[Episode 7] - A World Where Fairies Exist
This was the first time I had stepped outside the castle since possessing the body of ‘Vivian.’ Every day, I could only wander inside the castle, and even then, only on the same floor.
It wasn’t as if anyone had specifically blocked me from going. But I had no particular pretext or reason to move elsewhere, so I just wandered around the floor where my room was.
It was also burdensome how the maids followed me around even when I was just walking the corridors...
So the only way I could see the outside was to look down through the window. The royal garden was visible right below the windowsill.
When I set foot there for the first time, I was speechless at the sight of the royal garden in full bloom with dazzling roses and the ‘world’ as seen through ‘Vivian’s’ eyes.
Elli, who was viewing the garden full of blooming roses with me, pointed at a rose with one hand and called out to me in a bright, sunny voice.
“Look at this, Your Majesty! The roses are already like this!”
“...Yes, they’re pretty.”
They were definitely pretty, but...
I was more drawn to the ‘something’ on top of the roses than the roses themselves. Did Elli know? That on that rose, there was a ‘something’ the size of a thumb, lying down using petals as a blanket.
As I blankly stared at the ‘something,’ Einsel, who was in my earring, cleared her throat and began explaining about the ‘something.’
“That’s a fairy called a ‘Sylph.’ They ride the wind, or are like the wind itself. Don’t give your heart away just because they look cute. Okay? Their hearts are like the wind too, so they lose interest in an instant. So never give them your heart!”
‘So that’s... a fairy...?’
When Elli tapped the rose, the fairy that had been using the rose as a bed frowned as if annoyed, spread its dragonfly-like wings, and flew away to another rose.
Starting with that fairy, the fairies around seemed to notice mine and Elli’s presence and sent their gazes our way. As I stood still, fairies fluttered around me and chattered as if singing.
“It’s Vivian!”
“It’s ‘Baba Yaga’ Vivian!”
‘Baba Yaga...?’
Isn’t Baba Yaga that thing?
The old witch that appears in fairy tales?
It was a term I knew well because it often appeared in subcultures like novels and comics.
Usually, someone with the name ‘Baba Yaga’ was a ‘witch’ or a name often used for ‘villains.’
‘So Vivian was even called a witch by the fairies?’
As one fairy gently settled on my shoulder, Einsel in my earring yelled at the fairy in a deafeningly loud voice.
“Don’t come near Vivian! You flirt!”
“Einsel’s there too?”
“Einsel who got fooled by Baba Yaga is there too?”
“Grr...!”
Though I couldn’t see her, Einsel’s face was surely red. The fairies giggled as if finding that reaction amusing and flew around Einsel.
“Pathetic~ A pathetic fairy who only falls for witches~”
“Since you’re a mirror, you can’t even hit us? Pathetic~”
“Pathetic~ Pathetic~”
“Gaaah!! How annoying!! Vivian!! Chase them away for me!!”
The sight of fairies fighting was so cute that a laugh escaped me without realizing it.
I waved my hand back and forth to chase the fairies away at Einsel’s request, but Einsel still huffed and puffed, seeming not to have calmed down yet.
The other fairies laughed at Einsel’s frustrated appearance and disappeared, but one fairy sitting on my shoulder didn’t run away like the others and remained seated there.
Should I say it looked a bit different from ordinary ‘Sylphs’? It was a bit larger, with a benevolent expression like a mother.
As I stared blankly, the fairy laughed “hoho” and whispered in my ear.
“So you’re the one who possessed Baba Yaga’s body.”
I flinched.
My shoulders trembled at the benevolent whispering voice.
“Pray, do not be startled. I merely came to see after hearing ‘rumors’ that flowed like the wind.”
“Hey!! Get off Vivian’s shoulder!!”
“Yes, now that I see you closely, I understand. As the rumors said, Baba Yaga is dead after all.”
Though it was a fairy smiling benevolently while stroking my cheek, that action somehow felt like it was seeing through to my deepest insides.
What on earth? Are all fairies like this?
