Chapter 92
The painful disease name was temporarily covered by a lie.
Faint breaths continued quietly.
The rose slept so deeply she was unaware of her surroundings.
While leaving the girl to rest, we were lightly having tea in the next room.
In front of the softly seated sofa, a platinum blonde girl could be seen.
"......"
Charlotte was keeping silent.
She seemed to have a lot on her mind alone.
The hot teacup was just caught between her fingers, cooling down without movement since earlier.
Beyond her transparent pupils, complex feelings could be glimpsed.
'She's still in this state.'
I held a bitter smile.
Hope that suddenly approached.
The girl seemed to have something she wanted to say, but she was hesitating without being able to utter it.
Shaking emotions were contained in her gaze crossing intermittently.
'Was she shocked?'
I lightly put down the teacup I was holding.
As it seemed we would stay up all night at this rate, I decided to speak first.
I asked in an extremely nonchalant tone.
"How was it?"
A lightly thrown word.
Though it was a short sentence, its content clearly pointed to the rose.
It must have been a long time since Elise looked so comfortable.
As I quietly waited for an answer, before long a sunken voice was heard.
Blue eyes sinking.
"...Can you really cure her?"
The question broke pitifully.
Even at a glance, it was a sentence closer to a wish than a question.
I didn't nod my head right away.
I only smiled as if deliberately making her anxious.
"Will it be difficult...?"
Charlotte added an impatient look.
As it was a matter of her beloved sister's life, the girl watched even the twisting corners of my mouth.
Her shaken eyes even forgot their usual bluntness.
Charlotte was mentally precarious at present.
Hope, and despair.
A state where two intense emotions were swirling.
While expecting that a way to save her sister had been found, she was also suffering from anxiety that this too might fail.
The endless mixing of emotions was enough to shake the girl.
"It's not difficult."
I thought.
Now was the time.
It was about time to start taming the little prince.
As cracks had formed in her solid heart and a gap had opened briefly, I took it as an opportunity to squeeze through that gap.
I casually let words slip as I stood up from my seat.
"Didn't I tell you? That it's sufficiently possible."
Aiming for a time of confusion.
Because humans are powerless in the face of despair, in weak moments they unconsciously seek hope to rely on.
It would be no different even for a girl belonging to the fourth dimension.
While volunteering to be a wall to lean on, I intended to become a deep swamp to swallow the princesses on the other hand.
For this, I had to instill trust.
"You need to believe in me."
Trust that I was someone worthy of relying on.
"Your Highness."
"......"
Transparent pupils stared at me blankly.
I slowly moved my steps.
The sofa opposite where the princess was sitting.
After gently moving behind it, I placed my hand on the girl's shoulder.
I spoke while bringing my lips close to her white ear.
"The treatment won't be easy."
"......"
"But if Your Highness follows my words well, it's not something that can't be done."
"...What do I need to do?"
"It's nothing much. Just absolutely follow my instructions regarding the treatment."
"If I do that, can you save Elise?"
"I give you my word on my honor. If it's a lie, you may bury my head in the ground."
"Okay... I'll believe you. I'll do anything you say."
The girl nodded as if entranced.
Even while stepping into the swamp, her blue eyes were shining transparently.
I smiled gently with fond feelings.
"That's a good attitude."
Though it was just the stage of dangling bait, it wasn't bad for a start.
I whispered in a low volume.
"Please remember."
In this despair.
The only person who can pull you out is.
"The fact that I'm the only one in the world."
It was the beginning of full-fledged princess gaslighting.
***
Elise Rose von Staufen.
Though she was the Empire's 2nd Princess and Charlotte's younger sister, her treatment in the Imperial Family was not good.
It was because of the disease she was suffering from.
Mana Stone Disease.
Though the word disease was attached to its name, there was a strong perception among people that it was a curse.
To the point where even the superstition that she had incurred God's hatred followed.
The problem was that even academia accepted such superstition as established theory.
Medicine, magic, holy power... Though research had been repeated for several centuries, not even a clue for treatment had been grasped, so even experts had essentially given up.
As the situation was like this, the stone disease was established as a symbol of ominousness.
'It's not incomprehensible.'
I thought it was understandable.
Onset without any precursor, unable to know the cause, unable to find a solution, no known information due to few samples, and ultimately meeting an unavoidable death.
There was no way to explain it other than saying God had abandoned them.
'Moreover.'
The patient's mana lines harden.
As a result, the internal flow backflows, sharply broken fragments circulate, and tear up the internal organs.
Even the process until death was so terrible, so the perception could only be the worst.
In fact, looking at cases from the past few centuries, there were even records of patients being burned at the stake for purification on the grounds that they had received God's curse.
Such a curse was remembered like a nightmare.
Occurred in none other than the Empire's princess.
'Of course the Imperial Family was turned upside down.'
The rose who had been the people's flower until the day before suddenly became a sinner incurring God's wrath overnight.
Such a phenomenon was highly likely to be interpreted as an ill omen for the Empire.
It was obvious it would make not just the Imperial Family's internal politics but even the Empire's people restless.
Therefore, the Emperor took swift measures.
