I Became Crown Prince's Wife
Red camelia tree bag.3

Richard begged everyone to save his mother's life, but no one listened to the little boy. His mother was killed and buried soon after.

Richard could not even see his mother's body. He was locked up in a rundown warehouse in the remote mountains, and only after it was confirmed that he had not contracted "Tancinol", was he allowed to return home.

No one welcomed Richard when he came home after half a year.

Richard went to the library, ignoring the gossip and gazes of the people.

He read a book about 'Tancinol'.

The Roum family was the first to confirm 'Tancinol'. The disease is characterized by a high rate of infection and death. Black spots will appear all over the victim's body and they will have red eyes.

It was also called the Goddess's second curse because it looked similar to Blake's curse. Like the Heir to the Curse in the Imperial family, the Goddess of Light lowered the status of Roum to punish them and curse them with this disease.

Richard learns why his mother can't show signs that he's sick and why he stopped her when she offered to call a doctor for him. If someone heard that Roum was sick, they would instantly kill him even with the slightest suspicion if they had the 'Tancinol' virus'. That's why he has to endure it.

Little Richard gritted his teeth.

He believed his mother had died because of him. But instead of grieving, Richard swore revenge.

Richard read all the books about 'Tancinol' in the library, and became convinced of one fact. Her mother is not sick from 'Tancinol'. His mother's symptoms were completely different from Tancinol's.

He had no dark spots, no change in appearance, and no vomiting of blood as well.but Duke Cassil killed his mother without even confirming it.

Duke Cassil didn't tell him where he buried his mother. Richard didn't ask anymore. He bribed and threatened the servants to find the place himself. His mother was buried in a remote field. Richard planted his mother's favorite red camellia flower in exchange for a tombstone at his burial place.

He promises to avenge his mother, to take everything from Cassil's family and kill them.

Duke Cassil is seeking the throne.

Richard smiled inwardly, pretending to follow Duke's wishes.

'That throne will be mine. I will sit in the highest position in the Empire, and all enemies who hate me will kneel under my feet.'

From that moment on, Richard was very different. An innocent boy, who only wants to rid his mother of the status of a slave, becomes a man with big ambitions and is tarnished by obsession.

***

I looked at Richard as he stood there. The author says that every time he visits his mother's grave, he promises to take revenge against Duke.

Does he still think that way?

I didn't know Richard's thoughts, but I didn't feel any hatred or burning ambition from him when I saw him. He's just a lonely kid. Even the wound on his neck was because he was trying to save his mother from being dragged out.

Richard opened his eyes and we both met.

Richard would usually smile arrogantly and make cheesy comments as soon as he saw me, but now he was looking the other way as if he didn't see me.

He looks a bit lonely with such an appearance, so I can't just leave him alone.

“Melissa, I'll be back after I greet Mr. Cassil.”

"Let's go together."

“Do not. I won't be long.”

I walked alone to Richard. He felt me approaching and turning around again.

"For a long time no see, Mr. Cassil."

“I didn't know I'd meet you here, but I guess I was lucky.”

Richard showed off his trademark smile and acted as if he had never dodged my gaze.

But in contrast to his relaxed smile, his eyes hardened.

“Very beautiful.”

“It was a warning sign. There's a bloody Roum woman buried here.”

I don't think Richard would have said it himself.

It's a secret that Richard's mother is from Roums. Duke Cassil hid it for the honor of his family, and Richard even hid it from his beloved Diana.

He never told it to anyone.

Of course, I knew it was a secret, but I was shocked when he told it in person.

"So you better back off" added Richard.

Maybe he took my silence as an insult. He did not sound surprised in the slightest, as if he already knew that I would react like this.

"Is he someone you know?"

“Not, I just happened to hear it. The woman died of Tancinol.”

I was shocked for a moment, but I don't think he will reveal his past completely.

"What are you doing?"

"I've heard that this is a way to honor the funeral of the Roum family."

The Roum family had been humiliated for a thousand years now. The language used by the Zelcan Empire disappeared and became an ancient language, and new languages replaced it in the new Empire.

Nevertheless, the anger of the people was not resolved and they did not allow their language to be used by Roum. When a Roum dies, they won't get a tombstone. Instead of offering flowers to a tombstone, they tie a handkerchief to a tree or plant a new flower on top of the grave.

“...you do this for a Roum?”

“Is there a reason I can't do it?”

It's not because she's Richard's mother. He had been persecuted all his life for being a Roum and had ultimately died miserably, so I wanted to offer a little consolation to his soul.

"Don't you know what Tancinol is?"

He snaps cynically. The artificial tenderness that had always been present in Richard's voice had completely disappeared.

"I know."

"You're really weird."

“How do we know if it really is Tancinol or not?I heard that there were many instances when a Roum was killed just because of the suspicion that they had Tancinol. Even if it really is Tancinol, there is no leftover left here.”

"The curse of the Goddess can still spread."

“I can't believe it.”

A strong wind blew past and the handkerchief almost missed. As I went to tighten the detached handkerchief, Richard grabbed my hand.

"Are you drunk or do you think you're a saint because you can touch a monster ?!"

He lost his temper and shouted.

He's not mad at me. Just the anger and guilt he's been suppressing since his mother died. Anger that has no place to go.

Richard in 'The Beast and the Lady' was six years older than Blake and Diana who had just grown up. He is very experienced and mature.

Always cold and calculating, never irregular.

I think Richard now has the same personality.

But it's not that.

He was still an immature boy who hid many wounds.

“Yeah, I never thought of myself as a saint.I just don't like unfounded fears.”

"Baseless fear?"

When I lived in Korea, I had a huge scar on my calf. That's what I got from a car accident when I was young. The accident caused my parents to die, so I went to live in my grandmother's house in the countryside.

I don't really care about scars when I wear trousers every day. But then, I became a high school student and had to wear a knee-length skirt as part of my uniform.

"Whatis that? Very disgusting.”

"What is skin disease?"

On the day of my high school entrance ceremony, the children screamed at the sight of my scar, and then suddenly, I became the center of everyone's attention.

The kids hated me and avoided me until the end of the semester.

I think it's because the scar looks ugly. So I told the school about the situation and got permission to wear pants. But even though they couldn't see the scars, they still avoided me.

When I got close to them, they became angry or scared, as if those ugly wounds were going to rub off on them. That day, I realized.

They don't hate me. Instead, they are afraid. They treated me like I was a germ because of that baseless fear.

That's ridiculous.

It may look disgusting, but it's been around for a long time and it's not a contagious skin disease.

But logical persuasion is useless in the face of baseless fears that have taken root in their minds.

The people of this world spoke ill of the 'Heir of the Curse' and called them monsters, and hated the Roum people as people cursed by the Goddess. In the end, I accepted that such feelings were born from their baseless fears.

When the 'Heir of the Curse' died, the curse would be passed on to other members of the Imperial family. And the curse was never transmitted to anyone other than a member of the Imperial family.

Nevertheless, people were still trembling in fear when they saw him. Although the curse has no precedent that was transmitted to others in the past thousand years.

"The curse has been passed on to the heirs."

"I heard that a woman made eye contact with an heir for a while, and then died of sudden illness."

Such unconfirmed rumors spread, and at some point, it became the truth for them.