“Persian… Carlex.”
I whispered with a hot breath near his ear.
A spark flew from Carlex's eyes.
His deep groan announced that he had reached the limit of endurance.
I grabbed his full face with my hands.
A burning heat touched his cheeks, which were like cold statues.
His long eyelashes moved like a lost butterfly.
As I stared mesmerized at that movement, two deep, enchanting lips attracted me under his arrogant nose.
I slowly tilted my head towards him.
Her cobalt blue eyes began to tremble violently.
Ever since I came into this body, I have been suffering from anxiety.
If I had replaced Erica, what happened to my real self in the real world? Is this body really mine?
I wanted to forget fear.
I wanted to feel like I was still me, if only for a second.
So I kissed him.
His body trembled as if an electric shock had passed through him during the provocative kiss.
I pushed my lips on his lips violently, not giving him a chance to respond.
I pressed hard on my hands that were holding his face.
There was no skill.
Like a baby clinging to its mother's milk.
Like a drowning person floundering in the water.
Only when I inhaled his hot warmth and his panting breath did I realize:
However... I am alive inside this strange body... I am still me.
I moved away from him slowly. And I released my trapped breath.
We took breath as two children just born into the world.
I now realize why in fairy tales the princess must kiss the prince for the magic to go away.
"Carlex! My knight!"
The foolish Crown Prince's loud voice, sounding like he was drunk disturbing the entire neighborhood, hit the back of my head.
The heat between Carlex and me froze instantly.
The curtain of the tent moved, and the reckless Crown Prince entered, completely drunk.
I was so surprised that I kicked Carlex, pushing him and quickly standing up.
Carlex looked at the Crown Prince with a face full of anger and boredom.
Even Ludwig, in his drunkenness, quickly understood the situation.
“Hmm... Did I spoil you two's good time?”
“If you know this, please leave the tent.”
Carlex and I said at the same moment when the Crown Prince finished his sentence.
“No, you just showed up at the perfect time.”
As I peeked at the two men, I moved my feet towards the entrance of the tent.
The Crown Prince who appears out of place has never been as welcome as he is now.
This completely woke me up from being drunk.
Enough to know how crazy I had just been.
I snatched a kiss from the hero of the novel!
“Where are you going, Librarian Erica?”
What a misplaced and shrewd crown prince!
I smiled sweetly.
“It's late at night, I have to go back to the library.”
After I quickly said goodbye to him and was about to run away, a large hand grabbed my shoulder gently but firmly.
“Erica, I think we have something waiting to be resolved.”
"Is that so? I don't think so. Anyway, I'm busy now, so until…"
Your Highness, you have done your duty, so let us part quietly now.
While Ludving was watching with absent eyes the hidden struggle of nerves between Carlex and me, he suddenly made a sound: “Ah…”
“My Persian, this is very rude. Your hearts should be at odds while I am here. How can you do this?”
The Crown Prince placed his hand on his face as if he were a tragic hero betrayed by his lover.
What? Is it possible that there was originally a hidden literary genre that I was not aware of?
I looked suspiciously at Carlex and Ludwig alternately.
Carlex closed his eyelids and exhaled deeply, as if trying to restrain the explosive rage.
He violently grabbed the Crown Prince's shoulders with both hands and turned him towards the entrance.
It was as if he had thrown him to the ground with all due respect for the position of the Crown Prince.
“You have drunk too much. Go to the king’s palace with the palace guards now.”
“I don't want to. Are you treating me like I'm old in the back room? I want to play too.”
The Crown Prince swayed and hugged Carlex's waist.
Carlex suppressed his anger and could not push the possessive Crown Prince with a heavy voice, so he wiped his forehead forcefully.
“You should stop before I resign.”
“If you resign, I will also resign from the position of Crown Prince.”
Shouldn't I stop the Crown Prince's mouth now?
It was clear that Carlex was trying with extraordinary force of willpower to refrain from hitting Ludving.
He looked at him with eyes full of contempt.
“Is it a position you can give up as you wish? In your veins runs the noble blood of the kingdom.”
Ludving grabbed the hem of Carlex's dress as if he were clinging to it, and exhaled laboriously.
As if he was suffering from a lack of oxygen in the water.
“I was not born into the royal family of my own free will. Do you know how painful it is to carry this weight?”
“I don’t want to know. That is your duty alone.”
When Carlex said that with a harsh coldness, a bitter smile appeared on the Crown Prince’s face.
“My big brother died in the end because of the throne. It is a seat already stained with blood. His Majesty the King lost its vitality a long time ago, and has become like an ancient tree.” You will dissolve under the weight of that throne.”
Ludving's voice was rough, like the sound of a rock breaking.
"I am afraid of the throne. It is a cursed seat. If you sit on it, you will not stand from it until after your death. And underneath it, hyenas wait to sever my jugular vein when I... I show no weakness.”
He whispered in a soft voice, like a rock slowly sinking to the bottom of the sea:
“I'm really... afraid of becoming king.”
The Crown Prince's mask shattered and fell to the ground.
And in his robe stood a wounded boy with a blank face, he had even forgotten to cry.
Seven years ago.
It was said that a wave of monsters suddenly appeared in a celebration hall in the palace without warning, and the Crown Prince of that period and dozens of nobles died instantly.
