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Chapter 63
Complete English Translation
“You said it would all be over! You promised this would be the end!”
It was a desperate, heart-wrenching scream.
“Please, calm down, Your Highness…!”
“A lie! It was all a lie! I’m not going back! I’m never going back there again!”
The young woman’s sobs echoed through the halls.
“No… I don’t want to anymore…”
Vanessa suddenly found herself standing in a corridor of the Imperial Palace.
‘What a strange dream…’
Even after rubbing her eyes, everything around her remained hazy. It had to be a lucid dream.
But… had she ever had a lucid dream before?
Her thoughts felt sluggish, too clouded to think clearly.
“Doctor, this way!”
Hearing the urgent voice, she looked up and saw someone running toward her from the other end of the corridor.
It was a familiar face.
Yuri, dressed in a physician’s white coat.
Only… she looked about ten years younger than the Yuri Vanessa knew.
Following a maid who ran ahead of her, Yuri rushed into the room at the end of the corridor.
As though possessed, Vanessa followed after her.
It was a spacious, elegant chamber.
It was obviously the bedroom of someone of extremely high status.
Looking around, she saw a blonde woman collapsed across an antique bed, weeping uncontrollably.
Yuri approached her carefully and helped her sit up.
As the woman’s wavy golden hair fell over her shoulders, her tear-stained face came into view.
‘Evangeline.’
She had been breathtakingly beautiful in her youth.
Though inside her gray-green eyes, every imaginable emotion raged like a violent storm.
While Yuri checked Evangeline’s pulse and examined her condition, the maids hurried back and forth with water and towels.
Judging by how efficiently they moved, this clearly wasn’t the first time.
‘But… why am I dreaming about Evangeline?’
Vanessa blinked blankly.
It didn’t feel like a dream.
It felt more like she was witnessing an old memory.
Yet she had never met—or even seen—Evangeline at this age.
Then whose memory is this?
“Yuri.”
At the unexpected voice of a young boy, Vanessa turned around.
Soft black hair.
Calm, blue eyes like still water.
She recognized him instantly.
He looked to be about twelve years old.
Yet despite his age, his composed posture and expression already carried an air of refined nobility, and his delicately handsome features were flawless.
‘He’s so adorable…’
Without thinking, Vanessa reached out to touch the boy’s forehead.
Her hand passed straight through him like a ghost.
“Your Imperial Highness, the Princess is currently…”
As the young Phileus approached the bed, Yuri tried to stop him.
But the moment he quietly looked at her, she flinched and immediately withdrew her hand.
With an expressionless face, the boy spoke.
“May I speak with Her Highness the Princess for a moment? Judging by her condition, she doesn’t seem to be doing too badly today.”
“I have nothing to say to you, so get out. Just looking at a freak like you gives me chills.”
Curled up in the corner of the bed, Evangeline glared at Phileus.
There was unmistakable fear in her eyes.
What was it about this young boy that terrified her so deeply?
Without changing his expression, Phileus replied,
“I don’t particularly want to talk to you either. But Fritz insisted that I pass along a message. He’s currently forbidden from entering the main palace.”
…
At Phileus’s slight nod, Yuri and the maids quietly left the room.
Dragging over a chair, Phileus sat down.
After watching him for a moment, Evangeline finally spoke in a curt tone.
“Hurry up. What did Fritz say?”
For the first time, a faint smile appeared on Phileus’s lips.
“You still believe what I say? I didn’t know you could be so naive, Sister.”
“…Disgusting brat.”
Though her voice was practically a curse, Phileus remained unmoved.
“I came because I wanted to ask you something, Evangeline.”
Looking at her with eyes far too detached for a child, he asked,
“This latest poisoning attempt…
You acted alone, didn’t you?”
Silence filled the room.
“…I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“That sounds like a rehearsed answer.
Very well.
Still, I’d appreciate it if you’d stop tampering with the food from now on.
I’m still growing, so I’m always hungry.
