[Episode 3] – The Mad Queen Who Talks to the Mirror (2)
—Hic! Hic!
After some time had passed, as though she no longer even had the strength to cry, the “mirror” in Vivian’s form lay on the floor, curled up like a pill bug, desperately trying to avoid my gaze.
She had Vivian’s spiteful face, terrifying enough to make it frightening to meet her eyes, yet her behavior was unmistakably that of a child. Just how badly had Vivian tormented her for a single sentence to make her react like this?
“Phew... Mirror? Lady Mirror? I’m not sure what I should call you... For now, would you please listen to me?”
—......
“...First of all, I didn’t call you because I wanted my appearance evaluated. It’s just that I couldn’t think of any other way to summon you, so I said that.”
—...Really?
Only then did the tightly curled-up “mirror” poke her head up and meet my eyes. Not letting that moment slip by, I spoke to the mirror in the gentlest, most soothing tone I could manage.
“Of course. I called you because I need help. Unlike ‘that woman,’ who only used you to judge her appearance, I truly, desperately need your help.”
—......
“You know what happened to me, don’t you...? To be honest, I’m terribly confused right now. I opened my eyes and found myself at a funeral hall... Then when I came to my senses, I was inside this woman’s body...”
Thinking about it again only made me more confused.
I had decided to accept this reality, but I still hadn’t accepted all of it. If I had Vivian’s memories, it would have been much easier to take in...
But not a single one of Vivian’s memories remained in this body.
All I remembered was the fact that this world was a “child-rearing simulation game.” But that alone wasn’t enough to live as Vivian.
So I needed something to fill the empty space where those memories should have helped me. For example... “someone” who had stayed by Vivian’s side for a long time and knew her every move.
“Please. Will you help me?”
I pleaded with the mirror earnestly.
Because right now, the only one I could trust and rely on was this mirror.
Had my sincerity reached her to some extent? The mirror, who had been curled up tightly and crawling along the floor, now hugged her knees to her chest and looked up at me. But she still hadn’t withdrawn the suspicion from her eyes.
—Ainsel.
“Yes?”
—My name isn’t Mirror. It’s Ainsel. I am the one and only familiar of “Vivian, the Witch of Coven,” and the fairy of the mirror.
Fairy.
When I heard the word fairy, the fact that I had been possessed into this world felt real to me. Should I call it spirit worship? This world had all sorts of fairies and spirits.
In the game, fairies were described as beings who tempted humans with sweet words and played pranks, or sometimes helped humans they took a liking to.
The “seven dwarfs” who would later help Snow White also belonged to that category. When I thought of dwarfs, I imagined short, stocky beings with bushy beards, but perhaps because the dwarfs here were fairies, they were small and cute.
‘I wonder if the day will come when I meet them..?’
And those who could form “contracts” with such fairies or spirits and command them were called “witches.” Ordinary people couldn’t see fairies, so they feared the existence of witches who controlled them.
Even in the game, there was another witch besides Vivian. Well, she was someone the princess only met in the latter half.
In any case, that wasn’t important right now.
I looked at Ainsel, smiled softly, and held my hand out toward the mirror as though asking for a handshake. It wasn’t as if the mirror had hands, so we couldn’t actually shake, but my intention seemed to get across properly.
“I look forward to working with you, Ainsel.”
—...You can speak casually to me. Seeing you use polite speech with that face gives me chills.
“...I’ll be counting on you, Ainsel.”
Blech—
As if the sight of Vivian’s face using polite speech was truly revolting, Ainsel retched again. Just what kind of relationship had Ainsel and Vivian had for Ainsel to react like this?
—But you aren’t very surprised, are you? Did you perhaps already know that I was a fairy?
I flinched.
My shoulders jerked without me realizing it.
Ainsel tilted her head at me as though she found it genuinely strange. What should I do? Should I tell her I already knew?
That I knew this world was a game? And that because of that, I knew about fairies and could predict a certain amount of the future?
I squeezed my eyes shut.
Then, after letting out a small sigh, I answered Ainsel’s question.
“...I think I saw it in a dream. Hearing you talk about it made it come back to me vaguely, I think.? M-maybe this is one of Vivian’s memories..?”
—Who knows? This is my first time seeing a case like yours as well, so I can’t give you an exact answer.
After thinking quickly, I decided there was no need to stir up trouble by telling her unnecessarily. Even if she asked later, “How do you know something like that?” I could just answer, “I saw it in a dream.”
“A-anyway..! Since my memories aren’t coming back perfectly, I’m really in trouble. I have no idea how Vivian usually lived as queen, or what kind of people she was friends with.”
—Vivian doesn’t have any friends, though?
“...She could have at least one, couldn’t she..?”
—No? Vivian has no friends.
Ainsel’s words were so firm that I felt a little sad and bitter. Even in the game, Vivian was infamous as a complete scoundrel, but to think she didn’t even have friends...
Unlike me, who felt bitter, Ainsel did not lose her smile even while spewing slander about Vivian. Rather, she looked at me with a gleeful grin, as if she had finally relieved a grudge of a thousand years.
“R-right. Then I’m worried about things like her way of speaking. For now, everyone thinks I have ‘amnesia,’ but... I can’t pretend to have lost my memories forever.”
