43. The Prince Who Returned

 ‘I don’t understand.’

They treated gifts given with good intentions as ‘pitying charity,’ created strange rumors about another girl because they felt bad, and if that wasn’t enough, they had to pick a fight?

Daphne pouted her lips.

“Just because your pride is noble doesn’t mean it’s right to harm others.”

“Even calling us ‘you’ like that feels like you’re looking down on us. You think we’re pitiful, don’t you?”

The girls had no way of knowing about Daphne’s circumstances — how she suffered from insomnia to the point of resorting to Killian’s sleeping pills. They snickered mockingly at Daphne.

“I never……”

Daphne decided to back down.

“I never pitied you.”

“Don’t lie. You always gave us things you’d used, things you were tired of, things you’d worn once, like throwing them away. What’s that if not charity?”

“You said you wanted them. You said having one or two wouldn’t look bad. So I gave them, and you accepted them well. Ah, should I have bought new ones?”

Ranan didn’t answer. She just glared at Daphne venomously.

‘Ah.’

She clearly had wanted something, but seemed upset that Daphne hadn’t acted the way she wanted. Suddenly, Narid’s face flashed by — she who had said there was no need to use violence on stupid kids.

Daphne smiled coldly.

‘What should I do? I want to hit them.’

Her fists clenched again.

‘Should I hold back?’

Daphne fell into contemplation.

“We thought we were friends. If so, shouldn’t you have not pitied us? Besides, you said you’d deliver our letters to His Highness the Prince, but you never sent any of them, did you?”

“What use would it be to deliver your letters to my fiancé? Besides, Romeo is at sea now and can’t even receive my letters.”

“Why do you call His Highness the Prince by his name? You’re still showing off in front of us, Daphne Beaucater.”

‘Ah.’

Though she was angry, strangely, Daphne’s mind was growing colder.

“What friends at this point? If we were friends, you should have gotten your head straight before making me out to be a woman who sells her body to her godfather. Do you want to show your paranoia and inferiority complex that badly?”

“Daphne Beaucater. Are you done talking?”

“We called you here to apologize.”

Janet added another word.

“Yes, do it. Apologize.”

It seemed easier to just accept their apology and end it. If they could ease their guilt by living that way, Daphne would rather be grateful.

The thought that her beautiful name would be chewed over for a long time in these stupid girls’ minds — that was what she hated more!

“How can we apologize when you’re acting like this?”

‘What do you want me to do……’

Daphne heaved a sigh. Standing for so long made her leg throb again. After parting with them, she thought she should quickly visit the rehabilitation center.

“Daphne, aren’t you going to apologize?”

“I’m sorry. Why did noble I do that to lowly you? I, who am better educated and know more, should have been more patient. Did it hurt a lot?”

The last words were meant for her fists.

Perhaps feeling provoked by Daphne’s gentle and relatively polite apology, Ranan Calli’s face turned red and blue.

“You……”

“Don’t call me ‘you.’ Do you, a commoner, have any right to address a Marquis’s daughter like that?”

The girls’ expressions hardened. To think they would only understand their place when told such things. Daphne felt even more disappointed.

Once, not long after they became close, Ranan had spent a long time massaging Daphne’s leg when it suffered from spasms. Even though it was feet and might have been unpleasant, she had volunteered.

It was regrettable to have to cover such good memories with such low-class memories.

“Ranan, just keep living like that. Forever scraping by, thinking ‘gifts’ are ‘charity’ while acting out like an insignificant person.”

Ranan and Janet, and several other girls had always talked about wanting to become the prince’s wife, the king’s daughter-in-law, and someday the prince’s mother.

‘I don’t want to talk like this.’

But if that was their dream, Daphne had been willing to sincerely support them. Though not now.

“After graduation, you’ll become wives of worthless idlers, daughters-in-law with violent fathers-in-law, mothers of some disobedient child.”

Daphne would become queen, and before that, she would create a business bearing her name.

“I’ll be the woman who owns this Serenade, the land of the graves where you’ll be buried after living such depressing lives.”

Maybe she would even find a way to be independent and not be confined to the palace.

Daphne stopped at that thought.

‘Independent……?’

That might have been the goal Killian had told her to think about.

And to go that path, she needed to build the strength to ignore rumors. Because unconditionally bad rumors could either stagnate after floating around or disappear quickly.

Someone who wants to do great things should treat such trivial matters like passing clouds to stay alright for long. Finding her center within this was Daphne’s task.

“Are you done talking?”

“I’m not done yet.”

Daphne grabbed her loosely tied hair ribbon and pulled it down. Her red hair rippled down past her waist. As she tied it up into one again, she spoke gently.

“What you should give me isn’t an apology, but a thank you.”

A truly brief year of pain, sorrow, and anger.

Daphne had completed her tasks without collapsing or running away. That was enough.

These people were ultimately in positions so low they couldn’t cause even a speck of harm to Daphne.

Daphne smiled brightly. Just like Killian had when dealing with them.

“Now, want to try saying ‘thank you for saving my life’?” 

 * * *

 When Daphne turned sixteen, all of Secradion buzzed for a while with talk of the ‘new prince.’

“I knew this would happen.”

