How can someone, without even wiping their mouth, say something that isn't true as if it were true?
I was so shocked that I stared at Merchen with my mouth wide open, but he looked like he was even more shocked.
“Didn’t you clearly propose to me yesterday?”
“When did I!”
"You said you wanted to spend the rest of your life with me! You said it yourself. You said I had to be with you for the rest of my life!"
“...”
Wow, wait a minute.
“So, you know how to control the monster inside me... and you want to live together for the rest of my life... is that what you’re saying?”
“Yes, that’s right. You have to stay with me for the rest of your life.”
Hey, how can you interpret this conversation like that?
I was speechless and dumbfounded, but Merchen seemed to have taken it as a positive sign.
He said directly to Ryan.
"I had no choice but to accept it, so I decided to do so. As her father, you should know that."
“...I thought he was just crazy, but he was actually a dirty and impure person.”
Ryan immediately half-risen from his seat, grabbed Merchen by the collar, and tried to open the carriage door.
"What about a twelve-year-old girl? You dirty little punk, just get off. You don't even have to stop talking. Just get off, dead or alive."
“Bro, brother! Stop!”
“Dad! Daddy! Don’t do it!”
“Oh, no! It’s a misunderstanding! Wait a minute!”
As Revan and I clung to each other and barely managed to separate the two, Merchen spoke.
"Well, I understand why you're so excited. Of course, I'm not suggesting I get married right now. Your daughter is still young!"
“...”
"I have a duty to maintain this bloodline. I need to marry someone and have an heir. However, given my, um, constitution, there won't be many women who will understand my situation..."
I quietly raised my hand and covered my face.
"I guess only your daughter can understand me. And thankfully, she was the first to tell me she'd stay by my side for the rest of my life, so I've decided to follow suit."
"For a moment!"
Then Revan intervened.
“I usually wouldn’t ask anything, but I’m so curious. What makes you so great that you keep talking about commoners and bloodlines?”
“...”
Merchen looked at me as if asking permission to speak.
At this point, I just nodded my head, my eyes like a frozen fish, as if to say something.
You'll probably think I'm crazy anyway.
“I am the last heir and Crown Prince of the Farnese royal family.”
“...”
“...”
A moment of silence.
“Why are you asking such useless questions?”
“Yeah, sorry. You must be crazy.”
Merchen seemed to have known this would happen, and continued speaking to Ryan without showing any signs of displeasure.
"Anyway, to continue with what we were talking about earlier, I understand your concerns. But I'm not that uneducated. Marriage will naturally happen when your daughter becomes an adult."
“Yes. Are you done talking?”
“Yes. I’m done.”
“Then now it’s time to really get off.”
“Ugh!”
Ryan grabbed Merchen by the collar again and tried to open the carriage door.
“Dad, wait a minute! Calm down!”
I barely managed to stop Ryan and took a deep breath.
Wow, where do I even begin to explain this?
“First of all... Stop grabbing him by the collar and all that. I guess I said something that the prince might misunderstand....”
Ryan and Revan were surprised.
“So, why did the conversation turn out like this...?”
"Ah!"
Then Revan clapped his hands.
“I see! If that’s you, then now it fits perfectly!”
“...?”
"I was wondering why you came here with such a flashy, flashy beggar out of the blue! You, Bunny, are here to find a future groom! That's right!"
"No!"
I'm going crazy.
I glanced back at Merchen.
"Excuse me, Prince. Let me ask you something first. How does saying we'll live together for the rest of our lives mean we're getting married?"
“Then does that mean something else?”
“Families can live together for life! Parents and children, siblings!”
Merchen narrowed her eyes.
"That's not true. When the time comes, children will marry and become independent from their parents. Siblings will also find companions and start new families, and then they will disperse."
...Ah, I’m going to turn around.
I pulled down on my cheeks with both hands, not knowing what to say.
The words I chose in the end.
“I have a boyfriend.”
That was it.
Merchen's eyes widened, and Ryan frowned.
"What boyfriend? The one from Windsor Castle? Didn't you break up when you left home?"
I don’t know since when Prince Nike became the page of Windsor Castle...
"Anyway, Prince, I have a future lover, so I can't marry you. But don't worry, I won't go back on my promise to take responsibility for you for the rest of my life."
