TCORIYH - Chapter 52




No!

Judith screamed desperately, but not a single word or even a small moan escaped her lips.

She wanted to disappear. Judith huddled around her body, fighting the conflicting emotions within her. No, she didn't do it herself. Her shoulders were slumping, her knees were bending, and her body was shrinking as if someone had forced her into her own little box.

‘If His Highness Krauld ascends to the throne, perhaps Franz...'

'...I think he'll be locked up in...'

‘Then, the Krald lower body takes the Princess's lower body...'

No no. It is not so! It can't be!

Tears streamed down from Judith's eyes as she hovered in the air. No, that's a lie. That can't be happening. 

I, I went back. I went back to before this terrible thing happened. I'm not crazy about it. There is no need to get trapped in the tower. Krald can't even touch my body.

‘Even the Princess is pitiful. It would be easier if she just died.'

Judith felt like something sharp was pricking the center of her chest. Judith looked down and saw blood spreading across the white lace. What was stuck in the solar plexus was a dagger. Terrible pain burst out like a fountain from the heart that had been cut by the tip of thr knife. Then Judith screamed.

Judith opened her eyes and screamed, and her body swayed so much that it seemed as if it would fall down the chair. At the same time, Franz stretched out his arms and hugged her tightly.

“Judith!”

Rough breathing continued. Judith's body in his arms was shaking so violently that it was scary. His heart sank as if he was going to ruin something at any moment.

“Judith, come to your senses!”

"...Your Highness."

Judith's barely moving lips trembled. The empty, wide-open eyes, like those of someone who had seen something scary, seemed to disappear and reappear a couple of times behind the helplessly blinking eyelids, but soon, as if a dam had burst, tears filled the eyes and fell down.

“I had a dream.”

“...A dream?”

"Yes. I was just dreaming. It’s okay now.”

No. Judith looked up at Franz as if she were in a daze, not even thinking about wiping the tears from her cheeks.

It was a dream, but it wasn't a dream. Franz will never, perhaps ever, know, but it definitely happened.

After the roses fall, only the bare, dry branches remain, and the arch looks dreary and shabby, as the small bench under the shadow of the rose bushes. If they were ordinary lovers, it would have been nice to whisper, but the place that had to be left alone as if it were a cave until the day of her death was something that definitely existed in Judith's life.

“...I am..."

Judith's tear-soaked lips moved slowly. Salty breath flowed out like a ghost.

“I’m afraid, Your Highness.”

The gaze of Franz, who was holding Judith, wavered in surprise. It was the first time she revealed her true feelings like this. The same thing happened when she said she was afraid.

"What...”

Suddenly it was difficult to breathe. Her chest felt tight and her shoulders slumped as if her ill-fitting clothes were constricting her body. It was obvious what she was afraid of.

However, Judith's answer once again overturned Franz's expectations.

“...I am afraid that you will go somewhere beyond my reach.”

The deep breathing stopped for a moment. Franz looked down at Judith's small head, leaning her forehead against his chest. There's something like a heavy, hot lump stuck in his throat and he doesn't even think about going down. His breathing was difficult and his head ached.

“My father said that it was you who thought of sending me to the empire.”

“I’m not talking about an empire. What I’m afraid of is...”

The voice that continued intermittently, as if she was still wandering in a dream, suddenly cut off. Judith, with her face marred by tears, reached out her still trembling hand and gently touched his cheek. However, her fingertips, which had touched weightlessly as if they had touched a feather, quickly pulled away like a person who had touched fire.

The sunken eyes slowly began to regain focus. Only then did Judith realize that she had almost thrown her whole body into Franz's arms, and she hurriedly pulled away from him, stroking her disheveled hair.

“Your Highness, how did this place... Did I fall asleep?”

“You said you would wait for me.”

The hand that had been moving furiously suddenly stopped. Judith quickly rubbed her eyes as the tears that she thought had finally stopped were about to fall again. She was so happy that she was embarrassed that he had not forgotten what she had said.

***

Franz, who entered the King's bedroom through the empty corridor, sat down and sobbed.

When he saw his father for the first time in several years, he looked haggard and older than he remembered. Nevertheless, he was both happy and distressed that the eyes looking at him were no different from his old days.

Franz was not the only one who shed tears. The King brought him closer, pressed his wrinkled forehead with his fist, gritted his teeth, and sobbed. The accumulated regrets and distant longings seeped in like poison, like a scream, like lukewarm sea water, and tried to weigh him down.

