After returning to the palace from the jousting tournament, which ended in a great commotion, the crown prince didn’t return to his office but headed for a certain place with me.
We passed through the main buildings of the palace and went deeper and deeper into the palace, where he usually didn’t go. We had been at the jousting all day and we were both exhausted.
His boots were dirty with dust and the hem of his cloak was already soiled and worn.
“Your Highness, which way are we headed?”
“I have something important to discuss with you. I want you to come with me.”
We came to the northeast end of the palace. The crown prince didn’t stop, but walked into a small, dark, dank forest.
Just past the woods stood a small stone gray building. -Behind it was a castle wall.
(I’ve been here before, I think…)
Looking up at the thick, gray stone walls, I saw a heavy wooden door with a big canopy. I know that the angry shouts of the people used to come from behind that door.
I feel uneasy and ask the crown prince standing next to me.
“Your Highness? Why are we here?”
As he silently leads me here by the hand, the crown prince looks up at the shabby gray building.
“It’s a place I’d hoped never to come back to. But now that I think about what’s to come, I can’t just run away.”
“Your Highness?”
“I must speak plainly. It’s something important that I have been disconnected and ambiguous about.”
The crown prince looked me straight in the face. Then he said clearly.
“I killed you.”
I was so surprised that my cheeks hardened. I was at a loss as to what to do when the subject I had been avoiding was suddenly touched upon and I involuntarily took my eyes off the crown prince.
I gently released the crown prince’s hand and approached the gray building. The exterior of the building was lined with a series of small windows, just barely touching the ground.
I knelt down on the narrow cobblestones surrounding the building and looked down at the windows. There was a basement below and I was sure I had been there at that moment. In this dark, dank, and terrifying dungeon.
If I close my eyes, I can hear the angry voices I once heard.
I spoke out as if I were recounting an old fairy tale.
“Once upon a time, a royal sorceress fell in love with the crown prince. But another woman, who was loved by everyone, fabricated a false charge against her and put her on trial. Even her beloved suspected her of being guilty and she died in grief.”
The crown prince knelt alongside me, looking down at the dark, blank window.
“I know a similar story. A long time ago, a crown prince fell in love with a magician. But from this point on, it’s a little different from what you know. The crown prince loved the magician with all his heart. So he volunteered to lead an army to a neighboring country. He was going to bring his achievements to the king and beg his permission to take her as his queen.”
“Really?”
“The crown prince fought desperately for his country, but his country wanted to erase the only jewel he had left. So he went back in time to save her. He stabbed the person he loved most in the world in the chest.”
I stare at the weeds growing between the cobblestone pavement and the outer wall of the building where the dungeon is located. Ants are crawling on the weeds that sway in the wind.
The ants were not interesting, but I just couldn’t bring myself to move my gaze.
“I’m so sorry. I couldn’t do anything for you when you were in the most pain. I made so many mistakes.”
I muttered, staring at the swaying weeds.
“I thought you had fallen in love with the saint.”
The crown prince’s hand touched mine on my knee.
“I never have and I never will. You’re the one I love most.”
Tears welled up in my eyes and I could no longer see anything.
All I wanted was to hear those words for a long time.
The crown prince now touched my arm and whispered into my ear.
“Liesel, I love you more than anyone in the world.”
I brushed away my tears with the back of my hand and looked up at the crown prince.
“Ulysses, it was hard for me. I was sad. I thought you had abandoned me.”
“I did something really terrible. There hasn’t been a day that goes by since that day that I don’t think of your tear-filled eyes that kept looking up at me, wide open, until they were almost out of breath.”
I reached out and touched his cheek.
The sweet eyes that he turned on me were indeed those of my Ulysses.
“I love your gentle brown eyes, Your Highness.”
“I love Liesel’s eyes like the night sky.”
The crown prince reached out his hand and we touched each other’s cheeks.
“Liesel, Finally, I can hold you in my arms.”
I looked at him with my heart beating wildly.
In front of me is my Ulysses and also Gideon, with whom I spent my school days at the Academy of Magic. Just by being close to him and gazing at him like this, I’m filled with a sense of happiness.
I feel fulfilled, as if I am protected from everything, and my heart is lifted.
In a trembling voice, I said.
“Ulysses. Kiss me.”
The crown prince face slowly moved closer to mine, and our lips touched each other.
I almost melted at the soft touch. We gently touch our lips together again and again, as if we were testing each other’s senses.
We lost track of time by the gloomy dungeon and we were intoxicated by kissing each other for the first time in a long time.