The door slammed open.
Thud, thud, thud, thud.
Karl woke to the sound of the door being thrown open and heavy footsteps approaching.
But he couldn’t even open his eyes. His entire body was filled with searing pain, as if engulfed in blazing flames, and even breathing was difficult.
If he tried to lift his eyelids now, his dried-out eyeballs might fall out.
“Heal him.”
A voice rang out, and Karl felt the heat burning through his body quickly subside. He realized it was Milton’s magic.
“Haa….”
As the heat faded, Karl barely managed to open his eyes, a pained groan escaping his lips.
Through his heat-blurred vision, he saw someone quietly looking down at him.
For a moment, Karl recalled the first time he met Madius. But unlike Madius, the figure before him, though indistinct, did not carry an overwhelming terrifying presence.
“Karl.”
Only after hearing the voice again, now with a clearer mind, did Karl realize it was none other than the Third Prince, Ilias.
“…Brother… why…?”
With a shadowed expression that revealed nothing, Ilias silently looked down at Karl, as if trying to find something of value in his frail, deathly ill younger brother.
“Your nanny came to see me.”
“…….”
Karl who had been struggling to sit up froze. He hurriedly looked around for Cecil.
But she wasn’t in the room.
“Wh-Where is Cecil?”
At Karl’s urgent question, Ilias replied flatly,
“Your nanny was taken away for violating imperial protocol.”
“What…! Why would Cecil—!”
“Because she did something she was not permitted to do.”
Only then did Karl realize why Ilias had come to see him.
Cecil had done something.
“What will happen to her?”
“Is that what matters right now?”
Ilias coldly cut off Karl’s desperate question. The warm cheerful young man Karl had seen earlier was nowhere to be found. This was truly the presence of the emperor’s son.
But Karl did not freeze in fear like he had when facing Madius.
“Cecil is my…!”
Karl who had been about to shout in fury trailed off, his lips trembling.
My… what is she to me?
To Han Chang-in, Cecil was no one.
But to “Karl” what kind of person had she been?
Ilias silently watched as Karl’s face, once flushed with fever, turned deathly pale. Then he slowly stepped closer, closing the distance between them.
“Is she nothing to you?”
“..….”
Nothing.
That must be it.
And yet, that “nothing” of a woman had risked her life for Karl.
“…What will happen to Cecil?”
“Well, that’s not for me to decide.”
“Then what do I have to do to save her?”
“Do you want to save her?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Karl met Ilias’s probing gaze head-on.
“I don’t really know. But I want to save her.”
In the end, Karl still couldn’t figure out how he should regard Cecil. But one thing was certain. He couldn’t bear to see her die.
At that, Ilias slowly nodded, then stepped back, withdrawing the shadow he had cast over Karl.
“Your nanny asked me to obtain medicine. She knelt before my chambers and shouted for it even as the guards dragged her away.”
“..….”
“She is currently imprisoned. She defied imperial protocol, so she will be sentenced to death. However, if I choose to cover this up, then unless His Majesty personally intervenes, she will return to you safely without further incident.”
Ilias spoke in a low even tone while referring to his father Madius simply as “His Majesty”.
“So, what can you offer me? To save a woman who violated imperial law, and to obtain medicine to cure your illness. What can you give me in return?”
Karl felt a chill at Ilias’s stern demeanor.
Just as Madius, unlike his portrayal in the novel, was truly a terrifying presence… and just as Eingir, despite knowing his identity through Han Chang-in’s memories, had seemed like a completely different person…
Ilias too was not a flat character from a story, but a living, breathing human standing before him.
With quietly burning eyes, Ilias asked:
So, what will you do?
Karl slowly opened his mouth.
“I owe two lives. I will repay them with two lives.”
“…You’re saying you’ll save my life?”
“Yes. And once more.”
“How?”
“Please save me and Cecil. If you do, then when you need me in the future, I will drop everything and do as you ask.”
“You’re still talking nonsense.”
“I can’t just sit back and give up, can I?”
At Karl’s repeated insistence, Ilias let out a crooked smile.
“And how am I supposed to trust you?”
“I’ll stake my life on it.”
“You’re going to die anyway without my help. Doesn’t that make your life mine already?”
“That’s all I have. There’s nothing more I can offer, and nothing more I can risk.”
“How insolent. You have nothing, yet you act as if you have everything.”
At those words, Karl’s eyes widened in shock.
It was exactly what Madius had said when he first saw him. When he saw through the strangeness of his existence.
Even Ilias, who was completely overpowered by Eingir, has such a calculating mind…!
Fear and unease suddenly gripped Karl.
But none of that mattered unless he survived this moment.
“Fine, Karl. As of this moment, you owe me two lives.”
Yet Ilias, who had been pressuring Karl so harshly just moments ago, now spoke with a gentle smile, as if it had all been an act.
