Translator: Nox

200 - Pieces of the Broken Glass Slipper

Shattered Glass Slipper Shards 200

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The Crown Prince went to the trouble of sending a servant ahead for this meeting. It was something he had never done before.

Even if he wanted to avoid people's attention, I wondered why he would go this far, but that question was quickly resolved by the sight of the servant pressing one side of the wall to open a Secret passage.

Beyond the elegant wallpaper, the damp path with its wide-open mouth was revealing its faint interior with pre-lit lamps.

The servant looked back and forth between the passage and me, nodding. Perhaps to keep the secret, he was mute. So he expressed his intentions with gestures.

His earlier attitude also meant that I should enter alone, and the servant handed me the lamp he was holding and stepped back.

I swallowed hard and slowly stepped inside. The sound of the entrance closing behind me echoed eerily.

A chill ran down my spine at the reality of walking alone in the dark, empty space. The sound of my footsteps and the rustling of my skirt fell ominously on my eardrums.

My heart pounded with the tension that a murderer might jump out. Doubts were rising as to whether the Crown Prince would be standing at the end of this road.

Fortunately, the road was short. I hadn't walked far when a narrow door appeared. I opened the door and saw the Crown Prince sitting on a sofa in the center.

The room he was in was very small. It seemed cramped with just two sofas, a table with teacups, and a narrow table.

The Crown Prince was looking through a pile of documents on a small table next to the sofa, writing something down.

I bent my knees slightly to greet the Crown Prince and then approached him. He didn't tell me to sit down, but as I sat on the sofa, he looked at me as if he had been waiting.

"You met His Majesty?"

Since there were no prying eyes, he naturally spoke informally. His voice was also stiff. Just the other day, he was a man who had been putting on a sweet, honey-like voice.

I put the lamp I was holding on the floor and replied in a calm voice.

"Yes."

"The one who befriends envoys is quite healthy."

He sneered and pushed the documents he was holding to the side. He took a sip of tea, and the Crown Prince's face, revealed under the dim lamplight, looked very tired.

"So, what did the omnipotent Emperor of the Empire say? Oh, did he say he was going to die because of his stupid son? That he had a headache?"

Huh?

I stared at the Crown Prince with wide eyes. He was acting as if he knew what the Emperor had said to me. A clear sneer appeared on his face as he lightly parted his lips as if to continue speaking.

The Crown Prince's gesture of tapping his ear with his index finger was eerily relaxed.

"His Majesty must be getting old. It seems he can't even cover the eyes and ears in the wall."

He was confessing to me that he had eavesdropped on my meeting with the Emperor. A chill ran down my spine, and I swallowed hard without making a sound, pressing my lips tightly together. I decided to remain silent because no matter what I said, it would only be an excuse.

But the Crown Prince seemed to want to hear my voice no matter what. He leaned back against the sofa and said to me in a cool voice that lacked emotion. The Crown Prince's long legs were elegantly crossed.

"Anyway, His Majesty was kind enough to tell me everything, so I can't hide it any longer. You know that the Grand Duke is planning a rebellion, right?"

"Yes."

I barely managed to answer, barely parting my lips that wouldn't open. Was this what it felt like to be confirmed? Cold sweat trickled down my spine.

The words 'damn bastard' were rising to the tip of my throat. I was angry at their arrogant attitude, as if they had every situation in their hands, just like father, like son.

If I could, I wanted to crush that annoyingly smooth mouth.

"Do you know that his collaborator is my beautiful Empress?"

For a moment, I forgot to breathe and stared blankly at him, and the Crown Prince's lips drew a long arc, creating a captivating smile.

I had predicted the Grand Duke's rebellion, but I had never thought of the Empress, so I couldn't help but be very surprised. After all, what mother in the world would try to trample on her son's future? It was truly insane.

"Since when..."

"It's not important when I knew. All you need to know is that my insidious uncle is being greedy for something he can't have. Ah, right. Did you ask me to find out about a man named Bitrice?"

