Chapter 5
“Elysia involuntarily swallowed dry saliva.’’
A small Adam’s apple moved lightly.
Eden continued to stare into the void, seemingly ignoring Elysia’s presence.
What was he looking at?
Curious, Elysia, with a tense expression, rolled her eyes in the direction Eden was looking.
There hung an empty frame on the wall.
A large frame hung, empty with only its shell, waiting to be filled with a picture.
Elysia’s curiosity quickly faded.
In addition, the annex contained a large bed and thin blankets.
A broken clock and a fireplace prepared for winter were all there was.
In reality, it was scarcely more than a small storage room, embarrassing to be called an annex.
“Hey.”
Approaching Eden, Elysia opened her mouth, soothing her trembling voice.
Since she couldn’t call his name casually, Elysia addressed Eden with an ambiguous title.
Eden still wore a vacant expression.
The magic placed on him during the abduction seemed to remain unbroken.
Feeling guilty for her father’s wrongdoing, Elysia lowered her gaze.
Naturally, Elysia’s gaze fell on Eden’s neck.
The thin choker seemed to strangle Eden’s neck.
Elysia’s brow furrowed involuntarily.
Lowering her gaze further, this time, Elysia noticed the shackles around Eden’s ankles.
Narrow shackles easily bound Eden’s slender ankles.
To prevent his escape, the other end of the shackles was attached to the bedpost.
Even in Elysia’s normally composed eyes, Eden’s current situation was difficult to accept even by her standards.
‘Still, he’s just a child.’
Another question immediately filled Elysia’s mind.
‘How much of his memory has been erased? Can he even speak?’
No, it wasn’t even certain if he was listening to her.
“Hey!”
Elysia called out to Eden again, this time with a louder voice.
Once again, there was no response from Eden.
Instead, Eden, who had been staring at the empty frame, blinked and looked at Elysia.
This was a significant improvement.
“Are you looking at me?”
Although the rare gaze was clearly directed at her, somehow it didn’t feel like he was seeing her.
Was his focus blurred?
Elysia waved her hand in front of Eden’s eyes.
“Can you speak?”
“…”
“Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“…”
There was no response coming back.
As Elysia stared at the wall, she found herself inexplicably pounding her chest.
Frustrating. It’s frustrating.
As far as Elysia knew, the spell that scrambled Eden’s mind would soon unravel shortly after his capture.
That was one of the reasons why Elysia resolved to see Eden quickly.
Eden, now regained his senses, would be left alone in the annex with nothing but empty thoughts.
The only thing he remembers is his own name.’
Unaware even of the language, he would sit alone in the annex, surviving on the food brought to him for a whole year.
It’s an environment that even adults would find difficult to endure.
And yet, could a mere 9-year-old child endure it while keeping his sanity?
Absolutely not.
Once the magic was lifted, Eden’s mind deteriorated gradually, and he would flinch at the slightest sound, constantly filled with fear.
But his misfortune didn’t end there.
The color outside the iron bars turned orange one day, just like the day he first regained consciousness.
On that day, instead of the usual stern-faced knight, a girl he had never seen before entered the room.
Holding a tray in both hands, with a displeased expression, Elysia entered the annex and immediately noticed Eden’s presence.
“Eat.”
And then she simply threw the tray to the ground.
Eden just watched as the food scattered around.
The spilled food was his daily ration.
‘Just eat as soon as you see him….’
Every time I recalled the passage where Elysia appeared in the original work, all I could feel was admiration.
‘Well, even if she’s supposed to be a noble lady, it’s understandable that she’d be angry having to throw away food every day to a beggar-like child…’
Still, looking at Eden’s condition, any decent person would feel sorry for him because of a human being he didn’t even consider his father.
It made Elysia’s face gradually pale.
‘That’s why we’re going to die.’
From one event to another in the Partin Duchy, revenge seeds were planted against Eden. And it was Elysia herself who had to water those seeds.
Whether in the original or now.
The only difference is that if that flower blooms after seeing me.
‘I have to treat Eden as well as possible. That’s the only way I can survive.’
