Shadowless Night

Her thoughts didn’t have time to wander far. In an instant of violent vomiting, pain seized her entire body. Rosaline looked down at the ground, spit up blood, and struggled to lift her head. In her blurred vision, she saw Diech’s figure fading away.

When Rosaline coughed up blood again, Macaron hurriedly approached her.

A few minutes later, members of the Lasso Mercenary Corps arrived. The men scanned the surroundings with a defensive stance, and upon seeing Rosaline partially collapsed, they exclaimed in horror.

“Sir Rosaline! No, Mr. Juju, what’s…?”

“You don’t need to know. Don’t touch her.”

Macaron lifted Rosaline into their arms. They wiped her streaming tears with a sleeve.

“Get some sleep now.”

Immediately after Macaron spoke those words, Rosaline sank into a deep sleep.

***

Diech paused his steps briefly at the astonished voices coming from afar. People murmured at the spot where he had been just moments ago. It was so noisy that it gave him a splitting headache. He furrowed his brow and pressed his temples.

He slowly walked, distancing himself from their location. Naturally, his footsteps led him deeper into the dense forest. A place where they say a strange wind blew strongly, and indeed, an endless cliff was in sight. The wind blew up from below. Diech dropped the dagger that had pierced Rosaline there. The smell of blood wafted up, making him dizzy.

Until the moment he departed, Rosaline’s eyes held a sense of puzzlement. ‘Why did you wish for Rosaline’s death? Why did you kill her? Why do you want to kill me again?’

His reason for not providing an answer was not solely because of the interference of an intruder. How could he explain this? Diech had no clue.

Rosaline, you know. If ‘We’ set our minds to it, we would never miss prey in such close proximity. Yet, she fell beneath the cliff. Rosaline, you know what that means. Only you know.

So, unable to kill her with his own hands, he drove her off the cliff. Abandoning the risks of everything he had built up in his plan, he reached out his hand toward her as she fell. Why did I do it again? How could I?

His breath caught. He felt a cold sensation on the back of his hand. It was only after looking that he realized it was his tears.

***

It began with people dying inside iron bars.

The golden-haired boy with golden eyes sat on the bed, scanning the lavishly decorated room: the ornaments, the carpeted floor, the curtains concealing the windows, and the arrangement of decorations at regular intervals were far from his taste.

The introverted boy had no one to talk to and regarded his pet, Epa, as his sole confidant, always complaining about this suffocating space. At that time, his only feeling toward the dazzling room was tedium.

Indeed, the current occupant also thought that the room, seen through the golden eyes of Diech, was no different from a dollhouse.

The maids looked at him with worried eyes, their hands trembling.

Setting aside the incident of the disappeared prince found collapsed hours later near the lake, the recent concern of White Jade Castle was the condition of the prince, who had lost his ability to speak.

His beloved pet, Epa, had gone missing. So they believed it to be the cause of the problem. Some speculated it was a problem in his brain. Despite the many words tossed around, there seemed to be no solution. After the accident, His Highness the Prince, who used to smile and laugh playfully, now sealed his lips like a closed clamshell, leaving the maids speechless, too.

When the maids brought in food, Diech’s expression, devoid of emotion, brightened. He clumsily held the fork and enthusiastically stabbed at the salad topped with chicken breast. He slurped the soup with three types of mushrooms and neatly tore apart the bread, chewing it with care.

Considering he’d regained consciousness two days ago and had caused massive inconveniences to the maids with his short temper, it was an astonishing amount of food.

Others shed tears of gratitude, seeing the prince eat heartily. Didn’t they say eating well when recovering is crucial? Whether it had any effect beyond the physical aspect remained uncertain.

Diech signaled to the maids by handing them the empty plate with both hands, indicating that he wanted more. With teary faces, the maids quickly rushed to the kitchen. Diech licked the food residue off his lips and watched them.

His eating, dressing, speaking. Even though every action was out of sync, no one realized that the current Diech and the pre-accident ‘Diech’ were separate entities. It was just a very slight sense of strangeness. Something is a little… off. That’s it. They dismissed most things without even igniting suspicion.

However, amidst it all, one person noticed those tiny pinpricks of strangeness— minute details but sharp and piercing. It was impossible to ignore because it continually needled at her.

