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Chapter: 28
After grabbing both sides of my hair and worrying over it, I came to a conclusion. Even if I converted all the food I had just eaten for lunch into energy and used it all up, this was impossible.
“Is this really Imperial language, Mila?”
I asked Mila while staring at the thick book, so close that it looked like I was about to bury my nose into it. It was the book titled Basic Accounting, the one I had picked up once before, only to give up and close.
“It’s not Imperial language, my lady.”
Mila, who was sitting beside me reading On Guard Techniques According to the Environment, answered immediately.
“If it’s a book even my lady cannot understand, then it probably isn’t a language from around here.”
The truth was that it was definitely modern Imperial language.
“It all looks like some kind of code. It’s cruel to put the word ‘basic’ on the cover of a book like this.”
“That’s just how people who write books are.”
Mila snorted with a face full of criticism.
“Among book writers, there are probably plenty of idiots who don’t even know what they’re saying. Even this book I’m reading is like that. It goes on about how, when protecting one’s master in an emergency situation, one should maintain the most elegant and dignified posture, blah blah blah. It’s all complete nonsense.”
I let go of the hair I had been clutching and burst out laughing.
“That’s a book for court knights. And it’s an old book.”
“It hasn’t even been fifty years.”
“You said earlier that Mila thought it was a good book too.”
“Yes. I’ll correct that. Half of it is excellent material, and the other half is nonsense.”
She must have been quoting what I said when I brought her to the library: “Books are nourishment for the mind, so let’s eat nourishment together.”
I laughed while my shoulders shook, then returned to the book I was reading and let out a deep sigh.
“I’m giving up. Not a single thing is entering my head. I think reading Advanced Lovely Waltz Steps would at least help me understand current trends better.”
“Oh my? My lady? Why are you trying to dance the waltz even more lovably than now? Who are you planning to enchant with it?”
Mila fluttered her eyelashes mischievously, and I put on a solemn expression toward her.
“This book is for gentlemen.”
“Gasp. Don’t tell me the Duke ordered it?”
Mila looked horrified, pulling her hands to her chest, but soon regained her composure and spoke.
“Then again. If he had actually read books, there’s no way our Duke would dance like that. Isn’t our Duke also incredibly talented when it comes to learning? The problem must be that he learned the old-fashioned style. So we should recommend that he read newer books and improve himself.”
“Stop teasing him. Our Duke dances the waltz perfectly according to the proper form.”
“No wonder. He only dances properly. Even a married man dancing with a strange beauty in front of his wife would probably dance less stiffly than that.”
Kegon dancing with a strange woman.
“Anyway, at least when he dances with my lady, I think he should be a little more lovable. How about secretly placing the book on your bed tonight so the Duke notices it and gets the hint?”
“The Duke already dances the waltz in a perfectly lovable way.”
No matter how much I insisted, it didn’t work. Even I couldn’t claim that my argument was completely true. In the end, Mila stubbornly found Advanced Lovely Waltz Steps and placed it in my hands.
“They say there is no end to learning. It’s really true.”
By now, I laughed just from looking at the title of the book.
Kegon probably never dreamed that at the age of twenty-seven, he would receive advice telling him to read a waltz manual. Whether he would actually read a book with such a flashy pink cover was another question.
“But are you really planning to read all these books, my lady?”
“They’re not that many. I can read them slowly.”
“The weather is so nice, but my lady has become a bookworm who plans to stare at books in her room all day. Though I suppose it’s a good excuse to avoid troublesome guests.”
The Crown Prince didn’t seem like that troublesome of a person.
Anyway, Mila was only soft with me.
“I’ll read later. Right now, there’s somewhere I need to stop by.”
The maid who was only gentle with me sparkled her eyes.
“Is it somewhere I can follow my lady and beat Jeff up?”
“Correct.”
After sending the books up with a servant, I headed toward the northern guard post with Mila.
It had been two days since I last saw the monster. That meant it had also been two days since the monster had gone without eating. The knights said that it showed no problems even after a week without food, but the monster was still a living creature like ordinary animals—it breathed, ate, and bled.
Moreover, it could distinguish individual humans even when they were dressed similarly, and it could adjust its wariness depending on the person. It seemed especially afraid of a man like Kegon, while with me, it sometimes looked as though it felt at ease.
Then wouldn’t it be able to recognize hunger too?
Hunger… I didn’t want “anything” to feel hunger.
