Previously
Irenia recites the end of the fairy tale to comfort Caesar before seeking confirmation of her visions from Delfina. Delfina confirms that the third candidate drowned, which the public labeled a suicide, fueling Irenia's suspicion of a cover-up.
It came down to the reactions of those who had witnessed the deaths of the previous bridal candidates.
Every single one of them displayed suspiciously uniform behavior and speech, as though they had colluded on a single story. And that consistency could only mean one of two things.
Either everything they said was the absolute truth—meaning all the candidates had genuinely perished from a mysterious curse. If that were the case, their insistence on the exact same narrative wouldn’t seem unusual at all.
“Still, that can’t be it.”
I shook my head in denial. The other possibility was that they were under some kind of coercion, and that the ‘curse’ was merely an excuse concealing something else. The way they looked at me, their attempts to push me away, was steeped in fear and rejection… as if there was something they truly dreaded.
“Your Highness, however…”
Delfina, looking solemn, interrupted me and cut through my train of thought.
“Hmm?”
“You must begin preparing before sunset.”
“Preparing for what?”
I blinked in surprise, and she stared back as if she couldn’t believe I had even asked.
“Your Highness, have you forgotten what day it is?”
“Is it an important day?”
“It is the day of the official consummation!”
“Ah?”
I nearly blurted, ‘What?’ before it suddenly came back to me. Right, today was the day. I remembered how Delfina had fussed over my skin on the previous nights in preparation for this evening, and she had even reminded me this very morning… but caught up in uncovering the accidents and plagued by my recurring nightmares, it had completely slipped my mind.
“We were supposed to begin in the morning, ah…”
She busied herself selecting what I would wear tonight, bringing in extra maids to draw the bath and lay out the clothes. I was the only one oblivious, while she fretted and grew anxious.
“Your Highness, would you prefer a milk bath today?”
I shook my head hastily. That seemed excessive.
“That’s far too extravagant. Besides, we share a bed every night, so what is the point of all this fuss?”
Delfina’s face flushed bright red, and I realized only then that my words carried an entirely different connotation. It was true we slept in the same room, but what she was imagining had never once occurred.
“I know the two of you get along wonderfully, but… tonight is official.”
“Ah… well…”
I wanted to clear up the misunderstanding, but I hesitated. It was true that we shared a bed, but nothing of the sort Delfina imagined had ever happened between us. Yet stating that outright would be awkward in its own right, so I chose silence, fiddling with my hair as I tried to think of a way out.
“Truly, you look like the ideal couple.”
“H-haha… yes…”
A heavy weight settled over my chest under her gaze, laden with expectations I couldn’t possibly fulfill. We got along well, yes, but not in the way she imagined. And was that really such a problem?
“In any case, we must dress you up.”
I finally gave in and let her fuss over me from head to toe.
Before entering the chambers, I had to undergo certain procedures. Clad in a light robe, I sat on the bed Delfina had prepared, waiting for the royal physician and Countess Elvira.
The physician began with a thorough examination, asking detailed questions about my last menstrual cycle, any signs of fatigue, and any medication I had taken recently. She seemed to know everything, right down to how many times I had fainted this month.
Then she pricked my finger with a small needle, drew a drop of blood into a reagent, and watched for a color change.
“There are no issues.”
She spoke coolly, quickly jotted down her notes, and handed the slip of paper to Countess Elvira, who scanned it in silence before leveling a sharp gaze at me. I felt like a cut of meat hung up in a butcher shop.
A moment later, Countess Elvira gave a nod, and the maids stepped forward to help me to my feet. I tried my best not to limp as I walked, but it wasn’t easy.
Though everything had been arranged neatly, I alone felt the suffocating weight of the situation. Just imagining having to undergo this mountain of procedures every time I entered these chambers drew a heavy sigh from me.
“We will wait out here, Your Highness.”
For some reason, the maids were to remain stationed outside the bedroom tonight, which only wound my nerves tighter.
I stepped into the room to find Caesar already there ahead of me, sprawled out on the bed. He broke into a smile the moment he saw me.
“Ren!”
“Ah, haha…”
Just the sight of his face made relief wash over me. Even though we met here every night, stepping in after that battery of examinations under so many watchful eyes made it feel entirely bizarre.
“What were you doing?”
He held up the book in his hands.
“This.”
It was The Ugly Duckling, the book I used to read to him. Lately, we had taken to reading together before bed, and Caesar had even begun trying to read on his own.
“Read it to me.”
Even though he knew the story by heart, he insisted on asking for it every night.
“Don’t you want something new today?”
I pointed toward another book on the bed, but Caesar shook his head and offered The Ugly Duckling back to me.
“I like this one.”
Resigned, I opened the book. He sat beside me, listening intently, and our usual routine resumed… this moment that felt so overwhelmingly precious.
“All right, let’s begin. Once upon a time, a mother duck lived happily with her mate, and they were blessed with several eggs…”
I read to him just as I did every night, steady and calm. Suddenly, he pointed at a line in the book and asked,
“What is love?”
“Huh?”
“Love.”
It was an abrupt, difficult question. What was love, really?
“Um… it means caring for someone very, very much.”
“Caring for them?”
“Yes, very much.”
He beamed at once.
“I care for Ren very much!”
“And I care for you, too.”
I laughed and answered, and his smile widened brilliantly.
“Ren, I love you.”
“…Ah…”
That was a second blow I hadn’t anticipated. Caught off guard and flustered, I couldn’t answer right away, but seeing him wait for my reply with such innocent eyes, I finally murmured,
“Me too.”
I struggled to speak while choking back a laugh, and Caesar scrunched his nose and laughed along, his pure delight spilling over into an innocent giggle. It was impossibly endearing.
Seeing him like this made the gloom that had weighed on my chest only moments ago slowly dissolve away, like a sugar cube melting softly on the tongue.
We stayed like that, smiling at each other for a long while, as if time itself had frozen in that moment.
“Fruit of love.”
“Huh?”
He blurted it out suddenly, as if an odd thought had crossed his mind, looking at me with a gravity that didn’t fit his childish nature.
“She laid eggs as the fruit of love.”
“Ahhh…”
Then, wearing that innocent, unblemished face devoid of any worry, he asked in a pure, clear voice,
“When will we lay one?”
A lump formed in my throat, an uneasy sensation creeping through me. Even so, I had to answer him, my voice trembling as I asked,
“L-lay… lay what?”
“The fruit of love.”
“The… the f-fruit of… love?”
Sweat pooled in my palms all at once, and my heart began to thud violently.
Could what I was thinking right now really be what he meant? Was I understanding him correctly? No, I couldn’t jump to conclusions. I shouldn't get ahead of myself. Caesar was a child; he didn’t know anything yet.
A fruit of love… it could mean so many things. For example… studying together, that was a kind of fruit, wasn't it? Or maybe my grand plan to turn Caesar into a true human being in every sense of the word—perhaps when that succeeded, I could call that a fruit of love, too…
I was on the verge of losing myself in a spiral of absurd delusions when Caesar cut in, as if deliberately shutting down any escape route:
“Lay it quickly.”
FADE OUT