Translator: Nox

Chapter 109: Because You Are Olivia

Bang, bang, bang!

As the final, dazzling fireworks embroidered the sky, the world was illuminated as if it were daytime again.

His face, now frozen and cold as if he had never smiled, whispered like a demon.

"Explain to me, in a way I can understand, why I should do such a thing with you when I have my own wife."

Like the fireworks that momentarily adorned the sky beautifully before vanishing like a lie, a faint glimmer of hope disappeared like smoke.

Isabel trembled her lower lip before finally managing to speak.

"You don't love her, do you? You had no choice but to marry her, right? I don't want to be a Princess consort. I'm going to have a loveless marriage too. So..."

"What a bumper crop of bullshit."

Isabel was speechless at the words she had never heard before.

The acrid smell of gunpowder mixed with the sea breeze and rushed into her lungs, and cheers rang out from behind, but Isabel felt nothing.

Noah dropped the cigarette he was holding on the ground and crushed it with his foot, spitting out his words.

"If you want to do dirty things, find someone else."

"..."

"How dare you presume to know whether I love my wife or not."

Only then did she feel the anger mixed in his voice. As the thin layer of ice-like mask shattered, Isabel involuntarily stepped back.

Noah approached her like a predator cornering its prey.

"Do you know what I'm thinking right now?"

"Yo, Your Highness..."

Isabel felt a chill as if cold metal had touched the back of her neck.

Like a blue blade so cold it felt hot, he was honed so sharply that it pressed against her neck.

"I know what kind of nonsense you spouted at that polo match. And I'll soon find out what Seymour's mistress said to my Queen yesterday."

Isabel's legs trembled.

Shaken by her emotions, she forgot again. How demonic this man's face had been the day he rejected her.

"Don't ever appear before Olivia and me again, Isabel Seymour."

Noah drove a wedge as he passed by Isabel, whose neck had turned blue from being strangled.

"No… I'll make it so you can't even appear, so don't even dare to think about it. And."

"..."

"I hope you've disposed of that flashlight."

Then, he mercilessly walked away, leaving Isabel staggering with weakness. Barely holding onto the railing, Isabel turned her head and looked out at the dark sea.

Should I just die like this?

If I jump from here, will that man realize my true feelings? Will he come running? Will he save me?

The fierce sea breeze harshly slapped her cheeks.

But when she took a step onto the railing and looked back, he was already gone.

Isabel slumped down and muttered.

"No… Even if I die… he wouldn't even offer a shred of mourning."

Didn't she know that?

No. In fact, she knew.

Like a moth drawn to a flame, she had only scorched herself because she couldn't control her longing.

Back in his room at the residence, Noah took a hot bath. Then, he collapsed onto the bed as if exhausted.

He was extremely tired. How could he not be, having only laid down on a bed in almost two days?

But sleep did not come easily.

The sound of wind rustling through the dry leaves was loud, and even with his eyes closed, he could feel the moonlight seeping through the curtains.

It wasn't the first time he had lain alone in the wide bed, but even that was uncomfortable. Without the familiar warmth, he felt cold, and without the hair that sweetly wrapped around his fingertips, sleep wouldn't come at all.

Noah gripped the blanket tightly and pulled it close. He lay on his side, hugging the blanket deep into his chest. He hoped that doing so would calm his half-floating heart and dispel the unpleasant chill.

But the blanket could not replace Olivia.

Noah closed his eyes and thought of Olivia.

When he hugged her soft, warm body from behind, Olivia would always raise one hand and stroke his head, burying her face in his neck. He would feel her touch and gently caress the strands of black hair that fell over his fingers.

Then, before he knew it, sleep would come.

A languid and peaceful sleep.

"Olivia..."

Since it was a common name in Herot, he had seen women with the name Olivia before.

But because she was Olivia, all the other women who had possessed that name had disappeared into his unconsciousness. Ever since that autumn night at the banquet when he first met her.

Noah blankly recalled that banquet. Many things had happened that day, but only his meeting with her remained vividly in his memory.

Her white blouse and skirt were not at all suited to the extravagant banquet. He briefly wondered why she had come to the banquet wearing such clothes. Noah couldn't take his eyes off the woman approaching him.

It wasn't simply because she was beautiful; he had experienced too much beauty.

Then, the moment he first met those dark eyes, Noah felt the flow of time stop. Her eyes were like an abyss, and also like precious jewels.

That night after returning from the banquet.

Noah had recalled those black eyes countless times.

From that day on, the name Olivia became exclusively hers for Noah.

"You don't love her, do you? You had no choice but to marry her, right?"

Noah, recalling Isabel's words, lay on his back and murmured emptily.

"Love?"

