Chapter 31

 

 

The moment I saw him, my whole body hardened.

 

His face, which was clean yesterday, was stained with blood.

 

My body trembled due to fear.

 

Perhaps that blood was not caused by an injury, but it was the blood of someone he killed.

 

“Julia!” 

 

It was my brother’s voice that woke me up from my stupor. 

 

He put down his hood and threw his robe away. 

 

The brilliant silver hair, a symbol of the imperial family, shone under the moonlight.

 

Then he took out a sword he had been hiding. 

 

However, the fact that my brother appeared and pulled out a sword meant that he was prepared for death. 

 

“Brother!”

 

 “Hurry!” 

 

He let go of my hand. The warmth felt in my hand disappeared. 

 

“But, but…”

 

“I’ll buy some time. Run away and never look back.” 

 

The sword my brother was holding was shining.

 

As he was about to swing it, he said,

 

“Yulia. Make sure you survive. I’m sorry… this is the only thing our father and I can do for you.”

 

After a while, my brother’s words started to sink in and I ran as hard as I could.

 

 Behind me, I heard the clashing sound of the swords. 

 

After a while, the sound died down but I couldn’t turn around.

 

I just looked ahead and ran. 

 

As soon as I looked back, I was sure I couldn’t move a step.

 

Even if my legs faltered, my body staggered, my lungs felt like it was torn, I kept on running. I shouldn’t cry, but the liquid flowed down and wet my cheek.

 

The liquid was mixed with the snow and rain that fell on me.

 

The tears wetting my cheeks slowly froze at the icy temperature.

 

Right now, I’m heading to the only place that can get me out of this castle.

 

Only a few people know of its existence.

 

Therefore, it was the last hope for me to survive.

 

 “…Haa, brother…I’m sorry.” 

 

I’m afraid that I can’t keep my promise to survive.

 

When I escaped from the castle, I saw knights wearing unfamiliar uniforms, not the imperial uniform, as if they had already expected. 

 

How can I get out of their grasp with this weak body that can’t even use sword? 

 

Brother, dad, I’m so sorry. 

 

I wanted to survive too, I’m sorry I couldn’t make that wish come true. 

 

Naturally, I was dragged somewhere with both arms held by the knights. 

 

They handled me roughly.

 

It didn’t feel like they were taking a sinner, but it felt like I was a livestock being taken to a slaughterhouse.

 

I didn’t have much energy to shout, so I was helplessly dragged by them.

 

I was taken back to the castle.

 

I thought I would be taken to my room, but they dragged me as we went up the stairs. 

 

I arrived on the top floor. 

 

The knights let go of my arm as if their work was over.

 

Then my weak body sank on the floor. 

 

There was dried blood here and there on the floor. 

 

This was the scene of a massacre. 

 

“Princess.”

 

It was a voice that I wanted to hear every day until this morning.

 

I thought I would not get tired of listening to it every day. But now it was the voice I didn’t want to hear the most.

 

As I looked outside through the window, he slowly approached me. 

 

As our distance narrowed, the thick smell of blood penetrated my nose. 

 

I adjusted my head and saw my brilliant silver hair with blood. I didn’t have the courage to properly check my condition.

 

“Why?” 

 

There was nothing wrong yesterday. 

 

Tears poured out of my eyes. 

 

Because I was inside and it wasn’t cold, my tears fell to the floor.

 

I looked up at him.

 

It was blurry because my eyes were filled with tears.

 

“Chester!” 

 

His black hair was full of dried blood. 

 

His white skin was splashed with blood. 

 

How many people died in his hands? 

 

Is my nanny okay?

 

I just wanted my nanny to be safe. 

 

At that moment, someone familiar was also dragged in.

 

“Your Highness.” 

 

It was none other than my nanny who was caught by the knights. She was even covered in blood, and her eyes were not properly opened.

 

“Nanny!” 

 

Why couldn’t you run away? My nanny could live if she ran away. 

 

But why did you get caught? 

 

He pulled out a sword and moved slowly. 

 

Is it really my fate to die? 

 

I closed my eyes in fear. 

 

But unexpectedly, he passed by me. 

 

“Oh, no, no!” 

 

I know where that blade would go. 

 

So I moved my legs that were not in a good condition urgently. 

