Chapter 23
“Your Highness… sigh…”
At the most secluded corner of the imperial palace, in the Meyard Palace, sighs echoed endlessly.
“Your Highness, reading medical texts again? It’s bedtime.”
“Go ahead, Nell.”
The boy, just past ten years old—Killian—didn’t lift his head at his nanny’s worried question.
Inside the dim bedroom, Killian read by the faint light of a fragile barrier he had created himself.
The page he focused on contained detailed anatomical drawings of the human body.
“Your Highness, I’ve never heard of someone learning martial arts this way. Last time, you suffered side effects from self-studying magic…”
“I have no choice. Mother would never assign me a tutor.”
Killian finally lifted his eyes in response to Nell’s repeated nagging. Red and bloodshot from sleepless nights, his gaze was sharper than usual.
Nell sighed again. Though she tried to calm the tense and sleep-deprived prince, she too was at a loss on how to change the situation.
In the past thirty years, not a single repair had been done to Meyard Palace. It lacked even basic warming spells, so the cold crept in unabated.
No supplies came in—only imperial guards sent by the Empress to monitor the place.
“Mother sent that drug again—the one that leaves me too weak to even walk fifty meters.”
“I know. I poured it out myself.”
“The previous one damaged my internal magic flow.”
“And you barely recovered.”
“She also increased the number of guards at Meyard today.”
“To prevent Your Highness from leaving.”
“When I stepped just once toward the garden, one of them reached for his sword.”
Nell’s face paled as she heard this. Killian, however, remained expressionless and shrugged.
“Trapped here my entire life for no reason… I have to protect myself somehow.”
He tapped the book in front of him.
It wasn’t a combat manual or martial arts guide—it was a medical anatomy text.
Killian repeatedly studied the diagrams of human anatomy, memorizing the most fragile points. That was his only method of self-defense.
“I’m going to leave the palace.”
“…What?”
At Killian’s casual declaration, Nell jumped in alarm.
“You can’t! If you try something like that, the Empress will—”
“What will Mother do?”
Killian asked with a cool smile. Nell couldn’t answer.
“That’s what I want to find out, Nell.”
He closed his eyes briefly, then opened them again.
“Does she truly love me as she claims? Or… if I disobey her, will she give the order to—”
“If she truly cares, she’ll send you to find me. But if it’s all about control…”
“She’ll send the 2nd Imperial Knights,” Nell said quietly.
“Exactly. And if I still escape them… if they draw their swords—then I’ll have my answer.”
Killian rested his chin on his hand, speaking bitterly.
“My mother, who always claims to worry about my fragile health… might end up being the one who kills me.”
He recalled the Empress’s words, repeated to him since childhood:
“In this palace, you have no one but me. I’m the only one who cares for you.”
She would say it with an expressionless face:
“You could have died with your mother as an illegitimate child. I saved you. Never forget that.”
Killian had once believed those words.
Not anymore.
“I just need confirmation, Nell. When the time is right, I’ll know.”
He whispered:
“Whether my mother is my protector… or my enemy.”
“…What if she really sends the 2nd Knights against you, Your Highness?”
Nell asked, nearly in tears.
“…I’ll come back. I have nowhere else to go. But I’ll return knowing exactly who she is.”
“Your Highness! They’re infamous for their brutality. Even if you comply, they might still…”
“I’ll leave it to fate.”
He replied indifferently, returning his attention to the book.
Killian Anais Bayan—a prince who was allowed to do nothing but exist.
Everyone had forgotten him—except the Empress and her loyal spies.
No, perhaps no one ever knew he existed at all.
Nell looked at the narrow shoulders of the eleven-year-old boy and let out another deep sigh.
“I heard Brother Theon gave you a lot of homework. Did you finish it?”
Vittori asked as she placed a medicine bottle on the shelf.
As always, she was lively.
As if she’d never been kidnapped by the Naitra family. As if she hadn’t once stabbed an elder of the council in the back with a dagger.
“There are frequent assassination attempts if you stick close to Lady Callista.”
That’s what she told me last time.