“What is that...!”
“Are you sure he's a Windsor Castle kid or not?”
“Isn’t this gentleman a groom?”
"Ugh!”
I covered my ears and shouted.
"Enough now! Stop talking, everyone! Stop it!"
The road to Romaier is a bumpy one.
We got off at a village in the middle to have lunch and change carriages.
Restaurant. Before the food I ordered arrived, I brought Merchen out, saying I had something to say alone.
“You come in within ten minutes!”
Leaving Ryan behind, who was yelling at Merchen because he didn't like him at all.
"Your Highness, I need to know something, because I never know when something might happen. I'd like to ask you something."
I took out a piece of paper and a pen.
“Yeah. What is it?”
I don't know much about Ratan.
In human form, only when he is injured can he emerge as a monster.
And in monster form, the monster can freely turn back into a human whenever he wants.
Just those two.
So...
"I want to know how much damage the Prince has to endure before you become a monster. If you turn into a monster even with just a little damage, it's going to be a problem."
"That's not true. I suffered many serious injuries on the way to Farnese, but I felt fine."
“...Are you sure? Then how much did you get hurt when you turned into a monster?”
Merchen frowned slightly as if he was having a hard time remembering, then said.
“The first time was when I rolled off a cliff, then I was beaten so badly I almost fainted. The last time was when I was kidnapped...”
He hesitated for a moment, then whispered in my ear.
“The tongue...”
After hearing that, I said it right away.
“Oh, yes. I understand.”
And I thought.
The story my half-sister Christa told me when she first met 'Ratan' and cried.
"David, my brother... lightly cut that man's shoulder with a sword... and he turned into a monster. When that monster called, demons burst out from under the ground..."
It was a kind of show to pretend to suppress the demonic situation.
"Bunny, I... I could only watch. The demons were killing people indiscriminately, destroying the land, and continuing their rampage..."
The child cried. She was a tender-hearted child.
“I could have helped, and I wanted to help, but... my brother just told me to wait until the time was right...”
Once the land was sufficiently destroyed, the supernatural beings appeared as gods.
The day Christa returned after using her supernatural powers to blow away the demons, she held me captive and was in great pain.
“That man is pitiful, and the people who die without knowing anything are also pitiful... Also, I feel so terrible...”
Christa said she felt terrible about being unable to do anything other than what she was told.
Actually...
'I'm glad my brother didn't do that to me.'
'I guess he's afraid that things might go wrong, because he doesn't force me to do something if I say no.'
'I'm glad you're afraid of me, because I'm strong, because my blessings are special.'
'I don't have to do that.'
The thoughts I had as a human while comforting that suffering child were several times more horrifying.
“Haaah.”
“Why are you doing that?”
“I am so horrible.”
“...”
It might seem odd to say something out of the blue. Merchen remained silent for a moment, then patted my shoulder.
"No. You're a kind and gentle person. You even try to stop a monster from running wild, and... you're trying to hide me and spare me, even though I've already killed so many people."
“The Prince didn’t kill them.”
“Yeah. But still...”
I looked at Merchen, who seemed to feel guilty.
And I think of Christa, who suffered and was tormented by her family all her life.
I don't think it's their fault, but I sympathize with their self-reproach.
Because I'm also blaming myself.
I was really helpless.
Running away? Of course, you'd be caught, and in extreme cases, you'd be killed.
So, what if I fight my father with my supernatural powers? I discarded that idea as soon as it occurred to me.
Because in front of my father, who can nullify all my abilities, I become an ordinary human being.
So, all I did was try to squirm, but it ended up interfering with my brothers' work. And even that ended when my lover threatened me with his life.
'Yeah, what could I have done?'
Even if I rationalize it like that, I can't help but feel guilty. I can't escape the thought that I, too, have karma to pay for it.
I gave up because I couldn't resist. I acted like a hypocrite, saying I wasn't doing anything wrong.
‘So, I can shake off this guilt that I don’t need to feel...’
This time, I'm catching my real father.
I read the rough outline of Merchen's condition on the paper again and said.
“First of all, Your Highness.”
"Yes."
“It’s scary to say, but it seems like the threshold for injury that causes monsters to emerge is getting lower.”