“I won’t expect much, but I’ll remember it. You’d better not forget either.”
“…Huh?”
“You have a debt to repay, don’t you? Hahaha!”
With that, Ilias turned and strode out of the room with confident, unhesitating steps.
Unlike Madius, he left alone without a single attendant. His departing figure seemed so large that Karl couldn’t take his eyes off him.
Less than ten minutes later, Cecil returned, looking dazed. Her hair was disheveled, but she was completely unharmed.
“Cecil, are you okay?”
“Ah, yes…”
“I heard you were imprisoned. Are you hurt?”
“Huh? Oh, no. I was just sitting there, and then I came back…”
I’ve been played.
Closing his eyes in deep relief, Karl let out a long breath. At the same time, he was overwhelmed by a storm of emotions he couldn’t put into words, and he collapsed back onto the bed.
He’d been completely played by Ilias. Not once had he suspected anything. He had been thoroughly intimidated the entire time.
Karl felt, to his core, just how powerless and foolish he was.
He had acted as if knowing the future of this world made him something special.
But in reality, he had been frozen in fear before Madius, completely deceived by Eingir’s act, unable even to contact the Felt family he had planned to use, and now thoroughly outmaneuvered by Ilias, whom he had thought far less calculating than Madius or Eingir.
What a pathetic idiot.
Karl trembled in self-loathing.
Even receiving Ilias’s help had ultimately been luck and because Cecil had risked her life. There was nothing he had achieved through his own strength.
A crushing sense of helplessness and despair washed over him.
“Sir Karl, are you alright? Were you very startled? I’m sorry, I just….”
But when Cecil hurried over and wiped the sweat from his forehead, Karl pushed aside those spiraling emotions and suddenly found himself wanting to ask her something.
“Cecil, what kind of person was ‘Karl’? And my… my mother, and you….”
“….”..
Cecil’s eyes widened.
Tears began to well up in them.
“…I’ve only been thinking about curing my illness….”
Karl offered a feeble excuse. Then, noticing that Cecil still seemed relatively composed, he realized she hadn’t heard the news yet.
“Prince Ilias promised he would help me.”
“…….”
As Karl watched her expression change, he felt something he couldn’t quite describe.
He had never imagined that human emotions could be expressed so vividly.
Shock flooded Cecil’s face, then overwhelming joy burst forth…only for it to collapse into something childlike and unrestrained, as she broke down and sobbed.
Karl took her hand. Perhaps it was because of guilt.
The Karl whom Cecil had loved like a son was no longer here.
Yet Karl who carried the memories of Han Chang-in had obtained the key to Chang-ing the fate that was originally meant to end in his death.
Karl did not know whether he should feel tormented for pushing Cecil’s son aside and taking his place, or consider it a relief that, even if he was a different being, he had allowed her to see ‘Karl’ for a little longer.
In the end, Karl crumpled all of those thoughts up and threw them away like trash. It was all meaningless.
He did not want to die. He would grit his teeth and survive no matter what.
At this point, there was no way for the “original Karl” to return. If so, then he would simply do his best with what he had been given.
That would be enough.
Karl, he was alive now.
Cecil told Karl many things.
There was not much worth telling about Karl’s story, in truth. He had been no different from a corpse that still breathed, merely waiting for the day of his death.
He had been irritable, drowning in depression, repeatedly letting go of everything, crying until he was exhausted, and then falling asleep.
But Karl could feel that Cecil had truly loved him as if he were her own son. Anyone could hear that overflowing love in her words.
“Sir Karl, you resemble your mother, Lady Violet, very much. Your vivid green eyes, your bright blond hair, even the shape of your nose, cheeks, and ears.”
“…Cecil, what kind of relationship did you have with my moth… er?”
At Karl’s question, Cecil smiled softly. It was so radiant it almost ached with longing.
“I grew up together with Lady Violet.”
“Were you friends?”
“Friends… no, I was Lady Violet’s maid.”
“You were friends.”
Karl realized that Cecil had not been just a simple maid. They must have grown up together from a young age. They were playmates, companions to talk with, friends who studied and learned side by side.
“What kind of person was my mother?”
Cecil’s eyes shimmered with tears as she smiled, clearly delighted that Karl had asked about Viole.
Then, in a quiet, gentle voice, she told him how kind and warm Violet had been, how beautiful she looked when she smiled, and how fun it had been when they secretly played mischievous pranks together.
At some point while listening, Karl drifted off to sleep. The fever had risen again, and he could no longer endure it.
But when Cecil’s loving hand gently brushed his forehead, he was able to fall into a peaceful sleep.
In the memories of “Han Chang-in”, his parents had felt like empty silhouettes painted over in black, and the memories he had built as Karl amounted to barely a week. Because of that, he had never known what a parent’s love was.
