I Became the Narrow-Eyed Character in the Little Prince Game-Chapter 155: 18100428 (2)

"Let’s go. Isn’t this the moment you’ve been longing for?"

Valcaros stepped forward almost unconsciously.

Even in his confusion, his footsteps did not falter, as if they knew exactly what he longed for.

Step—.

At last, the Emperor reached the bedside where Rose lay.

Had they sensed his approach?

The red-haired and platinum-haired girls turned to face their father.

Now that they knew the full truth about the curse, there was no longer hostility in their eyes.

Only a lingering sense of unfamiliarity remained.

But for the man, that hardly mattered.

"......."

Tears that would not stop.

Valcaros did not even think to wipe away his disheveled face.

He only met the eyes of his children.

Scenes flickered past his vision.

Even in the years when he had lost all emotion, his memories had remained vivid.

The countless times he had been cold, the children who had been forced into solitude because of him, the powerlessness of /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ failing to protect them until the end.

Even the self he had been just hours ago, dismissing all these regrets as meaningless.

Now, all those emotions came crashing down like a storm.

As if trying to fill the void of the past ten years.

'I was the worst kind of father.'

There were names for these emotions.

Regret, relief, joy...

And love, love, love.

His voice was pitifully fragile, distorted by the weight of everything unsaid.

But Valcaros forced himself to speak.

"...Charlotte. Elize."

For a moment, the girls' pupils trembled.

Something they had not heard in nearly ten years.

He had always called them princess or your highness, rigid and distant.

Now, to hear their names spoken aloud—it was enough to leave them shaken.

At the same time, it made them realize.

Something about their father had changed.

"Perhaps..."

It was the echo of a past long gone.

A scar that would never fade, even if the time itself could not be reclaimed.

"May I... hold you for a moment?"

The words left his lips.

He knew he had no right to ask.

In their loneliest years, he had abandoned them—he was a wretched father.

No matter the reasons behind it, it was a sin that could not be forgiven.

But.

Emotions did not obey reason.

The fact that he had even asked before acting was, perhaps, a miracle.

The Emperor held himself back with all the restraint he could muster.

A mere moment stretched into eternity.

"......."

And in that silence, he was afraid.

Would they reject him?

Would the resentment they had buried over the years come back to haunt him?

Countless worries coiled around his heart.

A kind of anxiety he had never known before.

'If they refuse... I must accept it.'

To them, he had been nothing but a wound.

His lips trembled with unsteady emotion.

A long pause settled between them.

And then...

"...Yes, Your Majesty."

"There’s no issue."

It was the girls’ nods.

They hesitated for a second, but then, as if coming to a decision, they met his gaze.

Yuda, watching silently from the side, gave them a subtle signal.

It’s okay.

"Ah..."

A quiet exhale.

Valcaros opened his arms wide.

Embracing them at once—!

A warmth that had been absent for a decade engulfed the two girls.

At last, the Emperor collapsed, resting his head against his daughters.

The falling rain grew heavier, thicker, as if mirroring the moment.

Charlotte and Elize, first wearing hesitant expressions, found themselves swept up in the emotion.

Their eyes reddened, their tears welling up.

Tentatively, they lifted their arms and wrapped them around their father.

The awkward atmosphere melted away, dissolving into the gentle spring rain.

Valcaros whispered, over and over.

"Thank you... And I'm sorry."

Even as she cried,

The fragments of words that never fully formed scattered in pieces.

The warmth she had not felt in so long was overwhelming.

"Thank you... for growing up so well... and I’m sorry... for not being there for you."

A father who repeated those words over and over again.

The daughters in his arms slowly wrapped their arms around his back.

Outside the window, the sun had already set.

The ironclad winter that had felt eternal, painful, and full of guilt finally came to an end.

And in its place, spring arrived.

"Hah."

The boy who had shaped this entire scene stood just a step behind them, simply watching.

A faint smile lingered on his lips.

