[Episode 08] - I Hope We Get Along (1)
The sunlight was so strong that the princess could feel it through her eyelids even with her eyes closed, and she furrowed her brow hard. Her face grew hot beneath the blazing sun, and beads of sweat began to form on her pale forehead.
Nngh, nngh.
The sleepy princess didn’t want to move, but just as she began tossing and turning, thinking that if she didn’t escape into the shade soon, her face would ripen as red as an apple—
Rustle, rustle—
The sound of feet stepping on grass tickled the princess’s ears. Still drunk on sleep, the princess had no interest at all in who was approaching her.
Right now, she simply couldn’t bear the sunlight pouring down so fiercely that it made her eyes hurt. And just as the princess was groaning and trying to sit up to flee into the shade—
Tap.
Something fell onto the grass, and the sunlight that had been dazzling her was blocked.
Once the sunlight that had been tormenting her was covered, a cool summer breeze pleasantly cooled the beads of sweat on her forehead.
It felt so nice that the princess’s tightly scrunched brow slowly eased.
She wanted to sink into the drowsiness washing over her as she felt that pleasant breeze, but for some reason, she sensed a strong presence right beside her.
And a gaze that, for some reason, seemed to be staring intently at her.
Who could it be?
The princess, her eyes narrowed as if she were terribly sleepy, stared at the person looking at her. Her eyes were too thinly opened, and her hazy, blurred vision made it hard to see.
The princess could only vaguely tell that the person before her was a woman. Long hair, slender fingers, a woman crouching down as she looked at her and smiled.
‘Mother...?’
How could Mother, who should be with Father, be here?
Had she finally come out of that dark room?
At the thought of seeing her mother after so long, the princess smiled faintly. Just as she was about to open her eyes properly, eager to see her mother’s face clearly—
“Ellie? The princess’s maid—”
That isn’t Mother’s voice.
Flash.
The princess’s eyes flew wide open.
When she turned her head toward the voice, the princess felt as if her heart had dropped. Along with the sensation of her body turning cold, the heart that had dropped began pounding wildly.
‘Uh, uh...?’
The princess’s pupils shook as if an earthquake had struck. She was so startled that not even a scream came out.
All she could see right now was blond hair that looked yellow in the sunlight, and green eyes that looked dark beneath the shade.
They were so terrifying that she felt as if she would burst into tears at any moment.
*
When the princess saw Vivian’s face, memories of the funeral hall came back to her.
When she had heard that the frightening woman had died, and that since Father would not be attending, she at least had to attend that person’s funeral, the princess had been horrified and refused.
‘Why should I...’
The princess, her lips jutting out in a pout, swung her feet from the chair they couldn’t reach the floor from. The maid dressing her in funeral clothes smiled bitterly and comforted her.
To begin with, the number of times she had met the Second Queen, who had supposedly fallen into the lake and died, was so few that she could count them without using all ten fingers. For some reason, the Second Queen had disliked her.
So the princess hadn’t gone out of her way to meet the Second Queen either. Even when they met, all she remembered was being cursed at by the Second Queen—“I hate brats,” “Don’t let me see you, you ugly little thing,” and so on.
So even if the Second Queen had died, the princess was a little surprised, but she wasn’t sad or anything like that. She was someone who had cursed at her, after all. The extent of her feelings was something like, What a shame, How pitiful.
With such indifferent emotions, the princess entered the funeral hall and slowly headed toward the Second Queen’s coffin. The maid handed her a white lily and explained that all she had to do was place the flower in the coffin and come back.
With everyone watching, the princess slowly moved toward the coffin. Thinking that she would place the flower down and return right away, just as the maid had told her, she walked a little faster than usual.
When the princess arrived in front of the coffin, she lowered her head and glanced at the Second Queen. The skin that had turned pale as paper and the bloodless, white lips were frightening.
‘I should put it down quickly and go...’
Truly, it was the very moment she was about to lay down the lily.
“Grrk—! Cough—!”
The instant she reached her hand toward the coffin to place the flower, the Second Queen, who should not have been able to move, snapped open her bloodshot eyes and looked up at her. Water gushed again and again from her bloodless lips.
“Uegh, ueegh! Cough! Cough!”
As if in agony, the Second Queen clawed at her chest and throat with her nails, then sprang up from the coffin and began vomiting water in front of her. Thin water mixed with red splashed onto the floor in heaving bursts.
“Hic, h-hic...”
Tremble, tremble.
The princess’s legs shook.
She looked exactly like the frightening ghosts the maids had told her about. The terrifying ghosts and monsters that dug through the soil of graves, crawled up, and tormented people.
‘I mustn’t cry, I mustn’t cry, I mustn’t cry, I mustn’t cry.’
Up until that point, the princess’s reason was still somewhat intact. Even as the grown adults all ran away crying, “Save me,” the princess alone stood firm in front of the coffin on trembling legs.
Just as she was steadying her breath, trying somehow to calm her shaking legs and heart, the hand of the Second Queen, who was flailing in pain, brushed against the princess’s wrist with a tap.
“Hic—”
The sensation of skin as cold as a corpse crawled up the princess’s spine, and just like that, the princess had no choice but to let terror take the reason she had been barely holding on to.