Karl felt the hollow void deep within his chest slowly fill with soft, billowing clouds, following the touch of Cecil’s hand.
***
Even after securing a promise from Ilias, Karl did not stop and continued visiting the library every day.
In case Ilias failed to obtain the medicine or if it proved ineffective, he intended to come up with other solutions.
Under that pretense, Karl cautiously immersed himself in the rare knowledge accessible only to the imperial family.
If he knew he was foolish and still did nothing, that would be the most foolish thing of all.
Milton and the librarians noticed the subtle shift in the kinds of books Karl selected, yet said nothing and simply found the books he wanted.
For a while, Ilias did not come to the imperial library. No one knew where he had gone.
Then, a few days later, Karl heard surprising news.
“The Third Prince is not currently in the imperial palace.”
“Huh? Why?”
“I’m afraid I don’t know that much either.”
Ilias had left the palace for a time.
And even after several days passed, he did not return.
Karl’s condition gradually worsened, and now not only Madius but even the ever-meticulous Eingir had completely withdrawn their attention from him.
Every day, Karl staggered back and forth between his bedroom and the library, gasping for breath with a body that burned as though death were right before him. The only ones who still cared for him were Cecil, Milton, and the librarians.
It felt as though he had become a ghost.
Everyone was certain of his impending death.
In the end, about twenty days after making his promise with Ilias, Karl reached a state where he could no longer move even after receiving treatment.
“Please, God, please……”
“……”
Karl wanted to say something to Cecil as she cried and prayed, but he could not even manage that.
Milton had just used healing magic on him, yet even breathing was difficult.
It felt as though his entire body were burning, as if his brain were melting into a mush and about to drip out through his ears and nose.
Even so, Karl let out a small laugh.
It was so absurd, so ridiculous, that laughter came out on its own. To die in such a futile, meaningless way.
“……”
Milton stood a short distance from the bed, quietly watching Karl before slowly closing his eyes.
It was a dreadful feeling. Despite struggling so desperately in a dying body, was he really going to fade away this miserably and pointlessly in the end?
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Bang!
At that moment, heavy footsteps rang out, and the door burst open so violently it seemed as if it had been rammed by a charging bull.
“Good, I’m not too late.”
Karl thought that bright, sunlit voice filled with laughter was just a hallucination.
Thump!
Something heavy hit the ground.
Karl, whose whole body already felt like it was being scorched by searing heat, found the air in the room growing hotter, making his suffering even worse.
But the heat did not last long.
Click!
The moment something opened, an icy chill swept through the room like a winter storm.
As soon as Karl felt that cold, it was as if he had finally found the other half of himself that had been torn away.
And Karl who had been unable to move even after receiving healing magic began to tremble as he forced himself upright.
“You held on well. I like that kind of grit.”
Karl met the eyes of Ilias, who stood there in a shabby state, wearing a fur coat stained with dust and grime with a long thick spear slung across his back.
“Thanks to you, I had some fun too. It gave me a bit of trouble, but it was quite enjoyable.”
With a foot clad in thick fur boots, Ilias kicked a box radiating a blazing red aura, sliding it across the floor to the front of the bed.
“Frostwind Corpse Flower. I got it.”
And then, with a coolness that surpassed even the chilling aura emitted by the Frostwind Corpse Flower, the very thing said to have killed a great hero of legend, Ilias turned and walked out.
Karl realized that Ilias had not acted merely for the sake of a promise or his younger brother’s life but because he had been looking for an excuse to go on an adventure.
Of course, that part did not really matter.
Ilias kept his promise. Before him lay a large, beautiful flower from legend.
Even Ilias who could handle mana could not dare touch it, so he had barely managed to bring the Frostwind Corpse Flower sealed inside a magically burning box. The flower looked like transparent ice.
In the intense cold, the moisture on its surface froze white, then sublimated in an instant, turning clear again.
It looked as though it shimmered, catching and reflecting moving light.
Karl raised his hand to stop Cecil who was about to come over to support him.
If she so much as touched the flower, she would freeze to death on the spot.
Slowly, Karl reached out and grasped the flower.
The overwhelming cold froze his skin, only for it to melt again from the explosive heat deep within his body.
His fragile skin froze and thawed, peeling away, and even his fingernails were torn out, falling to the floor and shattering.
“Karl!”
Cecil’s horrified scream rang out at the sight.
Crunch!
Without hesitation, Karl stuffed the Frost Fairy’s flower into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed it.
I won’t die.
I will survive.
No matter what it takes.
As if every single cell in his body were exploding, a tremendous shock surged through him, and Karl lost consciousness.
Even in that moment, he felt an overwhelming, primal desire. So intense it overflowed from deep within his chest and pounded against him with force.
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