And in the next moment, veins bulged on Craeyer’s back of the hand.
“Cough, cough… cough!”
The trash, struggling desperately for life, clawed at Craeyer’s hand gripping his throat, but it was in vain. Before long, the trash’s struggles gradually subsided and eventually stopped altogether. Thump. Craeyer, looking down at the pathetic figure of the trash sprawled on the chilly marble floor, turned away. For once, the moonlight casting its rare light illuminated Craeyer’s elongated shadow.
* * *
Knock, knock.
Olivia, who was buried in documents in her study even in the dead of night, raised her head at the sudden knocking.
“Come in.”
Without waiting for her permission, the door opened silently, revealing Craeyer.
“Craeyer?”
Olivia blinked in surprise at the unexpected visitor.
“What’s the matter?”
“Because the light is on.”
“I still have work to do. It seems difficult to sleep in the bedroom again today.”
Shrugging lightly, Olivia, who emitted sounds of pain from her stiff neck, watched Craeyer nod.
“That’s a good choice.”
His response to her, who couldn’t properly rest due to too much work, was rather peculiar. Olivia, who had completely let go of the pen she was holding, stared at him intently and asked,
“What do you mean?”
His response was as light as saying that tonight is quite cool.
“I’m on my way back after dealing with some trash trying to force you.”
“Oh, I see. Trash disposal…”
Olivia, who felt no seriousness in his answer, also nodded lightly before pausing.
“What? Trash?”
“Someone who sneaks around near the princess’s bedroom at this hour is likely up to no good.”
Forced, trash, this hour, and sneaky. Olivia’s eyebrows furrowed deeply as she extracted words from his unkind words and pieced together a picture.
“That… makes sense. You dealt with it?”
“Yes.”
“How did you… No, never mind. Don’t tell me.”
Craeyer wouldn’t have simply called the palace guards to clean up the trash. Since Olivia wasn’t particularly curious about the trash’s fate, she quickly changed the subject.
“I was looking at something related to you, and it’s just perfect timing.”
Then, she pulled out a small portrait from the pile of documents.
“Similar…?”
Olivia, alternating between the palm-sized portrait and Craeyer, narrowed her eyes. Well, their hair colors were similar, and their eye colors were somewhat alike… Craeyer, lounging lazily on the couch near Olivia’s desk with his back deeply sunk into it, casually crossed his legs.
“What’s similar?”
As Olivia stared at him intently, she soon tossed the portrait aside and shook her head.
“They don’t look alike at all, as expected.”
What kind of nonsense was it to say that the person in this portrait resembled that man? Even if their superficial features were somewhat similar, they could never mimic the swirling depths within those crimson eyes. The eyes of the man who single-handedly instigated and ended a continental-wide war. Perhaps it was madness. Unconsciously, Olivia leaned closer to Craeyer and looked into his eyes. The hazy, crimson irises seemed to swirl. Countless torrents of emotions surged within them, so much so that even Craeyer himself couldn’t comprehend them fully. Then suddenly, Olivia glimpsed a faint trace of sorrow in those tumultuous, empty eyes. It was fleeting and barely perceptible…
“Close.”
At the slow voice right next to her ear, the fine hairs on the back of Olivia’s neck stood on end. Seeing Olivia frozen in place, Craeyer reached out and lightly tapped her shoulder.
“Eek!”
Finally snapping out of it, Olivia recoiled and shuddered at the goosebumps that erupted on her arms. Craeyer shrugged as he observed Olivia, who stood with her shoulders tensed up like a startled cat, emitting only shallow breaths.
“I was just standing there.”
It took a bit more time for Olivia’s heart, which had been pounding so loudly it felt like it might burst out of her throat at any moment, to calm down. Meanwhile, Craeyer picked up the palm-sized portrait that Olivia had tossed.
“I look like him?”
“No, not at all.”
Olivia repeated with a very serious expression.
“Not at all.”
Craeyer set down the portrait and rubbed his chin.
“It’s been too long since I properly looked at a face.”
“The mirror is right there…”
“No. What’s this?”
Craeyer gestured towards the small portrait Olivia had thrown and the papers piled around it.
“Information.”
“Information, huh.”
Craeyer tilted his head, picking up one of the documents.
“Is this kind of useless thing considered information?”
“Whether it’s useless or not, we’ll find out over time.”
As Olivia nodded vigorously, Craeyer, who was looking at her with a serious expression, continued.
“The information that the man in this document ate two candies today may not seem important even over time.”
Unable to find a response, Olivia’s lips pursed, and Craeyer casually set down the documents before bringing up a completely different topic.
“More importantly, there’s an incident happening on the streets.”
