Since I’m a Time-Limited Princess Who Has No Tomorrow - Chapter 18

“…Wife, what are you doing here?” 

“I saw that there were a lot of spider webs on the eaves… so I was cleaning them up.”

“Why on earth are you doing that, wife…?” 

The Crown Prince trailed off as he looked me up and down, taking in the sight of me with my skirt hiked up and riding the piggyback like a child. 

“Put me down!” 

I quickly tapped Anshi’s arm. Anshi gently put me down and straightened the messy hem of my skirt.

I cleared my throat and changed the subject. 

“What are you doing over there, Your Highness?” 

“This is my room.”

“Ah, that’s right.”

As I stared blankly with my mouth open, the Crown Prince covered his mouth and turned his head away. I could see his shoulders shaking. 

“…Don’t laugh.”

“I’m sorry.”

The Crown Prince quickly swallowed his laughter and apologized to me. 

It’s more embarrassing to apologize… 

‘Even on the first night, I fell asleep while eating in front of him.’

At this rate, I can’t complain if I’m treated like a real child. I buried my red face in my hands and sighed.

Then the Crown Prince called me with a voice that had a faint hint of laughter. 

“Wife.” 

“Yes.” 

“I was just about to visit you.”

“Yes?”

When I lifted my head, the Crown Prince leaned out the window and gestured for me to come closer. As I approached, he asked in a low voice.

“That blonde maid behind you—she’s a personal maid, right? Can you trust her, wife?” 

“Yes, she’s someone I trust more than anyone else. Her name is Anshi.” 

“That’s good to hear. I’ve prepared a way for you to escape, so please flee with that maid.” 

“…Yes?” 

Why should I run away? 

When I looked up in surprise, the Crown Prince reached out his hand, but pulled it back just before it touched me. 

It seemed as if he had tried to pat my head without thinking and then stopped in surprise. 

“…It is dangerous for you to remain in this palace, wife. You must escape tonight.” 

The Crown Prince’s face was extremely serious. I looked up at him blankly and asked. 

“Is it because of the attack?”

“Attack?”

The boy’s eyes widened. 

What? Court Lady Kim knows, but he doesn’t? It’s about his own wife! The Office of Special Investigation has already been dispatched, though? 

‘It seems no one taught him anything. He’s really in a helpless situation.’

Then he obviously hasn’t heard the news that I’ve decided to treat the queen.

‘But he’s managed to prepare an escape route for me within half a day?’

Something feels strange. 

I stood on my tiptoes and whispered in the Crown Prince’s ear. 

“Your Highness, what is the way for me to escape the palace?”

“My eunuch will guide you along with the soldiers he has bribed. Therefore, you should leave through the side gate. I’ve also arranged someone outside the palace to guide you to the harbor, so if you follow them…”

Eunuch? 

The image of the eunuch ordering the assassin came to mind.

Of course, there were countless eunuchs within the palace, but for one to receive the news so quickly—to the point of preparing and dispatching an assassin right after I finished my greeting…

“Is that eunuch the person you trust the most?”

“Yes, he is the one who has not left me even after I became like this.”

“Is that person always by your side?”

“That’s right. Because of my constitution, I can’t be too close, but if I shake the rope, he will come right away.”

“To prepare all of that in just half a day while keeping watch by Your Highness’s side, he’s quite an impressive person.” 

“He is a resourceful person with wide connections.” 

“Then he must have heard the news of my ambush in the morning… It seems he deliberately didn’t inform Your Highness. Perhaps he was concerned it would worry you?” 

As I tilted my head and asked innocently, the Crown Prince’s expression changed. 

Even though he’s still young and can be easily deceived by adults, he seems smart enough to immediately understand the meaning behind my words. 

The Crown Prince asked me with a pale face. 

“Are you saying that Wife was ambushed?” 

“Oh, yes. I’m fine; I wasn’t hurt at all.”

“That’s not the problem!” 

The boy raised his voice. He looked around nervously with anxious eyes and continued to speak uneasily.

“It would be best for you to leave the palace as soon as the sun sets. Until then, please stay in Cloud and Mist Hall, or rather, in Sleeping Dragon Hall. You can stay in the room next to mine. If I keep watch, no one will be able to approach you…” 

I interrupted the Crown Prince’s anxious words, asking with a look of fear.

“Your Highness, could you call that eunuch right now? I want to meet him and ask in detail.” 

“We have to go out together, so it would be better to see his face in advance. I will pull the rope, so please wait on the main porch.” 

“Yes.” 

I had no intention of getting to know his face or going out, but for now, I nodded and headed toward the main porch. 

After sitting on the porch with Anshi and waiting for a moment, soon a eunuch entered the courtyard of Sleeping Dragon Hall.

“Your Highness, you called for me… Your Highness Crown Princess is also here.” 

The eunuch, upon spotting me, bowed respectfully. I smiled warmly. 

‘It’s so easy to find.’

It was a face I had already seen in the reflection mirror. 

Yes, someone who is closely attached to the Crown Prince should know right away that I haven’t died, hear about my visit, and immediately send an assassin.

‘Could it be that if the Crown Prince refuses to enter the bridal chamber, this assassin was prepared to be sent after me?’

Perhaps he was feeling at ease because the Crown Prince was calmly entering the bridal chamber, but once I survived and came out, he became anxious and sent an assassin? 

‘Well then, shall we check?’

[Anshi, block the sound from leaking out with the wind here.] 

[Yes, Your Highness Princess.] 

The eunuch smiled awkwardly as I stared blankly without even greeting him.

“Your Highness the Crown Princess, is there anything you want to know about me?”

“There is.”

“Please ask. I will answer anything.” 

“No, it’s okay.”

