Redian becomes the crown prince will also be completely different from the original.”
“I think so too.”
“Then, as Mori said…”
Before I could answer, Juyong squealed.
“Big Sis will become the crown princess!”
Huh? Why does it turn out like that?
Lmao I love the empress’ energy 😭❤️
empress is so chill