***

A day that had passed in a blur.

Even the complaints that once seemed never-ending had blurred into the night like pale willows in the sky.

It felt as though three days had passed since they arrived at the imperial palace, yet the morning still had not come.

That was how dense and heavy this day had been.

The dawn was still far off.

"......."

Elize could not sleep.

Lying on her bed, she simply shifted from side to side.

Her green eyes stared up at the ceiling without purpose.

It was strange.

It had been a long time since she had last slept in the Imperial Annex.

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Until just a few months ago, this had been her daily life.

She blinked, and then—

"Are you unable to sleep?"

It was Yuda.

He sat on the edge of her bed, keeping watch over her.

Because she had asked him to stay.

Elize murmured softly.

"Yeah... it’s strange not feeling sick."

It was strange.

It was as if a shackle that had bound her all her life had finally been removed.

More than simply being free of pain... her entire body felt as if the weight that had been pressing down on her had been lifted.

Only a cool, phantom ache remained from the severed past.

She clenched and unclenched her fists, then turned to face him.

The world around them was silent.

"I feel a little lost."

Her deep green eyes wavered.

"I can barely believe that I’m cured, and I don’t know what to think about His Majesty... I guess I still need time."

"I understand. It was all quite sudden."

Too much had happened in a single day.

The fate she had been freed from, the truth about her father, the stories she had never known.

It was too much to fully process in mere hours.

Elize’s expression remained complicated.

As if he understood, Yuda reached out and gently stroked her hair.

Feeling her thoughts slowly settle, she realized.

It was all because of this warmth.

"It’s strange."

"What is?"

"Ever since I met you, it feels like my entire world has changed."

She remembered.

Just months ago.

Back then, she had glared at this boy with murderous intent in this very room.

Every night, she had traced her arms and neck with a blade, spent her dawns in blood and tears, lashed out at those she cared about, and simply waited for death to come.

And yet—

If my past self saw this, she’d be horrified.

Now, she quietly accepted the warmth of his hand stroking her hair.

Everything had changed after meeting him.

A fleeting memory of the past left a scar on her heart.

Pushing aside the warmth creeping up her face, Elize reached out and took his hand.

And then, she pressed her cheek into his wide palm.

The warmth soothed her breath.

"Hey."

A single word fell into the quiet.

Reflected in his gaze was a depth of emotion too profound to name.

"I... was afraid of dying."

Words that remembered the past.

A confession of fear.

The truth she had always pretended not to see.

"I didn’t want to die."

No matter how numb she had become to pain, she was still just a fragile girl.

She had resented life.

Why did it have to be her?

Why was happiness always so far away?

She had spent her days waiting for a lonely, bitter death.

Back then, Elize had hated herself more than anything.

—I should just die soon.

—If you’re going to keep nagging, then leave me alone too.

—Just give up on me already.

She had hated herself for hurting Tanya with cruel words.

She had felt guilty for pushing away her sister with things she did not mean.

But she had been too scared.

Too afraid to stop her self-destructive spiral.

She had been certain that she would struggle against her suffering until the very end, only to fade away like a dying ember.

That fear had been her constant companion.

That was why she had always carried the thought of suicide with her.

If the weight of her despair ever became too much,

She had vowed to leave before she became too pathetic to do so.

That was the final thorn that the withered Rose had clung to.

And yet—

"That day... you appeared."

You came like a star.

To a dawn that had never been allowed even a sliver of light.

For the first time, you brought the morning.

—"I will give you a miracle."

—"I can promise you everything."

—"The hope you were forced to abandon, I will fulfill it for you."

—"All you have to do is take my hand."

A hand extended to her in the abyss.

A whisper that told her she did not have to hurt anymore.

A presence that had waited patiently for her to accept it, never once showing frustration, no matter how much she despaired.

Because of him, she had held on instead of falling.

Because of him, her world had found the morning.

She had broken through that endless night.

"Thank you."