CHAPTER 70……………………….
: The Created Prophecy
With my face pale and drained, I stepped out of the cave. Mick quietly mounted Hyeolpoong with me in front and rode steadily toward Malrau Castle. Behind us, Shine’s voice called out:
“Wait a moment! Do you even know the way??”
Worried that we might get lost on the unfamiliar path, Shine followed, but Mick ignored him and continued to increase his speed.
Even though I was safely held in his arms, I couldn’t hide my shivering.
Fortunately, Mick didn’t ask a single question. He simply pulled me closer with one arm while urging Hyeolpoong faster. Thanks to Mick’s excellent sense of direction, we arrived safely at Malrau Castle without getting lost.
“Mickrok Your Highness, Queen Your Highness, what happened?”
Ralph was surprised to see us return earlier than expected. Seeing Mick and me riding side by side on Hyeolpoong, he seemed to sense that something had happened.
“Ralph, take care of Hyeolpoong.”
Mick quickly dismounted, took me into his arms, and headed straight for our lodging.
He gently laid me on the bed, covered me with a blanket, and sat beside me, holding my hand tightly. Slowly, my trembling subsided, and my mind began to calm.
“It’s okay now. Everything’s fine, Leia.”
“Mick…”
I slowly opened my eyes and reached out, clutching his sleeve tightly.
“Leia, what happened in the cave?”
“…I saw visions of my parents there.”
“Visions?”
He looked at me with slight surprise.
“Sometimes, events from the unknown past or future suddenly appear before my eyes.”
“You saw not just your mother but also Marquis Uzcal? That’s why you were so shocked?”
“The man with my mother… was not Marquis Uzcal.”
“???”
“I only saw his back, but he had platinum hair like mine.”
Mick looked at me with a serious expression.
“Can you be certain he was your father?”
“My mother in the vision smiled and said, ‘Our daughter has beautiful hair just like you.’”
Seeing my mother with a man who wasn’t Marquis Uzcal inside the cave was shocking enough, but her words threw me into even greater confusion.
‘Our daughter has beautiful hair just like you’!
Mick also looked deeply puzzled.
“You said the man had platinum hair like yours? Then he must have been Malrau?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Why not?”
“His ears… they were different. Not the pointed ears of a demon, but rounded like a human’s.”
“Hmm…”
Mick frowned deeply, lost in thought. Then he seemed to remember something and turned to look at me.
“Could it be…”
“Yes?”
“The place where the two were in the vision—was it inside that cave?”
“Yes.”
“Remember what the Malrau king said yesterday? That once, many humans tried to steal the Silverberry.”
I remembered that as well.
“Could it be that my mother and that man also came to Geupa Forest to steal the Silverberry?”
“If the vision showed past events, that seems highly possible.”
“Besides the Malrau, where else could there be a person with platinum hair?”
“We can find out quickly if we investigate.”
I sat up on the bed, straightened my posture, and held Mick’s hand firmly.
“Mick, I think we need to visit the Harun Empire soon.”
“Hmm…”
“I need to meet Marquis Uzcal and confirm. If he really isn’t my father, I want to ask why he took me in, what my mother’s relationship with him was, who my real father is—there are too many questions I need answers to.”
Mick didn’t immediately respond, as if uncomfortable with me going to Harun personally.
“I also need to learn about my mother. Come to think of it, I know nothing about her. Who was she really?”
“You don’t need to go yourself; you could send someone to find out.”
“I don’t want to leave it to someone else. Honestly, Mick, I don’t know who I am right now. Everything is so confusing.”
I felt a deep turmoil realizing that everything I thought was my roots could have been a lie.
Seeing me like that, Mick silently held me in his arms. His large hands gently patted my shoulders, and his warm lips touched my forehead.
“Whoever your parents are, it doesn’t matter. You are my wife and the Queen of Preetan—that is who you are now.”
He pressed his lips to mine once more.
“But if you want, we can go to Harun together. Let’s go and find out everything we want to know.”
“Really, you’ll come with me?”
“Of course. Being apart from you is unbearable now. I’ll stick with you wherever we go.”
“Duke Zenon might oppose it.”
“Better than going off to war,” he replied casually, as if Duke Zenon’s objection was trivial.
“Once we reach Preetan Castle, we’ll handle urgent matters quickly and then head straight to Harun. Honestly, I’m curious too—your father and mother. What kind of people gave birth to such a lovely daughter?”
“Thank you, Mick.”
“Just words?”
I grabbed his cheeks with both hands and planted a stormy kiss on him, as he often did to me playfully.
He pulled me close by the waist, while I wriggled like I usually do, trying to prevent my lips from touching his.
