Dante touched my cheek with a pale face.
"Blood?"
I asked in surprise, and instead of answering, he looked around my body. I opened my eyes wide. His hands were shaking. My heart sank at the sight of him for the first time, but I managed to remain calm. I couldn't let myself be shaken.
"Your Highness."
Fortunately, his voice was calmer than my feelings. I held onto Dante's trembling hand and said firmly.
"It's okay. I'm fine."
"Blood... that's how much it was."
Dante muttered in disbelief and hurriedly scanned my cheek, neck, and waist. My heart sank at the sight of someone who was always as strong as a mountain shaking like never before. I quickly grabbed his shoulder and spoke. There was only one reason why someone who had just woken up would suddenly say something so strange.
"You had a nightmare."
".... Nightmare?"
Dante frowned. As if he had heard an unbelievable word.
"That's ridiculous. It was so... vivid."
Dante furrowed his brows as if he had a headache. How bad of a dream had he had?
I pulled his hand over and placed it on my chest.
"This is reality."
Thump, thump.
My heartbeat was transmitted through his palm. I could see the vivid fear imprinted in Dante's eyes easing just a little. I sighed in relief and secretly thought, 'Did he dream that I was dying?'
He said that I was bleeding. It was such a vivid scene. That dream had shaken him so much. To a degree that was completely out of character for him.
"..."
As I thought that, my heart thumped strangely. I couldn't help it. Seeing Dante shake so much because he had a bad dream...
It was a moment when I clenched my teeth slightly at the strange emotions welling up in me. Dante, who had hugged me tightly, muttered lowly in a voice that sounded like he was scraping the floor.
"You got hit by a car... Damn it. You were covered in blood."
A carriage? My blood ran cold. A car is something that will be in circulation for several years from now. The invention may have already been done, but the name "car" was definitely established several years later. So how did that word come out of Dante's mouth now?
"Duke."
I opened my lips blankly.
"What did you see in your dream?"
"You dying. And..."
Crack. A thin sound came from Dante.
"The beast that raised your hand to stamp your blood."
My heart sank to the tips of my toes. Dante's eyes, facing me, were engraved with clear anger. I muttered, half-asleep.
"How..."
A thin, trembling voice flowed from my lips.
"How, do you know?"
Dante was talking before I came back. Exactly before I died.
'How on earth...'
A car. And the stamp. This wasn't just a simple nightmare. My heart started pounding like crazy.
"How did you know?"
Dante narrowed his brows and stared at me with wide eyes.
"Didn't you say with your own mouth that what I saw was just a nightmare?"
***
"Father!"
Angry footsteps echoed through the Emperor's office.
"I just received something very strange!"
The Crown Prince, who appeared like a whirlwind, held out a piece of paper in front of the Emperor. It was a summons from the court with the Crown Prince's name written on it.
"How dare you call the Imperial family here? Don't these ignorant people even know about the imperial family's immunity despite wearing robes?!"
"I gave them permission."
"Yes? Father! What the hell!"
The moment the Crown Prince was about to protest in anger, the Emperor spoke first.
"Explain this first."
The Emperor threw out a few documents. They contained the confessions of the assassins of the Dawn Sect who were being interrogated. It was a statement that he participated in the assassination of the former Crown Prince at the instigation of the current crowd Prince ten years ago.
Enclosed was also a record of a large amount of money being withdrawn from an account opened in the Crown Prince's name ten years ago.
"How did you know this?"
The Crown Prince's eyes trembled as his gaze stopped at the account in the name of the borrowed person.
"... This is."
The Crown Prince looked at the Emperor again with angry eyes.
"Did Duke Heigenberg give it to you?"
The Crown Prince ground his teeth as he recalled the sight of the Duke's carriage leaving the palace a moment ago. The Emperor said with cold eyes.
"Does that matter?"
"This is an outrageous accusation!"
The Crown Prince shouted.
