Episode 6: A Day of the Fake Crown Princess
Only the place had changed from the black house to the imperial palace. It was still hell. Inside that hell, Ranael was constantly busy. As soon as her conversation with the Crown Prince ended, she immediately called for the head maid.
“Greetings, Your Highness. My name is Helena Bornea.”
It was Countess Bornea. Ranael had seen her before in the palace personnel book that Duchess Chloe had shown her. Helena wore a slight smile, revealing no emotion at all. She looked every bit a noble.
“So you are the head maid?”
“Yes. I should have greeted you first. I apologize for making you call for me.”
After bowing politely, Helena lifted her gaze to examine the Crown Princess. Wearing a water colored dress that reached up to her neck, she was dazzlingly beautiful.
Contractor of the Spirit King. The only daughter of the Irves ducal house. Crown Princess of the Empire.
She carried many noble titles, but in the end, she was still just a woman who had only turned twenty and had spent her first night as a wife yesterday.
At least, that was how it should have been. But the blue eyes looking down at her were purer and more dignified than anyone Helena had ever seen. Helena lowered her eyes again.
“No, it was I who was impatient. I already have a personal maid I brought from the ducal house. Would it be all right to leave her in charge of me?”
Helena glanced at the red haired woman standing behind the Crown Princess.
“She must be someone she cherishes. She even brought her all the way to the palace.”
“I will handle it that way.”
“As for the other maids, I would like you to choose them. And I would like you to guide me around the palace.”
“Yes. I will guide you.”
The Crown Princess’s graceful voice echoed softly through the room. Helena replied respectfully.
With the head maid’s guidance, Ranael toured different parts of the imperial palace.
What caught her eye the most was the garden. Flowers in full bloom filled the air with dizzying fragrance. It was more splendid than anywhere else. The marble statues in the rear garden and the huge fountain that sprayed water into little rainbows were all things Ranael had never seen before.
The palace chapel decorated with stained glass was amazing, and so was the vast palace library, so large that she could not even see its end.
There were many luxurious items she had never seen even in the Irves ducal house. Still, it could not compare to the imperial palace.
If the tomboy Erna were here, she would surely be running around excitedly, shouting, “Sister, look at this! Hurry!”
The unfamiliar sights made Ranael’s heart flutter without her noticing. Over and over, she reminded herself.
“I am in hell.”
Until she could leave this hell with Erna, Ranael decided she would allow herself no emotions at all. When she thought food tasted good, she scolded herself until it hurt.
“Erna probably can’t even eat properly.”
If she lay down alone and accidentally fell asleep, the next day she would deliberately sleep on the floor without a blanket.
“Erna doesn’t even have a blanket.”
To never forget Erna, she willingly lived in hell. She kept tormenting herself. Only then did her heart feel a little calmer.
There was another reason she had asked the head maid to guide her through the palace. She needed to understand the palace layout.
She planned to memorize the structure first and later have Nahar gather information. In this palace, she could trust no one. She needed information. She needed weaknesses she could grab onto and use to control people.
Ranael’s blue eyes followed Helena’s guidance, looking calm on the surface. But inside her head, countless thoughts swirled chaotically.
No one could imagine it, looking at her peaceful and beautiful face.
All afternoon, Helena guided her from the Crown Prince’s residence to the rear garden. For a body already weakened by abuse and starvation in the black house, the schedule was far too demanding. Seeing Ranael break out in cold sweat, Helena gently suggested returning to her room.
“Shall we stop here for today?”
“Yes. That would be good.”
As the Crown Princess and her attendants were leaving the garden, a red bird suddenly flew up from a cluster of hydrangeas by a small pond.
The red bird, about the size of a child with a long trailing tail, shot sparks into the sky as it disappeared.
“What was that just now?”
“That was His Excellency Ash, the noble Fire Spirit King. It seems Lord Raynard is nearby.”
