Ken, who couldn’t express himself, seemed to love his younger brother more than anyone else, but Ron… His sense of self-preservation was too strong.

Even if Ken gave up everything, Ron was a selfish person to the point of overlooking his life. Ken tries to untie the two, but in the end, it won’t be untied.

Hiding what can be said only from Ken is because he might want to see it himself.

“The main palace is quiet.”

I looked around the main palace in the meantime. It was always a place overflowing with people, even if it wasn’t bustling.

But today, it felt like there were no people at all.

“After His Highness the Crown Prince fell, all external affairs were halted…”
Ken’s vague response made the current situation a bit more understandable.

“Now?”

“He is in the Crown Prince’s room.”

“Let’s go right away.”

With those words, I ascended to the second floor of the main palace. Perhaps because it was a place I had visited once before, the path was not too difficult. I was just a little surprised by the clearly different appearance from the last time.

The corridor, which had been silent as if no one existed, was overflowing with servants. It was quite surprising to see such a different scene from the first floor.

The corridors were filled with servants holding medicine and maids. Seeing that, I felt that the situation was far from normal.

“Has Queen Mother arrived?”

Some of the servants who recognized me immediately bowed their heads.

“What about Reldoro?”

“Ah… His Highness the Crown Prince is inside.”

“May I go in?”

“Yes.”

Whether Liandro had already informed them or not, they greeted us politely and opened the door right away.

The inside of the room was no different from the outside. People holding various types of medicines and unidentifiable objects were scattered all over the room.

The door to the bedroom was wide open.

“Sister…”

Perhaps sensing the unusual atmosphere, Shasha clung tightly to my side.

“Shasha, it seems like Reldoro is in a lot of pain.”

“Ah… Is our pig in a lot of pain?”

“Yes. Would you like to go in first and take care of Reldoro?”

In response to my words, Shasha nodded and quickly jumped into the bedroom.

As much as I wanted to go in with her, Liandro, sitting in the middle of the room, looked a bit tired, so I approached him first.

“Liandro.”

“…”

“Liandro… Are you okay?”

He didn’t look okay at all. Liandro, who had lowered his head deeply, was constantly sighing deeply. It seemed so pitiful that I sat next to him.

Only then did he seem to notice my presence and raised his head.

“Ah… Bella.”

“Is everything okay? Is it a serious situation? You didn’t tell me separately.”

“Bella, you… You seemed to be struggling just with the matters of Shanensia, so I didn’t tell you separately. Is Shanensia… Is she okay?”

“Yes. But Reldoro…”

He made a disheartened expression as he clenched his lips so tightly that they turned white.

“He hasn’t woken up.”

“What do you mean? He hasn’t woken up.”

“He wakes up from time to time, but… he can’t regain consciousness.”

I originally wanted to talk more with Liandro, but at the mention that Reldoro couldn’t wake up, I abruptly stood up and headed towards Reldoro.

Shasha, who had been in the room earlier, was standing next to Reldoro, and when they felt our presence, the people in the room quickly stepped back.

The dark room. A place where not a single ray of light entered. The scent of the candles filled the room to the point where it could make one’s throat hurt. Strangely, this room was the only place filled with smoke.

“What on earth is this…”

“At least when we burned this incense, the child woke up…”

“But it’s so strong that it makes my throat hurt.”

“Maybe.”
His eyes, devoid of any energy, were cloudy.

Whether it was because of the dark room, the haze caused by smoke, or if he was bending like a soulless person, it couldn’t be determined. Regardless, Liandro’s condition wasn’t good.

“I… I don’t know what to do. Why he has nightmares, why he can’t wake up… I don’t know what I should do.”

Seeing Liandro after a long time, he looked visibly thinner. It showed how much he had been struggling.

‘We’re becoming more like a family. Seeing him worry so much about Reldoro.’

It was fortunate that I didn’t know the image of the emperor in the book who claimed not to know how to love his son. But feeling the pain like this made my heart ache as well.

“Sister, our pig won’t wake up.”

“Right. Reldoro… seems to be wandering a lot. That’s why he can’t wake up like this.”

“Wandering?”

“Yes. In his dreams, maybe he lost the way out.”

Since the reason for not waking up wasn’t clear, I circled around the subject for Shasha to understand easily. Shasha, listening to me, looked at Reldoro quite seriously.

“I see… lost the way…”

“Yes.”

Fortunately, she didn’t seem to blame herself anymore for what happened because of her. Instead, Shasha pressed Reldoro’s cheeks and chuckled.

“Of course, if it’s so dark and you can’t see ahead, you can’t find the way!”

“Huh?”

At that moment, Shasha suddenly jumped to the window and swiftly pushed aside the curtains. Thanks to that, light suddenly poured into the dark room.

“Oh…”

As if that wasn’t enough, Shasha opened the window wide. Fresh air came in, and the artificially created air from the burning incense quickly escaped outside.

“That’s all we had…”

Liandro seemed quite desperate at that fact as he tried to close the door again. Perhaps he had no strength left to get angry about what a child had done, or maybe he just couldn’t move fast enough.

Meanwhile, Shasha, who approached Reldoro again, looked at him brightly.

“Heal everything! Don’t wander and come to me quickly, pig! The pig follows a cute rabbit and comes here!”

Whether it was a command or just words, Shasha’s words were cute.

At that moment, a small gust of wind suddenly blew from the child’s body, and the incense went out. The smoke that couldn’t go out disappeared.

Liandro seemed to be in despair at that fact, but I noticed something.

Reldoro’s fingers moved.