It was too grand and ambiguous a word. So, leaving that aside…

"Had no choice but to marry her? Me?"

Noah chuckled.

"I will propose to her."

Usher was clearly sincere. Whether it was for political reasons or not, Noah felt his sincerity, so he ran madly down the hallway. And he set aside everything else to prepare to leave for Pulder.

As if he had been eagerly waiting for this day.

Noah dropped the blanket he had been clutching and got out of bed.

"I've attended all the events I couldn't miss."

In any case, he couldn't fall asleep here, and tomorrow's breakfast was an informal event.

Having made his decision, Noah quickly dressed and packed a simple bag. Then, he woke up Methone, who was asleep.

"Yo, Your Highness?!"

The Prince gave Methone, who jumped up from his seat as if propelled by a spring, an unbelievable notice.

"I'm going back to the capital."

"Now?!"

Whether he was surprised or not, Noah turned away mercilessly, leaving behind a single word.

"You can come tomorrow."

Does that really mean I can come tomorrow, or is it a threat to go to the afterlife tomorrow?

Methone woke up his colleagues, half-crying.

"He said he's going to the capital now?! Why?!"

"I don't know, how would I know his mind? He said to do as I please if I want to come tomorrow."

"...Let's go."

While Methone and the guards were hurriedly preparing, Noah went to see the Admiral, who had returned after finishing the banquet, and gave him the same notice.

"I'm sorry, you must have put a lot of effort into preparing breakfast."

The Admiral's wife, who had prepared the breakfast, looked very disappointed, but soon smiled and whispered softly.

"It seems you are very worried about the Princess consort."

"..."

"Please travel safely, Your Highness. I hope the Princess consort recovers quickly as well."

At her kind words, the Prince gave a polite greeting. Then, he flew onto his warhorse as if soaring and ran without hesitation into the deep darkness.

The sound of five horses' hooves shaking the earth soon faded into the distance.

Admiral David shrugged his shoulders as if disappointed and comforted his wife.

"You worked so hard because the Prince was attending. I understand. Something must have happened to the company he runs."

Then, the Admiral's wife looked up at her husband and shook her head.

"Even if he had attended breakfast, he wouldn't have been able to eat the food anyway. He only took a few sips of alcohol throughout the banquet today, and didn't touch the food at all."

"Is that so?"

"He's a VIP, so I kept watching him. So, he's probably not leaving because of company issues."

The Admiral's wife turned her head and muttered towards the darkness where the Prince had disappeared.

"Ah~ It must be such a good time to be so in love."

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

Betty carefully wiped the sweat from Olivia's forehead and tidied up around her. One of the side effects of the medicine was drowsiness, but the Princess consort wouldn't wake up at all. So much so that the maids who were nursing her were checking the Princess consort's breathing.

The Princess consort on the front page of the newspaper was smiling brightly, but the doctor said that she must have been in severe pain even around the time the photo was taken.

Betty whispered to Olivia, who was lying like a doll, with sincerity.

"Your Highness, please recover quickly."

Betty was a person who had been adhering to the motto, 'Don't give your heart to the nobles, just work hard at the given tasks.' Her motto was a kind of shield she had acquired while working as a maid for a long time. But she kept worrying about the Princess consort.

Betty fixed the Princess consort's blanket again and carefully left the room.

The medicine kept pulling out Olivia's unconsciousness.

While asleep under the influence of the medicine, Olivia had countless dreams. The more she dreamed, the further back she went to her childhood.

Herot, when her parents were still alive.

Holding her mother's hand, she walked for a long time until she saw her father in the distance.

"Dad!!"

When she called out to him loudly, her father smiled brightly and ran over to pick her up.

"My puppy! Come here!"

Her grandfather, who was walking behind her father, spread his arms. Slipping out of her father's arms, she plucked a wildflower growing by the roadside and ran to her grandfather.

"Oh, my lady. Thank you."

Her grandfather laughed cheerfully and accepted the flower she handed him, and her grandmother, standing beside him, smiled warmly and stroked her hair.

Then, one night.

She sat down on the balcony and stared blankly out through the railing.

"Liv. Mom and Dad will be back soon. Go to sleep. They'll be by your side when you wake up tomorrow morning. Grandma doesn't lie, does she?"

But her grandmother's words turned out to be a lie.

That night was terribly long.

"Why are you leaving like this, leaving our Olivia behind!! What about Olivia!!"

Her grandmother's scream, who was always elegant and refined, was so eerie, and the force with which she desperately hugged her was extremely rough.

And in Olivia's eyes, held in her grandmother's arms, she saw a carriage so mangled that its shape was unrecognizable.

Her heart pounded as if it would burst.