Besides, with such clumsy attempts, the only ones who end up dying every time are innocent servants.”
Evangeline simply continued glaring at him with bloodshot eyes, saying nothing.
Phileus sighed.
Just as he was about to stand—
“It wasn’t me.”
…
“It wasn’t me this time.
I don’t know who did it.
And…
I haven’t tried to kill you recently.
Believe it or not—that’s your choice.”
Tilting his head slightly, Phileus looked at his half-sister.
“…May I ask one more thing?”
“You’re going to do whatever you want anyway. Why even ask?”
“Five years ago…”
Evangeline visibly flinched.
Whether the emotion on her face was guilt or disgust, it was impossible to tell.
“That day…
The reason you tried to kill me…
It was because of my power, wasn’t it?
Because if people like me—or the heir of House Vallendorf—keep being born, then this war will never truly end.”
Evangeline let out a bitter laugh.
“How can you say something like that with such a face?
Are you really my little brother?
Or did someone pick you up from some hellish place?”
Phileus paid no attention.
“If you hate war that much…
Wouldn’t it be simpler to end your own life?”
“What?”
“Even you know better than anyone that getting rid of me alone won’t solve anything.
You’ll spend the rest of your life wandering battlefields, Evangeline.
If that’s the case…
Why not simply bring that day closer yourself?”
Evangeline’s face turned deathly pale.
She clenched her teeth.
“…Get out.”
Phileus slowly shook his head.
“I’m not criticizing you.
Nor am I mocking you.
I’m simply curious.
You know how I am.
There’s something broken inside me.”
After a long silence, Evangeline finally spoke.
“Even if I died…
The world wouldn’t change.”
Phileus looked genuinely unable to understand.
“What does that have to do with anything?
The world after your death would have nothing to do with you anymore.”
“You’ll probably never understand.
Because you’re incapable of love.”
For the first time, Phileus blinked in slight confusion.
With a pained expression, Evangeline continued.
“If I die…
What happens afterward?
My family…
My friends…
Little Fritz…
One day, he’ll be dragged onto the battlefield too.
And just like me…
He’ll suffer.”
…
“You’re the same, Rion.
You’ll suffer too.
And everyone will simply accept all that pain as something natural.
Ah…
Though perhaps none of this matters to you.
You’d never think about the people you’d leave behind.”
“…It’s difficult to understand.”
“I told you already.
You never will.
Because you’ll never love anyone.
You’ll never cherish anyone for your entire life.
You’ll never try to protect anyone.
You’ll simply go around setting battlefields ablaze because that’s what Father orders you to do.
After all…
That’s the only reason you were born.”
Without realizing it, Vanessa clenched her fists tightly.
Don’t listen to her.
Don’t listen to those cruel words.
She desperately wanted to tell the boy.
But this was only an old memory.
The young Phileus simply sat there, staring blankly at his own palm.
The familiar burn scar stood out vividly.
“Thank you, Evangeline.”
Then he stood.
Without a trace of hesitation or regret, he walked out of the room.
Behind his retreating figure, Evangeline suddenly broke into a long, anguished cry that sounded almost like a scream.
* * *
When Vanessa opened her eyes again, she was lying in bed.
She raised a hand and wiped away the tears running down her cheeks.
‘I feel like I had a dream…
…but I can’t remember a single thing.’
Suddenly coming back to her senses, she sat upright.
“Ria!”
Fortunately, Ria had been nearby and hurried into the room moments later.
“You called for me, Miss?”
“Where’s the Lord?”
Ria didn’t answer.
She merely shook her head.
It had already been a week since Phileus had departed for the privateer fleet.
He still hadn’t returned.
Nor had any word of him arrived.
“I need to speak with Shan.”
Ria helped Vanessa prepare to go out.
Vanessa struggled to calm her pounding heart.
They had told her that Phileus’s returns were often delayed.
And yet…
She couldn’t shake the ominous feeling that something was terribly wrong.