Olivia’s ears perked up at Craeyer’s words.
“Go on?”
“Don’t you want to know what kind of incident it is?”
“I already know what it is. But more importantly, go on?”
Repeating the same words while glaring, Olivia asked bluntly.
“Who did you hear it from?”
At first glance, it might have seemed like a strange question, but from Olivia’s perspective, it was a natural inquiry. Since Craeyer had been staying in the palace, she hadn’t seen him converse with anyone else but her. Craeyer shrugged lightly in response.
“Well, I do have ears to hear with.”
“You overheard?”
“Would you call it ‘overhearing’?”
At Craeyer’s vague response, Olivia blinked and then nodded.
“Oh, you just heard.”
With a quick acceptance, this time Craeyer questioned her.
“That’s all you want to ask?”
“You mentioned it before.”
“What?”
“Before returning to the present.”
Counting on her fingers, Olivia began to reminisce. It must have been her third return after returning from her second death. When the palace fell and she found herself at Craeyer’s mercy, with his blade at her throat. Until then, Olivia had tried to maintain her dignity even in the face of death. She asked.
“How did you find me?”
Indeed, she was in the deepest part of the palace. A secret chamber handed down through generations, accessible only to the Emperor and the Crown Prince. Yet Craeyer found her as if he knew exactly where she was. Olivia stiffened her face and furrowed her brows as she whispered as low as possible.
“I heard your breathing through the walls.”
Craeyer’s eyebrow twitched faintly. After observing Olivia intently for a while, he spoke.
“Did I just give myself away?”
Despite the ambiguous response, Olivia boldly nodded her head, except for a slight blush on her cheeks.
“Well, who else? It’s you. You said you heard my breathing through the walls.”
She shook her head.
“So, next time I die, I tried to hold my breath as much as possible.”
“But?”
“I heard the sound of a heartbeat.”
As Olivia closed her mouth, silence fell between them. As the silence became uncomfortable, Olivia, who had been holding back for a while, couldn’t stand it any longer and tried to speak, but immediately stopped herself. Craeyer seemed lost in thought. In the tomb-like silence, Olivia finally reached for a stack of documents. Just as she touched another pile of documents, Craeyer, who had been maintaining the silence, spoke up.
“I do have better hearing than ordinary people, but I can’t hear a person’s heartbeat or breathing through walls.”
As Olivia’s long eyelashes fluttered like butterfly wings in a strong wind, she swallowed hard. Olivia, who had been hesitating to speak, suddenly stood up.
“What? So, everything you said earlier was a lie?”
She barely managed to suppress her words, right up to the tip of her tongue. To lie to someone on the verge of death, what a barbaric act! As if reading her thoughts, Craeyer raised his head.
“I’m not lying now either.”
“So?”
This time, the answer didn’t come immediately. Craeyer slowly clenched and unclenched his fist as if reconsidering something, and deep creases formed on his forehead. Watching him like that, Olivia quickly grabbed a few snacks within reach and approached Craeyer.
“Your Highness? What’s wro—”
As she collided with him, she spilled the snacks she was holding all over his messed-up legs. Ignoring the mess of snacks on his lap, Olivia pressed on. Instead, she picked up one of the snacks and pushed it into Craeyer’s mouth.
“Eat this.”
Although Craeyer’s eyebrows rose at the unexpected coercion, Olivia remained firm.
“Eat. It helps clear your mind.”
“I was just lost in thought for a moment…”
Before he could finish his sentence, Olivia vigorously nodded her head up and down.
“I know. Just do it.”
As it seemed he would sink back into his thoughts alone again, she wanted to do something, anything. But Olivia couldn’t bring herself to say anything further. When she opened her mouth, Craeyer changed the subject.
“Your Highness.”
“Yeah?”
His gaze lingered around his legs, which were now covered in various colors.
“It feels like a lot has disappeared since you were a princess.”
Craeyer didn’t specify what had disappeared, but Olivia promptly replied.
“Oh, like dignity, or composure, or etiquette?”
She chuckled dryly as she picked up one of the snacks scattered on Craeyer’s leg and flicked it off. While exploring the remnants of what had melted away on her tongue, Olivia eventually spoke up.
“I already know that nothing matters in front of you. I decided not to do meaningless things anymore.”
As Craeyer reached out, watching the bitter smile spread on Olivia’s lips, he extended his hand.
Instinctively, Craeyer’s finger brushed past Olivia’s slightly puckered lips, and he soon licked the tip of his finger.
“Scorched.”
—————————————————————
Translator Note:
This chapter was translated by Bree.
If you like my work please support us in Patreon. Next post will be released on March, 4.
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