Although the war has begun, nothing of note has occurred within Loganfield, the capital of the powerful nation of Medea, until today.
The day began with an equally uneventful morning. Noah, as always, gently woke me up, having skipped breakfast and trying to sleep in. I washed up leisurely and was led by Noah down to the dining room for a breakfast of potato soup and egg salad on a brioche bun. The only change was the empty seat of the old man, who had been sitting with a newspaper upside down, eating his soup with a fork. I had no doubt that I would see off this uneventful day and face tomorrow.
A surprise arose in this ordinary routine. Baron Mason suddenly appeared, delivering royal orders for us to enter the palace immediately. Over the shoulder of the Baron, dressed in his knightly uniform, I saw a line of knights standing neatly in a single line. I felt surrounded by them. The sight of them, clad in white uniforms and standing like expressionless toy soldiers, was unsettling, almost ominous.
“What’s going on?”
In response to my question, Baron Mason gently stroked the nape of Boaz's neck as he greeted him.
"It's a royal order. You must remain at the palace for the time being. We will provide you with the necessary supplies from the royal budget, so please prepare simply. Oh, and you may bring your dog. Her Majesty is a dog lover, so I'm sure she'll appreciate it."
She didn't give me a specific reason. I slowly turned my gaze and saw a white car emblazoned with the royal crest parked behind the knights. Noah, despite his calm demeanor, covered up my faint anxiety with a gentle smile and took my hand.
“It’s okay, I’ll be with you.”
Last spring, I fed and cared for a stray cat that had given birth to kittens. After the kittens were weaned, their fur was as fluffy as dandelions, and they were walking gracefully, someone, mistakenly believing they'd been abandoned while their mother was out hunting, took them all away. The mother cat, perhaps thinking I'd taken them, looked at me with a resentful look in her eyes, arching her back and hissing fiercely. Janet, sitting across from me now, looks at me with the same resentment.
I'd already heard that Celine's sudden tragedy had caused a devastated Janet to reveal all my secrets in a quest for revenge. I didn't know the target or the details, but the fact that she'd revealed that I was the true Princess for revenge was deeply resentful. But I didn't say anything. Her face, her back against the dark wall, her piercing face, her venomous eyes glared at me with a ferocity.
Without even knowing why, I was sitting across from her in the visiting room at the Security Bureau, where she was being interrogated, completely exposed to that ferocious gaze. Janet's face, which I remembered as kind and gentle, was now twisted into a frown, and her disheveled hair had turned white, giving her the appearance of a banshee, a legendary fairy from some land. Her eyes, wide open and filled with all the rage in the world, were bloodshot and veined.
“Little Miss and Miss Celine are like daughters to me.”
"Yes."
“Do you happen to know the details of how she died?”
“I only heard that she died in an air raid.”
"She suffered burns all over her body. Her legs were amputated, her head was shattered, her organs ruptured, and her ears and eyes were blinded. I would have preferred instant death, but she endured that condition for a full day. Can you even begin to fathom the pain..."
Janet's words stuttered, as if each word was a burden, and her entire body trembled like a madwoman. I watched her gasp for breath and suffer, then closed my eyes and sighed.
Even though a woman named Celine and I once hated and fought with others, I could not remain indifferent to such a brutal death.
"It must have been an unimaginable pain for her. I feel bad."
She beat her chest hard and cried so hard that she was spitting out blood.
"Why, why didn't you help her! I asked for your help so desperately! Even though they were trying to kill Lieutenant Colonel Groenendaal, who was helping you! She went to rescue him herself and died so miserably!"
“Celine herself...?”
"I've asked for help countless times! It won't be long before the Admiral kills the Lieutenant Colonel!"
She tried to kill the lieutenant colonel first, and then asked for help countless times. I looked at her in bewilderment. I hadn't heard a story like that since the first newspaper serialized it.
Noah seemed to have deliberately kept it from telling me. I lowered my gaze, feeling regretful. If he had told me everything straight away and let me know, would I have actively supported Celine and Lieutenant Colonel Groenendaal's defection?
No, even so, I wouldn't have helped. Janet's brow furrowed darkly as I remained silent.
"I must bring Admiral Winston Clare to justice. That's why I revealed that you are the true Princess."
