Chapter 34
It’s a dream.
The moment I realized that, I saw a man and a woman down below.
The woman was a stranger, and the man looked like Lionel…
“Hmm, has he aged a little?”
Even now, Lionel seemed quite mature for his age, but if he let his hair down and took off his stiff uniform, he had a fresh boyish charm.
But this Lionel was not the same.
He wore plain white clothes with no patterns or decorations. His expression was as blank as usual, but his eyes, heavy and seemingly indifferent, carried the depth of years.
“By his face, he doesn’t seem that old…”
Maybe twenty-two? Twenty-three at most?
That’s not even old, but the gloom in his firmly set lips and the fatigue in his eyes made him look like a grown man weary from life.
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“I don’t know what the bishop is saying.”
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“…You don’t feel resentment? From the family that abandoned you, from the fiancée who abandoned you?”
No, I never abandoned Lionel! The fiancée is right above here—what kind of rumor is this!
I wanted to go down at once, feeling wronged, but my body didn’t exist right now.
Before I could react, Lionel’s voice sank heavier than before, as if soaked in water:
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“To me, who has cut ties with the mundane world, there is no family or fiancée.”
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“Second Prince…”
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“Do not call me that. I am no longer a prince.”
He turned away, as if having nothing more to say, looking cold and distant.
The woman called a bishop, left alone, only could stare at his retreating back in disbelief.
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“You say you feel no desire for revenge? Why?”
His tone felt strangely subtle, as if implying that Lionel should naturally have a desire for revenge.
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“…If you come at me like that, I have my own thoughts as well.”
Hatred appeared in his previously hollow eyes.
And as he turned and walked away without hesitation, there was no sign of doubt.
Suddenly, I realized something.
“This… is a scene from a novel, isn’t it?”
Then, what exact moment of the story was this?
I didn’t need to guess. Without a doubt, it was after Lionel entered the central temple, and…
[Regardless of his own will, he would ascend to the exalted position.]
Regardless of his own will, this was before the rebellion had begun.
“Mm…”
“Little one, are you waking up?”
“Cecil! Are you okay? Do you have any pain anywhere?”
“Lower your voice. Cecil. Do you know who we are?”
When I woke from the short dream, I was surrounded by my family.
“Miss, you’ve regained consciousness! I’ll bring Melania immediately!”
As Eunice’s footsteps faded, my consciousness gradually cleared. Blinking dazedly, I looked up at the three people staring down at me with tense faces.
“…Why are you all like this?”
“Why are we like this? Well… because you…!”
“Cecil, you remember who we are, right?”
My brother’s voice was unusually serious.
Not just him—my sister and mother held each other’s hands tightly, watching me as well.
“Oh, that’s right.”
I had lost my memories once when I was very young. I had forgotten because it was so long ago.
Their serious atmosphere made me want to joke about it, but I felt that even my father in the manor would come flying if I did. So I gave them the answer they wanted.
“Of course I remember. Mother, sister, brother.”
“Ah! Cecil, thank goodness…”
“We were so worried you’d lose your memory again…”
My mother dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief as if not joking, and my brother sniffled.
I got flustered by the atmosphere and cautiously sat up.
“But I’m not even hurt, so why…”
“Cecil! Lie down!”
“Yes. Lie down quietly until Melania arrives.”
“No, I really am fine.”
“You weren’t conscious at all for two days even though you’re fine?”
“Wait, two days?”
I had been lying down that long? The dream felt so short.
“Cecil, do you remember what happened before you collapsed?”
“Before I collapsed?”
I thought for a moment and replied.
“I was talking with Second Prince at the palace… ah.”
The bluebird. I touched the bluebird and lost consciousness.
“Do you have any idea why you collapsed?”
I do. But…
“I-I can’t say.”
If they ask what the bluebird was, I’d have to say it was a magical artifact I made. And if they ask for what purpose I made it…
“Miss! Melania has arrived!”
The first to fly in was Snowy.
The white owl landed by my side and let out a sorrowful cry, as if worried.
While I petted Snowy to reassure him, my mother gave her place to the teacher.
“Cecil, reach out your hand.”
Without another question, the teacher extended his hand. I hesitated slightly, but carefully took it.
As always, the cool sensation of his magic flowed into me. But something strange happened.
Pop!
A bluish energy glowed at my fingertips, and the magic flowing into me from the teacher bounced back outside.
“Ouch!”
“Cecil!”
While holding my tingling fingertips, my mother asked if I was okay, and my sister and brother demanded an explanation from the teacher.
But unlike everyone else, the teacher looked at me without surprise.
“Do you have any idea why this happened… Cecil?”
“…Yes, Teacher.”
What had just happened occurred without my will.
But I instinctively understood why. I clutched my fingertips in bewilderment.
“Another magic… has taken residence in my body.”
The reason the teacher’s magic couldn’t enter me and was repelled:
The magic already residing in my body reflexively drove the teacher’s magic away.
Late at night. I had been sitting at the desk for a long time.
But Lionel, staring at the open book, was lost in thought. His mind was tangled.
“Was it really so unbearable to bring a servant? That you had to pull that frail girl outside and make her collapse?”
“If she collapsed suddenly, her condition must have been bad. How careless must you be not to notice your fiancée’s state…? Well, you wouldn’t have come even to visit me if I hadn’t called.”
The walk Lionel and Cecilia took together hadn’t even lasted ten minutes. So Cecilia’s collapse was not caused by that walk.
But because the empress had rushed over after hearing that Cecilia collapsed, all responsibility seemed to fall on Lionel.
So, the emperor summoned Lionel and ordered:
“Temporarily suspend all official duties and remain in seclusion.”
Not because he agreed with the empress, but to preempt the Lohaim family from holding Lionel accountable.
Lionel understood the emperor’s intention, so he ignored the seclusion order.
Then why was his mind so complicated?
“Ah, Miss!”
The moment Cecilia collapsed like a puppet with a cut string, Lionel instinctively caught her.
Fortunately, she looked asleep.
Her fragile body was as light as a feather, and for a moment, he wondered if something was wrong.
“I will take care of the lady. My apologies!”
Before anyone could respond, a maid quickly took Cecilia away.
The warmth and sweet scent that had filled his arms vanished in an instant.
The sense of loss left him feeling hollow.
It was strange.
Even abducting someone now would no longer excite him.