Chapter 21
Her father had been more cruel and persistent than she had ever realized. Riley’s life must have been awful, and Leta could see it clearly now that she had gone through it herself.
‘Sis, Sis……. I’m scared.’
She was scared. She felt like she was way over her head. With so many maids watching her every move, Leta became more and more isolated.
Every night, her father sent a maid to search her body. It was an unimaginable humiliation to be stripped naked and searched.
“Look for the mark.”
A symbol, Leta didn’t know what it was. She didn’t even know what they were looking for on her body until her father showed her a piece of paper with a symbol on it.
“What kind of pattern is it exactly? You have to tell me so I can tell you, father!”
The Duke’s eyebrows twitched at Leta’s suppressed cry. She was not wrong, and he rubbed his chin in thought.
“I wouldn’t know anything if I told you.”
He’d never really talked about the sword, and Leta and Riley knew it. The paper in the Duke’s hand was finally thrust out to her.
“Is this……?
The pattern She saw on her sister’s neck was drawn on the paper. A memory of seeing it briefly flashed in her mind. It was deeply ingrained in her brain because the pattern was uniquely shaped.
When Leta realized what her father wanted, it all made sense. The symbol on her sister’s neck matched the design on the family heirloom, the sword that always hung on the wall.
A pact with the sword that her father had told her every day since she was a child as if brainwashing her. In the story, the one who manifested the power would be the one whose sigil appeared.
Leta’s heart thudded rapidly. But her mouth remained firmly closed.
“Father will not be happy if he finds out she has it.”
Leta never forgot the smile on her sister’s face. She had seen more than anyone else how Riley had lived before she left home, and she didn’t want to put her through it again.
She was scared and terrified. She didn’t know how long the stuff that was happening to her every day would keep going. Maybe her father would never stop.
But Leta was determined for her sister.
“If she could endure it, why couldn’t I?
Leta pushed the symbol the duke had shown her out of her memory. Surely she had seen the glow that came and went from her neck when he slept with her, but she had never told anyone. As long as she kept her mouth shut, no one would know.
Maybe Riley didn’t know either, She thought. She endured all the abuse, thinking it was for the best.
“She’ll be happy,” she thought, “and it’s my turn to endure it.”
She thought of her sister, who, unlike her, must have gone through many of these things as a child. Eventually, Leta accepted it all. Now it was her turn to support her sister. It was the only way she could help her sister, who had run away and married.
Carver gently grasped Leta’s shoulders, her face shadowed. Leta, lost in thought, gave him an awkward smile and nodded her head in acknowledgment.
“It’s okay, now. But I don’t forgive him.”
Leta’s face hardened as he spoke, his tone soft but firm. She did not want this custom to continue, even if it meant to breaking the line of House Trailla.
“What do you think of the sword, Your Highness, is it still necessary?”
A sword, a tool to be wielded at the Emperor’s side. A sword that has no self, no life of its own, no control over anything, just a sword for the imperial service.
The fate of House Trailla will not change unless the Emperor gives up this side of himself first.
“We can’t use it anymore.”
Even if Riley returned, Leta worried about that.
As long as she used her power, the sword would still want the contract. It needed a contract with the manifester in order to continue its existence, otherwise it would annihilate itself.
“Why didn’t you just capture her from the beginning?”
“Leta, it was…… unavoidable, and at the time I thought it was right to let her go.”
Carver’s words made Leta stare at him. She didn’t think he was lying. He just didn’t have the courage.
In other words, he was a coward.
“You didn’t run away?”
Carver’s eyes fluttered at Leta’s words. She might be right.
Maybe he was afraid of being forced to take the sword and come to her side. if he really loved her, he could have told her how he felt.
He was afraid of being rejected again. Maybe He ran away because He was afraid that the way she looked at him would be filled with disdain, despair, and fear.
“Do you remember playing with the three of us when you were little?”
“……Of course.”
“I remember how your Highness would never approach us then, always looking at us from behind.”
Carver smiled bitterly at Leta’s words. Leta was recalling things from the past that Riley couldn’t remember.
“Your Highness of old and your Highness of today are quite different.”
