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Chapter 09
The golden hair looked like it would crumble under the sunlight.
Ever since her identity had been exposed by Windsor, Erne had stopped using the dye potion she’d been relying on all this time.
Windsor had already heard the news that the princess had gone missing from the royal palace.
There was no way he wouldn’t know—especially after how hard the queen had been stirring things up.
The rumors were wild: that she’d been kidnapped by an enemy nation, that she had walked away of her own accord…
Windsor stroked his chin, falling into deep thought.
“Was it Count Vanessa who kidnapped her? No. He couldn’t possibly be a spy from an enemy nation.”
He had always kept the kidnapping theory in mind.
When he first realized that Shuknen’s teacher was the lost princess of Nesheld, he hadn’t shown it outwardly—but inside, he had been quite shocked.
But seeing Cheonghak-dong, the strange academy the princess had apparently founded herself, it didn’t seem like a kidnapping.
Then why?
She had reclaimed her status and returned to the place where she belonged. Shouldn’t that make her happier than anyone?
The wrinkles between Windsor’s brows deepened.
“Yes. I’m not going back to the royal family. If I go back, I’ll have to live like my mother, in a marriage I never wanted. I don’t want that.”
When Erne finished speaking, the Duke began to understand why the rumors said she had run away on her own.
Still, no matter how he looked at it, there didn’t seem to be a proper reason for a princess to run away.
Erne bit her lip, and a determined light settled on her face as if something serious was on her mind.
“Your Highness.”
“Yes?”
“You have a nosebleed…”
“Wha—?!”
As Erne flailed in surprise, Windsor observed the sudden and considerable amount of blood and couldn’t help but entertain a suspicion.
Her skin wasn’t just pale—it was deathly white. Her face was always shadowed with sadness. Even when talking to the children, her eyes shimmered, and her breathing was so faint she looked like she might collapse at any moment.
Could it be…? There had never been word of the princess being ill.
He decided to find out for himself. There had to be a reason for her to run away.
Otherwise, why would someone abandon a life of luxury and comfort to live in this remote place, running a strange little academy?
“Do you… get like this often?”
“Uh…”
The princess didn’t answer right away.
Her eyes darted anxiously—Windsor could see it clearly.
Her expression said she didn’t know where or how to begin.
Windsor instinctively realized she was trying to hide her illness.
“Not often. Just sometimes, I guess. I’m okay now.”
Her vague response only confirmed Windsor’s suspicion.
“I’ll be sure to wash this. What a mess I’ve made… Please, Your Grace, promise you won’t tell the royal family.”
The princess is sick. But the royal family doesn’t know.
Windsor finally found a clue to the rumor about the princess leaving of her own accord.
He already thought well of her as Shuknen’s teacher. He couldn’t ignore a request from someone he respected—and from his son’s mentor, no less.
“I’ll keep your secret. Because it is your command, Your Highness.”
Erne seemed relieved by Windsor’s answer and began sharing everything she knew about Shuknen—from his behavior in class to his eating habits. Even his picky tastes and strange little habits—things even his father didn’t know.
She noticed all of this in such a short time?
Windsor looked at Erne with newfound respect.
As the conversation deepened, Windsor felt a need for certainty.
Would Queen Nesheld really not know about this? The queen he knew was ruthless and meticulous.
It was hard to believe she wouldn’t know her daughter was ill.
“Does the royal family know?”
“No. And they mustn’t find out.”
Erne answered slowly. It seemed even she wasn’t sure if her mother knew.
Then again, a daughter would know as much about the queen as the queen knew about her.
Is it an incurable disease?
Windsor couldn’t understand why she would refuse treatment, why she would leave the palace and hide her illness.
“I like it here. The children are the future of Nesheld. Teaching them makes me truly happy.”
“The future… Is that what Your Highness sees as your own future?”
The future…
Erne spoke of it with a sad smile.
Windsor, who had pieced together the puzzle—that the princess was sick and had walked away from the palace to hide it—finally reached the final piece.
She’s terminally ill.
His instincts told him that this delicate woman, who seemed ready to disappear with the sunlight, didn’t have much time left.
