🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 7
Katrina’s mind went blank.
What in the world is happening all of a sudden?
She couldn’t make sense of the situation at all.
“That won’t be possible.”
At that moment, Damian, who had been silently watching everything unfold, stepped forward.
So this was the bad feeling I had.
“Your Highness, forgive me, but Katrina is scheduled to leave for the monastery today.”
“…”
“Please do not put the House of Abiche in a difficult position.”
The Crown Prince merely tilted his head slightly.
“Damian, what kind of words are those to speak before His Highness?”
The Duke of Abiche immediately scolded Damian.
“It’s cold outside. Hurry and escort His Highness inside!”
“Yes, sir.”
“…And bring Katrina with you.”
The situation was beginning to take a strange turn.
Raymond had come.
Just as Katrina had planned.
“Miss, the Duke is calling for you.”
How long had she been waiting in her room?
Katrina was summoned by the Duke of Abiche.
“Katrina Abiche. His Highness the Crown Prince has come to see you.”
“…”
“Why would His Highness come to see you?”
He looked completely unable to understand it.
But Katrina had no intention of explaining.
“His Highness came to see me?”
Instead, she looked at the Duke with a surprised expression.
“Is that really true, Father?”
“…”
When she acted like someone still hopelessly infatuated with the Crown Prince, the Duke frowned.
“His Highness is waiting in the reception room. Go.”
“Yes, Father.”
“Report every word that is said inside.”
“Yes, I understand.”
Katrina obediently answered and headed toward the reception room.
To meet Raymond.
That bastard…
Standing outside the reception room, Katrina called out.
“Your Highness, it’s me.”
“Come in, Katrina.”
A familiar voice.
The moment she heard it, old memories resurfaced.
“No matter what I do, Katrina will always love me, won’t she?”
The face of a man who smiled sweetly while casually looking down on others.
Raymond was the most arrogant person Katrina had ever met.
“Isn’t that right, Katrina?”
She had wanted to punch him countless times.
Casting aside those old memories, Katrina opened the door and stepped inside.
Apparently tired of waiting, Raymond was smoking a cigar in the room.
The moment his green eyes found her, they gleamed with interest.
“So you really survived.”
Katrina didn’t appreciate hearing those words.
After all, everyone in this world had wished for her death.
Those words, in particular, felt especially sharp.
“Yes, I survived.”
Calmly, Katrina sat down across from Raymond.
His green eyes followed her as though studying her.
“And the moment you woke up, you were almost dragged off to the monastery.”
So he already knows everything.
“Today was the day you were supposed to leave, wasn’t it?”
“…”
“My, you must have been terribly worried.”
It wasn’t difficult to understand what Raymond meant.
If I hadn’t come, you would’ve been taken away.
He was reminding her of exactly where she stood.
Well… he’s not wrong.
If Raymond hadn’t shown up, she’d probably be riding in a carriage to the monastery by now.
So Katrina decided to answer him with a truth of her own.
“You sent me a letter.”
“I’m glad you received it safely.”
After reading that letter, there was no way you wouldn’t come.
“The fact that you rushed here proves I was right, doesn’t it?”
His cold gaze settled on Katrina.
She smiled brightly.
“So… you really are under a curse, aren’t you?”
“…”
Raymond didn’t answer.
He merely stared at her expressionlessly.
Arrogant Raymond.
In the past, he had used Katrina completely.
The Katrina in the game had loved Raymond.
And Raymond, both in the game and in reality, had exploited those feelings.
A wielder of holy power like Katrina had been useful in many ways.
Then, the moment her holy power disappeared, he discarded her.
“You need me now, don’t you?”
Raymond’s expression stiffened.
He had probably been wondering ever since he received the letter.
How does she know my secret?
Raymond had hidden his curse with utmost care.
If it became known that the Crown Prince was cursed, countless people would see it as an ominous sign.
Besides, there were other factions competing for the throne.
Well, I was the player of the game.
She had once played through the route where she became the heroine and lifted Raymond’s curse.
So she knew exactly how to break it.
“I’m someone who once possessed holy power. Even before, I could sense something strange surrounding Your Highness.”
“…”
“So I made an educated guess.”
The corner of Raymond’s lips slowly relaxed.
His golden eyelashes lowered, and his green eyes seemed fixed upon the teacup before him.
“You still haven’t found a way to lift the curse, have you?”
There was no way he could have.
As far as the world knew, there was only one method to remove a curse.
If someone had been cursed, then naturally someone else had cast it.
Therefore, the only known solution was to find the sorcerer responsible and personally kill them.
But throughout the game’s story, Raymond never found the culprit.
“I know another way, Your Highness.”
“You know how?”
Raymond asked with genuine interest.
But before long, the smile on his lips twisted into mockery.
“Without any holy power, what exactly could you do?”
The way you talk…
You really haven’t changed at all.
“Lifting a curse has nothing to do with holy power.”
If holy power alone could remove it, Raymond would have long since hired the empire’s most promising priests.
A curse could never be lifted that way.
“I know how to make medicine that suppresses the curse.”
Katrina glanced at Raymond’s hand.
A cigar rested between his index and middle fingers.
“Something far more effective than the sedatives you’re holding.”
“…”
Expressionless, Raymond looked down at the sedative in his hand.
Several seconds of silence passed before he looked back at Katrina.
“It sounds like you want something from me.”
Exactly.
Katrina smiled.
“Help me.”
Raymond tilted his head, his smile never fading.
“I don’t want to go to the monastery.”
“So that’s why you’re asking for my help?”
Raymond asked casually.
“One word from Your Highness is all it would take.”
“That’s true. It would.”
He admitted it without hesitation.
Raymond possessed that kind of authority.
That was why, despite despising him so much, Katrina had chosen him.
“So… we help each other.”
“You’re in pain.”
Raymond’s curse often caused attacks of unbearable agony.
“You want to be free of it.”
Raymond still wore a faint smile, but his eyes refused to smile.
So cooperate with me, Raymond.
Katrina genuinely intended to help him as well.
When she made a promise, she kept it.
“I’ll do everything I can for Your Highness.”
She meant every word.
Although the heroine is supposed to cure him eventually…
That’ll probably be about three years from now.
But Raymond didn’t know that.
Nor would he want to suffer for another three years.
“But Katrina…”
Raymond stopped idly playing with his teacup and looked directly at her.
“I’m not cursed.”
