CH-05
“This is ridiculous.
I threw the teapot down on the floor.
The teapot broke into three pieces as soon as it hit the floor.
“His head, will it be okay?”
In the original story, Kashar suffered from a disease called psychosis.
In reality, it was a curse, not a disease, which was more problematic.
“He said that when he first went psychotic, one of his bows was completely blown off.
The base of his psychosis was indiscriminate killing and destruction.
Everyone who tended to the palace that day died by his hand.
Unaware that the cause of his mania was a curse, the emperor banished Kashar from the palace and sent him off to war.
Recalling the original story sent chills down my spine.
“You just stunned a man who was wiping out an entire army.
And with a teapot.
‘But if he’s psychotic, isn’t that a brain problem? But if you just hit him over the head…….
I’m like, “I’ve done something really bad.
My conscience tingled twice as much at the thought of hitting him with a teapot.
“The original story said Kashar was poisoned.
“Alubi is a rare fruit that awakens the spirit.
But the longer he took it, the more severe the headaches and black blood he vomited.
Only the heroine can break the curse. Kashar relied on the poison until he met Elias.
“Maybe.”
No matter how monstrous the man was, he expressed deep regret
I fidgeted in my seat, and suddenly I was scolding Kashar.
“Why the hell are you here?”
I don’t even know why he’s here, and he’s rarely in the palace in the first place.
“But him being here means…..”
Only after desperately racking my brain did I come up with a clue.
‘It was his mother’s anniversary.
The Emperor had Empress Viviana executed for giving birth to a psychotic son.
Only after Viviana’s death did the emperor feel guilty enough to ask Kashar this favor when he knighted her.
“Help her to sleep safely.”
On Viviana’s anniversary, Kashar would visit the tower where she had been laid to rest and guard it.
A familiar image flashed through my mind.
“The tower, no way.
I rushed outside and saw the tower beyond the forest.
“It can’t be this close.
I realized that what I had thought was a tower was where the former Empress had been laid to rest.
I stared at the tower for a long time. I returned to the kitchen.
Kashar was still lying on the cold floor.
“He’s going to die.
Now that the daze had lifted, a harsh sense of reality began to take over.
He’s going to look like a broken teapot!
Surely he’d wake up in a short time.
They’ll realize what’s going on, they’ll find the culprit, and they’ll brutally murder him.
“Bits and pieces, bits and pieces.
In an instant, I could see the near future in my mind’s eye.
It was the ending scene of my life.
‘If I just pretend I don’t know and leave it alone and go back to sleep, it won’t…… work. Yeah.’
I slumped down beside Kashar.
“You said you don’t know life.
I was sitting there, not noticing the cramp in my leg, feeling sorry for himself.
“Ah, the sun will be up soon.
Before I knew it, the sun was rising.
I alternated between looking at the blue sky and Kashar.
“…….”
I wonder if he knows what’s burning inside me.
Kashar was breathing quietly, his chest rising and falling.
“Good night.”
Kashar looked relaxed, as if he were merely sleeping.
“He’ll probably be fine when he wakes up.
To my worry, Kashar was depicted as a monster in the original story.
“I’ll never forget the scene where he swung his sword through his stomach.”
I was sure he’d wake up feeling washed up.
“Ah.”
That was as far as my thoughts went.
Another opportunity flashed through my mind.
“Let’s throw it away.”
The day is dawning.
My gaze was on the grocery cart.
On the other side of the cold palace and tower was an abandoned forest.
If we left it there, we could get away with it.
“They might think they’ve been attacked.”
When a man wakes up after being knocked out, he is bound to be confused.
I hoped he would forget the memory of the cold palace.
I looked wistfully at the cart.
‘I had a hard time carrying that.
I had no idea it would be so useful.
I marveled at my foresight.
“……Good.”
I pushed out shopping cart and stood up.
“He’s still out cold.
I checked Kashar’s condition once more, then leapt over his body.
“Please don’t wake up.”
I lifted Kashar’s legs and draped them over my shoulders.
“Heh, heh, heh……!”
He’s damn heavy!
I wiped the sweat from my brow and looked down at Kashar lying on the cart.
His long, well-stretched body had legs and arms hanging out of the cart.
He grunted.
I succeeded in getting Kashar into the cart.
“Well, I’m sorry.”
I stared down at his handsome face even as he lay in the cart.
For a moment, I felt complicated.
“In a hurry.”
Dump it.
I squeezed the cart handle, watching the sky grow brighter and brighter.
“Come on.”
I began to pull the cart energetically.
“Invention is great.”
I walked on for a while, but Kashar didn’t wake up.
Finally, I reached the center of the forest.
“This should be it.”
I couldn’t think of a better place to throw him away.
“Please, let Kashaar have amnesia.”
Even if he doesn’t, I hope he loses half a day’s worth of memories.
That way, it would become an incident unrelated to the Cold Palace and the incident with the broken pot.
“I’m so, so sorry.
I grabbed Kashar’s leg and pulled him off the cart.
“You’re handsome, even when you’re lying in the dirt.
I pretended to wipe my tears with my sleeve.
“We shouldn’t see each other again.”
