I GREET THE RADIANT STAR OF LUCIDORIA.
Y-YOU ARE...
HE SEEMS TO KNOW WHO I AM,
BUT WHO IS HE?
UP CLOSE, HE BEARS A RESEMBLANCE TO LORD CASSIUS...
EVEN IF I DO NOT KNOW HIS IDENTITY, ONE THING IS CERTAIN...
I APOLOGIZE, I-I DO NOT QUITE... UNDERSTAND THIS SITUATION...
I KNOW NOTHING OF...
HE WAS HOPING MY SISTER IREMIA WOULD COME.
I HAVE BEEN LOCKED AWAY ALONE FOR SO LONG...
I MUST GO BACK. TO THAT PITCH-BLACK BASEMENT...
...PRINCESS.
IT APPEARS THE TWO OF US HAVE FALLEN INTO A RATHER CRUEL TRAP.
YET CAUGHT IN THE VERY SAME TRAP AS I AM,
I SWEAR I SHALL NEVER PLACE YOU IN HARM'S WAY,
NOR SHALL I LEAVE YOU ALONE IN THE COLD.
...WHY IS HE SAYING SUCH THINGS TO ME?
SURELY, I WAS NOT THE ONE HE WANTED...
...THEREFORE, PLEASE DO NOT BE AFRAID FOR NOW.
WOULD YOU PLACE YOUR TRUST IN ME?
...TRUST HIM...?
THERE WERE THINGS I COULD ONCE DISCERN THROUGH A SINGLE GLANCE.
...YET I CANNOT READ THIS MAN.
BUT IF I DO NOT TRUST HIM, WHAT ELSE CAN I DO?
I HAVE REACHED A DEAD END EITHER WAY.
EVEN IF TRUST BETRAYS ME COUNTLESS TIMES
AND LEAVES ME WOUNDED,
UNLESS I RESIGN MYSELF TO EVERY MOMENT AS AN INESCAPABLE FATE,
I CANNOT ENDURE IT.
BECAUSE EVEN LIKE THIS... I WANT TO LIVE.
FORTUNATELY, HER LIFE IS IN NO IMMEDIATE DANGER,
YET HER OVERALL CONSTITUTION IS EXCEEDINGLY FRAIL.
HER RESPIRATORY TRACT IS IN PARTICULARLY POOR CONDITION... AND HER BREATHING IS UNSTABLE.
AND IF IT IS TRUE THAT SHE WAS CONFINED FOR SO LONG...
SHE LIKELY SUFFERED SEVERE PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS AND TRAUMA.
CAN SHE RECOVER?
ONCE SHE REGAINS CONSCIOUSNESS SAFELY, I SHALL DRAW UP A TREATMENT PLAN.
CONFINED...?
WERE YOU...?
LORD... CAS... SIUS...
...MAY YOUR DREAMS BE PEACEFUL.
...IN THE END, I COLLAPSED...
I THOUGHT I WAS GETTING BETTER...
WHENEVER ANXIETY RUSHES IN, MY BREATH CATCHES
AND IT FEELS AS THOUGH THE WORLD IS COLLAPSING INTO DARKNESS...
HOW STRANGE. WHEN I WAS ACTUALLY CONFINED TO THAT CRAMPED SPACE, I HAD NO SUCH SYMPTOMS...
...I TRULY CANNOT UNDERSTAND MYSELF.
INCAPABLE OF PROPERLY CARING FOR MY OWN BODY,
YET DRIVEN BY THIS WRETCHED INSTINCT THAT CLINGS TO LIFE MORE DESPERATELY THAN DEATH.
IT HAS BEEN SO LONG SINCE I LAST SAW ASHFELL CASTLE...
WHEN I WAS YOUNG, I WAS OFTEN INVITED HERE...
LORD CASSIUS!
WHILE MY ELDER SISTERS ENJOYED THEIR TEA,
LORD CASSIUS WOULD KEEP ME COMPANY WHENEVER I WAS BORED AND LEFT ALONE.
"PRINCESS, CAREFUL, OR YOU'LL FALL!"
IF NOT FOR LORD CASSIUS,
THIS PLACE, WHICH LINGERED IN MY MEMORY AS A RATHER BLEAK LANDSCAPE,
WOULD NOT FEEL SO GENTLE IN THE SPRING.
IT MAKES ME WANT TO RUN OUTSIDE
JUST AS I DID IN MY CHILDHOOD.
BUT WHO IN THE WORLD IS THAT MAN...?
I KNEW LORD CASSIUS HAD A YOUNGER BROTHER.
I HEARD THAT FROM A VERY YOUNG AGE, HE TURNED HIS HEART TOWARD FAITH AND BECAME A MONK.
IF THAT MAN TRULY IS HIS BROTHER, HOW DID HE COME TO INHERIT THE DUKEDOM?
AND WHAT OF THE PORTRAIT OF LORD CASSIUS THAT WAS SENT TO ME?
WHERE IS LORD CASSIUS RIGHT NOW...?
YOUR CONDITION IS HARDLY IDEAL, BUT...
YOU WILL RECOVER SHORTLY.
THE AIR IN ROCHE NOIR IS REMARKABLY CRISP,
AND ABOVE ALL, OUR LOCAL SPECIALTY, ROCHE BALSAM, IS A RENOWNED REMEDY SAID TO SOOTHE EVEN A CHEST BURDENED BY A DISOBEDIENT CHILD.
ONCE YOUR HIGHNESS RECOVERS A BIT, TAKING IN THE BRISK AIR AT 6:00 AM EACH MORNING AND JOGGING THROUGH THE COURTYARDS WILL BE OF GREAT HELP.
