Chapter 21: A yellow puppy adores me (1)
Chapter 21: A yellow puppy adores me (1)
What were they doing now?
Blake, the Heir to the Curse, and Diana, the Heir of Light who had the power to lift the curse. In the original story, the two would have felt a natural attraction.
Although Diana and I were sisters, that didn't matter.
Blake and I were married, but we had yet to report it to the church.
Young couples could get married in the church once they became adults.
Even if they had a political marriage as a child, it was possible to nullify the marriage at any time before getting married in church.
It was common for people to marry when they were young and part because they didn't get along well together later, handing their partner to their brother or sister instead.
It was possible because the combination of families was far more important than the individuals themselves.
However, regardless of the culture or tradition of this country, if Blake asked for a divorce because he liked another woman would be too much of him. He said he likes me…!
Ancia, let's not be like this. Let's not really act like a ten year old kid. Blake's gotta be with Diana. That's the best solution I could think of.
I made up my mind as I searched the library for books about the power of light.
Was Diana the only one who could lift Blake’s curse? Can't I do it? Couldn’t I learn the power of light?
Two hours later, I borrowed a bunch of books about the power of light and went back to the Crown Prince's Palace.
But it was noisy there.
“No!”
“Your Highness, don't insist!”
Those were Blake and Diana's voices.
No, I thought they’d be attracted to each other, so why were they fighting?
I ran to them in surprise.
“What's going on?”
“Sister-in-law keeps talking nonsense!”
Blake was full of anger. Diana was also furious. What the hell had happened in two hours?
“Your Highness, don't talk nonsense! I[m the one who likes my sister more!”
“Ancia is my favorite!”
“My sister and I share the same blood!”
“Ancia is my wife! I love her more!”
“I've been loving my sister for eight years now. Your love is only a few months old! You can't beat me!”
“Huh! It's not about the duration! I love Ancia the most in the world!”
“……”
I was speechless. Listening to them, I even lost the will to stop the fight.
Did kids usually fight over this? No, why were they arguing about something so weird?
***
“No one in the world loves Ancia more than I do!”
“Why not? I'm here! Are you ignoring me?”
Two years had passed since I entered this world.
Yet, Blake and Diana still fought fiercely every time they met.
It wasn't even an important debate. It was rather amazing that they could still fight on this topic for two years straight.
“We're a couple!”
“You haven't even kissed her yet.”
Blake's expression turned sour when Diana laughed at him.
“Tha-th-that…!”
My husband was going to start crying at this rate. I needed to stop the fight.
“Come on, stop it. It's time for training. Your Highness needs to practice soon.”
Diana's dream was to become a knight.
It was briefly mentioned in the original story, so I thought it was just one of those childhood dreams that passed by, but Diana was unexpectedly serious about it.
She also wanted to go to the Knights Academy, but Count Bellacian didn’t allow her. The reason was that if a woman did such a thing, she would become an outcast in society and wouldn’t be able to secure a good marriage.
It was a bullshit reason.
I asked Edon to help Diana learn swordsmanship. I wished Blake had a training partner. Edon eventually became her teacher.
“Your Highness, let's bet on who's the first to arrive there! Start!”
“D-don’t do that all of sudden! Coward!”
Almost as soon as Diana said the words, she ran outside, and Blake followed after her in resentment.
Diana was like a puppy. A beagle puppy.
My rabbit husband was always beaten by my beagle younger sister. Though I felt sorry for him, they were both very cute.
For the past two years, Diana had visited the Crown Prince’s Palace often. However, there was no affection like that between lovers between the two.
They’d just fight like friends.
“Stand there! Start over!”
“We can't start again. What do you mean ‘start again’? You're really slow-witted.”
“You're a coward!”
At this brief moment on the way to the field, Melissa shook her head with a gentle smile, looking at the two children who were fighting again.
“The two are getting along well again today.”
“Is that so…..?”
‘Is that a good thing?’
