Chapter 105: Choice and Responsibility

“Olivia.”

At Caelan’s words, Bliss understood Latte’s scheme. Somehow, it seemed she had been holding Caelan’s stepmother.

Bliss stopped walking and looked up at Caelan.

“You weren’t… hurt, were you?”

He had appeared so calmly that she hadn’t even thought to worry about him. Bliss kept holding the handkerchief to her neck while feeling Caelan’s body. Though there were no torn clothes and no major visible wounds, she couldn’t be sure.

“What about poison?”

What if she had used poison and there was a problem somewhere not visible?

Caelan took her hand at her worried tone.

“I’m fine.”

“Really?”

When Bliss asked skeptically, Caelan nodded.

“If you don’t believe me that much, see for yourself.”

Caelan let go of Bliss’s hand and stepped back. As he removed his coat and started unbuttoning, Bliss belatedly grabbed his hands.

“You’re not planning to undress here, are you?”

This was the corridor leading to meet the Princess. Someone could appear at any moment, yet he was going to undress. When Bliss shook her head to stop him, Caelan immediately removed his hands from the buttons. Seeing how quickly he complied, it seemed he had expected Bliss to stop him.

“I’m unharmed.”

When Caelan insisted he was really fine, Bliss couldn’t keep approaching him worriedly.

“Shouldn’t we go?”

“Yes.”

By now, people had increased in the corridor and surrounded them as if protecting Bliss. Though she had said Latte had framed her as the culprit, it was all a lie created with Echo. While some believed those rumors, no one tried to arrest Bliss as she was surrounded by the Emperor’s guard knights.

Soon Bliss went to where Princess Jasmin was and opened the door right away. As Caelan followed and closed the door behind them, it became quiet with just the two of them in the dark, silent room. Bliss walked ahead as if leading the way, and Caelan slowly followed while observing their surroundings.

It wasn’t Princess Jasmin’s room. Rather, it was an inconspicuous room located quite deep inside, not somewhere Princess Jasmin frequented.

As Caelan approached, someone was sitting on the bed looking at him.

“Welcome.”

It was Princess Jasmin. As Caelan examined her face, Princess Jasmin showed him her arm as if to prove something.

“As you can see, I’m perfectly fine. Not injured at all.”

“What happened?”

“Well… I pretended to be dead.”

Princess Jasmin went straight to the conclusion without detailed explanation. Curious about how things had happened, Caelan turned to look at Bliss.

“Among the Princess’s collections, there was something made to look like blood. We used that.”

That was what Bliss had been continuously experimenting with before. Just mixing water with paint wouldn’t look like blood. So she mixed various reagents to create a liquid that looked like blood. She had thought of what was used in dramas and movies from her original world. She thought Latte would reveal her hidden true feelings if she realized they had tricked her.

“Latte secretly tampered with the Princess’s collection, and while blocking her from escaping right away, she committed the act. Though Latte thought she had adapted her plan to the situation when she spontaneously stabbed the Princess.”

At Bliss’s explanation, Princess Jasmin cut in, dumbfounded.

“From the start, Latte made the wrong plan. She had no idea that sneaking into my space itself meant falling into a trap? And to think of using my collection…”

As she was thinking of Latte with disdain, Bliss added more explanation.

“The Princess’s collection has many fascinating things. There are things that become mushy when dissolved in water, and daggers that speak like Echo, so wouldn’t there be other things? But Latte didn’t think of that.”

That was the crucial factor in Princess Jasmin not getting hurt. Latte thought she had stabbed the Princess’s body, but it couldn’t penetrate the Princess’s body, and the Princess burst the fake blood at the right moment.

When the explanation ended, Princess Jasmin asked as if she had been waiting.

“What happened to Latte?”

“She’s been caught. She’s imprisoned now and will face punishment for attempting to assassinate Princess Jasmin.”

“A trial would be good.”

Princess Jasmin came down from her seat. As if tired of just waiting without doing anything, she stretched widely.

“With Jenesha involved too, the palace will probably be noisy for a while.”

As she even knew perfectly well who had helped Latte, Caelan silently watched the two women. The trap they had set was so perfect it would have worked even without him.

“I’ll handle the rest here, so you two go back.”

Princess Jasmin turned Bliss’s shoulders and pushed her toward Caelan. As Bliss nearly fell into Caelan’s arms, Princess Jasmin watched them with a smile.

“You’ll need time alone together now.”

At the urging to hurry and go, Bliss grabbed Caelan’s clothes and looked up. Though it had only been a few days, she seemed to have missed being in his arms.

“Let’s go back.”

Caelan wrapped his arm around Bliss’s waist.

***

Bliss looked with curious eyes at the palace gates being wide open. It felt strange that the imperial palace gates could be opened and closed at will.

“Do you know who Echo’s frequent companion was?”

Bliss, who had been looking at the gates, asked Caelan.

“His Majesty the Emperor.”

“You knew?”

At her look asking if she was the only one who didn’t know, Caelan shook his head.

“I found out not long ago. When I went for an audience with His Majesty, I saw him sitting beside him.”

“And I didn’t even know that…”

Remembering how she had told him to bring the Emperor who lived in the best house in the empire, Bliss laughed in disbelief.

“That intention alone would have been enough.”

Caelan whispered while tucking Bliss’s hair behind her ear. She had been thinking how close they were, and now his hand naturally reached her ear, and if he leaned just a bit more, their lips could meet.

Feeling his emotions clearly, Bliss put her hand on Caelan’s shoulder.

“What do you want to do now?”

Bliss deliberately traced Caelan’s lips slowly. The answer was already decided. Bliss moved her hand from his shoulder to wrap around his neck.

And pulling him closer, she slightly lifted her head. As their lips met, Bliss slowly closed her eyes.

Since deciding to catch Latte, she had moved without rest until now. She had reduced sleep to experiment, and every night she had imagined scenarios of confronting Latte countless times, thinking about how to make her fall for the trap.

It was worth it, having endured even when she missed Caelan in between. Because they were able to catch Latte without anyone getting hurt.

“When we get back, let’s not worry about anything else for a while.”

Hoping for time to focus only on each other, Bliss deeply locked lips with Caelan.

***

Caelan got down first and reached out both hands toward Bliss. As Bliss fell into his arms with a smile, she could get down from the carriage without a step. Even though others were watching, she couldn’t think of anything else because being with Caelan now felt so good.

After getting down from the carriage like that, Bliss looked at the mansion with emotional eyes. Thinking that this would be the house where she would live completely as Bliss from now on, the place she had lived until now felt new.

‘My life is settling here.’

As much as she had chosen Caelan and decided to live Bliss’s life from now on, she decided to forget that other world she used to live in. After all, choices come with corresponding responsibilities.

“Caelan, that’s enough…”

As Bliss was about to say they should go, her gaze caught something and became clouded. A woman suddenly appeared. Though the knight tried to block her, she ignored it and charged forward, and even when the knight drew his sword, she didn’t stop running.

Seeing the woman’s gaze fixed on Caelan, Bliss instinctively embraced him. She thought she heard her name near her ear, but she was too busy protecting Caelan from the woman to hear clearly.

The woman seemed to spray something, and fortunately, because Bliss had turned first, she could protect Caelan.

“!”

Her back felt like it was burning intensely. Though she wanted to scream, her throat felt blocked and no words would come out.

“Bliss!”

Bliss looked at Caelan who had picked her up. His face was completely distorted as he looked at her.

‘Caelan…’

The man she had chosen. The world she had chosen was crumbling.

The original Bliss who had died wearing a necklace coated with poison couldn’t avoid that fate after all, as she collapsed from poison once again.