I stopped breathing at his sudden confession.
The Crown Prince looked down at me and spoke silently.
"I don't care if you're Penelope Eckart or not."
My heart shook madly to the point of making me nauseous. "Why…"
I squeezed the word out of my dry throat. "Why do you… why are you saying it now?"
I couldn't understand what he said. I reflexively lifted my gaze and looked over his head. Red favorability's gauge bar was still emitting its own intense light.
I could still clearly remembered what he said to me.
The idea of being his suitable partner, '76%' engraved in my mind, circled over his head.
"You said it was a naive word that doesn't suit us. You said it's just a stupid play with emotions…" It was very easy to put out the faint embers which was like a slight fever.
If I lose to him anyway, I wonder if the ending would be all I can say.
Unlike other male leads, the Crown Prince did not put on a mask and did not change his attitude towards me.
So I was disappointed and at the same time relieved at 76 percent if his favorability. It wasn't hard to give up even if it wasn't his words. I was sure he would do it…
"You said it was just an illusion. So, I quickly turned it down because I didn't want to be mistaken…" "…"
"But why are you doing this now?" I murmured with a small voice.
Callisto twisted his face, looking at me, thinking of that time. "… I'm sorry. I couldn't tell you then."
The Crown Prince spoke calmly, still looking at me. "I was afraid."
"…What."
"The emperor also said he loved my mother." "…"
"My mother was deceived by the words and left it all to the prince, who had been deprived of his inheritance, family, and power."
"…"
"How could I have known that he would bring in a concubine as soon as she died in the Holy Spirit because she had gone through all kinds of hardships and made him an emperor?"
I held my breath hearing about his past that wasn't even mentioned in the game.
Callisto laughed bitterly.
"I have always been brainwashed to distrust others and to be on guard against temporary feelings. So…"
"…"
"I decided that a contractual relationship would be better than one with shallow feelings. And when I let out all the feelings I've been feeling…"
"…"
"Then I thought I'd have an end with you."
I frowned his eyes as if I had been stabbed in the heart. I could feel a crack in my expressionless face.
It hurt so much to hear that he was afraid that confessing his feelings would lead to an end to his relationship with me.
"Why do you make such an ugly face?"
When Callisto saw me like that, he smiled faintly and stroked my cheek. "What have you felt until now?"
I asked in a suppressed voice. He narrowed his forehead.
"It's all a little embarrassing. Do you really want to hear it? It's kind of out of line now." "You can't get any worse."
"That's true."
At the blunt remark he nodded his head coolly. "I can't get any worse in front of you…"
He slowly opened his mouth and blurted out the words as if he were lost in thought. "It was from the moment I first saw you in the maze garden, maybe."
It was a bad beginning.
"When I think of you, I keep smiling. I used to laugh a lot during meetings and Cedric Porter stares at me as if I was crazy."
But at his following words, my eyes widened.
At first, I thought he didn't even wanted to remember each other.
When Callisto saw me frowning when I thought of our terrible first meeting, he laughed as if he was having fun.
"Whenever you refused my invitations with all sorts of excuses, I got nervous. I've never even felt that before going on the battlefield…"
"…"
"I wanted to see you face-to-face one more time, and speak with you, so I made a fuss like a child." He gently pinched my cheek and said slyly.
"Its really… amazing."
I had an unfamiliar feeling in my chest. I didn't expect him to feel like that since the beginning, so I was just puzzled.
'He certainly had only two percent of favorability until the hunting competition.' So I tried my best to avoid him because I didn't want to die in his hands.
But he had no intention of killing me at the time when I heard through the mouth of the Crown Prince for the first time.
"…When you were dying after drinking the poison." The Crown Prince added, looking at me blankly.
The mischievous grin on his face suddenly faded away.
"If I could, I'd take the poison dozens even hundreds of times instead of seeing you lying down unconscious."
"…"
"I knew you wouldn't like it, but I always wore a sword when I entered your bedroom." "…The sword?"
Did the Duke allow it?
By the time the frivolous thought came to my mind, Callisto answered in a feeble voice.
"If you stopped breathing, I would die right after you."
I froze. "What's that…"
I thought I heard him wrong, so I looked at him.
He had a blank look on his face. I guess he didn't exaggerate at all. I grabbed his wrist and asked back.
"Why…why would you think that? Why is that…" "Just, because I wanted to."
At his simple answer, I twisted my face.
If I had succeeded in escaping with the poison then, would Callisto have cut his own throat? My heart sank at the mad thought.
"You said you wanted to be emperor! But why the hell would you do such a stupid thing?!"
"…I couldn't possibly live in this hell without you."
He confessed bluntly.
I couldn't figure out what the hell to do with this madman, so I stared blankly at him in shock. "Don't get angry. It's already in the past."
He knew it was wrong, so he dropped his face like before. I could only stare at him.
"…If I'm too late."
