Translator: Nox

**Stalker Duchess Episode 30**

 

 

**Stalker Duchess Episode 30**

 

 

 

 

 

"......I'm sorry."

"Forget it. No point acting surprised now."

The Crown Prince let out a sigh-like breath and turned his back to me, moving away.

Though he said there was no point acting surprised, he was clearly deeply hurt.

After staring silently at the ground for a long while to catch his breath, he spoke again in a cooled voice.

"I'll keep my promise to get you home. And......"

Mid-sentence, the Crown Prince suddenly bent at the waist.

He picked up a commonplace pebble rolling on the ground.

I watched his actions curiously.

"......?"

He suddenly looked at me, his golden eyes gleaming.

A chill ran down my spine at the intense killing intent, making my body stiffen reflexively, but the Crown Prince's sharpened gaze wasn't on me—it was behind me.

A winged magical beast that had been stalking me screamed.

The beast's body, pierced by the pebble, crumpled grotesquely.

It let out a pained screech, spewing blood from its whole body before plummeting off the cliff.

"......"

I gaped slightly at the irrational sight.

Goosebumps prickled across my skin.

"......Even without that mana, I'm the strongest. I have more than enough power to protect you."

The Crown Prince, expressionless and splattered with demon blood, didn't look like one of the good guys no matter how I saw it.

Perhaps the most dangerous thing wasn't the magical beast after all......

That thought made cold sweat trickle down my back.

Hmm, maybe I'd just made a tremendous mistake......

"Your Highness."

"What."

I'd meant to call him 'Raven' as usual, but it felt distant somehow, so I corrected to the formal address.

Still offended, the Crown Prince replied in a grumpy voice.

"You're human, right?"

"......"

At my question, the Crown Prince looked down at me with a cold expression.

A face like, 'Is that even a question?'

Hmm. I'd thought we'd gotten a step closer, but now it felt light-years away again.

"......I misspoke. Please forget it."

It was my desperate attempt to turn the atmosphere around.

But at my blunder, the Crown Prince seemed even more downcast.

I'd meant it in a positive way when asking if he was human......

I was truly bad at reading and matching others' moods.

I opened my mouth once more to try switching the icy vibe.

"Um...... That thing just now, were you going to throw it at me...... No, never mind."

The more I spoke, the more his aura turned ominous, so I hurriedly wrapped it up.

Seeing his menacing glare, I felt I shouldn't hear the answer.

Anyway, it felt like the Crown Prince was throwing around the word 'strongest' himself. Did he like it that much?

I wanted to ask, but his mood was at rock bottom now.

My instincts from years of social experience screamed not to spout nonsense to my boss right now.

I gave up on trying to lighten the mood further.

"......For today, we'll stay in the empty Dragon Lair. Moving at night is too dangerous."

"Yes......"

The Crown Prince tried to hide it, but his eyes still looked complicated.

 

I gathered worn maps, ancient tomes, and stacks of bills inside the Dragon Lair and lit them with a matchstick.

They were probably worth a fortune beyond imagination, but I had no material desires, so I coolly burned them.

The Crown Prince didn't stop me or bother explaining their value.

I leaned against the wall and silently stared at the fire I'd made.

This reminded me of the time with the Elf Child.

We'd spent a night in a cave with the Crown Prince just like today.

Lost in such thoughts, sleep started overtaking me surprisingly peacefully.

I'd already forgotten he'd gotten angry earlier.

Dozing off in the temporarily peaceful atmosphere, the Crown Prince—who'd been staring blankly at the crackling bonfire—suddenly muttered like talking to himself.

"......My mother."

"......Cough!"

His sudden bombshell topic jolted me awake, body stiffening.

G-give some warning before diving in......

Maybe because of my earlier mistake, I reacted sensitively.

In the original story, the Crown Prince had never once spoken about his mother.

That's why I'd forgotten until now.

Pretending to add firewood, I sneakily glanced at his expression.

For someone bringing up his mother's death, the Crown Prince's face showed no emotion.

I was the only one flustered by the topic.

After staring silently at the bonfire for a long while, he let out a sigh-like next words.

"......Officially, she died of consumption, but actually, she was murdered. Poisoned."

I already knew, but pretended not to and turned my head.

Normally quick on the uptake, he might have noticed my awkward reaction and grown suspicious, but fortunately, he seemed uninterested in my response.

He just needed a place to unload his heart.

"......She wasn't even someone you could call a good parent in empty words. I had three brothers I'd never met, all used as her long-term pawns and died."

"......"

"But she tried acting like a good parent to me. I truly believed she loved me and wanted me on the throne for that reason. No, I probably knew but didn't want to believe it. Calling me a god's blessing to the empire, a genius, spewing all sorts of flattery upfront about why I must inherit the throne......"

"......"

"But behind my back, she called me a monster. Heh, she said even though she birthed me, it creeped her out. I was just working hard to meet her expectations. ......I didn't choose to be born like this."

Saying that, the Crown Prince let out a small laugh.

But anyone could see it wasn't from joy.

His laugh sounded like self-mockery at his own situation.

Do they think overwhelming talent is a blessing?

Being born with talent meant being deprived of something from the start.

And what the Crown Prince had been deprived of was parental love, learning what he didn't know, and living normally with people.

The Crown Prince, who had been smiling faintly, suddenly erased his expression.

Back to a cold face, he spoke in an emotionless voice.

"Truth is, she was afraid of me. You asked earlier if I was human? Aren't you saying the exact same thing as my mother?"

"I......"

As I tried to speak, the Crown Prince slowly turned his head to meet my eyes.

His gaze was filled with resentment.

Was it toward me, or his already-dead mother?

Nothing I said would reach him now.

Still, I spoke in a voice packed with grievance.

My tightly clenched fist trembled white-knuckled.

"I...... have never thought that, not once."

"......"

"Stop overlapping me with your mother. I......"

"Who do you think killed my mother?"

As I tried to defend myself, the Crown Prince cut me off and asked.

"......I don't know."

That part wasn't in the book, so I had no way of knowing.

But what was certain was that I knew more than others, but not everything.

There were follow-ups to stories like Serabi entering the Crown Prince's bedroom and getting chased out, but I didn't know details not written in the novel.

"Me."

"......"

"I know who poisoned my mother's teacup. I even witnessed the crucial scene with my own eyes. But I said nothing to her. Didn't investigate the culprit, had no thought of punishing them. Honestly, I even felt grateful."

"......"

"Even if no one had poisoned her teacup, I might have killed her myself someday."

The reason the Crown Prince was revealing this to me was clear.

Why he was baring a secret he'd never shown in his life, one he might have planned to take to the grave.

"This is the true Raven you've loved so much. How's that? Still like me now?"

He said it with a sneer, but his eyes, unable to hide emotion, trembled anxiously.

I didn't know what change of heart happened, but he seemed intent on shaking off my obsession he'd ignored until now.

But if I truly said I hated him, he'd instantly switch to hurt eyes.

Still, there was a huge flaw in the Crown Prince's question.

"I...... don't like you."

I'd never liked the Crown Prince to begin with.

I'd just stated that simple fact, but the moment he heard it, his anxiously trembling eyes—filled with faint expectation—went as empty as a snuffed candle.

Hearing my words, he muttered self-mockingly in a somehow teary voice.

"Yeah, figured as much......"

"......"

"......"

A deathly silence stretched between us for a long while.