Being careless thinking it was an ordinary deer had been the problem.

Mutants were known to be as ferocious as beasts even if they were herbivores. Zenon, who tried to create distance too late, couldn’t avoid the attack in time and slipped down the slope.

“Ugh……”

Fortunately, he didn’t fall because he grabbed onto a protruding tree root, but holding on was also a matter of time. Strength was gradually draining from his hands. Should he give up? It was when resignation was casting over Zenon’s face…

“Zenon!”

Erna, who spotted Zenon from afar, aimed the crossbow in her hand and immediately fired at the mutant deer. A bizarre cry shook the forest, and at the same time, birds that had been hiding in the tree branches all flew up into the sky at once.

Not missing the opportunity, Alexion swiftly brought down his sword. The deer’s body that had been lying on the ground convulsing finely soon stopped moving completely.

“Zenon, grab my hand!”

Erna pulled Zenon’s arm with all her strength. However, no matter how hard she struggled, her strength alone was not enough. Her upper body, which had lost balance, tilted and rolled down the slope together with Zenon.

“Ugh!”

Before she could even feel relieved at falling into the bushes,

“Erna. Don’t move.”

Erna’s complexion turned pale as she turned her head following Zenon. A dangerous-looking black snake stood upright with its fangs bared. Erna instinctively covered her mouth and held her breath. If she moved even slightly, she would definitely be bitten.

‘What should I do? How……’

Her jaw trembled from fear. Her mind went blank as if all thought processes had stopped. Erna squeezed her eyes shut as the venomous snake rushed toward her.

“Huh……?”

Instead of pain, she felt a firm and warm embrace. Feeling her violently pounding heartbeat calming down at the familiar scent, Erna slowly opened her closed eyes.

A sharp sword blade had pierced through the snake’s body.

“Your Highness?”

Alexion, who had released Erna from his arms, quickly examined her body. She could feel a slight trembling in his touch as he checked whether she was injured anywhere.

Had he ever shown such agitation before? At this unprecedented sight, Erna momentarily forgot even her fear and stared blankly at Alexion’s face.

Only after confirming that Erna was fine did Alexion withdraw his hands. He let out a low sigh and roughly swept back his sweat-dampened hair.

“You always cause accidents the moment I take my eyes off you.”

His expression looked somewhat angry. Still, perhaps because the tension had eased, even Alexion’s scolding felt welcome. Thinking that she might have really died if he hadn’t come, fear and relief tangled together and surged up.

“……I’m sorry, Your Highness.”

Her nose stung. Erna, who barely held back the tears that were about to burst out, muttered in a choked voice.

“Thank you for saving me.”

Alexion, who was about to say something, discovered Erna’s finely trembling shoulders and closed his mouth again.

“Ugh.”

Erna, who was trying to stand up with support, let out a small groan at the pain she felt in her ankle. It seemed she had slightly sprained it when falling down the slope.

“Get on my back.”

Alexion said as he knelt on one knee. Looking at Erna who was waving her hands saying it wasn’t a serious injury, he firmly added.

“How long do you plan to get out of the forest with that limping gait?”

Erna hesitated for a moment, then got on Alexion’s back.

“I’m sorry.”

When they had exited about half of the forest, Erna apologized in a crawling voice. Her efforts to help Zenon had ultimately only held back Alexion, making her feel ashamed.

“I feel like I’ve only caused trouble for Your Highness all day today. You must be very angry.”

When no answer came, the dejected Erna buried her head weakly against his back.

“I’m not angry.”

“……Really?”

Instead of answering, Alexion looked at her injured ankle and furrowed his brow.

“We should call the palace physician when we return.”

***

The crown prince’s quarters, having returned after stopping the hunting festival, were enveloped in an unusual atmosphere. Right after the palace physician who had treated Erna’s ankle left, Alexion collapsed with a sudden high fever. Neison, who usually had considerable knowledge of medicine, examined the symptoms and spoke gravely.

“You’ve definitely been poisoned.”

“Poisoned……?”

“You said you encountered a venomous snake in the forest? Was it a completely black snake?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

“If it had been anyone else, the poison would have spread throughout their body in less than ten minutes. It’s that deadly a venom.”

Erna’s eyes trembled finely. He had seemed perfectly fine even when carrying her on his back out of the forest. There were no outward signs at all, so she never imagined he had been bitten by the venomous snake.