"...What?"
I was so shocked that I stared at Merchen with my mouth wide open, but he looked like he was even more shocked.
“Didn’t you clearly propose to me yesterday?”
“When did I!”
"You said you wanted to spend the rest of your life with me! You said it yourself. You said I had to be with you for the rest of my life!"
“...”
Wow, wait a minute.
“So, you know how to control the monster inside me... and you want to live together for the rest of my life... is that what you’re saying?”
“Yes, that’s right. You have to stay with me for the rest of your life.”
Hey, how can you interpret this conversation like that?
I was speechless and dumbfounded, but Merchen seemed to have taken it as a positive sign.
He said directly to Ryan.
"I had no choice but to accept it, so I decided to do so. As her father, you should know that."
“...I thought he was just crazy, but he was actually a dirty and impure person.”
Ryan immediately half-risen from his seat, grabbed Merchen by the collar, and tried to open the carriage door.
"What about a twelve-year-old girl? You dirty little punk, just get off. You don't even have to stop talking. Just get off, dead or alive."
“Bro, brother! Stop!”
“Dad! Daddy! Don’t do it!”
“Oh, no! It’s a misunderstanding! Wait a minute!”
As Revan and I clung to each other and barely managed to separate the two, Merchen spoke.
"Well, I understand why you're so excited. Of course, I'm not suggesting I get married right now. Your daughter is still young!"
“...”
"I have a duty to maintain this bloodline. I need to marry someone and have an heir. However, given my, um, constitution, there won't be many women who will understand my situation..."
I quietly raised my hand and covered my face.
"I guess only your daughter can understand me. And thankfully, she was the first to tell me she'd stay by my side for the rest of my life, so I've decided to follow suit."
"For a moment!"
Then Revan intervened.
“I usually wouldn’t ask anything, but I’m so curious. What makes you so great that you keep talking about commoners and bloodlines?”
“...”
Merchen looked at me as if asking permission to speak.
At this point, I just nodded my head, my eyes like a frozen fish, as if to say something.
You'll probably think I'm crazy anyway.
“I am the last heir and Crown Prince of the Farnese royal family.”
“...”
“...”
A moment of silence.
“Why are you asking such useless questions?”
“Yeah, sorry. You must be crazy.”
Merchen seemed to have known this would happen, and continued speaking to Ryan without showing any signs of displeasure.
"Anyway, to continue with what we were talking about earlier, I understand your concerns. But I'm not that uneducated. Marriage will naturally happen when your daughter becomes an adult."
“Yes. Are you done talking?”
“Yes. I’m done.”
“Then now it’s time to really get off.”
“Ugh!”
Ryan grabbed Merchen by the collar again and tried to open the carriage door.
“Dad, wait a minute! Calm down!”
I barely managed to stop Ryan and took a deep breath.
Wow, where do I even begin to explain this?
“First of all... Stop grabbing him by the collar and all that. I guess I said something that the prince might misunderstand....”
Ryan and Revan were surprised.
“So, why did the conversation turn out like this...?”
"Ah!"
Then Revan clapped his hands.
“I see! If that’s you, then now it fits perfectly!”
“...?”
"I was wondering why you came here with such a flashy, flashy beggar out of the blue! You, Bunny, are here to find a future groom! That's right!"
"No!"
I'm going crazy.
I glanced back at Merchen.
"Excuse me, Prince. Let me ask you something first. How does saying we'll live together for the rest of our lives mean we're getting married?"
“Then does that mean something else?”
“Families can live together for life! Parents and children, siblings!”
Merchen narrowed her eyes.
"That's not true. When the time comes, children will marry and become independent from their parents. Siblings will also find companions and start new families, and then they will disperse."
...Ah, I’m going to turn around.
I pulled down on my cheeks with both hands, not knowing what to say.
The words I chose in the end.
“I have a boyfriend.”
That was it.
Merchen's eyes widened, and Ryan frowned.
"What boyfriend? The one from Windsor Castle? Didn't you break up when you left home?"
I don’t know since when Prince Nike became the page of Windsor Castle...
"Anyway, Prince, I have a future lover, so I can't marry you. But don't worry, I won't go back on my promise to take responsibility for you for the rest of my life."
