The Land Of Thorns
Awakening from the illusion of part 2

“Listen, you shouldn't teach little kids such a thing!”

Seen in the room, room, Edgar was advising the waitress and the little boy who were sitting in front of him to apologize for feeling guilty for behaving inappropriately in his room and yelling in shock at thinking he was a monster.

Edgar sighed, and stopped his chatter from seeing those who were getting scared would get punished. Edgar tried to change the subject.

“Ahem. So what's your name?”

“A-I'm Lilia da-and this is my sister Celine.”

Fear made Lilia sound stammered - the brick introduced her. When Edgar watched Lilia and Celine carefully he realized that they both had similarities aside from their same hair - the same golden color, he said, they have tiny lips and eyes that are blue like sapphires.

‘This woman, is she the same age as me.’

Looking from his body Edgar thought Lilia was the same age as him at this time and his sister Celine was 7 years old more or less, Edgar saw that the two of them were still afraid of getting punished.

‘Why the kid? Does he believe I'll eat it.’

but Edgar's sense of the way Celine glanced at him repeatedly made him think he was still frightened by something else.

“Just calm I won't punish you.”

“And I won't eat you.., Celine.”.

Edgar gave his statement, saying it's good to straighten out his fears sometimes young children will swallow raw - raw horror stories just because adults forbid them from doing anything bad. He did not want himself to be a nightmare because Celine who was still repeatedly glancing at him, it made Edgar try stroking Celine's head to calm him down.

“Really?”

Celine looks so innocent and looks so trying by holding back her cries and fear expression looking at Edgar, her eyes look glazed - glazed makes Edgar stunned.

‘This child is so cute. like a doll!’

Edgar was touched to see a cute plain little girl, like a grandfather who saw his granddaughter feel unable to bear to spoil her.

Cruup!

Cruup!

Edgar unknowingly pinched gently both of Celine's cheeks and played it gently. Edgar stopped what he was doing and saw that his hands did not expect to do so.

“Ah, sorry it looks like I'm hypnotized.”

Celine stroked her cheeks that were a little sore from the pinch, she looked at Lilia and looked back at Edgar in surprise. Because he thinks that the person who behaves like that to him is a good person, like his parents, other workers in this big house or Lilia who plays with him every day.

“Uncle is uncle really a prince?”

His face was radiated with curiosity seeing Edgar as it was unlike anything imagined when Lilia frightened him with the story of the prince who was about to eat him.

“Why still ask? Of course I'm a prince, my name is Edgar Von Rosenberg.”

The thin body of the crumb tried to pose gallantly but looked so tickling. The thing that Edgar did made Lilia chuckle at the sight of someone from the royal family acting like that which made her fear of Edgar slowly disappear.

“...”

“Does it look so weird?”

They were seen nodding his head confirming that he was acting quite tickling the stomach, but Edgar felt no pain but rather he looked relieved to see they had looked so relaxed interacting with him.

“Forcible servant prince, supposedly a rumor is not to be believed,”

“What do you mean?”

Edgar was astonished to see Lilia bow her head and suddenly said like that let alone see Lilia steal - steal a glance trying to see her, he felt clueless as to what kind of rumors carried his name.

“A rumor that the prince carried a curse that destroyed the land, and when you woke up from the coma it was just an empty body possessed by the devil.”

Edgar was silent about processing what Lilia said, because he thought the state of this country looked good - fine, there was no way a person who was asleep could make the country instantly destroyed.

‘Ha! Doesn't that rumor sound silly?’

If he thought well - well the rumor even made a child like Celine cry to see it, if adults maybe they would tremble in fear like Lilia earlier, just like Lilia, but he could not imagine the little boy who arrived - suddenly crying when he saw himself, let alone the devil that would only make himself like a kidnapper.

‘Wait, what makes me fall asleep in a coma?’

‘It wasn't that long ago because I was poisoned’

Edgar seemed to be thinking, his mind was processing the information that went into his head, the last thing he remembered before waking up from his sleep that he was at his desk talking to his bodyguards and assistants that night, but at this moment he woke up in his old room with a face that looked so young.

“arhh!”

When Edgar tried to pinch himself he felt the pain so real, even the sensation in his hands that he felt when touching celine's cheeks, it looked real but he couldn't say that what he remembered when he became a king was a dream, the cries of the people at the festival as well as the distant memories of her being small to old she still remembered them, even vividly recalling the taste of the tea she drank before she fainted that night. He felt his head hurt.

