Chapter 96

Chapter 96: The Villain's Ending is Only Death

The prince's bedroom was as wide as three times my room.

And it was very desolate, reflecting his personality.

This was because there was nothing inside except for a bed and a table.

The empty room was filled with the smell of bitter medicine.

I frowned at the unpleasant aroma, hesitated for a moment, and then walked across the large room.

There was a chair next to the bed. It must have been where the doctor who had just left had been sitting.

However, I did not sit on the empty chair. I was going to leave soon anyway.

Approaching the side of the bed, I insolently looked down at the prince.

His brilliant blonde hair was scattered on the white pillow.

[Goodwill: 42%]

Calisto, lying with his eyes tightly closed, looked like a living masterpiece.

‘Since he’s not moving, it almost feels like a scene from the game.’

The man who used to choose only the most terrifying words to say, now lying motionless with his mouth closed, made me feel very strange.

‘Still, it seems he’s actually getting better.’

Until yesterday, he was so pale that it was hard to tell if it was wax or human blood.

However, his complexion had improved significantly in just one day. His breathing had also become much more regular.

There was no antidote for the poison the prince had suffered.

All we could do was rely on his natural healing ability and resistance to the poison, and pray to God.

Even though he wasn’t stabbed so deeply thanks to the armor he was wearing...

The poison from the needle was terrifying.

“...Excuse me.”

I called out to the prince in a small voice, as I did every day.

Then I slowly extended my hand and placed it under his nose.

Squeak, squeak— A faint breeze tickled my fingers.

“...Are you really okay?”

Even though I knew the protagonist wouldn’t die, I often felt an unbearable anxiety in my heart.

Thinking about the cruel background of the game, I sometimes even felt a chill.

I probably came here every day to check his breathing because of this.

Especially because I felt guilty for what had happened to him because of me.

Even if the assassination was inevitable, he was stabbed while saving me.

Moreover, he willingly gave me his cloak, knowing his own condition was poor.

‘If he hadn’t given me the cloak that night, whether I caught a cold or not...’

Perhaps the poison would have spread more slowly.

Perhaps his condition would have been better...

‘...No. It all just progressed according to the story.’

I shook my head to clear my thoughts.

“Don’t die, Your Highness.”

Especially not because of me.

You should die saving the female lead in normal mode.

I whispered these words, which I had said for three days, softly, and then finally withdrew my hand from under his nose.

It was almost ten minutes. It was time to leave.

Just as I was about to turn away from the bed, something suddenly grabbed my wrist.

“Eh...”

Startled, I turned my head, and my gaze met his eyes, which were blazing red as if by magic.

“...I’m so impressed I can’t even listen anymore.”

A small, hollow laugh echoed.

“Is all you’ve been saying for three days just ‘don’t die’?”

“...”

“Not even praying for a quick recovery?”

His voice, tinged with pain and hoarse, seemed genuine.

I just stared blankly at the awakened Calisto.

Even with his pale complexion, he sneered and mocked me.

“Moreover, you dare to call the prince of the empire ‘excuse me’? Your audacity is unbelievable.”

Perhaps because I had only seen him lying helplessly with his eyes tightly closed for several days,

I found it hard to believe that Calisto was now speaking and awake.

“Your Highness, are you... fully conscious now?”

“Do I look like I’ve died and become a ghost?”

“But they said there was no separate antidote and that it would take a few more days...”

So I thought he wouldn’t wake up until I returned to the duchess’s mansion.

“Unfortunately, I’ve been conscious the whole time. I just didn’t have the strength to open my eyes while the antidote was working.”

My mouth opened slightly in surprise at his answer.

Even though the protagonist doesn’t die, his recovery power is truly terrifying.

Facing his clear, blazing red pupils, I felt a strange mix of relief and an inexplicable flutter in my chest.

“Your body... is it a bit better?”

“No. It’s not.”

The prince answered immediately, as if he had been waiting for the question.

“It hurts like hell. It feels like my veins are burning and my bones are being sliced with a knife.”

My heart sank at his words, delivered with a furrowed brow.

“I’ll call the doctor!”

I hurried to turn around, but the prince didn’t release my wrist, pulling me back to my original position.

His grip was incredibly strong, hard to believe for someone who had just woken up from his sickbed.

