Episode 47
‘I feel a chill… this is ominous.’
I rubbed my arms, feeling goosebumps, just like when I met the Second Prince. I wondered if I had caught some bad energy from his palace.
Not that there was any good energy to be found there…
When I returned, Pona made me wash my hands and body thoroughly and then changed my clothes.
‘It was like a decontamination process.’
Lost in thought, I turned my head at the sound of the creaking door.
There stood the Crown Prince, followed by Arenz.
“What are you doing there?”
“Your Highness.”
“I heard from the maid that you were waiting for me.”
I snapped back to reality and nodded, recalling the words I had prepared.
“Yes, I was waiting.”
“Why were you waiting for me?”
I looked around. I saw Arenz, who had entered with the Crown Prince, and Pona, who was attending me.
“Could you excuse Sir Karlas and Pona? I have something to tell you in private, Your Highness.”
“I heard you met my brother. What makes you think I would be alone with you?”
His response was as expected.
‘He already knows that I met you. He won’t fully trust me.’
Aaron knew about the power I possessed. It was natural for him not to lower his guard around me, someone who might have switched sides to the Second Prince.
“If you don’t trust me, you can keep your sword pointed at me while you listen. It’s that important.”
Seeing my serious expression, as if I didn’t even care if he had a sword to my throat, the Crown Prince’s eyebrows twitched.
“Sigh, you owe me a debt. Do you realize that?”
“I do.”
“I don’t know why, but I’ll hear you out this once. Both of you, leave.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“As you command.”
I heard them leave.
Click. The door closed. I tried to calm my pounding heart and faced the Crown Prince.
“So, what’s so important that you had to do all this?”
His sharp tone implied he wouldn’t tolerate something trivial. The Crown Prince was extremely cold towards those who weren’t his people.
A serious atmosphere settled, leaving no room for jokes. I suppressed my trembling hands and spoke.
“…Your Highness, I’m afraid of the power struggles happening behind the scenes in the Imperial Palace. So I was planning on escaping when the opportunity arose.”
“Escaping? Are you planning on contacting the Tower Master and begging him to take you back, saying you didn’t know you’d get involved in this mess?”
“No. The opposite.”
“The opposite?”
“Yes.”
At first, I had planned to escape to a peaceful place after staying here for a while. Being threatened after finally becoming human was the worst.
But I realized after meeting the Second Prince that I couldn’t remain a bystander forever. And my heart leaned towards Cesar, who had visited the Second Prince earlier than in the original story.
“His Highness offered to give me what I want and asked me to use my power for him.”
“And did you accept?”
“No. Of course not. His Highness can’t give me what I want.”
The Second Prince’s guess was correct. Ever since I was reincarnated, I had wanted a safe place where my life was guaranteed and enough money to live comfortably.
That’s why I abandoned my lonely owner and ran away.
But paradoxically, the moment I saw Cesar again, I didn’t want to see a future where he died.
Even though I knew it was the hand that might kill me, I couldn’t forget his gentle smile and the way he thanked me.
Even though he didn’t recognize me.
‘Waiting for someone alone, being left alone, the darkness with no one to protect me — I hate it all so much.’
I didn’t want to leave him trapped in eternal darkness.
“What I want is a future where Cesar Clovis, my owner, is alive.”
“You speak as if he’s going to die. Duke Clovis is the head of the noble faction and a powerful mage. Who would kill him?”
The male lead, who would kill that villain, was speaking nonchalantly. His reaction seemed a little too calm to me, knowing the original story.
But Aaron’s attitude wasn’t entirely incomprehensible.
He didn’t know that Cesar would join forces with the Second Prince and attack him in the future. It was a future only I, who had read the novel, knew.
The Crown Prince would win, be with Sylvia, and Cesar, who sided with the Second Prince, would be ruined.
‘I want to change the predetermined ending. I don’t want to see Cesar die, just like I didn’t want to die and disappear.’
“Even if the Duke is powerful, no one is perfect.”
“Are you trying to tell me that everyone dies?”
“No, what I’m trying to say is…”
I suppressed my trembling lips and spoke to him in a firm voice,
“Your Highness, you might not believe this, but I can see the future. And I saw a future where you kill the Duke, who sided with the Second Prince.”