Killian threw the newspaper onto the table. Seeing her godfather, who usually maintained a cultured attitude in everything, act like this for the first time, Daphne’s eyes widened.

“Why?”

Looking troubled, Killian kept rubbing the back of his neck. Daphne brought over the newspaper and opened it carefully.

<Returned Prince, New Prince, Secradion’s Illegitimate Child, Reinstated as First Prince?>

“Did you know uncle had an illegitimate child?”

Daphne looked down at the large photo in the newspaper, feeling dazed. The young man with the boyish face had light hair, and his eye color couldn’t be determined since the newspaper was black and white.

‘He doesn’t look anything like uncle or Romeo.’

Something felt familiar about him. Daphne narrowed her eyes and looked carefully at the photo. Killian covered it with his hand.

“Don’t look. Nothing good will come from getting involved anyway.”

This was before Daphne could even think about wanting to meet this prince.

“Why? He looks handsome.”

“He’s not handsome, but an unpredictable rascal.”

“Do you know the new prince? How?”

The word ‘rascal’ made her curiosity surge even more. As Daphne kept trying to look at the photo again by turning her head this way and that with curious eyes, Killian’s hand kept blocking her.

“Your future husband shouldn’t be one of those royal bastards.”

“Oh my. Why? But my fiancé……”

“What fiancé? Firmly refuse such things. I’ll give you everything you need before I go.”

“Godfather, where are you going? Let’s go together.”

“……”

Killian pressed his lips tightly.

Above all, Daphne had been sent here by Amber herself, saying she would need essential refinement before becoming queen. Though now her daily routine had become chatting with her godfather.

“Anyway, not this one, especially.”

This was Killian, who had never used excuse words like ‘anyway,’ ‘somehow,’ or ‘roughly.’

“No, why?”

Daphne had already asked ‘why’ four times. But Killian didn’t answer. He just kept looking troubled.

“Daphne, didn’t you say you wanted to visit Airen?”

“Yes. Absolutely.”

“How about going this summer? By then, the territory’s affairs should roughly……”

“But I need to prepare for my debutante ball, don’t I? This prince will come too, right? I saw briefly that he’s attending official functions instead of Romeo.”

“Ah, the debutante ball.”

Her godfather repeated blankly, as if he had completely forgotten.

Since it was the first time seeing her godfather so anxious, Daphne was also confused. When Daphne tried to properly read the newspaper by opening it, Killian snatched it away. It was an ‘unrefined’ action.

“I haven’t read today’s paper! You told me to read it every day without missing one!”

“You don’t need to know.”

“Wow, you won’t even tell me why? Pure stubbornness……”

When told not to do something, it made one want to do it more. If not today’s newspaper, it would appear several more times in tomorrow’s paper.

However, the newspaper was cut off for several days. Narid only briefly summarized essential news. Daphne had to remain continuously bewildered. 

 * * *

 Not long after, a chance to see him arose. Not in the newspaper, but in person.

The prince had come to a large thanksgiving festival held in Serenade. Though royalty rarely came to this remote place, he seemed to be touring here and there to make himself known as the ‘prince’s substitute’ who had come from abroad.

‘His hair sparkles.’

Daphne almost let out an exclamation of ‘Wow!’ without realizing it upon seeing his face. He was a prince who looked like a prince that anyone would recognize.

He looked completely different from Romeo, whom she had seen to the point of boredom since childhood — that fairy tale prince.

Moreover, being blonde, which was uncommon in Secradion, he stood out even more as soon as he entered her field of vision.

He was well-dressed in a black suit with blue undertones. His features filled his small face perfectly with his hair swept back to reveal his forehead completely, and his gracefully upturned lips were red even from a distance.

‘His eyes are green. How fascinating.’

Though the young man had a boyish face, he was gallant. Being rather tall and well-built, he was a head taller than those around him, making him seem like someone from a different world.

The young ladies each approached to greet the prince with courtesy and were rewarded with charming smiles.

‘I too……’

Daphne also kept peeking around, pretending to pass by intentionally. As she stretched her upper body this way and that, his gaze finally fell in her direction. Daphne felt unnecessarily shy and deliberately brushed off her skirt.

Looking now, Daphne was wearing a dress of a similar color to his. She thought they might look good standing together.

‘He’ll greet me, right?’

However, the prince only stared at her for a long time without making any particular response. There were no gestures like blinking, nodding, or waving.

“Huh?”

After staring at Daphne for nearly a minute, the green gaze was withdrawn.

Not only that, but he walked with long strides to position himself on the opposite side of where Daphne was standing before soon mixing into the crowd. Though at least his face remained unhidden.

Just then, Killian entered the hall in his wheelchair. Daphne ran over to him quickly to immediately express her incredulous feelings.

“Godfather, that prince ignored me.”

“Why don’t you ignore him back? Didn’t you say the men here were outside your interest?”

“My goodness, that’s the prince. The person they say is Romeo’s brother!”

“What?”

“If such a splendid prince ignores me, I won’t be able to sleep at night!”

Daphne pointed her finger toward where the blonde man had disappeared, not knowing her manners. Her godfather followed her fingertip with his gaze.

“So he’s come back again, that so-called prince.”

Killian muttered while frowning severely.