“Don’t bother.”

“But...”

“It won’t do any good anyway. They’ll just burn some more detoxifying herbs.”

He shook his head firmly.

“Besides, it seems they brought some unheard-of poison. Too bad. If they had used a bit more, I might have gone to the afterlife.”

“...”

Seeing the prince mock his own life so freely, I frowned.

He chuckled at my expression.

“Sit down.”

He nodded toward the chair next to the bed.

“Now that I’ve confirmed you’re awake, I’ll leave.”

I wanted to disappear quickly, as rest was needed for the patient.

But the prince, with a look of surprise, said something shocking.

“Can’t you even do this much for someone who almost died because of you? Tsk, you’re as cruel as a villainess.”

“Since you just woke up, I’m moving to give you some rest...!”

“It’s fine. Sit down.”

I was about to retort sharply but was forced to sit down by the sudden tug on my wrist.

‘It should be fine.’

The prince was no longer in a state where I had to worry he might die at any moment.

On the contrary...

[Goodwill: 42%]

The gauge bar above his golden hair was quite full.

I realized belatedly that his goodwill toward me had surpassed 40%.

“...How many days have passed since we escaped the cave?”

While I kept glancing at the gauge above his head, the prince asked.

“Four days.”

“The hunting tournament will end tomorrow, then.”

The prince, who had quickly grasped the situation, suddenly twisted one corner of his mouth.

“I’m surprised, princess. I thought you’d leave me to die. Thanks to you, I’m still alive.”

I was speechless. Who was it that had threatened me until the moment he collapsed?

“Didn’t you say you’d regret it if I left?”

“I thought you’d leave me to die and save yourself, regardless of whether you lived or died.”

“I’m a pacifist. I don’t think about killing or saving people based on my mood like some people do.”

“Now you’re openly insulting the royal family. I’ll have to show you the underground prison someday.”

His words, delivered while lying like a patient with a pale face, didn’t feel very threatening.

Moreover, the man who laughed at my retort didn’t seem to be in a bad mood at all.

I stared at him for a moment before asking hesitantly.

“...Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you what?”

“About the poison.”

“What would have changed if I told you?”

“...”

I closed my mouth at the prince’s question.

He was right. Even if I had known, there was nothing I could have done.

Seeing my solemn expression, the prince asked with a mischievous look.

“Feeling a bit guilty for slapping me late?”

“I didn’t slap you.”

I jumped up and strongly denied it.

“It was an unavoidable situation...”

“I was also unsure if the poison would take effect immediately.”

The prince answered as I mumbled in a smaller voice, trying to justify myself.

“And even if I had known, I wouldn’t have told you.”

“...Why not?”

“To be an emperor, one must be flawless.”

I was taken aback. It was the second time I had heard this.

The prince in hard mode acted as if he would be in big trouble if he didn’t become a strong emperor.

I understood that he had to be strong to survive countless assassination attempts.

But every time I discovered a side of him I had never seen in normal mode, it felt strange.

“Stop sitting there with that gloomy face and say something.”

Not knowing what to say, I just stayed silent, and the prince urged me impatiently.

The strange emotion that had briefly risen inside me faded away.

I asked indifferently.

“What should I say?”

“Anything. How things have been going while I’ve been stuck here, whether the assassins have been identified.”

I pondered for a moment how to respond.

After he collapsed, everything happened like a storm.

I was suddenly arrested and thrown into prison, then put on trial with no one believing me. I managed to turn the tables using the [Assassin’s Emblem] I obtained as a quest reward...

Explaining all of this in words felt like tattling to the prince.

Moreover, I shouldn’t keep the just-awakened patient here for too long, so I summarized the key points.

“The trial has taken place, and the forces behind the assassination have been identified, but the investigation hasn’t been properly conducted because His Majesty hasn’t returned yet.”

“Yeah, that’s what I expected.”

Calisto nodded as if he had anticipated this.

“Is that all? Did you testify at the trial?”

“Yes. Somehow...”

I inadvertently mentioned that I had become a noble murderer and testified.

Suddenly, I stopped speaking.

‘Now that I think about it... this guy doesn’t know what I said in the courtroom.’

The thought of him learning that I had claimed we were lovers made my spine tingle.

“Somehow?”