Kapitel 29: SHE MISSED HER PARENTS

"After that, the witches of Wemor dragged my parents and me into the main hall of the palace and started punishing us. I don't even know what we did wrong to be punished like that," Princess Ievna ended the story before lowering her head gloomily.

Fourteen years had passed, but when she had to tell the story, the pain in her heart was still the same. It had been fourteen years since she had lived as an orphan, but she still longed for the love of her parents. She still missed her parents.

"Punishment is only their excuse to kill people," Prince Reigen responded after he solemnly listened to the story. "But, did the witches 'punish' your parents by killing them?"

He remained silent as Princess Ievna told the story. Not once did he interrupt the story, and he looked like a little prince who was so eager to hear a fairy tale from his mother.

"Yes," replied the princess in a low voice. "They burned my parents right before my eyes. I couldn't do anything to save my parents."

Prince Reigen was not someone who loved his parents very much. It wasn't that his parents didn't love him, but that he always believed that his parents' love for him wasn't big enough.

Call him greedy, but he thought that the love from his parents wasn't big enough when compared to their love for the Crown Prince.

That was why Prince Reigen didn't really love his parents. He loved himself more than anything in this world, including his parents. Sure, he was a selfish person, but he didn't care.

However, when he heard the story from the red-haired girl, he could feel the girl's sadness and misery. He could feel the girl's great love for her parents, and he could not understand why one person could have such great love for another.

"The witches killed your parents, but you were cursed instead of being killed? Do you know why the witches did that to you?" Prince Reigen asked another question.

Princess Ievna finally looked back at the prince as she replied, "That's because I offended Sharass back then. I acted arrogantly in front of her, and she decided to torture me instead of giving me instant death."

That should have been a surprising answer, but for some reason, Prince Reigen was not surprised by the answer. Somehow he could guess that the silver-eyed girl would act arrogantly in front of Sharass.

He couldn't even tell the difference between arrogance and courage, but he chose the former because he didn't want to praise the princess for her bravery.

"Sharass wanted to torture you instead of giving you an easy death, and that's why she still kept you alive by watering you every day?"

Princess Ievna nodded again to answer the prince's question. Sharass did want to keep her alive. Even if it wasn't always Sharass who came to water her, she knew that the witch intended to keep her alive.

Maybe that was the way used by the cunning witch to torture her. Living as a red rose wasn't really living, and it tormented her mind in the last fourteen years.

"Yesterday you said that you would change into your human form every morning and would only turn into your red rose form at night, right? I don't think that's great torture for you."

Princess Ievna's brows twitched when she heard the prince's arrogant comment. She had lived in misery for fourteen years, but the prince still dared to say that it was not really great torment for her.

"To be honest, I can only return to my human form during the Spring, Your Highness. During the Summer, Autumn, and Winter, I will remain a red rose. Don't you think that would not be a great torment?"

Prince Reigen looked surprised when he heard the princess' next statement. "What? You can only return to your human form during the Spring? So that means you only have four months every year to live in your human form? What kind of curse is that?"

Princess Ievna also didn't know what kind of curse Sharass used. The witch had died, so she could not find an answer from her.

Right. Sharass had died, so she became desperate now. Yesterday she managed to escape death, but she wasn't sure if she would be able to escape again if it came so close to her again. After all, she was now in despair after Sharass died.

"Yes, I can only return to my human form for four months, and I will remain a red rose again for another eight months. Now you know that my life is not easy, right, Your Highness?"

Princess Ievna hated it when she had to act so weakly in front of others, but she would always feel very bad when she recalled her difficult times in the past fourteen years.

Living alone as a red rose, she often felt that her life was meaningless. She never complained because there was nowhere to complain, but since there was currently someone who could listen to her, she couldn't help but complain.

The bedchamber was suddenly engulfed in silence, and the silence was only broken by a knock on the door.

"Are you awake, Your Highness?"

The two creatures in the bedchamber could hear a voice coming from outside the chamber, and they stared at each other in silence. Prince Reigen knew that it was Connad's voice, and he knew why his guard dared to knock on the door.

He usually went to the royal bathing pool a dozen minutes ago, but until now, he still hadn't come out of the room. Maybe the blue-haired guard was worried about him and decided to knock on the door.

"Just wait for me there, Connad. I'll be out in a minute," Prince Reigen shouted at Connad, but his gaze remained on the princess.

Princess Ievna knew that something bad was going to happen, and she was right when the prince once again began to strip naked before her eyes.