Helena answered calmly, as if it were a common occurrence. Aside from Nahar, this was the first time Ranael had seen the true form of another Spirit King. Unless great power was being used, Spirit Kings rarely revealed themselves. Just as Ranael was about to ask more, a voice came from the opposite path.
“Aren’t you my sister in law?”
It was the Second Prince, Raynard. He had shoulder length, flowing silver hair and ruby red eyes. Though he was sixteen, with the build of a grown man, his face still held the playful look of a boy.
A boy the same age as Erna. Another Spirit King contractor she was meeting for the first time. Seeing the Spirit King in bird form, just like her father’s, made Ranael’s blue eyes tremble. Of all the beautiful things she had seen that day, Raynard troubled her heart the most.
He looked nothing like his older brother, her fake husband. Instead, he resembled a face that suddenly surfaced in her mind, one she missed deeply. The boy from the forest cabin she had thought of when she saw Karsian’s red eyes.
A forgotten face appeared vividly before her. Her heart felt strangely ticklish.
“Greetings, Your Highness.”
Ranael quickly suppressed her feelings and bowed properly. Raynard smiled brightly. It was a boyish smile.
“We didn’t get to talk at the wedding yesterday. It’s nice to see you today. The weather was so nice that I summoned Ash to show him outside, but maybe he got upset when too many people showed up.”
Raynard had a good relationship with his spirit. Even though the Fire Spirit King disliked humans, he often revealed his form and spent time with him. That was why people in the palace knew what Ash looked like.
“If I had known you were here, I would have left. I apologize.”
Helena answered quickly.
“No, no. It was my fault for summoning him without checking. Were you taking a walk in the garden, Sister in law?”
“Yes. It’s my first time at the palace.”
Ranael looked at Raynard again. The son of the current Empress and the contractor of the Fire Spirit King. To place the Crown Prince on the throne, she would have to crush this boy. A chill spread through her chest.
The boy smiled innocently and stared at her.
“You really are beautiful, just like the rumors say. I’m jealous of my brother. Oh, I also heard that you are a contractor. I hope I can meet Lord Nahar someday too. Would that be rude to ask?”
“I’m sorry, Your Highness. Lord Nahar does not like to reveal himself.”
Raynard’s friendly attitude made Ranael feel as if she were pushing him away against her will. But this distance was necessary between them.
They were enemies who would someday point blades at each other.
Disappointment filled the boy’s eyes.
“Ah, I see. I made an unnecessary request.”
“No, Your Highness. I apologize, but I am not feeling well and was on my way back to my quarters. If it is not rude, may I excuse myself first?”
The sixteen year old boy remembered the maids gossiping about his brother’s first night and his face turned red.
“I wasn’t being considerate. Please go rest.”
“If we get the chance, I hope to see you again.”
Ranael parted without even leaving a polite invitation. There were too many things in this place that she must not grow attached to.
As she hurried out of the garden, she forced herself not to turn back and look at the boy again.
The moment she entered her room, she collapsed into a chair. Blea handed her the orange potion prescribed by the doctor from the ducal estate.
It was medicine meant to at least make her weakened body look presentable after her time in the black house. Ranael drank it silently.
“I heard that silver hair and red eyes are traits of the imperial family.”
While Blea stepped out briefly to fetch tea, Ranael spoke to Helena.
“Yes, that is correct, but…”
Helena thought of the Crown Prince, who was always suspected of his birth because of his black hair. She could not tell what political meaning might lie behind the Crown Princess’s question, so she answered carefully.
“Is there anyone in the imperial family around my age named Lucy?”
Caught off guard, Helena did not answer right away. She paused to think.
“Not among the imperial family that I know of. If they are from a distant branch, I may not know. If you wish, you could check the family records in the palace library.”
“No, it’s nothing.”
She missed an old friend who had suddenly come to mind, but she did not feel the need to search further. It was a memory she had forgotten for a long time anyway. The day had been far too long.
Still sitting in the chair, Ranael fell asleep.