“...It truly was a foolish death. I and everyone else warned against that ‘ritual.’ A ritual wrong from its very premise could never succeed.”
The fairy put on a bitter smile as if it was truly sorrowful. A ritual wrong from its premise? Come to think of it, seeing how it failed in the original work, maybe there was a problem with the ritual itself?
While walking through the garden with Elli and falling into thought for a moment, Einsel growled and got angry at the fairy sitting on my shoulder, seeming to dislike it.
“Aren’t you going yet?! Why do you keep clinging to Vivian?!”
“Your personality hasn’t changed, Einsel, always getting angry when someone touches what’s yours. Why don’t you be a bit more gentle? Currently, ‘Vivian’ belongs to no one.”
“Y-you...!!”
The benevolent fairy’s expression momentarily looked like a pure, childlike smile. The fairy stretched out lazily as if enjoying teasing Einsel, then let out a refreshed sigh.
“I shall take my leave now. If ever there is need, call upon me. Unlike that stingy mirror over there, I shall grant you the right to call upon me freely at least once.”
“Why?”
A pure question arose, so I asked in a whispered voice small enough not to be heard by Elli beside me.
After all, it was a fairy I was seeing for the first time today, so I couldn’t understand why it would suddenly help me. Was it because it was somewhat acquainted with Vivian?
In that moment of thought.
Smooch.
The fairy smiled broadly at my question and placed a small kiss on my cheek. The fairy’s lips felt like a cool water droplet touching my cheek.
“Y-you!!”
Einsel, who was watching that sight, shrieked in a voice loud enough to go hoarse.
“Witches’ magic is sweet to us. Especially Baba Yaga’s magic has a richer flavor than other witches’. In exchange for that, we fairies help witches.”
“Hey!!! Stop ignoring me!!!”
“And if even that difficult personality has disappeared... what reason would there be not to help?”
With those words, the giggling fairy spread its dragonfly-like wings and flew high into the sky.
Watching the fairy disappear from view in an instant, I unknowingly touched the cheek that had been kissed.
“I told you not to get attached, didn’t I?! They’re wind-like creatures anyway, so they won’t even remember that promise?! Don’t even think of calling her?!”
Is this my fault?
I only said one word..?
Honestly, I couldn’t even understand half of the conversation between the fairies, yet Einsel somehow started scolding me.
Honestly, I feel quite wronged...
As I let Einsel’s nagging go in one ear and out the other, Ellie, who was holding a parasol beside me, let out a sharp gasp.
I turned my head to look at Elli, and she was looking at something with a surprised gaze. Seeing Elli’s gaze directed at the bushes at the edge of the garden, I naturally turned my gaze there too.
“Ah.”
Beneath a large tree, someone was there.
A child using a tree root as a pillow and a book as large as her own torso as a blanket was fast asleep, so deeply that she wouldn’t have noticed if someone carried her away.
For a moment, the scene from when I first possessed this body flashed through my mind.
A child in a black dress holding white lilies before my eyes in a situation where my throat and lungs felt torn. I thought she looked familiar, and now I felt certain.
‘Hair as black as ebony window frames, skin as white as snow piled on windowsills, lips and pupils as red as blood drops fallen upon it.’
It was exactly as described in the game.
“Princess...”
How could I not recognize a face I had seen hundreds of times in the game? Looking at the princess’s face, my heart began to beat heavily for some reason.
‘Should I approach the princess?’
‘No, is it okay for me, a ‘witch,’ to approach the princess?’
‘What happens to the original story if I approach the princess?’
‘If I get involved with the princess, won’t she die because of me like in the game?’
‘But this is reality, not a game.’
Thump, thump, thump.
Various thoughts sprouted and became a mess in my head. Seeing the princess in person, I suddenly felt scared and afraid.
Because right now, I was the ‘witch’ who had killed the princess countless times in the game.
It wasn’t that I hadn’t thought about it. Since I had possessed this body, I was bound to get entangled with the princess somehow.
But I was afraid that if I got unnecessarily involved with the princess, things would flow according to the ‘original work,’ and the situation would unfold until I eventually killed her.
