CHAPTER 05
A mysterious man quietly entered the room.
In the original story, the male lead was repeatedly targeted for assassination. Of course, assassins were no match for the protagonist and were always dealt with swiftly.
“Hey!”
But what if, because of me, the already exhausted male lead didn’t wake up?
My head went cold.
I had no power to protect the child, yet I stood in front of the man with my arms spread wide.
He passed right through me and walked toward the bed where the prince lay.
“……”
Contrary to my expectation that he would draw a sword immediately, the man stood reverently before the prince and removed the cloth covering his face. The fabric that had been hiding his head and face dropped to the floor.
Then, the man brought both hands to his chest and began to pray.
A blue ribbon was tied around his neck.
A blue ribbon—the very symbol of the fanatical heretical cult mentioned in the original novel.
“It is a step taken for your happiness, so please forgive me…”
It was chilling to see a trespassing thug praying politely over his assassination target in the middle of the night.
“Please, Prince! Please wake up!”
Even as the assassin closed his eyes and recited a long prayer, the prince showed no response, not even when the man finally drew his dagger with resolute intent.
I instinctively shielded the prince’s body.
The dagger came down right in front of me. If it continued its path, it would strike the prince.
I thrashed meaninglessly, then squeezed my eyes shut.
“No!”
I shouted with every ounce of strength I had.
“Ugh, what the hell!”
There was a rush of air followed by a stabbing sound. The man’s scream barely registered.
Was someone stabbed? Was the child stabbed?
“Ugh… Uhuh… Huuh-huhhh.”
I was so afraid that I couldn’t even look to confirm. I trembled uncontrollably.
A loud crashing noise erupted.
“Ugh! Your Highness!”
It wasn’t the child’s voice—it was the groan of an adult man. Then came a series of heavy thuds and loud impacts.
Clang! The sharp, clear sound of metal on metal rang out.
I opened my eyes to see what was happening, only to squint at the blinding light.
“Don’t open your eyes.”
“P-Prince?”
“Yes, I’m talking to you. Keep them closed.”
I wanted desperately to confirm with my own eyes that he was safe, but the prince stopped me again.
“Stay like that. If you open your eyes, I’ll make you regret it.”
“Ahh!”
A man’s scream pierced the air.
With my eyes shut, my other senses sharpened.
The bright light burned through my eyelids, forcing my brow to wrinkle.
The metallic tang of blood stabbed at my nose.
“I… I did it for you!”
I tried opening my eyes several more times, but couldn’t.
The air around me had become charged with an invisible force. It felt like if I dared to open my eyes, something sharp would tear me apart.
“Guards!”
There was a dragging sound on the floor, followed by the door opening.
“Take him to the inquisitor. He might die soon anyway.”
The door shut again, and silence returned to the room.
I didn’t fully understand what had happened, but the calm voice suggested the situation was under control.
“You can open your eyes now.”
Only then did I open my eyes at the child’s voice.
Golden particles floated around the prince. As he waved his hand a few times, the tiny points of light vanished.
The large man was gone, and the previously ruined room had been somewhat tidied up.
“What… what just happened?”
I climbed down from the bed and asked.
The prince looked puzzled, as if unsure what I meant.
“An assassin.”
The prince, straightening the messy bed with an indifferent face, clicked his tongue when he noticed a cut in the sheets.
“I’ll have to tell Seria tomorrow.”
After confirming I had stepped away, the boy sat on the edge of the bed and caught his breath.
“You kept your eyes closed the whole time, right?”
“Ah…”
I couldn’t speak properly.
The prince, who had seemed composed, was actually trembling, hands clenched together.
“What am I even saying to an illusion?”
“…Are you okay?”
My voice came out garbled with lingering fear. But the question got through.
The prince’s eyes widened in surprise.
I don’t know what my expression looked like, but I must have looked a mess, on the verge of tears. His face twisted in distress the moment our eyes met.
“D-Don’t look at me. Go away. Disappear.”
He quickly covered his face with both hands.
Not wanting to scare him further, I quietly complied.
I trudged over to the sofa and put some distance between us.
There were bloodstains on the floor not far from where I sat. Alarmed, I asked:
“You’re not hurt, are you?”
“No.”
“But there’s blood…”
“It’s not mine.”
“Shouldn’t we call someone?”
“How can we trust the ones outside?”
“Then should we move to another room—?”
“This is the safest place.”
Once I was out of his line of sight, the boy finally let out the fear he’d been holding in.
To keep his limbs from shaking, the prince clutched his arms tightly.
“…Want me to stay with you?”
The words slipped out without thinking.
“…What? Don’t talk nonsense. Get lost.”
“Hmph, so mean. I was just saying.”
I had offered because he looked like he might collapse any second, but judging by his response, maybe he’d be okay.
“More importantly, what was that just now?”
“Hmm? What?”
“The way the blanket… Never mind.”
With that, a heavy silence settled over us.
