[Episode 13] - Unending Questions
A room as dark as pitch.
In the room where light could not properly enter, the only source of illumination was the faint glow seeping through the curtains. Inside that dark room, where dust hung in the air, there existed one large mirror.
A mirror that looked exactly like the large full-length mirror in Vivian’s room. Ripples formed across that large mirror, and the figure of Ainsel bearing Vivian’s face slowly began to appear.
"...There isn't much time left. Soon, 'Vivian' will catch on to you all."
Ainsel spoke to 'someone' in the dust-filled room, but inside the darkness, nothing could be heard save for the swish-swish sound of something moving.
"We've reached the point where I can no longer fulfill the contract. The secrecy will continue, but aside from maintaining the secret, there is nothing more I can do."
Ainsel continued speaking as if annoyed, but 'someone' in the room did not respond at all. Ainsel furrowed her brows, stared at the faint afterimage, and shouted.
"So now...!"
*
After roughly sorting out the Countess's affairs and returning to my room, it was already well past evening. Having changed into fluttery pajamas, I let out a sigh and flopped down onto the bed.
"I'm exhausted..."
It had truly, truly been an exhausting day.
Pretending to be Vivian was already tiring enough to kill me on a normal day, but today I even got angry and slapped someone's cheek. So many things had happened in a single day that I couldn't collect myself.
To begin with, the Countess had done far more than I'd thought. As it turned out, the Countess had been managing everything regarding the princess, so cleaning up after her had been quite a task.
'So that's why the princess was alone in the garden...'
At the time, I had thought the princess snuck out of the castle without her maid's knowledge, but it turned out the Countess simply hadn't assigned a maid to her. What? Did they say the First Queen didn't have maids when she was young?
For now, since I had few maids I could trust, I had no choice but to assign Ellie as the princess's temporary maid. Among the five maids under me, Ellie was the one I trusted the most, after all.
Only after roughly cleaning up the mess the Countess had made could I return to my room. Then, the remaining matter was......
I turned my head slightly and looked at the large full-length mirror that was Ainsel's main body. Then, Ainsel, who was poking only her head out from the edge of the mirror, was looking at me.
She looked just like a child who knew she had done wrong and was afraid of being scolded.
"Ainsel."
-......
"Don't you have something to say to me?"
I sat up in bed, went to the edge, sat down with my legs crossed, and looked at Ainsel. Ainsel fidgeted as she came out from the edge of the mirror, then hung her head low with a sullen expression.
"...Don't you have anything to say to me about the First Queen?"
"W-well, that's..."
"Why did you lie to me? You clearly told me, 'Vivian was jealous of the First Queen, who was beloved by the King, and performed a ritual to swap bodies.' But they say the First Queen committed suicide? And two years ago, at that."
"I-I didn't lie...!"
Ainsel bit her lip and looked at me with tears welling up, as if she were truly wronged. But I couldn't believe those words. To begin with, the words themselves didn't make sense.
"The 'Silphy' you met last time told you the same thing! Vivian died while performing the 'body-swapping ritual'! I really didn't lie! Fairies shouldn't tell lies to begin with!"
"...Huh?"
Only then did I recall what 'Silphy' had said when we met in the garden. The fairy that had climbed onto my shoulder had said the exact same thing as Ainsel. That Vivian had died after failing the 'body-swapping ritual.'
"It's true! There is much I cannot tell you about the First Queen... but I do not lie to you! Vivian truly performed a ritual to 'swap bodies with the First Queen'!"
"No, wait, even so, that doesn't make sense..."
Listening to Ainsel's appeal, I covered my mouth and fell into thought.
The First Queen who committed suicide two years ago.
Vivian, who performed a ritual to swap bodies with the First Queen a month ago.
And me, who entered Vivian's body due to the failure of that ritual.
'If Ainsel's words are true, why did Vivian try to swap bodies with the First Queen now, after two years had passed? It doesn't make sense. After two years, the corpse would have decayed and—'
Huh?
