Unable To Escape (10 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 9
Alicia slept as if dead and could barely open her eyes until the sun had set the next day.
‘…Did I fall asleep right after washing up?’
Seeing Amy’s back as she left the bedroom, saying she’d bring food, seemed to be her last memory before dozing off—it must be the right answer.
“Ugh…”
Just sitting up from lying down required every ounce of strength in her body.
Probably because she’d cried away all her strength the previous night.
“Was I even too exhausted to have nightmares?”
Or perhaps it was thanks to Amy’s gentle, offhand words of comfort that made everything feel insignificant?
Seated against the headboard, Alicia had been blankly staring at the canopy’s corner before she turned her head toward the window.
Winter’s final snow relentlessly fell and piled up again and again.
Watching yesterday’s snow swallow the view beyond the window in white, Alicia let out a quiet sigh.
Though it varied slightly each year, winter’s last snowfall always lasted a week.
That meant she’d have to share the same space with Killian for an entire week.
“Only one day has passed so far…”
Though modest in size, it was still a castle.
She could avoid him if she truly wished—but merely knowing Killian was in the same place made her heart race.
Excitement? Fear?
Which of these feelings was her rapidly beating heart responding to?
Pressing her hand firmly against her left chest, Alicia murmured softly,
“It’s okay. Everything will be fine.”
In the past, she’d leapt into hell hoping for a happy ending—but now she knew exactly what awaited her at the end of that choice.
No matter how foolish or naive she might be, she wouldn’t choose a path whose outcome she already knew for certain.
“As long as I don’t cling to him, Killian won’t desire me. So I’ll just pretend not to know.”
From beginning to end, it had always been a relationship sustained solely by Alicia’s desperate clinging.
No matter why her heart pounded so fast, as long as Alicia stayed still, nothing would happen.
“I am Princess of Eregorn. I must… I must act like a princess.”
Repeating the duties of a princess over and over as if brainwashing herself, Alicia—who had repeatedly vowed to live for the empire—finally got out of bed.
She didn’t feel sleepy anymore, and somehow her chest felt so suffocated that she thought she’d go to the greenhouse for a change of mood.
No one in Lasa Castle dared enter the greenhouse—gifted by the Crown Prince to the Princess—without permission.
Besides, Killian, second only to Alicia in noble status, didn’t care for flowers at all.
In other words, the greenhouse was the safest place in Lasa Castle after her own bedroom, where she could avoid encountering him.
“Oh…”
The moment Alicia sat up from bed, she felt a slight dizziness from an unfamiliar emptiness—but she didn’t feel like eating anything.
Suppressing the dizziness by tightly closing her eyes, Alicia sighed deeply and opened the small door beside her bedroom.
It was her powder room.
Scanning the dresses lined up along one wall, Alicia picked the warmest-looking cloak from a separate pile at the far end and wrapped it around herself.
Then she stood before the enormous full-length mirror on the opposite wall and examined her reflection.
Unbrushed high bun, paler face than the day before.
A blue winter cloak draped over her white long-sleeved nightgown.
Amy would’ve been horrified if she saw her like this.
“I’ll just step out for a moment…”
After one last glance at her own vividly red lips—the only sign of life on her face—Alicia pulled the hood of her cloak deep over her head, hiding her face.
She no longer wanted to see her own foolish reflection so clearly etched on the spotless mirror.
Leaving the powder room and stepping out of her bedroom, Alicia walked down the long, hushed corridor—kept quiet for its sleeping master—until she reached a small door.
It led directly from inside Lasa Castle into the greenhouse.
Normally, security would’ve required at least two layers of access before reaching such an entrance.
However, the greenhouse in Lasa Castle—built solely for Alicia—had been constructed without any external doors at all except the one connecting from inside the castle.
Aside from this single entrance, there was no way for outsiders to sneak in. Moreover, on days without heavy snowfall like today, patrolling soldiers always ensured tight security around the greenhouse.
Standing before the door, Alicia glanced back to check her surroundings, then used the keyring she’d brought along to unlock the door connecting to the greenhouse.
She wasn’t going anywhere she shouldn’t—yet only now did she notice she’d left wearing nothing but her nightgown under her cloak, making her unconsciously glance around, wary of being seen.
“It’s warm…”
Closing the greenhouse door behind her, Alicia removed her hood and took a deep breath.
The greenhouse lights had remained on continuously since yesterday to withstand winter’s final tantrum.
The perfect temperature and light for plant growth.
Loosening slightly the cloak’s tie fastened firmly beneath her neck, Alicia began walking slowly.
