Chapter 231: THE MAIN STORY HAS FINISHED
Chapter 231: THE MAIN STORY HAS FINISHED
The imperial palace, which was swept away by the villainess and the dragon was simply devastated. Yvonne's body was found burnt in a fireball that the dragon spat out.
As the mirror broke, the souls of Leila who were in the dragon were also destroyed. Finally, peace had arrived in the world.
It was noisy outside day after day to recover the body of the dragon, to suppress the remaining rebels and the 2nd Prince, and to restore the imperial palace.
In it, only the Crown Prince's palace was still and desolate as if it had been trapped on a remote island.
The Duchy of Eckart spared no expense for supporting the imperial palace. It has been said that the Duke, who had remained neutral, may have turned to the Crown Prince faction.
And there's a lot of gossip about me.
I asked something, instead of shrieking at Cedric's words, who occasionally stopped by and told me the news.
Cedric shook his head every time. In the midst of chaos, Eclise's body was never found.
As time went by and the sweep of the rebels and the 2nd Prince was somewhat completed, the Duke came to visit the Crown Prince's palace.
It was to collect the golden dragon's fangs from me and keep them for the time being. "Penelope."
The Duke's face, which I haven't seen in a long time, was aged. "Father."
I approached him with a straight face and sat down. I saved the world by defeating the villain, but the later reality did not lead to a happy ending.
Maybe it's because there's something nasty about killing his own daughter. There was a moment of awkward silence between us.
"How... have you been?"
It was the Duke who opened his mouth first. "Yes. I'm alright. What about you, father?" "I've been doing fine, too."
"That's a relief."
"Are you... still here with His Highness?" ""
I couldn't answer the following questions as casually as before.
I slowly nodded, clenching my fists at the tips of my hands, which were all shaking. And hurriedly changed the subject.
"Oh, here they are."
Click. I put what I was holding in one hand on the table. It was a box containing golden dragon's fangs.
The situation was a matter of importance, so it could not be placed in the imperial palace. There were so many people who wanted it while the Crown Prince was away.
The Duke gladly accepted the box.
"How long... have you been in such a relationship with His Highness?"
Suddenly the Duke, who was touching the lid of the box, asked with a hesitant face. "Uh, uh"
I thought he was leaving right away, but I was very embarrassed by the question.
For the Duke, who did not know that I was with the Crown Prince when I escaped from Duchy, I thought this situation would be quite absurd.
"It's been a while."
"A while?"
The Duke murmured after my words with a shocked face.
I lowered my head in embarrassment and avoided eye contact. "I'm sorry, I couldn't tell you in advance."
"Why a man with such a twisted personality, no, no. I must have made a slip of the tongue."
I laughed briefly at the sight of the Duke, looking around and correcting his words in a hurry. Because it was undeniable.
When the Duke saw that my expression had come changed, he relaxed his stiff face and asked. "Are you going stay here?"
I nodded coolly.
"Until His Highness wakes up."
The Duke was visibly reassured by my words that it would not continue. "After that"
"After that, I'm leaving the capital."
I stopped the Duke and answered first. I meant that I would not go back to the Dukedom. His blue eyes grew bigger and bigger.
"Leaving. Where are you going"
Was it because of my resolute face?
The Duke shouted all in a hurry, and slowly began to talk. "Yes, I'm sure you all have thoughts."
"Yes."
Now that I saw him, who did not stop what I was trying to do, but accepted what I was going to do, and suddenly my heart was pounding.
In fact, I was afraid to be hated by him. "Father."
I called him carefully. "Are you all right?" "What?"
"I"
I took a deep breath and managed to bring it up. "I killed Yvonne."
The face of the Duke, who understood me, hardened like a stone statue.
Now he could not see the body of his daughter, whom the villainess had taken away. I held my breath waiting for his answer.
Although it was a bit painful to be hated again by those who I felt a little bit familiar now, but it was something to bear as long as I chose to stay here.
It wasn't until now that I had been through it all along, and it wasn't until... "She's gone..."
After quite a long time, the Duke's lips were chapped. "She'll be able to rest in peace."
I looked at him with astonishment.
Now the Duke knew everything, but wasn't it human psychology?
"I didn't think I could easily separate Leila from my daughter. Now Yvonne can rest in peace." But he accepted his daughter's death with difficulty.
"Thank you, Penelope."
The Duke gave me an unexpected appreciation with a painfully distorted face. That was the end of the conversation with him
* * *
After being hit with golden dragon's fangs, the Crown Prince fell into a long sleep.
The doctor and the palace wizard said it was because of the poison of the Golden Dragon.
When the body of the Crown Prince had been finished checking, they said he would open his eyes on his own once all the poison was out of his body.
Returning to the bedroom after seeing the Duke off, I sat still by the bed and looked at the pale face of the Crown Prince.
I pretended to be okay in front of others, including the Duke and Cedric, but my nervousness ate me up every second.
'What if I'm too late?'
Wasn't there something called Golden Time?
If I had already missed the time to save Callisto because I was in conflict in front of the options... When I thought of that, I couldn't stand still because I couldn't breathe and I couldn't be calm.
I sprang to my feet and approached to the bedside of the bed.
And it was the moment I reached out my hand and touched his nose.
The man's closed eyes moved like a flinch, as it was just illusion. And soon his eyelids opened and I saw his bright red eyes.
"...Am I still dreaming?"
His voice was husky and rough after a long time.
The guy who looked at me with a confused look, suddenly murmured with a frown. "If it's a dream, it'll hurt a little."
