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Chapter 4

Author: Dottie
When I woke again, the royal physician's instructions rang in my ears.

From that day on, everyone treated me so carefully it was almost frightening.

Father could not relax. He even moved to the outer chamber of my room so he could work nearby.

Mother brewed medicine and fed me by hand. At night, she slept on the narrow couch beside my bed and woke at the slightest movement.

Even Vivienne, who had been far away at the front, traveled day and night to return.

When Helena passed by, Vivienne was feeding me medicine.

Seeing this, Helena stopped and sneered.

"Elias, you went to so much trouble just to drive Cedric out of the palace, didn't you?

"It must have been hard putting on this show. You may not be tired of pretending, but I'm tired of watching."

Vivienne's hand shook. Scalding medicine splashed all over my face.

But I acted as if I had heard nothing. I still opened my mouth mechanically and swallowed.

"Stop drinking." Vivienne looked at me like this and suddenly grew angry.

She threw the bowl down so hard it shattered.

"Putting on this dead, hopeless look, are you deliberately throwing a tantrum at us?"

Seeing me say nothing, she stared hard at my face. Her eyes churned with emotion.

After a long while, she suddenly grabbed my collar and bent down to kiss me.

Her face, suddenly close before my eyes, made my breath stop.

The memories of the past tore through my mind. My whole body began to shake.

When Vivienne noticed something was wrong and looked down, I was stiffly forcing a smile at her while ripping at my own clothes like a madman.

Her movements froze. Her face went deathly white.

Before she could speak, the palace maids' hushed whispers came from outside the door.

"Did you hear? Lord Cedric's old injury flared up because Crown Prince Elias frightened him with that scene that day. He vomited so much blood..."

"No wonder Crown Prince Elias has been acting like this since he came back. So he was waiting for this..."

Vivienne's body paused. Her eyes cooled little by little.

"Elias, so this was your goal? You went to all this trouble pretending to be mad and stupid just to scare Cedric into sickness?"

Her voice rose gradually, and her eyes reddened.

"I rushed all the way back for you. How could you do this to me? How could you do this to everyone who was worried about you?

"Not only do you need to apologize to Cedric, you need to apologize to all of us!"

She reached out to drag me up.

But my knees weakened, and I dropped directly onto the shattered porcelain on the floor.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'll apologize..."

I used the shards of porcelain to slash my skin, and blood ran down my whole face.

As if I could not feel pain, I only muttered those words.

Vivienne's pupils contracted. She grabbed my shoulders and hauled me up, her voice trembling.

"Elias, are you insane? You're the crown prince! Are you really going to do whatever people tell you to do?"

I lifted my numb eyes to her and nodded.

"I'll listen to all of you. Whatever you tell me to do, I'll do it..."

Vivienne's face went completely rigid.

Her chest rose and fell, and emotions surged violently in her eyes.

A moment later, she swept everything off the table and roared in fury.

"Fine! Fine! You're obedient! You're so obedient!

"If I tell you to die right now, why don't you go die?"

The moment the words left her mouth, the room fell silent.

On the transparent panel floating in the air, the number began to flicker.

99, 100, 99, 100...

The System's countdown to departure sounded in my ear.

Hearing that long-lost electronic voice, I finally regained a thread of awareness.

"...All right. I'll listen to you. I'll go die."

"Elias, that isn't what I meant..."

Vivienne did not finish speaking. Her voice stopped abruptly.

Under her stunned, widening eyes, I grabbed the largest shard of porcelain on the floor and drove it through my throat without hesitation.

Blood sprayed out.

At that exact moment, Father and Mother pushed open the door with a rare medicinal herb sent as tribute by a neighboring kingdom.

The smiles on their faces had not yet faded before they froze in place.

"Elias!"

They stood stunned for one breath, then screamed and threw themselves toward me.

Only Vivienne remained where she was, pale as paper.

She stared at the blood covering the floor, staggered two steps back, and collapsed onto the ground.
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  • He Did Exactly What They Said   Chapter 8

    Helena looked at those eyes that never closed, and she finally could no longer hold herself up. Her legs weakened, and she dropped to her knees.At that moment, a commotion sounded outside the door.Vivienne had heard the news from somewhere and stumbled in.The injuries on her body had not healed. She limped as she walked, and there was no color in her face.The moment she entered, she saw Cedric's corpse on the floor.Her eyes swept over that ruined, unrecognizable face with complicated emotion, but she did not pause.Only when she saw the decree Father was writing and noticed her name in the list of those condemned to die did her steps falter.After a long silence, she threw herself in front of Father and knelt with a thud."Your Majesty, please let me be buried with Elias."I am his wife. In life we shared a bed, in death we should share a grave. We promised each other..."Before she could finish, a document was thrown into her face.Vivienne picked it up, and her pupils