Though she’d chosen the warmest-looking cloak and was feeling a bit hot, she couldn’t remove it completely—just in case she bumped into the greenhouse keeper.
“Maybe I should’ve changed clothes first?”
Regret always arrived too late—hence the name “regret”—and once again it seemed to find Alicia belatedly.
But only briefly—standing before her beloved crimson climbing roses, Alicia smiled faintly as their sweet fragrance tickled her nose.
Thanks to the scent, the warm air trapped inside her cloak no longer felt unpleasant.
“You’re just as beautiful now as you were back then.”
Alicia gently brushed the red rose petals with her fingertips and murmured.
Early in their marriage, hoping Killian might also come to love what she cherished, Alicia had once covered her own palace entirely in crimson climbing roses.
Among climbing roses, she especially adored the variety with small blooms and abundantly layered petals.
It was quite a famous tale in Eregorn that the Emperor had specially cultivated and gifted her a rose variety named ‘Fairy’ for her.
Yet to Killian, who disliked flowers, her beloved roses were merely annoyingly fragrant, needlessly ornate weeds.
[Please refrain from doing pointless things.]Was he perhaps bothered by the way she’d decorated the palace they were to share?
After uttering those words, Killian removed every single rose within his personal quarters.
Feeling it as a warning not to intrude upon his territory, Alicia eventually cleared away even the remaining roses—and never again gave Killian flowers after that.
“Why do old memories keep surfacing…”
Since encountering Killian again, memories she’d long pretended not to remember kept resurfacing, tormenting her.
But that was the past—now gone—and a future that would never come.
It had to be that way, and she had to make it so.
Resuming her slow steps, Alicia shook her head, weary of endlessly circling the same worries.
Last night, Amy had said Alicia would surely find an answer—but honestly, she wasn’t sure if a real solution to this problem even existed.
“Yesterday, I confirmed that giving up my feelings for Killian is impossible.”
Her heart moved before her mind could warn her.
How could she possibly let go of her feelings after falling for Killian all over again? If it were possible, she wouldn’t have swallowed poison and died in her previous life.
“The good thing is the engagement’s already been undone.”
Correcting that mistake immediately upon returning through time had been the right choice.
If she hadn’t properly canceled that engagement right away, her foolish self might have wasted time searching for excuses to delay the breakup—and possibly walked the exact same path as in her past life.
“The problem is I don’t trust myself.”
Ah—there was one thing she did trust.
Her own foolishness.
Would she, once again, lose herself to love and repeat the same foolish choices?
Even if one is foolish, would they really choose a path they’d already walked to its bitter end?—Yet hadn’t she realized just yesterday?
She’d comforted herself in her bedroom, assuring she’d behave like a proper princess… but people rarely change so easily.
That’s precisely why she couldn’t trust herself at all.
Alicia admitted she’d become overly pessimistic—and a coward.
“Sigh… I’d rather just disappear like this.”
Just as she let out a long sigh and spoke those words to herself—
—Crash!
A sharp sound of shattering glass rang out, and a freezing winter gust surged in, enveloping Alicia instantly.
Had the greenhouse wall broken? Why? Could it be because of winter’s final snowfall?
Though she knew that made no sense, she froze in place, utterly bewildered—until she soon saw what had shattered the glass wall.
【Grrrooook…】
It stood twice the height of an ordinary man, dragging arms longer than its own body along the ground.
Where a face should have been, only black void filled the space; its mouth gaped open from ear to ear, revealing slick, jagged, black teeth.
Each step it took spread an aura of dread throughout the surroundings—a monster.
Though she’d never encountered one directly, Alicia instantly recognized it as a ‘Beast’.
“How… how could…?”
Beasts were only ever seen beyond the northern border—how had one appeared here?
Even as she thought this impossible, her body instinctively stepped back, her face rapidly draining of color—
【Grooook… Aaa…li…shia…】
Her name spilled from the Beast’s mouth.
[…Aa…grook…li…shia…】The moment it called her name again, Alicia felt as if swallowed by utter darkness and squeezed her eyes shut tightly.
Turns Out He’s Been Secretly in Love with Me
One-line summary: He acts like he doesn’t like her but is actually playing hard to get.
Synopsis:
Xu Muzhou like her. He has liked her for a very long time, and through repeated schemes, he finally closed the distance with her.
But this is still far from enough.
He wants to be the one who stands out among her many suitors, to fight for her attention, and to make her take the initiative to pursue him.
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Could Killian have gone back in time???? That’s really strange
She loves this man? In every single flashback he has been an unfeeling D-bag towards her. What about him could she possibly love? Please move on.