That person was the human whom the past Diech called “Mother.” How did she know that he wasn’t her son when she was unaware of the existence of a monster capable of changing its skin inside out? Did she somehow intuitively sense the severed connection of their vital blood link?

But it wasn’t surprising. ‘He’ had the firm conviction that the mother would figure it out.

His mother was the eldest daughter of a modestly influential household in the tiny kingdom of Helisago. She fell short of becoming the empress, but she was beautiful. That alone fulfilled all the requirements.

Wasn’t an empress essentially the mother of the country? But she didn’t have that ability, and she didn’t desire it. She wanted something ordinary. Just marrying a noble of similar status, having two or three children, and peacefully maintaining a household… That would’ve been perfect.

Of course, her opinion didn’t matter, and there was no chance of the Emperor’s plans changing. She was sixteen years old at the time of their marriage.

Such a young age. The future that the woman from an insignificant noble family had imagined wasn’t like this. It wasn’t that she lacked a sense of reality, but reality had unfolded in such a bizarre manner that she struggled through every day in the Imperial Palace.

She tried to find solace anywhere, but there was nowhere to lean on. Even her relatives were nothing more than merchants who sold her off.

The Emperor, who brought her to the capital at a young age because he desired her, couldn’t provide any support. He wasn’t compassionate enough to comfort a woman who was constantly melancholic due to nostalgia, nor did he have enough affection for her to take on such a troublesome task.

She was just young and charming, and it was pleasant to look at her. That was the extent of the attention she received. The range of the Emperor’s affection— if you could even call it affection.

In such a context, Diech was born. A son was born. Regardless of Elpidio’s power, it was natural for the son to be considered a candidate for crown prince. People began to come and congratulate the previously quiet White Jade Castle, and the Emperor, upon hearing the news of a son, smiled indulgently and praised her. He showered her with many shiny and coveted things.

She found it. The only thread she could grasp in this dark and frightening, maze-like palace. The slender thread guiding her to the maze exit was the child she had given birth to.

The golden-haired boy was not only beautiful but also intelligent. Expectations soared. Even as Elpidio’s power exponentially grew as he matured, even threatening the current Emperor’s, she did not doubt that Diech would become the next ruler of the Empire.

Thanks to that, Diech grew up under her persistent gaze. She monitored everything: his clothing, his food, his education, time that should have been his own, the space he should have had—even his every thought.

You can’t do that, Diech. The Emperor dislikes the color red, Diech. You have to wake up at 6, have breakfast until 7, and study history until 9. Read the scriptures until 12, have lunch until 1… It’s all about the demeanor of a noble… It’s all for you to become the Emperor… All the preparations… All for your sake.

Whether it was because he grew up under such parents or if it was his inherent nature, Diech was fragile. He got swept away by her attention and was obedient to her demands. Diech often felt frustrated, but he smiled for her sake.

Weak and spineless. That was ‘Its’ evaluation of the past ‘Diech’. He felt that way when he was ‘Diech’s’ pet. But after becoming him, his evaluation became even more scathing.

“Diech.”

Ah, she’s here again. Diech’s mother entered the room with a suspicious glance and a stern face. No, his mother.

Diech looked at her and smiled gently. It was the result of practicing in front of a mirror. Even though he looked exactly like the past ‘Diech’, the woman’s expression still paled. Her eyes were displeased.

His clothing, food, education, living space, time, even his every thought— Even if he did everything according to his mother’s will, she must have realized he wasn’t her Diech.

Could this be what they called love? How incredibly repulsive.

That night, the White Jade Castle burned, with Diech found unconscious three days after. Due to the nature of the Imperial family, which sought to conceal unfavorable incidents as much as possible, only the people of White Jade Castle knew about his collapse.

Thus, the story of the 5th Prince Diech collapsing before the fire and waking up unable to speak vanished along with White Jade Castle; the truth laid to rest with the blackened ashes.

The flickering light illuminated the dark sky. Diech prodded at the sparks that popped up from the places touched by the heat. It was hot.

With a rumbling sound, a part of the castle collapsed. As Diech stepped back, heavy debris fell onto where he had just stood. Diech turned around and headed toward the place where it all began. The lakeside where ‘Diech’ disappeared and transformed into his current self. He found a spot amidst the beautiful blossoming flowers and sat down.