Chapter 32
Belatedly, a searing pain bloomed on her cheek. Daphne cradled her cheek and slowly lifted her head. Callista, her face crimson, was shouting something at her. She blinked, trying to regain her senses.
Then, her eyes met Merina’s, who was standing over Callista’s shoulder.
She was a woman with a cold impression, with thin, arched eyebrows and upturned eyes. She had passed her a few times, so she knew she was a blonde, but….
‘…Johannes.’
It was the first time she realized that her eyes were blue, just like Johannes’s. For a moment, Daphne couldn’t tear her eyes away from them.
『Princess!』
Just then, a late-arriving Leah knelt before Daphne. Daphne’s gaze naturally shifted from Merina to Leah.
『Oh my goodness, what do we do….』
Leah’s face was colored with horror. She couldn’t imagine how furious Joffrey would be. Daphne’s delicate cheek was already swollen and bruised, with blood welling up. A flaw had been made. Leah shouted as if screaming.
『Guards, guards! Escort the princess at once!』
The guards, not daring to lay a hand on the queen, stood before her like a wall. Treated like a criminal, Callista became even more frantic and thrashed about.
『Prince Joffrey will hold you responsible!』
As Leah shouted for all to hear, the queen’s ladies-in-waiting finally scrambled to grab Callista’s limbs. Callista wailed.
The queen’s banquet had truly become the worst.
Leah helped Daphne up. Leaning halfway on Leah, Daphne whispered faintly.
『Quickly, we should get back quickly.』
『Oh my, Princess. Your body is a ball of fire.』
Leah, having touched Daphne’s forehead, hurried. It was then.
『Excuse me….』
Daphne heard Merina’s voice calling to stop her. But she pretended not to hear. She had no choice. She didn’t want to stay in Callista’s greenhouse a moment longer.
💎
Daphne wandered through the forest, searching for Johannes.
But there was no one by the silvery, shimmering lakeside.
A feeling similar to terror began to swell in Daphne’s heart. Her steps quickened.
But he wasn’t in the empty cave she had found while darting about under the pretext of looking for her dagger. He wasn’t at the stream they had once crossed together using rocks as stepping stones. He wasn’t at the spring where the fish with silvery bellies lived. He wasn’t among the lavender fields they had crossed, playfully poking each other’s sides, nor under the tree that overlooked the lake.
And of course, he wasn’t on the high, sturdy tree branch where they could sit side by side, where she had impulsively kissed him.
“……”
Frighteningly, not even a small trace of him remained in the forest. As if his presence in the forest was all her delusion, there was nothing.
So I’ve lost him after all. Plunged into despair, Daphne sank to the ground. She curled into a ball, burying her face in her knees.
A moment passed. A faint sound reached her ears. Daphne suddenly raised her head. It was a faint sound, nothing more than the rustle of a single leaf, but it was enough.
“Johan?”
Lifting her head, she saw a now-familiar back standing far in the distance. Daphne shot to her feet.
“Johan!”
She called out quite loudly, but he showed no reaction. Daphne started running toward him with all her might. But strangely, no matter how much she ran, the distance between them didn’t close in the slightest. He seemed to be standing still, which was truly strange.
“Johan!”
He still had his back to her. It overlapped with the time he had turned his back on her after her impulsive kiss. Feeling an anxiety that she might never reach him, Daphne shouted again.
“Wait. Please wait just a moment!”
But as if her words couldn’t reach him, there was still no reaction from him. Daphne was puzzled but had no time to doubt. She couldn’t stop running, fearing she would lose him forever.
Her throat was parched, and her heart ached. Her legs kept giving out, and her body staggered. Just a moment, just a little longer. Despite her desperate cries, he never once looked back. Then, at a certain moment.
“You’re late.”
He still had his back to her and was far away, but his voice was as clear as if thunder had struck inside her head.
“Late? What….”
Daphne couldn’t understand his words for a moment. Just then, he seemed to slowly turn towards her. It was the moment Daphne instinctively reached out a hand toward him.
Daphne opened her eyes.
She saw her own hand, stretched toward the ceiling. She blinked blankly.
The memories of returning to her bedroom with Leah’s help, lying down on the bed, and the doctor’s visit came back to her one by one. Only then did she realize that it had all been a dream.
『Ah….』
She was alone in the bedroom. It wasn’t the first or second time she had collapsed from a sudden fever. Daphne, of course, couldn’t leave her bed, and Leah would stay a little longer after she thought Daphne had fallen asleep before leaving the bedroom. It seemed she had dozed off while only pretending to be asleep until Leah’s presence completely disappeared.
And the moment her thoughts reached that point, Daphne’s heart sank.
No.
Daphne pushed her body, which felt as limp as water-logged cotton, up and staggered to the window to draw the curtains. It was a particularly cloudy night, making it difficult to find the moon. She had no sense of how much time had passed since she had fallen asleep.
“You’re too late.”
Suddenly, his words from the dream came to mind.
What if I’ve been bedridden not just for a moment, but for a day, or even two. What if I’ve missed him forever because of that….
Her body, soaked in a cold sweat, quickly cooled and trembled. The fact that her head was still burning with fever, or that he might not even come to the forest anymore in the first place, didn’t matter.
In that moment, all she could think about was going to the forest as quickly as possible before it was too late. Daphne thus haphazardly threw on a hood and slipped out of her bedroom.
And as Daphne crossed the dark corridor and entered the abandoned queen’s bedroom, someone finally saw her.
💎
From a distance, a sound like a mountain collapsing could be heard. Daphne, who had been fumbling through the dark forest, flinched. Soon realizing it was thunder, her heart grew urgent.
But the lightless forest felt somehow unfamiliar. Although her vision gradually adjusted to the darkness, there was a limit to what she could see ahead. Her heart was rushed, but she couldn’t pick up speed. Her body wouldn’t follow her will, either.
By the time she finally reached the lakeside, her legs were trembling so much she couldn’t stand properly. The lake surface, which had once shone like a mirror, now looked like a pitch-black hole. Daphne looked around in the darkness and searched for him with a quavering voice.
“Johan, are you there?”
There was no reply. The moment Daphne opened her mouth to call him once more.
“Jo….”
A bolt of lightning tore through the pitch-black sky, momentarily brightening the surroundings, and then a loud CRACK! sounded nearby. Daphne collapsed right where she stood, unable to even let out a small scream. Before the smell of lightning-scorched earth could spread, rain began to pour as if it were a signal.
Shwaaaa.
The sound of rain filled the forest.
Daphne remained collapsed on the ground. As if she didn’t know what to do, she couldn’t move an inch. It was so hard to accept the fact that she had truly lost Johannes that she couldn’t even think about taking shelter from the rain.
The dense leaves overhead seemed to block the rain, but Daphne slowly became soaked. Her forehead burned with a frightening fever, and her body temperature dropped rapidly.
『…….』
Daphne, who had been acting as if time had stopped, slowly drew her knees up and curled into a small ball.
Reality truly seemed more cruel than a dream. Nothing mattered anymore. For the first time since meeting him, a foolish and weak thought that she wanted to let everything go crossed her mind.
She didn’t know how long she had been like that. Her senses were dull, as if they weren’t her own, and she was half out of her mind. With what was left of her consciousness, she thought of Johannes. It was one of the hardest days of her life, and she longed for him more than ever.
Was it because of that?
Daphne.
Somehow, it felt like she could hear his voice.
