Chapter 36

After that day, everything changed.

“Is the Miss doing okay?”

“Yeah! She doesn’t even eat!”

Iwer was worried as she looked at the budaejjigae without a spoon eaten in front of the study.

“This is the Miss’ favorite…”

The family of the mansion remembered that day clearly.

Even though they had seen a lot of angry and annoyed faces so far, no one had been able to express how Bella looked at that time. It felt as though she was crazy, angry, and crying. The important thing was that there was no expression on her face.

“Is it because the Young Master is not here?”

“It’s refreshing to not have that little guy.”

“Zanbar, don’t cry and talk.”

“It’s sweat, not tears.”

“By the way, where is the Young Master?”

“Is he dead!”

All the truth lies beyond this study, though no one dared to open the door. A month has passed, but Kiehl’s vacancy was still felt by the family of the mansion.

“What are you all doing here?”

The only calm in the mansion was Jenkins.

“You said you’re half-blood, so you don’t even have humanity!”

He knew where Kiehl was because he had read articles called ‘The Returning Prince’ in the newspapers that had piled up for a few days.

“Have you all forgotten the young lady’s plan? You raised the young master splendidly…”

“To eat?”

Jenkins frowned.

“We decided to invade the human world. Iwer, I won the bet.”

“What are you talking about!”

“If it were as Iwer insisted, she wouldn’t have let the master go in the first place.”

At that, Iwer shook her head. In her eyes, Bella was convinced that she wasn’t just trying to use Kiehl’s affection. It was difficult for her, of course, to say that it was love.

“It’s not over yet?”

Thinking that she should ask Bella directly, she slammed the door open.

“Miss!”

Everyone could not hide their surprise when they saw Bella, who appeared after a month.

“Mi… Miss, are you okay?”

“Huh? Uh…”

Bella sat in the middle of it with her eyes wide open, with all the books out of the library.

“Mi… Miss.”

“Why?”

“Did you sleep?”

Hearing the question, she then looked out the window before slowly opening her mouth.

“Oh, is it morning already?”

Bella’s stomach rumbled.

“I think I ate a little before lunch.”

“Miss, you haven’t eaten anything for a week now.”

It’s been a week.

She got upon hearing these words, although fell back down again because her legs were cramped.

“Miss…!”

“Hey! Don’t come in! Don’t step on it!”

Bella shouted hastily, fearing that Pur’s bear’s paws would slip and ruin everything she had organized. She then frowned as she sniffed her body.

“Give me some bath water.”

“Miss… are you okay?”

“What?”

She creaked like a corpse and came to the entrance of the study.

“Get out of the way. I’ll eat and wash.”

“I’ll hold you.”

Afraid she might fall as she walked, Zanbar grabbed her arm to support her.

“What is it? Our of my way.”

However, Bella wrinkled her impression, pushing him away with her bare arms.

“I’m scared, Miss!”

“I know…”

There were many times when she seemed scary since they came to the mansion, though now, it looked as though she was going to explode if they touch her.

Bella sighed as she sat in the dining room and watched the bbudae jjigae warmed by Iwer before her eyes.

That day, she had gone through the novel again since she accidentally killed the character. She didn’t know what her own existence might have changed for this novel. She seemed to have missed out on a lot, so she started looking through the geography and history books as well.

She wanted to avoid making more mistakes than this.

Since she realized that just by being here, she had already changed numerous settings in the novel.

‘I hoped it wouldn’t be the last time…’

As she was taking a spoonful, Iwer asked cautiously.

“Miss, where did the Young Master go?”

Her hand that was holding the spoon stopped.

Bella glanced at the empty seat next to her at the sound of ‘Young Master.’ It reminded her of the loneliness when her older sister, whom she had always been with in her previous life, got married and left an empty house.

It was still the same now.

Even though they care about each other, they have their own lives. The only difference between then and now was that she was able to see her married sister when she could, but she couldn’t do that now.

Bella picked up the spoon again and took a bite of the food Iwer had made.

‘Kiehl said this was too spicy.’

At the same time, Bella, who likes this food, found it strange.

“It’s too spicy.”

It was so spicy that tears welled up.

“Sorry, I’m sorry. Shall I do it again?”

“It’s fine.”

Still, she took another bite and wiped the tears with a tissue.

‘Yes. It was going to happen, anyway.’

She was Bella, who had already died. So, this mature farewell…

‘…Time will be medicine.’

The novel was pushing Bella to her role.

***

Meanwhile, the place that was assigned to Kiehl, who entered the Imperial Palace, was the same as ten years ago.

Walking up the stairs for a long time from the entrance, when he knocked on the door, Kiehl checked who it was with the iron and opened the door with the key. At that moment, the door was opened with the key that the visitor also had.

“There is a risk of assassination for the time being, so you must stay here.”

A window closed with a grate. In the cramped space, Kiehl didn’t say anything.

“Bring everything I need to learn.”