  • He Did Exactly What They Said   Chapter 7

    On the day of my funeral, the men Father sent out finally caught the beggars from the slums.In fact, as early as my third failed attempt to destroy myself, the royal physician had reported in fear that my condition was not physical weakness, but sickness of the heart.He said my self-destructive tendencies were so severe that I must have experienced something terrifying to become this numb and obedient.Helena had sneered at the time.She said those beggars had all been paid off, that they would not even short me on food and water. To me, it was nothing more than moving somewhere else to keep being crown prince.She also advised Father and Mother not to be fooled by my sympathy ploy. Father and Mother hesitated again and again, and in the end, they believed her.Looking back now, the warning signs had been everywhere, glaringly obvious. But they had refused to see a single one.The Royal Inquisition's punishments were naturally not something ordinary people could withstand.Th

  • He Did Exactly What They Said   Chapter 6

    By the time the royal physicians stumbled and crawled into the room, everything had fallen into chaos.Father pressed hard against the wound on my throat, his hands covered in blood."Hurry! Save him! My Elias..."Mother knelt beside him, already sobbing too hard to speak. She only clutched my hand and called my name again and again.Helena staggered to the bedside and reached out as if she wanted to touch me. Halfway there, her hand shrank back.She looked at the blood all over the bed, her lips trembling for a long time before she forced out one sentence."Impossible... impossible..."Vivienne was stopped outside the door by the guards and tried to rush in like a madwoman."Let me in! Let me in! Elias! Please, let me go in and see him!"When Father heard the commotion, he whipped his head around. His eyes were bloodshot.He strode to the door and kicked Vivienne hard in the shoulder."You still have the face to see him? Guards, beat her!"The guards swarmed forward, pinne

  • He Did Exactly What They Said   Chapter 5

    Father caught me, pressing trembling hands hard against the wound on my throat. Even his voice changed."Physicians! Hurry and call the physicians! It'll be all right. It'll be all right. My Elias will be all right..."But blood kept seeping through his fingers. No matter what he did, it would not stop.Mother knelt on my other side, tears falling in large drops onto my face.She suddenly turned her head and stared at Vivienne. Her voice was sharp enough to break."What did you do to my Elias? What did you do to him? He finally came back to life..."Before she could finish, she was sobbing too hard to speak.Vivienne stood where she was, her face white as paper.It was as if all the strength had been drained from her. She only stared at me covered in blood and kept trying to move closer."Elias... Elias, I..."She muttered incoherently, lunging toward me again and again, only to be held back by the guards every time.Helena also rushed in. When she saw the scene, she froze i

  • He Did Exactly What They Said   Chapter 4

    When I woke again, the royal physician's instructions rang in my ears.From that day on, everyone treated me so carefully it was almost frightening.Father could not relax. He even moved to the outer chamber of my room so he could work nearby.Mother brewed medicine and fed me by hand. At night, she slept on the narrow couch beside my bed and woke at the slightest movement.Even Vivienne, who had been far away at the front, traveled day and night to return.When Helena passed by, Vivienne was feeding me medicine.Seeing this, Helena stopped and sneered."Elias, you went to so much trouble just to drive Cedric out of the palace, didn't you?"It must have been hard putting on this show. You may not be tired of pretending, but I'm tired of watching."Vivienne's hand shook. Scalding medicine splashed all over my face.But I acted as if I had heard nothing. I still opened my mouth mechanically and swallowed."Stop drinking." Vivienne looked at me like this and suddenly grew angry

  • He Did Exactly What They Said   Chapter 3

    Mother's tears struck my face and dragged my memories back to the past.I had once believed I was the luckiest person in the world.I had a father and mother who loved me, an elder sister who protected me, and a princess consort, Vivienne Calder, who loved me as deeply as I loved her.So when the number on the panel reached 60, I chose to stay without hesitation.But after Cedric entered the palace, everything changed.Whenever my parents passed by, he would suddenly drop to his knees and prostrate himself before me.Whenever Helena approached, he would throw himself into the water and claim I had pushed him.At first, Father and Mother would still speak for me, and Helena would still come forward to explain.But as time passed, all of them began to look at me with an indescribable suspicion.Until the final time.To frame me, Cedric knelt under the blazing sun in the royal garden for twelve full hours, until he fainted.When Father and Mother arrived, his face was pale and

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