Survival Guide After Accidentally Kissing a Demon - Chapter 359

Chapter 359

His Highness Prince Lance of the Tilisha Kingdom had contracted a mysterious, serious illness. After lying unconscious for a long time, he had finally awakened.

The entire Noble class of Tilisha came to visit him.

Of course, most of them could only stand at the doorway, over ten meters away. With layer upon layer of shimmering, gold-threaded gauze curtains hanging between them, they offered Prince Lance their blessings.

Only members of the Royal Family-the king and princess of Tilisha-were permitted to approach Prince Lance’s bedside.

The young man sat on the enormous bed with a thin velvet quilt covering his lower body. His lowered fringe of red hair had grown somewhat long, falling across the bridge of his prominent nose and casting his pitch-black, ore-like eyes in shadow.

“Your Esteemed Highness, Prince Lance, I have brought you the largest yellow gemstone in the world. May the blazing Light that shines upon Tilisha protect you forever…”

After delivering his blessing from the doorway, the Noble turned and left, making way for the next visitor.

“Your Esteemed Highness, Prince Lance, may…”

“Brother Lance?”

Renee was leaning over the edge of the bed. She had been chattering away for ages without receiving a response, so she puffed out her cheeks in annoyance.

“You’re lost in thought again. What are you thinking about?”

Lance shifted his gaze from the beam of Light filtering through the gauze curtains to Renee’s face.

At that moment, she was staring back at him through a pair of rigid artificial eyes.

“Renee…” Lance began, his voice slightly hoarse. “What happened to your eyes?”

“What happened to you, Brother?”

Renee did not mind him bringing up her eyes, but she grumbled in displeasure, “I lost my eyes at birth. Did you forget even that? You’ve forgotten so much since you got sick…”

“I didn’t forget. It’s just that I remember…”

There should have been a time when she had possessed a beautiful pair of eyes.

Had there?

Lance’s thoughts felt sluggish. Then a throbbing pain began pulsing through his head.

Cold sweat quickly beaded across his forehead, leaving his already pale complexion looking even worse.

“Oh… Brother, a-are you all right?”

Renee immediately noticed how unwell he looked. She hurriedly pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the cold sweat from his brow, saying in a fluster, “The physician is right outside. I’ll have him come in and examine you!”

“There’s no need.”

By the time Lance reached out to stop her, his pained expression had already returned to normal.

…

Something was different. Lance could vaguely sense it.

For example-

He remembered an island that had housed the Noble children of three kingdoms. They had studied magic there, and many things had happened on that island.

He also seemed to have met a girl there…

But Renee insisted they had always received their magic lessons at the palace. They had never attended classes on any island.

As for the Noble and Royal Family members from other kingdoms whom he had mentioned by name, she explained that he knew them only because he eagerly attended the grand balls hosted each year by the Royal Family of other kingdoms.

In short, Renee attributed every discrepancy between his memories and reality to fevered delusions from his illness.

After all, he had been sick for a very long time.
“Brother Lance, stop thinking about it,” Renee urged him. “None of that was real.”

Not real.

All right. It wasn’t real.

Truthfully, life was good now.

The Tilisha Kingdom was stable, his father was in good health, and even Renee had become obedient…

“Renee, I seem to recall you being quite willful before.”

Lance brought it up out of nowhere while they were eating.

“Brother Lance!”

Renee, who was dining with her brother in his room, immediately planted her hands on her hips and raised her voice. But then she remembered that he had only just awakened after a long illness, and quickly lowered it again.

“I just realized that you’re more important to me than anyone else,” Renee said solemnly.

“For example?”

Lance sounded her out.

Renee opened her mouth, but she couldn’t think of anyone.

She felt as if there should have been someone who once occupied the most important place in her heart, someone she had been utterly infatuated with… But who?

Renee’s head suddenly began to ache as well. The harder she tried to remember, the worse the pain became.

But the instant she stopped trying, her entire body relaxed.

So Renee stopped thinking about it.

“Whoever it was, who cares? You and Father are the only two men in the world who matter to me. Everyone else can get in line!” she huffed. “Anyway, obsessing over this won’t do your recovery any good!”

Lance forced a strained smile.

“All right. I won’t think about it anymore…”

…

Once Lance stopped dwelling on it, his health quickly recovered.

After His Highness the Prince recovered, the king of Tilisha chose a cool evening to remove his crown and place it on Lance’s head.

“The kings of Sainthos and Nauze have both passed away, one after the other, and their sons now rule in their stead. This is a world for the young now…”

“So I believe it is time for you to succeed me as king, my dearest son, Lance Fitzgerald. From this day forward, you are the king of Tilisha.”

And so, Lance became the king of Tilisha.

However, before he had been on the throne for long, the Former King began urging him to choose a suitable young woman as his queen.

After that, Lance seldom remained in the palace. Every few days, he would slip outside its walls.

No one knew where the king went or what he was doing.

Renee tried looking for Brother Lance several times, but could never find him. On the few occasions she did catch sight of him, he was always in disguise, sneaking out of the palace.

So Renee seized an opportunity to secretly follow Brother Lance out.

She found him sitting at the busiest crossroads in the royal capital, staring in bewilderment at the streams of people passing by.

Every so often, he would rush after someone and stop them, only to let them go again in disappointment.

Then he noticed her.

“…”

Lance did not seem surprised to see Renee, but tears welled in the narrow, upturned fox-like eyes visible beneath his headscarf.

“I know it sounds absurd, but Renee… I think I’ve forgotten someone.”

Yes, Lance was certain of it.

After recovering from his illness, he seemed to have forgotten someone very important.

It was as though someone had taken a bite from his heart as casually as sampling a pastry.

A helpless emptiness filled him.