May Every Wound Be Fatal - vanish into fiction

“To tell you the truth, until very recently, I thought Your Majesty was Prince Tiberian.”

“Ah…”

Elizer parted his lips blankly at her confession, which he had never imagined.

It had been over six years since Elizer ascended to the throne. The fact that he was the King was now too obvious to everyone. However, for Reyna, whose memories remained at seventeen, it was not an obvious matter. Come to think of it, back then, Reyna did not know of Elizer’s existence and was a young lady involved in marriage discussions with Prince Tiberian.

Only then did Elizer recall the fact that Reyna had not known the face of Prince Tiberian, with whom she had discussed marriage. When they first met, she had mistaken him for Prince Tiberian as well.

That was the beginning.

“Reyna, I…”

Elizer ended up revealing his bewilderment involuntarily. He was worried that she might think she had been deceived, and thus make a sad face once again.

“…It was not my intention to deceive you.”

Unable to overcome his fear, Elizer lowered his gaze. Flustered by this, Reyna responded urgently.

“I know. I just… wanted to let you know that I know Your Majesty’s name now. That I know a little bit about you now. And…”

Then, she paused for a moment, appearing a bit nervous in a way that was unlike her.

In that brief silence, Elizer felt a strange sense of déjà vu and involuntarily held his breath. The blue eyes reflecting her could not hide a certain sense of expectation.

At that, Reyna felt a good premonition and spoke with a faint smile spreading across her lips again.

“I was trying to say that I want to know even more.”

“…”

“Because there is still more that I do not know.”

As she spoke those words, she seemed to sparkle just as she had in the past.

The sound of her characteristic clear laughter, and the bright smile spreading across a face whiter than the moon.

“Don’t worry, I will stop teasing you for today. I will really be quiet now.”

He felt as if he had traveled back in time to that moment once again. To the time when he could not remember where he was or who he was.

“…Reyna.”

“Yes?”

And so, Elizer involuntarily became the eighteen year old knight and began to whisper words he normally would not say.

“When we first met… even then, you mistook me for Prince Tiberian. You thought I was him.”

Heat rose endlessly throughout his body, and his heart pounded like crazy.

“And when you finally learned who I was… you said it didn’t matter who I was. You told me you were just happy to meet again.”

At the unexpected story, Reyna asked in a voice full of laughter as if she couldn’t believe it.

“I did?”

After a few beats, Elizer answered silently with a “Yes.” Then, looking up at her as she smiled in a daze, he mindlessly confessed.

“Reyna, I… was so happy at those words of yours that I could not sleep for a while.”

It was one of the many stories he had vowed every night to tell her if he ever met her again years ago.

An involuntary smile formed on his face. However, because it was a smile he had formed for the first time in so long, he didn’t even have the realization that he was smiling.

And the smile slowly vanished from Reyna’s face as she watched him.

Come to think of it, this was likely the first time she had shared such a long conversation with him. That alone felt like something marvelous and special, but a smile on top of that.

‘Oh… my goodness. I must be crazy.’

Reyna felt she knew the reason why Elizer never smiled. His smile was too shocking. It was so wonderful that she had the nonsensical thought that if he smiled just once, every young lady in the world would fall for him.

‘I must really be crazy.’

The burning sensation that rose up her neck spread across her face as if wrapping around it with fingers.

For the first time, Reyna thought it was a relief that he visited during the dark night. If he hadn’t, her bright red face would have been discovered just like that.

Unlike Reyna, whose heart began to race, he remained calm and composed. At least, that was how it felt to Reyna.

“…Good night.”

Eventually, closing his eyes, he whispered as if in his sleep.

Reyna could not fall asleep that night.