I’m going to ask you about your life from now on. 

“…Heuk…”

I opened the Celestial Eye.

The eunuch instantly turned pale and began to sweat profusely as if it were raining. 

He had a face filled with terror, trembling legs, yet he couldn’t run away and couldn’t avoid my gaze. 

“Ugh… Heuk…” 

As time passed, the eunuch began to foam at the mouth.

‘Is it because he has committed many sins? He can’t endure it as well as that maid from yesterday.’

I withdrew the Celestial Eye just before he rolled his eyes back.

“Ugh! Uwaaaah!” 

The eunuch collapsed to the ground and began to vomit violently. 

Indeed, humans struggle more with the Celestial Eye than Celestial Being, and those with many sins seem to endure it even less. 

I looked down at the eunuch who was still unconscious.

‘What a filthy life he has lived, this human.’

This person deliberately stayed by the Crown Prince’s side as instructed by the person who gave him the money behind the scenes. 

He whispered to gain the trust of the still young Crown Prince, making it seem like he was the only one left by his side, yet he hadn’t done a single thing for the Crown Prince. 

He blocked communication between the King and the Crown Prince, ensuring that no one could meet the Crown Prince without going through him. He also fueled and exaggerated the rumors that the Crown Prince was a madman and a monster.

He even spread rumors that the Crown Prince engages in cannibalism. 

To the child who didn’t let anyone near him out of fear of hurting others, didn’t leave his room, and stayed locked up, quietly enduring the food shortage and the house becoming a ruin like a criminal. 

‘He watched as the boy struggled not to harm anyone, fully aware of his efforts, while he reported all the Crown Prince’s characteristics to his backer, claiming it was the way to handle a monster.’

The fact that the Crown Prince realized his darkness feeds on people’s fear was also the result of that eunuch’s attempts to identify the characteristics of a ‘monster’ through various means.

‘He brought people here himself, and then he even provoked the Crown Prince to feel guilty, saying that he hurt someone again.’

Knowing that the child was good and tried to keep his principles, he took advantage of him. 

‘He drove all the other eunuchs crazy or kicked them out, fired the nanny a long time ago, and with nothing to hold him back, embezzled all the expenses of the Crown Prince’s residence. He even used the funds for the boy’s meals for his own purposes.’

Still, I felt that the state of the Crown Prince’s residence was far too serious.

My suspicions regarding the assassin were also correct.

The one who prepared and sent the assassin was the person behind the eunuch. 

The eunuch’s role was to confirm whether the Crown Prince was entering the bridal chamber and to inform the assassins accordingly. 

Since the Crown Prince entered the chamber, there was no longer a need for the assassins to act that night, but they remained on standby until morning just in case. 

‘Thanks to me for becoming Ruhwa, that ‘just in case’ situation actually happened.’

The eunuch immediately sent the assassins in response to the unexpected situation, but I interrupted their plan by going to pay my respects right away. 

The eunuch told the assassins, who were about to turn back, to wait and seize the opportunity to attack when I came out of the main palace, and as for what happened afterward, well, you know. 

‘So that’s why I was being scolded just a moment ago.’

The attack in the bamboo forest was the eunuch’s own decision.

The one behind him was very angry.

The point was not just to kill me, but to do so and pin the blame on the Crown Prince. So, what was the point of an ambush in a place where the Crown Prince wasn’t even nearby? 

‘I thought the attack was too obvious.’

Therefore, this case is different from the one where Ruhwa was assassinated on the night before the wedding. 

“Do you think it’s easy to suppress an investigation by the Office of Special Investigations!”

“I apologize, His Highness the Minister of the Left…” 

The eunuch said, bowing and pleading to the angry person.

The mastermind behind this morning’s ambush was the Minister of the Left of this country. 

‘If it’s the Minister of the Left, it must be related to Waneon Gun.’

The fox—no, Seokran—explained it to me. 

Prince Waneon is the Crown Prince’s cousin and the current Minister of the Left’s grandson, making him the most likely candidate to be the next Crown Prince. 

The one who paid and controlled this eunuch was the Minister of the Left, the leader of the Prince Waneon faction. 

The one who benefits from the Crown Prince being executed for the crime of killing the princess.

‘If I want to help the Crown Prince, I have to deal with that faction anyway, so this works out well.’

By the way, then who is the real mastermind behind Ruhwa’s assassination? 

At first, I thought he was someone who would save the Crown Prince even if it meant killing Ruhwa, but when I looked over the life of the eunuch who had been by the Crown Prince’s side, there didn’t seem to be anyone like that. 

‘Was it really a conspiracy targeting the king?’

It seemed I needed to call Seokran and change the direction of the investigation. 

“Your Highness, that man has fainted. What should we do?” 

“Mhm, wake him up.”

“I understand.” 

Anshi quickly approached the collapsed eunuch and grimaced at the sight of the vomit. 

Not wanting to touch him, Anshi used the wind to lift the eunuch and began shaking him wildly in mid-air. 

It seems like he would throw up even more like that, though.

“Heuk…!”

As expected, the eunuch threw up again as soon as he opened his eyes. His complexion was so pale that it seemed he was really on the verge of death. 

Regardless, Anshi smiled brightly and looked back at me. 

“I woke him up!” 

“…Mhm, good job. Just cover it up with some sand or something and clean it up.” 

“Yes, Your Highness.” 

Anshi used the wind to cover the eunuch’s vomit and dry his wet clothes. As a result, he appeared somewhat presentable. 

Now, I need to inform the Crown Prince about this guy’s true identity. 

‘To think that the adult he had trusted and relied on all this time is someone like that—it’s too harsh a truth for a young child.’

But I can’t keep him from knowing.