I wasn’t so poor as a child that I had to starve, but once I accidentally learned the price of the sugar candies I loved eating. I stopped eating snacks and even forced myself to reduce my meal portions. I thought it would help my family save money. I thought my parents wouldn’t have to work as much. I reduced my food until my stomach growled, only for my parents to quickly realize what I was doing because they were worried about me.
Being very hungry was also a sensation similar to pain. There was no need to inflict unnecessary suffering on a life under our castle’s protection. Perhaps feeling sympathy even for a monster that might be hunted by knights at any moment was just vanity.
But so what if it was vanity? No one was being inconvenienced because I wanted my own heart to be at ease.
The only thing I could think about now was that there was a living creature here that would eat nothing and go hungry whenever I wasn’t around.
“……His Highness the Crown Prince!”
A cry that sounded almost like fear came just as we were approaching the guard post.
I flinched and froze in place. Mila stepped in front of me as if to protect me and stared toward the post.
Judging from the unfamiliar voice, the one who screamed was probably one of the Crown Prince’s attendants. And the figure kneeling in front of him seemed to be the Crown Prince himself.
“Jeff, what happened?”
Mila found him among the guards surrounding the monster’s cage and carefully asked. Jeff’s face had gone pale, and his lips moved awkwardly as if frozen.
“The monster attacked His Highness the Crown Prince……”
“I’m fine.”
The Crown Prince was holding one arm and smiling calmly. Even with Kegon beside him, staring at the monster with sharp eyes, the Crown Prince’s gaze showed barely any tension.
Why was Kegon holding a sword? Had he been on his way here from the training grounds?
“Please do not harm the monster. It was my fault for ignoring the Duke’s advice and opening its door.”
The Crown Prince stood up and casually brushed the dust off his clothes.
“It doesn’t seem like a serious injury. Its teeth are so dull that I’m worried whether it can even chew its food properly.”
Seeing him move perfectly fine, I released the breath I had been holding. Looking toward the monster, I saw two guards rushing over and pulling the chains of the harness attached to its body.
I approached Kegon to ask about the Crown Prince’s condition.
The scream came again the next moment.
“My lady!”
“Ahhh!”
The guards dragging the monster suddenly let go of the chains and collapsed onto the ground. The monster, which had thrown them away with tremendous force, charged straight toward me.
In what felt like frozen time, I met the monster’s golden eyes.
They weren’t the eyes of the monster that had frightened me.
And suddenly, my vision turned red.
Something was collapsing right in front of my eyes.
With a thunderous sound like an old tree falling, the ground shook, and after a moment, everything became quiet as death.
“Lewan.”
I looked up at Kegon’s face as he grabbed my arm.
What was happening? What had just happened?
There was a red stain splattered across his beautiful cheek. A metallic smell filled the air. It felt like a terrible nightmare. Just like the fact that the ground beneath my feet was gradually becoming soaked.
Something seemed to be collapsing.
This time, perhaps inside me.
That was the last thing I remembered before losing consciousness.
Behind the monster, which had met its death with its head and body separated into two pieces, the Crown Prince could not hide his deeply disappointed expression. Rather than blaming the Crown Prince without hesitation, who was likely shocked by the monster’s death after recently becoming completely fascinated by it, they could not help but understand his feelings as well as the Duchess, who had fainted after witnessing the horrific scene.
Ben blamed himself instead for leaving the place while trusting only the Crown Prince’s escort knight.
So even the Imperial Knights weren’t anything special after all. Ignoring the warning of the castle’s owner? He wanted to give a round of applause as a fellow comrade who understood the suffering of serving a stubborn master, but he took that back.
“Even though I repeatedly begged you not to open the monster’s cage.”
Ben complained in front of the Duke for no particular reason.
There was nothing Ben could have done. How many people inside this castle could firmly refuse the Crown Prince’s request? Since the Crown Prince had to return to the Imperial Palace the next day, Ben had obediently brought him to the guard post so he could say goodbye to the monster, then had no choice but to head toward the knight training grounds to perform his duties.
Even while assisting his master, it kept bothering him. Ben informed his master that the esteemed Crown Prince had come out to see the monster and left the training grounds earlier than planned.
However, it was already too late. The moment the Crown Prince opened the bars of the monster’s cage and reached out his hand, the horrified Ben and the Duke rushed forward with their swords drawn, but the Crown Prince was struck and knocked down by the monster, which had suddenly kicked off the ground and leapt.
Fortunately, the monster did not attack the fallen Crown Prince and instead backed away on its own.
Perhaps because it was aware of Kegon, the monster suddenly became quiet, retreated back to the entrance of the cage, and stopped moving.
“Really…… Honestly, the fact that you survived with your life alone is already a miracle.”
