I Tamed the Monstrous Prince - Chapter 7
Chapter 7
Then, Cesar, who had been visible through the crack just moments before, disappeared. My heart plummeted. Where had he gone?
Suddenly, a splintering crack, and my vision exploded with light.
“Wha…what?” The abrupt shift from darkness to light disoriented me. I couldn’t grasp what had happened. Questions swirled in my mind.
Had the wardrobe door been ripped off? That sturdy wooden door? Ripped off in an instant? How could a human do that?
Stunned, I tried to back away, then immediately realized the absurdity of my attempt.
Fool, idiot, Irenea—a wardrobe? Did I really think this would work? Trapped in this confined space, with nowhere left to retreat after being discovered once.
No matter how much I tried to shrink back, all I felt was the hard surface against my back. My escape route was blocked. A chilling fear crept into my heart. Like a prey animal before a predator, I froze, my body stiffening.
My mother, Annalisa’s, constant refrain echoed in my mind: ‘You have to survive. Survival is strength.’
I had always strived to survive, clinging to those words. And I was doing so now. Therefore, this dagger’s sharp point wouldn’t be directed at me, unlike Giovaneta’s desires.
I gripped the dagger with both hands and extended it forward. Then, in a trembling, broken voice, I cried out, “Stay… stay back!”
My hands shook so violently that I felt I might drop the dagger at any moment. How pathetic I must look, clutching a palm-sized dagger within this half-shattered, crumbling wooden wardrobe.
I wanted to scream. Perhaps, in truth, I already had.
Cesar, however, simply stared blankly at my actions. In the darkness, his face was obscured, only the eerie glow of red phosphorescence visible.
“Stay… back?” His voice, unlike my frantic one, was remarkably calm. He blinked slowly, long lashes fluttering as his red eyes fixed on me.
Blink. And another blink.
In that moment, I had to hold my breath. Something felt wrong.
“D-don’t… come… any closer…” I wasn’t even sure what I was babbling about.
“Closer?”
“Yes, closer…” I couldn’t force out the words, ‘I’ll stab you.’
But Cesar seemed to completely misunderstand my warning to stay away. Instead, he leaned closer, his weight shifting towards me. Then, cautiously, he touched his nose to the dagger in my hand, his nostrils twitching as he sniffed.
A ticklish sensation prickled my fingertips. The feeling in my hand became strange.
I desperately tried to avoid eye contact. The forest keeper had once warned me that meeting the gaze of a wild animal was dangerous.
It seemed like good advice to follow now. So I cast my eyes downwards.
Just then, another chilling silver flash illuminated the darkness.
“Ugh… uh…” His brow furrowed, his eyelids squeezing shut. He covered his ears again.
A tremendous roar followed. A deafening clap of thunder shook the ground, and my very soul.
“Uwaaaah!” He cried out, then quickly curled up, his body trembling. Several more thunderclaps and flashes of lightning followed.
His back arched and shuddered with each echoing boom.
Instinctively, I knew he was terrified. Crawling under the bed, he looked like a frightened animal with its tail between its legs.
And for that reason, I felt a strange surge of pity, of sympathy. It was odd to feel such emotions towards someone called a monster.
But watching him tremble at the sound of thunder, all I could feel was pity.
As that realization dawned, my fear miraculously melted away.
Finding my courage, I slowly unfurled my cramped legs. One step. And another. Slowly, I approached him.
Cesar was still whimpering, huddled in the corner.
Summoning my courage, I decided to call out to him. “…H-hello…”
“Uuuaah…” He recoiled further at the sound of my voice. Was he that sensitive to sound? I cautiously stopped, maintaining a safe distance.
A long silence followed. It was my voice that broke the stillness. “…Are you afraid of thunder?”
“….”
I didn’t know what possessed me to ask such a question. It was something you might ask a five-year-old child, not something imaginable to say to your groom on your wedding night.
But I cleared my throat and spoke again. “It’s okay.”
“….” He didn’t answer. So I repeated the words, “It’s okay,” several times. Perhaps those words of comfort were meant for myself as well.
