Previously
Irenia and Caesar share a tender moment exchanging kisses and declarations of affection, though Irenia tries to maintain boundaries regarding his nightly visits. Later, Delfina reveals that the fourth fiancée, the daughter of Marquis Peregrino, caused a scandal by rejecting the marriage before disappearing.
“Delfina, do you know how the daughter of Marquis Peregrino died?”
I asked Delfina as though something had taken hold of me. She stiffened, trembling violently as she shook her head, her fingers shaking.
“I-I… no… I know nothing about such dangerous matters…”
The rumors claimed that a girl destined to become the Crown Princess had died at the hands of the cursed Prince. Everyone believed that tale, myself included.
“Could it be… that Caesar really killed her?”
Could the Caesar I had come to know truly possess such cruelty that he would take a human life?
True, he was aggressive at times, and he had clashed with the Empress’s knights. He had also fought with the servants before, leaving some injured, but he never sought to cause harm; he was only defending himself.
Of this much, I was certain: Caesar never harmed anyone without cause.
“Is it truly possible that Caesar killed someone…?”
I murmured under my breath. Delfina lowered her head in flustered silence, clutching the hem of her apron tightly.
“I… I don't know anything. It’s not my place to know…”
She looked so thoroughly unsettled that I could not press her any further. Dark, foreboding thoughts filled my mind.
“Ah, pay no mind to me. I said something foolish…”
· · ·
We finished the morning grooming in an awkward, unsettling silence.
Afterward, I had to search all over the Emerald Palace for Caesar, who had suddenly vanished. He had not even eaten breakfast. Where on earth could he have gone?
“We were supposed to start new lessons today. Where could he be hiding?”
Suddenly, a small pebble bounced down at my feet. I looked up—and there was Caesar! Relieved as I was to find him, his location was a catastrophe in itself.
He was perched precariously atop the palace spire, so high up that he appeared no larger than a little finger.
“Good heavens!”
There barely seemed to be enough ledge for him to sit on, looking as if a gust of wind might send him plummeting at any moment. To make matters worse, Caesar offered me a cheerful wave and smiled!
I screamed at once:
“Caesar! That is dangerous!”
A cold dread washed over me, yet he showed no sign of tension whatsoever. I was pacing back and forth in frantic panic, terrified that he would fall and be dashed to pieces.
Paying no heed to my terror, he suddenly crouched into a spring—and leaped straight off the top of the tower!
· · ·
I could hardly bear to witness it. I squeezed my eyes shut, refusing to watch someone plunge to their death right before me.
Yet there was no sound of impact, no sickening crack. Only the light, soft rustle of approaching footsteps.
“Ren…”
His voice whispered my name right beside me, sounding like a dying wish… A dying wish?!
“Huh?”
I cracked my eyes open warily, only to find Caesar standing right in front of me, completely unscathed. Convinced I was hallucinating, I blinked several times, but he remained right there.
“Hehe…”
His soft chuckle snapped me back to reality. A whirl of emotions churned within me, dizziness washing over as sheer fury and relief collided at once.
“You…!”
My heart hammered wildly against my ribs and my shoulders trembled. No proper words came out, only ragged, shallow breaths.
“You idiot!”
The shout tore from my throat before I could stop it. Caesar froze in place, staring at me with wide, bewildered eyes.
“What if you had been hurt?! Did you even think about that?!”
Tears bled into my voice as I frantically checked his body, searching for any sign of injury, but there was not a single scratch.
“I'm fine.”
He said it so plainly that my indignation only flared higher.
“Fine?! How can you say you're fine after jumping from that height?!”
I cast my gaze up toward the towering spire once more, feeling dizzy just looking at it. It was at least five stories high. It was utterly impossible for any human being to survive such a fall!
“I… I really am fine…”
Perhaps my voice had risen too sharply. Caesar shrank back, looking so guilty that I could almost picture invisible ears and a tail drooping in dejection.
“…Idiot.”
I was furious at him for being so reckless. Yet I could not bring myself to scold him further as tears began to spill down my cheeks.
“Are you truly certain you aren't hurt?”
“Yes.”
Wiping my tears with my sleeve, I inspected him again, this time far more thoroughly, checking even between his fingers in case I had missed anything.
He was entirely unhurt.
“How is this happening? How could you jump from there and come out unscathed? How is that even possible?”
At times, Caesar’s behavior was so far beyond human limits that I began to question what he truly was.
He gave me a look as if to say, ‘Don’t you understand?’, before letting out a long sigh.
And what about me? I was the one who had every right to sigh!
“And where on earth were the guards all this time?”
Once my shock had subsided a little, my anger turned squarely upon the guards. How could they let him jump from such a place? Weren’t they supposed to be guarding him at all times? They hadn’t even been watching him.
Sure enough, I saw a contingent of the White Cross knights—those answering to the Empress—strolling languidly in our direction.
They moved at an unhurried, sluggish pace, stoking my fury even hotter.
Such negligence was unforgivable. I marched forward, and the Knight Commander stepped out to face me, his arm wrapped in a bandage from an earlier clash with Caesar.
“Are the two of you well?”
Were we well? I pointed a trembling finger up at the top of the tower.
“Were you aware that Caesar just jumped from up there?”
Not one of them answered. When I looked back at them, their faces were carved into masks of cold indifference.
“I asked you, do you even realize what just happened?”
Only then did their lips curl into faint, mocking sneers. The air between us turned instantly hostile.
The Knight Commander stepped forward, his tone dripping with condescension.
“So long as nothing happened, there is no issue, is there?”
He tipped his chin dismissively toward Caesar, as if none of this was of the slightest consequence.
“Aren't you supposed to be performing your guard duties?”
At my words, a wave of low chuckles rippled through the ranks. Had I said something amusing? Far from it.
Fierce indignation flared in my chest.
“I will report this matter.”
The commander smiled derisively.
“You ought to know your place.”
Stunned by his brazen words, I was rendered momentarily speechless. Behind him, the knights snickered openly.
“What?! What did you just say?”
“I mean… to whom do you imagine you will submit this report?”
I hesitated for a long while before speaking.
“T-To… Her Majesty the Empress…”
The moment I invoked the Empress, the Knight Commander burst into booming laughter. Just as abruptly, he cut it short, his gaze looking down on me with chilling superiority.
“Her Majesty the Empress only commanded that matters here run smoothly. Nothing more.”
He darted a pointed glance over my shoulder at Caesar.
“Now, if His Highness the First Crown Prince himself were to lodge a complaint, perhaps something might change. But do you truly believe our dear Prince… who can scarcely string a sentence together, is capable of that?”
He mimicked Caesar’s halting speech, prompting a roar of cruel laughter from the men behind him. The sound was loud, yet it only made the atmosphere feel more suffocating and bleak.
These knights, charged by the Empress herself with securing the Emerald Palace, had made it blatantly clear that they had no intention of protecting me.
A shiver ran down my spine, but I held my ground, determined not to show my fear.
Stepping forward two paces, I shielded Caesar behind my back, planting my feet firmly to assert my resolve.
Seeing this, the commander smirked with contempt. He closed the distance between us with broad strides, his voice heavy with ominous menace.
“It seems Your Highness does not comprehend how this world operates. Shall I tell you something?”
“W-What is it?”
“Even if you were to vanish from this place right this second… no one would care. You would simply become… the Crown Prince’s fifth consort to meet her end.”
FADE OUT