Chapter 4
Saydin, tense, pressed her knees together. Then, as she scooted back slightly, trying to distance herself from Luan, a thought crossed her mind.
‘Has it been a day and a half since the kingdom fell?’ It felt as if she had never left the bed.
Although she had eaten and rested a few hours ago with the help of the maids… the round, expectant eyes of the maids looking at her were oddly unsettling.
‘Why were they looking at me like that? As if they already knew me from before…’
Perhaps because she had rested well and eaten properly, her mind felt sharper than before.
As she sank into contemplation, Luan, who had been silently watching her, finally spoke.
“Princess, I have a gift for you.”
“What?”
Luan reached into his coat and took something. The moment she saw it, Saydin’s eyes widened in shock.
It was the “Himela’s eye.” That strikingly blue mana stone shimmered faintly in response to Saydin’s meager magical power.
She liked this stone in particular because it had the rare ability to convert her magic into healing power. It was perfect to treat Luan’s wounds after the cruel experiments he had endured as a child.
‘Yes… And it was easy to get, too. Wizards discarded them carelessly, after all.’
As a princess scorned for her lack of magical prowess, she was often mocked for carrying mana stones close to her. They had mocked her futile efforts. But she didn’t mind at all…
Lost in old memories, Saydin reached for the stone without realizing it, pulling it tightly against her chest. It fit perfectly in her arms, just as it always had.
The “eye,” which grew from the roots of a low-grade beast-type plant, Himela, nestled against her like a second heart.
At that moment, watching Saydin’s reflection in the subtle glow of the blue magic stone.
“At first, I didn’t understand why you cherished such a low-grade mana stone so much.”
“….”
“I didn’t realize… that you were trying to convert your magic into healing power.”
“….”
“Knowing you did so to heal me…”
Luan’s lips twisted slightly as if he despised his past when he had been nothing but a war prisoner ten years ago. But he actually hated himself for not being able to save her.
Even as he cleansed the empire of rebellion, severed the heads of his father and half-siblings, and stopped other kingdom’s signs of revolt, there had been only one thought in his mind…
“Allow me to protect you now, Princess.”
“Your Majesty.”
Saydin met his gaze—the eyes of an emperor who had sworn to protect the princess of a fallen kingdom. And then the unpolished mana stone in her hands.
‘Luan has one year left to live. His condition will worsen as time passes. The heroine is the only one who can truly save him. But… If I can at least lessen his suffering—if I craft a mana stone to help him, even just a little…’
“Princess?”
“—!”
Saydin flinched and looked up, startled. She met Luan’s worried gaze, but then looked away.
A healer. A friend. That was all she could be to him to ease her pain. Nothing more, nothing less.
“I’m relieved that you wish to protect me. But, Your Majesty, there’s something that worries me.”
“Are you afraid of our relationship being exposed?”
“…I don’t know what you mean by ‘relationship,’ but this is what I think: I am a fallen princess, and Your Majesty once received my help. So, in return, you spared my life. That makes us friends. But if people were to misunderstand this pure relationship of ours, well… that worries me a little.”
She shrugged as if it didn’t matter. Then, ignoring Luan’s silence, she murmured,
“But I’m grateful—for saving me and protecting me. That doesn’t mean that our relationship will change.”
Her palms felt clammy.
‘Idiot. I’m just a minnow with neither divine power nor magic strong enough to help you. So let’s just stay friends, alright?’
A nervous unease gnawed at her, and before she knew it, her hands, damp with cold sweat, clenched together tightly.
At that moment, Luan spoke, muttering as if lost in thought, just like she had.
“I don’t understand what my princess is afraid of.”
It was the same tone from their childhood. That must have been why she suddenly couldn’t bring herself to ramble—why her anxiety twisted into something heavier, something impure.
Luan whispered again.
“At first, I thought you were afraid because I slaughtered every member of the Herace family. But then I remembered; you hated your family just as much as I did mine. So I suppose that wasn’t it.”
“….”
“Then what is it? I thought. Are you afraid because this relationship doesn’t feel equal? Because I am the emperor of a terrifying empire, while my princess is… a princess.”
His gaze bore into her as if he could swallow the tremor in her eyes. This time, Luan didn’t smile.
“But you’re mistaken, Princess. Our relationship could never be equal. I’m still within the palm of your hand.”
“…That is exactly the problem, Your Majesty. You never listen.”
Her fingers, which had been nervously fumbling with the “Himela’s eye,” clenched around it even tighter.
At that moment, Saydin realized her feelings. She was afraid of Luan. Or rather, she feared how his blunt honesty threatened to shake the foundation of her goals.
‘I want to save Luan.’
Her eyes swiftly scanned the room. Beyond his broad, mountain-like back, she spotted a wardrobe. And beyond the glass window, buried in the shadows, a collection of wine bottles glinted under the faint light. Narrowing her gaze, she swiftly counted the jewel-adorned bottles before walking straight to the wardrobe without hesitation.
Luan did nothing to stop her. He sat comfortably, his imperial uniform still buttoned up to the throat. With his legs crossed, he watched Saydin with an expression of mild curiosity. His crimson cloak was tossed to the side.
Saydin examined the wine bottles without uncorking a single one.
Luan was the first to break the silence.
“Are you particularly interested in wine?”
“Your Majesty, why lie? This isn’t wine.”
“….”
His lips, curved in an amiable smile, stiffened slightly at her words.
Still refusing to meet his gaze, Saydin turned her back to him, her unkempt silver hair tumbling down as she bent over the bottles. She ran her fingers over them.
“I know a thing or two about Aidin-based medicines.”
“…Do you have insomnia?”
“You already know how I was treated in my homeland, Your Majesty. There were times I couldn’t sleep without medicine. Just seeing the people in the palace made my insides churn. I suppose I felt too irritated to sleep.”
“Ah… I shouldn’t have let them go so easily.”
Even though it was a serious statement disguised as a joke, Saydin merely gave a vague smile, pretending not to understand, and slowly placed the bottle back down.
Aidin.
A sleeping aid developed by a commoner physician named Aidin. Cheap and highly effective; it worked well for those with mild insomnia. However, it had a fatal side effect—addiction. The stronger the effect, the higher the risk of dependency, making it a drug that required a physician’s careful supervision when prescribed.
Moreover, it had to be stored in a silver container to prevent spoilage. This meant that poor patients couldn’t afford this medicine. How ironic that commoners couldn’t afford it, even though it was created by one.
One by one, Saydin examined the bottles disguised as wine and set them on the table. When she shook them, most were already half-empty.
It wasn’t an amount of just a few doses. Luan’s divine power rampage had already begun.
Saydin bit her lip anxiously.
Luan spoke from the shadows.
“Princess, how did you know these wine bottles contained Aidin?”
She forced herself to sound indifferent; she wanted to hide her troubled mind.
“My father… The king liked Baron Tillier’s wine. The bastard was always drunk. Funny, isn’t it? He hated the Holy Empire so much, yet the only wine he ever drank was from a noble family from the empire.”
Saydin tapped a fingernail against the bottle’s surface.
“He had such refined taste, although it was just a pretense. Ah, but maybe I shouldn’t speak ill of the dead?” She mumbled.
“Anyway. Every time I was summoned to his study, these bottles were inside his cabinet. He would sometimes praise the taste of the wine. And then, as if flaunting it, he’d shake the bottle before drinking, just to show off.”
