Second Life, I’m Dying Soon Chapter 83

Chapter 83

 

Alexis covered his mouth as he stared into the fiercely burning logs.

 

Raspberries, plums—Cecil kept bringing up food, and it made a laugh slip out despite him.

 

Yet Cecil himself seemed utterly serious, forcing Alexis to press down the corners of his rising lips with his fingertips.

 

In the end, he pushed himself up from where he had been lounging. Leaving Cecil behind, Alexis exited the room and headed straight for the first-floor kitchen. It was late enough that he doubted anyone would still be there, but fortunately, he ran into a maid who was finishing up.

 

“Your Highness! What brings you all the way here?!”

 

The elderly maid, startled by the sudden appearance of the Crown Prince—someone she rarely even caught a glimpse of—came hurrying over, fearing some grave emergency.

 

“…By any chance.”

 

Alexis rolled his tongue briefly inside his mouth before speaking.

 

“Do you have any plums?”

 

“Plums?”

 

“Wild raspberries or raspberries would be fine too. No—any fruit at all will do.”

 

“I’m terribly sorry, but fruit—”

 

The maid looked flustered by the unexpected request. As the one responsible for feeding the guards, she had a firm grasp of most ingredients, but what was primarily consumed here was vegetables and meat.

 

Still, it was the Crown Prince’s request. Even if it didn’t exist, she had to produce something. As she hesitated, a flash of inspiration struck.

 

“Oh! We do have apricots preserved in sugar!”

 

“That’ll do. Could you bring me some of that?”

 

“Of course! Please wait just a moment.”

 

The maid hurried off to rummage through the kitchen cupboards. Soon, she returned with a small glass jar filled with sugared apricots and a tiny teaspoon, handing them to the Crown Prince.

 

“They’ve been preserved with sugar and lemon juice. The flavor should be just right at this point.”

 

“Thank you. He’ll like it.”

 

So pleased was Alexis that his eyes softened as he smiled. Faced with such a rare and captivating expression, the maid bowed repeatedly, overwhelmed.

 

His steps felt impossibly light as he headed back. Just imagining the reaction Cecil would have upon seeing this filled him with anticipation.

 

“I really am hopeless.”

 

Even as he reproached himself, Alexis took the stairs two at a time, quickening his pace.

 

The wooden door creaked open—but there was no sound from inside.

 

Entering the room, Alexis found Cecil nodding off in front of the fireplace. Setting the apricot preserves down on the table, he strode over.

 

He lifted the sleeping Cecil and laid him on the bed. He gave him the only pillow without hesitation and pulled the blanket up to his chest.

 

Cecil didn’t stir even once while being tended to, apparently fast asleep. Looking down at his peaceful face, Alexis let out a hollow laugh.

 

After extinguishing all the candles that lit the room, he lay down as well.

 

The bed was reasonably large, but tight for two grown men, forcing him to shift and twist to find a position. It was, in fact, the first time in his life he had ever shared a bed with someone.

 

Rather than uncomfortable, it felt oddly cozy. Even he found that strange. Was it because the other person was Cecil? If so, that in itself was a problem.

 

Using his arm as a pillow, Alexis stared up at the ceiling. The unfamiliarity of it all wasn’t unpleasant. It felt as though he might have a sweet dream, and with that thought, he closed his eyes.

 

‘Unforgivable! He must be sent to the Execution without fail!’

 

‘To execute a member of the imperial family is unthinkable! Under imperial law, he must be granted immunity—!’

 

‘What immunity could possibly apply to someone guilty of treason?!’

 

Shouts erupted from all sides. Amid pointing fingers and furious voices, Alexis sat in the seat of honor, staring straight ahead.

 

Across from him sat Empress Elizabeth, maintaining the same silence. Her serpent-like eyes were narrowed as she glared at him.

 

Alexis closed his eyes and let out a long breath. This loathsome debate could not continue forever. It was time to decide.

 

‘I will exile Cecil Adrian from the Empire. At dawn tomorrow, he will be sent into the Black Forest. You will inform me of your votes for or against. This concludes the matter.’

 

‘Exile?! I will never accept this!’

 

The Empress sprang from her chair, screaming nearly hysterically. Her bloodshot eyes bore into Alexis, but he did not so much as blink.

 

Sending Cecil to the Black Forest was, to Alexis, the best possible decision.

 

Dying beneath the executioner’s blade would be too easy. The image of Cecil’s severed head rolling across the scaffold was not one he wished to imagine.

 

Cecil Adrian must not die before paying the full price of his sins. Watching him suffer endlessly, begging for his life, would be far more fitting.

 

Would there ever come a day when Cecil knelt and begged for forgiveness? Recalling how he had never once opened his mouth even under brutal torture, Alexis found it difficult to imagine. He was a stubborn man to the extreme.

