Episode 12
She definitely seemed to know Iraneria, but I couldn’t guess what kind of relationship they had.
I put together his friendly attitude with the personality and behavior of Iraneria that I’d heard about. Then, skipping the obvious polite small talk I knew would produce no useful answer, I shoved him aside and asked bluntly.
“When did you get here?”
“Why? Were you having secret talks with Kynesia?”
What—this guy. He shots back a question when an adult asks him something? Ah—right now I’m not an adult. Then again, the princess is asking him, so where does he get off being cheeky?
When I glared at him, he snickered.
“All right, all right. I’ll answer.”
He bent a knee to match my eye level and then stuck out his cheek without further preamble.
“On the condition of a kiss.”
Is he crazy?
“Or should I do it myself?”
Yeah, definitely crazy.
I didn’t waste time. If he planned to blackmail me with whatever he’d heard, he could follow and say what he wanted. I had no intention of complying.
I didn’t mind if he spread gossip—who’d believe something about a switched soul, anyway?
I started walking. His voice followed.
“Aren’t you curious what I heard?”
Not at all.
“Princess, wait a sec.”
He suddenly tried to act serious and called after me.
What a con. Does he think I’ll turn back because he put on an act?
I snorted and kept going, but the boy who had been trailing behind suddenly darted past me and blocked my way.
“What’s with your face?”
Hadn’t he seen Kynesia and I fight like dogs?
If it got out that I’d roughed up the young envoy from Paradon, it would be troublesome in many ways, so I kept my mouth shut.
Then he thrust his face close to mine.
‘How dare he be so disrespectful—’
As I moved to shove him aside, the playful expression on the boy’s face vanished.
A pale, serene anger settled over his beautiful face. Moonlight reflected in his pale-blue-violet eyes; it felt like staring into an animal’s eyes.
“Is that what Kynesia was like?”
The boy stroked my cheek with a cautious hand. The wound from the Paradon prince’s hit was worse than I’d thought—just the slightest touch hurt.
I frowned and turned my head away; the boy laid a hand on my shoulder.
“Tell me. Was it Kynesia who did this?”
This lunatic keeps talking nonsense the more I hear him.
I gave him a light smack on the forehead—his expression went wide and he stepped back.
“Do I look like someone who’d get hit by her?”
Only when I scolded him did the boy laugh again.
“Ouch.”
He rubbed his forehead in an overly theatrical wounded voice, which annoyed me.
“Is Kynesia your friend? What’s the princess’s name—”
“Yes.”
“You call her a friend casually?”
“Kynesia and I—Ponent. The three of us are inseparable friends.”
I felt embarrassed and, without thinking, smacked his forehead again.
The boy looked at me as if wronged. With that mischievous look in his eyes, I felt zero remorse.
“Then go check on your friend.”
I started walking again; I felt him following but ignored it and went inside.
As soon as I entered, a maid looked like she’d seen a ghost. If you touched her, she seemed like she’d scream.
Before the maid could raise an alarm I quickly explained.
“She slipped on the stairs and hurt her cheek. Don’t make a fuss.”
“How could you hurt your cheek on the stairs…?”
The maid glanced incredulously at the boy who’d been standing behind me.
“Prince Logriye Amir is also here. …No way.”
Ah—so that’s his name: Logriye Amir.
‘Amir…’
Since I’d never heard the family name before, maybe he’d been granted a title after I died.
I finished that brief thought and looked back at the maid.
If I nodded even a little she’d run straight to Luxor.
So instead of nodding, I pointed to the banister with my index finger.
“I hit the banister ornament.”
Following my finger, the maid turned her head. On the end of the banister there was a round ornament sticking out like a fist.
The maid immediately became polite and calm; her voice showed sympathy.
“Shall I call the court physician?”
“For something like this? No. I want to wash up—prepare the bathwater.”
“Yes, Princess.”
The maid hurried up the stairs.
Watching her walk away made me feel strange all over again.
When I was a princess, servants wouldn’t dare speak to me like that.
Maybe because the king’s gone senile, the court’s atmosphere followed the habits of the royal couple.
‘Interesting.’