Alternating between the shackles around her ankles and the choker around her neck, Elysia made a firm resolution
.
Eden, who knew nothing of Elysia’s inner turmoil, continued to watch her intently until the end.
“Do you remember my name?”
Will you refuse to speak again this time?
Elysia demanded the obvious identification without much expectation.
Eden responded with a slight nod.
His unkempt white hair fluttered around in response.
“I can’t call you if you don’t tell me your name.”
After all, she couldn’t keep calling him ‘hey, you’. There’s nothing more tiresome than pretending not to know what you know.
So Eden hoped he would at least tell her his name.
“…E…den….”
“Hmm? Eden?”
With a slow blink, Eden managed to utter his name with his barely moving lips.
Unaware that it was a fake name.
Elysia pretended to understand the almost unintelligible pronunciation.
Fortunately, the first obstacle was overcome.
Whether it was the limit of speaking his name or not, Eden promptly closed his mouth.
And so, silence prevailed for a while.
‘What should I do with someone who can’t even speak properly?’
The road ahead seemed daunting already. Elysia swept her bangs aside to calm her frustration.
Eden still fixed his gaze on Elysia. Feeling uneasy under his silent scrutiny, Elysia fidgeted around.
But it didn’t change anything.
With just one window in the room, it felt oddly suffocating. Being with someone with whom she couldn’t communicate only added to the frustration.
“I’ll come back tomorrow.”
She had come today just to check on Eden’s situation, so there wasn’t much else to do.
Of course, even if she could communicate with him, it would be the same.
As mentioned earlier, Elysia didn’t finish reading the novel.
She, the villainess Elysia, was executed by Eden’s hands and promptly exited the novel.
To be honest, despite Ariel being the protagonist, the character who breathed life into the novel was none other than Elysia.’
Elysia’s presence and assertiveness were naturally strong traits, but there was another reason.
Because Eden lacked charm as the male lead.
Although circumstances didn’t allow her to read many genre novels, if she dared to judge, Eden was the epitome of a gentle male lead.
Kind and gentle, Eden was a man who grew up so upright and well that it was hard to believe he was someone who lost his memory and was imprisoned during his childhood.
The gentle man who heals and comforts Ariel’s broken heart. However, excluding the incidents related to Parthian Duke and Elysia that ruined my childhood. Elysia’s standards were not piqued by Idun’s kindness and gentleness alone.
Perhaps that’s why, as a reader, Elysia paid more attention to the villainess ‘Elysia.’
Elysia, who treated Ariel, struggling to receive affection from Partin Duke, as a betrayer and harassed her, grew less interested in the novel after Elysia’s execution. The charm of the novel plummeted because the obstacles that brought great hardships and adversities to the kind and gentle protagonists were removed.
“Eden was too bland.”
If one were to find a flaw in Eden, it would be the absence of obsession or jealousy.
Ariel was described as a beautiful and charming woman in the novel. As evidence, there were not a few instances of other men’s interest in Ariel in the novel. Even the sub-male lead of this novel was a prince.
Isn’t this saying it all?
In such a situation, Eden, showcasing the epitome of a gentle man, not only doesn’t show jealousy but doesn’t even exhibit obsession.
To be frank, from Elysia’s perspective, such a male protagonist lacked charm.
“Well, now, being kind would be a big plus if he’s going to be my sister’s lover.”
The perspective of a reader and that of a sister can never be the same.
From Elysia’s standpoint, the wish for her sister’s lover to be kind and good-hearted was strong.
Now that this place has become reality for Elysia, the original has already begun with Partin Duke bringing Eden.
If the original story progresses as it is, Elysia will meet Eden n in a year anyway.
If it’s destined for Elysia to meet Eden someday, it would be better to take the lead and help him as much as possible to make his hardships less burdensome.
“If someone’s going to die, it should be the one who caused the trouble in the first place.”
On her way back to her room.
The sun was setting.
As Elysia walked back to her room, thinking about treating Eden’s ruined face tomorrow, her steps were anything but light.
