"His Highness the Crown Prince."
Karina lifted the hem of her skirt and bowed to David as he approached her. He laughed and asked her how she was doing, telling her to make herself at home since it was private.
"Did you sleep well last night?"
He smiled jokingly.
"Yes. Thank you for your concern. I hope Your Highness had a peaceful night."
"Yes. I felt good because I saw the Grand Duchess before going to bed. It seemed like all my fatigue had disappeared."
He looked brimming with energy since morning.
"... I see. But what brought you here this morning?"
At her question, David lifted her hair slightly and checked her covered ear.
"I was wondering if you were wearing it well."
His smile grew more satisfied as he saw the earrings hanging from Karina's ears.
Swish.
Jeremiah came between Karina and David, who had never seen him before.
"What are you doing now?"
"Actually, I was so lonely yesterday after riding alone in a carriage all day. If it's okay with you, Grand Duchess, I'd like to ride in the Grand Duchess carriage with you. What do you think?"
David made a cheeky and sly suggestion, ignoring Jeremiah. Karina was a little taken aback by the sudden suggestion, but from her perspective, it wasn't a bad suggestion.
'I was already worried about being alone in the carriage with Jeremiah.'
But Jeremiah's expression next to her was not good.
"Is there really a need for that? If you're bored, it might be better to ride a horse and look around the surrounding scenery."
His voice was cold.
"Oh. It seems the Grand Duke doesn't like me riding in his carriage."
"I can't say no."
"How insolent, Your Highness."
David's face showed a look of amusement as he said that.
"Your complexion doesn't look too good. Did you have a nightmare last night? You look depressed."
"...!"
At the word nightmare, Jeremiah's expression hardened so much that it was obvious. David tilted his head at the unexpected reaction to the words he had just thrown out.
"Oh. Is that really true?"
"..."
Jeremiah, who had been keeping his mouth shut and remaining silent, suddenly looked at Karina.
'...?'
'Why are you looking at me?'
Karina was a little taken aback by the gaze suddenly looking at her.
"I think it would be better for the Grand Duke to rest in the carriage while he goes."
David patted Jeremiah on the shoulder.
"When you are not feeling well, it is better not to force yourself."
At that moment, a high, soft voice was heard from a little distance away.
"Oh my, is Your Highness feeling unwell?"
Lucia suddenly appeared where they were.
"That's strange. I used my divine powers on His Highness the Grand Duke last night."
"Yesternight?"
David asked with interest in his voice.
"Saintess. Were you with the Grand Duke of Colesburg all night?"
The answer actually came from somewhere other than the Saintess.
"No! The Saintess just came by for a moment without permission."
Jeremiah quickly retorted with a frown. He then looked at Karina again with an anxious gaze. As if he was trying to explain to her that it was not true. He seemed to want her to believe him when he said it was not true. However, Karina's reaction was indifferent.
'Lucia was in his room yesterday to heal him with her divine powers.'
She remembered Lucia coming out of Jeremiah's bedroom yesterday.
'It has nothing to do with me anyway.'
She pretended not to notice his gaze staring at her.
"Your Highness, if you are not feeling well, please get on my carriage. I will heal you with my holy powers on the way."
As expected, the saintly woman, as kind as an angel, could not bear to leave the sick patient alone.
"That would be good."
Karina also expressed her agreement with an indifferent expression.
"Karina?"
Jeremiah looked at her with surprised eyes, but Karina paid him no mind and continued talking.
"His Highness the Grand Duke should not be sick while attending the prayer service. I think it would be better for him to receive treatment at least while he is on his way."
It seemed better than staying with him in the cramped carriage all the way to the temple, Lucia continued naturally.
"Your Highness the Grand Duchess, you think so too. You are wise."
"Then, the Grand Duchess can ride in my carriage and have a chat with me."
David smiled as if he was glad.
"That would be nice."
When Karina agreed, Jeremiah looked at her with a very depressed face.
"Karina..."
He kept his mouth shut as if he was disappointed, but his expression seemed like he had something to say. However, Karina looked away indifferently.
'I almost asked something useless earlier.'
It didn't really matter how long he had known her.
'Yeah. Even though he was kind to me at first, it ended badly in the end."
Now, knowing new facts about the past didn't change anything.
'It doesn't really have any meaning.'
Karina shook off the rising curiosity.
"Then let's go now!"
Karina and David, the Saintess, and Jeremiah each got into their carriages and the Journey began again.
***
"Do you have anything else to say to me?"
Karina asked slyly, getting to the point.
"You're quick-witted."
David smiled slowly, leaning forward and lowering his voice as if he were saying something important.
"That's true."
Karina focused on what he was going to say next.
"I want to play with the Grand Duchess."
"Yes...?"
A question mark appeared above her head.
"It feels like it's been so long since I've seen you. I said I wanted to be your friend, but we've just been wasting time together without doing anything proper."
