My Sweet Deceiver - Chapter 68

Tehez was walking in the corridors of the mourning palace.

 

Parched vines stretched along the collapsed outer walls of the building, and the palace with its collapsed framework was exposed.

 

It was the first place she had ever seen that had turned into ruins for her.

 

But she took her steps like she was used to.

 

Dust flew, and cracked walls crumbled with each step she took.

 

What room did she arrive at?

 

When she opened the door, all she saw was a bed and heavy curtains. The room, which had thick curtains to keep out the sun, smelled of a musty, incomprehensible odour.

 

The bed and curtains were the only intact things she saw as she passed through the palace.

 

She went to the window to get rid of the smell and opened the window to ventilate.

 

However, the tightly locked window did not open.

 

She applied force several times, but the old window would not open. It felt like something was blocking it.

 

Meanwhile, the musty smell in the room got worse and worse.

 

With each breath she took, the musty smell of the room and something rotting crept into her nostrils.

 

And as she came in, the door she thought she had left open was also closed.

 

To get out of this increasingly foul-smelling room, Tehez grabbed the doorknob.

 

But this time, the door didn’t open like it was locked.

 

Looked like she would have to ask someone to help.

 

Thinking so, she tried to say her words loudly but failed to utter them properly.

 

It was difficult to get the words out of her mouth. But the words kept lingering in her mouth.

 

What is happening?

 

The moment she thought, her steps slowed down as if she had fallen into a swamp. It became difficult to lift her feet and move them.

 

As she looked around the room with her steady steps, she noticed that there was someone on the bed.

 

When the veil was lifted, a person was lying there.

 

And that person…

 

“Ahh!”

 

Tehez opened her eyes.

 

It was a nightmare.

 

She fumbled on the nightstand by the bed and picked up the water glass. She then forced herself to swallow the water. The inside of her mouth was very rough.

 

A cold sweat broke out on her head. In addition, unlike usual, the glass of water she was holding felt very heavy.

 

She sat on the bed and remembered what she had seen in my dream.

 

Lying down… It was Julien’s decaying corpse.

 

The musty smell she smelled must have been Julien’s body.

 

“Princess! Are you awake?”

 

Seeing the court lady with a desperate expression, Tehez put on a bewildered expression.

 

What was the big deal about waking up?

 

“I’m awake. What’s going on in the morning?”

 

In reply, her voice was hoarse.

 

Like someone hadn’t spoken to in a long time.

 

The courtier waved her hand and said, “It’s not morning, Princess. It’s already afternoon.”

 

“It’s afternoon? I didn’t wake up at the time I always woke up. It’s too late.”

 

As she pulled off the blanket and tried to get up, the courtier made a fuss.

 

“Don’t get up, Princess! You woke up in a week!”

 

“A week?”

 

“Yes. You passed out during the funeral and woke up a week later.”

 

The courtier laid Tehez down again and went outside to summon another courtier. At the same time, she must have called the attendants, who wiped her body and massaged her hands.

 

“Wait, wait. You’re dizzy. One stay and everyone else leaves.”

 

Tehez said she was rapidly fatigued as the dizziness set in.

 

It was ridiculous.

 

Did she faint there?

 

Come to think of it, there was no memory of her after fainting.

 

“Who did you say found me when I collapsed?” she asked the courtier, who was spreading the blanket over her.

 

“The Second Princess in reserve.”

 

She’d rather fall down in the middle of nowhere.

 

But she collapsed in front of Giselle Lemac.

 

She was shocked by Giselle’s words and lost her mind.

 

Tehez lost her face as a Princess.

 

“You don’t remember at all what the past week was like, do you?”

 

“Right.”

 

Tehez looked at her wrist. After listening to the courtiers, she seemed to be thinner than usual.

 

“The fever went up and down, and every time the Princess came to her senses for a moment, she talked to herself that didn’t make sense, kept waking up and trying to leave the room, and when the courtiers stopped her, she turned around crying….”

 

As if the courtier was upset, she talked about her condition to others, and in the end, Tehez was speechless.

 

“Did something like that happen?”

 

Tehez spoke to herself in a low voice.

 

She didn’t remember any of it.

 

Come to think of it, her wrists were all bruised.

 

“…She has been through a lot.”

 

“No. We all wish the Princess a healthy recovery.”

 

“…”

 

Suddenly she wanted to find out what had happened during her absence.

 

To think that she would keep her place for days at a time when the day was severe.

 

“Danielle.”

 

Before she could finish her words, the person arrived.

 

She was a familiar face she saw every month.

 

The royal physician checked her condition and opened her mouth.

 

“Please rest for a while. You must not come out of the bedroom.”

 

“How long am I going to rest? Isn’t that enough already?”

 

The royal physician scribbled something in the thick file, and she replied indifferently.

 

“Do so. Next time, if you want to wake up in eternal paradise.”

 

“…”

 

“Be sure to eat three good quality meals a day. You are not eating properly, and your nutritional status is poor. Your energy is pretty low. I’ll prescribe you a sleeping medicine, so use it if you have trouble falling asleep.”