He was silent for a moment. He narrowed his eyes, as if assessing something, and slowly spoke,
“…Is that why you asked me to dismiss my aides?”
“Yes.”
I replied confidently and clenched my trembling hands.
‘Don’t panic. I have to avoid making any mistakes so Cesar can live.’
I was afraid that Cesar’s actions, having already contacted the Second Prince, might lead him down an even worse path than in the original story. Cesar wasn’t the protagonist of this novel.
The world of the novel wasn’t kind to villains. Only the male and female leads were guaranteed a happy ending.
So if Cesar was accelerating his own ruin, the only one I could rely on was the Crown Prince, the male lead Sylvia would choose.
“…Can you see anything else?”
“Yes. It seems like the Second Prince is planning something during the upcoming autumn hunting competition.”
A spark of interest appeared in his eyes.
“Is that related to your divine power?”
I had to answer carefully. He wouldn’t believe me if I said this was the world of a novel.
I had to mix a little truth with lies to make it sound plausible.
“…Yes. But it could change, so I can’t be certain. The future can easily be altered by small variables.”
It was a fate fixed by the novel’s plot, but there would be parts that changed due to my intervention. For instance, the fact that I had already eliminated the monster that was supposed to appear later and that Cesar was acting earlier than planned.
“I’m not sure how much of this I should believe.”
“It might be hard to believe, but it’s true. And you know how obsessed Duke Clovis is with Lady Veronica.”
“Why are you bringing her up?”
“Because Lady Veronica’s feelings are the reason behind the Duke’s actions.”
Despite the Tower Master’s warning, Cesar had jumped into a path of ruin to win Sylvia’s heart.
“If Lady Veronica chooses you, Your Highness, the future Emperor, what choice will the Duke make? Will he bless her choice? Or will he try to possess her through other means?”
“…”
“The Second Prince is good at manipulating people’s hearts. If they make some kind of deal, it wouldn’t be surprising for the Duke, the head of the noble faction, to side with the Second Prince. You already find my words somewhat plausible, don’t you, Your Highness?”
“Anyone can make up stories.”
“But you know better than anyone that I’m different. You were the one who wanted to keep me by your side because I was special.”
“Don’t say things that could be misunderstood. It’s unpleasant.”
He frowned and flicked my forehead.
My forehead turned red from the sting. I rubbed it and was about to glare at him, but his mocking tone made me blink.
“And if you could really see the future, you wouldn’t have been caught, would you?”
‘…Ugh.’
I groaned inwardly. He didn’t seem to believe that I could see the future, and my attempts to persuade him with plausible explanations had failed.
‘I guess there’s no other way but to tell him the truth.’
It was the most uncomfortable option, so I had wanted to save it as a last resort.
But I was in a desperate situation. I couldn’t afford to be picky.
“…You’ll regret this.”
“I don’t regret things. It’s better to believe something else than your fabricated precognitive abilities.”
I knew he wouldn’t easily trust my words. We hadn’t spent enough time together to build trust, and Aaron was naturally wary of people.
But he had a weakness.
“Sir Karlas is left-handed, right?”
“So?”
“Have him practice with his right hand as well. After the hunting competition, Sir Karlas won’t be able to use his left hand.”
He cherished the few people he trusted.
The Crown Prince’s gaze finally wavered. The Second Prince treated people like tools, but the Crown Prince didn’t.
That’s why I wanted to be on his side and see him win, just like in the original story. I knew Cesar, my owner, was a stain on a blank canvas.
“Is that true?”
“If things don’t change, it will happen as I said. As you can see, my unstable body limits my ability to see the future, which isn’t helpful to me… but it will be helpful to you, Your Highness. You cherish Sir Karlas, don’t you?”
Finally seeing an expression that suggested he might listen, I smiled brightly and reiterated my earlier words,
“I can tell you everything I know about the future, Your Highness.”
I knew everything that would happen in the novel. I had recalled it every day to survive.
“So please spare me. I want to see a future where Duke Clovis, my owner, is alive. That’s all I want.”