He sighed deeply, saying that he was very sorry.
"Now that there are no more distractions, I can play comfortably."
It felt like he was seeing a mischievous face. He chuckled at Karina's foolish appearance.
"I'm joking, I'm just curious about something."
"Please inquire, Your Highness."
David insisted on speaking up, perhaps because he didn't like her businesslike tone.
"Right now, I am not meeting the Grand Duchess as the Crown Prince, but as a friend. I just told you. I want to hang out with the Grand Duchess."
"Ah. Yes. Okay, then."
Karina shrugged her shoulders sheepishly.
"Didn't you say before that if you got divorced you would run away?"
When she was captured by the monsters and trapped in the cave with David, this is what she said as she escaped there.
"You said you had no intention of returning to the Marquis of Milliner. Do you still feel the same way?"
Karina nodded.
"Yes, that's right."
"Why? If you divorce, you will no longer be under the protection of the Grand Duke's family, so wouldn't it be best for you to join the Marquis of Milliner?"
"..."
Karina hesitated whether or not to answer that question truthfully. However, her agonizing did not last long. Marquis Milliner was no longer the object of her affection and love, but rather the abuser who had abused and exploited her.
"If I had been the beloved daughter of the Marquis, I would have naturally said yes. But to my father, I was nothing more than a tool to be used in transactions for the sake of the family."
Karina added curiously.
"I don't want to be used and then abandoned by others any longer."
David listened to her calmly, without showing any sign of surprise.
"You don't want to be used and abandoned any longer... I see."
He muttered as if he was going back on what she had said. It was a reaction that seemed like he had already known. After all, as the head of the underworld, there was no way he wouldn't know this information.
'If you knew, why did you ask?'
David raised the corners of his mouth as if responding to her questioning gaze.
"Thank you for telling me the truth. I wanted to hear it directly from the Grand Duchess."
Those words made it even more senseless.
But...
"Aren't you lonely?"
"..."
She felt like his words had hit the nail on the head. She paused for a moment, choosing her words, and then added.
"I wasn't lonely. I had a nanny who took care of me."
"Was it so?"
"Yes."
Of course, after her nanny died, she was overcome with a great sense of loss, sadness, fear, and loneliness of being left. alone in the world.
'At that time, I already had Jeremiah in mind.'
And at that time, he had not yet treated her so coldly. She thought that if she was loved by him, everything would be okay. She thought that the hole in her heart could be filled again. But it was a big mistake. Her emptiness was not filled, and the more she held on, the more hurt and lonely she became.
"There are parents like that. They are selfish people who do not cherish their children with love, but rather view them as tools or means and sell them for their own benefit."
David spoke lightly as if he were telling a common story. His face looked a little sad, despite his tone.
'Why?'
Karina couldn't understand why he, the Crown Prince of an empire with nothing to envy, would say such things with a sad expression on his face.
'Is it something like understanding the pain of the imperial people?'
While Karina was thinking about that.
"But among them, isn't the Grand Duke a bit better? At least he didn't kill you because you were an eyesore."
He raised the corners of his mouth and smiled brightly.
"..."
Karina was speechless for a moment with cold eyes.
'Is that what you call comfort? You're not trying to tease me right now, are you?'
There was no reason for him, the Crown Prince, to do that to her.
'No way.'
Karina erased the rising unholy thoughts.
***
Meanwhile, the atmosphere inside the carriage that Lucia and Jeremiah were riding in was heavy and gloomy. It was because of Jeremiah.
'Karina makes me uncomfortable.'
That fact tormented him. His heart burned as he recalled the image of her turning her head away from his gaze earlier. Karina pushed him on his back, telling him to ride in the carriage with the Saintess.
“Ha.”
His sighs deepened. Despair set in at the fact that she was avoiding him. It felt like he was struggling endlessly in a bottomless swamp of mud.
"What are you thinking about?"
Lucia, who had been giving him strength, spoke to him in a bright voice.
"..."
Jeremiah's gaze, which was only looking up at the Saintess without answering, was not kind. Even without that, Karina was trying to distance herself from him, and the Saintess seemed to be interfering with their relationship, making him mad. What was even more annoying was that the Saintess's power was still needed.
Last night, after peeking into Karina's memories, he was overcome with great pain and anger. He was consumed by madness at the sight of Karina desperately clinging to him while being hurt, and at the sight of himself being cruel to her.
'I need to know more.'
In order to change Karina's tightly closed mind, he had to look into her memories more. To do that, he needed the Saintess's power. He felt the pendant in his arms absorbing the divine power that the Saintess was breathing into him. Jeremiah suppressed his reluctance and collected his thoughts. If he had to make a deal, now was the best time to bring it up.
"Saintess."
"Please call me Lucia, Your Highness"
He cut off the Saintess's friendly words and asked in a lower, more businesslike tone than before.
"What do you want from me?"
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