Upon hearing the news that Dorothea had woken up, Raymond immediately went to the Converta palace.
Carnan was already there first.
“Are you sure she is awake?”
Dorothea is still lying quietly in bed.
The doctor said that she fell asleep again immediately after taking the medicine.
Dorothea was still suffering from a high fever.
Dorothea spent quite a long time in bed after that.
Raymond went back to Episteme, but he visited Dorothea every day.
But he couldn’t do anything with Dorothea.
Because Dorothea was very sick, so there was little he could do for her.
A few days later, Raymond was excited to hear that Dorothea’s fever had subsided.
“Ray, are you going to see the princess today too?”
“Yes! I heard her fever went down last night! She must be feeling much better. I’m so glad.”
Theon and Julia smiled at Raymond’s excited expression.
This is because Raymond has been in tears ever since Dorothea got sick.
He even cried in front of Theon, wondering what if Dorothea died.
“This happened because I encouraged her to go outside…!”
He blamed himself for everything that happened to Dorothea.
“Ray, it doesn’t happen just because she went outside…That’s the fault of bad people.”
Theon comforted Raymond, but Raymond was quite upset.
Therefore, Dorothea’s recovery is also healing for Raymond.
“I want to give her a gift, so I thought about buying her something.”
“How about a bouquet of flowers? Usually, we give flowers as a gift.”
“That’s a good idea, thanks!”
As soon as Raymond returned to the imperial palace, he went to a garden with specialty flowers.
He got a pair of garden shears from the gardener, cut the most desirable and pretty flowers, and made a bouquet himself.
As he cut all the flowers he wanted to give, there were too many, and the size of the flower bouquet became too large.
It was a little uncomfortable to hold, but it was still touching, so Raymond carried the bouquet to the Palace of Converta.
‘She’s been through something scary…’
He was worried that he would see Dorothea’s gloomy and dark expression.
‘Could it be that there was some trauma?’
He was worried that Dorothea might be thinking bad thoughts inside.
He stood in front of Dorothea’s door, took a deep breath, and knocked on the door.
“Tok tok hello, it’s me.”
He said playfully as he opened the door.
He wanted to present a bright atmosphere.
‘Have fun without being scared as much as possible…’
“Ta-da~”
He pretended to be bright and smiled.
But Dorothea stared at him expressionlessly.
He became a little embarrassed.
“Welcome, Your Highness Raymond.”
At Dorothea’s side were a doctor and Dorothea’s new nanny.
Raymond handed the nanny a bouquet of flowers and approached Dorothea.
“Dorothy, are you okay today?”
Raymond asked, but there was no answer.
But by now he was used to being ignored by Dorothea.
“What were you talking about?”
He smiled, looking in Dorothea’s direction.
Still, she doesn’t answer, looking out the window into the distance.
It’s disappointing, but he shouldn’t be upset.
When Raymond remains silent, the nanny speaks on Dorothea’s behalf.
“We were talking about whether it would be a good idea for the princess to go to recuperation since she is not feeling well.”
“Recuperation?”
“There is a palace in the Ceritian area that is good for recuperation. The climate is warm and it is near the beach, so the princess will feel refreshed.”
Raymond’s heart sank at that.
“But Dorothy’s health has improved a lot. Is it necessary to go to recuperation?”
He smiled awkwardly.
“I want to go.”
Only then he could hear Dorothea’s voice.
“But Dorothy, you’ll be alone there.”
Raymond looked at her.
‘Is it because I wasn’t able to protect her properly?’
‘Does she hate seeing me? Could it be that she can no longer trust the imperial palace and her family? Is she leaving forever?’
That thought made him anxious.
But Dorothea indifferently ignored him.
“It doesn’t matter.”
‘It can be more dangerous if she goes alone.’
‘You’re only nine years old, and it doesn’t make sense for you to go to such a faraway place alone.’
There is no way that Carnan, the emperor, would go with Dorothea, and there is no way that he, who had to attend the Episteme, could follow her.
“Dorothy….”