At that moment, a thought flashed through my mind, and I raised my head to look at Ainsel. Surely, it couldn't be what I was thinking, right? As if unable to comprehend, I rubbed my mouth and asked Ainsel.
"Is she alive? The First Queen?"
-......
Ainsel didn't say another word. She didn't nod her head, merely maintaining silence. I guessed that this was the 'work she had to remain here to do' that Ainsel couldn't speak of.
"From what I heard, the First Queen's corpse was buried in the royal family's tomb behind the royal castle. Am I right? Ainsel?"
-......
"...What was the reason the First Queen committed suicide?"
-......
"His Majesty... that is, is the King's seclusion also because of the First Queen?"
-......
Seeing Ainsel's reaction, as if she couldn't answer anything at all regarding the First Queen, I became certain. Had she made some kind of contract? It was frustrating enough to drive me crazy.
...Even if the First Queen were alive, this was truly a dizzying problem. To begin with, the fact that the First Queen had committed suicide was common knowledge to everyone in the royal castle.
And that too, the story that the First Queen had hung herself and taken her own life.
The problem was that everyone thought the First Queen was dead. In other words, if the First Queen were truly alive, as Ainsel's reaction suggested, it meant the First Queen was completely concealing her own life or death.
'What on earth is going on? Is the First Queen a witch too? Or someone possessed like me? Is that why she's hiding and concealing whether she's alive or dead? Then where is she hiding?'
No matter how much I thought about it, there was too little information. And the person who could fill in that information was keeping her mouth tightly shut... For now, judging by Ainsel's reaction, it seemed right to conclude that the First Queen was alive.
I glanced over at Ainsel. Seeing Ainsel standing there fidgeting, I somehow felt frustrated and wondered, 'Can I really trust this mirror?'
"Hoo..."
The moment I let out a long sigh of frustration, Ainsel, whose eyes were brimming with tears, sniffled in a very small voice as if holding back tears and continued.
"Hic, I-I'm sorry... I-I know it's frustrating... S-sorry... for not being able to say more... But, i-it can't be helped... I'm just a weak and useless mirrooooor..."
Unable to hold back her tears in the middle of speaking, tears welled up in Ainsel's eyes and trickled—down her cheeks. Once the tears began to flow, they grew thicker and showed no sign of stopping.
Finally, Ainsel squatted down as if collapsing, hugged her knees, hung her head, and curled herself into a ball. I had no idea what reason she couldn't speak for, but...
From what I could see, she looked quite wronged.
I too got down from the bed and squatted to Ainsel's eye level, looking at Ainsel who had curled herself up like a ball. Ainsel, who had buried her face in her knees and begun to cry, now started to sob with heaving sounds.
"...Okay, I was wrong, so let's stop and get up. Hmm?"
"Huuuuh. Hic, huuh, huuuh."
"W-well then, shall we talk about something else? Like... the princess's 'lessons' starting tomorrow."
When I brought up the princess's lessons, Ainsel poked her head up as if interested. In a calm voice, as if soothing a child, I comforted Ainsel.
"Th-the lessons starting tomorrow, you'll have to help me too... No, I need Ainsel!"
"M-me...? Me...? How...? I'm just a mere mirror...?"
Her self-esteem at rock bottom, Ainsel buried her face in her knees again and began to roll around on the floor. What on earth had happened with the First Queen that just talking about her made this child's self-esteem plummet?
Ahem, I cleared my throat and began to talk about the lessons starting tomorrow.
"That's because, of course..."
*
The princess, hugging a large bundle of books, toddled toward Her Majesty the Queen's room. Seeing this, Ellie quickly gathered the books from the princess's arms as if snatching them and asked the princess.
"Your Highness...? Why are you carrying so many books...?"
"W-well... Her Majesty the Queen didn't tell me what kind of lessons we would be having... so..."
"Ah... th-that's right... Shall I go ask Her Majesty for you?"
The princess shook her head fiercely.
