For the heart - Chapter 12

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 12

It was late enough that everyone in the Imperial Palace would be asleep.

At Nina’s expression that seemed to ask why he was here, Casian spoke as if it were merely coincidence.

“I was taking a walk. I saw lights in the War Council Building, so I headed this way.”

“Last time too, and now this – you seem to enjoy walking in gloomy places at night. Not a good hobby.”

Nina came down the stairs while pointing toward Maryeonso with her chin.

Though they had met during the day as well, she in her light shirt and pants had something more eye-catching about her than when she wore combat gear and armor.

Her straight shoulder line, long limbs, and slender waist – even in the darkness, her silhouette was clearly revealed.

Her steps coming down the stairs were so refined, as if walking without making any sound had become second nature to her.

Casian’s gaze moved from Nina’s toes stepping on the stairs to her short blonde hair swaying lightly.

Though the surroundings were certainly dark, Nina’s figure felt clearer than ever to Casian’s eyes.

“What would you do if a demon beast jumped out?”

Nina spoke indifferently as she finished descending the stairs and passed by Casian.

Since Desmorak’s research demon beasts had gone berserk and rampaged several times already, it wasn’t an idle comment.

“Don’t worry. I can at least protect myself.”

Nina laughed inwardly.

How could he manage against a demon beast without even a sword?

Though he was a prince of Montregger and would have learned basic swordsmanship, carrying a personal sword wasn’t permitted for him who came as a hostage.

Moreover, facing a demon beast that had lost its mind would be a completely different world.

A world that couldn’t be resolved with the kind of swordsmanship a pampered prince had built up through excessive encouragement.

However, Nina walked toward the Satellite Palace without giving any particular response.

Under the dim half-moon light, the two figures walked as if they were walking on a bright path.

‘They said he has good night vision. It seems to be true.’

For Nina, this was a familiar path she had traveled for over ten years.

However, if it had been someone else, even with a half-moon up and eyes accustomed to darkness, they would have walked tensely while watching ahead.

But Casian showed no sign of tension, and rather even glanced at Nina’s arm tied with a handkerchief.

Nina pretended not to notice his gaze.

She had never once in her life used a Healer for such a trivial wound.

The times I used a Healer were when I was so seriously injured I could barely move my body.

How could I easily call for a Healer when I knew full well that the Healer who treated me would die?

Casian, who had been looking straight ahead, spoke quietly without turning his gaze.

“Earlier, I mean. Why didn’t you dodge? You clearly could have avoided Princess Lillien. It’s hard to accept that Her Highness, known as the Cold Sword, couldn’t avoid such a clumsy attack.”

After glancing at the wound, Casian finally brought up what happened during the day when Lillien swung her brooch at me.

Nina walked without being able to answer until Maryeonso came closer.

Because no one had ever asked her such a question before.

Everyone in this Imperial Palace except Tila took it for granted that I would be Lillien’s target for venting anger.

After a moment, Nina answered in an utterly emotionless voice.

“…It’s easier. Just getting hurt a little and letting her anger subside.”

Getting hurt is easier? Even with an immortal body, I know the pain is felt just the same.

Casian’s brow furrowed slightly. Seeing his face scrunch up, Nina let out a short sigh.

“If I dodge, she makes an even bigger fuss. And it doesn’t seem right for the princesses to show such behavior to the maids, attendants, and servants who gather to stop and soothe her.”

“So you always take it all like that?”

“I’ve just learned over 20 years what causes less suffering.”

“Is it because of the oracle?”

There was a subtle displeasure in his tone.

Unable to properly grasp where that displeasure originated, Nina stopped walking for a moment and met his eyes.

His gaze was persistently demanding an answer.

“It’s a bit early, but you’ll have to get used to it now. Protecting the Arsed Empire like today is your role and reason for existence.”

“Don’t forget that protecting Lillien is the same as protecting the Arsed Empire.”

The Emperor’s words that bound her as much as the oracle.

In truth, she had suffered for a long time unable to accept that she had to live such a painful life, but Nina eventually had to accept it.

There was only one thing Nina acknowledged.

The oracle.

That absolute oracle made Nina suffer to the point of wanting to die, but it also made Nina live.

“Yes. The immortal body without a heart has meaning in its existence when it sacrifices itself for Arsed. Because that’s what it was born for. Devoting myself to Lillien, who will become Emperor, is also part of sacrificing myself for Arsed.”

Nina answered calmly.

However, at the end of those words, a darkness tinged with guilt invaded her face.

“The fact that someone like me formed an alliance with you is tantamount to going against that absolute oracle.”

Casian’s pupils trembled slightly at Nina’s words.

“Until now I’ve been sacrificing myself for Arsed according to God’s will, but…”

The depths of darkness pressed down heavily like her past.

Recalling those suffocatingly heavy sensations, Nina paused her words for a moment.

The flesh, bones, nerves, and consciousness that had been cut, severed, and broken thousands and tens of thousands of times became screams that pierced her ears.

“I want to live as an ordinary being, not as a weapon. Even if it means abandoning my princess status.”

The corners of Nina’s mouth trembled faintly.

What Casian had seen through. It was the first time she had spoken aloud the wish she had harbored for so very long.

Though born with an immortal body after receiving the oracle, she was treated as a weapon even by her parents, and regarded by people as a repulsive being that shouldn’t be touched.

She was thrown into countless battlefields under the pretext of fulfilling the oracle, and in exchange for taking numerous lives, her own body was shattered countless times.

‘How terrifying it is to be an existence that must live that way to have any meaning in breathing… Those who haven’t experienced it wouldn’t know. Since no one else in this world could experience such a thing, no one would understand.’

If abandoning her status as an imperial princess could solve everything, she would have thrown it away before even turning ten.

Casian silently watched Nina’s face as bitterness spread across it.

Unlike himself, who had formed an alliance to gain everything, she seemed to want to abandon everything.

Each of her calm words gradually shook something within him.

Nina felt momentarily awkward under Casian’s piercing gaze.

It seemed she had given an unnecessarily serious answer.

In truth, her circumstances had only been a consideration when he proposed the alliance, but now that they had already formed one, it was completely irrelevant.

Though she had partly told him because his conspicuous wearing of the jewel she’d given as proof seemed to show he didn’t fully trust her.

“Anyway, don’t come to this area at night. If something really dangerous happens, then— mmph!”

Suddenly, Casian’s head shot up, and he spun around to catch Nina’s waist, pulling her into his arms while covering her mouth.

Then he pressed them both against the dark wall of Maryeonso.

“Shh.”

Staring into the darkness, he brought his index finger to his own lips, then gently released the hand that had been covering Nina’s mouth.

The embrace she was suddenly pulled into felt unfamiliar and rude.

She instinctively tried to escape from his arms, but at that moment, Nina also sensed some presence and even stopped breathing.

Soon, a woman wearing a black cloak approached the front of Maryeonso and looked around.

After confirming no one was around, the woman removed the hood she had been wearing, revealing her face completely under the moonlight.

Nina’s eyes widened as she watched the scene from the darkness alongside Casian.

‘Mother…?’

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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