The crown prince shook my hand off roughly with one hand.
“I kept you close to me because you were his greatest weakness. I never thought you would fall in love again with that guy who is now Gideon. I should have known at that point that you had memories, too. –This technique is so flawed.”
“You're too selfish! Stealing someone's life.”
“What did you want from your second life, then?”
The question pierced my heart deeply.
We stood frozen for a while, our faces reflected in each other's eyes as we were drenched by the heavy rain. Listening to the sound of the rain as it pounded the surface of the pond.
–What did I want?
It seemed so easy to answer that question, but in fact it was difficult.
I remember that morning when I was six years old, when I woke up back in time.
What I wanted at that time was a really simple future.
My whole body relaxed.
I slowly shook my head from side to side.
I stared at the man in front of me, wearing the mask of the crown prince – or rather, the man who had stolen the crown prince's mask.
“I tried to live a peaceful life in my grandfather's mansion with my brother, I vowed to live a long life.”
I never wanted to see the crown prince or Gideon again.
But our fates had become so intertwined that we could not remain unrelated.
I ended up here, in the royal palace.
“I was killed by someone I loved, and I tried to live my life without being involved with you.”
That time Ulysses stabbed me in the chest with his sword. He shattered my heart with grief, which was converted into a mighty power and fulfilled the magic of the “Three Wise Men's begging for Time”.
So I didn't want to have anything to do with the crown prince ever again.
“But no. You should have gotten what you deserved. It was wrong for me to run away. –I'm going to tell everyone that you're a fake.”
“Who's going to believe you? You'll be sent to the hospital and locked up for the rest of your life. We were the only three people in the whole world who knew about this.”
I asked the crown prince the question I really should have asked Gideon.
“Does Gideon have any memory of what happened before time rewound?”
The crown prince's eyes widened for a moment, and then he erupted shortly thereafter.
“What! That's Stupid! Didn't he tell you anything about it? And yet you were attracted to him! He remembers everything, too.”
“I knew it…”
The crown prince looked down at me, pale and mean.
“It must have been really frustrating for him to go back in time to save your life.”
I opened my mouth and a raindrop entered, which I swallowed. I was soaked through to my underwear now, but that wasn't the point.
(I knew it. I can't believe he had all those memories, too. How in the world did he feel about me?)
At that moment, the words that suddenly echoed in my ears were the ones that Gideon had said to me in the royal garden earlier.
I don't want to kiss you with this face.
He didn't want to kiss me in his temporary form, the form of Gideon Lancaster. He had kissed my cheeks and forehead many times, but he never wanted to put his lips on mine in his Gideon form.
He had the crown prince's memory – if I thought of it that way, his behavior during his academy days all made sense.
The crown prince pulled his sword from the ground.
Before he could swing his sword again, I quickly cast a spell. With the water dragon, I would reap the crown prince sitting on top of me.
“Gather, water…”
I thought I heard a dull thud and my vision went blank for a moment. A sharp pain shot up my cheek.
The crown prince had slapped me. Water from the puddle splashed up and into my eyes, clouding my vision.
When I finally opened my eyes, there was no chance to fight back.
The crown prince had placed the tip of his sword at my throat. The rain on the sword trickled down my throat through the sword.
“Poor sorcerer. He was only going to save you to spare your sorry former life. I wouldn't have let you get your hands on me if I could have. It was a stupid thing to do. I never thought you would fall in love with him again.”
The crown prince's mouth twisted into a self-mocking smile.
“When I was Gideon, no one adored me. No matter who he becomes, everyone will love him.”
My eyes widened at the unexpected words. I sensed his envy there.
“I knew it. The more Iris liked me, the more empty I felt. Iris likes me just because I'm the crown prince.”
“Your Highness…….”
As if to shake off his weakness, the crown prince shook his head violently from side to side. He then looked down at me with dark eyes.
“I can't let you live, you know everything. What do you have to say ……?”
The crown prince regained his grip on his sword and pressed the tip against my throat.
