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Chapter 3
‘He’s nervous.’
Rayna stole a glance at the bushes, then with a casual expression, opened the lid of the picnic basket she had brought.
Inside were sandwiches, milk, fruit, and cookies. She had asked the chef to prepare them.
Rayna reached for a sandwich.
The stale bread was as hard as a stone.
The child scraped the bread against the wall and gathered the crumbs to eat.
Ignoring the floating text window, she picked up a sandwich and took a bite.
“Delicious.”
A pair of eyes shimmered within the bushes.
In the chilly early-winter air, Rayna calmly chewed her sandwich while thinking:
‘Keep in mind: he’s closer to a wild cat than a child.’
Making even a wrong step would surely scare him away, so she had to approach him with utmost care.
After finishing one sandwich, Rayna cleared her throat awkwardly to cover her embarrassment and began talking to herself.
“Ah, I’m so full. But there’s still so much left. What should I do? The chef said he expected me to eat it all.”
“…”
“Mmm… If I leave this here, wouldn’t someone eat it for me? I heard there’s a wish-granting fairy in the imperial palace.”
She even raised her voice slightly, putting on quite a performance. She wouldn’t fall short as a solo theater actor at this rate.
Expressing great distress, Rayna left the basket right where it was and stood up.
“I’ll leave it here and come back tomorrow. I hope the fairy helps.”
The next day.
At the spot she had left yesterday, Rayna found the picnic basket filled with flowers. Admirably, all the food inside was gone.
‘Do flowers bloom here even in early winter?’
Rayna took the basket to her room and arranged the flowers in a vase.
Perhaps because the child had plucked them one by one with his small hands, the petals of the dainty white flowers were completely intact, without a single one fallen.
Did he put the flowers in as a gesture of thanks for the food?
‘…I shouldn’t get attached.’
Her heart swelled as she imagined the child’s thoughts and actions, but considering the future that had to unfold according to the original story, she couldn’t interfere with Kebeniark’s environment.
So…
‘I’ll just feed him.’
She could do at least that much. She only had a week left before leaving for Ribeiro anyway.
From that day on, Rayna visited the fairy near the Fourth Prince’s detached palace every day with a basket full of food.
As the days of searching for the fairy increased, so did the flower vases in Rayna’s room.
Then, on the fifth day.
‘Ah.’
Having arrived earlier than usual to retrieve the basket, Rayna spotted someone and hastily hid behind a tree.
‘That was close.’
A short distance away stood a boy with shaggy black hair, holding a basket full of flowers.
Rayna peeked at him from behind the tree.
Though she had jokingly described him as a wild cat, the Fourth Prince in person truly looked like a wild animal.
It was chilly early-winter weather, yet the child’s outfit was stuck in late summer. On top of that, his clothes were old, worn, and torn in places.
The hem was short, leaving half of his thin arms and calves exposed to the cold weather.
‘He seems to have quite a few wounds on his body.’
Bruises of various colors indicated they had occurred at different times. Scabs were forming over healing wounds.
His skin was red and swollen, and his lips were chapped and raw.
It was a sight she already knew of and could easily anticipate.
Because of that, she wasn’t surprised, but her heart felt extremely strange.
Eight years old.
Wasn’t that an age when he should still be protected in a guardian’s embrace?
Yet that child, covered in wounds, had an appearance so neglected it was as if no one cared for him.
Rayna felt a heavy weight settle in her chest.
‘Damn it.’
She bit her lower lip tightly.
Without even knowing what she was thinking, she stepped out from behind the tree and strode toward Kebeniark.
Noticing Rayna, Kebeniark panicked and looked side to side.
He seemed to be looking for an escape route, but both of his feet were already bound by Rayna’s magic.
“Ah…”
Flustered, Kebeniark turned pale as a sheet.
It was because he thought he was in deep trouble now that she had discovered his identity.
‘It’s only natural for her to be angry.’
A monster had pretended to be a fairy.
It was the price of his greed—he had wanted to see the smile that touched her lips when she saw the flowers, over and over again.
Rayna walked right up in front of him. Her raised hand began to descend toward him.
Familiar with the gesture, Kebeniark looked indifferently at her palm.
Would it be his cheek? Or his back?
“Heal.”
Kebeniark’s eyes widened at the unexpected turn of events.
A palm placed lightly on his head, carrying no force at all.
Looking at Kebeniark’s skin, now completely free of wounds, Rayna stroked the child’s hair with a satisfied heart.
‘Oh dear, I’ve done it now.’
Even as she thought that, she couldn’t stop her stroking hand.
Blue eyes were revealed beneath his fluttering bangs.
The child was staring straight up at her. Rayna lowered her gaze and met his eyes.
Had he been hiding and watching her with these eyes all this time?
‘He really is like a kitten. …And a cute one at that.’
Up close, his beauty shone through despite his untidy appearance.
He truly was different, being the main villain of the original story.