This was what I feared most after possessing this body.
I was afraid of meeting the princess. So I hadn’t included the princess in the options to resolve this situation.
Because I felt that persuading the council of elders, or begging the shut-in, unemployed Emperor not to divorce me, was much easier than getting involved with the princess.
‘Let’s ignore her.’
For now, let’s ignore her.
After all, if I lived here, I would definitely meet her someday. So for now, I decided to run away.
“...Elli, let’s go—”
The moment I turned my head to go back to my room, the princess came into view again at the edge of my sight. The princess was frowning fiercely! as if the sunlight was blinding her.
...Sigh.
“...Hand me the parasol.”
“Wha, Your Majesty?”
“Hurry.”
Yes, let’s just leave the parasol beside her.
I could have had Elli do it, but I picked up the parasol thinking that if I saw the princess’s face up close, this troubled heart might calm down a bit.
At least I need to know the princess’s face for sure.
That way I can think less of these things when I meet the princess later. I thought I needed to become somewhat accustomed to the princess’s face.
Softly, I moved my steps very slowly so the princess wouldn’t wake at the sound of stepping on grass. One step, two steps. The closer I got to the princess, the louder my heartbeat seemed to become.
...Really, she wouldn’t notice if someone kidnapped her.
Thus, I was able to slowly approach the tree where the princess was sleeping.
Looking down gently at the princess, the princess, who was scrunching up her face because of the sunlight, let out groaning sounds.
That appearance was quite cute, and somehow a laugh came out.
Just what was Vivian so jealous of to try to kill such a young princess? No matter how much I thought about it, ‘Vivian’ was someone I simply couldn’t understand.
I placed the parasol on the ground so it wouldn’t touch the princess’s body, shielding her from the sunlight, and the princess’s face, which had been scrunched up tight, slowly began to relax.
It was fascinating that she still didn’t wake up even though I had come beside her, as if she was still deeply asleep.
Before I knew it, I was crouching beside the sleeping princess, appreciating her sleeping form.
While I was staring intently at the princess’s face, Einsel asked as if puzzled.
“Why would the Princess be sleeping in a place like this?”
“.....?”
Right?
Why is the princess sleeping in a place like this?
Seeing that she was using a large book as a blanket, I reasoned that she might have fallen asleep reading in the warm sunlight.
‘Even so, shouldn’t there be at least one maid around?’
I turned my head and looked around.
In case there was a maid of the princess nearby. But there was no one around except me, Elli, and the sleeping princess.
“Elli? The princess’s maid is—”
The moment I tried to ask Elli where the princess’s maid was, flash! My eyes met the princess’s, who had opened her eyes fiercely.
She opened her eyes so fiercely that I was so startled I nearly fell backward and hurt my bottom.
The princess, having met my eyes, blinked and somehow didn’t avoid my gaze.
Somehow it reminded me of the moment you make eye contact with a wild animal, both tensed and unable to move.
“......”
“......”
And so, 1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds passed—
The one who broke this silence was none other than the princess.
“Hyaang!!”
The princess lifted the large book she had been using as a blanket straight above her head and hurled it at me. The book was so large that rather than being thrown, it just fell to the ground with a thud.
The princess, having thrown the book to the ground, quickly turned her body and started running toward the bushes on the opposite side. I was certain the princess would disappear between the bushes in an instant, but...
Thud-!
“Ah! Hya!”
The princess tripped on the tree root she had been using as a pillow and fell forward. She didn’t even tumble, just fell flat with a thud.
“Ah, it hurts...”
Though she hadn’t fallen hard, the princess’s small palms and knees were slightly scraped and bleeding, perhaps from hitting a stone on the ground. The moment I saw the wound, I regretted not just asking Elli to do it.
“Wu, wuu...”
The princess had been trying not to cry, but upon seeing the blood flowing from her palm, she burst into loud sobs.
Was this my first meeting with the princess? No, it was the second meeting since the funeral.
Einsel’s sigh could be heard in my ear, and the startled Elli was busy comforting the sobbing princess...
It was such a chaotic meeting.