Chapter 92: I Just Wanted To Tell You
“Your Majesty, His Highness, the Crown Prince, intentionally consumed poison!”
It had been five months and fifteen days since Leon had collapsed, coughing up blood after being poisoned at his birthday banquet.
But the culprit who had attempted to poison the Crown Prince that day had yet to be revealed.
Not only that, they did not have a single trace or lead to find the perpetrator.
Because the culprit had not left any evidence for them to follow.
It was already shocking enough that Leon had collapsed again from poison at the banquet that the Emperor had put so much effort into.
‘But Leon had drunk the poison of his own accord?’
The Emperor was struggling to comprehend what the palace knights were reporting.
His eyes sharpened as he gazed at the knights standing before him.
“I do not understand what you mean. Leon took the poison by his own hand?”
“That is what Sir Cassadin reported. After leaving the banquet hall, His Highness went to drink poison!”
“…Who else knows of this situation?”
“Sir Cassadin was the first to find His Highness after he collapsed, so we are the only ones aware that His Highness has taken the poison.”
“…I will see this for myself. Lady Serkia, follow me.”
Leaving the interrogation room, the Emperor hastened behind the knights towards the Crown Prince’s location.
Worried that something dire might have befallen his only successor, the Emperor quickened his steps.
They bypassed the banquet hall where the festivities continued, moved past several other opulent palaces, and headed straight for the Crown Prince’s palace.
At the Crown Prince’s palace.
After navigating through several long hallways, they found Cassadin standing guard in front of the doors to the Crown Prince’s bedroom.
The Emperor confronted the man who appeared to be protecting the entrance.
“Sir Cassadin, may I ask what this entire commotion is about?”
“His Highness, the Crown Prince suddenly asked me where the palace’s unused items were stored, and I believe he drank one of the poisons he found there.”
One could see the Emperor’s beard tremble after hearing Cassadin’s explanation. With a short bow, Cassadin continued.
“When I arrived, His Highness had already collapsed from drinking the poison, so there was nothing I could do. I called a doctor in private, but not even the palace doctor could create an antidote.”
“Just what reason would Leon have to drink such a dangerous poison of his own will…!”
The Emperor’s voice shook like a sapling in a storm of fury.
“Sir Cassadin and the knights will remain outside, and Lady Serkia, follow me.”
The Emperor took Aren and pulled open the door to the room where Leon was.
As soon as he opened the door, he was met with his son lying on the white sheets as if in deep slumber.
The Emperor cried out his only successor’s name with an ashen face.
“Leon!”
Panting lightly, Leon seemed to be in incredible pain. Beads of sweat ran down his forehead, and his face had become dangerously pale.
Walking closer to his son, the Emperor clasped Leon’s hands with trembling hands, but Leon coldly pulled away from his father’s grasp, even amidst immense pain.
“Leon…”
He stared down in despair at Leon, but immediately returned to his senses and asked Aren, who had been standing next to him, to cure the Crown Prince.
“Lady Serkia. Please heal Leon.”
Aren stepped closer to the bed to place her palms on the Crown Prince’s body and heal him.
Sitting down on the edge of the bed, Aren reached out to unbutton his shirt but then pulled back.
Because just then, she had realized something.
Even if she healed the Crown Prince right now, as the Emperor had asked her to, she would still end up as the Emperor’s pawn.
Just as the Emperor had blackmailed her with her weaknesses, she also needed to utilize the Emperor’s weakness.
More than anything, there was no reason for the Crown Prince to have ingested poison while she had been speaking with the Emperor.
‘I will also protect you, Aren, as my first priority. So there is nothing you need to worry about.’
The Crown Prince kept his promise, even going so far as to put his life on the line for it.
She didn’t know whether to call him reckless or irresponsible.
Realizing the Crown Prince’s intent, Aren placed her hands on her knees and quietly stared down at him.
She bowed to the Crown Prince, who was still writhing in pain, and thanked him sincerely.
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
When the Emperor saw that Aren was not following his orders at such an urgent moment, his furious voice could be heard from behind her.
“Milady.”
“……”
“Why are you disobeying my orders? Did you not hear me instruct you to heal the Crown Prince?”
Aren continued to stare down at Leon as if she couldn’t even hear the Emperor speaking.
Unlike the Emperor, who had his face contorted with anger, the one who had actually drunk the poison instead wore a faint smile.
Leon’s parched lips slowly parted.
“Aren.”
The man who called out Aren’s name seemed so weak that he could pass away at any moment.
“Leon!”
The Emperor’s anguished voice echoed through the room. And observing such an Emperor with cold eyes, Leon mustered his strength to speak once more.
“Why don’t you leave Aren alone now…”
It was astonishing that he was telling the man to leave Aren alone while poison was spreading through his body at that very moment.
The Emperor’s eyes grew dull as he looked down at his one and only son.
“Don’t tell me the reason you drank that poison was for Lady Serkia’s sake?”
“……And what if it was? How about you dethrone me for this dishonor?”
Leon twisted his lips into a smirk.
He could only stare at Leon’s smile with a dumbfounded expression.
“…….You’ve gone insane.”
“Hadn’t I already told you that? I am now sick and tired of everything.”
The Crown Prince seemed as though he had let go of everything. Seeing his son’s attitude, the Emperor could do nothing but fall into despair.
“Lady Serkia!”
Hearing the Emperor’s furious voice, Aren turned to look at him. Aren’s eyes glowed with a cold aura that no one had ever witnessed before.
But before the Emperor could say anything more, the Crown Prince spoke first.
“I can drink poison like this as many times as necessary.”
