Calisto threw open the locked door as if breaking it down.
“Sister! Where are you, sister!”
Calisto, frantically searching the room like a madman, had a face distorted beyond recognition. The princess was nowhere to be found. Moreover,
‘The bedroom is too clean.’
There were no signs of anyone coming in or out. Calisto turned sharply and shouted.
“Are you sure my sister came to the bedroom?”
The courtier turned pale and trembled.
“I-I heard it from the wings. They said she went to her bedroom….”
“Find my sister immediately. Hurry!”
“Y-Yes, sir!”
The courtiers ran off in a panic. Lights quickly illuminated every corner of the palace. The urgent footsteps of knights echoed. Calisto clenched his fist so tightly that his nails dug into his palm.
‘I need to stay calm. Everything will be fine. Josephina wouldn’t harm my sister unless she’s lost her mind.’
Not only harm, but she had to keep her alive. The stronger Leticia became, the more desperately Josephina would need the imperial family’s support.
‘Then why am I feeling so uneasy?’
Calisto pressed down on his pounding heart. What on earth was Josephina planning to do to his sister? Why did she use the wings to abduct the princess? Where could his sister possibly be?
[Did you call, master?]
Crash! The spirit of the earth wriggled in through the shattered window. A massive snake made of mud cast a long shadow on the floor.
“My sister has disappeared. Search every corner of the palace. Now!”
[Understood.]
The spirit of the earth slithered out of the window. Crunch!
“Kyaa!”
As the intact floor broke and dirt surged up, the courtiers screamed. Ignoring their chaos, Calisto moved urgently.
‘I need to go to Josephina first.’
Just then,
“Your Highness! There’s trouble!”
A call like a scream. Calisto stopped dead in his tracks. The chill made his heart feel as if it were being ripped apart. He turned around with difficulty, barely able to breathe.
“What happened?”
“T-The princess….”
The courtier collapsed, crying.
“She has passed away!”
Calisto staggered forward. In the middle of a square covered in white snow, something lay. People were gathered around it. At first, he didn’t realize it was a person. The accumulated snow made it look like a small sack was placed there.
He recognized it as a person by the hem of the dress scattered on the white snow. Despite being a very familiar dress, he denied it until the end.
‘No way.’
When the courtier reported his sister’s death, he yelled that it was nonsense. He said it was bullshit and he wouldn’t believe it until he saw it with his own eyes. So he told them not to dare mention his sister’s death. But then, what was that?
‘My sister, so pointlessly?’
He had surely given his sister a means to protect herself. A small communication stone. He had told her to break it and call him if anything happened. So he had been at ease about her safety. But why, then? The princess lay on the snow as if she were merely asleep.
“Sister.”
He fell to his knees, his lips trembling. White breath quickly scattered into the air.
“Sister, it’s me.”
Unlike him, nothing came from the curled-up princess’s lips.
“Why are you here?”
He placed his trembling hand on the princess’s cheek.
“Why, in a place like this? Why….”
His vision blurred as he touched the icy cold cheek. All the past moments became wounds that lashed at him.
Princess Dana. She had always been second in his life. In their childhood, as he was being trained as a wing, Josephina naturally took precedence over the princess. After the pain of the oath began, all his focus was on finding a way to escape that pain.
Once he was free from the pain, Leticia became the center of his world. Thus, the princess had never been his first priority.
Of course, he knew his sister cared deeply for him. She was the only person in this desolate imperial family who worried about him. Yet, he never felt the need to return that affection. The princess already had so much. She was the most noble lady of the imperial family and the future empress. He thought his feelings were unnecessary.
“Sister….”
Why do we only realize the value of something after losing it? No matter how strong his magic was, he could not bring back the dead. Despite using every healing spell he knew, the princess’s breath did not return.
As he tried to hold back his silent tears and lift the princess, Calisto froze. Then his eyes widened in shock.
Would it feel like this if struck by lightning, splitting his heart? Even if so, it wouldn’t be this painful.
“Ha, ha.”
He barely reached out and brushed back the princess’s hair. His face contorted terribly. On the princess’s neck were handprints turned purple. The finger marks were clearly visible from how tightly she had been gripped.