He glanced at Dorothea, but she frowned.
Her cold eyes seemed to scold him.
‘While she was suffering, I stayed in this imperial palace and couldn’t do anything.’
When he saw those eyes, his heart ached and he was anxious.
But he could not let Dorothea go, and he quickly found another reason.
“That’s right. You can go to the Episteme too. Starting this year, you are old enough to take the entrance test.”
“I’m not going to Episteme.”
Dorothea resolutely turned her head away.
Raymond shook his head.
“Why? Dorothy. You can enter Episteme with the highest score. Because you’re smart….”
“I can’t go.”
“What?”
“I can’t go.”
Dorothea’s blunt voice was filled with irritation and anger.
‘Why do you think you can’t go?’
Raymond visited the Episteme and saw many geniuses, but he had never seen anyone like Dorothea.
He wasn’t taking sides because she was his younger sister, but he was doing it objectively.’
When he studied at Episteme, he sometimes imagined that Dorothea would come to school with him.
The sight of arrogant guys being discouraged and envious of Dorothea.
The sight of Dorothea walking arrogantly around the Episteme.
He Proud of his sister.
But in reality, it’s not simple like that.
“Why do you think you can’t go…? Are you scared because you thought studying Episteme was too difficult?”
Raymond understood.
There was a time when he cried and ran away because he hated studying.
‘Maybe Dorothy was scared because she only saw the bad side.’
“I barely did, but smart Dorothy will be able to do it. Don’t give up easily.”
He gave Dorothea courage.
Dorothea’s talent is too precious to give up like that.
But Dorothea’s expression was strange.
“Give up easily?”
She asked once and looked at him with a look in her eyes that he couldn’t decipher.
At times like that, Dorothea seemed like someone from a distant dimension that he couldn’t understand.
“I have nothing more to say to you. Get out, Ray.”
“Dorothy, I mean—”
“Get out!”
Dorothea shouted sharply.
Raymond gasped in surprise.
‘Ah, I guess I brought up a useless topic as soon as Dorothy recovered.’
After experiencing something scary, it’s natural for Dorothea to have a hard time.
‘As we were talking, I didn’t even think about that.’
He shouldn’t have brought up a boring and burdensome topic like Episteme.
He should have talked about something light, like the weather, the book Dorothea likes to read, and her favorite food.
“I’m sorry, Dorothy… I didn’t mean to make you angry. I just wanted you to stay here and stay with me.”
He became depressed and lowered his head.
And then he carefully looked at Dorothea’s expression.
She bit her lip and said nothing.
The silence weighs heavily on his heart again.
‘I guess she hates me….’
Raymond looked like he was about to cry.
But that doesn’t mean Raymond doesn’t know why she hates him.
‘Because this incident is all my fault.’
“I’ll just go out now.”
He became afraid that he would be a bad influence on Dorothea.
* * *
Dorothea left without saying goodbye.
Raymond felt like he was truly worthless to Dorothea.
‘We’ve been together since we were kids. Why did this happen?’
The more Raymond thought about it, the more he blamed himself.
Because he’s stupid. Because he can’t help Dorothea, because he can’t do anything when Dorothea was in danger.
His Episteme scores were getting lower day by day, and Carnan had a worried look on his face every time he saw him.
The more he did, the more burden he felt as the crown prince.
“I can’t do it, Theon.”
“It’s something you do every year, Ray.”
The Ceremony of Light is held every year on National Foundation Day.
An annual event where Milanaire summons the spirit of light and showcases the majesty and specialness of the imperial family.
But as the days passed, Raymond became more and more burdened by his position.
“I feel nauseous and my heart feels like it’s going to explode.”
Raymond knew better than anyone else in the world how lacking he was.
‘What can I prove by emitting some spirits of light?’
Doing this doesn’t mean he can give them bread or a warm home.
‘What on earth do they expect from me?’
‘Moreover, even the light of my spirit has become faint and weak.’
* * *
😢😢😞😞💔❤️🩹💔❤️🩹