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Chapter – 32
Jason was a man who gave off a strange sense of tension. Because of him, even after returning to the imperial palace, Dee couldn’t fully relax. Her whole body felt stiff, sore, and aching.
“He doesn’t even look that intimidating, so why do I get so exhausted whenever I’m with him…?”
Dee muttered to herself.
Her whole body hurt, but since she’d come abroad for the first time in a while, she didn’t want to just go to sleep.
Groaning, Dee got up and headed toward Kyle’s room. When she knocked, Kyle’s voice came from inside.
“Come in.”
Kyle, too, had spent the entire day dealing with anger and absurd situations. But when he saw Dee poke her head through the door, he couldn’t help but smile.
Since Stephanie wasn’t around today, Dee had braided her hair herself. The braid, gathered over one shoulder, stuck out messily in all directions.
“What’s with that hair?” Kyle asked.
Dee replied shamelessly,
“I’m trying to start a trend.”
“As if that’d ever become popular.”
“Can’t you show me around the imperial palace? There’s no one around, so I’m bored.”
At her suggestion, Kyle nodded and stepped outside.
Dee quietly watched his back as he led the way.
He had black hair and wore a pitch-black uniform. His broad shoulders tapered down to a slim waist, forming a clean inverted triangle, and his long legs made him look good in anything he wore.
Dee walked ahead of Kyle and said with a serious expression,
“Kyle. I have something important to tell you.”
“What is it?”
“You might be shocked…”
Dee swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and spoke.
“Don’t be surprised. When I went to Count Diana Estrella’s estate, I found something like this.”
She pulled out a playing card and continued solemnly.
“It turns out that person is a total con artist. He marked the back of the cards so only he could recognize them.”
“……That’s not funny.”
“I’m sorry. I failed to protect your childhood innocence now that we’re adults.”
Dee teased him with a straight face. Kyle’s expression twisted, and she couldn’t hold it in anymore—she covered her mouth with both hands and burst out laughing. Kyle, who’d been annoyed at first, laughed in disbelief and asked,
“Is that really that funny?”
“Yes. It’s funny because it’s cute.”
“…….”
“You’re usually so blunt and scary. Thinking that you liked legends like that makes me realize you were a kid once too. That’s why it’s cute.”
Kyle made a strange expression at her words.
The moment he looked at her face, all the stress he’d felt throughout the day vanished completely. Now, he even felt good—despite her chattering and teasing.
“Kyle, do you want to see the shamaness cards you collected?”
“You really live for teasing me, don’t you?”
“Oh, you noticed…?”
Unlike Petten, which had a large temperature difference between morning and night, this place had similar temperatures day and night, making it perfect for walking. Dee, whose mood had been crushed by Jason earlier, said cheerfully,
“This place is really nice to live in. Should I just settle here?”
Kyle’s eyes wavered at her cheerful voice. As if something suddenly came to mind, he awkwardly gestured toward a fountain.
“That fountain.”
“Huh?”
“They say a ghost appears there.”
“W-What?!”
Dee, who was terrified of ghosts, turned pale.
Kyle was the last person who’d lie, so that made it even scarier. He continued,
“At that fountain, on Friday nights, you can hear the cries of a bureaucrat who committed suicide after being exhausted from overtime work.”
“H-How did someone even die in a place that shallow?”
“……I guess he held his breath underwater.”
Apparently, Kyle could lie after all. But since he usually never did, Dee clutched his arm tightly with both hands.
“I—I don’t like this place anymore. Let’s go back to Petten.”
“Because of the ghost?”
“No, that’s scary too, but if someone killed themselves from overwork, how much work must there be here?!”
“……Ah.”
Kyle nodded.
Just then, a woman approached from ahead.
She wore a sword at her waist and had long black hair tied into a single braid. She resembled Emperor William and Kyle so strongly that Dee instantly knew who she was.
She was Philia Claes, the only daughter of Emperor William of the Vitensia Empire.
As Philia approached, Dee flinched. Her tightly pressed lips were exactly like Kyle’s. She was tall and strongly built.
With her nicely tanned brown skin, long braided hair, jet-black hair mixed with ash-gray eyes—
For the empire’s sole princess, “handsome” suited her better than “beautiful.”
Philia spoke to Kyle seriously.
“It’s been a while, Kyle.”
“Yeah. Philia.”
“I have something to say.”
She stepped closer. Dee didn’t know whether to run or what to do, fidgeting nervously, when Philia finally noticed Dee and bowed slightly.
“I apologize for not greeting you at the funeral, Shamaness. I am Philia Claes, Princess of the Vitensia Empire.”
‘Huh? She’s polite?’
Dee relaxed, but Philia straightened up and said to Kyle,
“I’m twenty-one now, brother.”
“I know.”
“It’s time I get my island back.”
“……I’ve told you repeatedly—that island isn’t yours.”
