THCF 04

Chapter 4

Knock, knock.

Cedric knocked on the door and entered.

“Your Highness. Someone whose identity has not been confirmed has come to the garrison….”

He stopped when he saw the unfamiliar woman standing face-to-face with Carion.

He instinctively turned his gaze toward Orbin.

Orbin was desperately signaling with his hands and feet for him to shut up and come over here.

Cedric quietly walked over and stood beside Orbin.

Carion thought the woman who was looking straight into his eyes had a powerful presence.

There was no fear in her green eyes.

It did not seem like she was simply putting on a brave front. It seemed to be a natural part of her character.

It was interesting, but also irritating.

Whether she was really a princess or not, how had she managed to enter the residence in the middle of a heavily guarded military garrison?

‘The discipline has become too lax. I need to revise the security system and conduct a full inspection.’

Carion tilted his head slightly and spoke.

“I thought we had never met before.”

“If you are asking whether we have met before, then no.”

“Let us say you are a princess. Zephyrus is undeniably an enemy of the Empire.”

‘Enemy’ was too grand a word considering the overwhelming difference in their size and power, but officially, they were indeed enemies.

“Do you know how much risk I would bear if His Majesty learned about this meeting?”

“I do.”

“Do you also know that I could arrest the princess here and send her to the capital?”

“But you will not do that.”

Lea answered with a slight smile.

However, Carion’s expression remained unchanged.

“What makes you believe that?”

“I believe in the proposal I am going to make to Your Highness. It will benefit you much more than capturing me and sending me to the Imperial capital.”

“Is that marriage?”

Lea cleared her throat before speaking.

“Ahem. I left out a more important part of my introduction.”

“Let us hear that introduction.”

Lea glanced toward the others, and Carion spoke.

“There is nothing they cannot hear.”

Orbin and Cedric stood perfectly still, holding their breath.

It was a desperate gesture that said, ‘Please treat us as if we are not here.’

The two of them often clashed because of their different personalities, but at this moment, they were thinking the same thing.

Since they had begun serving Prince Carion, there had never been a moment as exciting as this one.

Lea took a deep breath and spoke.

“The Kingdom of Zephyrus wishes to bow its head before the glorious majesty of the Empire and choose honorable submission. Your Highness, I ask that you present the flag of Zephyrus to His Majesty the Emperor and take the honor of bringing our kingdom under the Empire.”

A suffocating silence descended.

Not even a sound of breathing could be heard.

The southern desert kingdom, Zephyrus.

To the Empire, the Kingdom of Zephyrus was like a thorn stuck in its fingertip.

For more than twenty years, the Emperor had continued his campaigns of conquest, winning battle after battle. But when he attempted to invade Zephyrus, he lost countless troops.

The Emperor’s only painful defeat was still a forbidden subject in the Empire.

And now the Kingdom of Zephyrus was willingly kneeling and asking to become a vassal state?

It was an event that could shake the Empire to its foundations, and there was no doubt that the position of Fourth Prince Carion, who would be leading this matter, would change overnight.

Orbin and Cedric had already erased the expressions from their faces and were looking at their master.

Yet even though an enormous opportunity had appeared before him, Carion’s dry gaze did not change.

Instead, he asked indifferently,

“There must be conditions.”

“Take me to the Imperial capital. As your Crown Princess.”

Lea was inwardly troubled as she looked at his cold, lowered gaze.

Since he showed no reaction, she could not tell what he was thinking at all.

“The center of the world has already become the Empire. Zephyrus has maintained an isolationist policy for a long time. The kingdom has no foundation within the Empire. I want to see and hear what is happening at the heart of the Empire. A princess who is merely a hostage of a vassal state cannot do that, but a Crown Princess can.”

“I refuse.”

“…What?”

Lea thought that replying with ‘What?’ when someone said something to you made you look stupid, but she could not help asking again.

“If what the princess needs is the position of Crown Princess, there are other princes besides me. I will gladly arrange a position for you.”

“I want to make a deal with Your Highness.”

“Make that deal with another prince. I have no intention of earning merits, and I have no intention of getting married. Cedric. Escort our guest.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Lea bit her lip as she watched him walk away without hesitation.