“What is that...!”
“Are you sure he's a Windsor Castle kid or not?”
“Isn’t this gentleman a groom?”
"Ugh!”
I covered my ears and shouted.
"Enough now! Stop talking, everyone! Stop it!"
***
The road to Romaier is a bumpy one.
We got off at a village in the middle to have lunch and change carriages.
Restaurant. Before the food I ordered arrived, I brought Merchen out, saying I had something to say alone.
“You come in within ten minutes!”
Leaving Ryan behind, who was yelling at Merchen because he didn't like him at all.
"Your Highness, I need to know something, because I never know when something might happen. I'd like to ask you something."
I took out a piece of paper and a pen.
“Yeah. What is it?”
I don't know much about Ratan.
In human form, only when he is injured can he emerge as a monster.
And in monster form, the monster can freely turn back into a human whenever he wants.
Just those two.
So...
"I want to know how much damage the Prince has to endure before you become a monster. If you turn into a monster even with just a little damage, it's going to be a problem."
"That's not true. I suffered many serious injuries on the way to Farnese, but I felt fine."
“...Are you sure? Then how much did you get hurt when you turned into a monster?”
Merchen frowned slightly as if he was having a hard time remembering, then said.
“The first time was when I rolled off a cliff, then I was beaten so badly I almost fainted. The last time was when I was kidnapped...”
He hesitated for a moment, then whispered in my ear.
“The tongue...”
After hearing that, I said it right away.
“Oh, yes. I understand.”
And I thought.
The story my half-sister Christa told me when she first met 'Ratan' and cried.
"David, my brother... lightly cut that man's shoulder with a sword... and he turned into a monster. When that monster called, demons burst out from under the ground..."
It was a kind of show to pretend to suppress the demonic situation.
"Bunny, I... I could only watch. The demons were killing people indiscriminately, destroying the land, and continuing their rampage..."
The child cried. She was a tender-hearted child.
“I could have helped, and I wanted to help, but... my brother just told me to wait until the time was right...”
Once the land was sufficiently destroyed, the supernatural beings appeared as gods.
The day Christa returned after using her supernatural powers to blow away the demons, she held me captive and was in great pain.
“That man is pitiful, and the people who die without knowing anything are also pitiful... Also, I feel so terrible...”
Christa said she felt terrible about being unable to do anything other than what she was told.
Actually...
'I'm glad my brother didn't do that to me.'
'I guess he's afraid that things might go wrong, because he doesn't force me to do something if I say no.'
'I'm glad you're afraid of me, because I'm strong, because my blessings are special.'
'I don't have to do that.'
The thoughts I had as a human while comforting that suffering child were several times more horrifying.
“Haaah.”
“Why are you doing that?”
“I am so horrible.”
“...”
It might seem odd to say something out of the blue. Merchen remained silent for a moment, then patted my shoulder.
"No. You're a kind and gentle person. You even try to stop a monster from running wild, and... you're trying to hide me and spare me, even though I've already killed so many people."
“The Prince didn’t kill them.”
“Yeah. But still...”
I looked at Merchen, who seemed to feel guilty.
And I think of Christa, who suffered and was tormented by her family all her life.
I don't think it's their fault, but I sympathize with their self-reproach.
Because I'm also blaming myself.
I was really helpless.
Running away? Of course, you'd be caught, and in extreme cases, you'd be killed.
So, what if I fight my father with my supernatural powers? I discarded that idea as soon as it occurred to me.
Because in front of my father, who can nullify all my abilities, I become an ordinary human being.
So, all I did was try to squirm, but it ended up interfering with my brothers' work. And even that ended when my lover threatened me with his life.
'Yeah, what could I have done?'
Even if I rationalize it like that, I can't help but feel guilty. I can't escape the thought that I, too, have karma to pay for it.
I gave up because I couldn't resist. I acted like a hypocrite, saying I wasn't doing anything wrong.
‘So, I can shake off this guilt that I don’t need to feel...’
This time, I'm catching my real father.
I read the rough outline of Merchen's condition on the paper again and said.
“First of all, Your Highness.”
"Yes."
“It’s scary to say, but it seems like the threshold for injury that causes monsters to emerge is getting lower.”
"...What?"
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