The Extra Saved the Terminally Ill Princess and Ran Away - Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Farewell (3)

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-Pitter-patter.

Translucent raindrops fell endlessly towards the earth.

To soak the ground, seep into the soil, and flow back to the sea.

But a raindrop, before reaching the ground, scattered with a soft plop.

It had landed on the Imperial Princess instead. On her head, to be precise.

Drip.

The raindrop, tracing a path through her silver hair, succumbed to gravity and settled on her cheek.

…Like a tear.

No, perhaps her own tears had already soaked her face more than the raindrops.

Her eyes were red and swollen from crying.

"Finn… Finn sacrificed his eye… for me…?"

She.

Lilisiana.

Finally understood what her attendant, Finn, had sacrificed to save her, a terminally ill princess.

What he had endured for her, after she collapsed from the shock.

What humiliation and degradation he had suffered, all because of a foolish princess like her.

She… who hadn't even considered his efforts, his pain, his suffering…

"…He not only told us where to find the precious elixir, but he sacrificed his eye for it… and then… he even lied… to help me recover…?"

"Finn… for me…?"

She finally understood why he had looked at her that way.

Why his eyes had been filled with longing… no, with love.

Her father, the Emperor, had told her everything.

"…In short, yes, Lili."

…'In short.'

If the boy had bargained with the elixir, he could have become an Earl.

If he had revealed his sacrifice, he could have gained unimaginable wealth for a commoner.

The mere fact that he had thrown away his life, his chance at a normal life, for her… could have made him a hero, his name etched in the Empire's history books.

But he did nothing. He left without revealing his kindness.

Even these three things alone were an immeasurable debt, yet the Emperor summarized them with "in short."

…Because he believed he alone knew the full extent of the boy's suffering over the past two years.

So, the Emperor told her everything. Every step the boy had taken.

"I once asked him if he was truly alright. He looked so… broken."

The Emperor recalled…

The blood and pus seeping through the boy's tattered clothes, the countless wounds, big and small.

"…And he answered me with a bright smile…"

The Emperor recalled, and finally understood.

-I'm fine, Your Majesty! I'm just happy to see Her Highness looking healthier every day!

…Because she won't suffer like that anymore!

Why the boy kept returning to her side, even knowing the torment that awaited him.

The Princess wept. Again.

Because she learned the truth. Or rather, the truth she could have known.

The truth she had deliberately avoided, too cruel to face.

But even as she wept, the Emperor… her father… continued.

Because he believed these were tears that should be shed, for the boy.

Because if they didn't even shed these tears, they would be less than human.

"One day, he brought me a hairpin. A beautiful hairpin that would have taken months of a servant's wages to afford."

The Emperor's gaze…

…shifted to her hair.

To the violet hairpin.

The Princess reached up and touched it with trembling fingers.

The hairpin, adorned with a jewel the same color as her eyes, shimmering in the rain and moonlight.

One of her birthday gifts from the Emperor, a gift he had told her to cherish above all else.

"Could this be…?"

Her voice was choked with tears, a strangled whisper.

…The Emperor simply nodded.

And he told her the truth.

That the hairpin was a gift from the boy, a gift filled with his true feelings, a gift she should cherish above all else.

"It was a birthday gift from Finn, not from me."

-Thud.

"Gasp… gasp… gasp…!"

Overwhelmed by a torrent of emotions, the Princess collapsed onto the muddy ground.

She didn't even seem to care that her beautiful dress was getting soaked and stained.

The dress… it didn't matter anymore.

Because understanding the boy's love, his sacrifice… was already overwhelming enough.

She was overjoyed by his love… his selfless love…

And grateful.

And hurt.

And tormented.

And suffocated.

And heartbroken.

And… sorry.

"Sob… sob… sob…!"

She clutched at her chest, where her heart ached.

Her throat tightened, choked by a wave of emotion, unable to scream, unable to cry.

She clawed at her chest, desperately trying to release the suffocating pressure.

Hoping it would disappear.

"Ugh… sob… sob…!!"

