Chapter ss-24: Side Story 24
A sense of bewilderment looked over Callisto’s face. “I didn't order it yesterday, but it was doing well…”
Penelope complained inwardly about his response and put a special treatment in her mouth. She couldn’t treat him like a man who’s a boyfriend, though.
“You don't have to kneel on both knee. There is also the prestige of your Majesty, so I'll go over to one knee.”
“Huh.”
He had an amazed look on his face.
“I’ve never seen such an insult in my life. I’ve never been treated like this even by an enemy soldier on the battlefield.”
“If you don’t like it, nevermind.” “Who doesn't like it?!”
There was only one chance.
As Penelope turned around as if she were leaving the incinerator right away, he clasped her arm in a hurry. Penelope turned to look at him.
‘Ha! Come on, that’s ridiculous.’ He repeated, clicking his tongue, and funnily, he held her hand tightly and lowered his body slowly.
And then, flop -. “...Penelope Eckart.”
The Crown Prince looked up at Penelope, kneeling without reserve on the dirty incinerator floor. “I'm sincerely reflecting on ignoring your will and locking you up without your consent.”
“...”
“I was wrong.”
He asked for forgiveness with a serious voice.
Penelope was pleased to see him kneeling down as he was told. She smiled without knowing it. Callisto then added,
“So don't talk about breaking up. If you don't want to see someone else’s eyes.” “I wish I hadn’t said anything behind me.”
“...I only have you.”
Unlike Penelope, who was full of laughter, Callisto exhaled as if he had burst out all the anxiety he had endured.
“Please forgive me, and keep loving me.”
He mumbled with his forehead on the back of her hand. It was a complete apology and appeal.
Penelope glanced down at his golden crown which was so disheveled, and responded lightly. “...Alright, I’ll forgive you this time, Your Highness.”
“Is it true?”
He lifted the head he had buried on the back of her hand. Unlike just now, which was earthy, the color was turning. Penelope laughed at him, ready to rise and smile with joy. “But words don’t make me feel better.”
“What is that…”
“I want you to tell me more about your sincerity. Not empty hands.” Aren’t apologies supposed to be money rather than words?
As if curious, he immediately understood what she was saying and burst out laughing. “...Huh. Do you want money?”
“Well, not necessarily money. Originally, an apology requires proper compensation.” “Why don't you skip the bone marrow?”
'Anyway, money is the best.' Despite the tumultuous situation, he returned the body to its original state, and asked straight away.
“What else do you need?” “Eugh…”
“Why are you sighing? Just tell me, I’ll get you some.” How could he be so sensible?
Penelope sent her deepest condolences to the future her who would live with such a fellow before snapping irritably.
“Are you just going to pour money into everything to fix it?” “...”
The prince looked dazed as if he had been hit by something on the back of his head. He stared blankly at Penelope and pulled something out of her arms.
“Are you...talking about this?”
A ring with a mysterious turquoise bead that seemed as if it contained the sea came out of his hand. When Penelope saw the thick stone shining alone without any decoration, she felt a little relieved. ‘But you did carry it with you.’
If he had left it at the palace, she would have caught his hair again.
As Callisto still held her hand, Penelope shook him off before speaking bluntly. “If you’ve laid out the board like this, please do it properly.”
Whiying -.
A once-in-a-kind wind blew past them.
Penelope dared to raise her head proudly, with the crown prince of the kingdom, who was about to ascend to the throne, on his knee. Their eyes met. At that moment. Penelope could see his blood red eyes shaking.
“...Penelope Eckart.”
He was expressionless, but with a slightly strange face, he slowly opened his mouth.
“I have the power to sweep all the jewels that exist in this world and build a palace if you want.” The first words were proud and bragging.
“I also have the power to take all the mines of the nobles and give them to you.” “...”
“If you give me a throne, I can exterminate the Imperial Palace with my own hands. If we’re fed up with this place, including the Eckarts, we’ll be able to raise an army and destroy it.”
Gradually, his calm voice grew more agitated.
Before she knew it, his face was distorted with urgency and nervousness. “...I love you.”
When he finally reached the peak, he vomited them like blood.
“So please marry me.”
(Note: aaaahh he's proposing .. I'm proud of you,callisto )
Penelope stared quietly at Callisto, who had a very strange face, as if she were observing him. “Okay.”
“You don’t know…what?” “Okay.”
When Penelope answered with a nod of her head, the crown prince looked at her face with incredible eyes.
“...Are you serious?” “Yes.”
His face, filled with mistrust, gradually brightened. “...You, damn it.”