“That could be true. If it was going to happen that way, I’ll accept it.”
"If only the young lady had thought a little more, this wouldn't have happened. It's all about karma."
“What goes around comes around.”
I understood her burning emotions and tried to be as accepting as possible, but I couldn't stand the way she vented her anger, blaming me for everything and blaming me. My mind twisted, and a chuckle escaped me without me realizing it.
Celine was unaware of her own wrongdoing and never apologized. The original Diana lived a miserable life, falsely accused, and ended her life in vain.
I simply accepted that worthless, worthless life, surviving countless near-death experiences. I had more important things to worry about, so I had no reason to embrace the risks of helping others.
Unless it's a utopian ending where the Admiral and Celine, with my forgiveness and good help as a mere scapegoat, are enlightened and reformed, and the Queen, the Emperor, and everyone else in the world is moved to tears, and humanity achieves unity, stops the war, and everyone lives happily ever after.
"Celine received the karma. If she had shown even a shred of affection by helping her sister through her misfortune, my thoughts would have changed, and Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Groenendael wouldn't have turned a blind eye to her feelings. Am I wrong?"
"The little lady must have been very angry with her. Still, why didn't you show her kind mercy and help her just this once? If you had..."
Tears streamed down Janet's cheeks. I lifted my chin and took her in stride.
"I've tolerated her hundreds of times, only to turn a blind eye once. I've never bothered to repay her. On the contrary, I've left Celine alone until now, and now I can't understand why you're blaming me. You said Celine was like a daughter to you, didn't you?"
“That’s right. I don’t think you can understand how it feels to lose a daughter.”
They say the most pitiful and pitiful thing in the world is oneself. In the mirror on the gray wall directly opposite me, a cold-faced, jet-black, short-haired woman with gray-green eyes was reflected. From my perspective, that gloomy woman, Diana, who no one cared about and who had no value, was the most pitiful. Before meeting Noah, the only one who had stood by Diana's side and tried to save her was I, awakened from her perspective.
"Then you should have taught her properly. Not just played with dolls to make her pretty."
I plunged a sharp dagger of criticism into Janet's heart. Her empty gaze, her wandering eyes, and her expression were frozen like a river in the bitter cold. With the secret of my birth revealed, my situation was on the verge of deteriorating, and I had no more grudge left to tolerate further resentment and one-sided blame. I felt I needed to speak to someone so driven by subjective emotions that I felt I could only feel better.
“Have you ever thought what would happen if it were discovered that I am a Princess?”
"You mean your married life, Miss? I can't understand why you traded that for the lives of your family. That's why I'm so angry."
I looked around, then leaned in with my pale face and whispered softly so only she could hear.
"If that were all, I would have thought about it. I am the Queen's irrevocable mistake, an unacceptable past. I am a shameful being with a fatal flaw that threatens to undermine the authority and status of the royal family. I am a mixed-race illegitimate child, and I even married a high-ranking military officer from a war criminal nation branded internationally. In these chaotic times, will it be quicker for me to be recognized as a Princess, or will it be quicker to bury the truth?"
“...”
"You tried to spread the word through the media first, but it didn't work out, did it? Unlike Belford, here, the royal authority is strong and controls the central government."
Janet kept her mouth shut. Her throat throbbed loudly as she swallowed. Judging by her reaction, my words seemed to be roughly correct. I lowered my voice so that even she could barely hear.
"It's more likely they'll kill us and bury us with the truth. You included."
Janet's eyes, which had been limp and relaxed, widened in shock, as if she hadn't thought about it. Her gaze gradually dropped, and she looked down at her own hands, clasped tightly together. Her wrinkled hands were trembling faintly.
"Janet, why didn't you show me mercy and patience? Cause and effect are the same for everyone."
I leaned back lazily on the metal chair, asking a meaningless question. My arms, completely drained of strength, dropped. Perhaps I was resigned. I had requested the Harrison family's cooperation in examining the handwriting of the memorandum allegedly written by the Duchess of Groenendael, but who knows what blind truth it might disguise. This world doesn't accept correct teachings. Even if I tried to escape, the Great War had begun, and all but military routes were closed. I would be trapped on this island, helpless and doomed to die as an unfit heir to the throne.
