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Chapter : 21
“I heard it’s extremely difficult to obtain. Where and how did you get it?!”
Like you’d ever heard of it before.
When the man obsessed with medicine—the medical fanatic—made a fuss, the room began to stir.
After that, things were easy.
“Oh! Now that I hear my master say it, I remember. They say it’s a precious item that can only be discovered by someone with mysterious eyes, just like its name. But how on earth…!”
“Your Highness the Princess, that’s incredible!”
The court physicians following him all chimed in one after another.
As expected, the side effect of this manipulation is that everyone likes me a little too much.
Fortunately, the emperor also seemed tempted by their reactions.
“Jeffrey, does that Aliyan fruit truly have an effect even on the incurable disease the Crown Prince suffers from?”
“Yes, Your Majesty! You should have His Highness eat it immediately.”
Just as Jane had done at the ducal estate, Jeffrey would take care of everything here as well.
So I chose to simply watch.
“Diel, come closer. No—rather, I’ll go to you.”
At Jeffrey’s confident words, the emperor pushed himself up from his seat.
“Father, you must be tired. Getting too excited is not good for your health.”
At that moment, Alastair spoke, sounding concerned.
“I will retrieve it instead.”
With that, he approached me himself in the emperor’s stead.
“Seeing you up close, I remember now. Red hair.”
Before I knew it, Alastair was standing right in front of me.
“There were so many cast out that I can’t remember them all.”
Turning his back to the emperor, he lowered his voice so only I could hear.
“But I remember you. After you were expelled, I was the only one in the palace with red hair.”
“……”
“You should be grateful that at least someone remembers you.”
Alastair could be explained by that distinctive look in his eyes alone.
“That’s why I’m giving you some advice.”
A being that could never be compared to the discarded, inferior ones.
“Hey, do you know how many people have been thrown into the underground prison for boasting they could cure the Crown Prince?”
“……”
A superior being who had stepped on them all and survived to the end.
“I don’t know why His Majesty believes someone like you, but while your life is still intact, shut up and get lost.”
Looking at Alastair in his arrogance, I grew curious.
“Let me put it simply. That kind of cheap trick might work back in whatever backwater village you came from.”
What kind of expression would he make if I really did cure the Crown Prince?
“Are you perhaps… afraid that I might actually cure the Crown Prince?”
“What?”
The crooked smile on Alastair’s lips stiffened.
“Well, as you said, all those quacks couldn’t even try and were thrown into prison. I’m the first one to make it into the Crown Prince’s bedchamber, so I guess you’d be nervous.”
“……Ha.”
Soon after, he let out a hollow laugh, as if amused.
It seemed he still had the leisure to laugh.
“I can see a bit of the future, you know. And just by looking at you, I can tell you won’t become Crown Prince. You’ve got the face of someone who gets swindled, betrayed, and dies starving on the streets.”
“F-face… face-reading?”
Had I hit a nerve? In an instant, Alastair’s gaze turned vicious.
If the emperor hadn’t been present, he would have gone berserk already.
“You don’t know what face-reading is? My, don’t tell me you don’t even know physiognomy. Haven’t you read things like the Ma-ui Physiognomy or the Water Mirror Collection from the Eastern Continent?”
I clicked my tongue.
“You study with renowned professors at your sides, and you can’t even grasp something this basic?”
“Ma—what are you talking about? Where did this—”
“Fine, I’ll put it simply. Hey, go eat some shit.”
“Hah, this one’s completely lost her mind. How did such a lunatic even make it into the imperial palace?”
Enraged, Alastair grabbed my wrist roughly.
Such an immediate reaction.
That’s what makes hotheaded characters so easy.
“Alastair, why are you wasting time instead of bringing it at once?”
At that moment, the emperor’s impatient voice rang out.
“Ah, I apologize, Your Majesty. The Princess said His Highness remembers me from childhood, so—”
“That’s not true, Father!”
An agitated Alastair cut me off.