He couldn't speak with his voice; he let go of her hand and swept at his face. It broke her heart what she had to say to him.
“But a few years later.” “...What?”
A determined voice stopped him from standing tall while rubbing his face.
Penelope felt sorry for Callisto, who was frozen solid, but it was a decision made after a long period of intense agony and fighting with herself.
She was a bit sorry for his cold freezing, but it was a decision she made after struggling with herself for a long time.
“I want to study, and I want to wander around here and there.” “You…”
“And I also want to have a relationship with you.”
When Penelope quickly added to her sentence, the prince closed his mouth. The man, breathing as if to calm his emotions, soon opened his mouth again. It was a friendly voice that seemed to want to persuade her..
“It's a marriage…”
“I don't want to hear a married woman because I'm already married.”
His face turned fierce when she intercepted his words as he was trying to repeat his nonsense again. “How can a person live with everything they want?”
Perhaps the momentum of proposing was gone, and the prince rose up onto his feet.
“We have to make concessions, compromise and live at least! How can you ask for two or three?” Penelope shrugged back at him as if he were a child.
“Your Majesty should make it that way.” “...”
“If you're incapable of doing just that for your only lover, there's no reason to date someone who will be the emperor?”
“...”
He clenched his teeth as if he had nothing to say.
Looking at the dirt stain on his white suit’s knee, Penelope hurried to calm him down before he exploded.
“Instead, let’s not just date, but be formally engaged and meet seriously on the premise of marriage.” “...What?”
“You said you wanted to spread the news all over the world.” “Wait, you…!”
At the same time, Penelope stole the ring from his hand without a moment to spare. Callisto had said that the ring wasn’t finished, but it fit perfectly.
“I can always wear a ring.”
As the turquoise beads on the left hand, which had settled in front, shook in front of her eyes, Callisto’s face suddenly darkened.
“...It's not as easy to wear and remove as a normal accessory.” He grabbed her moving hand and muttered in a flustered voice. Penelope laughed at his serious face.
“You’re lying about it being cursed and not being able to remove it, aren’t you?” While she gently slapped his hand on the ring, Callisto glanced up with surprised eyes. “...How did you know?”
“Am I stupid? All of the significant royals have already died, so there is no way to break the curse.” With a rather cold concession, he nodded and accepted, as if he had no choice.
“It wasn't exactly solved, but it transformed the form that was only passed back to the royal family.” “A variant?”
“To be used...with the blood of a mermaid.”
When Penelope looked at him like a madman, Callisto laughed bitterly when he noticed her eyes. Then he took something else out and showed her.
“If I own the rest of this ring, you cannot escape the curse.” A ring that was a little bigger than what she was wearing. It was the pair to the ring.
“That’s why I was going to give it to you at the wedding.” Soon after, he folded the palm of his hand and put it away. Penelope asked with a confused face.
“Why don't you put it back on?”
“...I lost.” “What…”
“Oh, it can’t be helped that you’ve already gotten it stuck.”
He continued by pressing down once on the tip of her ring finger.
“Instead, I’ll keep mine in the safe until you’ve finished what you want to do and are ready to marry.” It was Penelope’s turn to be surprised.
“...Why?”
Penelope thought that if she’d let him, he’d be excited and share the ring. But he did not. Instead, he answered silently.
“Because it would be difficult for both of us to die before we get married.”
He would wait for her, and in the meantime, he’ll take the risk she didn’t know. At that moment, Penelope couldn't resist making a distorted face.
Her heart was pounding and she couldn’t stand it.
“...Then, what if I get tired of Your Majesty and I throw away my ring and everything and die?” “That’s a bit unfair.”
He frowned like a man who didn't feel bad at all.
And, like Penelope a little while ago, shrugged and said lightly. “So what can you do? I just have to die.”
“...Your Majesty.”
“I said I would kill myself if you died of poison when there was no curse.”
Callisto glanced at Penelope’s hardened face and raised his hand touching her ring finger to touch her cheek.
“Why do you look like that?” “Ha.”
Only then did the breath that Penelope was holding in burst. She didn't know what she looked like as she looked at him. He was not joking at all.
“...You really, you’re the craziest guy I know.”
“You are the true mad dog of Eckart, who can even love such a madman.” The prince laughed and chattered playfully.
“...Yes.”
Penelope couldn’t deny it anymore. “I love you, Callisto.”
The red eyes, which opened wide by the gentle flow of heart, gradually became filled with joy. Under the pouring afternoon sun, glistening golden hair.
Penelope’s love, her future, was shining brilliantly on her.