When You Turned Your Back On Me, We Became Strangers

“Are you sure you want to do this? I need to check something.”

 

Had she really forgotten me, or did she just not remember?

 

He couldn’t help but feel his heart flutter when he saw Riley.

 

She was still dazzlingly beautiful, just as she had been when she was younger.

 

Except for one thing: her eyes, once so full of life, were dulled…….

 

“I just wish I could be there to watch over her for a while.”

 

If she realized he was a crown prince, she wouldn’t be as welcoming as she was now.

 

Whether it’s his fault or fate.

 

Carver wanted to be there for her as a person, not as a crown prince.

 

“Where the hell does he learn to do that!”

 

It was so mournful, so pitiful, he couldn’t look away.

 

It was obviously a technique he’d never used before.

 

Ugh.

 

Harvan clutched his chest in pain.

 

He clapped his hands together as an idea flashed through his mind, and his eyes lit up.

 

“…… one day!”

 

“One day?”

 

“Yes, then why don’t you work for one day and then decide.”

 

Carver’s eyes widened at Harvan’s words. Clearly, he doesn’t think he’ll make it.

 

“And if I do well?”

 

“You can work for the month.”

 

“Really?”

 

“I don’t lie.”

 

Carver sighed heavily. But he didn’t know himself too well.

 

“Fortunately, you don’t remember.”

 

Harvan remembered the day he once learned this and that to become a man who could do everything in the imperial family.

 

Perhaps this deal would end the way he wanted it to.

 

“We’ll keep moving until we’re certain we’ve found her.”

 

One of Harvan’s hands went up, then down. With a flick of his hand, the hidden knights appeared and disappeared.

 

He thought he’d finally found Riley, but apparently not. Harvan’s head throbbed with the realization that he had just added to his troubles.

 

The only way to end this madness was to be diligent.

 

“I’ve got to find this……. This is going to make me sick.”

 

Harvan shuddered and looked at Carver. 

 

His face got all dried out because he didn’t sleep well.

 

Unable to object any longer, he nodded his head in agreement.

 

“If I do this, the king might behead me for disloyalty.”

 

He was tired just thinking about it.

 

It was bad enough that he hadn’t been able to sleep due to his nightly summonses, but lately, they had become more frequent.

 

“I want to ask you what has happened, and you, my aide, explain it to me.”

 

“I asked the Duke of …… and he said it was something he didn’t know about.”

 

“You must have grown up a lot, House Trailla, to be doing this behind the Emperor’s back.”

 

The Emperor was furious.

 

It hadn’t been long since he’d been served with Riley’s divorce petition, and he’d felt the energy of the sword.

 

This was not the first time the Duke had acted selfishly.

 

There was something else that had happened in the past that had angered the imperial family: Riley’s marriage.

 

The Duke had refused, even though the Imperial Court had said it would be fine without her powers. The Emperor only wanted to bring his son a child he loved.

 

It would have been nice if she was a manifester, but it didn’t matter if she wasn’t.

 

If Carver hadn’t been in love with Riley, that would have been a different matter.

 

The Duke refused to let her go in the end, saying that he would sacrifice her sister, Leta, if she could manifest.

 

Perhaps he, too, believed she would have a use somewhere, for he had no doubt she would be his weapon.

 

Contrary to his belief that he would one day make a deal for her, the duke never asked the empire for anything in the end. It was a consequence of not wanting to know what the empire wanted.

 

“And then he stabbed me in the back.”

 

Harvan gritted his teeth as he recalled that day’s events.

 

* * *

The imperial family had learned of Riley’s marriage, which had been arranged so quickly and with so little notice, that there was nothing they could do about it.

 

It was already too late.

 

The crown prince, Carver, begged the emperor to reconsider.

 

“Father, if she is not a manifestor,……. let her marry whom she wishes.”

 

“Are you saying that you don’t care if she marries someone else? I want to know if you mean what you say, since I’ve been waiting for that day.”

 

“『I don’t want to marry her if she doesn’t want to, and I don’t want to hold on to someone who doesn’t want to when she’s not even a manifester.”

 

According to Harvan, there was a smile on Riley’s face as she spoke to Theo. It was a smile that came from the heart, not a false one.

 

“She looked happy. Are you sure you’re okay with this?”

 

“Yeah, that’s it.”

 

Was that really it?

 

Carver felt an undefinable emotion.

 

“Are you going to watch her marry someone else?”

 

“I can’t take control of her life, she’s had enough of that already.”

 

“But that’s…….”

 

He couldn’t finish what he was saying. He put a finger to his forehead and took deep breaths to control his emotions.

 

“I know what you’re trying to say, but do you think she’ll like my presence?”

 

He’d already confessed his heart to her, and he’d been dumped.

 

If he proceeded without considering her feelings, he’d get what he wanted, but he wouldn’t because he cared about her more than anyone could ever know.

 

His head tilted down at Carver’s question.

 

He could do nothing, he knew that even if he prevented the marriage, she would not come to the imperial court of her own accord.

 

Above all, there was also a vague fear that he might not dare to block her happiness.

 

“She was smiling, that smile I remember from when I was a kid.”

 

“Yes, I see.”

 

At Harvan’s words about seeing that side of her that he hadn’t seen in a long time, he let go of her.

 

He looked forward to marrying Riley, but he didn’t want to force her to come here when she didn’t want to marry him.

 

The Emperor summoned Harvan without Carver’s knowledge. It was because he was concerned.

 

“So you’re really willing to wait and see?”

 

“……Yes, I think I’ve made up your mind.”

 

The Emperor rubbed his chin, uncomfortable with Carver’s response. The imperial family didn’t care if he didn’t have to get married unless She was a manifestor.

 

It was the crown prince’s heart that mattered to the Emperor. He had even considered annulling Riley’s marriage if Carver wanted to.

 

It was a small price to pay for what he’d done for the empire and for himself, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it.

 

‘It wouldn’t be a good thing to control a person’s life with power.’

 

“When you sit in this seat, you see greater things, and perhaps one day you will understand me, but I hope you will be a different kind of monarch.”

 

The Emperor’s brow narrowed slightly in thought. It disgusted him that he had become so casual about sacrificing his love for the greater good.

 

The Emperor shook his head lightly to clear his thoughts, and then, with a calm expression, he turned to Harvan and said, “I feel sorry for him.”

 

“So He’s been working so hard for her, and as his father, I can’t help but feel sorry for him.”

 

As a monarch of a country, it was a great joy to have the power to protect the imperial family even without a manifestor.

 

He didn’t need to give anything more to the Traillas, and he didn’t regret it.

 

It meant that the imperial family could stand alone, and that meant that the power of the imperial power had been strengthened.

 

‘And yet he seemed to like her…….’

 

He wanted to know what had made him give up his son’s heart. he was told later that he let her go because she seemed happy.

 

The Emperor was not so quick to agree, knowing full well how much Carver had favored her since childhood.

 

The Emperor finally agreed to let her marry the Duke of Prinz, who was a member of House Trailla.

 

Thus, Reilly was one step away from the fate she had so desperately sought to escape.

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