Leta smiled wryly at the fond memories of the past. The boy who had blushed at his sister was now standing before her, all grown up.
Carver’s body twitched slightly.
‘But now she doesn’t recognize me ……, does she?’
His shoulders drooped as he remembered the incident at the shop. Leta stared at him, then looked away. He looked a lot different than he used to, but his heart still seemed the same.
But Leta felt that Carver needed to change more, that he needed to be stronger to protect his heart.
“That time has passed, Your Majesty. We are no longer children who know nothing, and watching from the sidelines won’t change what happens.”
Carver knows why Leta was telling him this. She was asking him why he didn’t do anything. She wanted to know why he didn’t do anything when Riley was in trouble. She also wanted to know why he was coming to her and her sister now.
If he turned a blind eye in her time of need again, it would be no different than before. Leta was grateful for saving her, but she couldn’t fully trust Carver.
“What does my sister mean to you?”
Carver breathed in at Leta’s words, each one of them digging into his chest, each one of them bringing back the regrets of the past.
“She’s…….”
* * *
The imperial palace was a silent place. The same schedule every day, life within a set radius. For the young Carver, the palace was boring and intimidating.
Even his peers were not people he felt comfortable talking to, but rather people of power.
Because he was the crown prince, children were often sent to greet him, but no one approached him in a friendly way.
‘You don’t have any heart, you’re just pretending.’
Even a child’s eyes could see through the adults.
They looked like they were being dragged along by their parents. They approached Carver and greeted him, trying to hide their emotions, but their hearts were all the same.
“Crown Prince, you can do anything, can’t you?”
“What is it like to live in your palace?”
The children’s answers soon revealed the truth: a spacious palace with everything you need. They said they would love to live in the sparkling palace.
The idea of being the crown prince, the one who would one day become the emperor and rule over everyone, seemed wonderful to someone their age.
With being emperor came a lot of responsibility. He had to learn about finance and politics, as well as daily etiquette lessons. He had to be careful of what people thought of him, and there were restrictions everywhere he went.
‘Without even knowing it…….’
He wanted to play and roam freely like other children his age. He was too young to be confined to the imperial court. His curiosity ran wild, and he wanted to be silly with his parents when things got tough.
As Sheshiran ran toward her father to pick her up, she tripped over a rock and fell. Before she could shake off the dirt, she was picked up by her father and burst into tears. Carver watched the scene from afar.
‘……’
His father wiped the tears from her eyes with concern and patted her on the back. Carver’s gaze shifted to the window.
He was envious.
To be able to express his emotions as he pleased, to be able to cry his heart out in his father’s arms like that, was something that would never happen to him.
As the crown prince, he was supposed to keep himself in check and set an example for everyone.
“『What do you see?
Harvan, who was watching from the side, said in a grave voice. He was close to Carver’s age, but four years older.
His brilliance made up for his young age, and he caught the Emperor’s eye and was sent to study with him.
The Emperor had chosen Harvan to be one of Carver’s aides in the future. He also possessed an aura that could heal, so the imperial family supported him from a young age.
“When will I run to my father and hug him…….”
“Do you want to be childish?”
Harvan lifted his head and stared at Carver.
He put down his book and opened his arms.
“Why don’t you just run up to me and hug me?”
“…… I’m done.”
Harvan’s shoulders slumped at Carver’s disgusted expression.
It wasn’t that he didn’t know how tempting it was to be flattered, but he didn’t recommend it. That was the thing about being the crown prince.
“My arms are always open.”
“I won’t be in your arms until I die.”
“That’s good.”
There was silence again, as neither of them was a talkative person, so their time together was often spent in silence.
He could hold a boring book all day and never get tired of it. He was one of those people Caber couldn’t understand.
“You don’t mind being stuck in the imperial palace, do you?”
“It’s not bad, so don’t pay attention to what they say. After all, my abilities are so outstanding, where else would I go but the imperial court?”
Harvan’s gaze remained fixed on the book as he replied in a sullen voice, flipping through it.
“You’re boring.”
“Well, neither are you, Your Highness, which is why we’re not stuck together.”
Not a word was spoken.
Carver shook his head and rose from his seat. He decided to take a walk outside to relieve his frustration.
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