Ludwig was the only one who did not have the right to attend, so he survived.
He was a prince from whom no one expected anything. Like a useless tree protecting the mountain, he survived against his will and maintained the lineage of the royal family.
He had to climb to the seat of the Crown Prince, which was saturated with the smell of blood.
No one understood his pain and guilt.
Even his father, the king, was so consumed with the pain of losing his eldest son, he could not care about Ludving's pain.
I stood quietly, blocking the entrance to the tent.
I was afraid that someone would accidentally enter and encounter this fragile person on the verge of collapse.
شَدَّ كارليكس فَكَّهُ وَصَكَّ بِشِدَّة.
His eyes sparkled with anger.
“You are my master, so let me say it just once. Listen to me carefully.”
“Carlex...”
"Stop whining about heresy! Get yourself together! You'll be mine!"
He grabbed Ludwig's shoulders tightly and stared at him, as if he was going to hit him with his forehead.
“Prove that you are worthy of my loyalty. Do not show such weakness in front of me.”
He grabbed the collar of the crown prince who was diving deep into the water, and forcibly pulled him to the surface.
So that his kingdom does not stray from the path.
Ludving laughed hollowly. His eyes, which were fluttering in despair, looked with admiration at his great knight.
"I do not have that qualification. I am a coward and lazy. Indeed, you are the first in this place. All the people and knights love you."
“Ludving!”
A warning laced with anger rained down like lightning.
“Don't tarnish our family's honor!”
Carlex stared at the Crown Prince, eyes blazing blue.
“The Reinhart family has been serving the Kingdom of Ruberia for centuries. Just like my father, I too will take that path. Therefore.”
He pulled Ludving's collar closer to him.
Two strong, hot gazes met.
“Be a great king, for that alone is the only atonement you can do.”
The light gradually returned to the Crown Prince's pale blue eyes.
Only Carlex fully understood the Crown Prince's pain, despair, and sadness.
The useless prince must follow the path of the bloody throne, and the young duke must prove his family's honor with his life.
They were both walking the same path of adversity, and that is a deeper relationship than the relationship of the ruler and his servant.
There was silence between them.
A light wind blew through a gap in the tent, shaking the oil lamps hung on the poles.
With the movement of the undulating lights, the shadows of the two men swayed.
“To prove that I deserve your loyalty… I have to try. I got sober because of you, Carlex.”
Ludving slowly put on his original mask.
He returned to his absurd face, as if he was lying.
Then he tapped Carlex's shoulder easily as if nothing had happened.
Carlex said nothing, but he also seemed to have regained his calm.
The Crown Prince turned his gaze to me as I stood at the entrance to the tent, and nodded apologetically.
“I was rude by raising my voice in front of the lady.”
“It's okay. People usually get close by arguing. The next time you fight, tell me to leave the place. I was in an uncomfortable place.”
Ludwig laughed joyfully when he heard my words.
“Heh, I'll remember that.”
The Crown Prince passed by me as he pushed the curtain, then stopped and turned around.
“However, I must emphasize this.”
"What?"
“I am a greedy crown prince. My Persian is dear to me...”
Ludving looked at Carlex for a moment, then immediately turned his gaze to me.
“…But I also want my secretary to be by my side.”
Ludving's blue eyes sparkled with life again.
I was worried all the time, and finally my heart was at peace.
It was not an easy thing.
This crown prince requires extreme care.
“What should I do from now on? Will you show me the way? As a book reader.”
The Crown Prince's tone was playful, but his look was serious.
Carlex's expression was filled with meaning.
I apologize, but I reject and hate this triangular relationship that makes me the middle...
“You misunderstood. There is no relationship between me and His Highness.”
“Is that true?”
I said with a firmness that could not accommodate any hesitation.
He was so incisive that Ludving was taken aback and looked at Carlex.
With a look full of compassion.
Maybe I started the fire.
Carlex stared at me with eyes that burned so hotly as if he were going to eat me.
His gaze, blazing with blue flame, asked me.
I know its meaning without words:
“Then why did you kiss me?”
Yes. I confess.
I am the culprit who kissed the hero of the story under the influence of alcohol.
Even if Freesia grabbed my hair, I wouldn't have an argument.
So, I will run away now.
“Your Highness, I will accompany you. Let’s go.”
I said as I quickly pushed the curtain back.
At that moment.
"Ahh! Monster!"
Someone's scream rang out in the distance.
From the side of the match stadium.
What is this sound? I opened the curtain involuntarily, then froze in place.
I experienced horror for the first time in my life.
In front of me stood a humanoid with the face of a wolf.
A huge body, about two meters long, covered with gray fur.
Ludving shouted in a voice full of astonishment:
"A monster? How here!"
Grrrr!
The wolf howled devilishly.
The stench of a monster arrived in the cold breeze.
His visible fangs flashed from between his large jaws, which reached his ears, with a fierce light under the moonlight.
I was astonished by the appearance of the unreal monster that I had only seen in movies.
The monster's yellow eyes sparkled as it stared at me.
When I belatedly felt danger to my life, the monster's sharp nail had already moved toward my neck.
“To be continued in the next chapter”
Loving translation