But…

"Sob… sob… sob…"

…the suffocating weight of regret…

"…Sob…"

…allowed her only tears. Nothing else.

As if to tell her that she could do nothing but weep for him.

…But still.

'…Finn… Finn… Finn Finn Finn Finn Finn… Finn…!'

She wanted to scream his name.

The name of the boy who saved her from a terminal illness.

The name of the boy who willingly sacrificed his eye for her.

The name of the boy who saved her father's life.

The name of the boy who gave her a reason to live again, even at the cost of his own happiness.

And…

The name of the boy who finally left, unable to bear her cruelty any longer.

"………Finn…"

And the name she so desperately wanted to scream finally escaped her lips.

Not from her, but from the Emperor.

"He said he's going to the Holy Kingdom, through the Southern Forest."

Do you want to chase after him? To ask for his forgiveness?

The Emperor asked his daughter, who could only weep and gasp for breath.

Thankfully, she hadn't fainted from the shock this time.

He was afraid that if she lost him now, if they parted ways here…

She would retreat back into her despair, lying in bed, waiting for the attendant who would never return.

The Princess nodded weakly.

She had only one choice. To find the attendant who had saved her.

And to beg for his forgiveness.

And…

'…Wait.'

Her body trembled.

Then, a scream tore through the night, as if she had witnessed something horrific, clutching at her silken hair.

"Ah… Ahhh…! Ahhhhhh…!!!"

She realized she had given a terrible, inhumane, unforgivably cruel order.

-Capture him! Now!!!

She had already ordered the capture of the very attendant she was now searching for.

-But if… if he resists to the very end… then you may kill him.

She had ordered them… to kill him… the one she owed an immeasurable debt to… the boy who had given her everything.

"Ah… Ahhh…!! Ahhhhhh…!!!!"

"Lili…? Lili…?! Lili…!!! Where are you going?! Lili!!!"

She ran. She had to stop her foolish order, somehow. She had to prevent it.

She needed someone to relay her message.

"Gasp…! gasp…! gasp…! P-Prius!!!! Prius!!!!!"

She screamed the name of the captain of her personal guard, the one who had received her order to kill.

A scream so loud, it felt like her eardrums would burst.

"Prius!!!!! Prius!!!!"

The regret that had silenced her moments ago was gone.

No, even if it lingered, it didn't matter.

Because she feared a far greater regret.

A truly irreversible regret.

"…Prius!!!!!!!!!!"

Her voice echoed through the darkness and the rain, like a desperate plea.

'Please…! Please, someone, hear me…!! Anyone, anyone…!!!'

But she knew.

That she wasn't hoping for him to hear her.

She was hoping for someone who could stop the captain of her guard, who was carrying out her order.

But she could only scream his name.

Because he was the only powerful person she could think of.

And because she desperately hoped he wouldn't hear her and appear before her.

'…Please… Please don't appear before me now… Don't… Not yet… No…'

It had been hours since she gave the order.

If he appeared before her now…

"…Your Highness?! What's the matter!!"

"………Ah."

It meant…

"Your Highness…?"

…that he…

"Do you have any further instructions?"

…had completed his mission.

"Mission accomplished. I saw him with my own eyes, falling into a bottomless ravine while trying to escape."

It meant…

"Don't worry about the possibility of him surviving."

…that the boy might be dead.

"It was a fatal fall, and the bottom is infested with ferocious monsters and beasts."

But a sliver of hope, a desperate, clinging hope, remained…

"So, rest assured. He's definitely dead. My men will go down to confirm in the morning, so don't worry too much."

"…Though they'll probably only find bone fragments."

The captain's confident report, his assurance that the boy was dead, that they wouldn't even be able to recover his body… shattered her remaining hope.

…Into dust. Into fragments too small to recognize.

"No… No… No… No… No!!!!! Finn!!!!!!!!!!"

Her scream.

The scream of a girl who had lost someone precious again.

The scream of a girl who realized she had caused another death.

Her desperate cry for the boy who had sacrificed everything for her…

…filled the rain-soaked darkness, a raw expression of her despair.

Slowly… inexorably… consuming her.

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