"…"
"It's too late, now I no longer have any desire to start anything. What are you going to do now?" It was me that hurt him, but my eyes were dim.
The Crown Prince chuckled, and answered with his sharp-tongue. "Well, I said you don't have to know anything."
Then he moved his hand from my cheek to my ear.
His big hands covered my ears. It was as if it were submerged.
"I told you to think of rats more than cats, didn't I? You only do what you want to do. If we get out of here, just forget what you're heard."
He whispered in a low voice, holding my ears tightly, so as I couldn't hear.
Still, I heard everything.
I couldn't take it anymore, so I punched him in the chest and shouted out nervously. "You crazy bastard! How could I forget about this!"
"…Ugh, Princess."
"Don't tell me about ending! If you do this now, what am I going to do? You said you wanted to be a partner! You were, what were you thinking back then…?"
When I finished shouting and hitting him on the chest, I covered my face with my hands and cried. "Princess, are you angry? Why, what's wrong?"
He was flustered like a fool.
I was feeling all sorts of emotions.
Hateful, resentful. Why now, when you didn't say a word when I wanted it so badly?
I'm happy and frustrated at the same time. My heart trembled like a fool when he said he loved me. And it was sad. Now that I've heard the secret he's been hiding, I can't escape.
Isn't it too pitiful for me to neither accept nor reject him?
"It's all my fault. Stop crying. If you cry more, you'll get more exhausted." Callisto, who had no idea what to do, looked at me crying and hugged me again. However, he constantly wiped my eyes and my nose constantly.
I felt sad again, so I stayed in his arms and cried for a while longer. I'm sure I'm crying because I'm sad, but strangely I felt lighter the more I cried.
I poured out my tears until I had no more strength, as he said I would, and stopped crying. Even though his armor was wet because of my tears, Callisto did not push me away.
I slowly controlled my breath with my face buried in his shoulder like a baby. "…I can't give you the answer you want, Your Highness."
"It's all right."
I don't think he was listening. The Crown Prince answered too quickly. I stopped talking for a while, and soon spoke again.
"You said you'd do everything I wanted." "Yes."
"What I'm going to do may be hard for you to understand."
I was brave enough to say this, but I heard a low laugh beside me. "Should I say more that I'm not actually a princess?"
"But you're real!"
"What are you saying? Tch, the atmosphere is good, so I don't need hold back." "Ugh! Breathe, Breathe!"
He held me tightly in his arms as I tried to get up in anger.
I was so frustrated that I hit his chest, but soon stopped and settled into his arms again.
Only then did the Crown Prince release the strength from his arms, which were squeezing me. Leaning on him, I groped the floor.
Before long, I felt a hard wand within my reach. I grabbed it and showed it to Callisto.
"Now…I'm going to kill Yvonne with this." "Yvonne?"
"Duke Eckart's biological daughter." "Oh."
He raised his eyebrows and briefly admired what I said.
"By the way, wouldn't it be better to have a steel baton like that if you were going to kill her?" At his words, I banged my hands against his chest again.
'Oh, you're going to kill me, too.' The man talked to the end with a bluffing words. I stared at the playful Crown Prince and spat out.
"When it's over, we may not be able to be together anymore." "…"
"However…will you still love me?" "That hurts a little."
The Crown Prince frowned.
I couldn't bear to test him every time.
At the same time, I trembled with anxiety because I didn't know what his reaction meant. But in the end, it was all useless.
"It's all right. Wherever you go, I'll follow you like today."
"…"
"I love you, Penelope Eckart."
Callisto repeated those words with the same face. I stopped breathing again.
Then I felt like my heart was about to explode, so I suddenly lifted my upper body. "Ugh…"
My head was pushed back by Callisto's face as if it were a headbutt. At the same time, something soft and warm touched my lips.
I've never kissed anyone, so I didn't know what to do.
With my eyes shut like a fool, my body flinched as I just bumped at his lips. But it was brief. His arm wrapped around my waist rushed up.
A big hand grabbed the back of my head, and I was dragged closer to him like I was eaten up.
The Crown Prince, like a man who was starved for days, was frantically busy sucking and licking the flesh around my lips.
His thick, moist tongue roughly penetrated between my lips, entangled and sucking mine.
Chu,chu-.
The kissing continued for a long time.
The taste of the first kiss was as sweet as everyone said.
It was so sweet that I kept crying.
//CALLISTO, WHO FOUGHT TOOTH AND NAIL TO LIVE, WAS WILLING TO FOLLOW PENELOPE
INTO DEATH. Also, they're each other's first kiss and NO ONE CAN TELL ME OTHERWISE! This is my favorite chapter ever. I'm happy I had the privilege to translate this, even though I felt like I did a crappy job. my babies (/ /•/m/•/ /)/ Much love, akireatom.//
MY EYES HAS BEEN BLESSED, thank god!
Translator: akireatom Raw provider: Rose439