"Don't you know? If that's what happened to you, my brother, and I too, who will the Crown Prince's position go to? To a woman named Katarina? No. Duke Heigenberg, won't it go to an illegitimate child whose mother doesn't even know where he came from! That's what he's doing this for!"
"What I'm curious about is not the whereabouts of the Crown Prince!"
Boom!
The Emperor slammed the desk hard. The shoulders of the servants who had been looking anxious shook once. The Emperor glared at his son. His aged eyes were stained with betrayal.
"I only care whether you really hurt your own brother, or whether it was a false accusation!"
"... Of course."
The Crown Prince, who had been speechless for a moment, quickly shouted.
"Of course, it was a false accusation!"
"Then you must explain yourself well."
The Emperor glared at the Crown Prince with fierce eyes.
"The trial date is as written there. If you are not cleared of the charges there, I can no longer protect you."
The Emperor waved his hand vigorously after saying that. It was an order to refrain from listening any longer. The Crown Prince, who had been forced to leave, gritted his teeth as he walked down the hallway.
'You weak old man.'
Even in an era where the wealthy were in power, the royal family was still the royal family. If he were the Emperor, he would have beheaded anyone who dared to raise suspicions about the Crown Prince.
'My father was scared.'
It was clear that he was being cautious because of the Duke of Heigenberg's military power and his relationship with the military powers such as Carca whom he had allied with while fighting the war. Dante, that bastard must have had his wife's influence on his wild behavior. He should have dealt with that woman properly when he brought her into the Crown Prince's Palace...
It was unbelievable that the imperial power had fallen to this extent. The Emperor had been a cheerful and fierce man when he was young. For such a man to be played around like that by an illegitimate child and a woman. How ugly.
'Father is too old.'
It was time for young blood to sit on the throne.
***
"Didn't you say with your own mouth that what I saw was just a nightmare?"
I bit the flesh inside my mouth hard. I realized my slip of the tongue because I was so surprised. Dante grabbed my shoulder tightly and pressed me.
"Do you know something, Ariana?"
"...."
"Tell me the truth. Everything."
The truth...
I shut my eyes tightly. If I were to confess everything to this man. If I were to confess that the dream he had wasn't just a nightmare, but something I actually experienced.
'You might think I'm crazy. Right?'
I died once and then came back by rewinding time. It was such an absurd story that no one would believe it.
'But...'
I felt that Dante's fingertips that were holding me were still cold. The moment he woke up from the nightmare, the fear and sadness deeply engraved in his red eyes also came to mind. Even the corners of his eyes were wet with moisture.
I bit my lower lip hard. I panted so hard that my chest ached. Even in a dream, Dante had cried while looking at my dead body. Then even then.
'Even after I died... There must have been someone who mourned for me.'
It couldn't have been that I had grown cold in loneliness without anyone knowing. Just one person... This person must have cried at my death. Thinking about that, my lips opened naturally. I had a strong urge not to hide the truth from this person.
"..."
However, when I actually tried to tell the story, my body began to tremble slightly.
The day I died. Just thinking about that moment made my heart tighten. It was a fear engraved in my instincts. However, I couldn't cower forever. It was time to shake off my fear. I made up my mind and slowly opened my mouth.
"What I'm going to say from now on is just a dream, so you can just ignore it."
Then, slowly but surely, I began to tell the story one by one. The story of being betrayed by people I trusted. The story of dying once. The story of shivering from the feeling of betrayal until the moment of my death. And the story of coming to my senses and being back in the past. I took a deep breath after confessing all my secrets. I never thought the day would come when I would tell this story. I didn't regret it. My heart was so relieved and light that it was impossible. The secret I thought I would keep to myself forever seemed to be weighing down on my heart with a heavier weight than I thought.
"Do I look like a crazy person?"
I looked at Dante cautiously. Still, I thought that if he looked at me like a crazy person, I would regret it. However, I couldn't see Dante's expression. Because he hugged me tightly, leaving me no room to breathe.
"Thank you, Ariana."
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