Ch.15718100428 (4)

The dawn continues.

The cool winter breeze completely colors the sky.

Brilliant starlight falls across the surrounding landscape.

Spring has not yet arrived in the garden. Nevertheless, a fresh vibrancy shimmers nearby.

Charlotte and I were walking side by side through such blades of grass.

Each step we take leaves behind a soft rustling sound.

Crunch, crunch…

The seasons flow gently.

A westerly wind blows softly.

Golden hair and platinum blonde hair flutter lightly as if disheveled.

I brush my bangs aside and gaze to the side.

“……”

Charlotte was immersed in silence.

Without saying a word.

She was merely crossing through the winter-filled landscape.

She had been in this state ever since witnessing me coughing up blood earlier.

I could read the gloom in her eyes.

‘Perhaps I worried her too much.’

Her delicate features were expressionless.

She didn’t look much different from usual.

However, having spent enough time together, I could now read the emotions reflected in her pupils.

Her calm, sunken wall-like eyes certainly contained sadness.

Noticing this, I speak first.

“I’m fine.”

“……”

“I pushed myself harder than expected, but it’s too minor to call it a problem.”

“But you coughed up blood. While breathing as if you were in pain.”

“I wasn’t particularly in pain, though…”

“Another lie.”

“Oh dear.”

A somewhat sulky voice.

She seemed quite angry.

I speak with a bitter smile.

“It seems I’ve caused Your Highness concern.”

“……”

“I’ll be more careful next time.”

“That’s not what I wanted to hear.”

“Pardon?”

Wall-like eyes staring straight at me.

Beyond the transparent surface, only the golden-haired boy is clearly reflected.

“Judas never tells me when he’s struggling.”

“Well, that’s because I’m not struggling. I can’t complain without good reason.”

“That part.”

Poke-

A slender finger pokes my cheek.

Her brow is slightly furrowed.

Yet her expression was so gentle that she only looked cute.

Her characteristically unwavering blue eyes expressed dissatisfaction.

Perhaps these were feelings she had been accumulating for some time.

“You’ve been through a lot of difficult things.”

“Nothing particularly comes to mind.”

“Every time you’re in pain or hurting, you try to hide it like now.”

“Everyone keeps some secrets in life.”

“You have too many of them.”

“Am I not quite ordinary?”

A conversation running in parallel.

As I dodge each pointed remark that follows, there’s one brief question that pierces my heart.

It was a short inquiry.

“Are you perhaps afraid?”

“……”

Just a question.

A sentence that doesn’t even specify what I might fear.

Nevertheless, I couldn’t answer immediately.

Perhaps it was because of the many branches of yesterday and tomorrow.

Rusty memories begin to creep into my mind.

I…

-Brother!

I shake off unnecessary thoughts.

Afterward, I smoothly dodge the girl’s question.

“Is there anyone in the world without fear?”

“That’s not what I was asking.”

“One can’t always expect the right answer.”

“Judas, you’re unfair. You always deflect like this.”

“Hehe… Perhaps unfairness is my charm.”

“Maybe so.”

Charlotte nods plainly.

I pat her head in gratitude.

My fingertips feel the touch of her elegant hair.

“Thank you for worrying about me.”

“Mm…”

The girl silently accepts my touch.

‘She’s quite docile.’

It wasn’t a bad feeling.

Being someone’s concern meant that I was precious to them.

In fact, Charlotte often showed various emotions when she was with me.

Unlike her usual stiff and emotionless appearance.

-Ju, Judas… don’t die.

Last time, when I was injured, she even shed tears.

It means that despite appearing aloof, she’s still a tender child inside.

Though she’s quite eccentric and unpredictable, even that wasn’t born of ill intent.

Swish-

I carefully withdraw my hand.

Sharlotte remains silent.

Whether the person involved realizes it or not.

Our relationship was deepening as much as the flowing seasons.

“……”

Settling silence.

However, the gloom in the girl’s eyes had not lessened.

She seemed to have something continuously on her mind.

It was my turn to ask a question.

“Your Highness.”

I ask quietly.

“What are you thinking about so deeply?”

“Hmm…?”

“Do you have something troubling you?”

“Well. I’m not sure myself.”

Charlotte answers in measured words.

Meanwhile, her blue eyes look up at the distant night sky.

As if chasing the fading starlight following the retreating night.

“My heart feels unsettled.”

“Unsettled, is it.”

“I feel empty… like there’s a hole in my heart.”

Perhaps it’s because dawn is approaching.

The dawn was particularly dark.

The word “emptiness” uttered in pitch darkness carries a strange magic.

As if stepping into a void one might never escape.

The girl’s gaze wandered, unable to find the stars.

“Finally, Elise’s curse has been lifted.”

“It doesn’t feel real to you?”

“No. I’m incredibly happy. I’ve lived my entire life thinking only of that.”

“Your Highness has always been desperate. You personally recruited skilled physicians, mastered various books, and sometimes even chased after cultists.”

“Judas, you know everything.”

“I’ve been told I have sharp ears.”

“Yes. Then I think we can talk quickly.”

Sharlotte.

A child who has lived solely with the determination to save the rose.

Her devotion to her younger sister might be similar to the Emperor’s, but certainly no less.

Perhaps that’s why she’s experiencing confusion.

The girl’s eyes were clearly wavering.

A quiet voice sounds.

“I don’t know what to do now.”

And for good reason.

“I’ve always only thought about saving Elise. I’ve never imagined what comes after.”

The purpose of life.

Charlotte had lived prioritizing it above herself.

For her, her sick sister always came first.

‘But.’

Not anymore.

A miracle had found them, and their wish had been granted.

She no longer needed to cling to anything.

