May Every Wound Be Fatal - vanish into fiction

Nevertheless, in her thoughts, based purely on intuition, she felt that if she saw his smiling face, something would surely come back to her.

And so, she became curious about Elizer’s smiling face. Of course, when she thought of his usual self, she could hardly imagine him with a smile.

But where in the world was there a person who never smiled? Reyna wanted to see his smile.

Allin silently gazed at Reyna, who was once again lost in thought. The Queen did not seem to have regained any of her memories.

Feeling as though she had safely passed a crisis, Allin let out a long sigh of relief inwardly. Then, she involuntarily thought to herself.

That perhaps it would be better if Reyna’s memories never returned at all.

***

The long corridor was filled with the light of high noon.

Sunlight poured in through the long, arched windows, with light and shadow intersecting on the marble floor. Dust particles floating between the window bars sparkled like shards of glass, and the sound of Elizer’s footsteps walking slowly between them echoed quietly.

The sound of footsteps coming down from the stairs around the corner reached his ears.

When he mindlessly raised his head, the sunlight reflected off a dazzling flash of gold, and red hair fluttered before his eyes.

His pace gradually came to a halt.

“I greet Your Majesty.”

For a moment, he could not take his eyes off the wavy hair fluttering in the breeze. And as soon as he discovered the brown eyes pinned to the ground as if in tension, he sank into a cold chill.

“I am…”

The young lady who had opened her mouth with a trembling voice caught the King’s gaze by accident and froze right there. An old man who had forcibly positioned the lady in front of the King hurriedly intervened.

“Your Majesty, this young lady is my niece…”

However, the King passed them by before his words could even finish.

The old man remained frozen in place with a face turned white, then took out his anger on the young lady who was sobbing beside him in terror. It was because he sensed that he wouldn’t be able to set foot in Elmaril for several years to come.

It was difficult to hide the fact that a terrible accident had occurred in the royal palace during the sacred Summer Festival. They could not silence the numerous mouths, and various rumors about the Queen spread throughout the high citadel.

“I heard she hit her head and became like a three-year-old.”

“From what I heard, she became a cripple who can’t use her legs?”

Some even believed that the Queen was already dead.

While it was impossible to know what the truth was, it was taken as fact that something had gone wrong with the Queen’s well-being.

As a result, the way the nobles tormented the King changed. They no longer raised their voices saying he must depose the Queen. Instead, they began to compete among themselves for the new seat of the Queen.

And gaining the King’s heart would be the easiest and most certain way.

Because Reyna had naturally become Queen in the past after entering the King’s bedroom and sleeping with him, many nobles began to search for young ladies with red hair who particularly resembled Reyna to push them in front of Elizer’s eyes.

‘It seems they don’t realize that it only has the opposite effect…’

The eyes of Sir Lyman , who was quietly following his master up the stairs, couldn’t help but waver.

Situations where Elizer revealed his emotions were always related to the Queen. An irrepressible anger flickered in the King’s subtly quickened pace.

However, that young lady just now was quite lucky. This was because the King had no leisure to pay attention to them right now.

***

As Reyna began to open her heart to Elizer bit by bit, paradoxically, his fear grew every day.

Her broken legs were slowly healing. By winter, it would be possible for her to walk little by little.

Even now, Reyna felt frustrated being confined only to her room. Elizer knew how much she was waiting for that day.

‘At that time, with what words can I keep her here?’

Perhaps Reyna’s memories would return before then. If that happened, this strange peace would also end just like that. That day could be tomorrow, or perhaps this very moment.

‘Ah…’

Elizer suddenly woke up from an unbearable fear. He didn’t know when he had fallen asleep again.

Since his eyes wouldn’t open well, he kept them closed for a while. Perhaps it had been a particularly grueling day, for it was the moment he was about to fall into a doze again. A faint heat, a light trembling of the wind. A warm light spread beyond his eyelids.

At first, he thought it was a dream. But it was too close, and too cautious.