"My sword is one inch away from slicing your neck. My victory is one inch away, yet why can't I do it, Althea? What kind of spell have you cast on me to have me thinking about you all day?!"
-----------
Byeol meets a tragic death at age nineteen...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
It was early. It was way too early for me to be traveling to a neighboring empire without letting anybody know. But that night, Aias and I didn't end up sleeping at all. We went through documents in his father's office, desperate for answers. For a solution, one tiny detail that will help us understand. During that night, I realized something. It downed on me that while the emperor was sleeping soundfully, his son was saving the empire he was supposed to be looking over, and I started to view Aias... well, differently.
I've been worried for him before. I've laughed at a joke or two that he's made. I've counted on him before, and I've even come close to trusting him with certain things. The truth is, that I was doing this all in the promise of a better future, a promise nobody had made to me, but I chose to believe in anyway. I had dared view him as a partner, in the hope that I could avoid my death. That maybe, just maybe, my life wouldn't end like it does in my dreams, and that I could make the best out of this situation I found myself in after my death in my past life.
I couldn't believe I was saying this, but at the moment, I respected the crown prince. Sure, I may have found him attractive - and still do, but I never viewed Aias as something more than the man who will help me get out of a life-or-death situation. Truth is, me and him have practically gotten closer with this whole... situation. I don't know if I trust him fully, I don't know how exactly I see him, but I do know that our goals are the same and that I respect him, something I'm sure Althea would never even have imagined of doing.
I guess I haven't had time to think about my past life, considering the moment I woke up in this world I was swept up in some chaos, but I-
"Althea." I turned my head, snapping out of my thoughts at the voice behind me. There he was, standing a few feet behind me with his and my suitcase in hand. I was surprised that he didn't ask any servant to hold them for him. "Are you sure you want to do this? You don't have to." He said, walking closer and setting the suitcases down, a servant coming up immediately and taking them without a word spoken from him.
"Yeah.." I muttered, trailing off, disconnected as I looked at the servant. Upon realizing, I shook my head and looked at him again. Goodness, what was wrong with me? "I mean, yeah. I want to find out more, and finally put an end to this..." I hesitated. "situation."
His eyes searched mine for a moment before he nodded slowly. "Alright, if you say so. But you should know," he said as he started helping me up to the carriage, "I won't be able to spare too much time. This crazy proposal, I need to make sure it doesn't go through. I can't let Callie marry that psychopath."
I watched as he climbed onto the carriage right after me, sitting across from me. "I know, Aias." I sighed out, resting my head against the cushion. "I just want to end this already."