The Duke of Vergy, who had escaped the soldiers and entered the bed, also could not hold back his tears. However, there was not long time to share the aftermath. In a broken voice, the King relayed Judith's plan to Franz, step by step. Franz was so surprised that he even forgot to breathe when he realized that something he had never even dreamed of was happening in a place he didn't even know about.

“Franz, you must go.”

“Father has just woken up. Someone must be there to take care of Father. I...”

“What should come first in your life is not me. You have to go for yourself and for your wife, who took all this risk for you.”

The King's hand was trembling the whole time as he smoothed over his disheveled hair because he was wearing a wig. Judith's words eventually turned out to be true. The King could see traces of Emerea, who had already died, in his grown son. Hair that looks like it's on fire, and eyes that are like stars that rise above the veil of night.

- I want my child to have red hair. They say that red-haired children are destined to find happiness.

The King cried for a long time. Neither Franz nor the Duke of Vergy knew what his tears meant.

“It's His Majesty okay? It's uncomfortable... He doesn't have a doctor's office today, so it would be a big problem if something goes wrong with his health. Even now I...”

“My uncle will guard the bed. He will sleep just before dawn and the palace doctor in charge of the morning arrives, so you don’t have to worry.”

Judith's body, which was trying to stand up in a hurry, stopped. She looked like she was worried about whether it was really okay to feel safe or not. Franz grabbed Judith's wrist and pulled it gently. Although she was not very strong, Judith's body followed his lead and sat down nearby.

“I heard what you did for me.”

The King and the Duke of Vergy desperately explained how hard Judith had tried to persuade Franz. He added that all the necessary procedures for admission have already been completed and that the rumor that the Prince of Rotair is entering the Academy has reached the Delaka Imperial House so that the Emperor will personally dispatch a delegation to welcome him.

“If I say I won’t go...”

Judith's expression immediately darkened. Franz blinked slowly and sighed softly.

“You will be very disappointed in me.”

No.

Judith's lips parted silently. The same pain she felt in her dreams when she was stabbed in the chest caused her to stop breathing. Without realizing it, Judith grabbed Franz's collar and knelt at his feet.

“Please… What can I do? I will do whatever you ask me to do. Please, don’t miss this opportunity.”

It was a desperate plea. The tears that she thought had finally stopped were overflowing again. A blurry stain spread across the dress.

“You have to go. Your Highness, my efforts... It's okay if you don't think about that. For your sake, you must go. I will pray like this. So..."

“...Why?"

A squeezing sound came from Franz's throat. Judith's pathetic prayers suddenly stopped.

“Why are you doing this for me? What did you say? What can you say about me?”

Judith frowned at his words. The moment he shook his head and hung on her lap again, Franz's body, which was sitting on the sofa, fell down and hugged Judith's body tightly.

It felt like the ground was shaking. Judith's whole body was trembling and she felt like she was going to collapse, so without realizing it, she grabbed Franz's shoulder with all her strength.

The children cried for a long time, hugging each other. The two lives, which were as unstable as a thin rope, held on to each other and tangled into a tight knot.

“I can do anything for you.”

Judith, with her forehead buried in Franz's shoulder, whispered in a low voice. The cries were mixed together and sounded like a thin whistle.

“As long as you don’t go somewhere far away, there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

“I’m not leaving, I am... Nowhere...”

Franz carefully answered her plea, brushing the soft hair around his fingers.

Their feverish, tear-soaked cheeks touched each other pitifully, like wounded animals. At that moment, Franz had the thought of kissing Judith on her lips. But not yet, not yet. This was because he had done nothing for his wife, who was so thin even in his arms that it broke his heart.

“...Can you promise me that you will be safe here while I am gone?”

Franz's voice, whispering softly, was earnest and sorrowful. Judith nodded to him several times, their heated foreheads touching.

“I promise, Your Highness.”

“Can you promise to protect yourself before anyone else?”

“Yes, that too... I promise.”

Franz's throat trembled loudly. Hot breath flowed out of his teeth. He cupped Judith's cheek in his palm and spoke softly.

“I’ll have you wait for me this time.”

“I’ll wait, Your Highness.”

The gazes of the two people met in the air with a very small gap between them. The two wet, flushed lips drew a soft curve at the same time.


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