Holding my breath, I managed to open my mouth and asked. "Would you like it to be a dream?"
"No."
Tak- At that moment, he grabbed my hand, that was stuck under his nose and pulled it straight forward to him.
"No way."
The world turned upside down without a moment to spare. When I came to my senses again, I was lying on top of Callisto. "Hey, what's this...?"
"Now I feel like I'm going to live."
He hugged me tightly as if I would disappear any moment. He buried his face in my hair and took several deep breaths.
For a moment, I was embarrassed by his sudden behavior , and I was aware of the fact that he was a patient and stopped struggling.
In the meantime, he put up his hand that was wrapped around my back and stammered my hair, and soon touched my face as if he was about to break it.
"You're not feeling well yet, so you shouldn't do this. Let go." "It's all right."
"Is it all right?!" "It's okay."
He kept touching my face, smelling it.
I was frowning because I couldn't figure out what the hell was going on, but soon realized why he was doing it and I lost my energy.
Callisto was making sure I was real. I could feel his hands shaking as he cared my face again. He gently pressed down on the main neck.
"What happened?"
He finally let go of my face. I carefully descended from above him and laid side by side beside him. He couldn't take his eyes off each of my actions, but he recited it again like he was talking to himself.
"I'm sure I was getting ready before I opened my eyes." "Ready to what?"
"To face the hell without you."
His words left me speechless. Callisto continued, frowning at the back of his nose.
"I was a little scared, actually. I'm afraid if I open my eyes, it'll be after you disappear." ""
"I just wanted to die if it was not you in front of me"
His monologue, which seemed to be speaking to himself, suddenly made me burst into tears. 'You son of a bitch, how could I have saved you!'
Unknowingly, I raised my fist and shouted, 'punching' his chest.
"You said you would come after me! Why do you change your words?" "Ugh."
"I fell for it and saved you as much as I could. What about it?" He hurriedly looked down on me.
"I did wrong. Don't get angry, Princess."
The gentle puppy-like figure weakened my heart. 'It's not until it's blown away like this'
I lamented in my heart, dropping the fist I had raised to hit once more. Callisto, who was looking at me gently, soon smiled broadly and asked. "Why didn't you go? You wanted to go back home."
A subtle look in his eyes, which clearly showed what he wanted to hear, suddenly aroused a little bit of grudges.
"Just, it's a waste of money." "What? Money?"
"Yes, money."
The sight of the dumb Crown Prince's face at my words made me feel a little relieved. I'm not saying anything wrong, so I added calmly.
"Thanks to the diamond mines you gave me, I've become a very rich person. I couldn't spend the money, so it's a waste, and I'm afraid to die without spending these money."
"Huh..."
The Crown Prince laughed as if he was dumbfounded. "I've thought about it before, but...you are a snob." "So you don't like it?"
"Huh? It's good to have a rich lover."
I glared with my eyes at him, who changed his words deftly. Even with my appearance, the Crown Prince grinned and stretched out his hand.
"...Thank you for staying."
I could feel his warmth on my cheek. But somehow, his face didn't look very bright. I reached out my hand and touched his cheek.
"What's wrong with the expression of man who said thank you."
"I'm so glad you didn't go. I was so happy I could cry"
He pulled my hand and put a kiss on the back of my hand. Then he lowered his eyes to avoid me, reciting in a small voice.
"I'm afraid I may have made you abandon your home that you always searched for."
"........."
"If you cry later in regret and want to go back, then what should I do?" I opened my eyes wide because of his unexpected words.
I simply thought he'd like me to stay, but I didn't know he'd worry about that.
In the midst of this, I was heartbroken because he seemed to be worried about me, but he didn't have any faith at me at all.
"Your Highness."
I gently took the hand held by him, and put it back on his cheek. To raise his face, to make eye contact.
Looking back at the red pupils that he could hear me again, I said one word after another clearly. "I didn't give up, I was just trying to figure out what was better choice."
"Better choice?"
"Yes. Which would be the better advantage and which would be better if I were here." While Calisto was asleep, I considered rationally, excluding as much emotion as possible. Apart from everything else, my present reality was, frankly, harsh.
I had money to study and dream. I could do whatever I want. Could I do it again because I had stomach cancer by doing three rounds of part-time jobs?
But I didn't want to spend their money casually after making up with the people I regretted only when I became a vegetable-like person.
'Live your life in regret.'
To give those fuckers one last big shock. My conflict, which had been based on interests, ended more simply than I thought.
"No matter how much I think about it, my spending has grown so big that I don't think I can handle it there."
"Spending?"
"Yes. I'm a calculating, very snobbish woman, as you say."
When I answered mischievously, he looked at me with eyes looking at as if it was strange to him. I added to him as if I had no doubt.
"And, well, in addition I don't know when you'll be back to me." It was only then that relief came to his face.
"I don't care. No matter how much money you spend, or with the jewels went out."
The Crown Prince returned with that funny look on his face, and took my words in a playful way. "Oh yeah, shall I give you the key to the treasury in Imperial Palace?"
"What? The key to the treasury?"
"Yes, now that you have killed Leila, and now I have the Seal in my hand, so I am the Emperor. So I'm going to be a rare villain who's wasting state money with you?"
"No thanks. Anyway, you can't joke around like that."
I took my hand off his face and laid back on my back, after what he said and did. After a brief pause.
Not long after, I felt the warmth of hugging my waist.
"I love you, Penelope."
Listening to his soothing whisper from behind, I closed my eyes. It was a long-awaited break that finally came to me.
THE MAIN STORY HAS FINISHED