Evan was kneeling on the floor at the headboard of the girl’s bed, his face pale with exhaustion. The girl was fast asleep, as if she had been distraught. Her arms were covered in bandages and bandages. Her eyes were slightly red from the pain she had endured.
“…”
Evan, who opened his mouth because he wanted to say something, closed his mouth again. His chest kept throbbing. He knew what the pain was. It had to be the last of the things the girl kept trying to find for him.
The girl continued to say that it was not a big deal after receiving the wound. A paper cut would hurt and sting, she said, but Evan didn’t know that. He’d seen wounds that had been saved.
He didn’t feel anything at that time. He didn’t care if the person next to him couldn’t get up again. He didn’t care if the bleeding wound was his own.
He felt like he didn’t want to know these feelings. He didn’t want to know such a hard and painful feeling. He couldn’t believe that he would have to live with this fear forever.
Now he would feel this way even when the girl was pierced by a rose thorn.
How was Karnov coping, Evan suddenly wondered. How was he coping with this feeling, this feeling that whenever she was hurt, it felt like the world was crumbling around him.
Then the girl blinked slowly. Evan held his breath.
“…Your Highness.”
“Evan? Ugh…”
The girl raised her hand to rub the corners of her eyes to see if they were stiff, then winced at the pain in her arm. Evan hurried to her aid and helped her to sit up.
“Where’s the naughty cat?”
Asha, fully awake after drinking a glass of water, looked around.
“Lord Karnov said he left it in his room. He said there might be some trouble…”
“Whew. He’s just a silly cat now.”
Phoebe flew onto Asha’s shoulder.
<Ridiculous! Who knows what mischief that rascal has in mind? I’ll pluck out every whisker.>
“P, Phoebe, calm down.”
<Oh, my. I can’t believe he made this soft thing like this… That naughty thing…>
Phoebe began to whimper as she looked down at Asha’s arm. Asha smiled and tried to pet Phoebe, but flinched.
“Ouch.”
“Y, Your Highness.”
<How many teaspoons will you hold in the future? Huh?>
“I’ll be okay when it’s better.”
<How can you be okay? Once the petals are crushed, you’ll never be okay again…>
“It’s okay because people are not flowers, my little chick. Did you worry about me? Huh?”
Asha cheered up and swept Phoebe’s cheeks, her eyes suddenly widening at the sight of Evan’s face.
“Oops. Evan, did you freak out too? I’m sorry.”
“No… It’s not like that…”
Asha motioned for him to come a little closer when he only pursed his lips. Evan sat down on his knees on the floor and looked up at her.
“I was supposed to protect you.”
“How can Evan do that when I didn’t let go of the cat?”
“Still…”
Evan hesitated. Asha smiled wryly.
“I’ve worried you a lot. I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to say that. I…”
“No. If I made you worry, I’m sorry and grateful.”
Asha stared at Evan, who didn’t seem to know what to do with that, and then she stroked his hair.
“That’s what I felt when I was watching Evan.”
“When you watch me…”
“When you’re sick and you don’t tell me you’re sick, I worry, in case if you’re hurt somewhere.”
Now Evan looked more restless. Asha looked at the expression and laughed again. It made Evan’s heart ache to think that Asha must have felt what he was feeling right now.
“So you don’t want to hurt yourself, Evan. You can’t push yourself too hard. You need to be healthy, and rest when you’re tired, so I don’t have to worry about you. Do you understand?”
“…Yes.”
Evan nodded. Asha gently patted Evan’s hair again.
“But did they catch the culprit?”
“Oh… Yes, he said he’s done with the interrogation.”
Asha sensed that Karnov’s parental problems were not completely over yet.
“Did anyone else come?”
Evan shook his head. Asha bit her lips and kept thinking before getting out of her seat.
“Ouch… I need to go see Karnov.”
“You have to rest.”
“I took a good rest. See my eyes? They’re puffy from sleeping so much.”
Asha said so, and got out of bed. Evan hurriedly grabbed the nightgown and held it out to Asha. When she came out of the room, a heavy silence surrounded the mansion. Everyone in the manor knew that the princess had been injured and that the culprit was the former duke and duchess, now Baron and Baroness Yasnaya.
“Oh! Constantin!”
At that time, Constantin, who was busily moving across the corridor, entered Asha’s view. As Asha approached, Constantin greeted her quickly with a stunned expression.
“Your Highness! How come you’re already here? You need more rest…”
“I’m fine, it’s just a scratch. Karnov… where’s the duke?”
“What do you mean it was just a scratch? It wasn’t just a cat, it was like a little beast…”
Constantin turned and hesitated, but Asha didn’t mind.
“It would not be too much to ask to see who it was that provoked that beast to attack me, would it, Lord Constantin?”
Constantin sucked in a breath and nodded.
The place Constantin led them was located deep in the duke’s residence. There was a fierce tension inside as he quietly opened the door.
Ivan and Yelizay were flanked by stiff guards who held them in custody. Karnov, standing across from them, took one look at Asha and rushed over.
“…Your Highness the Princess, how can you be here right now…”
“I’m here to see how things are going.”
And Ivan, who recognized Asha, leaned down in a hurry, cried, and cried.
