I need to get out of here.
Kayden staggered as he got up. Just standing up made him break out in a cold sweat, but he gritted his teeth and endured the pain.
Barely managing to stand, Kayden looked around. Fortunately, there was a window opposite the door, and the dining room was on the first floor.
Kayden moved towards the window, enduring pain as if walking on blades. He fumbled several times while trying to unlock it. His fingertips were visibly trembling.
Click. After what felt like an eternity, the window latch finally turned, and the window opened. Kayden tried to step onto the windowsill but suddenly lost strength in his legs and staggered. As a result, his upper body leaned out of the window. Thud!
“Keugh…”
Even breathing had become difficult. Kayden collapsed beneath the dining room window, clutching his chest.
It wasn’t this bad before… The seizures had always been tough, but this time, the pain felt exceptionally unbearable.
Unbeknownst to Kayden, except for their wedding day, Diana had always hurriedly calmed him down whenever he showed signs of a seizure, so this pain was somewhat expected.
“Gasp…!”
Desperately trying to breathe, Kayden heard a commotion from the dining room and crawled toward a thicket.
Just a little more, please…
His fingertips dug into the ground, breaking his nails and causing them to bleed. His eyes grew hot, and tears flowed involuntarily. His lips were already covered in blood.
Barely managing to hide himself in the bushes, Kayden unconsciously mouthed someone’s name. Diana. But before he could fully call out her name, his breath came in ragged gasps, blurring the sound.
He couldn’t help but mock himself.
Of all times, why is Diana the first person that comes to mind now? Even though it seemed like Diana knew about his seizures and comforted him at just the right moments when he was about to break down, how could she possibly know when, where, and how Kayden would have a seizure and come to him?
Moreover, Kayden had recently been unable to control his growing feelings for Diana and had conspicuously avoided her. Diana was hurt because of this, and eventually, it became a topic of gossip among others. There’s no way she would come.
Right… He was just returning to his old life. Kayden gritted his teeth and desperately repeated this to himself.
Before meeting Diana, he had endured his seizures alone and survived fiercely on his own. So now, if he thought of it as if Diana wasn’t there, he would be fine. The pain would disappear eventually, even without her. Hadn’t he lived well on his own until now?
Diana was just… a guest who came into his life for a moment and then left. So it’s okay. It’s okay…
“Heuk…”
Kayden unknowingly let out a sob, his face contorting in pain. Tears mixed with emotions streamed down his already messy face.
“Di, hic, Dia, na…”
In truth, he wasn’t okay.
“It’s not that I dislike it.”
The warmth of her hand holding his, saying she didn’t dislike him, was so comforting.
“I was a bit cold, so I thought… would it be okay… if I slept like this?”
He didn’t want to go back to a time before he knew that warmth, that comfort. No, he couldn’t go back…
“I wish I could sleep forever.”
It wasn’t that he wanted to die; he wanted to live. Not lonely, not in pain. Not fearing the shadow of death that constantly tries to overtake him.
“I just want you… to be happy.”
He wanted to live happily.
Kayden desperately repeated the name that had come to mean happiness to him. But he couldn’t breathe properly, and only wheezing sounds escaped his lips.
Ah…
The pain made his consciousness gradually fade. He could feel his whole body stiffening from the cold seeping up from the ground.
Like this…
Am I going to die? Just as he thought that.
“…den!”
A faint voice was heard as if it were a lie. Kayden thought he was hearing things because he longed for Diana so desperately. But the whispered cry grew closer and closer.
“Ah…”
Right after, a rustling sound accompanied by a low sigh settled in Kayden’s ears. Kayden, thinking he might be dreaming, desperately rolled his blurry eyes to look up. What he saw through his vision, which alternated between blurry and clear, was.
“…Kayden.”
It was Diana’s face, tears falling, mixed with resentment, relief, worry, and indignation.
“Why are you always like this…” Diana muttered something with a sorrowful face and collapsed on the spot. Then she hugged Kayden tightly.
The moment he touched her, he suddenly felt like he could breathe again. The pain that had been tearing through his body subsided as if it were a lie. Kayden looked up at the sky over Diana’s shoulder, his face contorted in agony.
“How is it that you always, at moments like this…”
At that moment, his vision went dark, and his consciousness abruptly cut off.
* * *
Kayden regained consciousness late at night and opened his eyes.
“Ugh…” He groaned softly and squinted his eyes open.
The surroundings were completely silent. Only the ticking of the clock’s second hand could be heard regularly.
Is no one here?
Kayden, who had suddenly felt his pain vanish, started to get up but then hesitated.
“…”
A look of surprise flashed across Kayden’s face, then gradually subsided. He gazed deeply at Diana, who was asleep, sprawled over the blanket. As soon as he recognized Diana’s presence, his chest tightened. Feeling a lump in his throat for some reason, he bit his lip gently.
After staring blankly at the sleeping Diana for a while, he hesitated and then reached out his hand. He quietly tucked the light pink hair covering Diana’s face behind her ear and withdrew his hand.
“Mmm.”
At that moment, Diana furrowed her brows slightly and groaned. Kayden flinched greatly as if he had done something wrong and stiffened his shoulders.
Despite him holding his breath, Diana’s eyes slowly opened. She blinked a few times and, upon noticing Kayden looking at her, hurriedly got up. “You’re awake?”
“…”
“Are you feeling alright? I sent all the servants away and brought Your Highness to my room, but… I couldn’t do much else…”
It was only after hearing Diana’s words that he noticed the basin and wet towel on the side table behind her.
Kayden looked at Diana with a face devoid of his usual smile and composure. His heart felt like it was being squeezed tight, and something seemed to well up from deep within his chest. The thoughts he had been keeping to himself finally spilled out.
“…It was you, wasn’t it?”
“Huh?”
“The day we first met at the imperial palace.”
“…”
“The person who approached me when I collapsed.”
Diana remained silent. To be precise, she couldn’t say anything.
It was the day after realizing for certain that Kayden was avoiding her.
“Hillasa.”
“Ppiiii.”
Diana discreetly placed the Hillasa around Kayden to monitor his condition and alert her if anything seemed off. And today, the moment one of the Hillasa sent a signal that something was wrong with Kayden, and was then forcefully unsummoned by his overwhelming mana. Diana’s heart sank more from the news of his seizure than from the backlash of the unsummoning.
“Kayden! Where is Kayden?!”
Diana wanted to use the Hillasa to locate Kayden, but the mana surging around him was so turbulent that the Hillasa was unsummoned before it could even approach the dining hall. In the end, Diana sought Bella’s help to find Kayden while avoiding the eyes of others.
“Kayden!”
Because of Kayden alone, the mana around the Third Prince’s Palace was in complete disarray. Diana struggled to find where Kayden was hiding amidst the chaotic flow of mana. And finally, the moment she saw him once again enduring his pain silently and alone.
“Why are you always like this…”
Tears streamed down her face uncontrollably.
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