...IT IS NOT... CONTAGIOUS, IS IT...?
IS SHE UNFAZED BY A SICK PERSON BECAUSE SHE IS A PHYSICIAN...?
IT IS NOT CONTAGIOUS, SO PLEASE DO NOT WORRY.
EVEN IF IT WERE, MY DUTY IS TO DO EVERY- THING IN MY POWER TO TREAT YOU.
MY NAME IS CORIN. FROM NOW ON, I SHALL TAKE FULL CHARGE OF YOUR HIGHNESS'S HEALTH.
...UM... CORIN, THIS MAY SEEM AN ODD QUESTION TO ASK, BUT...
PLEASE, ASK WHATEVER YOU WISH.
WHO IS THE CURRENT MASTER OF ROCHE NOIR?
THE HEIR I REMEMBER WAS CERTAINLY LORD CASSIUS...
THE CURRENT MASTER OF ROCHE NOIR, DUKE LYSIAN, IS LORD CASSIUS'S YOUNGER BROTHER.
AND LORD CASSIUS...
...WENT MISSING ON THE BATTLEFIELD TWO YEARS AGO.
IN THE AFTERMATH, THE FORMER DUKE'S CHRONIC ILLNESS WORSENED RAPIDLY, BREAKING HIM IN BODY AND SPIRIT,
AND THE CARDONIA EMPIRE NEEDED TO STABILIZE CONTINENTAL UNREST FOLLOWING THE FALL OF THE LUCIDORIA DYNASTY.
THUS, WHILE LORD LYSIAN WAS SERVING AS REGENT,
HE SUCCEEDED TO THE DUCAL TITLE BY IMPERIAL DECREE.
...HOW...
GOOD HEAVENS, HOW COULD THAT HAPPEN...
THIS MARRIAGE IS A FARCE!
WE MUST SEEK AN AUDIENCE WITH HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY IMMEDIATELY AND HAVE THIS MARRIAGE ANNULLED!
I CONSENTED TO THIS MARRIAGE BECAUSE I HAD NO OTHER CHOICE FROM THE START. NOTHING HAS CHANGED.
WE NEEDED PRINCESS IREMIA.
TO SOLIDIFY YOUR GRACE'S POSITION AS DUKE AMIDST SLANDER THAT YOU OUSTED YOUR OWN BROTHER-
I HAVE NO INTENTION OF HOLDING THIS SEAT FOR LONG.
I HAVE TOLD YOU SEVERAL TIMES ALREADY THAT I SHALL STEP DOWN ONCE MY BROTHER RETURNS.
FURTHERMORE, TALK OF RESTORING THE MONARCHY IS ALREADY STIRRING IN LUCIDORIA.
PRINCESS IREMIA IS FIRST IN LINE TO THE THRONE. SHE CANNOT BE WED TO A MERE LORD OF AN AUTONOMOUS DOMAIN.
NEVER ONCE IN HISTORY HAS A FALLEN MONARCHY BEEN RESTORED.
REGARDLESS OF HOW IMMENSE PRINCESS IREMIA'S POPULARITY IS THROUGHOUT THE LAND, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE.
EITHER WAY, UTILIZING EACH OTHER BEFORE DIVORCING WOULD HAVE SERVED US WELL ENOUGH.
YET OF ALL PEOPLE, IT HAD TO BE THAT DELUSIONAL PRINCESS RIEN.
...DELUSIONAL?
IT SEEMS YOU HAVE NOT HEARD OF THE SECRET HISTORY WHISPERED WITHIN THE ROYAL PALACE OF LUCIDORIA-
THE "CURSE OF NEPTUNE".
FOR A THOUSAND YEARS, THE ROYAL LINEAGE OF LUCIDORIA HAS REVERED THE STARS, PASSING DOWN THEIR BLESSING FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION,
YET RUMORS WERE RAMPANT THAT PRINCESS RIEN ALONE WAS BORN UNDER A CURSE RATHER THAN A BLESSING.
THEY SAY SHE WAS LOST IN DELUSIONS, SEEING APPARITIONS AND SPEAKING BIZARRE FALSEHOODS.
MOREOVER, HER TEMPER WAS SO VOLATILE THAT EVEN THE PALACE ATTENDANTS GREW WEARY OF HER.
IN THE END, HAVING BECOME AN OUTCAST SHUNNED BY ALL, SHE SEVERED ALL TIES WITH THE OUTSIDE WORLD,
LIVING IN SECLUSION WHILE IMMERSING HERSELF IN FORBIDDEN TOMES AND DARK ARTS.
AND AS IF THAT WERE NOT ENOUGH...
BLINDED BY JEALOUSY, SHE REPORTEDLY CAST A VILE CURSE UPON HER OWN SISTER, PRINCESS IREMIA.
WHY ON EARTH IS SHE ALREADY WANDERING ABOUT...?
WHAT DO I DO? WHAT DO I DO...?
TO THINK RUMORS ABOUT ME HAD SPREAD ALL THE WAY HERE...
I'M SO MORTIFIED... SO ASHAMED...
WH-WHAT?! WHY IS HE CHASING ME?!
In Clockwork Lovers Chapter Draft 2, Princess Rien faces a great trap when she learns she has married Duke Lysian, his brother, instead of the Lord Cassius she was expecting. As Lysian swears he will not harm her and asks for her trust, Rien decides she wants to live, faints, and upon waking hears from Corin about Cassius's disappearance and the rumors of a curse surrounding him.
