The prince's bedroom was three times as large as mine.
And just like his personality, it was extremely desolate.
There was nothing inside except for a bed and a table.
The empty room was filled with the smell of bitter medicine.
I frowned at the unpleasant aroma, hesitated for a moment, and then walked across the large room.
There was a chair next to the bed. It must have been where the doctor who had just left had been sitting.
However, I didn't sit on the empty chair. I was about to leave soon anyway.
Approaching the bed, I insolently looked down at the prince.
His golden hair was scattered on the white pillow.
[Goodwill: 42%]
Calisto, lying with his eyes tightly closed, looked like a living masterpiece.
'Not moving, it almost feels like a scene from the game.'
The man who used to choose the most terrifying words to say, now lying motionless with his mouth closed...
It felt very strange.
'At least there's some improvement.'
Until yesterday, he was so pale that it was hard to tell if it was wax or human skin.
But in just one day, his complexion had improved significantly, and his breathing had become much more regular.
There was no antidote for the poison the prince had suffered from.
We could only rely on his natural healing ability and resistance to the poison, praying to the gods.
Thanks to the armor he was wearing, the wound wasn't as deep as it could have been...
The poison from a single drop of the venom was terrifying.
"Excuse me."
I called out to the prince in a small voice, as I did every day.
Then I slowly extended my hand and placed it under his nose.
Sigh, sigh— A faint breeze tickled my fingers.
"Are you okay?"
Even though I knew the protagonist wouldn't die, I often felt an unbearable anxiety in my heart.
Thinking about the cruel background of the game, I sometimes even felt a chill.
I probably came here every time to check his breathing because of this.
Especially because I felt guilty for causing this.
Even though the assassination was inevitable, he was stabbed while saving me.
Moreover, he willingly gave me his cloak, knowing his condition was bad.
'If I hadn't caught a cold that night and he hadn't given me the cloak... '
Maybe the poison would have spread more slowly.
Maybe his condition would have been better...
'...No. It all happened according to the story.'
I shook my head to clear my thoughts.
"Don't die, Your Highness."
Especially not because of me.
You should die saving the normal mode heroine, not me.
I whispered these words, which I had said for three days, softly, and then withdrew my hand from under his nose.
It was almost ten minutes. It was time to leave.
Just as I was about to turn and move away from the bed, something happened.
Thud.
Suddenly, something grabbed my wrist.
"Ah..."
Startled, I turned my head, and my gaze met his eyes, which were blazing red as if by magic.
"...I can't stand it anymore."
A small, hollow laugh echoed.
"Is all you've been saying for three days just 'don't die'?"
"..."
"Are you not even praying for a quick recovery?"
His voice, hoarse and tinged with metal, sounded genuinely pained.
I just stared blankly at the now-conscious Calisto.
Despite his pale complexion, he sneered and mocked me.
"Moreover, to dare call the prince of the empire 'excuse me'? Your audacity is beyond words."
Perhaps because I had only seen him lying helplessly with his eyes closed for days.
It was hard to believe that Calisto, now speaking aloud, was the same person.
"Your Highness, are you... fully conscious now?"
"Am I a ghost, then?"
"But they said there was no antidote and that it would take a few more days to see any improvement..."
So I thought he wouldn't wake up until I returned to the duke's mansion.
"Unfortunately, I was conscious the whole time. I just didn't have the strength to open my eyes while detoxifying."
His answer made my mouth gape open.
Even though the protagonist doesn't die, his recovery power is truly terrifying.
Looking into his clear, blazing red pupils, I felt a strange mix of relief and unease.
"Are you... feeling better?"
"No. I'm not."
The prince answered immediately after I barely managed to ask.
"I feel terrible. It's like my veins are burning, and my bones are being cut with a knife."
My heart sank at his words, delivered with a furrowed brow.
"I'll call the doctor!"
I quickly turned to leave, but the prince didn't release my wrist, pulling me back.
