Thought It Was ‘The End’, Only to Return to a Changed Genre - Chapter 189

The prison door opened.

Mia didn’t even lift her head.

The guard threw someone down beside Mia as if discarding garbage. Judging by how the person rolled over without even attempting to defend themselves, they seemed to be unconscious.

“Princess, please come out.”

“…Pardon?”

“Though it is late, there is an order to show you proper respect. If you find it difficult to stand alone, I will summon a maid for you.”

“……”

“Shall I call a maid?”

“No, no need…”

She forced her weakened legs to move and managed to stand. Her vision darkened, and she nearly collapsed, but Mia barely steadied herself.

She couldn’t afford to miss this chance to leave the horrid underground prison.

The underground prison was unbearable.

Damp, dark, and foul-smelling. She didn’t know why, but as long as she could get out, nothing else mattered.

As she hurried to leave, the collapsed figure suddenly grabbed Mia’s ankle.

“Ack!”

“…Mia…”

“Who’s there…?”

“Take… take me with you…”

Her heart almost burst. Mia looked down at the fallen person with wide eyes. Through a mess of black hair, she saw a pair of familiar, glaring eyes—it was certainly Kaitlyn.

“You’re alive…? I saw your head get cut off with my own eyes…”

She had definitely seen it with her own eyes.

Kaitlyn responded by tightening her grip on Mia’s ankle. Mia realized.

“…You used my maid as a ‘replacement’ again, didn’t you?”

Once again, she had left someone else behind to die in her place and ran away.

After confirming the face of the knight waiting for her, Mia bent down and approached Kaitlyn, who clutched her ankle, and placed her hand on Kaitlyn’s face, who was desperately trying to meet her gaze.

“So, are you planning to escape by trading places with me?”

“Mia…”

“I won’t make the same stupid mistake again.”

She had indulged enough in lingering feelings for a love long gone.

Mia had loved Keith.

Though Keith hadn’t loved her back, if he had just taken her hand, she would have been willing to abandon her country for him.

But Keith loved Brubewein more than Mia, and his twin more than Brubewein.

Mia had always come second to Kaitlyn. She was always last.

She had known that Kaitlyn occasionally looked at her with eyes full of jealousy.

Kaitlyn envied Mia, saying she was pampered and raised gracefully by the royal family, but in truth, everything Mia had wanted was already in Kaitlyn’s possession.

Foolish Kaitlyn.

Keith only loved the Kingdom of Brubewein because it was the country where you could receive the best treatment.

You only liked Brubewein because you were treated better than Keith.

You were happy because my parents scorned Keith.

Even knowing all this, Keith still said that as long as you were happy, that was what mattered most to him.

You have no idea how utterly devotedly you were loved.

Keith wanted to give you only things that were bright and beautiful.

To let you live prettily and gracefully, he took all the dirty work upon himself.

You don’t even know the things my parents made him do.

You don’t know why he wandered the continent, committing all sorts of terrible deeds, why he had to.

How he protected you.

He didn’t want even me to know.

So I pretended not to know anything…

It’s lucky you’re unaware.

‘Because then I can feel just a little less miserable.’

Kaitlyn and Mia both envied each other, yet, without admitting it, they called each other friends.

‘I should have run away when Keith died.’

Her mistake had been thinking she could still use her lineage until the end.

The Kingdom of Brubewein, which had fattened itself by exploiting Kaitlyn and Keith, had long since fallen into decline.

The royal family alone no longer had the strength to sustain the kingdom.

If Mia survived, she wouldn’t return to the Kingdom of Brubewein. Even if she did return, the best she could hope for would be a transaction in the guise of marriage, with her being the bargaining chip.

If she could fulfill her duty as a princess by making a marriage that would save the kingdom, she would, but there was no way any fool with money who would pay for the princess of a ruined country could possess such abilities.