There was a part of Seoyeon that secretly harbored romantic notions about the school trip.
Namely, a pillow fight.
In middle school, she had difficulty controlling her strength, so it was banned immediately after doing it once, and in her first year, the grueling trip made all the other students pass out, making it impossible.
'So this year.'
She definitely had to do it.
She made up her mind the day before leaving for the trip.
Above all, doing something like a pillow fight would make it easier to get close to them.
The prejudice or walls they usually held against her would disappear as well.
'Perfect.'
Yes, the plan was perfect.
It was just that the situation flowed completely differently from her expectations.
"I want to join too."
The one who said that was a girl with reddish-gold hair named Mary.
For reference, the one flustered by those words was not Seoyeon, but Jiyeon, who was leading this pillow fight.
'Wait, who is she?'
When asked who she was, she only said, "I'm Mary."
She didn't give any more information, so Jiyeon was merely bewildered.
Even when they asked the teacher, they only received an awkward smile and no proper answer.
'There's definitely something going on.'
In the first place, there was no way an ordinary girl could casually join a school trip.
Normally, if she were an outsider, the teacher would have chased her out or sent her back long ago.
But she couldn't chase her out?
Then there's definitely something.
Besides, she didn't seem to be a person related to Yeonhwa High School either.
"I think I've seen her somewhere..."
Gil Dahyun tilted her head as she looked at the girl who had taken off her sunglasses and mask.
At first, the girl had thoroughly covered her face, but she gradually revealed it before finally taking them off entirely.
As if she had confirmed that no one recognized her.
'What could it be?'
Gil Dahyun fell into thought when looking at Mary, but Jiyeon didn't seem to know even after looking.
'But still, what can you do? You're an outsider.'
She wanted to say that.
What was more annoying was that ever since they returned from the Palace of Versailles today, she had been sticking to Seoyeon's side.
Like a leech.
"Do you know what a pillow fight is?"
Seoyeon asked Mary, looking intrigued.
"Yes."
"Seoyeon, pillow fights exist overseas too."
Mary and Dahyun added in turn.
It seemed Mary was full of enthusiasm to join the pillow fight.
Her eyes were even sparkling, looking quite serious.
'...This isn't right.'
Of course, Jiyeon was very reluctant.
By the time they were high schoolers, students weren't passionate enough to have pillow fights.
But seeing that Seoyeon secretly wanted it, Jiyeon had subtly asked her "gang"(?) to create that atmosphere.
It looked like Seoyeon wanted to get closer to her classmates through this pillow fight.
As someone from a different class, Jiyeon wanted to help indirectly like this.
But!
'A foreign girl who isn't even in the same school, let alone the same class.'
Jiyeon glared at Seoyeon and said.
"Ju Seoyeon, you must be so happy. You're super popular these days, aren't you?"
"? I'm not, though?"
"You really have no sense. Ugh, seriously."
"?"
Seoyeon was puzzled by Jiyeon's unnecessarily prickly words.
She wondered why she was acting like this again.
Anyway.
The pillow fight began like that.
Mary and the other students held the cotton pillows prepared in the lodging with enthusiasm.
Seoyeon also stepped out holding a fluffy, feather-like pillow.
"Ah, what the! Don't swing it so hard!"
"Nope, no such thing. If you don't like it, surrender quietly."
"Kids from the next class are here too!"
Giggles, squeals.
Amidst the lively voices coming from the girls' lodging.
Seoyeon also sneaked in and swung at the student next to her.
Very gently.
"Ah, it's Seoyeon."
"Girls, Seoyeon is here too!"
Ah, this is it.
The students who were hesitant at first soon quietly accepted the pillow attacks pouring down on them.
There was still a hint of unfamiliarity, but it definitely felt like things were improving.
"Take that, take that."
When Seoyeon swung the pillow as softly as possible, the nearby girls giggled.
At that laughter, Seoyeon thought that her suffering in middle school was paying off, but...
"Heh."
Mary, confidently holding a pillow in each hand, smiled as she looked at Seoyeon.
Huh, isn't there a subtle sneer in that?
As Seoyeon looked at Mary in wonder, Mary swung her pillow vigorously.
Her movements were so agile that she looked like a person born for pillow fights.
Wow, she's trying so hard.
She was so enthusiastic, as if she had always wanted to do something like this.
The students who were initially unfamiliar with her because she was an outsider seemed to find it amusing to see the pretty blonde girl trying so hard at the pillow fight.
She quickly blended in and started hanging out with the group.
But since Mary was trying so hard, it felt like the other students were infected by her enthusiasm and played with even more excitement.
'M-me too.'
Seoyeon grew a little anxious.
If Mary, an outsider, could mingle with people so easily, she couldn't lose to her.
What difference was there between Mary and herself anyway?
Oh, maybe I swung it so weakly that it didn't look like I was trying hard?
'Should I swing it a little harder?'
How hard should I do it?
Swish! As she swung the pillow, the end of the pillow popped open.
'Eek.'
For reference, it wasn't because Seoyeon swung it strongly that the cotton burst out of the pillow.
