[Episode 51] - A Runaway That Wasn’t Quite a Runaway (1)
A dreadful, unbearably tedious meeting.
I was only attending to fill my seat; there was nothing in particular for me to say. My job was to watch the delegation and the ministers chat away merrily while holding back my yawns.
Narrowing my eyes, lifting my chin, tilting my head ever so slightly as I looked down at the delegation and the ministers was also part of my job. Since I could not take part in the meeting, I thought I ought to at least preserve my dignity as queen.
‘If only Ainsel were by my side, I’d be less bored...’
For no reason, I tapped the mirror earring hanging from my ear, but Ainsel still gave no sign of returning from the princess’s side. Should I truly scold him when he comes back?
Just as I was blankly waiting for the meeting to end with such idle thoughts in my head, Baengsho rose from his seat and announced its conclusion. Perhaps he too was exhausted from the meetings that had continued over the past few days, for both his eyes and his head looked hollow.
“We shall conclude here for today. The evening banquet will begin shortly, so I hope the members of the delegation will be certain to attend.”
Judging by how the delegation and the ministers were murmuring among themselves with bright smiles, the meeting seemed to have ended well. As I gave a small sigh of gratitude that few questions had come my way today as well, Baengsho quietly approached my side.
“You have worked hard, Your Majesty.”
“Worked hard? You were the ones who did far more of that.”
At those words, Baengsho chuckled and leaned in to whisper into my ear in an exceedingly soft voice, as though he had something to say in secret. Wondering what on earth this could be when the delegation was still watching, I listened closely—
“I have arranged matters so that Your Majesty need not attend tonight’s banquet. Instead, I have ordered a modest meal to be prepared in Your Majesty’s chambers, so might I suggest dining together with the princess?”
“Baengsho, you...”
When I looked at Baengsho in surprise, he smiled with a hearty chuckle. It seemed Baengsho, aware that things between the princess and me had not been good lately, had prepared a small event for us.
There was no reason not to accept it, so I smiled and nodded. Just when I had been at a loss as to how to approach the princess, who avoided me every day lately, such an opportunity had come.
‘...As expected, I should be the one to apologize first. She got angry because I spoke as if I were forcing the engagement on her. Since the engagement and the arranged meeting are both gone now anyway, perhaps the princess will let go of her anger...?’
The reason I told the princess it would be good if she became engaged to the third prince was...
Simply because, in the game, doing so had been good.
If the prince stayed in the kingdom, the princess and the prince would become “friends” who could rely on one another. I only said it because I thought that would be good for the princess, who had no friends.
And if the engagement continued all the way to marriage, then that, in its own way, was also a good chance for the princess to reach her “happy ending.” So all I did was say it would be good to get engaged...
‘I never thought she would say she hated me like that...’
I had never imagined the princess would become so angry. Had I forced it upon her too much, relying only on my knowledge from the game? But the only thing I could do for the princess was make use of that knowledge.
No matter how twisted the original story had become, the main current remained the same. This “prince’s visit” event was like that too. The prince had simply failed to arrive; the larger current, that the delegation would arrive, was the same.
The princess entering the academy later, and the things that would happen at the “hunting tournament” after this—at least the main currents were flowing just as they had in the game, so I had been able to prepare using my knowledge of it.
‘So I thought I could raise the princess well based on my knowledge from the game... But child-rearing really is difficult. Even if I think it is the right answer, from the child’s perspective, it may not be.’
However, after the princess had gotten angry and shouted at me, I began to think that something was wrong. Even if it had been a good choice in the game, perhaps now, in “reality,” it was not a good choice.
Even though I knew the place I was in now was not a “game” but “reality,” I could not easily stop clinging to my knowledge of the game.
After all, no matter how twisted and ruined the original story had become, the fact that I knew to some extent what would happen in the future was far too great a comfort to me.
I laughed softly and expressed my gratitude to Baengsho, who stood beside me. As expected, there was no one other than Baengsho whom I could trust with matters like this. Truly, if only he were not bald, he would be perfect.
“...Thank you, Baengsho. Then I shall return to my chambers first.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. It is about time you showed me the sight of the two of you together again.”
“You need not worry. You will be able to see it starting tomorrow.”
Rising from my seat, I slowly headed toward my chambers. I was so excited at the thought of meeting the princess after so long and dining with her that the corners of my lips rose on their own, to the point that it was troublesome.
As I walked while touching the corners of my mouth to preserve the image of a proud queen, I caught sight of Princess Fiona walking down the corridor with a maid.
Surely, she had said she would be holding a tea party? with the princess today. Just as I found it strange that Princess Fiona, who had seemed close to the princess, was walking alone—
“It is an honor to see you, Your Majesty Queen Vivian!”
Princess Fiona approached me with quick little steps, smiling brightly. For some reason, I felt uneasy and did not particularly want to draw close to her... but I forced a smile and smiled back at Princess Fiona.
“Princess Fiona, did you enjoy the tea party? I was certain you would be with Titania...”
“Mm... Well...”