“……”
“So leave that innocent girl alone.”
“Are you threatening me with your life right now?”
“Oh, so my life is valuable? Then I’m glad I chose to stay alive.”
With every word Leon spoke, the Emperor felt as if spears were piercing his heart.
“Are you truly risking your life for a mere healer? Leon, how dare you……..”
“Isn’t it because of that ‘mere healer’ that Your Majesty was saved before?”
Leon’s cold voice silenced the entire room. Even with his life in jeopardy, Leon managed to infuse each word with power.
He could not afford to lose his only successor. Knowing this, the Emperor’s head drooped as if he were admitting defeat.
“……Alright. I have lost. So, Leon, please accept the treatment.”
“……”
“I will leave Lady Serkia alone, as you’ve requested, so hurry and…….”
“You’ve promised.”
“……Yes.”
After securing the Emperor’s promise, Aren carefully unbuttoned Leon’s crimson uniform. She placed her hands on his bare chest and quickly began to extract the poison that had spread through his body.
A white light emanated from Aren’s hands, and the poison within the Crown Prince vanished without a trace. His ashen face regained its lively color, and his feverish body cooled to a normal temperature, as if nothing had happened.
Leon observed Aren’s healing with a calm demeanor. After she finished her treatment and began rebuttoning the Crown Prince’s clothes, the Emperor spoke up quietly.
“Do not do anything like this ever again.”
“I cannot guarantee that. Just as I cannot trust Your Majesty’s promises.”
The Emperor sighed deeply at Leon’s sardonic reply.
“But I will not allow news of you consuming poison to spread to the public. On that, I cannot compromise.”
“…….As Your Majesty wishes. But in return, I ask for one more promise to be fulfilled by Your Majesty.”
“What is it?”
“Restore Aren’s reputation. Surely it is a child’s play for Your Majesty to rehabilitate someone’s tarnished reputation?”
The elderly man’s beard trembled again.
At that moment, he lamented the fact that such a disobedient child was his son. Yet for the Emperor, who had no intention of taking other concubines, Leon was his one and only son and the heir to his throne.
“Lady Serkia loves Sir Cassadin. It was foolish of you to have drunk poison for her.”
The Crown Prince chuckled in response to the Emperor’s remark.
“I am well aware of that.”
“You already knew?”
“Well, yes.”
Leon shrugged, appearing unbothered by the fact. The Emperor narrowed his eyes and questioned his son.
“So you ingested the poison even though you knew?”
“Isn’t it selfish to expect someone to reciprocate your feelings just because you harbor them?”
Because, unlike Sir Cassadin, I’m quite nice, Leon added in a joking manner.
He then turned his gaze away from the Emperor, who seemed to have come to a loss for words, and spoke to Aren.
“Aren, thank you.”
Aren smiled at the Crown Prince and responded.
“It is I who should thank Your Highness.”
As he had promised Leon, the Emperor no longer said anything that would cause Aren trouble, but he still glared intently at her to express his displeasure.
“Lady Serkia, you may leave now. I expect that you will keep quiet about this incident with Leon.”
After leaving the room in accordance with the Emperor’s command, Aren shared a few private words with Cassadin. There, she learned that it had been Cassadin’s idea for the Crown Prince to drink the poison.
“This was the only way to save you.”
Instead of returning to the banquet hall, Cassadin embraced Aren in the conservatory located within the palace.
The conservatory was tranquility quiet, with only the two of them inside. Filled with hyacinths and all sorts of different colored roses, it permeated with a dense floral scent.
Cassadin had been on the brink of going insane with worry after Aren had taken the blame for his own sins.
Stroking Aren’s back with his large hand, Cassadin asked her.
“Why did you have to protect me?”
“Because you are precious to me, more than anyone else.”
Hearing her answer come out without any hesitation, Cassadin let out a soft sigh and trailed off his sentence.
“I had been so worried that something might have happened to you…”
“Cassadin.”
Aren calmly spoke out Cassadin’s name within his embrace.
Hearing his name, Cassadin peered down at Aren. He saw her sapphire eyes and long eyelashes slowly sink down.
Cassadin continued to gaze at Aren. With her eyes cast to the ground and lips pursed, she seemed as if she was hesitating to say something.
He waited patiently for Aren to take her time. When he gently tapped Aren on the forehead to comfort her, Cassadin’s name slipped from her lips once more.
“Cassadin.”
Finally, seeming to have made up her mind, Aren raised her head and met Cassadin’s eyes.
Within his embrace, Aren mumbled quietly with a watery voice.
“Would you believe me if I said that I died and returned to the past?”
Unable to believe what he had just heard, Cassadin asked Aren.
“What do you mean?”
“In the past, I was Damian’s fiancée, and you were the Commander in Chief of the Knights because the Crown Prince found you in that arena. There, you and I did not have even a single interaction. The only time was when we made eye contact during an imperial banquet.”
With the same hand he used to stroke Aren’s back, Cassadin grasped her frail shoulders. A dark shadow had cast over her eyes, Cassadin could not discern what Aren was thinking.
“And for some reason, after dying at Damian’s hands, I came back four years into the past.”
“…….”
“So I purposefully approached you because I already knew who you were going to become in the future. I was going to take advantage of your desperation, just so that I could live.”
After revealing the truth, Aren seemed to laugh wordlessly at herself.
“That must be why I was punished. Because now, I love you, whom I tried to use, more than myself.”
“……Aren.”
“I know that you won’t believe what I’ve said, but I kept feeling as if I was deceiving you, so……”
With a smile resembling shattered glass, Aren added on.
“I just wanted to tell you.”
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