His grip was so strong that it was hard to believe he had just woken up from his sickbed.
"Leave it."
"But..."
"It won't do any good. They'll just burn some more detoxifying herbs."
He shook his head firmly.
"Besides, they might bring some unheard-of poison, which would be a shame. If only they had buried me a bit deeper, I could have gone to the afterlife."
I tried to leave quickly, as the patient needed rest.
But the prince, with a raised eyebrow, said something shocking.
"Can't you even do this much for someone who almost died saving you? Tsk, you're as cruel as a villain."
"Since you just woke up, I'm leaving to give you some rest..."
"It's fine, sit down."
I was about to retort when he pulled my wrist, forcing me to sit on the chair.
'Nothing will happen, right?'
The prince wasn't in a state where I needed to worry about him dying immediately.
On the contrary...
[Goodwill: 42%]
The gauge bar above his golden hair was quite full.
I realized his goodwill had surpassed 40%.
"...How many days have passed since we escaped the cave?"
While glancing at his forehead, the prince asked.
"Four days."
"The hunting tournament will end tomorrow."
The prince, who had quickly grasped the situation, suddenly twisted one corner of his mouth.
"I'm surprised, princess. I thought you'd leave me to die. Thanks to you, I'm still alive."
I was speechless. Who was the one who had threatened me until the last moment before collapsing?
"Didn't you say you'd regret it if I left?"
"I thought you'd leave me to die and save yourself, regardless of whether you lived or died."
"I'm a pacifist. I don't decide to kill or save people based on my mood like some people."
"Now you're openly insulting the royal family. I'll have to show you the underground prison someday."
His threat, delivered while lying in bed with a pale face, didn't feel very threatening.
Moreover, the man who laughed at my retort seemed to be in a good mood.
I stared at him for a moment before asking hesitantly.
"...Why didn't you tell me?"
"Tell you what?"
"About the poison."
"What would have changed if I told you?"
"..."
I was speechless at the prince's question.
He was right. Even if I had known, there was nothing I could have done.
Seeing my solemn expression, the prince asked with a mischievous look.
"Feeling a bit guilty for slapping me later?"
"I didn't slap you."
I jumped up and strongly denied it.
"It was an unavoidable situation..."
"The poison didn't take effect immediately, so I was unsure too."
The prince answered as I mumbled in a smaller voice.
"Even if I had known in advance, I wouldn't have told you."
"..."
"Why not?"
"A prince must be flawless."
I was taken aback. It was the second time I had heard this.
The prince in hard mode acted as if he would be doomed if he didn't become a strong emperor.
Given that he had experienced countless assassination attempts, it made sense.
But every time I discovered a side of him I had never seen in normal mode, it felt unfamiliar.
"Stop sitting there with that serious face and say something."
Not knowing what to say, I just sat there, and the prince urged me impatiently.
The strange emotion that had briefly risen inside me faded away.
I asked indifferently.
"What should I say?"
"Just anything. How have things been while I was here? Have they caught all the people who hired the assassins?"
I thought for a moment about how to respond.
After he collapsed, things had happened like a storm.
I was suddenly arrested and thrown into prison, faced a trial with no one believing me, and then turned the tables using the [Assassin's Emblem] I had obtained as a quest reward...
Explaining all of this in words felt like tattling to the prince.
Moreover, I shouldn't keep the just-awakened patient for too long, so I summarized the key points.
"The trial has been held, and the people who hired the assassins have been identified, but the investigation hasn't been thorough because the emperor hasn't returned yet."
"Of course."
Calisto nodded, as if he had expected it.
"Is that all? Did you testify in the trial?"
"Yes. By chance..."
I inadvertently mentioned that I had become a noble murderer and testified.
Suddenly, a thought struck me.
'Now that I think about it... this guy doesn't know what I said in the courtroom.'
The idea of my statement about being lovers reaching the prince made my spine shiver.