Chapter 0
#0. Prologue
Her thin lips, once dewy and flushed pink, had lost their color and were now tinged blue.
Soon, her delicate shoulders trembled above the deeply cut dress, and a viscous liquid spilled from her thin lips.
The substance trickling down her sharp jawline was darker than the red wine she had just sipped.
The dark red liquid dripping beneath her slender nape drew everyone's gaze.
It was clearly an urgent situation.
And yet not a single person moved from beyond the long table in the banquet hall.
Some merely stood with their mouths agape. Others stared with their small eyes rounded wide.
They all stood perfectly still, watching from afar as Eleonore Galatea crumpled beneath her chair.
Of course, they had their own reasons.
Those viscous drops of blood staining the white expanse of her chest. That dark red blood staining pure-white Eleonore.
In their eyes, it looked just like a maiden's blood staining pristine white sheets on her wedding night.
The sight of her slowly crumbling before the man she loved was indescribably beautiful.
The scene before their eyes stirred a strange sense of immorality in their hearts.
That blossoming immorality kept them rooted to the spot, allowing them to continue watching what happened next.
At last, in the silent hall, only the voice of a frail woman drifted.
“Ju…. Julian.”
At the edge of her gradually fading vision, Eleonore held that name on her lips. Summoning the last of her strength, she raised a trembling arm toward the man she loved.
But her hand never reached him.
Her trembling, snow-white arm soon went limp beneath the dining table.
The dishes she had always treasured were swept off the table and sent crashing beneath it by their owner's limp arm.
Clatter.
At the sharp clatter of dishes hitting the floor, the people in the hall at last—
Her beloved husband, Julian Galatea, finally came to his senses.
“Eli! Wait, Eli. No!”
Her limp body soon lost its balance and slid to the floor. At the sight, Julian threw himself toward the woman he loved.
And thankfully, this time, he wasn't too late.
Before her frail body hit the floor, Julian managed to catch Eleonore in his arms.
In the warm embrace of the man she loved, Eleonore moved her lips one last time.
But what spilled past her thin lips was not a clear, melodious voice, but dark red blood.
Her sky-blue eyes, filled with the silver-haired man holding her, began to lose focus and grow dim.
“No, it can't end like this! Please, Eli. Open your eyes, Eli!”
Only then did Julian cry out desperately, but—
Her cooling body offered no answer.
That evening.
Julian de la Vallatiere.
Julian Galatea, the emperor's illegitimate son, formally acknowledged and admitted into the imperial family for his abilities, now the empire's third prince, made a vow.
He would burn down everything in the empire that had taken his beloved wife from him.
He swore it upon the emerald ring on the fourth finger of her small, white hand.
#.
The web novel ‘I Will Save the Abandoned Prince’ began like this.
After that, a heroine from another world would save Julian, who had become consumed by revenge...
At least, I figured it was probably that kind of story.
But why am I putting it as a question?
Since it was my favorite author's new novel, I quickly added it to my favorites, but….
The early chapters looked like they were going to be a real slog.
I already had quite a few novels I was following as they updated.
And I wasn't really into the romance-fantasy vibe, either.
You know... but...
If only I'd known it would turn out like this, I would've read it all back then instead of holding back….