At my words, Princess Fiona smiled bitterly, covered her mouth with her fan, and lowered the corners of her eyes as she sniffled. As I stared at her blankly, surprised by the sudden reaction, Princess Fiona tearfully told me what had happened at the tea party.
“I must have made some slip of the tongue... Princess Titania left first. So I was just on my way to apologize...”
The princess got angry? I was somewhat surprised by the fact that the princess, who was not good at getting angry at people, had become angry with Princess Fiona. Lately, she had been kind to everyone except me, to the point that I felt a little resentful...
The sight of her truly looking dejected, lips pushed out in a pout, somehow resembled the princess, and I could not help but laugh softly.
“Hoho, do not worry. If you apologize sincerely, Titania will accept it. However... might you put off apologizing to Titania until tomorrow?”
“Pardon? Why...”
“Because today is the day I must apologize to the princess. I, too, have something I must beg Titania to forgive me for...”
At those words, Princess Fiona stared at me blankly. Just as I tilted my head, wondering if I had perhaps said something wrong, I saw Ellie and the other maids running about in confusion around my chambers. Were they preparing the food in my room?
“Is everything ready—”
I approached Ellie with light steps, but the moment I saw her face had turned deathly pale, I could not continue speaking. It was not only Ellie. All the other maids, too, looked at me with faces drained of color.
Seeing those expressions, I realized they were not busy preparing food in my room, but running about because of some kind of “accident.”
“Y-Your Majesty...”
Ellie, her face as pale as a sheet, came toward me in a panic. Somehow clutching her trembling hands, she looked at me with a tearful voice.
“T-The princess... cannot be found anywhere...”
*
At Ellie’s absurd words, Vivian let out a hollow laugh and walked quickly toward the princess’s room, almost running. The princess could not be found anywhere? That made no sense, didn’t it?
Yes, the palace was so vast that it was simply difficult to find the little princess. That had to be it. Muttering to herself as though to comfort herself, Vivian nearly barged in as she flung open the door to Titania’s room.
Titania’s room was already in disarray from the search for the princess. The blanket had fallen to the floor in front of the bed, all the wardrobe doors stood open, and all of Titania’s dresses had been pulled out.
Everyone stared at the惨 state of the room, as though a thief had broken in, but Titania was nowhere to be seen. Not beneath the bed, not inside the wardrobe—there was no sign of Titania.
All that remained was a single sheet of paper placed neatly on Titania’s bed. Vivian slowly looked at the paper, on which something had been scrawled, then turned back and asked Ellie.
“What is the meaning of this?”
In that short sentence, Ellie felt an emotion that seemed to be boiling beneath the surface. The words that reached her ears were certainly cold and low, but they sounded as though Vivian were restraining something that might burst at any moment.
Ellie and the maids’ testimony was as follows. Before the evening banquet was prepared, the maids had gone to Titania’s room to tidy her hair, which surely would have become disheveled from the blanket.
But when there was no answer no matter how many times they knocked, Ellie had quietly opened the door and checked inside. What they found in the room was only a single letter-like sheet on the bed, with just one line written on it.
Do not look for me.
Startled by the paper bearing those words, Ellie and the maids had quickly begun searching the castle. They had asked the guards and knights to search not only inside the castle but outside as well, including the gardens, but they had yet to find her, Ellie and the maids answered, half in tears.
Thinking that no good would come of the delegation learning of it, they had not informed her during the meeting; they had thought that if everyone searched together, they would soon find the princess, Ellie answered tearfully.
Vivian bit her lower lip and once again looked at the paper with its scrawled writing. She stared at it over and over, wondering if it might be someone’s prank, but there was no mistaking it—it was Titania’s handwriting.
A kidnapping? No, there was no way such a thing could happen here.
Then why, all of a sudden?
Did she hate me enough to do something like this?
Should I have found some way to speak to her and apologize?
Her heart ached as though it were being torn apart. It was only a child’s words telling them not to look for her and her act of hiding, but was this what it meant to feel a nail driven into one’s heart? Vivian could barely breathe.
To call Ainsel, Vivian irritably tapped the earring hanging from her ear. Tap, tap, tap, tap. But with Ainsel still giving no answer, something surged up in Vivian’s throat.
Vivian, who had been clutching her head as her shoulders trembled, crumpled the letter that could hardly be called a letter, then turned back and looked at the maids. With reddened eyes and a voice trembling as though it might burst at any moment, Vivian commanded them.
“Lock the palace gates at once so that not even a single ant can slip out. Then mobilize every available person and search the royal palace from top to bottom. The detached palace, the gardens, every palace currently unused. She must be nearby...”
Ellie trembled at Vivian’s voice. No, every maid around her swallowed dryly and tensed. It was a brutally cold and sharp voice, one they had not heard in the past several years.
The faintly trembling voice finally burst forth along with a single tear from Vivian’s eye.
“Find my daughter, now!!”
And from afar, Princess Fiona watched the scene through narrowed eyes. Without saying a word, simply in silence.
“......”