Dietrich's pale face was drenched in sweat as he struggled to catch his breath.
“…”
He sat on the bed, staring blankly for a moment before running his trembling hands over his sweat-soaked face in a desperate attempt to steady himself.
Ella wasn't lying when she said that Dietrich was sick and had taken medicine before bed.
[“I went to the garden to get some fresh air, but Lord Noah stopped me. We were chatting when… Prince Attar appeared and chased him away.”]
On that very day.
From the moment Preseppe chose the bugged option, Dietrich was plagued by memories that did not belong to him.
Will Dietrich finally be able to regain all his memories from previous episodes? It appears that Precipe's prediction has come true.
“…Huh.”
With a face that had become noticeably pale in recent days, Dietrich let out a heavy sigh.
At first, he thought it was just fatigue, or his body's reaction to accumulated fatigue. But he rejected this and considered it merely a temporary case of ill health.
But the memories of previous episodes refused to leave him in peace.
And it was not limited to the end that he shared with Presipe.
All the deaths and suffering that Precipe endured as he pursued his course unfolded in vivid detail in his mind, as if engraved there.
Even when he was taking strong medication and sleeping, those memories would invade his dreams. When he woke up, she was still there, chasing him.
In those memories, Presippi was endlessly hurt and killed – all because of him.
Sometimes, he killed her with his own hands.
“I've never done such a thing...”
Dietrich muttered weakly, his voice barely audible.
“I...I will not...accept that...accept...”
But every time he tried to anchor himself in that belief, a dark and complex thought would emerge from the deepest part of his mind, like a snake, whispering questions that shook his resolve.
Do you really believe that?
“Haven't you been suppressing what you really wanted to do all along?”
Isn't this your true nature?
“No...no, it's not...”
The pale moonlight illuminated Dietrich's pale face, casting deep shadows of anxiety on his features.
“Precipie…”
He whispered her name carefully, as if testing it on his tongue, and began sifting through his memories of her.
But the moment was fleeting.
Once again, new and unfamiliar memories flooded his mind – things he had never experienced before.
However, even amidst this constant stream of memories, there was one scene that stood out and repeated in his mind:
[I have never abandoned you, Your Majesty. Not when I was a kid, not now, and not in the future…]
Precipe's trembling voice, full of sincerity, echoed in his ears.
The new memories were too painful to accept as real. However, it was also unlikely to be dismissed as false or hallucinatory.
That moment continually hurt him, leaving Dietrich trapped in a vicious cycle of self-destruction.
“Are you really crazy?”
Finally, as he looked at the blankness in his mind, Dietrich found himself asking the question out loud.
“Your Majesty...”
A low voice from his guard pulled him out of his thoughts. Dietrich closed his eyes tightly before opening them again, trying to concentrate.
He spent the entire night struggling with the memories, then collapsed into a deep, drugged sleep by morning. And now it was evening, and he had literally wasted a whole day. There is no doubt that there are urgent matters that need to be taken care of.
He had to pull himself together. He ran his hand over his face again and issued a short command.
“Come in.”
“Your Majesty, are you feeling better?”
The guard entered quickly, concern evident in his expression.
Dietrich nodded lightly in response, his voice hoarse as he asked, “What’s wrong?”
"…"
"to talk."
“There was a commotion in the church this afternoon.”
“Church?”
Dietrich frowned slightly upon hearing this unexpected word.
“Someone has destroyed a sacred statue,” the guard continued.
But what followed was even stranger.
“The first person to witness it...was Mrs. Precipe.”
Dietrich's facial expression instantly turned cold.
"What did you just say? Was Prisippi in church?"
“It was said that she went to pray for Your Majesty’s health. The incident occurred shortly after her arrival.”
“…”
"She and her maid Ella claimed to have seen someone suspicious at the scene. Lord Fenric mentioned that he had something to report about the matter, but decided to come back later while you were resting."
Suspicious individual?
In the imperial palace?
“Precipie…”
The first thing Dietrich asked wasn't about her safety.
“Does she have any connection to this suspicious person?”
“No, Your Majesty, there was no such suggestion.”
Dietrich bit his lips hard.
Perhaps she was preparing, as before, to discard me like an old shoe and leave. Perhaps the smashing of the church statue was just a distraction, and her attempt to escape during the turmoil failed...
[I have never abandoned you, Your Majesty. Not when I was a kid, not now, and not in the future…]
Dietrich could not understand why this dream scene appeared in his mind at that moment.
“And...this letter also arrived...”
The guard was holding a carefully folded letter in his hands.
But this letter was different from the letters Dietrich usually received. It did not bear any badges indicating the sender's rank or family, nor even a name identifying him.
“Chief Magician Ivan checked it first and found no trace of magic.”
It was customary for Ivan to examine all letters and items sent to the Emperor. Although he could not read the contents of the letter, he was sure that it was not cursed or enchanted with black magic. Not that Ivan particularly enjoyed the task, of course.
“Hand it over.”
Dietrich took the letter and pressed his throbbing temples to ease the growing headache. Then he opened the letter and began to read it slowly.
“…”
As he absorbed the contents, Dietrich's face grew colder, like frost on a harsh winter's day.
“Your Majesty...? Is something going on...?”
The guard's worried voice reached him, but Dietrich did not hear him.
The only thing that filled his vision was the sarcastic text on the paper.
The message was brief.
She made fun of the late Empress - Dietrich's mother - who had died long ago. She also revealed a secret of Dietrich that no one knew except Precipe.
The short but cutting words were more than enough to arouse doubts in Dietrich's mind about Preseppe.
As always, it was all too easy for doubts to take root.
“…”
The sound of teeth grinding came through Dietrich's tightly clenched jaw.
This marked the beginning of the second fixed event in the story of Prisippi in the Cage – the moment Prisippi was falsely accused and imprisoned in the ice prison.
***
“Mrs. Presby.”
“….”
“Ms. Presby, you have to wake up. Please, hurry.”
Finally her heavy eyelids opened.
“His Majesty has summoned you, you must go immediately.”
Ah, so the cursed event has begun again.
Once again, she will be dragged before Dietrich, claim her innocence to no avail, and eventually be thrown into the ice prison.
How many times has this incident been repeated? I lost count. It was so disgusting.
She had hoped that the glitchy option had disrupted the cycle, but it seemed that fixed events were inevitable after all.
With a sigh, Prisippi rose from her bed – only to frown in confusion.
The maid who woke her was not Ella.
This has never happened before.
“Where is Ella?”
“She hasn't been seen since yesterday afternoon. No one knows where she went...”
[“I still have work at the palace,”] Fenric said before they parted.
[“About that maid, Ella…”]
“Anyway, you should hurry up and get ready. Let me help you.”
No matter what thoughts were racing through Prisippi's mind, the maid was too busy preparing her clothes to notice.
Will the incident at the church make things worse this time? Could there be anything worse than an ice prison?
With a troubled sigh, Precipe allowed herself to prepare, and, at the maid's urging, reluctantly left the tower.
She had no idea what awaited her.