I Became the Abandoned Prince Whom the Saintess Is Obsessed With

22 – The Revelation of the Gods

I barely escaped from the palace.

In the deep night, in the silent city with no pedestrians, thick white fog hung in the air.

Throughout the entire run towards Count Bart.

An intense pain was felt on the left side of their chest.

It was as if the claws of a monster were tearing at their heart.

Emergency treatment was given.

But it was definitely not a shallow wound.

The forcibly stitched heart continued to bleed, threatening to burst.

It was a serious injury that could never be healed, even if all vitality was consumed.

If there had been even a slight delay in reacting when the blade struck…

Without a doubt, it would have been instant death.

I couldn’t even imagine it.

Surely, the Emperor, whom I thought was asleep, wouldn’t attack with a hidden knife.

Perhaps touching my ankle was a feint.

But to accurately detect the remaining poison deep inside my body, I had no choice but to use the elf’s ability.

For that, physical contact was necessary.

If I had known this, I should have at least told the truth about the return of my ability and asked for cooperation.

Of course, it was a regret that came too late.

And it didn’t take long for me to deny that regret again.

It was a simple problem.

After all, the truth is like water confined in a dam.

When a small crack appears and the water starts to seep out…

The crack will gradually grow larger due to the leaking water.

In the end, it will only lead to the destruction of the dam.

And the truth that bursts out like a flood right after.

It will undoubtedly cause an irreversible disaster.

No doubt about it.

If, by any chance, I were to regain my abilities,

No matter how big or small, the emperor’s attitude would change.

And if the empress were to notice, the situation could become extremely dire.

Therefore, even if it’s a trivial truth, it must never be told to the emperor.

What was fortunate, at least, was that the emperor’s decoding was complete.

And the unfortunate event that swallowed up all that good fortune was…

The moment I crossed the Marquis’s fence, I had almost used up all my remaining energy.

I could no longer move.

Thud-

I couldn’t even land properly; I collapsed onto the ground in a pitiful state.

Upon seeing me like that, the spirits desperately shouted.

Two men are approaching.

So please, get up quickly.

But now, I couldn’t even twitch a finger.

Perhaps this time, I might really die.

The terror of death that washed over me like a tsunami.

Fades away faintly, like the remaining embers.

From the start, this was a life that didn’t suit me, and that realization brought a strange sense of relief.

The intense pain that had been pulsating from my heart had completely vanished.

That was because death had come so close that I couldn’t even feel it.

Not far away, Elaine was there.

If only she could receive her help.

It might not be too late yet.

But now, it was even difficult to maintain consciousness.

The field of vision blurred rapidly.

The moonlight was as cold as the dawn air.

Even the droplets on the thin grass leaves, shining brightly in that bitter light, were swallowed by darkness in an instant.

***

Why did it only occur to her now?

Unable to sleep until late at night, Elaine belatedly remembered the face of the prince.

When she blurted out the engagement in a fit of anger.

What appeared on his face was certainly not joy.

There was only surprise, confusion, and a somehow guilty expression.

On his frozen face like a shallow winter lake, only such cold and jagged lines were engraved, like cracked gold.

Was there any room for doubt…

It was a question that didn’t even need an answer.

Not at all. There was none.

The prince’s expression was definitely not a positive one.

Why did she remember that expression now, so belatedly, filled with regret?

“What on earth have I done…?”

The face that came to mind next was that of the female knight sitting next to the prince.

With fiery red hair that seemed to be soaked in warmth, and eyes full of strength.

Her milky white face was filled with a beauty that was hard to imagine as a knight.

Although she had a tall and slender figure, she also exuded a vibrant vitality.

Just seeing her beautiful appearance once was enough.

It seemed to accentuate her own miserable state.

Perhaps that’s why.

This intense misery that she felt.

It was the result of struggling to satisfy nothing but her own greed, even skipping the brief moment of confirming the prince’s heart.

There was no need to think any further.

Breaking off this absurd engagement was the only right thing to do.

But somehow.

She didn’t want to do that.

As she headed towards the edge of the night.

The two hearts clashed incessantly.

In the end, after tossing and turning for a long time, she could finally fall asleep with great difficulty.

And she dreamed.

So densely that even in her dream, the prince appeared until the moment she fell asleep.

He smiled brightly and whispered in a sweet voice.

“Come with me.”

“I will make you happy.”

“Will you marry me?”

I felt an ecstatic feeling, as if I wanted to shout, “Yes, right now!” But my lips, as if made of plaster, wouldn’t move.

Even though I wanted to cry out, begging the prince who kept getting farther away to wait for me.

But my voice never came out.

Then suddenly, the scene changed.

It was a familiar place that I could see just by leaning my head out of the window.

The prince was lying there.

Black hood, black cloak.

The same outfit as before, exactly the same.

And once again, he was dying.

He raised his blood-stained hand, trembling, desperately pleading for me to save him.

Then I woke up from the dream.

My whole body was soaked in sweat.

Tears were streaming down my face.