As I put my foot on the stairs, Logriye moved at the same time.
“Logriye Amir.”
“Hm?”
“Are you planning to follow me? You’ll probably come right into the bathroom.”
“May I?”
“Can you?”
I lifted my fist slightly; he stepped back and gave an exaggerated pouty smile.
“All right.”
Then, like a stage actor, he bowed with theatrical flourish.
“Then I shall, by your command, go look after our friend. Have a pleasant night.”
“Fine. Go.”
I played along to send him away quickly; he burst out laughing and waved.
I didn’t wave back—I simply watched him until he turned and disappeared.
What a strange guy.
My stomach felt even more tired; I wanted to rest as soon as possible.
I went in, washed, and changed clothes.
While being attended, I idly scanned the room and noticed something I hadn’t seen before on the nightstand.
“What’s that?”
Dora, who was dressing me, followed my finger.
“I haven’t seen that before. Shall I bring it?”
“No, leave it. Go out.”
I sent Dora away and approached the suspicious jar.
I nudged it gently and found a note tucked beneath it.
[With love and concern, R]
‘R’… Could it be Logriye’s ‘R’?
Out of habit I burned the note and then stared at the jar.
Inside was an ointment.
I scooped a tiny amount with my fingernail and rubbed it on the inside of my wrist. Nothing odd happened after a little while.
But I felt something familiar from where the ointment had been absorbed.
‘This is medicine imbued with holy power.’
No need to worry about poison—holy power includes detoxifying properties.
If the king and queen found my wound, it would only bring trouble; this was fortunate.
‘He’s got some sense.’
I applied a generous amount to the injury and the pain subsided quickly.
I closed the jar after staring at the half-used ointment, then a thought of Kynesia popped into my head. She must be as messy as I was, right?
“Hmm.”
I crossed my arms and mulled it over, then called Dora and handed the ointment to her.
“Give this to Kynesia.”
Kynesia didn’t leave her seat until Iraneria disappeared.
She didn’t want anyone to see how ragged she looked or to cause worry, so she sneaked back to her room.
Her whole body ached and fatigue washed over her.
Totally exhausted, she collapsed on the sofa and stared at the ceiling.
‘Will she be okay?’
The Paradon prince she’d been crying over flashed through her mind—satisfying and yet somehow unsettling.
In truth, her cowardly voice still whispered that it wasn’t too late; she could go on her knees, beg, and avoid trouble. That would spare her pain.
But Kynesia shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut.
‘I’ll never live groveling again.’
She recalled the humiliating days she’d endured for three years.
Whenever Epiphanes came, Yorgos Katellako, the Paradon prince, would vent his anger by tormenting Ponent.
Ponent feared Yorgos’ authority.
“Diplomatic exchanges will have to happen…” Luxor began solemnly, and Ponent shut his eyes tight.
Seeing that, Kynesia volunteered without hesitation.
“I’ll go.”
“No, Kynesha. I— I will go.”
“I’m fine, Ponent. I’ll go.”
Because she hadn’t been the one directly targeted, Kynesia didn’t fully understand the extent of Yorgos’ tyranny.
Going unprepared, life in Paradon was worse than she’d imagined.
Though she lived among Paradon’s royalty and nobles, she was not treated as an equal.
The bed was hard and too small, her feet stuck out.
In sword training they would keep her in one pose for hours under the pretext of correcting her stance.
They would trip her in the middle of a step or deliberately break items she’d brought from Epiphanes.
She had resisted before.
She had shouted and fought back, but the worse she resisted, the harsher the bullying became.
“If you tell anyone, who will be on your side here?”
“Do you think our empire truly wants exchanges with a country like Epiphanes? They take care of you because they feel sorry for you.”
Having always been surrounded by kindness, Kynesia no longer believed that.
She thought someone, someone with a kind heart, would help her.
She asked the Paradon emperor for an audience many times, but was never granted one.
Even friendly nobles she tried to confide in replied coldly.
“Princess, if you talk like that, your life will only get harder. Better to endure it.”
“But it’s too hard. Please help me meet His Majesty.”
The noble sighed deeply.
“Do you think His Majesty doesn’t know about this?”