The matter was covered up as Imperial confidential information.
All related persons were silenced, and only a minimum of close aides were allowed to know.
Also, to prevent news from leaking out, the rose was confined to a detached palace.
To the outside, all social activities were refused on the grounds that the princess was sickly.
'Poor thing.'
She wasn't even ten years old yet.
Of course, considering the political turmoil afterwards and the girl's well-being, the Emperor's response was truly wise, but in the end the rose ended up standing alone from a young age.
While spending nearly 10 years in confinement.
-It's excessively modest for a princess of a country to stay in.
-...Yes.
That was also the reason her residence was particularly modest.
Because entry was extremely restricted.
The only one who visited the detached palace regularly was about the 1st Princess.
The rose spent her days waiting for her death while receiving care from a few maids.
This was the content I learned while playing the original work.
[EP???. For Elise]
-A lonely nest, a rose withering in winter-
It was the behind story revealed as a side story.
I had uploaded a separate video about it, but the ending wasn't particularly good either, so it left a bad taste.
The rose was a character who met death in all routes after all.
"It's truly regrettable."
A word muttered as if mourning.
As I was putting my hands together like that, a cold gaze was felt right in front.
"......"
Long flowing red hair.
Green eyes dead without a trace of vitality.
Pale complexion emphasizing her sickly state.
It was none other than Elise.
The girl was glaring this way while sitting on the bed.
Her fiercely glaring eyes seemed to ask directly, 'Why are you here?'
I smiled nonchalantly.
"Good morning. I'm Yuda Snakers who will be in charge of Your Highness's primary care from today."
"......"
"I was very rude yesterday."
"Ha."
Perhaps recalling the intense memory of yesterday?
The rose burst into a hollow laugh.
That reaction contained blatant contempt.
The girl clenched her fist as if about to pounce at any moment.
A venomous light still lingered in her pupils.
"You... Shut up. I want to kill you right now."
"Are you still holding it in your heart?"
"Shut up."
"Didn't I tell you it was just part of the treatment? Moreover, it was Charlotte Her Highness who entrusted me with such a request."
"Your shamelessness reaches the sky. To dare lay hands on a royal body."
"I merely fulfilled my duty as a subject."
"You raped a princess of the country."
"That's not true at all. I did not have any contact other than treatment."
"You would have been executed immediately if not for the 1st Princess."
Elise muttering while grinding her teeth.
Her pupils were full of killing intent, but she couldn't take any revenge on me.
It wasn't even easy for her to leave the bed.
"Ugh, haa..."
The sickly princess panting just from getting briefly heated.
It seemed the cycle of seizures was returning.
I gently added words.
"I came because it seems you'll need treatment today too."
"Get out."
"It's Charlotte Her Highness's order."
"I don't need it... I said get out. I never asked for a primary physician in the first place."
"Aren't you in pain?"
"I've already lived like this my whole life."
The rose stubbornly refused treatment.
Was she not even afraid of seizures?
It was obvious she would roll on the floor coughing up blood, so why was she being so adamant?
The girl only fumbled at the desk beside the bed.
Rattle-.
The drawer opened roughly.
After rummaging inside for a moment, her hand finally succeeded in grabbing something.
It was a pocket knife the size of a palm.
The girl unwrapped the bandages wrapped around her wrist, then brought the sharply raised silver to her skin.
I who had been blankly watching belatedly realized her action.
"You can't."
I grasped her delicate wrist.
Inside the bandages, countless straight scars were densely placed.
They were clearly traces inflicted by her own hand.
The girl exerted force on her caught hand as if trying to hide it.
"Let go."
It was a kind of folk remedy.
A method to calm seizures caused by mana backflow.
Creating wounds in areas far from the lower abdomen, and forcibly balancing by shedding blood.
It had the effect of temporarily easing pain, but it couldn't be a fundamental solution, and it was an avoided method as it was even self-destructive.
Looking closely, she had bandages wrapped not only on both arms but even around her neck.
Could it be.
"...Your condition is more serious than I thought."
I had wondered if she was uncomfortable since she kept fiddling with the bandages earlier.
Was it withdrawal symptoms?
Once the habit forms, it's strongly addictive.
Especially the more unstable the mana flow, the more distinctive the sense of stability obtained from such acts would be.
Judging by the state of the scars, it must have been at least 3 years.
There were hints in the original work too, but I didn't know it was this serious.
"Are you saying you won't receive treatment in this state?"
"......"
"This won't do."
I had intended to treat her as gently as possible today since I seemed to have been too harsh yesterday.
But after seeing this, it seems I can't yield either.
Snap-!
I snapped my fingers without delay.
Shadows bursting out following that.
They wove like ropes once again, restraining the girl's stiffened body to the bed.
It was a composition reproducing the scene seen yesterday exactly.
"Wait...?!"
The red-haired girl collapsed onto the blanket in bewilderment.
I gathered dense lies at my fingertips and lifted the rose's thinly worn nightgown.
Then I slowly stroked her stomach.
"Today will be rougher than yesterday. Please endure for a long time."
I said to the resisting rose.