It looked like he was trying to blow the situation up even further.
Much obliged.
“This woman is clearly insane or deranged. You must verify her again.”
Just as Alastair yanked my wrist—
“Ah!”
I deliberately staggered and fell flat to the floor.
“Father! Please take another look! Do you know what this woman said to me?”
“I saw Diel run at her brother with her eyes wide open too!”
The empresses and princesses around us began siding with Alastair, each adding a word.
Yes, that’s it. Keep going. More, more—my little fish.
“You are the one being insolent, Alastair.”
A cold voice fell into the room.
“To raise your voice as if this were your own chamber, when I am present.”
“Father!”
“Silence. I don’t have time to indulge your tantrums right now.”
No matter how much Alastair raged, it was pointless.
Right now, the emperor’s eyes hold only the Crown Prince.
The Crown Prince was, after all, the emperor’s final work to leave behind in this world—his masterpiece, carefully chosen and crafted.
“Jeffrey, take this Aliyan fruit to the Crown Prince at once.”
“Yes! Your Majesty!”
At the emperor’s command, Jeffrey hurried over to me.
“As long as we have this fruit, His Highness the Crown Prince will surely awaken.”
“Yes, I believe so too.”
Jeffrey said as he took the fruit from me.
And until he entered the Crown Prince’s bedchamber, the room remained silent, as if cold water had been poured over it.
Now that I’ve handed the Aliyan fruit to Jeffrey, this should be enough.
How much time passed as everyone exchanged wary glances?
“Your Majesty! Your Majesty! The Crown Prince’s breathing has returned to normal!”
“Is that true?”
Jeffrey came running out, gasping, and reported to the emperor.
“Yes, Your Majesty. His breathing has stabilized this quickly—he should awaken within a few days!”
The emperor, having seen the Crown Prince with his own eyes, was visibly flushed.
“How can such a thing happen with just a few fruits…”
Well, I knew from the original story, so it wasn’t as moving to me.
From the emperor’s perspective, though, it must have felt like a cure falling straight from the sky.
“Diel, how did you obtain the Aliyan fruit? Where did you get it?”
The emperor urgently called for me.
I can’t tell you that so easily.
The Crown Prince’s breathing had only returned.
He hadn’t fully awakened yet.
In other words, it was too early to bare all my cards.
“Well, actually…”
As I parted my lips, I suddenly collapsed again, as if dizzy.
Of course, I subtly rolled up my sleeve so the bruises would be clearly visible.
“Oh my goodness, Princess!”
The Marchioness of Cal was the first to rush to me, bursting into tears.
“Are you all right? Sob—what are we to do? I told you not to come to the capital because this was bound to happen. And yet you insisted. You insisted on coming. You insisted on saving His Highness the Crown Prince!”
“No, Marchioness. Please don’t say that.”
“How could I not? You couldn’t even eat properly while examining the fruit. Of course your body would suffer!”
Blinded by loyalty, the Marchioness of Cal wailed loudly.
Even a woman of her rank was throwing away all dignity as she cried.
“Khmm…”
The empresses and princes and princesses couldn’t bring themselves to sneer.
“Hey, stop pretending and get up while I’m still being nice.”
At that moment, Alastair approached, his brow deeply furrowed.
“What kind of act is this? Just a moment ago, you were staring straight at me and talking back.”
“I’m sorry… Your Highness. It’s all my fault. I suddenly felt dizzy.”
“Ha. This—she’s really gone completely mad.”
No matter how you looked at it, Alastair needed to rein in his temper.
I’d known that ever since he couldn’t even manage a proper date with the female lead because of it.
“I really want to kill—”
“Talking back, Alastair.”
A cold voice cut him off.
“Are you not siblings, you and Diel?”
Lifting my head at the chill that fell over us—
“And yet you speak as if to someone beneath you.”
The emperor was standing close by.
His tall stature and sharp eyes exuded pressure even without a word.
“And that, right in front of me.”