—True... Vivian doesn’t speak the way you do. She speaks more arrogantly, without knowing her place, and acts as though there is no one above her.
Indeed, Vivian in the game felt exactly like that.
Endlessly arrogant, excessively selfish, more insolent than the king, as cunning as a snake, and more despicable than anyone. That was the image I had of Vivian.
—Hmm...
Ainsel, who had been stroking her chin with a finger as though deep in thought, soon clenched both fists as if making up her mind and looked at me.
—All right, you. Mm... It’s awkward to call you anything else, so I’ll just call you Vivian from now on. In any case, I have work left to do here too... Until my work is finished, I’ll help you.
“Really?”
—Of course! Fairies don’t lie.
Once I received a definite answer that she would help, the worry weighing on my heart lifted. It was under the condition of a set period, but she was still helping me. That was more than enough. Feeling relieved, I sighed and flopped back onto the bed.
‘Now I can finally ask what I wanted to ask.’
I sprang upright from the bed and looked at Ainsel, then asked what I had wanted to ask from the very beginning. Just what had happened to the original “Vivian’s” body, and why was I here?
“Then will you tell me? What on earth happened to Vivian? And how did you recognize me right away?”
—That’s obvious...
Ainsel narrowed her eyes as though pondering how to say it, then lowered her gaze. After hesitating for a moment, she looked straight at me again.
—Because I saw Vivian die with my own eyes.
“What?”
At that answer, I frowned without realizing it. Ainsel let out a small sigh and continued.
—Vivian was a very jealous human. Selfish and greedy. If she decided she wanted something, she wasn’t satisfied unless she had it no matter what.
For the first time, Ainsel wore a bitter expression as she recalled Vivian. Ainsel, who had always frowned or clicked her tongue whenever she talked about Vivian, now looked as though she truly pitied her.
—In a way, she was an impressive human. After all, it was Vivian who climbed all the way to the position of queen of a kingdom on jealousy and greed alone. Though as a result, no one actually thinks of Vivian as a queen.
“...”
—In any case... Vivian, whose greed went too far, eventually coveted even something she could never have. What do you think that was?
At the sudden question, I fell into thought.
In the game, the person Vivian was jealous of was “Princess Snow White.” The princess’s appearance, the princess’s personality, the princess’s face. Vivian was jealous and envious of everything about the princess.
And after envying and resenting the princess like that, Vivian ultimately reached the conclusion that if she couldn’t have those things herself, she had to erase them from before her eyes.
That was the reason the princess kept dying in the game, and the reason a child-rearing simulation game had turned into a roguelike.
Come to think of it, among the raising events—
“Don’t tell me... the person she was jealous of..?”
At my uncertain answer, Ainsel gave a twisted smile.
As though to say that was the correct answer.
—That’s right, the other person. Vivian wanted to become the very person she was jealous of. She was jealous of the other person’s appearance, the other person’s voice, and not stopping there, the other person’s life itself.
“......”
As expected, it was an event that existed in the game too.
Vivian, who envied “Princess Snow White,” used a curse to perform a ritual in order to switch bodies with the princess.
However, there was no need to go out of your way to stop Vivian in this event.
Because it was a lottery-like event where Vivian would destroy herself on her own anyway. In over 340 rounds of raising, it was an event that appeared with such atrocious odds that I had seen it fewer than five times.
If you saw this event, the game became so easy that a happy ending was practically guaranteed.
“So... Vivian was jealous of the princess and tried to switch bodies with her, and that ritual failed, so I possessed her... Is that what you’re saying?”
—What? The princess?
Ainsel widened her eyes at my words in surprise and waved her hands as if to deny it.
The person Vivian had envied wasn’t Princess Snow White..?
—The human Vivian was jealous of was the First Queen.
“The First Queen?”
—Yes. Vivian was jealous and envious of the First Queen, who was loved by the king. Then in the end, she performed the “body-switching ritual,” which was no different from a curse, and failed. That is the reason Vivian died. Most likely... the reason you entered Vivian’s body is because of this.
After hearing all of Ainsel’s story, I covered my mouth and fell into deep thought. Because it was a slightly different story from the one I knew.
‘The First Queen..? That can’t be..?’
To begin with, the reason Vivian had been able to become the Second Queen was because of the First Queen’s death.
When the king, who had been devoted to his wife, declared that he would not take a new queen, the council of elders vehemently opposed him and pleaded with the king.
‘Please! Take in a new queen!’
The reason was that, with only one princess as his heir, he needed a queen who would bear a prince. Vivian was the one who exploited that opening, eliminated countless rivals, and rose to the position of Second Queen.
So Ainsel’s story was quite different from the story I knew.
Because the person Vivian was jealous of, and the person Vivian cast the ritual on, was not the First Queen but her daughter, “Princess Snow White.”
‘Don’t tell me... the First Queen didn’t die? If the First Queen is alive and well, how was Vivian able to ascend to the position of queen? And the king... what state is he in right now?’
Knock, knock.
As I was clutching my head, feeling as though it might burst from thinking, I heard a knock on the large door.
Though I had not even said to come in, a maid entered, making no effort to hide her annoyance, and spoke almost as if making an announcement.
“His Excellency the Chancellor requests an audience with Her Majesty the Queen.”
“The Chancellor?”
Why would the chancellor suddenly...?