“I’ve never cared about anything else since I was little.”
“I know.”
Philia had always been like that.
Absolutely single-minded.
Like a racehorse that only saw what was right in front of her.
She said seriously,
“I’m going to Petten next week. Support me.”
“It’s not your island.”
“That’s for me to decide.”
After saying that, Philia turned back to Dee.
“I’ll be going now, Shamaness.”
“Yes…”
Philia left.
As Dee walked again with Kyle, she asked,
“Kyle. What was the princess talking about?”
“Philia got her name because my parents conceived her while traveling to Hwiril Island.”
“Okay.”
“So she’s believed since childhood that Hwiril Island belongs to her.”
“…What? How does that connect?”
“She’s been determined to claim that island since the day I became king of Petten. But there’s a family that’s lived there for generations.”
Dee nodded absentmindedly, then felt something was off.
“So just because of her name… she’s demanding the island back?”
“That’s right.”
She’d mistaken her for a normal person based on appearances alone!
Only then did Dee remember a past conversation with Kyle.
‘Philia, you see… if I put it nicely… she’s a thug.’
‘That’s just being a thug!’
Kyle said gravely,
“That’s why we have to mediate. Otherwise, there’ll be bloodshed.”
Why did bloodshed follow that family wherever they went…?
At first, Dee thought Kyle was uniquely scary and violent—but after meeting his family, it was a miracle someone this normal had even been born.
The next morning, when Dee woke up—
“Ah…”
She blinked repeatedly.
‘My voice is gone!’
She must’ve caught a fever from all the tension with Jason yesterday. And since all the maids had been sent home for a rare break, there was no one to take care of her.
But the hardest part was Kyle.
She couldn’t tell whether he was trying to comfort her or if he was actually happy that Cyan had died.
Dee had only one family: Mrs. Kim Seonnyeo. When Mrs. Kim passed away, Dee cried for about a week—crying until she fell asleep, waking briefly just to cry again.
Thanks to you, my final years weren’t lonely.’
Those were Mrs. Kim’s last words to Dee.
For Dee, that’s what losing family meant. Even when her non-blood-related grandmother passed away, she cried like that.
But Kyle hadn’t. He’d just worn a strange smile.
Dee, who’d never really experienced family, couldn’t understand his reaction at all.
Trying to read his mood, following him around all day, must’ve exhausted her.
She went outside, searching for him, and saw Kyle heading toward the imperial library. She wanted to call out to him, but no voice came—only the sound of wind.
She wrapped her hands around her throat. It was hot.
Kyle didn’t hear her and entered the library.
‘Kyle… I think I’m sick.’
Thinking that, Dee turned back to her quarters.
As soon as she entered, she flopped onto the bed, crossing her arms with a pout.
People really were creatures of habit. Back in Cheongdam-dong, she’d handled everything on her own, but now, not having maids help her felt difficult.
She’d been happy seeing the maids’ joyful faces as they went home, but now she was unbearably bored.
‘Am I getting weak? Is Amila bored too? What if she doesn’t miss me? She does miss me, right? Don’t shamanesses have some kind of telepathy? Ah! I want to talk out loud!’
Frustrated, Dee rolled around on the bed, kicking the air. She overdid it, and her head quickly started spinning.
She stopped rolling and placed a hand on her head.
No doubt about it—she had a fever.
This was all Jason’s fault. Or Kyle’s. Or both!
‘I’m always the one who goes looking for Kyle… now that I’m not, I don’t see him at all.’
For some reason, that made her feel a little hurt.
In the library, Kyle pulled a book from the shelf and walked toward the window—then irritably snapped it shut.
“…Did she find something interesting again?”
Dee, who usually ran around so much she was impossible to miss, was nowhere to be seen today.
Since arriving here, she’d constantly been by his side, chattering away. But today, she hadn’t called for him even once. Surely she’d found something Petten didn’t have and was excited about it somewhere…
By late afternoon, Kyle had finished all the books he’d wanted to read but couldn’t find in Petten.
Still, he couldn’t focus at all.
He kept wondering why Dee hadn’t come to see him.
Her face, her smile, her voice kept popping into his mind. He hated that he wanted to hear her voice and stubbornly resisted out of pride.
Sighing, Kyle thought he looked like a pet waiting for its owner.
In the end, as evening approached, he went to Dee’s room and knocked.
Dee opened the door and smiled brightly when she saw him.
She tried to say something, opened her mouth, then gave up and closed it again. Kyle frowned.
“What? Can’t talk?”
Dee barely managed to make an airy sound.
“The doctor came earlier. He told me not to talk.”
“…Alright. Here.”
Kyle nodded—then left her room.
Dee scowled deeply.
That jerk! I obviously look sick, and he just leaves?! Next time he’s sick, I won’t care either!
Though… he doesn’t look like the type who’d ever get sick.
