**Stalker Duchess Episode 29**
**Stalker Duchess Episode 29**
I cleared my throat and summarized what the Crown Prince wanted based on what I'd heard so far.
"......Ahem. To use that teleport magic, you need someone who knows the Dragon Lair's location, so you're asking me to guide you. Right?"
"......Yeah."
The Crown Prince couldn't hide his suspicious expression but soon affirmed it.
He had a habit of dragging out simple statements like this into long-winded ones.
Istal Forest was a savage place teeming with ferocious magical beasts and demons, incomparable to the elf territory we'd visited before. In short, it was like the final dungeon.
If the Crown Prince had asked me to go with him, I would've refused by any means necessary, but just telling him the location was no big deal.
"......I'll be back right away."
"Do whatever."
I took the Crown Prince's indifferently extended hand.
As our hands clasped, a faint smile seemed to flicker at the corner of his mouth, but it vanished in a blink, making me think I'd imagined it.
His face cooled again as he asked,
"Coordinates?"
The Dragon Lair, shaped like a cave atop a cliff, was completely empty.
Its owner had probably stepped out briefly or gone off wandering.
If the former, waiting a bit might work, but if the latter, things got complicated.
The Crown Prince couldn't hide his disappointment, but it was fortunate for me. We could head back sooner.
The surroundings brimmed with dark energy. Even a stranger would smell the danger wafting everywhere.
As if proving this was another world, a chilling air utterly unlike the Duke's Mansion enveloped us.
Feeling the cold, I pulled my shawl higher over my shoulders. I didn't want to linger here a moment longer.
I asked the Crown Prince, who was scanning the area,
"Uh, let's head back now. No owner's here anyway."
'Plus, my hangover hasn't worn off yet......' I swallowed the afterthought, knowing it'd trigger his nagging starting with, 'That's why you shouldn't drink.'
The Crown Prince looked displeased but placed a hand on my shoulder in agreement, preparing to teleport.
I'll be back at the Duke's Mansion when I open my eyes. Thinking that, I slowly closed and opened them......
"......?"
We were still inside the Dragon Lair.
I wanted to leave ASAP, so why the dawdling?
Glared at him with eyes demanding he hurry up with the spell, and the Crown Prince before me said flatly,
"Not working."
"......"
The Elf Child in Ater Forest had said the same—they couldn't read my mind.
Could it be that since I'm from outside, this world's magic doesn't work on me?
No, teleport worked fine coming here. So then......
Could it be a problem on the Crown Prince's side?
I glanced at him anxiously.
Seeing him earnestly staring at his hand, sensing no mana, it seemed he was the issue.
Whatever the reason, my situation boiled down to this: trapped in the Dragon Lair—Demon territory—in Istal Forest with a Crown Prince who couldn't use magic.
Fine. Say we get stuck here together a hundred times over. But, but......!
A Crown Prince who can't use magic? That's just...... a whiny kid!
So I have to escort a powerless 14-year-old Crown Prince out of this monster-infested dungeon?
Impossible.
Calm down, calm down. I repeated inwardly, but my body was already trembling.
Whatever I thought, the Crown Prince stared blankly at his palm with a straight face.
"No clue."
His assessment after a long while was concise and clear.
His mana had vanished in an instant, yet he looked unperturbed, unworried.
Did he have some ace up his sleeve?
I'd heard his swordsmanship was exceptional, but I'd never seen him wield one, and thanks to my morning vomit on his clothes, he'd removed his sword sheath anyway.
I'd come out in pajamas thinking we'd return quickly. The situation was the worst imaginable.
But the Crown Prince sighed like it was a hassle, raked back his hair, and said nonchalantly,
"Can't be helped. I promised to send you right back, but looks like it'll be delayed. Guess we'll walk—should take about three days...... What are you doing?"
Humans are rational beings.
So as a rational human, I planned the most rational choice in this situation.
"Trying to kill myself......"
I gazed emptily down at the windy cliff below and said.
I saw the Crown Prince rush over in horrified shock at my words, but I was beyond normal.
Walk back? What a calm thing to say.
In the original novel, even peak-condition 18-year-old Crown Prince and five or six skilled comrades entered Istal Forest, but only he and the Elf Queen returned alive.
And neither in sound mind.
His dragon power rampaged for the first time, shattering his sanity completely, while the Elf Queen was kidnapped by heteroraces and nearly killed.
So being trapped here alone with the Crown Prince put me squarely in the Elf Queen's position plot-wise......!
Hence, 'Better that than suffer something horrific—.'
But the Crown Prince, who'd dashed over, grabbed me from behind, immobilizing me.
How did such strength come from his smaller frame? No matter how I struggled, I couldn't budge an inch.
I flailed, slapping at his arms around my waist.
"Let go! Better torn to shreds and eaten by heteroraces than cleanly......!"
"What nonsense are you spouting? Is this worth dying over? I'm sorry! I said it'd take time, but I'll get you home safe!"
He spun my cliff-facing body toward him and yelled, truly baffled.
But to me, he was the incomprehensible one.
He could speak so lightly because he didn't know how terrifying Istal Forest was.
"You can't even use magic—impossible!"
"What?"
An 18-year-old peak Crown Prince, maybe, but entrust my future to this kid? No way.
Ah, if only I'd come with 18-year-old Crown Prince.
With 18-year-old Crown Prince......
"Who're you thinking of right now?"
Reading something in my eyes, he growled lowly.
No point saying I was thinking of his future self—he wouldn't believe it—so I shut my mouth.
The Crown Prince stared down icily, saying nothing.
We stood silently for a while, then his hands gripping my arms suddenly trembled.
Fuming, he barely rasped through gritted teeth,
"How dare you...... How dare you try to die before me......"
"......"
After that, long silence followed.
Regaining his breath, he looked up at me with dead-tired eyes and recited tonelessly,
"You gonna die like that too? In front of me, like my mother. Is that what it takes to satisfy you all."
Hearing that, ice coursed through my veins.
Ah, now I remembered.
I'd forgotten the passing mention, but the reason the Crown Prince avoided the Imperial Palace and acted independently was his trauma too.
His mother was a victim of court intrigue. Too mild a term—she'd killed plenty herself.
And ultimately poisoned to death.
Though direct blood, young Raven as a low-succession prince was elevated to Crown Prince largely by her efforts.
Problem was, all for her own gain.
Whether she treated him as a tool or not, he'd quite liked her, I knew.
Till the end, she clung to young Crown Prince desperately and said,
-Baby, avenge this mother's grudge. You must become emperor. Must. Definitely, and revenge on those who devoured me......!
That tender voice calling him was her first and last.
No more words followed.
Poison spread, she vomited blood and died.
......I don't know what makes good parents, but she was selfish.
Till death, treating him as mere tool.
Was he overlapping her and me?
That thought chilled my frenzy instantly.
Gauging the Crown Prince staring blankly with empty eyes, I spoke.
"Uh...... Sorry. Guess the alcohol hasn't worn off. I'm not usually that extreme......"
"......"
I excused myself, but he wore a face of utter resignation, not listening.
Gazing at me, yet not truly seeing.
"......Sorry. Really sorry."
"......"