It was purely because the pillow was old and its durability had simply run out.
'Another pillow, is there another pillow?'
Seoyeon hastily searched for another pillow.
Besides the pillows provided by the lodging, there were also pillows the students brought from home, and the one Seoyeon grabbed was one of them.
'Wait, a cervical pillow?'
Feeling it, it was a bit hard, seemingly a cervical pillow filled with buckwheat hulls.
'This one seems quite sturdy.'
Seoyeon thought as she swung it around.
Of course, she had no intention of having a pillow fight with this.
It was someone else's pillow in the first place.
Just as she was thinking of putting it back in its place...
Seoyeon swung the pillow reflexively at the presence she felt from behind.
"Urk."
Perhaps because she swung it reflexively, she put some force into her hand.
Mary, who was lunging at Seoyeon, took a direct hit to the temple from Seoyeon's pillow and collapsed on the spot.
"..."
The students who were excitedly playing all stopped at once.
Huh, did she faint from being hit by a pillow?
Everyone's gazes, containing such thoughts, turned to Seoyeon.
'...I'm screwed.'
Seoyeon felt cold sweat running down her forehead.
Somehow, she felt like the distance between their hearts, which had gotten closer, was widening again.
***
It was a fortune among misfortunes that Mary, who had fainted, quickly got up looking lively.
Thanks to that, the pillow fight, which was about to get a bit rough, concluded safely.
"Seoyeon, you're going to the Viola show looking like that poster image, right?"
In the darkened room of the lodging.
About five girls gathered together, having their last conversation before going to sleep.
"Yeah."
"...I see."
Dahyun said so and looked at Seoyeon with strange eyes.
It was an incredibly subtle reaction, so Seoyeon couldn't help but tilt her head.
"Why?"
"Ah, it's just different from your usual image."
"Right."
"It's definitely a bit different."
Perhaps due to the pillow fight, the other girls in the room also agreed with Dahyun's words.
The person who nodded the hardest was Yeongmi.
Since she was friends with Jiyeon and went to the same middle school, it was bound to be even more so.
"That's true. It's... different from what I thought."
The last person to add a comment was Mary.
At her words, everyone's attention turned to her.
To the reddish-gold-haired girl peeking her head out from under the blanket in the darkness.
"Mary, do you know about Seoyeon?"
"Yes. She's an actress. I saw *Mine*."
At Mary's words, some voices of admiration burst out.
Wow, they said *Mine* was a huge hit, but a foreigner really knows about it.
When they looked at Seoyeon with eyes full of admiration, Seoyeon felt a bit awkward.
Even though Seoyeon liked receiving this kind of attention, something so blatant was a bit much.
Blatant admiration was enough from the part-time workers at the convenience store.
"I guess... she's not a real princess after all."
Mary added in a small voice.
Seoyeon, with her keen hearing, heard Mary's words clearly.
'What does that mean?'
When she looked at her with a questioning gaze, Mary gave a strange smile.
It was like the smile she wore during the pillow fight earlier.
"Although I lost the battle... it's fine as long as I win the war."
Leaving only those words, Mary crawled back inside the blanket like a caterpillar.
At her ambiguous words, everyone exchanged glances and shrugged their shoulders.
It was truly a remark with no context.
However, it didn't take long to understand the meaning of those words.
The next morning.
Dahyun shook Seoyeon, who was still in dreamland, awake.
"S-Seoyeon!"
"Mmm, what?"
"T-There's an article! About you!"
An article? Seoyeon sat up in bed with a neat face.
Actually, even if an article came out, she didn't feel much.
For Seoyeon, articles were now almost an everyday occurrence.
Is it another article about *Mine*?
Or maybe it's related to Viola's Ready-to-Wear, which is coming up soon.
"It's not that! It's a French newspaper... l-look at this!"
"Huh? This is..."
Seoyeon looked at the screen Dahyun held out.
The article that graced the front page of a French newspaper this morning.
It was an internet article posted after someone in Korea found it.
Its title was:
"Korean Actress Subdues Pickpocket Who Assaulted the British Princess!"
"?"
She could understand the meaning of the front and back parts.
It was probably about the incident at the Palace of Versailles.
The problem was the words written in the middle.
British Princess?
"Yeongmi, were you a British princess? Is that why your name is Yeongmi?"
"Seoyeon, get a grip."
Dahyun looked at Seoyeon as if wondering why she would make such a joke.
For reference, Seoyeon was serious, so she felt awkward for no reason.
'But the one who got attacked yesterday was Yeongmi.'
Who else could have been attacked?
The moment that thought crossed her mind.
"Um."
A girl sat up abruptly.
The girl roughly brushed her messy reddish-gold hair with her hand and turned to look this way.
She even cleared her throat with a fair amount of dignity, making it look somewhat plausible.
"I've been found out."
"Found out about what?"
"..."
Mary's eyes narrowed.
She had been expressionless the whole time, but now she looked genuinely upset.
"You saved me."
Mary said that, staring directly at Seoyeon.
Dahyun realized it at those words.