 

I reached out and grabbed his cape. 

 

However, it was an action that had no effect. 

 

He looked at me with an emotionless eye and hit my hand that grabbed the cape. 

 

My body sank down. 

 

His sword cut the nanny’s neck. 

 

I could only stare at the terrible sight and shake as I could only wait for my death.

 

 “Ugh…!”

 

I felt nauseous and my hands were shaking. 

 

I’m just a helpless and vain princess without the power to reverse this situation, but I badly want to survive. 

 

The red blood flowing from his sword fell over the cold marble floor.

 

Maybe I will die right now. Maybe I’m indeed destined to die.

 

At least, I wanted to know why he did this before I died. 

 

Why does he killed everyone precious to me?

 

“Why? Why did you rebel?” 

 

Everyone around me died. That’s also in the hands of the man I love. 

 

***

 

“Gasp…!” 

 

My eyes were wide open. I could clearly feel the sound of my heart pounding. 

 

In order to calm my heart, I took a deep breath with my hand on my heart. 

 

“Ha…ha…” 

 

Why did I have such a vivid dream?

 

Now that I think about it, the novel doesn’t describe how Chester rebelled and what Yulia went through.

 

However, it was too vivid to dismiss it as a mere dream. Yet it’s not like Yulia’s experience in the novel.

 

I was thinking that maybe my past life is a dream instead and it’s not real.

 

No. I shouldn’t have thought that way.

 

In my previous life, I lived happily with the love of my family in Korea until I died. 

 

Yes! It was just a warning from a dream. 

 

Let’s not believe it.

 

If I believed it, I was implying that my ending was death. 

 

“Why are they doing this to me?” 

 

This is a novel! And the flow has already changed. 

 

Obviously in the book, Yulia was obsessed with Chester, and he hated Yulia for acting like that. 

 

Everything was already different from the first meeting with him. But Chester is still preparing for a rebellion?

 

When many thoughts were in my head, I heard the door opening.

 

 “……” 

 

It was Chester.

 

But why does my body keep trembling? 

 

My heart, which had barely calmed down, began to pound. Where did the fear come from? 

 

“Yulia, are you feeling well?” 

 

My head was pounding again. The moment I saw his face again, I remembered the blood…

 

My body froze. 

 

I remembered his face which was full of blood, and his black gloves that were wet with blood. 

 

His eyes stared at me coldly. 

 

When I remembered that he had slaughtered my family and nanny with that hand, I got goosebumps all over my body. 

 

It was creepy. My hands were shaking. 

 

As he slowly approached me, I instinctively stepped back into the corner of the bed. 

 

Even though I knew it was a dream, I couldn’t calm down. 

 

Blood was gathering from where he walked.

 

“Are you sick?” 

 

He stopped talking and did not approach me anymore. 

 

I closed my eyes tightly because of the hallucination. 

 

When I opened my eyes again, Chester was bare-handed without gloves, and his face was clean without any blood. 

 

Everything was a dream. 

 

I was relieved only then. 

 

My trembling body gradually regained strength. 

 

I carefully got out of bed, stood still, and reached out to him

 

“Chester.” 

 

Yes. It’s true that you’re looking at me with affectionate eyes. So… dreams are just dreams. It’s just a story in a novel.

 

So there’s no reason to be anxious. 

 

Chester pulled my waist tightly, hugged me, and buried his face on my shoulder.

 

His hair tickled the bare skin of my shoulders. 

 

“Yulia. I was worried.”

 

“I’m fine now. I’m sorry to make you worry.” 

 

“We shouldn’t have gone to a crowded place.” 

 

“It’s not because of you.” 

 

Yes. The Chester I know is someone who cares about me like this. 

 

He is not the Chester in a novel who saw me with such cold eyes, made an insensitive expression, and killed my precious people in front of my eyes.

 

And unlike Chester in the novel, the Chester I know says he loves me.

 

“We better come back.” 

 

“But…” 

 

“I don’t want to see you suffer.” 

 

I dug further into Chester’s arms. 

 

His arms were so warm that I wanted to feel the warmth with my whole body. 

 

I could hear his pounding heart in my ears. 

 

His heart is beating for me like this, and it can’t be a lie when he said I love you. 

 

I chose to trust in a warm reality instead of a sinister nightmare.