However, from now on, the girl had to think about the future.

The tomorrow and future she had never envisioned while being devoted to her purpose.

The girl’s confusion stemmed from that disparity.

I quietly answer.

“I understand.”

“Really…?”

“Why do you think I wouldn’t know?”

I’ve experienced similar things.

A sister with a terminal diagnosis.

Looking back at my past life, we never had time to envision tomorrow.

Even getting through today was burdensome enough.

“Being able to picture tomorrow is a blessing. It means you’re comfortable enough not to worry about today. I too once had a time when I couldn’t envision tomorrow. Though that’s become quite ancient history now.”

“……”

“You’re feeling confused, aren’t you?”

The common worries of children.

What they’ll do in the future, what kind of person they’ll become, or whom they’ll love.

The girl had no answers to any of these questions.

More precisely, it was her first time facing them.

“Yes… I think that’s right.”

“An unfamiliar path is always frightening.”

Duty and devotion.

The chains that have long bound your limbs.

But.

“Nevertheless, you must move forward.”

Now nothing binds you anymore.

Because my light broke those shackles.

The sense of liberation you’ve just discovered.

You’ve only now begun to live your own life.

A life not chasing someone else’s shadow, but pursuing your own tomorrow.

I saved not only the rose and the Emperor.

“Because you now have a tomorrow to step into.”

My salvation reached your tomorrow.

Colors are added to what was once a gray world.

By now, Sharlotte’s eyes were looking up at me.

Then a small question is heard.

“…Then. What should I do now?”

“Find a new goal.”

An unhesitating answer.

I add a faint smile to my lips.

“Your Highness should choose.”

What you’ll do in the future, what kind of person you’ll become, or whom you’ll love.

You have your own life and path.

Now nothing binds you anymore.

You have finally gained complete freedom to walk your own path.

“Freedom.”

“……”

“That’s the name of the gift I’ve given you.”

Swish-

I gently caress the girl’s cheek.

Warm body heat colors my palm.

As I feel the soft skin, our gazes meet through transparent wall-like eyes.

The platinum-haired princess was entranced against the backdrop of the swirling winter.

It was a beautiful scene.

“Just who are you…”

A voice unable to continue.

Dew gathers in her blue pupils, forming a pond.

That transparency soon shimmers like a certain dawn.

I deliberately whisper nonchalantly.

“It’s almost morning.”

There are people who don’t suit the night.

Sharlotte was that type.

Beyond personal preference, she was a figure who belonged in the morning.

She was too pure white to remain in such a gloomy place.

The role of despairing in the gutter was enough for adults.

The night is for them.

And for me.

-Answer me, Elise.

-Could I, who couldn’t even save you… really command the Empire.

-I’m afraid I won’t be able to save anyone this time either.

-I’m just so small.

The girl who muttered such things in the original work wasn’t here.

This time, she didn’t lose her sister, didn’t lose her father, and wasn’t robbed of her will to live.

I made it so.

-Is this what being an adult means.

I wanted her to always remain young.

To remain whimsical, pure, and sometimes naive like now.

Not only that, I wanted the ending you all would face to be one of complete happiness.

With such a wish, I had stepped into this story.

Through countless bad endings.

“…Thank you.”

Was she finally overcome with emotion?

Lines of water flow down.

The watercolor drawn on her snow-white cheeks, without any brush, captures the overflowing emotions completely.

Joy, sadness, affection… after various emotions mix, a pronunciation never before heard takes its place.

Perhaps it was an emotion Charlotte had never experienced before.

But for now, she was busy shedding tears.

“For saving Elise, for saving father…”

Arms extending carefully.

The girl then falls into my embrace.

As if melting with her small warmth.

“And for saving me.”

Thank you.

Despite the short sentence, her sincerity was clear.

My heart softens at her desperate embrace.

Charlotte had buried her face in my chest, but soon raises her head to meet my eyes.

The blue in the pond was no longer wavering.

Only gentle ripples remain.

“You saved my everything.”

Her throat gradually becoming wet.

However, the girl continues speaking as clearly as possible.

“If I have a new goal, it’s you. Judas.”

Only you.

The one I can trust.

The one I can lean on.

The one I can give my heart to.

I…

“From now on… I’ll live for you.”

Sharlotte’s smile returns with those words.

It wasn’t a faint smile like usual.

She was smiling so brightly that the corners of her mouth curved like a crescent moon, and her eye-smile formed another crescent.

It was a perfect smile I couldn’t see even after playing through the original work thousands of times.

I answer with a quiet whisper.

“I’ll look forward to it.”

“Yes…!”

Our voices echo together.

I too wear a gentle smile.

Whoosh-

My bangs flutter in the winter breeze.

As I briefly adjust my obscured vision, a slight warmth colors the back of my hand.

It was sunlight.

“……”

Beyond the horizon, the scene of morning dawning could be seen.

For a moment, every moment passed slowly.

Rays of sunlight rising over the clear night sky.

The platinum-blonde splendor breaking brilliantly along gentle ripples.

Fragments of radiance cutting straight through the darkness of dawn.

That hot resonance illuminates the girl, making her once-dark platinum hair dazzling again.

Sharlotte’s steps no longer remained in the night.

She now stood in the morning.

“Tomorrow has dawned.”

I murmur.

The light was bright for everyone.

***

And so.

All scheduled events at the Imperial Palace were completed.

Peace that came after a fierce war.

I was planning to spend time leisurely until returning to the academy.

But…

“So, Lord Snakus.”

“You called, Your Majesty?”

“I have something to ask you.”

“I will gladly receive your question.”

“Which one do you intend to marry, Sharlotte or Elise?”

“…Pardon?”

Marriage?

What is this sudden question?