* * *
Time flew by quickly.
Now, with only a few days left until Vivisian’s birthday, Hesia, who would absolutely never host his own birthday party due to a past and future event, was busy preparing for Vivisian’s birthday banquet.
Even the Duke-King, who came to check in, sighed and pressed his hand to his forehead, wondering why Hesia couldn’t put this much effort into his own birthday.
Vivisian, who had held a birthday banquet so few times that she could count them on her fingers, felt needlessly awkward about Hesia’s actions.
Even if she wanted to help, she couldn’t, as she had never even hosted her own birthday banquet, let alone anyone else’s.
Thus, Vivisian could only stand and watch as Hesia, with flushed cheeks, prepared her birthday banquet.
And the day of the grand birthday banquet finally dawned.
The only guests who could attend were Hesia’s people whose identities had been confirmed, yet the banquet hall was so magnificent it was hard to believe.
I rubbed the back of my neck with my hand.
“This is insane.”
It was so extravagant that my head started to ache.
I couldn’t even begin to guess what Hesia was thinking to host such a—such a banquet.
“Should I have tried to stop him?”
I asked myself a question that I knew would not have been listened to anyway.
Regardless of my shock at the scale of the banquet, Hesia stood beside me with a proud look, his hands placed confidently on his hips.
“Hmm, I like it. Everyone will know now with this.”
“…Know what?”
“That I, I, I love Vivi.”
“Right. With a birthday banquet of this scale, it would be impossible not to know that you, you, you love me.”
I had a disgruntled look as I jumped on Hesia’s slip of the tongue.
It was simply unbelievable that he had prepared such a banquet to announce that he, he, he loved me.
“But isn’t this too much?”
“It’s not too much at all. Actually, I wanted to make it even more extravagant. Tsk, but Hugo pleaded with me, pleaded with me, saying that wasn’t possible…”
‘It was Hugo. I should reward him later.’
Unlike the clearly reluctant Hesia, I secretly let out a sigh of relief with a look of gratitude.
‘Even more extravagant?’
I couldn’t fathom what he was thinking.
“You’re sometimes too extreme.”
I muttered, taking a glass of wine from a passing attendant.
It was a face I hadn’t seen before, but since they had temporarily increased the staff for this banquet, he seemed to be one of them.
I glanced at the retreating attendant, then turned my gaze back to Hesia and widened my eyes. Hesia looked strangely downcast.
“Sha? Did I say something wrong? Why the long face?”
Flustered, I set my wine glass on a nearby table and asked Hesia.
At my question, Hesia pursed his lips and mumbled his reply.
“I—I just wanted to celebrate Vivi’s birthday. …It might be the last time.”
‘I wish my thought was wrong, though.’
Hesia, who mumbled with a face that was neither smiling nor crying, slowly met my gaze.
Staring into his firm yet infinitely soft eyes, I didn’t know what to say.
Hesia hadn’t said anything untrue.
The time given to me was one year.
It was a time when I could only celebrate my birthday once.
Hesia would probably have to commemorate my death anniversary, not my birthday, from now on.
The thought made the banquet not seem excessively lavish anymore.
The people drinking and eating the prepared food with cheerful faces were all familiar.
I couldn’t help but welcome those who smiled or shouted “Happy Birthday” every time our eyes met.
Celebrating my birthday was unthinkable when I was in the Ducal Territory.
It was only celebrated a few times when I was little.
After I grew up, no one celebrated my birthday. They only celebrated Letian’s.
I quickly erased the name, which was horrifying just to think about, from my mind.
I slowly smoothed out my slightly wrinkled brow and looked at Hesia, who was standing faithfully by my side.
“Do you still dislike it?”
Hesia asked, his eyes trembling slightly, as if gauging my mood.
I looked up at him intently, then just gave a small laugh.
“No. I like it.”
At the simple answer, Hesia smiled like someone who had found the answer to a lifelong difficult problem he had been searching for.
His face was like a devotee who had received a message from God, or like someone who had found something he thought he would never see again.
I looked at his radiant face, as bright as a fully bloomed flower, and turned my gaze away.
I picked up the wine glass I had set on the table and moistened my oddly dry lips.
And as soon as I finished the wine, the ground and sky flipped over.