‘Then he was enduring the pain all this time.’

“It’s my fault. I didn’t even know you were injured and I…… because of me……”

Hubert gently comforted her as she blamed herself while covering her face.

“It’s not your fault, Miss Erna. And His Highness has resistance to most poisons, so if he gets through tonight’s crisis, he’ll be fine.”

“We can’t just sit here and watch helplessly. With his fever burning like this, we can’t even call the palace physician. Why does His Highness refuse the palace physician?”

At Erna’s incomprehensible question, both men couldn’t readily continue speaking.

“That’s……”

Knock, knock. A guard entered with heavy knocking sounds.

“Her Majesty the empress has arrived. She says she won’t return until she sees His Highness the crown prince directly.”

After the guard left, Neison showed difficulty with a hardened face.

“She’s definitely trying to check His Highness’s condition. We must not let her discover that His Highness has collapsed.”

“Why?”

Neison hesitated for a moment before speaking.

“Because it would be like revealing His Highness’s weakness to enemies who might be lurking anywhere in this vast imperial palace. Especially to Her Majesty the empress, we must maintain complete silence.”

The problem was that they had no authority to send the empress away. While Neison and Hubert were troubled, unable to find any good solution, a thought flashed through Erna’s mind.

“There’s a way.”

What she took out of her pocket with a determined expression was the magic stone she had brought just in case.

“I’ll meet Her Majesty the empress in His Highness’s place.”

“What?”

“Miss Erna, what did you just say?”

Instead of answering, Erna put the magic stone in her mouth and swallowed it. The proper way to take it was to grind it finely and mix it with water, but there was no time to be particular about that now.

“!”

She felt a strange energy sweep through her entire body, and then Erna’s small, delicate body began to grow. The advisors’ mouths fell open at her appearance that had changed in the blink of an eye.

“H-His Highness Alexion?”

“No, Miss Erna? How on earth did this……”

The buttons of the shirt she was wearing tore off, revealing a man’s robust muscles. Tall height, jet-black hair, sharp features. The advisors rubbed their eyes while alternately looking at Erna who had perfectly transformed into the crown prince and Alexion lying on the bed.

“There’s no time! Hurry!”

At Erna’s shout, the two men finally snapped out of their confusion and came to their senses. While they supported Alexion and took him to the secret space prepared behind the bedroom screen, Erna hurriedly changed clothes.

The effect of the magic stone Erna had swallowed was to transform into the desired appearance of another person, perfectly reproducing not just the appearance but even the voice. The problem was that the effect was one-time only and the duration was very short.

It was when Erna, having finished preparations, was about to turn around after checking Alexion’s condition one last time.

“……No.”

Alexion grasped her wrist. The elevated body temperature from the burning fever was transmitted through his grip. Erna bit her lips and deliberately placed her hand on her waist exaggeratedly to reassure him.

“Your Highness, have you already forgotten how capable I am?”

Her eyes, smiling brightly, shone with a firm light like a sprout that had endured winter.

“Trust me. I’ll be back soon.”

Tick, tick. Erna glanced sideways at the clock hanging on the wall and clenched and unclenched her fist under the table. This was the first time she was directly facing the empress since the day they met in the lily garden.

“There was an unfortunate accident at the hunting festival. As a mother, I was worried and came to visit. How is your body?”

“As you can see.”

Erna, who had unconsciously reached for the teacup out of habit, quickly put it back down. Her mouth went dry under the empress’s gaze that stared at her intently as if finding differences in a spot-the-difference puzzle.

“Did you come to visit at this late hour because you were worried about me? Your Majesty the empress.”

“Why, don’t you believe it? If I must add a reason…… I wanted to make it clear before you made unnecessary speculations.”

“What do you mean?”

“That this incident was merely an accident caused by the gamekeeper’s carelessness and has nothing to do with me.”

Ha! Erna inwardly clicked her tongue at the empress’s shamelessness. Who would believe that after she had personally come all the way here because her own feet were itching?

“Of course. How could someone who is an empress stoop to such lowly acts?”

Out of spite, a sarcastic tone slipped out without her realizing it. As expected, the empress’s picture-perfect smile twisted slightly, as if her insides had been scratched. The empress’s red eyes turned toward Erna’s right hand wearing gloves.

“I know well that you blame me for the curse carved into your body. You probably need someone to resent, pitifully……”