"Yes."

Then the Crown Prince suddenly opened his mouth and began to recite the Witch's prophecy.

"Great chaos will come. The sun will lose its light and fall, and the surrounding stars will rise strongly and emit brilliant light. Beware the moon. The moon and the stars receive light together, so they will not hesitate to shed blood for each other. The giant womb has already served its purpose, but it will release a dog to swallow the dragon, and the dog, by nature, has stars embedded in its body and will not be afraid to march to the golden castle, so the fate of the blue lion will be decided on the plains where red soil flows."

And as soon as he finished speaking, he looked at me and smiled.

"It's very plausible bullshit."

It was a rather vulgar word for the Crown Prince of a country to utter. But he didn't seem to care as he glared fiercely and continued to speak. Like a tutor teaching a child, going over each point slowly.

"A rebellion will break out. The Emperor will die, and the Grand Duke's power will rise strongly and engulf the Empire. Beware the Empress. The Empress and the Grand Duke are in a cooperative relationship, so they will not hesitate to shed blood for each other. Since she is a mother who has already lost her qualifications as Empress, she will use her family to covet the Emperor's throne, and her family has long been controlled by the Grand Duke, so they are not afraid to march towards the Empire. Therefore, the fate of me, the Crown Prince, will be decided on the plains where red soil flows."

"The plains where red soil flows..."

As I trailed off and became confused, the Crown Prince sneered and replied.

"Was there such a place in the Empire? It's just flowery language made up to look plausible. Or rather, it could be said that red soil flows because the blood of the enemies will flow."

Going to the Witch to hear the prophecy during the Founding Day was to throw bait. My assumption that the Grand Duke had prepared the Witch was completely wrong.

Come to think of it, when I was waiting for Lady Roshan's carriage, the Crown Prince's subordinate came to him and said, 'I missed him,' right?

At the time, I didn't know who he was referring to, so I casually dismissed it, but now that I think about it, he must have meant that he missed the Grand Duke or his subordinates.

He bribed the Witch to utter a false prophecy related to the rebellion, and the Grand Duke, who heard it, disguised her as dead and took her away.

Once I thought this far, it seemed that all the pieces finally fit together. The Grand Duke, who took the Witch, heard the story of the woman who had come back from the dead from her mouth, which is why the incident happened last time.

It was to create conflict between the Crown Prince and Sir Ayres and to make me the woman in that prophecy.

As the Emperor said, the Grand Duke also knew the Crown Prince's personality well, that he couldn't stand uncontrolled questions and tried to grasp them in his hands.

But wait a minute. Is this really the behavior of a paranoid person who can't stand uncontrolled events?

I trembled and looked at the Crown Prince, suddenly realizing one thing. I couldn't believe that he, who knew all this, was regarding me as the 'woman who had returned from the dead' according to the Grand Duke's scheme.

Perhaps he guessed my confusion, the Crown Prince smiled softly, deeply curving his eyes. He was truly delighted.

"Thanks to you, I was able to find out what name my uncle is using. I won't forget your contribution, Lady."

"...Are you going to retrieve the document that His Majesty gave me?"

I asked him in a weak voice. I didn't think the Crown Prince would leave me alone now that I knew everything.

After all, if he sent someone to the Bishvarts Family right now to find the document the Emperor gave me and burn it, it would become nothing. If I were the Crown Prince, I would have done that for sure.

"It's a tempting offer, but it's actually easier to kill you and blame it on my uncle's side. It would be very painful to see my friend in pain, but I can get a good force that way. Hatred and anger give great power."

"Is that why you called me here?"

A secret room with no one else around. The only people who know I'm going to the Crown Prince are Lady Roshan and the mute servant. So no matter what happens here, the result will be manipulated by the Crown Prince.

I swallowed hard and barely hid my trembling hands between the richly spread skirts.