“Vivi! Vivisian!”
As soon as I staggered, Hesia’s arms wrapped tightly around my waist.
I tried to say I was alright, but only bright red blood came out between my lips.
I looked quietly at Hesia’s pale face and forced a smile.
“I’m… fine. It hasn’t been… a year… yet…”
Before I could even finish my slow, drawn-out words, my consciousness faded into darkness.
✽ ✽ ✽
Vivisian collapsed.
At the same time, the few Apostles also showed abnormal reactions.
Dizziness, vomiting, stomach aches, and so on.
No one showed symptoms as severe as Vivisian, but everyone reacted in various ways.
Hesia forced his mind to work, holding Vivisian, who was as pale as death, in his arms.
Seeing the normal people and the Guides who were unaffected, unlike the Apostles, it was clear.
This was a conspiracy by someone targeting the Apostles, or more precisely, Vivisian.
It was natural that Vivisian’s condition was the worst.
There was no other Apostle here who received guidance so poorly.
Hesia struggled to untangle the chaotic wave of energy, which was noticeable just by touching her body, but it wasn’t easy.
It was when cold sweat was soaking his back.
Hugo, who had finished managing the situation without being told, quietly approached and whispered in his ear.
“It seems a drug that twists the Apostles’ wave of energy was mixed into the wine.”
“…By whom?”
“We don’t know who, but an attendant was found after taking poison and committing suicide.”
“That attendant wouldn’t have acted alone. There must be someone backing them.”
“Yes. We will investigate. As for Vivisian… Should we call more Guides?”
Hesia hesitated briefly at Hugo’s cautious suggestion, then shook his head.
“No. I’ll do it alone.”
It was obvious that finding a Guide whose wave matched Vivisian’s would take a long time.
Something could happen in the meantime.
So, it had to be Hesia.
Hesia quietly looked down at Vivisian’s pained face.
Cold sweat beading on Hesia’s forehead ran down his cheek and dripped onto Vivisian’s face.
Hesia, who watched the drops of sweat fall in an arc as if Vivisian were crying, wore a determined look.
“Increase the number of palace guards so that not a single ant can leave, and keep watch from a distance from the bedroom to ensure no one approaches.”
“Then, Your Highness…”
“I’ll wake Vivi.”
A fairy tale book that Vivisian had once read to him came to mind.
It was the one about Sleeping Beauty.
Right now, Vivisian looked just like the princess in that fairy tale.
“Because it’s the prince’s job to wake the princess.”
Hugo nodded heavily at the playful yet undisguisedly tense voice.
Hesia glanced at Hugo’s reaction and let out a small, pale laugh.
“Nothing will happen. Vivisian will surely wake up.”
“Of course. So, please take care of yourself too, Your Highness.”
Instead of nodding at the worried words, Hesia smiled a little.
Then, he cautiously carried Vivisian in his arms and walked away.
Even in that brief moment, Vivisian continuously let out pained groans.
Hesia’s expression darkened at the sounds escaping her blood-stained lips.
“I should have been more careful. I should have paid attention to the attendants, not just the guests. Getting excited about Vivi’s birthday, stupidly…”
After confirming that no one was listening, Hesia’s expression was sorrowful as he muttered softly.
He knew he had made the security tight and checked things numerous times, but he couldn’t stop himself from thinking that way.
Hesia carefully laid Vivisian on the bed they shared and bit his lip.
Vivisian definitely wouldn’t say anything about the action he was about to take.
Instead, she would probably ask Hesia if he was alright.
But even so, he couldn’t readily embrace an unconscious person.
“Isn’t there another way?”
He couldn’t help but think that, even though he knew there wasn’t.
He was inwardly afraid of Vivisian’s reaction once she regained consciousness.
Hesia, whose trembling hands stroked Vivisian’s hair and cheek countless times, finally wore a look of resolve and took off his clothes one by one.
His milky white body, scattered with faint scars, was fully revealed under the pure white moonlight.
His broad shoulders heaved a couple of times, and Hesia cautiously sat on the bed.
His hesitant hands carefully undid Vivisian’s clothes.
In a short while, her body, covered in all sorts of scars, glimmered like a pearl in the dark room.
* * *
