Chapter 34
Chapter 34
PADIMATE opened the door and peered inside just as Yuki climbed onto the balcony railing.
What is she—
His body understood what she was doing faster than his mind did. He dropped the food tray. Yuki’s legs were dangling off the side of the railing. Padimate dashed through the room.
The balcony should be right there—close enough to reach in time—but the room felt massive to him. Yuki was falling forward by the time Padimate exited onto the balcony.
“I have to be the one to go and meet that twisted prince of mine.”
Padimate frantically stretched out his arms. The girl floated in the air. He hung over the ledge and wrapped both arms around her stomach as she fell. He crashed into the railing from the speed he reached out for her with.
“…!” He groaned with pain. Yuki struggled in his arms.
“Eh? Huh? What? …Huh?” Yuki babbled in shock.
Padimate heaved her up and found himself squeezing her in his arms.
***
THE moon was gradually waning. The lanterns lighting the room swayed in the wind.
Will I be executed on the day I can no longer see the moon?
Padimate discovered Yuki just as she leapt off the balcony and stopped her before she fell out of reach. He shackled her feet so she couldn’t jump off the balcony again. The chain connected to her shackles was secured to the bed and had a moderate length that didn’t hinder her as she moved around the small room, but it prevented her from ever setting foot on the balcony again.
“This is a problem,” she sighed. It’s not like she was trying to commit suicide, but that’s what Padimate took her little stunt for.
But I guess that’s to be expected.
However, the situation wasn’t so kind as to be cheerfully summarized away by logically accepting what Padimate did. Yuki’s movement and chance to escape was further stripped from her. If she continued to do nothing, the day of her execution would come.
It was fairly late at night, but because she had done nothing but sleep lately, she was in an oddly excited state that didn’t allow for sleepiness.
“What should I do?” Yuki folded her arms and titled her head.
The only door was locked. Even if she broke through it somehow, she didn’t doubt she would get captured before she made it to the bottom of the massive tower. Aside from the balcony, there was no other way out of the room. She couldn’t jump out the window anymore either.
…I guess this is where I have to wait with high expectations that the powers Papa talked about will awaken? I have no clue how to even manifest them. I wonder whether I need training or something similar to activate them.
Yuki mulled it over but couldn’t come up with a good idea. Knowing her life was on the line caused fear to jumble her thoughts.
“I knew it, it’s no good. I can’t think of anything.” She rolled over in bed and sulked.
The hard mattress pushed into her cheeks. She unconsciously rubbed the base of her right hand’s middle finger—there was no cool metal of a ring to soothe her raging emotions.
Three days left, huh? I really don’t have any time left.
“What is the last thing you would want to do if you knew you were going to die tomorrow?”
Yuki remembered that was one of the survey questions collected for her high school graduation yearbook. At the time, she never imagined the question would apply so soon to her in real life.
What did I write?
She remembered she just wrote whatever came to mind. Her friends laughed, “Seriously! That’s what you’d do? No way!”
Yuki longed for those peaceful days.
Yuki could hear the gentle swish of wind. The lace curtains fluttered as clean air filled the room. The weather was gradually getting warmer so she slept with the balcony door open. Stars twinkled in the distant night sky. An unreliable sliver of a moon hung inconspicuously in the sky.
Yuki closed her eyes and sighed. Her eyes flickered opened when she heard the clink of the door unlocking over the sound of the wind.
Padi? Padimate hadn’t visited her in the middle of the night since the day she recovered from her terrible fever. Did something happen?
She slowly sat up and glanced at the door. There were no signs of it opening.
Did he accidentally spill all the soup this time? The possibility crossed her mind until she remembered she had already finished dinner.
Could it be a late-night snack? Is he planning on spoiling me during the last days before my execution? I feel like dinner was more extravagant than usual.
Worry, anticipation, and a little hunger overwhelmed her as she watched the door. The door slowly cracked open without a sound. The face she saw in the doorway was not Padimate’s.
Who is it?
Someone was peering inside the room. The air in the room abruptly changed. The person’s eyes seemed to be looking around, inspecting the room. Suddenly, their eyes sharply met Yuki’s where she sat on the center of the bed.
“…Who are you?” Yuki asked dubiously.
Padimate told her he didn’t want others to see or know about her. That’s why she believed no one would enter her room aside from him. Padimate was Maruk’s prince, and she didn’t think he was the type to lie. So she thought she could believe him. Yet someone unknown was looking into her room.
“Who are you?” she repeated with the displeasure of being ignored apparent in her voice.
The door slowly opened the rest of the way, revealing a young man around the same age as Yuki. The candlelight shone on his stunning ultramarine color hair and masculine features. His ear-length hair rustled in the wind. The young man with a dead serious look on his face let out a long breath and smirked.
“I didn’t think you’d still be up,” he said and shrugged, further raising alarm bells in Yuki’s mind.
Was he trying to sneak in while I slept? There’s a limit to how much common sense you can lack. I may look like I’m ten, but I’m really an eighteen-year-old woman. And as seen with the pervy fox Isis, being ten isn’t much to stop the men of this world either.
“Who are you? How did you get in here?”
The young man briskly walked into the room without hesitation. He leaned against the wall opposite of Yuki.
“Who am I, eh? It’s not like this is your room. And it’s not like I’d come here to sneak into your bed and ravish you,” he declared matter-of-factly.
I-I know that, but still. I was given this room all to myself for the time being. Plus, it’s really suspicious for someone to enter a room without permission.
“I just came here to have a look at the Almighty Legendary Witch I have to take care of starting tomorrow.”
“Huh? Have you come to mock me in my final days?”
Take care of? I didn’t mishear him, right?
“Where’s Padi?”
Padimate had taken care of everything for Yuki until now. She thought he would continue to do so until the day of her execution.
The young man twitched and raised an eyebrow. “Padi…huh? I’m surprised Big Bro lets you call him that.”
Big Bro? So this guy is Padi’s younger brother?
“Big Bro will be busy preparing things for your execution from tomorrow onward, so he went out of his way to call me here all the way from Rvydom. You’d better be grateful.”
From Rvydom?
The young man—who gave off the strong impression of the lazy type—swiftly walked over to Yuki and sat on the edge of her bed. He rapidly changed topics, pushing the conversation along as he pleased. “To think you aren’t really the actual Legendary Witch. Are you a noble little girly from Adolunde? Or perhaps one from Rvydom?”
Viewing his face up close revealed his eyes to be the same ultramarine color as his hair.
“I’m neither one of those,” Yuki answered.
“You don’t have to lie about it, y’know? Not like anything is gonna change for you anyway,” he said with a smirk and stood. He walked a few steps and spoke with his back to her, “You’re gonna die as the Legendary Witch either way.”
What a nasty personality. What did this nasty brat come here for in the first place?