 

After exiling him to the Black Forest, Alexis intended to secretly order the nearby guard unit to monitor his condition.

 

Once Cecil had spent a few days teetering between life and death, even that selfish, brazen temperament of his would surely be dulled. Then, Alexis planned to meet him privately once more.

 

Before long, the Council of Elders reached a consensus in favor. A report came in that the Empress had collapsed from shock, but that was none of his concern.

 

Less than five hours remained before Cecil’s exile.

 

Alexis summoned Claude and ordered him to inform the prisoner of the decision. When Yuria arrived, saying she wished to speak with Cecil, Alexis handed over his treasured sword, adding that it was the last kindness he would grant Cecil.

 

Criminal or not, at the very least, Cecil should have a weapon to defend himself. Being cast into the Black Forest unarmed and having a dagger in hand were worlds apart, even psychologically. He hoped—at least—that Cecil would endure without losing his sanity.

 

‘……’

 

A moment of confusion washed over him. Was he worrying about Cecil—or hoping for his misery? Even Alexis couldn’t tell. It was certainly different from how he treated ordinary criminals, but he shook his head and forced himself to ignore it.

 

With all decisions regarding Cecil’s punishment finalized, Alexis set aside everything else and headed straight for the underground prison.

 

It was the dead of night. Already dark, the deeper parts of the dungeon radiated nothing but despair and isolation. Flickering torches lit Alexis’s path as the guards straightened and saluted the Crown Prince.

 

Cecil’s cell lay at the very back. As Alexis drew closer, an ominous sound reached his ears. He quickened his pace—and upon reaching the bars, he was met with a sight he had never anticipated.

 

Cecil’s face, bathed in moonlight, was as pale as a corpse.

 

His body slumped weakly against the wall, drenched in blood, with no uninjured spot to be found. He had been perfectly fine just that afternoon. He should not have been reduced to this—on the brink of death—in a single moment.

 

Sensing his presence, Claude turned around. His own hands were stained with blood, as though he had tried desperately to manage the situation.

 

Alexis rushed forward and took the spot where Claude had been kneeling. He drove his knees into the filthy sludge without hesitation and pressed hard against Cecil’s wounds with his own hands.

 

‘What happened.’

 

His voice was squeezed out. His teeth ground together on their own. The bleeding was beyond any level that could be stopped. He couldn’t believe so much blood could flow from such a thin body.

 

‘I’m sorry, Your Highness. I couldn’t stop him in time.’

 

As though confessing his sin, Claude placed the bloodstained dagger at Alexis’s feet. He didn’t need to look to know—Cecil had tried to kill himself with the blade Alexis had given him.

 

‘Open your eyes. Cecil!’

 

Alexis pressed down even harder on Cecil’s chest. He knew there was no hope—but he couldn’t let him go like this.

 

‘Don’t run away like a coward. You think you can die peacefully like this?’

 

His shout thundered through the dungeon. Rage surged uncontrollably. Alexis grabbed Cecil by the shoulders and shook him—but the frail body merely swayed like a rag doll.

 

The tightly shut eyelids finally fluttered open. The moment those clouded eyes appeared, Alexis seized Cecil’s small chin roughly and forced their gazes to meet.

 

A faint smile spread across his ashen face. Countless emotions flickered through Cecil’s eyes—too many to name.

 

To Alexis, it looked like relief. Cecil was trying to flee to the side of the gods, leaving him behind. It was exactly the sort of thing Cecil Adrian—always selfish and willful—would do.

 

‘You—until the very end!’

 

Alexis spat out his fury.

 

Detestable. Disgusting. Resentful. He hated Cecil enough to kill him—yet he never wanted him to die.

 

Cecil weakly reached out. His chest rose and fell as though even breathing were a struggle, then gradually, his breaths slowed. The eyes that had always looked down on others with arrogance lost their focus.

 

The hand dropped limply to the floor with a dull thud, as though signaling something final. Alexis pulled Cecil into his arms.

 

‘Your Highness!’

 

Claude tried to stop him, but Alexis couldn’t let go of the body growing cold.

 

‘No—this isn’t how you die. I haven’t forgiven you yet. You’re supposed to live, atoning to me for the rest of your life. Without my permission—how dare you.’

 

Alexis muttered to himself. Something tangled and knotted tightened around his heart. He loathed Cecil like an enemy, yet was irresistibly drawn to him. The feelings he had refused to acknowledge now had nowhere to go and came bursting forth.

 

His eyes flew open.

 

Alexis jerked upright, gasping. His heart still ached, throbbing painfully.

 

He swallowed the hot lump lodged in his throat. When he rubbed his face, his cheeks were wet with sweat and tears. What kind of nightmare could make him cry like that?