“Mick, stay still a moment!”
I tightened my grip on his cheeks, and finally he burst out laughing. When our eyes met, I couldn’t help but laugh too.
Suddenly, he shifted his weight toward me. We tumbled onto the bed, clinging to each other and laughing for a long time.
At that moment, a knock came, and Millie and William rushed in. They seemed startled to hear we had returned earlier than expected.
“Your Highness, Queen, are you okay??”
“Yes, I’m fine…”
I tried to straighten up to reassure the worried Millie, but when I saw her, I was speechless.
Her long hair was disheveled as if hastily adjusted, and her lipstick was smudged around her mouth—and judging by the color on William’s lips, we had interrupted an important moment between them.
Suppressing a smile, I quickly looked away.
“Hmm… I’m fine, so don’t worry.”
“We’ll return to Preetan Castle tomorrow. Will, tell everyone to prepare.”
Mick gave William instructions, trying hard not to tease him.
“Yes, I’ll inform the knights immediately.”
Seeing William respond seriously without realizing the situation, I took out a handkerchief and whispered to Millie:
“Tell Sir William to wipe his lips before meeting the others.”
Millie, confused at first, saw William’s face and blushed deeply.
“I’ll hurry preparations for our return.”
Millie grabbed the edge of William’s sleeve and dragged him out quickly. Mick and I laughed at the sight of tiny Millie moving William, who was about three times her size, with just her fingertips.
“She’s got him completely wrapped around her little finger already. Soon, there’ll be a husband even more whipped than Duke Zenon.”
“Heh, can anyone be more than Your Highness Mickrok?”
“Me? No way.”
“‘No way’ my foot.”
“I said no.”
He insisted, tackled me back onto the bed, and cruelly began tickling me.
“Ah, Mick!! Not there. It’s too, too ticklish!!”
“Then tickle me too if you’re unhappy.”
“Don’t!!”
I struggled with him on the bed like that until dinner was announced.
Meanwhile, while Leia wrestled with confusion about her identity, the Malrau King, having met Shine and Julmon, was also deeply concerned.
“Grandmother Eva sensed something about Queen Leia the moment she saw her.”
“Hmm…”
Just as expected, it seemed. Aside from her platinum hair, Leia Queen shared no connection with Clemens—so why did the image of Clemens come to mind?
‘Unfortunately, I do not resemble either of them. My father, Marquis Uzcal, has brown hair, and my mother had beautiful golden hair.’
Leia had said this at the last dinner party. If that were true, she and Clemens should be unrelated. Yet the Malrau King’s sensitive instincts reacted as if there were a deep connection.
Then Shine spoke quietly.
“I heard the story of why Eva lost her sight. After Clemens’ death, she pleaded for his pardon, and the priestess made her blind. What exactly happened then?”
The King frowned slightly, looking uneasy.
“At that time, I was wandering the outskirts, so I didn’t know the details. With the heir present, most of the half-siblings were assigned to the outskirts.”
Upon hearing of trouble with Clemens, he had rushed to see his mother, the former priestess.
Within the tribe, a power struggle among siblings for the next chieftain had begun. With his mother’s help, he resolved the chaos and secured the position of chieftain.
Later, he asked his mother, the central figure in the incident, about what happened to Clemens.
“Clemens broke the sacred prophecy and helped a human escape who had come to steal the Silverberry. He was struck down by the temple guards.”
She recited the events calmly.
“You mean the prophecy that if Silverberry fell into human hands, the Malrau would be annihilated?”
“Yes.”
“The one who delivered that prophecy was your mother, correct?”
He glared sharply at his mother, the tribal priestess, but she remained unshaken.
“The prophecy is sacred. Even the chieftain cannot defy it.”
“What did you do to my brother?”
Trembling, he asked. She looked him directly in the eyes.
“I saw the future. You wearing the golden crown, proudly declaring your kingdom.”
“…And?”
“I also saw Clemens helping the thief who came to steal the Silverberry.”
“You knew my brother would help the thief and created a false prophecy? The Silverberry and the Malrau’s safety had nothing to do with it!”
“I only hastened what was already decided in the future.”
When he looked in shock, the priestess had returned to her expressionless face.
“I am entering prayers for the next chieftain now. You must do what you are meant to do.”
Following his mother’s prophecy, he finally proclaimed his kingdom. Sometimes he wondered whether he was following a predetermined fate or making the prophecy come true by his own power.
Even to his daughter, the Malrau King could not reveal his conversations with his mother. No matter how much he loved his brother, in the end, he had taken his brother’s place and concealed the cause of death, making him nothing but a treacherous younger brother.