“Princess! Forgive me, Your Highness, I didn’t mean to hurt you! I just resent the demon who hurt my son…”
“I’m telling you, Your Highness, how could we allow such a monster to live in our territory? I was so afraid when I found out, and…”
Asha stared at them both for a moment, then tilted her head.
“Did you look at the wound?”
“Yes, yes…?”
“You said you blamed the beast for wounding your son, and it’s been more than a day since you two arrived at the manor, and in that time, Karnov… I’m asking if you’ve had a chance to examine Duke Sedvoyer’s wounds.”
Both parents pursed their lips, ready to make excuses, but Asha threw up her hands and looked back at Karnov. What Asha and Karnov wanted to ask was not whether the baron and baroness really loved their son. Because they already know it wasn’t the case.
When Karnov gestured, the guards, lieutenants, and servants all left the room. The couple tried to cling to the guards who had just detained them, perhaps thinking they didn’t know what the remaining Karnov and Asha would be doing in the room, but they shook off their touch and left the room.
Karnov asked at the same time as the door closed.
“Why did you want to kill him?”
As Karnov took a step closer, Ivan, slumped on the floor, desperately stepped back. At the same time, the vase at the negotiation table fell down and fell to the floor, but no one cared.
“D, didn’t I tell you! The beast that hurt you…”
“Father.”
Karnov waved his hands with a rather weary face. The vase, which fell right next to Ivan, cracked in an instant and crumbled, and the withering flower quickly became ash.
Yelizay screamed and pushed Ivan. Ivan, who had fallen quickly, also hurriedly stepped back and opened his mouth.
“The, they said they’d give me the pendant, if I’d just kill the demon…”
“Who are they and what is the pendant?”
“Ick, a pendant that allows contracted spirits to swap… Pendant… The Noctis Elves…”
In his eyes stained with fear, a glow of envy and aspiration that had not yet been extinguished appeared. Karnov lamented.
“You thought you could change my spirit and my father’s spirit with that thing.”
<Foolishness. Spirits do not come and go with objects.>
<What a foolish thing to do. There is no such thing!>
The black and yellow chicks took turns peeping.
“Yes, I know, you can’t socialize with people because of your spirit… You’ve been struggling, so I thought I’d change that if I could…”
Asha interrupted them with a wave of her hand, pulling Karnov behind her as she did so, not wanting the foul, fetid air currents from them to reach him.
“Your Highness! How can you be so heartless? You just don’t know how parents think about their children…”
“Huh? How did you know that I’m heartless?”
Asha stared at the two of them, her eyes wide. The couple stared at her expression; innocence that seemed out of place in this situation.
“If you really cared about your child, you would have looked at his wounds. If you really cared about your child, you wouldn’t have thought of trading something with someone Karnov fought a war against, would you?”
Asha turned her back without giving the couple any time to make excuses. In the distance, she could hear people rushing about, followed by a furious knock on the door. The door opened just as Karnov was going to spat out the words of approval.
“Y, Your Grace, General Yekaterina…”
“Oh my, who’s knocking at the door?”
Before Constantin could finish, the elderly matron chuckled as she appeared from behind. It was Yekaterina, still dressed in her outer coat.
Yekaterina stepped inside, pushing Constantin aside. Everyone took a breath at her appearance.
“Oh… Mother…”
“Grandmother? How did you…”
“Mother or grandmother, forget that. I’m here now as a royal investigator.”
At the mention of “royal investigator,” Ivan’s and Yelizay’s faces, which had already paled considerably, turned even whiter. Yekaterina draped her cloak back and knelt on one knee in front of Asha, showing respect.
“I greet Your Highness Anastasia.”
“Investigator Yekaterina, thank you for coming.”
Asha smiled broadly and raised her head. One of the letters she sent back in her room was directed to Yekaterina, which fortunately did not seem to be late.
She hadn’t expected her to bring with her the title of royal Investigator, but all the better. The direct royal investigator even had the right to judge on behalf of the emperor. Yekaterina, who got up from her seat, looked at Asha with pity.
“I didn’t hear that you were hurt…”
Asha shook her head in a nonchalant manner.
“I’m glad the investigator has come. The wicked have poisoned the beast to harm me and the Duke of Sedvoyer, so I hope the investigator will make a fair judgment.”
Asha looked up at Yekaterina. Just by facing Asha’s light green eyes, Yekaterina could see everything she was trying to say.
I want them to reap the seeds they sown. I don’t want them to do anything more harsh than this.
I want him to receive here and now what he was denied as a child…
Yekaterina’s slightly hardened lavender-colored eyes looked at Asha and nodded heavily at Karnov once.
At the same time, Asha’s smile, which seemed to have been carved out of cold stone, vanished altogether, and she stared at Karnov with a sullen expression on her face.
Karnov held Asha’s arm without strength with a gentle expression on his face so she wouldn’t be hurt, and looked at his grandmother.
“Then I will go out with Her Highness the Princess, because Constantin knows the details…”
Yekaterina nodded. Karnov turned to Asha and left the room. Behind Asha and Karnov, the door to the dimly lit chamber closed slowly and firmly.
