That brief farewell ended with a cheerful wave from Subaru and a warm smile from Emilia, before both turned toward their own carriage on the other side of the palace courtyard.
Merope was still watching Emilia’s receding back, feeling a lightness in her chest—a brand-new feeling she had never experienced since the day she first woke up: having someone outside of Reinhard and Felt who genuinely wanted to get to know her.
“Come on,” Felt said, already halfway to their own dragon carriage, her dress still awkwardly fluttering with every step.
“If we stay here any longer, I might pass out because of this dress.”
Merope chuckled, running to catch up, with Reinhard following behind both of them with his usual calm stride.
As soon as the three of them were inside the carriage, and the wheels began to roll, leaving the palace courtyard, Felt immediately slumped against the seat back with a relieved sigh, her hands busy loosening the upper part of her corset slightly.
“Finally,” she muttered, “I thought I was going to die running out of breath in there.”
Merope, sitting opposite her, stared out the window for a moment before finally speaking up, her tone softer than usual.
“Felt,” she called out, “earlier… about you hating this kingdom. Was that real? Not just to show off some vision.”
The atmosphere inside the carriage instantly shifted.
Felt fell silent for a moment, her eyes moving to look out the window, avoiding Merope’s gaze. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
“…Yeah,” she answered finally, briefly, much softer than her usual snappy tone.
Reinhard, sitting beside Merope, said nothing, but his silence alone felt like a silent agreement that this was a topic he didn’t need to meddle in.
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” Merope continued quickly, worried she had crossed a line, “I just… I just wanted to understand. Because you’ve been so nice to me from the start, but I don’t even know anything about you.”
Felt let out a long sigh, resting her head against the carriage window, her eyes staring blankly at the scenery of the capital passing by outside.
“I was raised in the slums,” she said finally, her voice flat, as if she had long been used to stating that fact without excessive emotion.
“Since I was little, I had to steal to eat.
Meanwhile, those nobles—” she paused for a moment, her jaw tightening, “—they live comfortably in their palaces, never knowing what it’s like to be so hungry you can’t think of anything except finding food.”
Merope listened in silence, her chest feeling tight hearing every single word—not out of a condescending pity, but something much closer to understanding, even though their experiences were completely different.
“That’s why I hate them,” Felt continued, “not because they’re rich. But because they never care about people like me, unless it benefits them.” Read this novel at novelping(.)com for the best experience.
Merope fell silent for a moment, digesting every word, before finally speaking softly, carefully choosing her own words.
“I understand,” she said, “not completely, because I’ve never been through the exact same thing as you. But… I understand what it feels like to be looked at like you’re not human, just because of something you can’t control.”
Felt turned her head slightly, her eyes still holding lingering bitterness but now mixed with something softer upon hearing those words.
“That’s why,” Merope continued, her voice slowly growing stronger again, “I want to become king not just to prove I’m not evil. I also want to create a place where someone like you doesn’t have to hate anyone anymore—because there’s no one left who deserves to be hated.”
That sentence fell simply yet sincerely, and for a moment, Felt just stared at her in silence, as though she couldn’t believe a girl she had met only a few weeks ago could say something so touching right on the spot she had always hidden so tightly.
“…You,” Felt muttered finally, turning her face back to the window, hiding a slight blush on her cheeks, “sometimes what you say makes no sense, but for some reason, it makes me want to believe it.”
Reinhard, who had been listening quietly all this time, finally offered a faint smile—a smile that rarely appeared, but was now showing more and more often ever since Merope entered their lives.
The carriage continued forward, carrying the three of them home under the reddening evening sky, carrying along small promises that, though not fully spoken yet, were already beginning to bind them closer to one another.
…..
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