TPOP 105

Chapter 105

***

Sponsored by Curufin. Thank you ❤️ (10/10)

***

“….”

Now that he thought about it, the steward of the secondary palace was also a new face. The steward who had managed the secondary palace these past few months—what was his name again? Anyway, he too was dead. Emile, the head maid of the main palace, had been stabbed in the shoulder and was unable to work, so a replacement had been sent from the Duke's household as well.

Diana vanished, and as if waiting for her departure, the close associates who knew her began dying off one by one. The right hand that had once painted his world was now tightly bound in bandages like chains.

Diana had broken it. His hand, his world.

Felix burst into a maniacal laugh, then abruptly stopped.

‘No, no.’

His Diana was not at fault. Something else had ruined his world.

Felix recalled the unseen force that had violently struck this hand, the one that had held Diana back from the cliff. He thought of her last words, whispered in a thread of breath.

"I want to go to the spring."

Those words weren't meant for him. That day, at that moment, a spirit was undoubtedly beside Diana. One? Two? Or too many to count? His teeth ground together inside his tightly pressed lips.

Damn it... I should have burned it all down until the forest was completely consumed!

"You're a terrible—"

A terrible human being. So what?

Felix barely managed to shut his ears. He feared the words that would follow that repeated phrase more than the phrase itself.

Fear. Yes, that was the name of the emotion. Like muddy, cloud-colored paint smeared haphazardly with his left hand, it flooded past his feet, up his shins, over his knees, aiming for his heart.

Then, someone’s knock shattered the icy silence.

“Your Highness, we found her. They say they found someone believed to be Miss Diana!”

***

As if by magic, the dark clouds parted, revealing a clear blue sky. What the soldiers had retrieved from the lower reaches of the Renema River hours earlier lay on the muddy ground. Covered by black satin, it took the shape of a small person lying straight, its overall length, width, and curves perfectly aligned.

"The heavy rains caused the ground to collapse, inflicting severe damage on the nearby villages. Among the bodies swept away by the river, we found one whose appearance somewhat resembled Miss Diana's. However, it had been submerged for quite some time, resulting in severe damage."

Felix wasn't listening to the search captain's explanation.

The figure covered in thick cloth looked strikingly similar to the woman he knew. He recognized it instantly, having observed and held that body countless times over the past months. His heart pounded so loudly it drowned out the chatter around him.

His mind was certain Diana couldn't have drowned, yet the remote possibility crushed his thoughts. Thump, thump, thump. With every step he took, it felt like his heart was being stomped on.

Felix slowly lowered himself into a sitting position. He gripped the cloth, held his breath for a moment, then pulled it down in one swift motion.

Sure enough, the corpse was beyond horrifying. Even Felix, who had seen countless corpses in his life, had never witnessed a drowned person before.

The entire body was bloated from water, and most of the flesh on the face had been torn away by fish, exposing part of the skull. Naturally, identifying the face was impossible. The only certainties were that it was a woman dressed in men's clothing and that she had wheat-colored hair.

The coat draped over the body looked familiar. It was undoubtedly the shabby garment Diana had worn that night.

The search leader asked cautiously.

"What... should we do?"

Felix couldn't utter a word. His body remained still, but his soul seemed to spin backwards. His head spun dizzyingly, as if falling headfirst off a cliff, and he couldn't breathe.

Could this truly be Diana?

Was there any certainty it wasn't?

Was he clinging to stubbornness?

If this really was Diana, what then?

This was no longer lovely. It wasn't beautiful either.

It was far, far removed from any aesthetic perfection. Among the countless corpses he had seen, this one was among the most horrifying.

"You."

Her burst lips gaped wide.

"You're a monstrous human."

She hurled curses.

"I will make you—"

The bodies pulled from the riverbed were not just one. Many commoners had died or gone missing in the untimely storm. Those clutching the dead and wailing were scattered everywhere. It was a hellish scene, polluted with tears, screams, and wails. Felix was no different from them. He could not exist as a detached observer.

Felix touched filth he had never touched in his life, filth he never thought he would touch.

He kicked aside mud, a foul-smelling mixture of everything, and touched the flesh clinging to the bones. The burst flesh crumbled the moment his hand touched it. The lifeless, unyielding texture of the corpse was undeniably grotesque, yet surprisingly, he felt nothing.

If it was part of Diana, then every bone fragment belonged to him. Madness, not reason, drove his actions.

Felix grabbed a clump of hair clinging to the sunken skull.

He rinsed the mud seeping through the strands with rainwater and examined the color. Beige and oatmeal, an elusive hue and brightness between them. Even he, an expert in color, had struggled for a long time to mix it. No one else could replicate it.

If there was even the slightest difference—.

"Your Highness, there's no need for you to handle it yourself..."

Captain Pierre of the guard called out to him, visibly uneasy. Felix paid no heed and turned the corpse over. The heart, which had been pounding wildly, was gradually returning to its original rhythm.

Different.

This wasn't Diana's. The color was subtly duller than her hair. Could a person's hair lose its vibrancy after being submerged in water for too long? He couldn't know for sure, but his instinct screamed.

This wasn't his woman.

Only after observing the body until he was certain did Felix withdraw his hands from the unknown woman.

The knights, who had been holding their breath and focusing on the Crown Prince's movements and expression, shuddered slightly. The agitation slowly faded from the Crown Prince's face. Instead, relief surfaced, only to quickly transform into a bleak smile.

"I didn't want it for no reason."

The Crown Prince, muttering something unintelligible, finally straightened his back and stood up. With the eerie smile vanishing from his gaunt face, there was no longer any sign to gauge his mood.

"We're leaving."

The cold command fell. Unbelievably, Felix turned his back, as if he hadn't just been frantically examining the corpse moments before. The hem of his cloak fluttered in a parabolic arc.

The perfectly fitted coat and trousers were undoubtedly identical to those Diana had worn. Yet, the wearer was different. Someone had stripped Diana and dressed an unknown woman in her clothes.

Even if Diana was a spirit summoner, the probability that a blind woman would personally select a human with similar hair and build, change into her clothes, and flee was low. Of course, the spirits might have used some strange trick, but his honed instincts screamed.

This was the work of a human.

Diana had an unknown accomplice.

Felix retraced the past few months as he returned to the imperial palace.

'Who dared?'

Regardless of how she escaped or how long the plan had been in the works, she was likely still alive. The fact she hadn't jumped to her death was almost admirable.

But that pleasant thought vanished quickly.

Ever since Diana became his maid, Felix had scarcely taken his eyes off her. Especially after bringing her into the main palace, he practically carried her around with him every day. But when exactly had anyone been able to approach her?

Moreover, Diana's clothing had been found near the border. That meant she had been at the border days, or even weeks, ago. If she had already crossed Karman's border, then from that point onward, she was beyond Felix's jurisdiction.

The northern border of Karman met the southeastern border of the Kingdom of Arete and the southwestern border of Ormance. Both nations were friendly states that had sent envoys to the Emperor's last birthday banquet. 

Felix's lips twisted mercilessly.

Which of the two? Which of them helped my woman?

***

"Investigate everyone Diana has met over the past few months."

Since returning from the river's lower reaches, the nature of the Crown Prince's orders had changed.

Now, he seemed to go beyond merely being certain the maid was alive; he appeared to suspect she had conspired with some faction to escape. Those summoned from the House of Christen trembled in fear.