The room was filled with beautiful furniture and luxurious beds, each item more exquisite than the last. If you picked any one piece, it would be the finest you could imagine. This wasn't just decoration; it was the real, functional furniture of the room's lord. Even the carpet on the floor was a luxury item, worth more than most could ever dream of.
Anyone would envy the lifestyle of a common man compared to this. In the middle of the room, a girl sat on the bed, her head buried in her hands. Her voice barely audible, she repeated the same words in a soft, desperate tone. Her face was clouded with despair, and dark circles marked her eyes, evidence of sleepless nights. Her once-proud, long blonde hair—usually a symbol of her grace—now looked unkempt, as if she no longer cared for her appearance.
The girl's name was Rielle, and she was the fiancée of the prince, the future ruler of the country. It was known that the prince cared deeply for a certain girl, one who had caught his attention at the prestigious noble academy. Rielle, though, dismissed her as nothing special—just a quiet, somewhat silly girl who could never capture the prince's heart. However, one day, when Rielle observed the prince with that girl, she saw something unexpected. The prince, usually so composed, was laughing freely, his eyes bright with genuine happiness as he spoke with the other girl. It was a smile Rielle had never seen directed at her.
Unable to contain her jealousy, Rielle began tormenting the girl. The girl, meek and unresisting, endured the constant harassment, unable to fight back. With Rielle's influence, no one came to the girl's aid, and the prince, despite his apparent awareness, did nothing to intervene. He seemed to turn a blind eye to the suffering happening under his nose.
But that couldn't last forever. Eventually, the prince noticed the truth—that it was Rielle who had orchestrated the harassment. His anger was swift and unforgiving. He confronted Rielle, his words cold and final.
"I'm done with you," he said, his eyes burning with fury. "I'll speak to my father and have the engagement annulled."
Rielle was devastated. She fell to her knees, begging for forgiveness, apologizing repeatedly, desperate to hold onto the prince's love. But it was too late.
"You'll have to apologize to someone else," the prince responded, shaking her hand off as he turned to leave with the other girl.
That was a week ago. Since then, Rielle had been confined to her room in the mansion, trapped in a world of silence and sorrow. Time dragged on, aimless and without meaning. She longed to do something—anything—but felt utterly powerless. The strength to act, to change her fate, was no longer within her.
Today feels like the end of a wasted day. Night after night, the girl thought this to herself in the quiet corners of her mind.
– Ha-ro. – Good morning. Good evening. Long time no see, Lilia.
A voice suddenly echoed in her head. The woman, Lilia, snapped her gaze upward, startled. She scanned the room quickly, but no one was there. It was the same quiet, empty room she had been in before.
– Haha. Where are you looking?
The voice of a young woman. Lilia's mind flashed back to two years ago. The same voice, one she had heard before. The voice that had once warned her that it would eventually brush against the Prince's scales.
"Where are you...?"
– I'm here, but not really here. I'm by your side! I'm an angel sent to bring you happiness!
"You've come to laugh at me?"
– Well, you're in a rather gloomy mood. Honestly, I'm not sure what to do. Sorry for the weird tension.
The last part of the voice was heavy with sadness and almost melancholic. Lilia couldn't help but smile faintly at the contrast in the tone. If she was going to be depressed, she thought, she'd rather the voice had just stayed silent from the beginning. But still, she spoke.
"You did exactly as you predicted. If I had listened to you back then, would I have avoided this situation?"
– That's a pointless "what if." You weren't going to listen to me back then. That's why this was the necessary path.
"The price of believing in you was too high..."
Lilia sighed to herself. She struggled to find a reaction; it had been a while since she had heard that voice.
A long silence stretched between them, and Lilia began to wonder if the voice had truly left for good.
– I'm sorry, I can't tell you everything that's on my mind.
At the soft, apologetic tone, Lilia's eyes opened slightly. What's it matter? she thought. It's not like I deserve anything better anyway.
– Lilia, I really want to help you. Please, listen to me for just a moment.
At those words, Lilia nodded, managing a bitter smile.
"You promised me before. I truly believed in your words. But can you really help me like this? Can you help me reconcile with His Highness?"
"Uh… Instead of answering that question, I wonder if I could give you another prophecy," the voice said, its tone soft but deliberate.
Lilia blinked, narrowing her eyes in surprise. "Go ahead," she responded, her curiosity piqued.
"Then… You'll be depressed for a week. After this week, you'll start asking yourself, What did I do wrong? What should I do? And you'll come to a conclusion. You'll say it's not you—it's the people around you who are to blame."
"Be...! No matter how much I..." Lilia's voice faltered, her confusion growing.
"Yeah. You'll start to calm down. That's the first part of it. Now listen. You'll go back to school. Like usual, you'll try to be more energetic than before. And in the end…"
The voice paused, leaving Lilia hanging on the edge of uncertainty. She swallowed hard, trying to hold herself together as she waited for it to continue.
"You will touch the scales of the kings, not the princes. Even though your family is a Duke's house, they won't be able to protect you. Your title will be stripped away, and your entire family will be thrown into the civilian world."
Lilia's heart skipped a beat. Thrown into the civilian world? She couldn't believe what she was hearing. The king of this country wielded enormous power, but even she couldn't imagine a Duke's title being stripped away like that. It was too much to comprehend. No, it won't happen. It can't.
"Think about it, Lilia," the voice continued. "Your family, who's lived as nobles all their lives, suddenly cast out into the civilian world. Can you imagine it?"
Lilia was silent, trying to picture it. She had no real idea of what life was like for the commoners. But she could already feel the weight of that thought. To go from luxury to nothing—her family wouldn't be able to bear it. It could drive them to desperation, even to the point of suicide.
That realization made Lilia's stomach twist with fear. She glanced inward, wondering why the prophecy had focused on her family and not herself. Then, almost as if the voice read her thoughts, it responded with a strange mix of amusement and sorrow.
"You don't need to worry about yourself," the voice said. "Because you'll be executed."
Lilia's world went silent. Executed? Me? Her heart pounded in her chest. How could this happen?
"Keep quiet about what you've done. No one needs to know. I don't need to know."
The voice softened, almost tenderly, as it touched the raw nerve in Lilia's mind.
"Listen, Lilia, that's the main point. I'm not going to let you die. But I'll give you advice, so you don't fall off the path. Of course, I don't have much life experience either, so we'll figure this out together. But... I don't know for sure, Lilia."
Lilia thought for a moment, her mind racing. Then, with a soft but desperate voice, she whispered, "Please… help…"
The voice, full of resolve, answered with a reassuring promise. "Yeah… Leave it to me, Lilia! I'll help you!"
Tears welled up in Lilia's eyes as she listened to that powerful voice. She didn't know how, but somehow, hearing those words gave her a flicker of hope. Quietly, she let the tears fall, unable to stop them.