The Lady is a Stalker

She cleared her throat, synthesized the information she had heard so far, and summarized what the crown prince wanted to say.

 

“…Well. In order to use that teleportation magic, I need someone who knows the location of the Dragon Lair, so I’m asking you to guide me. Isn’t that right?”

 

“…okay.”

 

The crown prince was unable to hide his doubtful expression, but soon agreed. The crown prince always had a habit of prolonging the words that should have been briefly summarized like this. Istal Forest was a place where ferocious monsters and devils run wild, incomparable to the elf territory they visited before. In short, it was like the final dungeon. If the crown prince had asked her to go with him, she would have done anything to refuse, but it wasn’t difficult to just tell him the location.

 

“…I will be right back.”

 

“That’s right.”

 

She held the crown prince’s hand as if it were held out indifferently. When she held his hands, she thought something similar to a smile appeared on the prince’s lips, but it disappeared in the blink of an eye, so she thought she must have seen it wrong.

 

He asked again with a cold face.

 

“What are the coordinates?”

 

The cave-like Dragon Lair built on a cliff was empty. Perhaps the owner of the Dragon Lair had been away for a while or had gone on a playdate. If it was the former, it would have been okay to wait, but if it was the latter, the story would have become complicated. Although the crown prince could not hide his disappointment, it was fortunate for me. Because she could go back as quickly as possible. The surroundings were full of dark energy. Even to strangers, the smell of a dangerous place was in the air. As if to prove that this was an otherworld, a cold air that was completely different from the air of the Duke’s house surrounded the surroundings.

 

Feeling cold, she pulled the shawl over her shoulders. She didn’t want to be in a place like this even for a moment. 

 

She asked the crown prince who was looking around.

 

“Well, let’s go back now. It looks like it doesn’t even have an owner.”

 

‘Moreover, the hangover hasn’t gone away yet…’ and the Crown Prince said again, ‘So why did you drink alcohol?’ It was clear that he was going to start nagging her with the words, so she just swallowed it.

 

The crown prince looked dissatisfied, but seemed to agree with what she said and put his hand on her shoulder to prepare for teleportation. When she opened her eyes, she would be back in the Dukedom again. Thinking like that, she slowly closed her eyes and opened them…

 

“…?”

 

She was still inside the dragon lair. She wanted to go back as soon as possible, but why was she procrastinating? Instead of activating the magic quickly, she just glared at him, and the crown prince in front of her spoke with a calm expression.

 

“You’re not listening.”

 

“…”

 

Even the elf child in the Ather Forest said that he couldn’t hear her heart. Could it be that she was a being from outside and the magic of the world did not work? No, but teleportation worked well when it came to this. Then… Could it be… was it a problem on the crown prince’s side?

 

She glanced at the crown prince with anxious eyes. Looking at the crown prince looking down with a serious expression at his hand, which did not feel any magical power, it seemed like the correct answer was that he had become strange. She didn’t know why, but to briefly summarize the situation that faced her now, she was trapped in the Istal Forest, a dragon’s lair and the realm of demons, along with the crown prince who could not use magic.

 

‘Okay. I can give in a hundred times and be trapped in Hamreir with the crown prince. But, but…! A prince who can’t use magic. He’s just a tantrum!’

 

So, did that mean she had to take the prince, who was only 14 years old and has no powers, and escape this dungeon infested with monsters? It’s impossible.

 

‘Stay calm, stay calm.’

 

She kept repeating that to herself, but her whole body was already shaking. No matter what she was thinking, the Crown Prince had a blank face, blinked his eyes, and was still looking down at his palm.

 

“I don’t know.”

 

The impressions the crown prince expressed much later were very concise and clear. He had a calm expression on his face, as if he wasn’t worried even though his magic power disappeared in an instant. Was there even a corner of belief left? She heard that he was an excellent swordsman, but she had never seen him actually use a sword, and besides, she had vomited all over his clothes in the morning, so he had taken off the sword sheath he was wearing.

 

She thought she would be able to go back soon, so she just came out in her pajamas, and no matter how she thought about it, the situation was the worst. However, the crown prince sighed as if the work had become a hassle, stroked his hair, and spoke indifferently.

 

“I can’t help it. I promised to send you back right away, but it looks like you’ll be late going home. If we walk back like this, it’ll probably be three days later… What are you doing?”

 

Humans were rational animals. So, being a rational person, she was going to make the most reasonable choice in this situation.

