I Became A Wretched Extra In A Healing Story - Chapter 20

‘If that’s what you want… Alright. But His Majesty must also know about this.’

Although she felt a bit reluctant about the fact that the emperor had to be informed of her meeting with the boy, Reibella nodded without showing it outwardly.

‘Go with Sir Eden. The path is rough, so it would be difficult to go alone.’

It meant he was assigning someone to watch her. Reibella accepted this willingly as well. It would be better than risking her life by arousing unnecessary suspicion from the emperor.

So she came together, and in the end, she thought it was a good decision.

Even if she had been given a map, she would have wasted time doubting whether this path was really correct.

“Miss, no, Food Taster.”

Upon arriving in front of the palace, Eden called out to Reibella.

He spoke while matching Reibella’s eye level.

“I’m not sure if the commander told you, but you must not speak to anyone about the existence of the person you’re meeting.”

“Yes. I know.”

Carlson had warned her several times as well. That if the boy’s existence became known, dangerous things could happen. That for the sake of ‘Reibella Felicity’, whom the princess cares for, she should be careful with her words and actions.

“I’d like to advise you not to get close for your own sake, but please don’t forget that there are eyes and ears everywhere.”

“I will.”

He seemed to be subtly telling her that not only she, but also others were watching this place. Reibella nodded imperceptibly.

“Then I’ll stay here. Call me if you need anything.”

“You’re not coming with me?”

“No, I’ll wait here.”

Reibella didn’t insist on taking him along. She felt that the boy wouldn’t welcome the company of a knight.

As soon as she entered the palace, Reibella was greeted by thick dust. Why on earth would he stay in a place like this?

An existence that had never appeared in the original story despite living in the imperial palace. An extra character that wouldn’t be strange if he disappeared at any time.

‘Somehow, it doesn’t feel like someone else’s story.’

That made her even more curious.

Who the boy was.

What name he had.

“I’ve come to hear your name as promised.”

Reibella smiled brightly as she looked at the child sitting by the window at the end of the corridor, bathed in moonlight, with a bored or tired expression.

And she asked boldly.

“Please tell me your name.”

Reibella was quite confident.

The boy in front of her would know best how difficult it was to find where he was, and how remarkable it was that Reibella had found this place.

So Reibella thought he would willingly tell her his name.

“Why do you want to know that?”

But what came back was a cold gaze and a question full of suspicion.

“I thought it would be nice if we could become friends.”

“Me, with you?”

He snorted as if he had heard something utterly ridiculous.

“I don’t know what you’re up to, but go back. Don’t show up in front of me again.”

“So you really won’t tell me?”

Although she was used to being treated coldly, not just in a day or two, she couldn’t help but feel her shoulders slump.

No matter how grateful she was, no matter how much she wanted to help, if the other person refused, that was the end of it. Forcing it would only be another form of violence.

“I came here with such difficulty.”

How hard it had been to come here. She couldn’t ask anyone, so she had to search on her own, which was more daunting than she had thought. The imperial palace was incredibly vast, she had to avoid being seen by people, and sneaking around every night felt like she was experiencing what it’s like to be a thief.

“I didn’t ask you to find me.”

“I promised I would help you because you’re my life’s benefactor.”

“I never agreed to that.”

“That’s true, but…”

Come to think of it, this meeting itself could be burdensome for him.

‘He must be the son of the former crown prince.’

It wasn’t hard to guess his identity once she recognized him. The story of the tyrant emperor killing all his brothers and confining his young nephew had appeared just once in the novel.

The reason she hadn’t immediately recalled this fact was because it had been mentioned throughout the story that the princess was the only one with imperial blood. So Reibella had thought that nephew must have died.

‘But he was alive.’

Looking back, there was something her father, the Duke of Felicity, had said when he was educating her about noble titles and ranks when she was very young.

‘In the current empire, duke is not the highest rank, my child. There is someone else above us.’

At that time, she thought he meant the emperor, but now she realized he had been subtly informing her of that child’s existence.

Once she knew the boy’s identity, she could roughly imagine what kind of life he had lived.

‘The current Emperor Liam Curtis Rastel wasn’t originally the crown prince. They say he staged a rebellion on the day his older brother was to ascend to the throne.’

He was a child who had everything from the moment he was born. Born at the center of the empire, the greatest country on the continent. If it weren’t for the current emperor, he would have been known to everyone by now as the heir to the throne.

In an instant, he lost everything.

His parents were dead, and he was left alone, confined, barely clinging to life.

‘If Dad couldn’t mention him properly, the number of people who know this child is alive must be countable on one hand.’

Of course, the one who made it so would be the emperor.

The person who should have been in the position of crown prince by now. The only one in this empire who could completely erase his existence was the emperor, and only the emperor.

What was questionable was how long he had been in the imperial palace.

If he could roam around the imperial palace so openly like this, his existence couldn’t have been hidden so perfectly. The princess, in particular, couldn’t have not known.

‘The princess really doesn’t seem to know.’

If she had known, she wouldn’t have left him like this, and it would have been mentioned in the novel.

That meant he had been staying somewhere else until now, and hadn’t been in the imperial palace for long.

It was also suspicious that they left him in this remote palace and allowed him to wander around the palace grounds.

As she kept thinking, pondering these questionable points, she converged on one conclusion.

‘Is he trying to flush out those harboring rebellious thoughts?’

If someone dissatisfied with the emperor discovered his existence, they would contact him with hopes of rebellion.

One who ascended to the throne through rebellion. A figure lacking legitimacy despite being emperor.

In the novel, the emperor was always plagued by accusations that he had killed his own siblings to ascend to the throne. That’s why he wanted to pass on a perfect position without even a speck of dust to his beloved daughter.

His reason for keeping his nephew alive until now was unknown, but if he had called him to the imperial palace, it meant his usefulness had come to an end.

After confirming if there were any forces gathering around the last surviving grand duke…

‘He’ll kill him.’

And surely, that child must know this fact as well. From when she first saw him to now, not a shred of hope could be found in the boy’s eyes.

‘I’m glad I said my final goodbye to the Duke of Vicheravali.’

If she had still been in contact with him, both the Duke of Vicheravali and that child might have been in danger because of her.

They might have been suspected of communicating through the character of ‘Reibella Felicity’, a survivor of a rebellious family. No, they would have tried to connect them somehow.

‘He has reason to be wary of me.’

He must have known that Reibella Felicity had received help from the Duke of Vicheravali, as she had come to find him and given him the antidote herb after hearing he had collapsed from poison meant for the princess.

If Vicheravali was still treated as the ’emperor’s dog’ like before, it might have been different, but now the atmosphere between Vicheravali and the emperor was not good.

If a child associated with such a Vicheravali approached him pretending to be friendly, it would be perfect to be suspected of ‘rebellious’ contact, just as the emperor had hoped.

That a knight of the imperial palace, who was Vicheravali’s spy, had guided ‘Reibella Felicity’ to him for rebellion.

…It was such an unfair misunderstanding.

After organizing her thoughts, Reibella said to him.

“If I’m a burden to you, I won’t come anymore.”

“……”

“But since I’ve come today anyway, I want to talk with you.”

This meeting could be the last. So, she wanted to have a conversation with him as much as possible.

She was so curious about him, who bore the same misfortune.