CPSMBD Chapter 23

Chapter 23

The Ecology and Habits of the Fairy Folk

The aide's office was completely silent.

Both Brahe and the Chief Aide had long since gone home, leaving me alone to finish up the remaining work. I was nearly done with most of my tasks, just a few more things to wrap up.

I quickly completed my duties and pulled out a book I'd borrowed from the library:

"The Ecology and Habits of the Fairy Folk"

This book contained the vital information I needed to restore the Crown Prince to normal.

As I opened it, my thoughts drifted naturally to Aila, who had told me about this book.

'Why did Aila ask for my help when she was already planning to escape?'

It didn't make sense.

The Emperor's personal guard was secretly tracking Aila, yet they couldn't find a single trace of her escape route. It should have been impossible for a woman to escape the imperial prison alone without leaving any evidence.

'There must have been someone helping her from the outside...'

This seemed to confirm my suspicion that Aila hadn't acted alone when she made the Crown Prince drink the Fairy's Tears.

Meanwhile, the Imperial Investigation Bureau had identified Aila's father, Baron Grita, as the mastermind behind this incident and was secretly monitoring him. However, reports indicated that after her prison escape, Aila hadn't returned to the mansion, nor had they found any evidence of contact between her and Baron Grita.

Just then, there was a knock at the office door.

Knock, knock, knock.

Before I could respond, the door swung open abruptly.

I quickly hid the book I'd been reading.

It was the Crown Prince.

'You startled me.'

"Violetta, you're still not finished with work? Why haven't you gone home yet?"

His voice was soft and affectionate, like being tickled by a feather.

The love-struck Crown Prince had become someone entirely different from the person I knew.

The Crown Prince looked handsome when he smiled gently...

'No, no!'

Have I finally lost my mind?

Get it together, Violetta. This is His Highness Friedrich.

The most irritating and troublesome superior in the world!

I deliberately responded in a cold voice, almost snapping:

"I just finished, thanks to all the work you've been piling on me, Your Highness."

"If you're done, want to spend time with me?"

"Though I'm finished with work, I'm busy. And I don't particularly feel the need to play with Your Highness."

Even though they were my own words, they sounded terribly rude.

The proud Crown Prince would surely be offended by my response.

'This should be enough to stop him from flirting with me anymore.'

I glanced at the Crown Prince's expression.

Despite my cold response, he showed no reaction at all.

Determined to make my point crystal clear, I pulled out the book I'd been planning to read and spoke even more coldly than before:

"I'm going to read this book. I don't have time to play with Your Highness, so please leave."

Contrary to my expectation that he would leave immediately, the Crown Prince simply nodded casually.

"Alright. Then I'll just quietly watch from beside you."

"Do as you please."

With this reluctant permission, the Crown Prince brought Brahe's chair next to mine and sat down.

Then he rested his chin on his hand and gazed at me intensely.

'What's this? Does drinking Fairy's Tears eliminate pride too?'

Though bewildered, I had no intention of taking back my words.

Having decided to ignore the Crown Prince, I turned my attention to the book.

I searched the table of contents for the section containing the information I needed most.

It was the page about Fairy's Tears.

After finding the relevant page, I immediately opened to that section.

"Fairy's Tears is actually a type of curse. Therefore, there are only two ways to restore someone who has fallen under the love curse after drinking a Fairy's Tears.

Be grateful that I am sharing this information, which I discovered with great difficulty, through this book. I declare that this is all for the public good, and I gain absolutely nothing from this.

The first method is to seek help from the Fairy Folk.

Since the Fairy Folk are the creators of Fairy's Tears, they are likely to know how to neutralize it.

The second method is to seek help from a demon.

Curses fall under demonic jurisdiction. Therefore, demons know how to break most curses that exist in this world.

Have you fallen into an unreasonable love after drinking Fairy's Tears?

Then seek out the Fairy Folk or summon a demon!"

That was all the information about Fairy's Tears.

Are you kidding me? I could have written this myself.

Isn't it obvious that the Fairy Folk would know how to break a curse they created?

I couldn't help but laugh cynically at how this trivial information was so grandly packaged and recorded.

Is the author actually making money writing this stuff?

And Aila is just as ridiculous.

She demanded a wish in exchange for this information, making it sound like something amazing!

There was nothing helpful at all.

As I was frantically flipping through the book hoping to find other information, suddenly something touched my furrowed brow.

Startled, I looked up to find the Crown Prince staring at me intently with a concerned expression.

What had touched my forehead was the Crown Prince's finger.

He looked down at me with worried eyes as he gently rubbed my forehead.

'What's he doing now?'

I swallowed nervously.

"W-w-why are you doing that?"

"You were frowning. What's wrong? Do you have something troubling you?"

This was someone who had never cared before whether I frowned or looked gloomy.

Why was he suddenly acting like this?

"Well, that's..."

As I hesitated, the Crown Prince asked tenderly:

"Tell me. I might be able to help solve it. Hmm?"

"It's about the Fairy's Tears you drank, Your Highness. I'm looking for an antidote, but it doesn't seem like it will be easy."

"Violetta, you're doing something unnecessary. Even if I take an antidote, my feelings for you won't change."

"No! You're being controlled by a drug right now, Your Highness. If you take the antidote, you'll surely get better!"

The Crown Prince smiled bitterly and said:

"If my feelings don't change even after taking the antidote, will you then believe that my love for you is genuine?"

"Yes! Of course I would believe you then!"

Though accepting his feelings would be a different matter entirely.

Besides, the very premise the Crown Prince just suggested was meaningless.

'When Your Highness takes the antidote, your feelings for me will surely disappear.'

The Crown Prince's attitude had changed overnight after drinking the Fairy's Tears. If his feelings were real, his behavior wouldn't have changed so suddenly.

Moreover, His Highness was now completely ignoring the promise he'd made to propose to me when we were children.

'If he truly liked me, he would have brought that up by now.'

Given His Highness's excellent memory, there's no way he could have forgotten about it, and there must be a reason why he never mentioned it all this time.

It was clearly a warning to keep my distance.

However, the Crown Prince under the influence of Fairy's Tears was more confident than anyone.

"Very well. If that will prove my feelings for you, I'll drink the antidote as soon as we find it."

The Crown Prince smiled tenderly while gazing at me with loving eyes.

His entire being radiated love for me.

'What's the point of not verbally expressing that you're in love?'

When his actions and gazes were showing it so clearly.

Sigh. I really need to find that antidote soon.

If news of this reaches the Empress's ears before we find the antidote...

'Regardless of whether Prince Friedrich drank Fairy's Tears or not, I might end up being dragged to the wedding altar.'

After all, if the Empress could find a match for the Crown Prince, she wouldn't care at all about the fact that he drank Fairy's Tears.