“I didn’t think of that because I heard that Queen Medea was a praised saint.”
"Well, your choice could cost many lives. The Harrison family, the Groenendaal family, and, even more broadly, the war between Belford and Medea."
“...Are you saying my choice was wrong?”
"If it was just a personal venting, it was a huge success. Everyone got in trouble, just as you wanted. Oh, and there's something else I wanted to ask."
I sat up straight, my chin resting on my chest.
“If I had died first, would you have personally carried out that kind of karmic judgment?”
She said she thought of Celine and me as her own daughters. But I suspect the amount and type of affection she shared varied. Janet clearly felt a greater affection for Celine than for me. It was a strong maternal bond, one she had nurtured by rescuing her from the arms of a woman who had committed suicide and then taking her into Admiral Claire's mansion.
"Janet, I think what you had for me was a basic human compassion. Of course, that compassion saved my life, so I'm grateful."
She groaned briefly, as if in pain, and lowered her head. Her gaze, which had been rapidly slanted, slowly turned to me. Janet, who had come here with her life at stake on that one secret, asked in a resigned voice.
“Do you blame me?”
“Well, what good is that now?”
I stood up and smiled kindly at Janet, intending to end the conversation.
"Each of us must survive this hell on our own. From now on, you and I are complete strangers."
At the same time, Noah was meeting privately with Queen Grace II in the palace's audience room. Dressed in her usual royal blue satin dress, the Queen's face appeared even colder and paler than usual.
The claim that Diana was the real Princess, and that the admiral, out of spite, had swapped her with Elita, a child from the slums, was entirely false and possibly part of Noah's plan. But it's unlikely he would have sacrificed so much of his wealth and possessions to rescue Diana for a single, likely-to-be-covered lie. It would be irrational and costly, risking his life. The worried Queen spoke up.
“Noah, was the reason you betrayed Frogen and risked your life to come to Medea because Diana was the real Princess?”
Noah nodded with a faint smile on his lips.
“I promised, didn’t I? I’d become a knight and protect the princess.”
The Queen remembered the words of his former child, Noah, who had expressed great disappointment when he saw the newborn baby.
“She's not a Princess.”
The day began with an equally uneventful morning. Noah, as always, gently woke me up, having skipped breakfast and trying to sleep in. I washed up leisurely and was led by Noah down to the dining room for a breakfast of potato soup and egg salad on a brioche bun. The only change was the empty seat of the old man, who had been sitting with a newspaper upside down, eating his soup with a fork. I had no doubt that I would see off this uneventful day and face tomorrow.
A surprise arose in this ordinary routine. Baron Mason suddenly appeared, delivering royal orders for us to enter the palace immediately. Over the shoulder of the Baron, dressed in his knightly uniform, I saw a line of knights standing neatly in a single line. I felt surrounded by them. The sight of them, clad in white uniforms and standing like expressionless toy soldiers, was unsettling, almost ominous.
“What’s going on?”
In response to my question, Baron Mason gently stroked the nape of Boaz's neck as he greeted him.
"It's a royal order. You must remain at the palace for the time being. We will provide you with the necessary supplies from the royal budget, so please prepare simply. Oh, and you may bring your dog. Her Majesty is a dog lover, so I'm sure she'll appreciate it."
She didn't give me a specific reason. I slowly turned my gaze and saw a white car emblazoned with the royal crest parked behind the knights. Noah, despite his calm demeanor, covered up my faint anxiety with a gentle smile and took my hand.
“It’s okay, I’ll be with you.”
***
Last spring, I fed and cared for a stray cat that had given birth to kittens. After the kittens were weaned, their fur was as fluffy as dandelions, and they were walking gracefully, someone, mistakenly believing they'd been abandoned while their mother was out hunting, took them all away. The mother cat, perhaps thinking I'd taken them, looked at me with a resentful look in her eyes, arching her back and hissing fiercely. Janet, sitting across from me now, looks at me with the same resentment.
I'd already heard that Celine's sudden tragedy had caused a devastated Janet to reveal all my secrets in a quest for revenge. I didn't know the target or the details, but the fact that she'd revealed that I was the true Princess for revenge was deeply resentful. But I didn't say anything. Her face, her back against the dark wall, her piercing face, her venomous eyes glared at me with a ferocity.