He had to adapt more quickly.

“You can’t dwell on the past anymore.”

Kiehl’s just nodded his head without saying a word and quickly went down through the books Rohan was bringing.

“Next.”

“Are you done with all of this?”

“Shall we see the problem?”

Rohan couldn’t help but be amazed at Kiehl’s extraordinary head. After a few months, he gave Kiehl permission to see someone else.

At that, he first found Juan Cruell.

The Cruell family had been watching for a long time on the side of the returning Crown Prince, so he raised both hands and feet to visit Kiehl’s. It was suggested that he called for the foolish Juan Cruell rather than the influential Shuria Cruell.

Juan looked bewildered at Kiehl in the prince’s room he had never been invited to before.

Although he was obviously the Crown Prince, he was wondering what the prison-like room was all about.

“Ah… that brother.”

“We met before, haven’t we?”

As soon as Juan found out about Kiehl’s identity, his weak brain started running.

“She seems to have lived in hiding. Since then, I’ve searched all the magic towers near Illinois.”

Kiehl hated this guy, too, but he couldn’t help it.

Even though he was anxious, he still decided to trust Bella’s eyes. Despite the fact that he had no interest in romantic feelings at all, he was focused on other things.

“Tell me where Bella is.”

“Like this…?”

Kiehl handed him the sealed letter.

The content didn’t matter.

That he was doing well, that he will contact her from time to time.

“If the location is exposed, isn’t that person at risk?”

‘Honestly, I don’t think Bella is in danger, but…’

If he wanted to avoid Rohan’s surveillance and check on Bella, the person he could ask had to at least be friendly with her. It had to be someone she knew the face since she could have been suspicious of their identity if they said they came from the Imperial Palace.

‘I don’t know if you’ll believe in Juan Cruell.’

After that day, he stayed up all night awake for several days. It was the first time he had to wait for Juan Cruell’s return.

‘Please…’

But when Juan returned, the sealed letter was still there.

“Why did you bring it as it is?”

Kiehl frowned and asked. Even though she didn’t trust him, he thought he would at least get a reply.

“There was nobody.”

But, he never thought he’d get hit in the back of the head like this.

“Do you want me to believe that?”

Kiehl’s still couldn’t get out of his room.

“Really. I asked the village, and they said no one had ever lived there in the first place.”

At those words, he was stunned.

‘…I used to live there, what nonsense.’

Most of the people he could meet were under the Emperor’s watch.

‘Maybe, he kept deceiving me.’

After all, they were still humans. So, if they saw any traces of him trying to find out about Bella…

“You shouldn’t keep dwelling on the past.”

In the Imperial Palace, they would find out and punished like a ghost.

“Take this, and you’ll feel better.”

It was a drug that blurs memories.

Kiehl shook his head.

Because of that, he couldn’t bring up a single word of the past.

Less than a year after he had been imprisoned, he finally saw a chance.

Twin escorts he had never met.

Since they had nothing to do with the Imperial Family, he thought they could avoid surveillance. And, today was the day that Rio, the youngest graduate of the magic school, was invited to the Imperial Palace in recognition of his contributions.

Kiehl quietly waited for Rio to come.

Just like that day ten years ago…

At that time, he just ignored it, but now, it was different. The moment when he heard someone coming up, he swiftly knocked on the door.

“Gasp—! There’s a person trapped here!”

“…Hi.”

“What kind of criminal are you?”

“No.”

The Rio that he had heard about was a very loyal person. So, even when he was collecting relics, he wanted the twins to be his escorts.

Kiehl handed the necklace from his neck to Rio through the bars.

“Would you like to be friends with me?”

Rio’s eyes twinkled at the word “friend.”

And so, he sent Rio the same address and letter.

He thought, at least if it was Rio, he wouldn’t lie, even if he never came back alive. In the end, he waited and waited. Unlike ten years ago, he tried to get out of that prison-like room, showing that there was something more he wanted other than the Imperial Palace.

However, the answer he had been waiting for for a long time was not what Kiehl wanted.

“No one was there. But I left the letter just in case ”

“…Thank you.”

It was unreasonable to dig further.

Every time he was caught, the Imperial Palace would bring a memory-thinning drug and give it to him. Memory-diluting drugs were usually sought by people who could not accept someone’s death or suffered a lot from the pain of parting.

It wasn’t about forgetting…

It was as if you had blurred what you ate the night before, it was just making things fade over time.

As Bella thought, ‘time is medicine.’

Nonetheless, as time passed, she was becoming poison to him, as only longing increased. Through the bars where he couldn’t even see the outside of the window, the sea in the distance seemed far away.

‘Bella wanted to see the sea.’

Although those working in the Imperial Palace focused on Kiehl’s achievements, no one knew how the little boy was holding up.

“Bella…”

He climbed up to the bed, hugged the pillow, and barely endured the leaking sound.

“We will definitely meet again.”

Time that became medicine to some and poison to others passed.