At my question, the Crown Prince erased his smile and looked at me calmly with a blank face. It was the same indifferent gaze as when I was dragged to him by Roena in the past, as if he were looking at an object. It was as if an invisible hand was strangling my neck.

After a while, the Crown Prince opened his mouth. His dry, sandy voice was very low, like the darkness that hung over the surroundings.

"To survive in the Imperial Palace for a long time, it's not enough to eliminate rivals. The most important thing is to become a fool with obvious flaws in the eyes of the ruler. If you don't deliberately show your weaknesses or flaws and entrust your life, you will be mercilessly killed. Bloodlines are useless in the face of power, so wouldn't that be the case?"

The Crown Prince took a sip of tea, as if he was thirsty, and continued to speak leisurely.

"Of course, they'll be suspicious at first. They'll monitor you to see if you're using clever tricks. But if you show the same appearance for a long time, they'll believe that's really the case. So, did His Majesty praise my foolishness? As a fool who can't fix his childhood habits and still leaks weaknesses?"

Is the man in front of me really the Crown Prince whom the Emperor clicked his tongue at and treated as a 'young one'?

I clenched my arm, where goosebumps were starting to rise, and bit the soft flesh inside my mouth tightly. Otherwise, I felt like I would be so frightened that I would run away.

"For the sake of my respected father, I will continue to play the role of such a son. He doesn't have much time left, so I have to show this much filial piety, right? So I guarantee that at least today, the things you're worried about won't happen."

"Are you saying that you will condone me remaining neutral?"

"If your neutrality means balancing between the Aires Family and the Bishvarts Family, I can tolerate it as much as you want. Not only that, but I'll answer the question you asked earlier now. I'm going to stand by and watch you devour the Bishvarts Family. It's only a loss for me to touch a family that's far removed from politics."

No, it must be because I can't poke the Bishvarts Family like a hornet's nest because of the Knight of Clear Hearing.

That's why the Crown Prince was saying that he wouldn't interfere with me becoming Sir Halberd's master, as the Emperor said, but he wouldn't allow me to exert influence by using him.

What the Crown Prince wants is for me to support the Imperial Family, or rather, himself, without falling into the hands of the Grand Duke.

"What you want is loyalty to the Empire."

The Crown Prince's face finally began to relax at my words. He smiled contentedly and nodded.

"I'm so glad you're a woman who understands me. When you act for a long time, it becomes difficult to tell whether that personality is really you. There are side effects. So sometimes even I get confused, but fortunately, Lady doesn't encourage that kind of feeling."

"No. It's all because you are so generous. Thanks to your merciful heart, I dare to ask you one thing. If you see a tree with delicious fruit hanging high out of reach, what would you do?"

I asked him, trying to suppress my anxious feelings. The Crown Prince stroked his sharply chiseled chin with his finger and asked back.

"Is it a big tree with lush branches?"

"No. It's just a sapling that has just borne fruit."

"Does it have deep roots that eat up the surrounding trees?"

"It does take root, but it only goes downwards, so I would say it knows the meaning of coexistence."

"Is there no possibility that the fruit is so ripe that it will fall on its own?"

"If there is no fruit, its value will drop and it can be used as firewood, so that won't happen."

"Then you have to kick the trunk with your foot. You have to kick it and force the fruit to fall."

My fingertips turned cold at his answer, and my mouth began to dry up. I moved my tongue, which wouldn't move, and barely managed to form words.

"...Until it falls?"

"Since it has already been verified that it is a tree that cannot be cut down, I cannot violate that and use an axe mercilessly. Even lumberjacks have a conscience. So I have to use that method."

The Crown Prince was only talking about conscience and wasn't even thinking about using a ladder. It was because he knew that persuasion was useless. So he was going to target me, who was the main one.

I couldn't bear the Crown Prince's fierce gaze and lowered my eyes.

I was happy that I had the hilt of the sword in my hand, but the Crown Prince was kindly telling me that it was only a temporary illusion.

He was also saying that it wasn't him who was on the Emperor's chessboard, but the Emperor himself.