My legs were weak, and my fingertips were trembling.

Even after waking up, it was still an unsettling and terrifying nightmare.

But why?

It’s just a nightmare, at most.

Why does it feel like all of it is real?

Thump! Thump!

Even though I tried to deny it in my head, my heart was violently pounding, recklessly pushing her away.

What’s so difficult about confirming it?

Get up right now and look out the window, making a fuss and persistently demanding.

Elaine quickly got up and looked out the window.

The location where the prince was in the dream was near the wall.

“……!”

Under the moonlight, someone faintly appeared, lying down as if dead.

A black hood covering the hair and a black cloak that completely covered a not-so-small figure.

It was exactly the same as what she saw in the dream.

She couldn’t recognize it because she tried to wash away the blood.

There was no doubt that it was the prince lying down.

At the moment she was about to go down, she faintly heard the voices of soldiers approaching from not far away.

“Has Lady Katia been acting strange lately?”

“Yeah, she’s always stuck in her room and hardly ever comes out.”

They were patrolling.

Elaine felt her breath being choked.

What would happen if they were to discover the dying prince?

Whether it was the intruding prince or the neglectful marquis who let the dying prince be, there was no avoiding misunderstandings. The situation was inevitably going to worsen.

That’s why it had to be stopped.

Elaine leaned out of the window and urgently shouted in the opposite direction, pointing.

“Over there! There’s an intruder over there!”

Startled by the sudden voice, the soldiers instinctively moved. They ran in the opposite direction along Elaine’s outstretched finger.

There was no time to relax.

Elaine rushed out of the bedroom.

She hurried down the stairs and ran barefoot out of the mansion.

Her breath was labored, and her legs trembled.

But she didn’t stop and kept running.

What was harder to endure than physical exhaustion at her limit was the fear that controlled her body and mind.

Please, it shouldn’t be a serious injury like in a dream.

As her mind went blank, her thoughts couldn’t go any further.

Sharp grass pricked her soles. Small, hard stones dug into her flesh.

Blood was flowing, but Elaine didn’t notice at all.

There was no hesitation.

She just desperately ran with the sole purpose of saving the prince.

But even so, she arrived too late.

No sound of breath could be heard from the fallen prince.

Eleanor turned him over and laid him down, trying to ignore her pounding heart.

Her hands were covered in blood.

Blood was flowing down in streams from the prince’s left chest.

Even to her, who had no medical knowledge, it was an alarming wound.

It seemed like he had been stabbed in the heart.

“No… this can’t be…”

She had no time to question why he kept ending up in life-threatening situations.

Eleanor quickly placed her hands on the prince’s heart.

He had clearly said that his abilities should not be revealed, but now was not the time to worry about such things.

She desperately wished.

Please, let this man rise up in perfect condition.

With a fervent heart, she prayed to the gods.

That moment arrived.

A bright light burst forth from her hands.

The power to make things invisible was not exclusive to darkness.

This bright light, symbolizing divine power, was more than enough to blind the eyes.

It was an absolute radiance.

It was as if a god had descended before her eyes.

The white light, more overwhelming than the snow on the mountains, spread out with great force, engulfing the moonlight and erasing even the darkness.

Something felt strange.

Not only was ‘I’ erased, but the entire world was erased as well.

It was as if an absolute radiance had descended upon this place, to the point where it felt like light itself.

And it came through my own palm.

A massive pillar of light shot up into the night sky without hesitation.

For a moment, it seemed as if the night had retreated from the capital of the Mersen Empire.

Thud-

The light that had swallowed everything disappeared as if it were a lie.

Once again, Elaine lost consciousness and collapsed onto the prince’s chest.

Someone had come running, not long after that.

“Elaine…!”

Bart, the Marquis, who had rushed out barefoot, anxiously checked his daughter’s condition first, barely able to catch his breath.

Fortunately, she seemed to be fine.

But when he saw the face of the man lying below, the Marquis almost screamed without realizing it.

It was truly an unbelievable situation.

On such an ambitious night.

Prince Eos, the notorious Crown Prince, was lying unconscious in his own mansion.

Fortunately, he was still breathing.

The strong scent of blood indicated that he had probably suffered a fatal injury and fainted.

What on earth could have happened?

I couldn’t understand any English at all.

But one thing was clear.

The fact that a girl had fallen on this cold floor at such an ambitious moment was undoubtedly because of the Crown Prince.

And one thing even more important.

It was to quickly lay the fallen girl on the bed.

What was etched on the Viscount’s face was not just anger, but a worry stronger than the painful chest.

He carefully held his daughter with a cautious touch.

Worried that she might break, he slowly, step by step, made his way into the mansion.

Then, after a few steps, it happened.

Someone revealed themselves from behind.

“What should we do with this person?”

The man, dressed entirely in black like an assassin, spoke.

The Viscount didn’t even turn around.

He only stared straight ahead with sharp, intensified eyes.

“For now, move them to my bed.”

It was a low voice, trembling as if suppressing anger was not easy.