‘I’d rather they gave him a setting like a rogue Crown Prince instead of a tragic backstory.’
Then she remembered that she had something to give the child today.
Withdrawing her hand, Rayna pulled a small wooden box from her coat and held it out to him.
It was an ointment for wounds.
“Take this.”
She had intended to put it in the basket later, but since they met, she might as well give it now.
She pressed the small wooden box into the child’s two small hands.
“It’s a very effective medicine. I can’t heal you with magic every time, so apply it whenever you get hurt later.”
Even after saying that, Rayna didn’t feel completely at ease and added a few more explanations.
Kebeniark stared intently at the wooden box and slowly nodded at the sound of Rayna’s voice.
That night.
Kebeniark lay on his cold, sunken bed, staring at the wooden box for a long time.
‘…It smells nice.’
Occasionally, he brought the box to his nose. It seemed to hold her scent.
He felt good. Kebeniark’s large, long eyes narrowed softly. A gentle smile rose naturally on his lips.
Excluding his infancy, it was the first smile he had ever worn.
However, that happiness was short-lived.
Footsteps heavy enough to break the silence echoed through the dark.
Kebeniark hurriedly hid the wooden box under his pillow.
Creak.
The rusty hinges groaned as the bedroom door opened.
Through the gap, a man’s terrible voice filtered in.
“Your Highness, are you sleeping?”
It was the signal marking the start of a dreadful night.
A few hours before that night began.
As Rayna walked down the hallway, the imperial pharmacist called out to stop her.
“Lady Rayna, you were looking for an effective healing medicine earlier, weren’t you? A better medicine than the one I gave you before has arrived. If you need it, I’ll pack it for you.”
“I need it.”
Thinking of the child she had met that morning, Rayna stopped in her tracks and immediately followed him to the pharmacy.
A box of delivered medicine, which hadn’t even been displayed on the pharmacy shelf yet, was gathered into Rayna’s arms.
Seeing her satisfied, the pharmacist asked,
“However, wouldn’t using magic be more effective for treatment? Is there a reason you must obtain medicine?”
“It’s not for me to use. The person receiving it as a gift doesn’t know how to use magic yet.”
In the future, Kebeniark would become a skilled mage, but that was a story for years later.
‘The plot was that he discovers his magic talent through a lucky encounter in the imperial library on his tenth birthday.’
Until then, perhaps this medicine would be helpful.
A warm smile touched the corners of Rayna’s lips as she looked at the medicine in the box.
Seeing her like that, the imperial pharmacist was inwardly astonished.
‘Lady Rayna is smiling? I don’t know who the recipient is, but they must be loved by someone incredible.’
The rare sight was fleeting; Rayna turned back to the pharmacist, her smile completely wiped away.
“Ah, this is medicine supplied to the palace. Is it alright for me to take it like this?”
“Not at all. Don’t I owe you my life, Lady Rayna? Please take as much as you like without worry.”
“Then…”
Rayna’s eyes quickly scanned the interior of the pharmacy.
Though it was the Rayna Heart before her possession who had saved his life, she was Rayna now, so why not?
“I won’t decline.”
A moment later, Rayna left the pharmacy holding three boxes of medicine in her arms.
She had swept up medicines that were good for various ailments.
The pharmacist’s voice when seeing her off seemed to tremble slightly, but Rayna felt proud enough not to care.
She hadn’t eaten a single meal today, yet she felt full.
‘It’s probably better to drop it off secretly, right?’
Rayna thought, keeping the morning’s incident in mind.
The Fourth Prince had fled like an arrow the moment she handed him the medicine and released her magic.
His guard must be at its peak right now, so he probably wouldn’t even try to come near.
Tomorrow was the final day of training for the imperial mages, so she might not be able to meet him again until she left the palace.
‘I’ll leave it there tonight.’
Rayna thought that was the absolute most she could do for the child, having resolved not to interfere with the original story.
Time passed and slipped past midnight.
Having waited for the night to deepen, Rayna entered the Fourth Prince’s detached palace.
The palace, devoid of a single guard, easily allowed an outsider’s visit.
‘Is the prince sleeping?’
Carrying the boxes of medicine, she walked down the hallway looking for the child’s room.
‘…The sound of water?’
From afar, a splashing sound caught Rayna’s ear.
She stopped in her tracks and looked around.
A quiet hallway draped in pitch darkness.
Thinking the sound outside might have carried through a window, she was about to resume her path.
Once again, the sound of water echoed. This time, it seemed laughter could be heard along with it.
Rayna set the boxes down and walked quietly toward the sound.
Following the stairs down to the first floor.
At the very end of the hallway, light leaked from a closed door.
Perhaps it wasn’t completely shut; when she touched the door handle, the door gave way slightly.
From the tiny gap, the voices inside carried over clearly.
“Phew, so filthy.”
“Your Highness, isn’t it nice to be clean?”
