Because it was raining, Aran thought she had seen it wrong. But no matter how many times she opened and closed her eyes, nothing changed.

“Don’t look!”

Enoch tried to cover her eyes from behind. Aran tried to get away from him.

“Mother… Father!”

She didn’t even think twice before running to her parent’s wagon. She couldn’t even see the loose horses on their ties going wild.

She finally got closer to the carriage after getting close to the guards who were trying to catch her. 

Inside, a low moan could be heard. 

It was the voice of the Emperor.

“Fa…Father!”

When the emperor saw that it was his daughter, he waved his hand in a dazed way.

“No… Aran, go back…”

But she didn’t hear the yells of her angry father. 

Aran got down on her floor and tried really hard to open her door to the wagon, but it was stuck.

A big horse came running up to her. 

Aran found out about it too late, so she was frozen and couldn’t move.

In a moment of desperation, someone wrapped her up and rolled her away. 

He got kicked in the back by the horse. 

Aran slowly blinked. 

Enoch asked her what was wrong with her.

“Your Highness! Are you alright?”

Aran just blacked out.

A lot had changed when she woke up.

—

That day was a disaster in every way. 

The accident killed the Empress right away, and the Emperor’s head was hurt so badly that he couldn’t recognize his daughter’s face. 

Crown Prince Luazan, Aran’s older brother, became the emperor’s deputy to fill his spot.

Before the accident, the emperor gave Aran the province of Setia, the empire’s largest granary, and dozens of large gold mines.

Luazan and second Prince Dylan were both greedy, so they wanted their sister’s money. 

Up until now, the emperor had been holding on, so they didn’t have the courage to stop him, but now they didn’t think twice. 

Usually bitter enemies, the two princes were willing to work together to reach their goals.

It wasn’t that the emperor didn’t know his sons were greedy.

The Emperor thought that they wouldn’t touch their sister once he died, thus he decided to marry her to the future Grand Duke Roark, but the plan failed when the current Grand Duke rebelled against the Emperor. 

He hadn’t made any other plans because he didn’t know what would happen.

Aran put a white bouquet of flowers on the coffin of the Empress. 

Since the emperor couldn’t go to the funeral, the princes and princesses took care of it.

Aran was so drunk the night before that she barely woke up and went to the funeral, but she cried so much that she felt tired again. 

Luazan held up Aran, who was standing in a dangerous place.

“Aranhrod, if you look so sad, how can the Empress rest in peace?”

“Older Brother…”

Aran’s face showed a little surprise when she saw Luazan wrapped around her shoulder.

She didn’t get along with her two brothers very well. 

The princes, who have been hard on Aran since she was young because she is a member of the royal family, are jealous of her because she gets all of her love without trying. 

Aran also had a hard time with her older brothers.

“We haven’t cared much about you for a long time. But the harder it is, the more blood ties we have to depend on each other. Dylan and I will now look out for you.”

In a soft voice, Luazan said. Dylan dried her tears with his hand. 

Her sadness was still there, but Aran found great comfort in her blood brothers. 

As a young, innocent woman, she didn’t know how to see the bad in her brothers.

For a while, the two brothers pretended to take good care of Aran. 

In the end, she could not do anything without the princes.

After the funeral for the empress, Aran’s daily life became very easy. 

She went to see the emperor as soon as she woke up in the morning. 

She greeted him and took care of him until the sun went down. 

The emperor not only became stupid, but he could barely move. 

Aran did everything she could because she thought the emperor would get better soon.

And when the Emperor fell asleep, she went to see Enoch.

He, too, was badly hurt and lying in bed. 

The doctor, who took care of him, said that if the horse’s hoof had been even a little bit off, he would have died. 

Luckily, he didn’t hit the most important part.

Aran touched the pale face of Enoch. 

Enoch opened his eyes when he felt the touch.

“Why are you crying?”

He did not want Aran to be upset. 

He felt very strange when he saw those tears. 

He wanted to wipe her wet face, but he couldn’t move his arms. 

All he could do was stare.

“I apologize.”

“What are you being apologetic about?”

“Because… I almost ki…killed you.”

“I’m fine.”

Enoch’s answer was a little hard to understand. 

He didn’t know what to think.

Why did he wrap the princess in his arms at that time?

He thought about it for a few days and tried to figure out why. 

Quickly, the answer came. 

He had been able to live well and stay alive so far only because the princess was kind to him, so it was clear that if something bad happened to her, his life would be in danger.

But that didn’t tell the whole story of how he felt at that moment.

When he saw the horse running toward the princess, his heart dropped and his head went cold. 

When his parents’ rebellion was found out or when he saw their throats cut, Enoch did not feel as desperate as he did then.