“Yes. I'm glad His Highness now has a good friend.”
Friend…
As Melissa said, they just looked like friends. The kind of friendship that had zero chances of evolving into love.
The two felt no fateful love. And I was relieved to see that.
I decided to admit my feelings honestly.
I didn't want to leave.
I wanted to be by Blake's side. I wanted to stay with my cute husband, wonderful father-in-law, and puppy-like younger sister.
The time with Melissa, Hans, Edon was also precious.
But I couldn't be greedy. If Blake's curse didn't go away, even if he said he was okay, this happiness would be shattered.
So I set my own standards.
In the original story, it was said that Diana never used the power of light when she was young.
Count Bellacian called in the priest just in case, but they didn't feel even a speck of light.
I wasn’t sure because it wasn’t mentioned exactly in the novel, but it was probably by the time she became an adult and met Blake that it happened.
The moment Blake met Diana, he felt the warm power of light and the two began to have a passionate relationship.
Unlike the original, however, Blake did not detect any power in Diana now. I checked it several times, but I couldn't feel the power of light at all either.
Then, as in the original, Diana hadn't awakened the power of light yet, and would she have the power of light only when she became an adult?
Whether they met earlier or later, Diana's ability to lift Blake's curse would only appear when she became an adult.
Why was there such a complicated setup? It was obvious why.
This novel was an R-19 romance novel that was as hot as an active volcano. So the writer must’ve purposely made the story begin only from the time they became adults.
Anyway, it took Diana a lot of time to awaken the power of light.
I was going to do my best to learn about Blake's curse until then. Perhaps there was another way other than what was in the original.
‘But if I don’t find a way by the time he becomes an adult, then I’ll just give up and leave him to Diana.'
I made up my mind.
I told Blake and the Emperor about my resolution.
“Your curse will surely be lifted! The Heir of Light from the House of Bellacian can lift your curse.”
I explained to them how the curse would be lifted in the original story (except for the R-19 part), but they didn't seem to believe it much. Still, I continued.
I wanted to give Blake hope that the curse would be lifted. All I wanted to do was explain it in advance because I didn't want him to be hurt if I left.
“Your Highness, if the Heir of Light appears, that person will get married to you…”
“I told you, you are the only one who can be my wife.”
“But to lift the curse…”
“I only want to stay with Ancia. I don't care about the curse.”
But Blake was adamant. He only cared about being with me rather than getting rid of the curse. Two years had passed since then.
During the two years, there had been many changes in the Palace. After the lake was filled, a greenhouse was built on it, as well as a field.
It wasn’t much, but many servants had also been newly hired, and the chefs had been selected carefully. Everyone was trustworthy.
I looked around the field after harvesting, and headed to the Imperial Palace.
As the Crown Princess of the Empire, I needed to watch over the affairs of the Imperial family. Originally, the Empress was supposed to do it, but Tenstheon had no intentions of marrying again.
He granted me the Sephia Palace, and built an office on the third floor of his Palace.
Everyone was envious of this.
However, the third floor of the Imperial Palace was not ordinary.
I entered the office on the third floor and pressed the hidden device in the frame. Then, the bookshelf moved and a secret space appeared.
It was filled with books on curses and the magic of light, including stone tablets written in ancient languages.
I also collected all the materials that could help me lift the curse, including the history of the Asteric Empire and the use of the spear.
I did not make the fact that I was a polygot who could read all the languages of the world known.
A thousand years ago, there was originally a country called ‘Zelcan’ on this land, but it was destroyed by Philip and the ‘Asteric Empire' was built.
The ancient language used in the Zelcan at that time disappeared in time, and their language remained unknown. Even the priest couldn't decipher it perfectly.
In the original story, Richard used that fact to deceive the Emperor. He gave him false information, saying that among the ancient black magic, there was a magic trick that could be used to transfer the Curse of the Goddess to others.
Tenstheon was deceived by Richard as he tried to save Blake and ended up being killed.