Chapter 4: The End

“Look in the mirror, Ailea Elgar Ilyanna.”

A sharp voice pierced Ailea’s heart like an iceberg.

The white dazzling dress only accentuated her monstrosity.

“I am this empire’s crown prince and I will marry a girl with the cleanest, and purest skin. If I’m to marry you when you look like… that, I’ll become a disappointment to the empire and I’ll have failed as an emperor,” Lawrence said nervously.

“…Why do you say this now?’

“I didn’t expect you’d be so tenacious. And because it was fa… no… the emperor’s orders, I’m unable to break off this engagement with you,” Lawrence clicked his tongue and cursed, “Damn it, what did I do to deserve this horrid luck?”

Ailea looked down. “You’ve… never called a doctor to tend for my sickness.”

‘He probably thinks I’d die off soon enough,’ Ailea thought spitefully, ‘You’ve never paid me the smallest bit of attention…’

When the imperial doctor told Ailea that he was unable to figure out the cause of her disease, she requested for Lawrence to bring a foreign doctor or a sorcerer to examine her, but Lawrence, on a passing whim, merely said alright and never spoke of the matter again.

That Ailea was tenacious and adamant was merely a front and excuse. She’s sure and believed that he had only remembered her existence when he suddenly needed to break off their engagement.

It felt like the surrounding air was suffocating her. 

Tears fell and swept away the makeup she applied. Her blackened skin underneath began to show. 

Upon looking at her black and mottled face, even the guards who’d been trained to show no emotions could not help but grimace at her face and take a slight step back.

“…Then at least let me go back home,” Ailea said.

“Don’t say something so ridiculous. If I don’t kill you right here and now, the emperor would never agree to breaking off this engagement. It’s because of that damn godforsaken hero of this empire.”

“Don’t insult my father,” Ailea glared despite the tears blurring her eyes. Even the whites of her eyes were dotted with black spots.

Lawrence sneered in response before turning away.

“Close off this castle and set it on fire. Her disease is contagious and could spread should we fail to contain it,” he ordered his guards.

In his eyes, the girl he was engaged to was no human. She was but a blackened beasts whose only purpose was to cause him suffering.

In this world, beasts could never coexist amongst humans.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Lawrence exited the castle. A smug and accomplished smile crossed his lips.

Meanwhile, Ailea sat where she once stood and did not move an inch.

She had given up.

…On that day…

The castle Ailea Elgar Ilyanna resided in was set on fire.

She, along with the white and pure dress, burned in the sea of flames.