 

“I’m going to commit suicide.” she said, looking down with empty eyes at the bottom of the windswept cliff.

 

She saw the crown prince running towards her with a shocked expression after hearing what she said, but she was no longer normal.

 

‘Are we going back on foot? You speak so calmly.’

 

In the original novel, the 18-year-old crown prince and five or six of his friends went into the Istal Forest during the time of Liz, but the only ones who came back alive were the crown prince and the elf queen. Neither of them even came back to their senses. The prince’s mind completely collapsed when the dragon’s magic went out of control for the first time, and the elf queen was kidnapped by a different race and driven to the brink of death. But now, in this situation where she was trapped alone with the crown prince in the Forest of Istal, in terms of the development of the novel, she was completely in the position of the elf queen…! So, she thought, ‘It would be better to suffer such a terrible thing.’

 

But before she knew it, the crown prince came running towards her and grabbed her body from behind, preventing her from moving. She didn’t know where this strength comes from in a body smaller than her, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t move even a single step. She struggled, hitting the prince’s arm that was holding her waist.

 

“Let go of this! If you are kidnapped by a different race and your body is torn into a thousand pieces to be eaten, you should be clean…!”

 

“What are you delusional about? Are you deciding to die? I’m sorry! It may take some time, but I’ll take you home safely!” The crown prince turned her body, which was standing facing the cliff, towards him, and shouted as if he really couldn’t understand.

 

But for her, what she couldn’t understand was the crown prince’s side. It was easy to say this because the crown prince did not know how scary a place the Istal Forest was.

 

“You can’t even use magic, so there’s no way that’s possible!”

 

“What?”

 

She didn’t know if he was an 18-year-old crown prince during his time in Leeds, but there was no way she could entrust her future to this young guy.

 

‘Ah, it would have been better if I had come with the 18-year-old crown prince.’

 

The pride of the 18-year-old crown prince…

 

“Who are you thinking about during this time?”

 

The crown prince asked in a low, growling voice, as if he had read something in her eyes. She didn’t think he would believe her if she told him that she was thinking about him in the future, so she just kept quiet. The crown prince just looked down at her with a cold expression and said nothing.

 

They didn’t say anything to each other for a while, and then the crown prince’s hands, who were holding both of her arms, suddenly started shaking. He must have been so angry that he barely let out a harsh breath and spoke as if he were going to break up.

 

“How dare you try to die in front of me…”

 

“…”

 

After those last words, silence continued for quite a long time. The crown prince finally caught his breath and raised his head, looking up at her with dead, tired eyes and speaking in a pitchless voice as if reciting.

 

“Are you going to die like that too? In front of me like my mother. Does everyone have to do that to be relieved of their senses?”

 

As soon as she heard those words, she felt as if the blood in her entire body had cooled.

 

‘Ah, now I remembered.’

 

She had forgotten the phrase because it was so fleeting, but the reason the crown prince did not stay in the palace and acted independently was because of his trauma. The crown prince’s mother was a victim of a royal feud. She herself killed too many people to be called mere victims. And in the end, she ended her life by poisoning herself. Although it was her direct lineage, she had a great contribution in raising Raven, who was far from the line of succession to the throne, to the position of crown prince when he was a prince. The problem was that everything she did was done for her own benefit.

 

She understood that the prince was quite fond of her, whether she treated him as her tool or not. The Crown Prince’s mother said that she held on to the young Crown Prince’s body until she died.

 

-Baby, please relieve this mother of her resentment. You must become emperor. You must, absolutely, take revenge on those who killed this mother…!

 

It was the first and last time she called the crown prince in such a sweet voice. The next words could not be continued. Since the poison spread throughout her body and she died with her mouth squirting, he didn’t know what a good parent was.

 

It may be difficult, but she thought they were selfish parents. Until the moment of her death, she treated the crown prince as nothing more than a tool. Was the crown prince looking at her in Serabi? When that thought occurred to her, she felt her heart cool down to the point where her rampage just a moment ago was a lie. She looked at the prince, who was staring at her with empty eyes, and spoke to him.

 

“I… I’m sorry. I guess I just sobered up. I’m not really that extreme of a person…”

 

She said it as if she was making an excuse, but the crown prince already had a completely resigned look on his face, and he wasn’t listening to her at all. He was looking at her, but he wasn’t looking at her.

 

“…sorry. Really sorry.”

 

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Translator Note: