I Opened The Birdcage Door - Chapter 7

Sebastian was looking at me with an unknown expression.

Beautiful eyes and a straight nose seemed to represent his hard personality. Red lips were remarkably seductive. My lips trembled as I looked at his face.

I was thirsty. The desire, once started, continued to grow.

At first I wanted him by my side, but now I wanted his heart. I wanted to feel the feelings as a couple. I wanted to communicate with him with the feeling of love.

But this was a luxury for me.

The strength was released in my hands. I let go of his collar. I felt like crying. Is the happiness I was thinking of, really like this? I was thinking about it for the first time.

When I turned my head helplessly, as if giving up.

A large hand grabbed my chin. My head turned back.

His lips approached. His hot breath touched my nose. It happened in an instant. I felt like my head was going numb. The warm touch on his lips spread with a hot and soft sensation.

Sebastian Hughes. He was kissing me. My eyes widened.

“Mmm..”

I couldn’t hide the moan that was flowing without me knowing.

Obviously, his tongue, which was digging into my mouth, was softer and sweeter than anything else in the world, but strangely, I felt like I was stripped naked and exposed by him.

I closed my eyes, gasping for breath. My heart was beating like crazy. I felt my throat tighten. I couldn’t breathe properly.

His kiss made people choke.

How much time has passed since we kissed? I took a breath and opened my eyes. He was right in front of me. That moment.

“Do you want something like this?”

He looked at me and smiled cynically. That was an obvious ridicule. I felt like my heart was paralyzed.

“If the princess wants to be hugged, I can hug you. It’s easy.”

“….”

“But Princess will never have my heart.”

Only then did I realize. That I was completely played by him.

It was the revenge he gave me. The sweetest and cruelest revenge in the world for me, who ruined his family, took away the people he loved, and eventually took Bianca and threatened him to force him to kneel next to me.

As he intended, I gently placed my heart in his hands. Sebastian lifted my heart freely, then dropped it down the cliff. Then he went and crushed it, and trampled it. I was a desperate loser in front of him.

It was such a relationship, we were.

But…

After several scenes, Sebastian appeared before my eyes.

It was different from the countless scenes with him that I had just seen. He stood still and looked down at me. The distance was much closer than usual.

I bowed my head and looked at my legs. My two legs had regained strength. I was standing upright, without a wheelchair.

I smiled broadly for some reason.

What was it? Was it the relief that my legs had finally found their strength? Was it the realization of his heart for me? Was it a smile of blessing for Sebastian, who now would be truly happy without me?

What was clear was….

Now, I think I can let you go.

I smiled brightly and slowly raised my hand. I kissed his cheek tenderly.

“Goodbye, Sebastian.”

“….”

“I’m sorry for all this time. And thank you.”

I waved my hand at him.

Sebastian didn’t smile. He turned around and slowly walked away from me.

I stood still on my two legs, looked at him and waved my hand. Until he faded and faded into a dot and disappeared.

Sebastian never looked back at me.

***

I opened my eyes. My consciousness returned and my vision grew brighter.

The maid, who was looking down at me, made eye contact with the knight.

I stared blankly at them. I remembered the vivid pain earlier. I felt like I was waking up from a dead end.

“Princess, are you okay?!”

For a moment I wondered if I was dead, but then I realized that this was inside the sorceress’s hut. I lay inside the hut, in the sorceress’ private bedroom.

As I stared blankly at the two of them, I suddenly remembered.

My legs.

Are my legs really okay?

I lay on the bed and looked down at my legs.

My legs were straight.

Contrary to the usual feeling, when I applied a little force, it seemed that the strength in my legs was going to my will. Said the sorceress, who was standing leaning against the pillar with her arms crossed.

“You won’t be able to walk yet. Your legs are fine, but because you have been sitting for a long time, your legs are weak.”

“Ah…”

“For the time being, you will have to stay in the wheelchair. Keep doing rehabilitation.”

“….Okay. I see.”

I looked at the sorceress and smiled broadly.

It felt like death, but when it was over, my heart was overwhelmed. My legs were really fixed. Now I think I can really go back to the old me.

“I will have to pay for the use of magic. Just tell me the amount you want and I will pay for it.”

I didn’t know how much the magic would cost, so I took all the money I had. I asked the price, but the sorceress called for an appropriate amount of money. I thought it would be very expensive, but the price was cheaper than I thought, so when I tilted my head, the sorceress said,

“I am just an intermediary between fate and the Princess. The real price the princess will pay is the three tragedies I mentioned.”

“Yes….”

“Three tragedies will come at any time and without notice from the moment the princess leaves this place. I wish you all the best.”

Hearing the warnings of the three tragedies made me a little nervous, but I smiled relaxedly and nodded to the sorceress.

Up to that point, I was optimistic that I would be able to overcome whatever the three tragedies were. I couldn’t walk yet, so it may not seem like a change to others, but I will go to the mansion and tell my parents first. And I will start to recover gradually.

So one day I will be able to walk again.

When I returned to the mansion, filled with hope.

I wiggled my eyebrows as I felt the cluttered atmosphere of the mansion.

All of the people in the mansion were shouting with their faces turned white. Meanwhile, the maids who found the carriage coming in rushed to me.

“Princess, princess! You’re back!”

“What should I do? What is this!”

“…What’s going on?”

Seeing the urgency, I opened the window before even getting out of the carriage and asked. The maids cried.

“The Duke and Duchess had an accident!”

“…”

It was the moment when the first tragedy arrived.

***

The funeral was held magnificently.

It was an obituary for the largest duke family in the empire. Well-known nobles rushed to the funeral.

The nobles who entered the funeral home due to their sudden obituary were all looking dismayed.

I greeted the mourners in the wheelchair the whole time in black mourning clothes. Most of the nobles paid their respects in front of me, but as soon as I turned around, they started whispering.

“Did the Dukes and Duchess die? They weren’t old. How did this happen?”

“They said it was a carriage accident. You really don’t know what’s ahead of you. The Duke and Duchess were so healthy, but suddenly….”

Then, the nobles glanced at my legs and added small words so that I could not hear them.

“By the way, a few years ago, the Princess…… Apparently, the Lowell had bad luck with the carriage accident.”

“…”

I sat in the middle of the funeral, with an expressionless face, listening to them, openly talking in front of me.

I said nothing.

There was no mental space.

The first tragedy.

Was this the tragedy the sorceress spoke of?

Obviously, just that day, my parents looked at me and wished me a good outing. I remembered how the two of them waved their hands to me. As soon as I arrived, I was going to show my parents the legs that regained strength……

My heart was filled with such happiness for a short while, and the first tragedy came to me right away like this.

A bitter smirk came out. The nobles around me glanced at me as if puzzled.

The person who cared for me the most was Sophie. She was the one who knew the cause of this sudden accident. Sophie, who had been acting cautiously, unable to speak the whole time, opened her mouth.

“Princess, I also sent an obituary to Sebastian. Sorry for not telling you in advance.”

“…”

When I looked at her, Sophie apologized and continued.

“But I think your husband already knows the news. Right now, I think it would be good to have someone to help the princess. Perhaps Master Sebastian, as you have seen him, will be able to accompany you in your current situation.

At that moment. The atmosphere at the funeral became noisy.

I turned my head.  A carriage was coming into the mansion. The carriage with the imperial seal on it.