Since then, I had started visiting Vittori’s lab more often.
With Shion now assigned as my guard, my freedom had expanded a little. I could even go out—but for now, all I wanted was to see Vittori.
“All done.”
After three exhausting days, I had memorized all the noble families tied by blood or marriage throughout the Empire.
I even knew the name and portrait of the mistress and illegitimate child of Baron Evans. Their family genes were so strong, even the illegitimate daughter looked exactly like Clarissa.
If Theon hadn’t explained how this would help me make money, I would’ve given up long ago.
“I’m almost ready too—just a few more experiments left.”
Vittori said while shelving another bottle, each filled with various herbs and roots.
“Amazing.”
I meant it. Vittori wasn’t just good at prescribing medicine—she was an exceptional researcher too.
“Come on, you’re the one who hired me. Just wait a few more days.”
She smiled.
She was handling a crucial part of the plan Theon and I were preparing.
When Theon first explained the plan, she agreed instantly—asking only what her role was and how much she’d be paid.
That allowed us to proceed in secret.
For a moment, I thought maybe she was motivated by a desire to save lives, but she blew that theory away with a grin:
“Money’s best made in big windfalls when the opportunity strikes. You’ll never buy land and snag a handsome man just by saving your wages.”
And she said it like an angel.
“By the way, did you get any chocolates today, Miss?”
Vittori changed the subject. When I shook my head, she frowned and handed me a big, fancy bundle.
“It’s the Asemore Festival. You have to have chocolate! This one’s a specialty from the Müller estate.”
“Wow…”
It was as big as half my body and already smelled delicious.
“Thank y—”
“Excuse me, Miss Vittori.”
A maid handed her a small note just as I reached for the gift.
No—don’t read it.
My heart sank. I already had a feeling who sent it.
I tried to draw her attention away, but it was too late.
Vittori looked apologetic as her eyebrows drooped.
“Well then, enjoy—”
Swipe—!
Just as I was about to grab the chocolates, she yanked them out of reach.
“Theon said you’re not allowed to eat sweets.”
“But!”
“He said your health is too poor. The fainting spells might be due to your diet. And… he’s not wrong.”
Unable to bear the despair, I slumped onto the table.
Theon’s wicked interference had started the moment I woke up.
“Miss, this is from my family. It’s a bunny-shaped chocolate.”
“You shouldn’t regift family presents. Imagine the joy your mother felt imagining you eating it.”
He snatched and returned the one Daisy gave me—my massage maid.
“Miss, I made this while preparing one for my boyfriend too. It’s a heart-shaped chocolate!”
“Giving away what you made for someone else is disrespectful. Keep that love reserved for him.”
He took Lyra’s too—my music maid.
“Miss, this is my masterpiece after three sleepless nights!”
The most heartbreaking was Sawyer’s.
He recreated the Luferne mansion in chocolate—complete with candy trees and a chocolate fountain in the garden.
Gulp.
I was about to bite off a biscuit fence when Theon grabbed my hand.
“Why ruin such artistry? If you just look at it, it’ll last longer. I’ll place it on your table and cast a protection barrier.”
Now it sat at the center of my table—a moving masterpiece that inspired awe in every visitor.
Except me.
I was miserable. After two lives, this was the first time I’d ever received chocolates—and I couldn’t eat any of them.
Theon allowed only one piece—the one Jenna gave me. That tiny joy vanished in two seconds on my tongue.
“Ah… so that’s why you came here.”
Vittori read my expression and figured it out.
“But you can’t. Theon gave strict instructions to everyone not to give you any more chocolates.”
“He went out?”
So he’s not home?
My face lit up instantly.
“Yes, but even so—”
“I won’t ask for any.”
I rapidly schemed.
Theon never said I couldn’t make chocolates.
He only banned me from receiving them.
And right now, ingredients were everywhere in this mansion.
“I’ll be back, Vittori.”
I stood with a mischievous smile and called for my bodyguard waiting outside the lab.
“Let’s go to the kitchen, Shion.”
Luckily, the new head chef Chris adored me.