 

The royal physician, who had been stingy in prescribing sleeping pills for her and said she would always be in danger of addiction, graciously gave her enough sleeping pills to last for several weeks.

 

Danielle and Ellie came to visit her after hearing that she had woken up.

 

Ellie grabbed Tehez’s hand, wept, and said, “Princess, are you really okay now?”

 

Then, she put down the carefully wrapped cookies, saying that it was a present she had made herself.

 

“Thank you.”

 

Danielle also looked at Tehez’s drawn face, put on a teary expression, and then bit her mouth shut.

 

Tehez, noticing that Danielle was holding back her tears, ignored it.

 

“Has everything been alright? I didn’t know how much time had passed. It must have been troublesome.”

 

“…”

 

In response to her question, Danielle and Ellie stared at each other.

 

It looked like they had something to say, but no one said it first.

 

Danielle turned around.

 

“First, let’s eat, Princess.”

 

Just in time, the courtier brought rice porridge.

 

Tehez forced herself to eat it.

 

She couldn’t get her voice out of her throat. In addition, even the spoon felt heavy on her hand, where she had no strength at all.

 

“Give me some hot tea.”

 

She handed the bowl to the courtier and received a cup of tea.

 

“Let’s hear what happened while I was away.”

 

“It was the same as usual. So don’t worry about anything.”

 

“Yes, Princess! So, recover your strength first!”

 

When Danielle spoke, Ellie also helped.

 

Tehez looked at Danielle with a suspicious look and turned her head away.

 

There was definitely something.

 

“Let’s cancel the banquet because it falls during the memorial period. It is right to do so.”

 

She changed the subject. Her birthday banquet coincided with Julien’s memorial.

 

A member of the royal family had passed away, and to hold a banquet full of laughter and chatter and celebration…

 

That was not to be said.

 

“We were on it because we thought you’d say that.”

 

“Right. You all worked hard.”

 

As if talking longer would reveal that they were hiding something, they told Tehez to rest, and Danielle and Ellie retreated.

 

In an instant, the room fell into silence.

 

“…”

 

After drinking the hot tea, Tehez stood up.

 

If no one tells her, she will have to check it herself.

 

She went to the powder room and pulled out her thick fur coat and shawl.

 

Cold sweat dripped down her back as she put on her clothes.

 

She couldn’t put any effort into fastening the button.

 

She was only dressed, but she was tired, as if she had been through a strenuous workout.

 

She headed to Dennis’ palace.

 

Danielle and Ellie would send her back to her bedroom if she went to her office.

 

It would be better to go to his palace and hear directly from Dennis.

 

Besides, she had a bout and wanted to see his face.

 

Unbearably.

 

With quick steps, she left the palace.

 

When she came out of the palace, a sharp wind hit her in the face.

 

Snow that had not yet melted was piled up sparsely in the shade.

 

When she arrived at his palace, the guards looked surprised at her.

 

“Where is the Prince?”

 

Her hushed voice sounded solemn, lower than her usual voice.

 

“The Prince is in the office right now.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

She was losing her strength.

 

Even if she didn’t want to, she should have been forced to eat and come out.

 

Tehez felt sorry for her rapidly dropping stamina.

 

She grabbed the railing of the stairwell and went to his office.

 

She was at a crawling speed.

 

As she reached the hallway where his office was located, she heard someone talking in a rather loud voice.

 

“So what are you going to do?”

 

“I’ll have to think about it from now on.”

 

“Is it time for you to act carefree?”

 

It was Sylvan and Dennis.

 

Sylvan’s voice was a little harsh.

 

“Are you serious, His Majesty the King? The memorial period for the Third Prince is not yet over.”

 

“Whatever the King is doing, how can I go against him?”

 

Dennis replied in a sharp tone.

 

“He’s announcing that he will make the Second Prince as the Crown Prince!”

 

The atmosphere was tense, and she could hear Sylvan banging his hand on something and shouting.

 

Crown Prince?

 

Tehez doubted her ears to see if she had heard wrong.

 

“Besides, how can a couple who are not even married…”

 

Sylvan couldn’t bear to say the words from his mouth.

 

“He’s glad there will be an heir in the royal family.”

 

Dennis answered nonchalantly.

 

Tehez opened the door to his office.

 

“Prince! Is what you just said true?”

 

“Tehez!”

 

Dennis saw her and came running.

 

“How did you get here?”

 

The paper thrown roughly behind him fell to the floor.

 

He caressed her sunken face endlessly.

 

It was as if a dead person had returned.

 

“Is it true that the Second Prince will be the Crown Prince? Are you lying?”

 

Tehez said earnestly, hoping she hadn’t heard the right thing.

 

“…”

 

Dennis lowered his head and said, “It’s true. His Majesty the King will appoint Fabrice as Crown Prince at the New Year’s banquet.”

 

(To be continued in the next episode)

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