Why this girl looked so familiar.
"Mary, Mary Mountbatten-Windsor! Seoyeon, she's the British Princess!"
Does Dahyun even know the names of the British royal princesses?
Seoyeon looked back at the girl with a small sense of admiration.
'Ah, so that's why.'
She thought she had an innate elegance from the first time she saw her.
Although that image had died down a bit because of yesterday's pillow fight, just looking at her current appearance, she could tell she was different from a normal person.
It wasn't simply about her pretty appearance.
An atmosphere that only someone raised with such a pedigree from birth could possess.
Elegance, a presence that overwhelmed others.
"I am a fan of actress Ju Seoyeon. I like Korean dramas, and I especially liked *Mine*."
Mary said so and stood up, straightening her disheveled clothes.
And then, she slowly approached where Seoyeon was sitting.
"However, that is different from Viola's Ready-to-Wear."
"What do you mean?"
"It means that I will shine the brightest there."
Mary smiled broadly.
Her face was expressionless, and her eyes weren't smiling, but her mouth smiled like a flower.
"I was a little worried. The poster. The new ambassador. She looked a lot like me."
Mary was surprised when she first saw Seoyeon's poster.
Viola's new female model, shot with a handsome male actor.
An appearance that perfectly suited the Korea-themed outfit.
Plus, a graceful atmosphere.
In the video, she overflowed with elegance, just like a princess.
There was a unique atmosphere that could be understood even without knowing the language.
It wasn't the haughty atmosphere that royalty possesses.
It was an atmosphere that gently brushed like a spring breeze, caressing its surroundings.
Naturally, for Mary, who pushed the brand value of "princess," she couldn't help but be nervous.
A fan is a fan, and that was a separate issue from work.
Mary was serious about this modeling job, and she also had pride as a princess.
But a character that overlapped this much.
If she, a real princess, lost to a fake, how embarrassing would that be?
Was the Ju Seoyeon from *Mine* the real one?
Or was the Ju Seoyeon from the poster the real one?
Which one was the act, indeed?
Mary wanted to know that.
And, as a result of observing her for a day, she could roughly tell.
The "princess" was an act.
If so, she would absolutely not lose.
She wasn't going to be beaten by an image simply and temporarily created for a poster.
She was the Royal Family, and the one and only princess of current Britain.
"You are the fake, I am the real."
Mary said so and put on her clothes just as she had when she first arrived.
As if to say she was done now.
"I'm looking forward to the Viola show. Let's meet again then."
Mary said so and decided to head out of the lodging before everyone else got up.
Because once this article became known, it was clear there would be an uproar in the lodging.
And at Mary's words...
'...Is there really that much to compete for at the Viola show?'
Isn't it just about taking a single photo and coming out?
It's not like Seoyeon was going to do some model walk at the fashion show; her role was simply to shine in her seat.
'But.'
That "role to shine in her seat."
Mary would consider that more important than anything else.
She would want to receive the most spotlight out of all the other stars.
As the British princess.
And as a star representing her country.
'Should I consider this as her acknowledging me?'
Probably no one attending this Viola show would have given Seoyeon any interest.
But Mary was thinking of Seoyeon quite seriously.
That she absolutely didn't want to lose.
It was a gaze full of such feelings.
"Are you okay going back alone?"
Seoyeon walked Mary, who was leaving the room, to the entrance.
She gave Seoyeon a strange look as she saw her follow her out.
At Seoyeon's nonchalant attitude, even though she had clearly declared herself an "enemy."
"It's fine. Like I said, the pickpocketing was because I was flustered."
"Is that so?"
Still, isn't it dangerous?
The moment Seoyeon thought that.
A taxi stopped in front of the lodging.
What's that? The moment she looked.
"Hey, Ju Seoyeon!!"
Park Jeongwoo, with half his hair messed up, practically fell out of the taxi as he ran toward her.
It was one of the most disheveled looks Seoyeon had ever seen from Park Jeongwoo.
He ran over, took out his phone from his pocket, and showed Seoyeon an internet article.
"What's this article? A princess again..."
Perhaps because he had come straight to Seoyeon's lodging without even unpacking after arriving in France.
Because he was so distracted, unlike him, he was late to notice the woman standing next to Seoyeon.
Reddish-gold hair.
Amber eyes.
A woman who looked exactly like the girl in the article.
Mary Mountbatten-Windsor.
The sole princess of the British royal family.
She was Viola's British ambassador, but also a global ambassador, not just a local one.
One of the five global ambassadors currently existing for Viola.
A model that could be called the heart of Europe for Viola.
The premium of being a real princess.
Plus, a beauty that matched the princess, which was rare.
The elegance and dignity she possessed.
A being truly born for luxury brands.
"Uh..."
What, is this real?
As Park Jeongwoo looked at Mary with a flustered face.
"Well then, I'll see you both the day after tomorrow."
Mary chuckled and left.
Like that, neither Seoyeon nor Jeongwoo could open their mouths until she completely disappeared.
Because she was a princess who appeared and disappeared like a literal storm.