Chapter 105: 106

“I’m considered as the next Crown Princess.”

The young Natalia clenched her teeth as if resentful.

“The one who was originally destined to be the Crown Prince suddenly got scared and withdrew. A coward… I’m a mixed breed, so I’m easy.”

Natalia ruffled her hair roughly as if her hand was a rake, then twisted the cut part with her fingers.

The girl’s fingers seemed very dry for her age.

“Everyone knows it as an honor. My mother finally recognized me because I was excellent. I can’t live long anyway, isn’t it a good thing? …But, when did I want to become the Crown Princess?”

Having been biting her lips, the girl suddenly raised her voice.

Her fair face turned red, as red as her disheveled red hair. The intense hair color reminiscent of flames was different from that of her mother, Emperor Igdrasil.

“I was loyal to the imperial family just to screw those who laughed at my hair color. It was really just that!”

Natalia sat down by the well. Her distorted facial features were reflected in the deep blue water.

“The previous successors who were willing to sacrifice their bodies are strange.” 

The girl’s voice rang like a bell throughout the dungeon. Her voice trembled towards the end of her words.

“It is not at all an honor to be the heir to the throne… You know that best, right?”

Natalia bowed her head and looked into the well. The girl’s red hair fell into the water and spread like a lotus leaf.

I inadvertently covered my ears. That monster was the one who cried terribly when the well water shook.

But no screams were heard.

The monster didn’t make any sound, let alone cry.

It even looked up at Natalia with its black head upright. Like it was listening to her.

‘What is this?’

I couldn’t help but panic.

‘Is that really the one who cried out loud just by touching the blue well?’

‘Does it understand Natalia…?’

Cough! 

Then Natalia let out a dry cough.

The cough soon caused her to become nauseous. As the little girl crouched down and grabbed her chest, I panicked and instinctively put my hand on the child’s shoulder. But my hand went straight through her skinny body.

“I don’t want to be the Crown Princess.”

After a while, Natalia, who had barely stopped coughing, slowly raised her head.

Pathetic anger shone in her emerald eyes.

“I don’t want to disappear like that.”

I couldn’t figure out why Natalia was angry.

It was true that the heir to the throne in this empire was an insignificant position; since Igdrasil, the World Tree, who had lived for thousands of years, was holding on as the eternal emperor.

‘But I don’t think it’s something to reject like that…’

Apart from not being able to receive the throne, it was an honor in itself to be selected as the heir to the throne.

Just like Garou right now, he was carrying the power of the imperial family on his back and acting like a fool.

Nevertheless, Natalia shuddered. It’s as if she was going to die if she became the crown princess.

“Will you help me?”

Natalia put her hand into the well with her face gazing towards the floor.

The evil spirit didn’t cry this time either.

“Don’t make me the Crown Princess.”

The voice scattered over the water was hoarse.

“Please point to a child other than me as the successor.”

I couldn’t understand the girl’s words at all.

The heir to the throne must have been the title given by Emperor Igdrasil. That’s what I, and others, knew.

But why would she ask an evil spirit like that?

“I know I’m selfish. Everyone said it was better for me to sacrifice. Because I was born weak enough that it wouldn’t be strange if I die soon…”

Natalia clenched her teeth and spoke again. She desperately calmed her breath and added.

“But I… I want to be free even for a moment.”

The evil spirit slowly lowered its head toward Natalia. It seemed that it was no longer interested in her story.

Natalia clasped her hands nervously, then pushed her upper body forward.

“If you help me, I will get you out of here!”

The evil spirit pulled the chain. The latch that led to the outside of the well cried loudly.

It had no intention of threat. The spirit seemed surprised.

It sounded crazy, but the evil spirit was feeling emotions.

There was a long silence in the dungeon.

Young Natalia muttered as she stared at the chained evil spirit.

“Is that not enough?”

Splash! Natalia jumped into the well without warning.

At the same time, water filled my sight. I reflexively covered my nose, but soon realized I didn’t need to.

Even though my body was in the water and bubbles covered my face, I could breathe.

The scene before my eyes was an illusion. It was a piece of the past that I could not intervene.