When the horse’s hoof kicked him, he didn’t even know it hurt. 

He only thought that the princess should be taken to a safe place. 

When he saw how beautiful her face and hands were, he felt better.

Enoch had to admit that he no longer felt the same way about the princess as he once did. 

But he hasn’t yet said how he feels in a clear way.

“It’s alright since Your Highness is fine. Everyone told me that I’m lucky. I’m not that hurt that I’ll die, and I’m tough so I’ll probably be fine after a few more days.”

It was correct. 

All of the courtiers and people taking care of him saw him getting better day by day and said he was a monster. 

Enoch thought that it was good that he hurt himself even more. 

Aran’s weak body wouldn’t have been able to handle the shock of being hurt.

“Thanks for coming to my rescue. But don’t act like that again.”

“It makes sense for a servant to die for his master.”

“You are not a servant.”

Aran placed her face close to his.

His red eyes stared back at her.

Some people thought his eyes were blood-red and disgusting, but Aran only saw something beautiful and special.

“You’re my other half.”

Other half…

Enoch said the word over and over in his mind. 

Like candy, it was sweet.

Aran put her soft lips over his hard lips. 

It was salty and made her teared, but as it melted it was also sweet.

“My mother left me… but if you leave me, I don’t know what I’d do.”

She spoke in a way that made it sound like she was too sad to talk. 

Some of the tears that had stopped came back. 

Her tears made the white bones on the back of her tightly clasped hands stand out.

“I’m sorry about Her Majesty…”

“I didn’t realize that i’ll be sending her off without saying goodbye, my father doesn’t know me… I feel alone…”

Enoch had been there. 

And Aran’s parents were the ones who suddenly left her alone.

No matter how caring they are, Enoch couldn’t even feel sorry for them since they took the most precious people in his life as well.

But Aran was sadder and felt more for them than he did hate for them. 

Enoch was shocked to find out where in his own heart the weak spot was.

Aran wiped away her tears and smiled, even though her face was puffy.

“But my mom doesn’t want me to be sad for a long time. When I get stronger, my dad will get better.”

The fact that she openly cried over what happened to her parents in front of him didn’t trigger his own trauma as well.

“His Majesty’s health will get better for sure.”

“Yes… I take a book with me everyday, because even if he doesn’t remember me, he loves my voice.”

Even Enoch liked how the princess’s voice sounded. 

Even though she is thin, she speaks clearly and stays the same, which makes her personality feel soft. 

As she whispered her love, he thought it was okay that he was proud to be the Grand Duke’s heir and he hated her parents.

As Enoch looked at her lips, Aran got red in the face and turned away, thinking about what Enoch was thinking. 

Enoch barely looked away from her lips before he said,

“I see, then that’s fortunate.”

There was a bit of awkwardness in the air. 

They were looking at each other when they heard a voice outside the door calling to Aran.

“Your Highness, it’s getting late.”

Enoch took a quick look at the locked door. 

A maid who followed Aran stood behind the door. 

Aran went with her full-time maid or escort after hearing what Enoch told her before.

“Hurry up and go before it’s too late.”

“I still have more time…”

“Hurry…”

Enoch urged again. 

Aran slowly and reluctantly got up.

“I’m coming back tomorrow.”

Sad, she turned around and gave him a light kiss on the cheek. 

Enoch, too, felt sad. 

After the warm, friendly feeling went away, the unbearable loneliness came.

When the door shut, there was nothing but darkness where Aran was. 

Enoch went back to sleep and waited until the next day.

—

Since the princes knew that Aran still cared about Enoch, they decided to keep them apart. 

Now he is a little servant, but having the smart man so close to Aran was not a good thing. 

Also, in order to sell Aran for more money, even the slightest chance of a scandal shouldn’t be left open.

But since they couldn’t punish Aranhrod, the beloved princess, in public, they decided to try to persuade her first.

Luazan asked her sister to dinner and then thought about it behind her sister’s back.

“Aranhrod, how is Prince Roark these days?”

Luazan talked about the story of Enoch all of a sudden, and Aran almost dropped her spoon. 

In addition, he called Enoch the Prince. 

She couldn’t figure out what was going on. 

When she looked at her brother’s face, he had the same kind look as always.

Before answering, Aran thought for a moment.

“He’s fine, he’s getting treatment… and his injury won’t kill him.”

“It’s too bad. I’m glad it’s not dangerous to his life, though.”

“Yes…” 

“If you think about it, he saved your life, so it would be right for me, as your older brother, to pay him back.”

When he heard those words, Aran’s eyes got big. 

Still, both of her eyes were shining with a quiet sense of excitement.