🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 48
The Thornbush Witch (3)
At Kaiden’s irritated question, Ashad closed his mouth.
He wanted to be close with his older brother, to earn his approval — but unlike their deceased eldest brother, the second prince was not an easy person to approach.
Part of it was because his mother had constantly warned him to be cautious of the second prince…
But more than that, it was the man’s eyes — eyes that resembled the Emperor’s — that always made Ashad shrink away.
“W–well, since I’ve finished guiding you, I’ll take my leave now…”
“Go ahead.”
“…Yes, brother.”
How many years apart were the second and third princes again?
Watching Ashad turn and walk back the way he came with his attendants — forgetting even to say goodbye — Berenice found herself wondering about their age difference, before deciding to drop the thought.
Because Kaiden was watching her with an expression that said, “I can tell exactly what you’re thinking.”
“Are you thinking I’m being too harsh on my younger brother?”
Berenice had decided to stop thinking about it, but Kaiden apparently had no intention of letting it slide.
As she brushed past him and entered the library, she answered evenly,
“No. I only thought… you two don’t seem to have as bad a relationship as people say.”
Once she entered, Kaiden closed the door behind her, scratching his temple slightly with his index finger and frowning faintly.
“Well…”
“…”
“It’s not that I have a reason to like him. But I also don’t have a reason to hate him. So there’s no need to be hostile, that’s all.”
“Is that so?”
It wasn’t quite the reaction Ashad had when he’d mentioned his brother’s name — his eyes had shone then.
But Berenice merely gave a disinterested nod at Kaiden’s excuse, not joining the others in criticizing him.
“You don’t seem to like my reaction,” she said.
“…It’s just a bit unusual. Most people would start lecturing me to treat him more kindly or to stop being so cold.”
“Is that so?”
Given the Empress’s wariness toward Kaiden, it was impossible for Kaiden and Ashad to have a normal sibling relationship.
If Kaiden ever showed the same warmth toward Ashad that he once had for his late older brother —
the Empress would never let her son be.
And plenty of opportunists would swoop in to sow discord between the two princes.
Kaiden had the power and means to manipulate his surroundings to his will,
but Ashad, still caught under his mother’s skirts, did not.
“In my eyes, you’re already kind enough,” Berenice said calmly.
The colder Kaiden acted, the safer Ashad would feel.
Of course, it might hurt the boy’s heart — he wanted so much to get closer to his brother —
but Berenice, who knew how precious peace and stability could be, could recognize Kaiden’s version of kindness for what it was.
Leaving the now-silent Kaiden behind, Berenice walked deeper into the library.
Between the shelves, she could see a tower built entirely of books.
If her guess was right, that tower was where As would be.
And sure enough, she soon spotted him — balancing a dangerously high stack of books in his arms, staggering toward her.
“Lady Wiltiéra, you’re here?”
“Sir Younger.”
“Just call me As,” he said with a wan smile, setting the books down carefully on the desk buried beneath another pile.
He looked exhausted — pale and haggard. It seemed he really hadn’t gone home for days.
“…Have you been eating and sleeping here?” Berenice asked, noticing the stack of plates and cups on the side of the desk.
“Ah, well…”
“He’s the type who can’t leave work unfinished,” Kaiden cut in, finally following her inside. “If something’s in front of him, he has to handle it before he can rest.”
“You’re the one who told me to hurry up and find it, Your Highness!” As shot back.
“Am I not allowed to say that?”
“No! I mean — of course, you are!”
“Then why are you yelling?”
“Try locking yourself in this library all day looking for misplaced books! And if you can’t return them properly, hand them to a librarian instead of shoving them back in the wrong place!”
“…That wasn’t me who did that.”
“Fine, let’s say you hid the fairy tales on purpose! But look at this! There are so many books in the wrong sections!”
Apparently, while searching for the fairy tale Bledin had hidden, he’d also been rearranging every misplaced book in the entire library.
Berenice had heard he was meticulous — but she hadn’t imagined this level of perfectionism.
“What are the librarians here even doing? Their negligence alone deserves punishment!”
“Do we even have librarians stationed here?” Kaiden said lazily.
“…What?”
“What? Did you just ‘what’ me?”
“…I said it politely, didn’t I?”
“You know, tacking on a polite ending doesn’t make everything okay.”
Their exchange was chaotic enough to make anyone’s head spin.
“If there are no librarians, then how does anyone find anything in here?”
“The books we use most are kept in our private studies, so we rarely need to come here,” Kaiden replied.
“So you’re saying — there’s no librarian?”
“No permanent one. They probably rotate shifts.”
“Then summon them all and punish them!”
“Now you’re giving me orders?”
“Sir Younger, please calm down,” Berenice interjected.
“Ah…”
For a moment, As’s expression went blank — like his brain had short-circuited — and Berenice decided that he badly needed a break.
“Sir Younger — I mean, As. Why don’t you step outside for a bit? Get some air, take a walk in the sun.”
“But there are still sections I haven’t checked yet…”
“Never mind that. Just go, and come back when you’ve recovered your sanity.”
“…Understood.”
She watched him stumble out of the “book graveyard,” then turned back to Kaiden.
“Which areas hasn’t he checked yet?”
“That way,” Kaiden said, pointing.
“Thank you.”
Berenice gave him a polite nod and started in that direction.
The Empress had given her permission to enter the library, yes —
but she hadn’t said she could stay as long as she wanted.
And once word spread that she’d encountered Kaiden here, someone would surely come to fetch her.
So she needed to move fast — to search as much as she could before then.
Thankfully, what she was looking for was a fairy tale book.
If it’s in the Imperial Library, its cover must be ornate.
Some fairy tale volumes even had gold-embossed spines, so spotting them shouldn’t be too difficult.
Sure enough, on the top shelf of the first section she checked, she found one — a misplaced fairy tale book.
But finding which of the many fairy tales was the one Bledin had hidden… that was the real challenge.
So I’ll just have to examine them one by one…
If only Bledin had left another hint hidden with the cipher.
Muttering quietly to herself, Berenice pulled out another fairy tale book, stacked it with the first, and hugged them both to her chest — just as her eyes drifted to the next row.
“…Hm? Is this one a fairy tale too?”
On the bottom shelf sat a slim black hardcover book, completely different in size and color from the rest.
Its shape clearly marked it as a children’s storybook, yet…
She hesitated. Unlike the others, this one was pitch black — almost ominously so.
Only the red-embossed title on the spine made it visible at all; without that, she might have mistaken it for a shadow.
“Ah…”
Suspicion flickered in her eyes as she pulled the book out and examined its cover.
The Thornbush Witch.
A fairy tale she’d never heard of before.
She turned it over, glancing through the pages — and froze when her eyes caught on a single word near the end.
“Poison.”
Her body stiffened.
This is it.
Her sharpened senses — her intuition, honed even further since her regression — told her this was the very book she’d been searching for.
She stared again at the word “poison,” then slowly exhaled and closed the book.
The red letters on the black cover looked almost foreboding.
“Berenice?”
“Your Highness. I think… I found it.”
“What?”
Hearing no sound of movement from her, Kaiden had come to find her — and saw her sitting on the floor, clutching the black book.
He looked into her amber eyes, bright with certainty, and then down at the book in her hands.
“The Thornbush Witch? There’s a fairy tale by that name?”
“I’ve never heard of it either.”
“And yet you’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“…Alright.”
Kaiden nodded and reached his hand toward the book—