It was because she didn't want to upset Her Majesty the Queen needlessly from the first day of lessons. She was afraid that if she sent a maid to ask instead of asking directly, Her Majesty would get angry like the Countess had.
The princess stretched out both arms wide toward Ellie, asking for the books in Ellie's arms. Ellie said she would carry them herself and held all ten books used for lessons at once, following behind the princess.
"Your Highness... you don't need to worry so much. Her Majesty the Queen won't teach you like the Countess did."
"You think so...?"
Even at Ellie's words, the princess hunched her shoulders slightly as if anxious. She hadn't known when they were playing in the garden because it had been fascinating, but thinking about it now, Her Majesty the Queen had so many bad rumors about her.
She was someone who had hated her from the start. She hadn't hit her every time they met, but she had cursed at her, clicked her tongue, and looked at her with eyes that said she had seen something truly unsightly.
The princess had no idea why such a person would suddenly take on the role of her 'teacher.' She merely prayed earnestly that Her Majesty wouldn't hit her like the Countess had.
While praying with her hands clasped together like that, she had arrived before Her Majesty the Queen's room before she knew it. In front of the large door, the princess gulped, swallowed dryly, and looked up at the door blankly.
"Your Highness, shall I open the door?"
"Ah, no, it's fine...!"
Seeing Ellie's arms trembling as she held the ten books, the princess quickly knocked on Her Majesty's door. Then, Her Majesty the Queen's voice quickly came from inside, telling them to enter.
Opening the door, the princess quickly bowed her head to greet Her Majesty.
"I-It is an honor to see Her Majest—!"
Chomp—
Perhaps because she was too nervous, the princess bit her tongue in the middle of her greeting. Tears pricked at the corners of the princess's eyes from the pain that felt like it could bring tears.
The princess couldn't think properly from the shame of messing up her first greeting and the pain in her tongue that was enough to bring tears. She needed to greet again quickly, but words wouldn't come out because her tongue hurt.
While she was at a loss like that, thump-thump, Her Majesty began to move. The princess could only squeeze her eyes shut, keep her head bowed, and stand still in bewilderment.
As she stood there still, Her Majesty knelt on one knee before the princess.
"Princess, say 'ah,' please."
"Hweh."
"Hurry."
Following Her Majesty's words, the princess opened her mouth wide. Having carefully examined the inside of the princess's mouth, Her Majesty smiled and rose.
"Fortunately, it's not bleeding. It'll be fine soon."
"Y-yes..."
The princess looked up at Her Majesty blankly.
And at Her Majesty's appearance, the princess tilted her head. It was in no way the outfit of a teacher about to give a lesson. A large white sunhat and a dress suitable for activity.
In the princess's eyes, Her Majesty's attire looked like someone going on a picnic. Her Majesty, wearing the large sunhat, asked Ellie, who was standing beside the princess.
"Ellie? What are those books?"
"Ah, they're needed for Her Highness's lessons..."
"Let me see... Administration, Diplomacy, Military Science, Law, Economics, Theory of Monarchy...?"
Seeing the textbooks in Ellie's hands, Her Majesty let out a hollow laugh as if at a loss.
Her Majesty took the books from Ellie's hands as if snatching them and flung them onto her bed.
The books tumbled onto the bed with a thud, bounced, and several volumes fell to the floor beneath the bed.
While the princess watched that blankly, Her Majesty placed a large sunhat on the princess's head.
"Books aren't needed for my lessons."
"Wha...? B-but... in the Countess's lessons..."
"What does a mere six-year-old need with Theory of Monarchy, I ask you. You can learn such things much later."
As Her Majesty pressed down on the sunhat atop the princess's head as if incredulous, the princess grabbed the brim and lifted it, as if she couldn't see in front of her.
Then, Her Majesty's brightly smiling face came into view.
"Get ready, today's lesson will be at the lake in the garden."
"Th-the lake...?"
"Yes."
Grinning, Her Majesty squatted down to meet the princess's eyes. The princess gripped her sunhat, as if slightly embarrassed.
"Let's go boating."