Two-Faced Princess

“Leaving his corpse behind and escaping the burning building means that you still want to accomplish your goals, right?”

He was being impudent. But Apollonia needed it the most at this time.

“If you’re certain of what you want to achieve, then you don’t need to worry. All you have to do is continue what you’ve done so far.” At the end of his speech, Uriel kissed the back of her hand gently. With all the strength he could muster, he turned around resolutely.

Thud.

The small wooden door closed, leaving Apollonia all alone once again. Uriel’s words ceaselessly echoed inside her head.

A small beam of light returned to her vacant expression.

‘He’s right. I’m going to live no matter what. Even without marrying a foreign prince, I’ll slowly build strength, and…’

One plan came to Apollonia’s mind.

***

The fifth day.

Apollonia recovered from most of her injuries other than her broken leg. In the first place, she didn’t suffer from burns as most of her injuries came from the collapsed bookshelf and the flying debris.

Pedro and Adrian Reese didn’t look that surprised to see her healing ability. Thanks to that, Apollonia was able to be a little more comfortable.

She still hadn’t regained much strength, but she was able to move around to some extent now. Until now, Apollonia hadn’t left the room. During that time, she organized her thoughts over and over. Her head was ridiculously clear compared to the burning anger in her heart.

Apollonia figured out what she must do in order to survive in the future. As for the dead Sid, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “…Where is he?”

“Pardon? Uriel is waiting in the next room….”

But it wasn’t Uriel she was looking for.

“Where is Caelion?”

“He regained consciousness, but… you should rest more! Where are you going, Your Highness?!”

Ignoring Adrian’s panicked shout, Apollonia got up from bed. “Help me.” Without giving Adrian time to stop her, she took a step toward the door.

“Aah!”

Her broken leg couldn’t support her fully and she tumbled, but she got back on her feet right away.

Adrian shook her head frantically as she supported Apollonia with her shoulders. “Please go slowly.”

The two left the door and headed to Caelion’s room.

Clack-

Apollonia opened the door without knocking.

On the bed in the room, there was a black-haired boy with bandages all over his legs and arms. Although he had a better resilience than people in general, he wasn’t as good as Apollonia.

“…Your Highness?”

“You woke up.”

Caelion’s eyes got bigger because she was surprised at how calm she was. “…Yes.”

“I’m sure you’ve heard. Your family is gone now. Of course…” She tried to speak coldly, but the end of her speech was blurred. “Same goes for me.”

He tensed for a moment before nodding meekly. He seemed to have heard the whole story by now.

“Caelion,” Apollonia said, putting her hand on Caelion’s shoulder. “We’ve been missing for five days. The imperial family would think we died in the mansion incident.” She spoke without giving any time for Caelion to answer. “But if we go back to the imperial palace together, you’ll be killed the moment you enter the door. You’d live a little longer if you went back to your land, but you’ll always have to live in danger of being attacked.”

His face turned pale. Of course, he knew that fact by heart, but it always hit differently hearing it from someone else’s mouth.

“I regretted saving you.”

His head dropped silently. His lips moved as if wanted to apologize, but no sound came out.

However, Apollonia did not end there. “But I just changed my mind. And I thought of a way to save us.” She walked right in front of Caelion’s bed and looked down at him. Each word she said had incited fear, shock, sadness, and anger on his face. “So choose now.”

Caelion stared at her, shocked.

“There are only two options for you. From now on until your death arrives, follow my instructions faithfully, and avenge those who killed your parents and my family.” Her tone was as cold as ice, devoid of any sympathy for the boy who just lost his parents. “Or die in my hands right now.”

A long silence ensued in the room. Caelion stared at Apollonia without blinking even once. There was a little fear in his eyes, yet he did not back down.

“Decide now. If you don’t obey me, then there’s no reason for me to spare someone who could be a threat for me in the future.”

His eyes got a little bigger. Apollonia indirectly revealed her desire for the throne. He didn’t take his red eyes off hers. However, his breathing sounded to have gotten a little rougher.

Crackle-

As soon as Caelion tried to answer, the sound of the burning firewood came from outside the door. It was just a sound from the fireplace, but he shivered as if he was hit by a terrible memory.