Natalia swam towards the chained monster. And she grabbed its dark body with both hands.

“Then…”

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Bubbles of breath spurted out of Natalia’s lips and floated up to the top of the well.

The voice was so muffled it was difficult to understand.

I looked at the girl’s mouth as she said it again and again.

She probably said something like this.

– I’ll give you my body.

Waves of foam swept over my body.

I covered my nose with a shaking hand. The more I did, the more blurred the scenery became.

My vision darkened, then brightened again.

Suddenly the water drained and the hard stone floor touched my knees.

I fell on the floor, and I lowered my hand to wipe my face. There wasn’t even a drop of water on my body.

“This is…?”

As I slowly raised my head, I saw a small bedroom.

The dark colored stone wall was the same as the magic tower just now, but other than that, the scenery was quite different. The floor was quite high, so I could see the entire forest through the window.

The more I looked at the room drenched in the setting sun, the more familiar it became.

I looked around and found a painting hanging on one of the walls.

A face that anyone would covet and a lively smile. It was a portrait of the duchess.

I realized belatedly. This was the top room of the second magic tower, and Alan’s bedroom, which he had been using since Lily’s abduction.

There was a reason I didn’t recognize it right away. The scenery of the room was quite different from what I remembered.

When I visited, this bedroom looked like a crumbling ruin.

But now it felt like a room where people live. The velvet canopy bed and mahogany furniture were luxurious, and bright flowers decorated the dust-free cabinet.

“Keuk!”

A dry cough pierced my eardrums.

I turned to the side where the sound was coming from and was startled.

A young woman was lying on a canopy bed. Her long, curly hair was a brighter red than the sunset.

It was Natalia. She was no longer young. She appeared to be about the same age as the portrait.

I stood up, mouth hanging open in confusion.

What surprised me was not Natalia’s age.

The woman’s stomach swelled up to the point of being visible even when covered with a blanket. No matter how I looked at it, she was in the last month of pregnancy

“Haa… haa…”

Natalia took off the handkerchief she was wiping her lips with. Red blood was splattered on the pure white cloth.

“…All returned to nature. Verney and the larks, as well as my husband.”

Natalia put the handkerchief on the silver tray and called, raising her upper body.

“It’s okay to come out now.”

She looked at me. With an intense gaze like an arrow. I instantly mistakenly thought that she had found me.

Rumble.

I heard the sound of a latch turning behind my back.

I looked back slowly.

The portrait of the duchess tilted obliquely. The frame, which was delicately crafted with roses, rotated until the picture was turned upside down and then stopped.

Squeak. 

With the sound of a hinge, the frame opened like a door.

Behind the portrait was a secret passage that could barely fit a single person. A black monster popped its head out of the black hole.

I swallowed my breath.

The one that came out of the wall was the same monster that was locked in the palace’s magic tower. There were broken restraints on its wrists and ankles, it constantly limped.

The cuts in the chain that used to be attached to the floor were ragged as if they were burned.

“It’s been a while, right? That you look at the sky.”

Natalia blinked at the setting sun outside the window as if she wanted to see it to her heart’s content. Her innocent attitude seemed infinitely strange to me.

“Because since I got married and entered the ducal castle 20 years ago, you have been living down there forever…”

Natalia tapped the blanket as if asking the evil spirit to come closer.

The evil spirit hesitated for a moment, then approached the bedside. This time, instead of crying, it was as quiet as a gentle sheep.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t come down these days. I was afraid that my husband would find out about you.”

I tried to match Natalia’s words with the childhood I had just seen.

Then I could roughly guess what was going on.

‘She promised the demon that she would let it escape from the palace’s magic tower… Did she secretly bring it when she married Alan and hide it here?’

It was shocking, but not impossible. The Duke’s Castle was the only area in the Empire that could escape the supervision of the imperial family.

‘But, why?’

Questions purely filled my mind.

If she wanted to release that evil spirit for certain reason, it would have ended if she took it out of the barrier like releasing a confined animal.

But why did she hide it for 20 years?

“I will die soon.”

Natalia muttered. She added as she stroked her stomach.

“It’s time to keep the promise I made with you.”

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