Then, the boy suddenly cleared his throat.
“…You kept trying to wake me up.”
“You heard?”
“It was so loud. How could I sleep through that?”
He opened his mouth like he was about to say something else.
“Th-th-th…”
“Th…?”
“Thanks for your effort.”
“Are you talking to me?”
I pointed to myself and asked.
“W-What! No! I wasn’t talking to you! I was talking to myself. I’m proud of myself for taking that guy down.”
“Oh, so it wasn’t about me.”
The prince scratched his head roughly.
“…What am I even doing.”
Then he lay back down, getting ready to sleep again.
Of course, he didn’t want me looking at him, so he covered himself completely with the blanket.
The blanket rose and fell over his head. It didn’t move in the calm rhythm I had seen when he was sleeping before.
The prince, who normally didn’t stir at all, kept tossing and turning.
“Prince.”
“……”
“It’s not because I’m scared, I’m just asking out of concern for you, so…”
“……”
“Can I stay by your side?”
“……”
They say silence is consent.
“Hmph. I knew you’d say yes.”
I shamelessly pushed forward.
‘He looks too scared to sleep alone anyway.’
If this kept up, he’d definitely have nightmares—just like the one I’d had earlier.
‘Come to think of it, I woke up at just the right time because of that nightmare.’
I floated over to the prince’s bed and settled down on the opposite side, using the nightstand as a divider.
“This should help you feel less scared, right?”
“……”
“Sleep tight. If someone comes, I’ll scream for you.”
Sigh. A small sigh from the boy leaked through the blanket.
The prince turned his head slightly at my nearby voice, like a snail peeking out.
“…You were trembling like a leaf earlier.”
“W-When did I tremble?!”
He gave me a long, unblinking look.
“Hmph! Go to sleep. You won’t grow taller otherwise.”
“…Nonsense.”
“I won’t eat you, so don’t worry.”
“……”
“I’m only saying this because I thought you were scared after what I said last time—”
“Who said I was scared!”
Startled by his outburst, I quickly shut my mouth.
He kept grumbling for a while, then finally returned to a calm, steady breathing.
The prince never officially assigned me any guard duty, but I felt a strange sense of responsibility. I stared fiercely out the window, eyes wide open.
‘I’ll protect him.’
And then—darkness.
When I opened my eyes again, I was met with a gaze looking down at me like I was ridiculous. Embarrassed, I scratched the back of my neck.
After that chaotic night, the prince no longer completely ignored me. Occasionally, he’d meet my eyes (though he looked away immediately), and he even responded to my words (about once in a hundred tries).
Isn’t that real progress?
…Or not?
Mortius stared down at the black-haired girl nodding off, shaking her head from side to side, and raised one corner of his mouth in disbelief.
“Unbelievable. There’s no way something this pathetic is a product of my imagination.”
Mortius admitted it. The girl dozing off beside the nightstand was not his hallucination.
As he wondered how to define this strange being, the moment when the assassin tried to stab him flashed in his mind.
The prince had woken up even before she called out to him. The strange, sharp air flowing in from outside had pricked his senses.
‘Hey, hey! Prince, prince!’
‘Hey! Wake up!’
‘Ugh… Uhuuh… Huuhh-huhh…’
That unidentified ghost-like creature had yelled as if worried he might die, trying to rouse him.
And when she had thrown herself over him, something strange had happened.
The blanket covering him had suddenly floated into the air, blocking the assassin’s line of sight. Thanks to that, Mortius had been able to subdue the attacker with ease.
He glanced at the girl curled up beside the nightstand and snorted.
For a brief moment, he’d considered that maybe she had helped—but upon seeing her dumb, sleeping face, he retracted the thought.
“…Look at her…”
The girl groaned in her sleep and furrowed her brow.
“Heh. Now she’s talking in her sleep.”
Come to think of it, this was his first time looking at her closely. Though he didn’t want to admit it, it was his first time encountering a spirit, and even he had been scared.
Her black hair reminded him of a dear friend.
For the first time in a long while, Mortius recalled that day—his happy childhood.
But the memory didn’t last long.
“I—I’m not trash!”
“…She said she’d scream for me. Look at her, sleeping soundly.”
Her peaceful face, as if nothing had happened, made him yawn without thinking.
The heightened alertness caused by the assassin faded, and drowsiness crept in.
Her serene expression, drooling and all, looked as if the night’s events had been forgotten completely.
Peace.
Not a feeling one would expect in a room still tinged with the stench of blood, but the best word to describe how he felt.
‘Sleep well.’
Had it really been years since he last heard those words?
Her smiling face wishing him a good night lingered in his mind like an afterimage.
What had she come here for?
After thinking long and hard about her, Mortius finally kicked off his blanket, feeling stifled.
“…Why is it so hot?”
Though the cold moon ruled the sky and silence filled the night, around Mortius, there was a strange, warm heat.
The prince ignored it and allowed his heavy eyelids to close.