I looked like the heroine of a tragedy, but I couldn’t have been more sincere right now.
Please don’t remember me.
It was time to leave this place with my long, innocent hair fluttering and no regrets.
Cackle.
“……!”
Suddenly, it felt like something twisted my wrist. I tried to pull away in surprise, but instead, I fell in the direction he was pulling. With a thud, the world flipped, and my head hit the ground before I could even realize what was happening.
“What… is it?”
A thick shadow fell over my head. Suddenly, Kashaar, who had been lying on the ground, was now looming over me.
Everything felt surreal, and I blinked my eyes blankly. Even in that state, Kashaar was observing me.
“what is this…….”
His red eyes widened as soon as I opened my mouth.
“Is this the same person?
My whole body tingled with nervousness.
I realized, too late, that when people are too scared, they talk nonsense.
“Have you lost your…… memory?”
Please tell me you’ve lost it. Please.
The hope I’d been holding inside of me slipped out of my mouth.
I was forcing him to be an amnesiac patient.
“What?”
Kashar’s face contorted into a grimace.
He was now looking at me like I was a madman.
I gulped. My mouth went dry.
I stood there, burning, unable to compose myself.
“You, on purpose…….”
I had to say something to survive.
I squeezed my eyes shut and shouted.
“I didn’t mean to throw you away!”
This was real.
Even if you didn’t try to break into my house in the first place!
It was real.
The horror faded a little, and resentment filled the void.
“Throw away? What?”
Kashar muttered, as if he didn’t understand.
But it didn’t take long for him to realize that the object I was about to throw away was Kashar himself.
“……ha?”
I opened my eyes slightly, hoping to make some sort of excuse, but was forced to close them tightly again at the sound of his sighing voice.
“Oh, I thought you were a thief, I swear…….”
The drooping horsetail shrank to the size of a mouse.
The silence was long, like the long time that had passed between the Jurassic and the modern era.
“Open your eyes.”
His voice was nervous.
At Kashar’s command, my eyes snapped open like a well-behaved puppet.
When I finally opened my eyes, I didn’t know where to look.
As I rolled my eyes, a strong clawed hand grabbed my chin.
Kashar’s grip on my jaw tightened and he twisted me , squeezing my cheeks together, causing me to let out an odd sound.
He looked at me like he was seeing something truly strange and asked.
“That was an cold place?”
He remembered.
At this point, I was struck by the fact that Kashar’s memory was still intact.
“Surprisingly, people live there.
I know my house is dirty.
Hearing that from someone else’s lips made me feel bad.
“So.”
Kashar said, twisting his lips.
“You were going to beat that thief’s head off with your own hands and throw it in the middle of an uninhabited forest?”
I had to shut my mouth, as if his words had melted into paste.
Because there was no refuting it, it was 100% true.
“So much for destroying evidence.”
Kashar ruffled his hair in disbelief.
His smile was absurd for a moment. He placed his hand on my head and grimaced in regretful pain.
” Damn it.”
I didn’t hide from that short curse, but my cells seemed to freeze.
I thought I knew why Kashar was acting the way he was.
“Hmm, I see.
Cold sweat poured down my spine like a heavy rain as I watched him touch the back of my head.
There was nothing I could do to save the situation.
I pushed him away with the kind of strength that only comes from being close to death.
He growled and tried to crush me again, as if he thought I was going to get away.
I was on my knees on the floor faster than he was.
” Please don’t kill me!”
I rubbed my palms together desperately.
Tears that hadn’t come even when I tried to abandon Kashar poured down my face
“I have princes to feed……!”
I exclaimed, assuming the guise of a mother with young children, whether he was dumbfounded or not.
“The princes?”
Kashar, who had been watching the plea expressionlessly, unable to see it without tears, focused on one word.
“Yes, the duke’s brothers!”
I nodded frantically, glad that he had responded, if only in that way.
“You, the handmaiden?”
“Yes. Totally a maid.”
I tried to look professional with my expression, though I couldn’t really do that since I was on my knees.
“I serve the royal family.”
Kashar’s gaze shifted subtly as he looked at me.
“Feuds between royalty can be troublesome.
Fiddling with the hilt of his sword, he finally pulled his hand away from the fearsome thing.
“That’s it!
I can live!
There was a rainbow in the sky, and a trumpeting angel descending, and visions and hallucinations flashed.
As I sang out the good news to myself, he turned to me and his eyes widened.
“Well, then,” he said, “I’ll need to speak with your servant.”
He smiled a smile that could mesmerize anyone, but to me, it was a death sentence.
I hadn’t even realized it.
The melting laugh stopped abruptly.
“Lead the way.”
With that, Kashar’s hand was once again on the hilt of his sword.
A warning that any delay would result in a two-piece body and head.
I scrambled to my feet on unsteady legs.
“Um…”
As I cautiously spoke, the murderous gaze of Kashaar fell upon me. I awkwardly smiled and pointed at the shopping cart.
“I-I need to take that with me.”
You may not know, but I went through a lot to bring it here.
As I swallowed the rest of my words, he remained silent, looking at me as if astonished.
“I’ll take …… now!”
I took the silence as an affirmation and pulled the grocery cart away.