“Prince! Are you okay, Prince?”

Lilia's cry was alarmed, seeing Edgar falling to the floor, because her mind was so full of information, she said, which makes his current weak body unable to withstand the headache of his mind thinking about it.

Lilia helped Edgar stand up and put him back on the bed, She checked his weak lying state, she felt his body temperature so hot with his face looking increasingly pale.

“I'll call the doctor. Celine, please accompany the Prince.”

Lilia rushed out of the room. Edgar saw Celine's confused face as to how and did not know what to do, all she saw was Celine just looking at herself with a confused face and holding her wrist like a child who did not want to lose her doll, it looked so cute, she said, but Edgar felt limp to speak and preferred to close his eyes for a moment.

***

“Are you sure Prince Edgar is awake?”

“I'm very sure, before he had a chance to talk to us and not long ago his face looks pale, then my sister said not long that he was asleep.”

The doctor asked Lilia to make sure that when the doctor was examining Edgar's condition lying unconscious, the doctor was seen sprinkling the drug powder into Edgar's mouth,

“Maybe he is just exhausted because his body is lacking in intake, prepare immediately food for the prince.”

The doctor went out of the room together with Lilia leaving Celine who was still in the same position before Edgar fell asleep.

“What do you do Celine?”

Edgar looks confused to see Celine because from earlier the ladder is still holding her from she fell asleep to wake up again to see Celine is still in the same position.

“Me-me-keeping Prince!”

Celine's reply was brief with a slightly nervous tone, her eyes looking tense so awake not blinking at all, Edgar was astonished with her acting like that.

Edgar felt a little more energetic than before, not knowing why but he found it not so difficult when he tried to wake him up to sit on the bed.

‘It looks like this is the reality that I have to live.’

Crossing his mind as he looked back at the room room room, he thought maybe he would wake up at his desk looking at the worried face of his Guards and Assistant. However it did not seem to be the case, as he only saw the tensed face of a small child.

Edgar let go of Celine's grasp, smilingly stroking her little head in order to thank her, so that she did not feel worried again.

Smelled so good that when Lilia returned to the room with food in the form of meat soup and bread that was still warm, Edgar ate it on the bed with a small table that Lilia prepared, From there Edgar seemed to realize that he was a sick patient, he refused when Lilia helped bribe him because it would be a little embarrassing for him, he slowly swallowed the food into his body.

“Actually how long have I been in a coma Lilia?”

“It looks like about thirteen years Prince.”

Hearing him made Edgar dumbfounded to pause the mouthful that was about to enter his mouth, his face seemed to look not so trusting, but if he saw his current situation made him able to accept it easily.

Because his surprised face did not believe Lilia explained to him during her coma Lilia sprinkled medicinal powder into her mouth every day which served as a substitute for body intake because Edgar could not swallow food at the moment commas.

‘So he's in charge of taking care of me huh.’

‘It looks like he took quite a while to take care of myself.’

Edgar seemed to see Lilia who was quite familiar with his room, especially when he saw them in this room when he just woke up which made a furore earlier, especially when he saw them, they seem to play in this room quite often. The thought of that made edgar remember when he played here with his siblings when he was about the same age as Celine.

“Ah, can you tell my parents and my brother that I am awake, I want to meet them.”

“Ma-sorry Prince, it might be difficult to meet the current King, ta-but if your queen and brother, it seems impossible.”

Edgar felt understood by what Lilia said, let alone seeing her answer it looked so grim that he could not say anything and saw the image of himself reflected from the soup before him.

He recalled that when he was 60 he could not share that happiness with his parents or siblings anymore, Edgar had previously felt the opportunity to meet his family again when he accepted himself living this reality but it seemed that could not happen.

Edgar is aware that his body is so young, but the contents of his memory and consciousness are an old grandfather who contains memories of them, Edgar tries to hold back his sadness even though it looks strange to him, even though it looks strange to him, because in other lives he was not with them, but still, grew old and heard relatives who left him, making him powerless to stem his grief.

Without a word He was seen asking Lilia to clean up her food and asking her to come out of her room with Celine, seeing her being so sad made Lilia feel the sadness she felt, she said, but Lilia was unable to say anything and simply complied with her request to get out of the room.

Edgar felt wrong seeing the woman who had helped him leave the room in a sad state, he recalled something he should have said earlier to Lilia, he said, Edgar tried to smile even though he was sad when Lilia saw him before closing the door.

“Lilia.”

“Thanks for taking care of me that long.”