It was a strange light.
So, I forgot for a moment that Kishian was sleeping next to me and focused only on taking the ring off my finger.
Fortunately, it wasn't a cursed object, so I pulled hard a few times and it came right out of my fingers.
'What the heck...'
It has now returned to its original state, but it is clear that a strange light was emanating from it the moment the jewel was pressed.
As if some strange magic had worked.
"Magic...?"
As I muttered the words that came to mind, an ominous thought sent a chill down my spine.
I quickly got out of bed and looked into the vanity mirror.
As if the clouds had cleared, bright moonlight poured into the bedroom.
By that light, I examined my appearance in the mirror, or rather, the token.
"...!"
I quickly covered up the scream with my hand because I was so surprised.
I thought it wouldn't be the case. It was.
'The illusionary magic has been broken...!!'
I couldn't believe what I was seeing, so I checked the token several times.
Yet its color never turned white again.
It was glowing with that horrible black light that made me depressed.
It was when I was running my trembling fingertips over the token.
"Ma'am?"
Kishian must have heard me rustling as he sat up in his bed.
He didn't seem to notice the change in color of the token yet.
Even though I knew it would look unnatural, I was embarrassed and covered the token with my hand.
His eyes were slightly furrowed.
"What are you doing there?"
"No, it's nothing. I just couldn't sleep... I looked in the mirror for a moment...."
I kept saying things that sounded strange even to me.
Now he was looking straight at me with his upper body fully raised.
"Why the mirror all of a sudden?"
At that point, it seemed like something was definitely wrong.
He got out of bed and stood on the floor as if trying to come towards me.
Before he came, I crouched down and answered.
"Just stay there. It's nothing serious..."
"Did the ring work?"
"..."
Before I could even find a word to reply, Kishian strode towards me.
The only thought that filled my mind was that I shouldn't show any evidence.
I instinctively moved my body to leave the bedroom.
But he was quicker to grab my shoulder.
"Ma'am."
"Let go! Nothing's wrong, so please!"
Why doesn't he ever grant a request right away?
Why do you keep trying to dig up what I'm trying to hide?
The endless fear and the resentment that arose from it clouded my mind.
So I struggled desperately to escape from Kishian, who was trying to examine me.
"Madam, please be quiet...!"
"Let go!!"
Despite my efforts, his gaze remained fixed on the token I was covering with my hand.
What happened after that was no different from what was expected.
He took my hand away with a strong grip and checked the evidence.
"..."
It's over, that's it.
As soon as that thought occurred to me, all the strength left my body.
He supported me as I staggered helplessly, but he never took his eyes off my token.
Although the sky was dark, the moonlight made it possible to distinguish between white and black.
So he looked at the token for a long time without saying anything.
"You... What the heck is this...."
Words that were not properly formed flowed out of his mouth in a jumble.
Only when I turned away from him, crouching down with my body trembling, did he finally ask me a specific question.
"Who are you?"
"..."
"The color of the token is different. Who are you?"
"..."
"Elona? Princess Elona? No, what the heck..."
The sign of Letie, the person he is marrying, is white.
The black one is Elona's.
As if he had been sorting out the facts in his head, Kishian finally arrived at the terrible truth.
"You lied."
"..."
"It was a lie from the beginning. The Emperor, that man, sent me another Princess."
I would rather faint.
I wasn't prepared to face this situation in this way, at this moment.
I trembled without saying a word or taking any action.
Now that he realized that he had been tricked into the worst possible way, a terrible, murderous intent must have been seething in his heart.
I didn't know he would continue to verbally abuse me like this.
Those cruel words I've never heard before in my life...
"Ha."
The verbal abuse I expected did not come.
He just took a couple of steps back from me, laughing in vain.
When I barely raised my head to look at him, his face was stained with emotions such as shock, anger, a nd betrayal.
"When on earth did it start?"
"Kishian...."
"Since when have you been lying to me? Since I led the army to the palace? Or even before that?"
If it was before that, I would say it was probably the first night we spent together before leaving for battle.
From then on, I wonder if it was already Elona and not Letie.
I managed to calm my mind, which was racing with fear, and respond with difficulty.
"It was I who spent one night with you three years ago."
"..."
"Because my father wanted to protect Letie thoroughly from you."
"..."
"He couldn't push Letie into the bedroom where you were waiting."
"..."
A terrible silence fell.
I wanted to hide anywhere where I couldn't see the golden eyes staring down at me.
It was so painful to see those eyes filled with betrayal as he realized that what he had been holding so dear was fake.
"I see. It was you from the beginning."
He uttered those words with a hollow laugh.
He kept laughing between his teeth, as if he found this overly absurd situation rather funny.
Kishian, who had been laughing with one hand covering his eyes, slowly lowered his hand after a long time.
Then he asked with a face that had completely lost its smile.
"Why did you lie? No, you had no choice but to lie. You had no choice but to join the play the Emperor had planned."
"..."
"Rather than that, why did you hide the truth?"
He was standing a few steps away, but he came towards me again.
His hot, strong hands gripped my shoulders tightly.
"We weren't bad."
"..."
"It was a little creaky at first, but it gradually got better."
"..."
"Didn't we promise not to deceive or betray each other?"
"..."
"You had every chance to tell the truth. Even just this evening, when I asked you not to lie, you could have told the truth. But..."
Kishian paused for a moment, then slowly shook his head and continued speaking.
"You said you had never lied before. You lied to me then, too."
"I... I... just."
"Stop crying and answer me."
The moment I heard those cold words spoken so hurriedly, I felt extremely dizzy.
As I stumbled and fell to my knees, Kishian called out to me in a slightly panicked voice.
"Ma'am?"
"Ugh, gasp, gasp..."
I couldn't answer.
My chest felt tight, and I had trouble breathing.
My whole vision was spinning, so I couldn't even look up at his face.
The shock of being faced with an overwhelming situation was causing mental and physical problems.
"I'm, ugh, fake, so I, to you..."
Kishian lifted my face to look at me, then hurriedly got up and opened the bedroom door.
He then shouted to the guard standing nearby.
"Call Alvin! Now!"
I heard the soldiers running in a hurry, and then I heard Kishian approaching me and shouting something.
But I couldn't hear it properly.
All I could hear was a buzzing sound.
'What are you saying? Are you telling me to just die like this?'
I thought so as I looked at Kishian's face as he shouted at me.
The faint continuation of consciousness was cut off with that thought.
Unable to bear it any longer, I willingly let go of the string of consciousness that had been severed.
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