TPBDN 07

Chapter 7

“…Right?”

“Th–then, does that mean I was abandoned?”

Hearing the tremble in Kylian’s voice, which sounded on the verge of tears, Eloise waved her hands in panic.

“No! It’s not like that! I’m more like… a sponsored child. My surname isn’t Reston, it’s Swinton, right? So, it’s more like… a fake adoption?”

Blurting out whatever came to mind, Eloise suddenly blinked as if realizing something.

‘Come to think of it, that’s not bad, is it? Yeah, being a sponsored child with special abilities. That’s actually a pretty good deal.’

She wasn’t their real daughter, so they probably wouldn’t beat her. She wouldn’t have to starve like at the orphanage. Except for the danger of possibly being killed, it wasn’t such a bad situation. Even thinking about the Duke, who had sworn to protect her, no longer felt so complicated—it actually made her feel a little lighter.

‘Besides, if I handle Kylian—the one who’s supposed to kill me—carefully enough, I might stay out of danger too.’

Feeling that things might turn out better than expected, Eloise’s lips curved up in a faint smile.

“Fake adoption? Then… what about your parents?”

Parents. That single word made faint images of her past family flicker at the edge of her mind.

“They’re gone.”

Her short reply was firm—completely different from the warm tone she’d used before while talking to Kylian.

“Gone?”

“I was abandoned at an orphanage.”

At the mention of the orphanage, Kylian’s eyes darted about nervously. He clamped his lips shut, unable to respond. The conversation stopped there, leaving an awkward silence that made Eloise scratch her head in frustration.

‘Now what?’

Trying to keep the conversation going somehow, Eloise picked up where her self-introduction had been interrupted.

“I’m Eloise Swinton. What about you?”

“Kylian Herr… uh, I mean, Reston.”

He bit his tongue as soon as he slipped.

‘But I already know you’re the crown prince…’

It was the novel that started with a tyrant abducting a saint. Eloise had repeated that part over and over on her way north so she wouldn’t forget it.

[As a member of the imperial family, he endured countless palace intrigues. During his perilous youth, he was sheltered by his mother’s family, the Restons.]

‘Wait… didn’t he just call someone his uncle earlier? But that title’s usually used for one’s father’s elder brother…’

Eloise stared quietly at him. Feeling her gaze, Kylian’s eyes darted away nervously.

‘Well, trying to pry into that now would only make him suspicious.’

And she could already guess why he was hiding it. Most likely, it had to do with the late Crown Princess’s death—the tragedy that had shaken the entire empire.

The crown prince’s son had killed his mother.

That was what people said.

Most believed the “mother” referred to the Crown Princess of House Reston. That misunderstanding was what had made the scandal explode across the empire.

‘The commoners didn’t know the truth of the imperial family. Of course they misunderstood. And honestly, who would want to publicize something as twisted as marrying a dead crown prince to a living noble lady?’

While touring the western provinces, the Crown Prince and his wife had both died, leaving behind only one child. The empire’s sole remaining heir. And naturally, the greedy nobles hadn’t let that chance slip by.

‘Normally, the emperor would have protected his grandson… but instead—’

The emperor used his grandson as a bargaining chip with the nobles. The result was a grotesque “marriage” between a dead man and a living woman.

‘When the knight in the village told that story in passing, I was completely shocked.’

The emperor got the dowry.

The nobles got a connection to the throne.

And Kylian—he was merely a pawn, tossed back and forth between them.

Eloise wanted to comfort him. Because she, too, had suffered and been broken by the greed of adults.

“Hey, do you know the fairy who eats dreams?”

She recalled the story Rick had once told her back at the orphanage, on nights when she cried herself to sleep.

“A fairy that eats dreams?”

“Yeah. It visits kids who have nightmares and takes away their sadness. Like this.”

Just as Rick had done for her, Eloise gently wrapped her arms around Kylian. He stiffened at first but didn’t push her away.

“I had a really good dream that night. I hope you’ll have a good one too.”

Through the contact, Eloise could feel the scars that marked his body—the scratch marks and old wounds that hadn’t faded. Feeling the pain etched into him, she simply held him tighter.

The room soon filled with the soft murmur of her fairy tale. Outside, the night deepened, and the moon rose high, spilling silver light into the room—light that seemed to embrace the wounded hearts of the two children.

“Did you sleep late last night?”

Liena smiled at the sight of Eloise nodding off at the breakfast table.

“Yeah…”

Rubbing her heavy eyes, Eloise glanced at the clock—it was already nine.

‘I’m going to be late!’

Still half-asleep, she shoveled food into her mouth as fast as she could. She washed it down with water and quickly asked,

“Do you have any ointment for wounds?”

“Did you hurt yourself somewhere?”

Liena’s eyes immediately scanned Eloise’s body from head to toe.

“No, not me, just… um…”

Eloise mumbled evasively, and Liena gave her a knowing look before silently handing her a small jar.

“Apply this on the injured area. If you use it regularly, it’ll help fade the scars too.”

“Got it.”

“I’ll be going now. If you need anything, please call for me.”

“Okay.”

As soon as Liena left the room, Eloise grabbed the ointment and hurried to the room next door.

“Kylian, it’s me. Open up.”

She knocked several times, but there was no response inside. After waiting a moment, a bad feeling crept up her spine. She opened the door.

“I didn’t mean go back there when I said I’d come see you again!”

The curtain fluttered. The open window, the breeze—it all pointed to one thing: Kylian had run away.

Eloise dashed into the hall, heading toward the garden where she guessed he might have gone—but stopped short.

‘That person…’

It was the woman who had stood beside the butler and greeted her on her first day here.

“…Head maid?” Eloise asked cautiously.

“Yes. Good morning.”

The head maid approached with a polite smile.

“May I ask where you’re headed, miss?”

“I was just going to step outside for a bit…”

“It could be dangerous.”

“I’m not leaving the estate—just going to the garden. I’m looking for Kylian.”

Seeing the woman block her path, Eloise hastily explained her purpose.

‘Ugh, if only he’d stayed put in his room!’

Annoyance toward Kylian flared up inside her as she found herself in yet another obstacle before even taking a few steps.

“Ah, so you’ve already met the young master.”

‘…Not “His Highness the Crown Prince,” but “young master”?’

Eloise paused. The tone wasn’t that of someone addressing royalty—it was how one would refer to a noble family’s son. She realized she didn’t actually know what had become of Kylian after the incident.

“Well, an orphaned girl without proper background should know her place and try to please the young master.”

The head maid’s cold words sliced into her ears. That was when Eloise realized—the woman had never once called her miss.

‘Don’t shrink back.’

Casting aside the false politeness, Eloise straightened her spine, meeting the woman’s contemptuous gaze head-on. She knew from experience that the more she cowered, the more people like this would trample her.

“If I have to please Kylian, then shouldn’t you try to please me? I outrank you, don’t I?”

“What? You insolent little wretch!”

The head maid’s hand shot up. For a split second, it looked just like the orphanage director’s hand, and Eloise flinched.

‘No. She’s not the director.’

Eloise steeled herself and didn’t dodge. Her defiance made the head maid hesitate; her raised hand faltered and dropped back down.

“Tch!”

The woman clicked her tongue and stormed off.

But Eloise couldn’t move right away.

‘Insolent little wretch…’

The insult overlapped perfectly with another memory—her grandmother’s voice.

“A girl should know her place!”

The warmth she had briefly felt from Liena flickered and went out. The wall around Eloise’s heart, once cracked, hardened again—though now, it bore a new scar.