Chapter 34
I looked at Tita with worry.
“Tita isn’t dangerous. The one who manipulated Nocturne was—”
“Your Highness! I’m fine. Don’t provoke the criminal for no reason.”
Tita quickly cut me off. She must have wanted to hide the fact that she was the Eshafae who used suggestion on Nocturne.
Even though that’s why she was wearing a suppression ring… For someone like Tita, who grew up oppressed in the North, that ring would be a symbol of repression.
She was truly a kind person. I felt sorry for deceiving someone like her.
After finding out I was a clone, escaping the palace became my only priority. And once I did escape, everything else felt meaningless.
Whether it was kidnapping or not, whatever happened next…
But I couldn’t let Tita get caught up in this chaos. I had to send her safely back home.
Willow watched as Tita and I held hands tightly, then sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
“Wow, I’m being made out to be the villain here. Just give me a break for now. Once it’s safe, I’ll take it off.”
“You call yourself a kidnapper and then say nonsense like that? You’re the only reason you look bad.”
“I told you, this isn’t a kidnapping. I’m trying to help Her Highness.”
“Help?! If she’d gone with the prince, she’d be in a fancy palace right now! But instead, you dragged her to this backwater town tainted with magic!”
Tita’s furious voice rang throughout the vehicle, but I couldn’t agree with her.
Maybe I would’ve been treated well in the kingdom, but I never thought of it as something I deserved.
It was never meant for me to begin with.
‘Something meant for me…’
Suddenly, a bitter feeling came over me. Did anything in this world ever belong to me?
“She could’ve received treatment from Elysia’s top doctors, but instead got treated at some shady clinic.”
“They’re not shady. It was a B-rank healer.”
“A B-rank healer who couldn’t even fix anemia and left her unconscious for two days?”
Willow averted his eyes silently. He was probably telling the truth. I could feel that my body was in much better condition.
The fact I didn’t wake up for two days even after treatment by a B-rank healer meant just how broken my body was.
Clone Eshafaes never lived long.
How much time did I have left?
“Her Highness wanted to go to the kingdom…”
Tita, now tired from being angry, muttered with a defeated voice.
Her words brought back memories. I had planned to escape the palace with Lucien’s help, go to the kingdom, recover, and then return to meet Nocturne.
To get away from Padva’s influence, marry Nocturne once he was back to his true self, and live happily and freely as a duchess… That was the plan.
But now, I didn’t know what to do.
Everything I had believed in was now doubtful.
“There was no other way, Your Highness. If you had been treated by Elysia’s doctors, things would’ve gone badly for you.”
Just then, Willow spoke. It sounded like a simple excuse, but there was something deeper in his tone.
I lifted my head. He looked directly into my eyes and said,
“I know all about you. Maybe more than you do.”
A chill ran down my spine.
Willow knew I was a fake.
The car stopped, and we quietly got out. The group included me, Tita, Willow, a silent driver, and the man in the passenger seat—five in total. Everyone moved with tension.
The house, located far from the village, was bigger than expected. It looked like a sizable villa, with five rooms, but it hadn’t seen human warmth in a long time. As soon as we stepped in, Tita yelled,
“You seriously plan to keep Her Highness here? The security around here is awful!”
“We’ll leave soon. For now, let’s eat.”
“Will, I need to talk to you. Alone.”
Everyone turned to look at me. Even Willow, always composed, raised an eyebrow slightly.
“Wouldn’t it be better to eat first? You must be starving.”
“I just had that patient drink earlier.”
“…Alright then. Let’s talk in the study.”
I followed Willow, and Tita hurried after me. I turned around and said,
“Tita, go eat first.”
“No! I can’t leave you alone with a criminal!”
“It’s okay. If he wanted to harm me, he would’ve done it already. He even treated me.”
“But still…”
I gently pushed Tita back and went to the study. It was a small room with only one sofa. Willow stood politely and gestured for me to sit.
“Please, have a seat.”
After I sat down, he stepped out for a moment and returned with a bowl of soup, placing it on the table.
The creamy chicken soup was steaming, but I wasn’t hungry.
“You must be hungry. Eat while we talk.”
“I’m fine.”
“There’s no way you’re fine. You haven’t eaten in two days.”
“I drank earlier…”
“That doesn’t count as a meal.”
His sudden harsh tone startled me. Willow spoke with urgency, unable to hold it in anymore.
“If you keep neglecting your health like this, of course your body breaks down. Your maid fusses over you for a reason. You use your body recklessly. Mental-type Eshafaes always treat their bodies like packaging for their brains, but that’s not how it works. The body isn’t just a vessel—it’s you. If your body breaks, you break. So—”
“Okay, okay! I’ll eat.”
I blurted out in surprise, and only then did Willow quiet down.
As I awkwardly picked up the spoon, a thought crossed my mind.
‘Didn’t I leave Tita in the living room?’
Then why did the nagging follow me here? Everyone nags me whenever they see me. Am I the problem?
I thought this while rubbing my neck, and then I noticed something missing.
“Huh…”
“Looking for the necklace the Duke gave you?”
“You have it?”
“Of course not. I threw it away.”
“…Why?”
“That’s what I want to ask. I told you it had a tracker—why did you wear it?”
“…”
I said nothing and just ate my soup, glancing at Willow.
Tita called him a kidnapper, but he saw Aria as a savior. That’s why I thought he wouldn’t harm me.
But if he knew I was a clone, that changed things.
‘Is he involved in the cloning research?’
But he helped me escape, so he couldn’t be one of Padva’s people.
Then… who was he working for?
‘Don’t call that monster by my daughter’s name!’
The Empress’s sharp voice echoed in my head. Everyone who had loved Aria treated me with hostility, even wanting to erase me.
Willow was probably no different.
If we were alone, wouldn’t he finally show his true colors?
I stayed on alert and kept watching him.
“Your Highness, what do you want to do from now on?”
“…What?”
I stopped eating and looked up at him in surprise.
“You… don’t know what I am?”
Willow shrugged.
“You mean that you were created through experimentation, right? Yes, I know.”
“Then why do you still call me ‘Your Highness’? Everyone else…”
My words trailed off in awkward silence, and he gave a quiet smile.
“You know it yourself. Everyone who knows what you are uses different terms.”
“…”
“Monster.”
I flinched.
“Clone.”
“…”
“Beast.”
As I hung my head silently, Willow whispered:
“How rude.”
His voice was cold. I didn’t understand his meaning right away.
“Princess Ariadna.”
I flinched and looked up at the respectful way he said the title. The Empress’s voice echoed again: Don’t call that monster by my daughter’s name.
“No… I’m not…”
“You must be confused.”
Seeing me shake my head, Willow furrowed his brows in sympathy and stepped closer.
“I understand how you feel. But there’s no need to be that way. I told you before…”
He knelt down on one knee beside me and gently took my hand.
“Your Highness is still beautiful.”
He brought his lips to the back of my hand in a respectful kiss. As I met his gaze afterward, I finally realized—
‘Ah… this man loves Ariadna’s face.’
A chill ran down my entire body.