She felt that she should retreat for now.

She obediently followed Cedric out.

Cedric guided her to a guest room inside the residence.

In a tone as flat as his neat and strict appearance, he said,

“Please refrain from leaving the room until your identity as a princess has been confirmed. Someone to attend to you will be sent in shortly.”

“I understand. People from the kingdom will visit within a few days.”

“Yes. I will inform you as soon as I receive the news.”

Once she entered the room, Lea collapsed onto the sofa.

It felt as if all the tension suddenly left her body.

She looked at the closed door.

There would surely be soldiers standing guard outside that door.

She had been prepared for much worse treatment, so she had no complaints.

Lea leaned back against the sofa and thought over the conversation she had just had with him.

She had only heard about him through rumors.

The wandering commander, the unleashed hunting dog, the outlaw of the northeast…

She did not know whether people still called him those things, but ten years later, he had acquired some rather unpleasant nicknames.

So before meeting him, the Carion she had imagined in her head was eccentric, fierce, and much more emotional.

Besides, he was only in his early twenties now. Wasn’t this the age when emotions tended to run wild?

But the man she met in person had almost none of the roughness of a soldier.

Rather, he seemed like someone who was exceptionally good at controlling his expression for his age.

‘…He looks like him.’

She had been shocked the moment she first saw him.

If he had not been wearing a hood, she probably would have stared at his face as if bewitched.

‘Who would have thought Prince Carion was that handsome?’

At times, she could see the face of his mother, Nella, the King of Nortia, overlapping with his.

How could anyone say he was not her son?

He had inherited Nella’s cold yet captivating eyes and sculpted nose exactly.

Nella had a strong jawline for a woman, but on a man’s face, it suited him perfectly.

It was amazing that a son could look so much like his mother.

‘Oh, dear.’

Lea covered her face with both hands.

For the first time in both of her lives, the humiliation of having her marriage proposal rejected outright finally came rushing over her.

⌜It’s a deal where both sides gain something. Unless that man is an idiot, he won’t refuse.⌟

This marriage was a plan that Nella and Lea had carefully worked out together, and it was their best strategy.

‘What should I do, Your Majesty?’

Your son was an idiot!

She had never considered the possibility that he would reject this marriage.

‘Does he not like me? …Of course, that could happen.’

Lea covered her flushed cheeks with her hands.

What had given her such confidence?

Why had she naturally assumed that the other person would agree simply because she asked him to marry her?

* * *

At dawn, Carion, who had been tossing and turning in bed, suddenly sat up.

His forehead was drenched in cold sweat.

He swallowed a groan and, grimacing, clawed at his chest.

It felt as if he had swallowed a ball of fire, and that ball of fire was rampaging freely inside his body.

“Haa…”

His stomach felt as though it were burning away, and the heat rose beyond his throat, making it feel as if his throat would be scorched every time he breathed.

The pain was barely bearable, yet at the same time, an urge to jump into ice-cold water surged through him.

But he already knew.

Even if he submerged himself in ice water until his jaw trembled, even if he drank as much cold water as he could, it would not help.

These cursed attacks, which occurred intermittently, had neither a known cause nor a known cure.

All he could do was grit his teeth, endure the pain, and wait for the moment when it reached its peak.

If he relaxed his clenched jaw, he felt as though a scream would escape.

Once the prickling sensation along the back of his neck passed, the pain slowly began to subside.

Sweat dripped down along his clenched jaw.

Soon, the veins bulging on his forehead slowly disappeared.

“Phew…”

He let out a long breath and collapsed back onto the bed.

He stared at the dark ceiling and caught his breath.

Perhaps the fact that there were no aftereffects was at least some comfort.

It was also fortunate that the attacks usually happened at night, so there was little chance of anyone seeing them.

After lying there blankly for a long while, dawn had already arrived.

He slowly got out of bed.

He would not be able to sleep anymore anyway, so he went out into the inner courtyard to breathe in the dawn air.

‘Wind?’

Carion thought that the wind brushing against his face was warm for dawn.

With a strange feeling of regret, he turned his head in the direction of the wind.

Then he stopped when he saw Lea, who flinched in surprise.