That was the princess’s final memory of that day.
*
“Aah—!! Aaaah—!!”
“I-It’s all right...! Her Majesty the Queen has no intention of harming you, Princess...!”
“Aah—!!”
I could only stare helplessly at the princess, who was hiding behind a tree and crying at the top of her lungs. If I took even one step closer, she didn’t cry “waaah,” but “aaah—!!” instead.
The only thing I could do was put more distance between us so the princess would cry even a little less. I had never imagined that the princess would be this afraid of Vivian...
Ellie was trying her best to soothe the princess, but...
With the tree between them, whenever Ellie circled to the left, the princess circled away from her, and since they only kept going round and round the tree, they couldn’t meet.
They circled so much that it was making me dizzy just watching.
“I didn’t know the princess hated Vivian this much...”
—It’s true that she dislikes her, but that’s fear. She must have seen what happened at the funeral hall...
“...So that’s it.”
Hearing Ainsel’s words made me remember the funeral hall. Come to think of it, when I woke up back then, the princess was right in front of me, wasn’t she...?
If she saw that, of course she’d be afraid.
I had intended to keep my distance from the princess from the start, but I hadn’t meant to distance myself in this way. Even if she stayed afraid of me like this and the distance between us grew wider, I personally wouldn’t mind at all, but...
“Go awaaay!! Aah!!!”
“P-Princess... but your palm is bleeding...! I’ll just treat the wound...! All right...?”
“Aah!!!!!!!”
At this rate, I started worrying that it might remain as trauma. They say trauma from childhood is difficult to heal even after becoming an adult...
I didn’t want to see the princess still afraid of me even after she grew up.
“...At the very least, I should get her to stop crying.”
—What? How? She screams like that if you get even a little close to her.
“There’s a way.”
I lowered my head, picked a small wildflower, and slipped it between my fingers. I had learned this as a hobby a long time ago, but would it still work now? I approached to just within the range where the princess wouldn’t scream and met her eyes.
When the princess realized I had come closer, she tensed up and hid behind the tree. She glared at me, as if threatening to burst into tears if I so much as came a little closer.
Regardless, I took out the flower I had just picked from my dress sleeve. The princess was watching me in silence, and thinking I could begin, I gave a small smile.
“Now, watch carefully.”
I held the flower the princess was staring at in my right hand. Then I flipped my hand over to show her the back of it and struck it against my left hand.
“Princess? Where do you think the flower is?”
“......”
The princess said nothing, and feeling awkward, I turned my gaze and asked Ellie instead. Ellie was also looking at me with curiosity.
“...Ellie? Where do you think the flower is?”
“Um... your left hand...?”
Ellie tilted her head and pointed to my left hand.
Perhaps she thought so because she had seen me pretend to strike my left hand earlier. I giggled, held my left hand out in front of Ellie, blew on it, and opened it.
But inside my hand, there was nothing—not even a flower.
“Huh? Then it must still be in your right hand...”
In the same way, I blew on my right hand and opened it in front of Ellie. But there was no flower in my right hand either.
“Wow!”
Ellie exclaimed in amazement and peered all over my palms.
Seeing Ellie’s reaction, I glanced sideways to check on the princess. At some point, the princess had poked only her upper body out from beside the tree, her eyes sparkling as she looked at me in wonder.
“Where did the flower go?”
“Watch closely and see where it is.”
Finally, I brought my right hand behind Ellie’s ear and pulled out the flower I had been holding between my index and middle fingers. When I gently tucked the flower behind Ellie’s ear, Ellie’s face flushed red, as if she found it fascinating.
“How is it? Isn’t it amazing?”
“I-It is amazing...”
The magic trick I had practiced out of boredom during my school days was quite well received. Rather than magic, it was closer to acting while keeping the flower tucked between my fingers, but since the reaction was this good, I found myself feeling pleased as well.
I picked another wildflower from the ground and slowly approached the princess.
Unlike before, she didn’t cry out with an “Aah—!” and was instead glancing up at me from time to time.
Half curiosity, half anxiety.
At the gaze she sent me with that feeling, I smiled brightly and performed the same magic trick as before for the princess. I held the picked flower between my fingers and acted so she wouldn’t notice.
If there was one thing a little different from the trick earlier...
When I tried to take the flower from behind the princess’s ear at the end, the princess raised her hand first and tapped her own ear to check.
She must have thought the flower would be at her ear, but...
“Huh...? It should be here...”
As if the flower would be there.
The princess looked up at me with round eyes, as if she couldn’t understand. That sight was so terribly cute that I smiled brightly and slipped my hand behind the princess’s ear.
“Here it is, see?”
When I tucked the flower into the princess’s ear, the princess looked at me with truly astonished eyes. As if she had completely forgotten that she had been crying earlier, she now threw a little tantrum, asking me to do it again.
“One more time! Just one more!”
Before I knew it, the princess had completely emerged from behind the tree and was clutching the hem of my dress. At the sight, I unconsciously stroked the princess’s head and smiled back at her just as brightly.
“How is it? You’re not scared anymore, are you?”