The princess, the most noble woman in the empire, his sister, had been murdered so miserably. Strangled to death, and then, in thin indoor clothes, discarded like trash in a snow-covered square.
“Your Highness, we found the culprit who killed the princess! A witness saw the perpetrator!”
Holding his sister’s cold body, he spoke with bloodshot eyes.
“You found the culprit?”
There was only one thought in his mind now. To kill the one who did this in the most brutal way possible.
“It was the consort!”
“…What?”
“A knight named Banessa, who escorted the consort to the banquet today, abandoned the princess’s body here! It seems she harbored a grudge over what happened at the banquet!”
Since the emperor insulted Leticia, wasn’t this done to repay that debt? The knight shouted this with bloodshot eyes. Then he knelt.
“Please avenge the consort and clear the princess’s grievance, Your Highness!”
His voice was so loud that it echoed across the vast square.
“Did you hear? The consort’s knight killed our princess!”
“How could someone do such a thing?”
“He must have gone mad, relying on his master. They say he used the power of an evil dragon!”
“Prince Calisto became the consort’s wing, didn’t he? And that consort’s knight killed his sister?”
Listening to the murmuring voices, Calisto’s lips twisted. It was so absurd that he couldn’t help but laugh inappropriately.
‘Josephina, is this what you aimed for?’
Killing the princess and framing Banessa for the crime. A crude method, but it certainly was effective.
‘Since I am the consort’s wing, no one will believe me!’
If Calisto defended Leticia, everyone would say he had been deceived by her. They might even point fingers, accusing him of siding with the demon who killed his sister.
‘Were you so desperate, Josephina, that you resorted to such mad schemes?’
Calisto ground his teeth. Even if she fooled others, she could never deceive him. She must have known that a vengeful Calisto would go on a rampage. There must have been a reason compelling her to take such a risk.
‘I will kill her. I will definitely kill her!’
Whatever Josephina aimed for, she would achieve nothing. He would end it all. Right now, he would take everything from Josephina! His chest was consumed with burning rage. Reason had completely lost its grip.
“Your Highness, I will send soldiers to the consort’s quarters immediately!”
“Yes, we must kill the traitors who dared to assassinate a royal in the heart of the empire!”
The knights’ words didn’t reach his ears. Only one thought filled his mind. Kill her right now. Kill Josephina. At that moment, he forgot that he had postponed her death to break the curse.
“Your Highness… Urgh!”
The urgent call and groan of a knight echoed. Reflexively, Calisto turned his eyes widened.
“Your Highness, I’m sorry I’m late.”
A person he never expected to appear at such a moment. His only savior.
“…Saintess.”
It was Saintess Leticia.
“Your Highness, may I check the princess’s body?”
Leticia was in a thin hood, having rushed here. Her skin was pale from the cold wind.
“I came as soon as I heard, but… this.”
Leticia’s eyes widened as she examined the princess. Tears welled up in her eyes as she struggled to contain her emotions. Her trembling voice asked,
“Your Highness, are you okay?”
Calisto couldn’t speak and lowered his head. Hot tears wet his eyelids. He closed his eyes tightly. It wasn’t from anger. The moment Leticia appeared, the rage that had blinded him disappeared instantly.
But he couldn’t bring himself to express his feelings. His sister had died, and he couldn’t accept how easily he calmed down.
Even in such a situation, he wanted to lean on Leticia’s comfort. He wanted to cry and cling to her skirt, begging her to save his sister. Show a miracle, like she had saved him. He wanted to cling to her like a child.
“Your Highness! We must remove that woman immediately! Who knows what tricks she might… Urgh!”
“Shut your mouth, will you?”
“Huh, huff, you, you are!”
The knight, suddenly struck on the back of his neck and brought to his knees, glared with wide eyes.
“Your Highness! The murderer is here! This demon killed the princess! Look at what he just did to me! Surely…!”
“Banessa!”
“Don’t worry. I’ll handle it right now!”
Banessa spoke cheerfully and swung his fist again. Thud. With a sound of something breaking, the knight collapsed sideways.
“Demon’s power?”
Staring at the fallen knight, Leticia grabbed the princess’s shoulder.
“Fine. Let’s show what the demon’s power can do.”
At that moment, the power of healing surged into the princess’s body like a tide.