Without even knowing why, I was sitting across from her in the visiting room at the Security Bureau, where she was being interrogated, completely exposed to that ferocious gaze. Janet's face, which I remembered as kind and gentle, was now twisted into a frown, and her disheveled hair had turned white, giving her the appearance of a banshee, a legendary fairy from some land. Her eyes, wide open and filled with all the rage in the world, were bloodshot and veined.
“Little Miss and Miss Celine are like daughters to me.”
"Yes."
“Do you happen to know the details of how she died?”
“I only heard that she died in an air raid.”
"She suffered burns all over her body. Her legs were amputated, her head was shattered, her organs ruptured, and her ears and eyes were blinded. I would have preferred instant death, but she endured that condition for a full day. Can you even begin to fathom the pain..."
Janet's words stuttered, as if each word was a burden, and her entire body trembled like a madwoman. I watched her gasp for breath and suffer, then closed my eyes and sighed.
Even though a woman named Celine and I once hated and fought with others, I could not remain indifferent to such a brutal death.
"It must have been an unimaginable pain for her. I feel bad."
She beat her chest hard and cried so hard that she was spitting out blood.
"Why, why didn't you help her! I asked for your help so desperately! Even though they were trying to kill Lieutenant Colonel Groenendaal, who was helping you! She went to rescue him herself and died so miserably!"
“Celine herself...?”
"I've asked for help countless times! It won't be long before the Admiral kills the Lieutenant Colonel!"
She tried to kill the lieutenant colonel first, and then asked for help countless times. I looked at her in bewilderment. I hadn't heard a story like that since the first newspaper serialized it.
Noah seemed to have deliberately kept it from telling me. I lowered my gaze, feeling regretful. If he had told me everything straight away and let me know, would I have actively supported Celine and Lieutenant Colonel Groenendaal's defection?
No, even so, I wouldn't have helped. Janet's brow furrowed darkly as I remained silent.
"I must bring Admiral Winston Clare to justice. That's why I revealed that you are the true Princess."
“That could be true. If it was going to happen that way, I’ll accept it.”
"If only the young lady had thought a little more, this wouldn't have happened. It's all about karma."
“What goes around comes around.”
I understood her burning emotions and tried to be as accepting as possible, but I couldn't stand the way she vented her anger, blaming me for everything and blaming me. My mind twisted, and a chuckle escaped me without me realizing it.
Celine was unaware of her own wrongdoing and never apologized. The original Diana lived a miserable life, falsely accused, and ended her life in vain.
I simply accepted that worthless, worthless life, surviving countless near-death experiences. I had more important things to worry about, so I had no reason to embrace the risks of helping others.
Unless it's a utopian ending where the Admiral and Celine, with my forgiveness and good help as a mere scapegoat, are enlightened and reformed, and the Queen, the Emperor, and everyone else in the world is moved to tears, and humanity achieves unity, stops the war, and everyone lives happily ever after.
"Celine received the karma. If she had shown even a shred of affection by helping her sister through her misfortune, my thoughts would have changed, and Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Groenendael wouldn't have turned a blind eye to her feelings. Am I wrong?"
"The little lady must have been very angry with her. Still, why didn't you show her kind mercy and help her just this once? If you had..."
Tears streamed down Janet's cheeks. I lifted my chin and took her in stride.
"I've tolerated her hundreds of times, only to turn a blind eye once. I've never bothered to repay her. On the contrary, I've left Celine alone until now, and now I can't understand why you're blaming me. You said Celine was like a daughter to you, didn't you?"
“That’s right. I don’t think you can understand how it feels to lose a daughter.”
They say the most pitiful and pitiful thing in the world is oneself. In the mirror on the gray wall directly opposite me, a cold-faced, jet-black, short-haired woman with gray-green eyes was reflected. From my perspective, that gloomy woman, Diana, who no one cared about and who had no value, was the most pitiful. Before meeting Noah, the only one who had stood by Diana's side and tried to save her was I, awakened from her perspective.
"Then you should have taught her properly. Not just played with dolls to make her pretty."