“Yes. I feel like I’m truly alive here, unlike at the palace.”
Her final words confirmed everything for Windsor.
As he returned with Shuknen, Windsor finished the sentence in his mind: The sick princess doesn’t want to burden others, so she’s chosen to spend her final days alone.
“It seems Lady Ellen’s health is weak. Send every good medicinal herb to Cheonghak-dong.”
As someone who now knew her secret, Windsor was determined to do everything he could for her.
He wanted to protect Cheonghak-dong, the only joy in her life.
She truly loved the children—and felt both duty and passion in teaching them.
Hyuger obeyed the duke without question.
He had also noticed changes in Shuknen lately and was the one closest to him.
He’d been worried about entrusting the boy to a country-born, unknown teacher.
But even if her manners weren’t perfect, Shuknen’s tantrums and stubbornness had decreased noticeably.
Clearly, the young lord had grown fond of this teacher.
If not that, then she certainly had a very special teaching method.
Hyuger felt a rising respect and curiosity about this extraordinary teacher.
As he left the room with light steps, unable to hide his smile, Windsor stared at a wanted poster on his desk.
Thud.
He drew his dagger and stabbed it straight into the sheet.
The cold blade pierced right through.
[WANTED: Missing Princess of the Kingdom of Nesheld.
Golden hair and golden eyes. A beauty who closely resembles Her Majesty the Queen.
Her Majesty’s proclamation: Whoever finds and safely returns Princess Erne shall be rewarded with marriage to her.]
Looking at the crude likeness of Erne—nowhere near her actual appearance—Windsor’s eyes gleamed sharply.
“So this is what the royal court painter is capable of? Pathetic.”
And the resemblance to the queen? Laughable.
Where the queen was glamorous, Erne was elegant and serene.
“Maybe that’s the illness making her look paler… but still.”
The posters had even reached Vanessa.
Windsor had picked one off the street himself, and there were more enclosed in mail directly from the palace.
Marriage, though?
He recalled Erne saying she didn’t want to live like her mother.
Maybe she was hiding in this remote place just to live the life she wanted.
“I promised to protect Your Highness’s secret. So marriage… is out of the question.”
Windsor pulled the bell rope again.
“Do you need something else, Your Grace?”
Hyuger had just returned with a list of medicinal ingredients to buy.
Windsor hadn’t meant to disturb him again, but he’d forgotten something crucial.
“Gather every copy of this poster scattered in Vanessa and burn them. I don’t want a single one left circulating.”
Hyuger accepted the poster with a confused expression.
When he glanced down, he saw the dagger stabbed right through the word “marriage.”
A chill ran down his spine, and he quickly bowed.
“Your Grace?”
“…”
“Duke Douglas!”
Lost in deep thought, Windsor didn’t come to his senses until Erne called him several times.
She smiled brightly, proud, as she held up a white sheet of paper.
“Look! Shuknen finished his art assignment!”
“…It’s a cake.”
The drawing showed what looked like Shuknen and some other children sitting around a table, eating cake together.
“Isn’t our Shuknen so considerate? He said he drew himself sharing a huge cake with his friends!”
Erne beamed with pride. But Windsor couldn’t agree.
“Sharing, huh?”
The plates in front of the other kids were all empty.
Only Shuknen’s plate had four slices of colorful cake stacked high.
Windsor looked at the drawing and smirked.
When he met Shuknen’s eyes behind Erne, the boy quickly looked away.
A silent exchange passed between father and son.
“Shuknen is such an angel. Imagine, drawing a picture of sharing cake with his friends! He’s such a kind boy.”
Overcome with emotion at what she thought was a sign of her teaching success, Erne turned and hugged Shuknen tightly.
Blocking Windsor’s line of sight, the boy giggled like an ordinary child in her arms.
“How on earth is that a picture of sharing cake?”
Windsor glanced back down at the picture on the desk and shook his head.
Left, right, any angle—
It was obvious: the cake was meant to be eaten all by himself.
That Erne could interpret this as an act of “sharing” and “kindness” was almost impressive.
Windsor clicked his tongue and swallowed the words he wanted to say.
“The true meaning of this drawing… is greed.”