Raindrops are constantly streaming from the crown prince's eyes. They looked like tears.
What was left for him?
The saint he tried to get his hands on is forever a prisoner.
Is he really going to live a fake life to the death in the future?
Come and read on our website wuxia worldsite. Thanks
The tip of the sword is trembling, and it is hard to swing it down. The crown prince seems conflicted.
I bet there.
(Also, a little more. I just need to buy a little more time. ……)
I can't be killed by the crown prince for the second time in my life here.
The fingertips of my hand, which I had lifted up, were cold from the rain, and I could hardly feel them anymore.
I am furiously wondering how much the tip of the sword, wobbling and wiggling in time with the crown prince's agitation, is hurting my skin.
“I hate you. Still, there was some good in you from time to time when we were together, Your Highness. The Pearlan's chocolates, they were really good. I was so happy when I received them.”
The crown prince's cheeks twitched. His lips trembled as they were about to open.
“Why are you saying that now? That's so stupid.”
“I have to confess, I actually kind of liked our walks in the gardens with. It gave me a break, too.”
The crown prince was rocking his shoulders up and down, breathing in and out heavily. Is this bewilderment? Or anger?
But just as my days with him were actually a little better at times, I'm sure he had a little fun back then. There were good times and bad times among them.
I raised my hand further and touched the crown prince's elbow. His cheeks twitched slightly, but he didn't move any further.
I couldn't see his face well because of the rain and tears. But it may have been the first time in thirteen years that I touched the crown prince like this.
This is what I said to him.
“Ulysses, I still love you.”
The sword tilts. The crown prince somehow took his hand away from the sword. I somehow managed to shift my face to avoid the silver sword as it fell on my face.
The sword rolled to the side of my face with a clatter.
The crown prince put his hands on my neck. Is he trying to strangle me?
But his hands were trembling and I couldn't get much strength out of them.
I wondered if now was the time to use magic. But I had only a little patience left. I didn't want to hurt Ulysses' body.
By now, I was strangely confident that the crown prince would not kill me.
He took his time to squeeze his hands, but then he suddenly loosened his grip and removed his hands from my neck. As it was, he covered his face with his hands.
“That's what I wanted, even if I had to rewind. I wanted someone to love me, and only me, with all their heart.”
“You'll get it someday. As long as you're alive, you can do it all over again.”
Gideon is absolutely alive. I hope you can go back into him and start your life over with your true self.
“…. I'm not worth it anyway.”
“There's no such thing.”
I have to do it.
Perhaps the person who thought the least of him was himself.
The crown prince sobbed, but then he pushed himself to silence.
“Your Highness?”
I called out to him, and his body slumped. The hand that covered his face fell away without effort, and for a moment I saw an empty face.
The crown prince's body fell to the side as if collapsing and he rolled to my right side.
The weight on him was gone and I finally raised his upper body.
I shook his shoulder as he rolled onto his side, prodding it with my knee.
His eyes, framed by long lashes, were closed, as if he had fainted.
“What's the matter, Your Highness?”
At that moment, the heavy sound of bells rang out in the distance.
The bell rang again and again as if it were stitching its way through the heavy rain. Somewhere, a bell was ringing to announce noon.
(It's noon. –Noon!!!)
I clasped my hands and looked up to the dull heavens.
This is the sound of the bell, the one I never heard last time.
At last I had survived that hour.
The moment that I was killed last time, has passed.
“I did it. I didn't die. I survived…..!”
I burst into spontaneous laughter, bathed in the rain and overflowing with joy. The excitement made me not feel cold at all.
Then I heard a faint moan. I looked down and saw one of the crown prince's hands twitch.
His arm moved in succession, and he exhaled heavily. I watched the figure with bated breath.
His brown eyes open, and after a few blinks, his gaze wanders to me.
I remember what I had heard earlier, written in a torn book of ancient magic.
The souls that were replaced return when they begin to walk through a new time.
Really?
Oh, could it be?
Chapter end
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