I plunged a sharp dagger of criticism into Janet's heart. Her empty gaze, her wandering eyes, and her expression were frozen like a river in the bitter cold. With the secret of my birth revealed, my situation was on the verge of deteriorating, and I had no more grudge left to tolerate further resentment and one-sided blame. I felt I needed to speak to someone so driven by subjective emotions that I felt I could only feel better.
“Have you ever thought what would happen if it were discovered that I am a Princess?”
"You mean your married life, Miss? I can't understand why you traded that for the lives of your family. That's why I'm so angry."
I looked around, then leaned in with my pale face and whispered softly so only she could hear.
"If that were all, I would have thought about it. I am the Queen's irrevocable mistake, an unacceptable past. I am a shameful being with a fatal flaw that threatens to undermine the authority and status of the royal family. I am a mixed-race illegitimate child, and I even married a high-ranking military officer from a war criminal nation branded internationally. In these chaotic times, will it be quicker for me to be recognized as a Princess, or will it be quicker to bury the truth?"
“...”
"You tried to spread the word through the media first, but it didn't work out, did it? Unlike Belford, here, the royal authority is strong and controls the central government."
Janet kept her mouth shut. Her throat throbbed loudly as she swallowed. Judging by her reaction, my words seemed to be roughly correct. I lowered my voice so that even she could barely hear.
"It's more likely they'll kill us and bury us with the truth. You included."
Janet's eyes, which had been limp and relaxed, widened in shock, as if she hadn't thought about it. Her gaze gradually dropped, and she looked down at her own hands, clasped tightly together. Her wrinkled hands were trembling faintly.
"Janet, why didn't you show me mercy and patience? Cause and effect are the same for everyone."
I leaned back lazily on the metal chair, asking a meaningless question. My arms, completely drained of strength, dropped. Perhaps I was resigned. I had requested the Harrison family's cooperation in examining the handwriting of the memorandum allegedly written by the Duchess of Groenendael, but who knows what blind truth it might disguise. This world doesn't accept correct teachings. Even if I tried to escape, the Great War had begun, and all but military routes were closed. I would be trapped on this island, helpless and doomed to die as an unfit heir to the throne.
“I didn’t think of that because I heard that Queen Medea was a praised saint.”
"Well, your choice could cost many lives. The Harrison family, the Groenendaal family, and, even more broadly, the war between Belford and Medea."
“...Are you saying my choice was wrong?”
"If it was just a personal venting, it was a huge success. Everyone got in trouble, just as you wanted. Oh, and there's something else I wanted to ask."
I sat up straight, my chin resting on my chest.
“If I had died first, would you have personally carried out that kind of karmic judgment?”
She said she thought of Celine and me as her own daughters. But I suspect the amount and type of affection she shared varied. Janet clearly felt a greater affection for Celine than for me. It was a strong maternal bond, one she had nurtured by rescuing her from the arms of a woman who had committed suicide and then taking her into Admiral Claire's mansion.
"Janet, I think what you had for me was a basic human compassion. Of course, that compassion saved my life, so I'm grateful."
She groaned briefly, as if in pain, and lowered her head. Her gaze, which had been rapidly slanted, slowly turned to me. Janet, who had come here with her life at stake on that one secret, asked in a resigned voice.
“Do you blame me?”
“Well, what good is that now?”
I stood up and smiled kindly at Janet, intending to end the conversation.
"Each of us must survive this hell on our own. From now on, you and I are complete strangers."
***
At the same time, Noah was meeting privately with Queen Grace II in the palace's audience room. Dressed in her usual royal blue satin dress, the Queen's face appeared even colder and paler than usual.
The claim that Diana was the real Princess, and that the admiral, out of spite, had swapped her with Elita, a child from the slums, was entirely false and possibly part of Noah's plan. But it's unlikely he would have sacrificed so much of his wealth and possessions to rescue Diana for a single, likely-to-be-covered lie. It would be irrational and costly, risking his life. The worried Queen spoke up.
“Noah, was the reason you betrayed Frogen and risked your life to come to Medea because Diana was the real Princess?”
Noah nodded with a faint smile on his lips.
“I promised, didn’t I? I’d become a knight and protect the princess.”
The Queen remembered the words of his former child, Noah, who had expressed great disappointment when he saw the newborn baby.
“She's not a Princess.”
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