Chapter : 09
Even if I wanted a child, it wasn’t enough to put my life on the line. I might have been ignorant before, but now that I know this child is the “Baby Princess,” keeping her close is absolutely dangerous. The moment her brother catches us, it’s only a matter of time before I’m branded a kidnapper; she is practically a time bomb that could blow this entire lake to smithereens.
“I’m sorry, but I’m not your mom. Why would I be your mom?” “……You’re not my mama?” “I said no! Look at the color of our feathers, can’t you tell?”
I pointed back and forth between my feathers and the baby’s with my beak, my eyes still squeezed shut. I desperately hoped she would understand this frantic gesture. With a will to survive, I spread my wings wide.
“See? Look at us. You and I are so—” “S-Same!”
The baby swan spread her wings wide just like me, then promptly fell on her rump, unable to support her own weight. Despite that, she flapped her two wings excitedly as if nothing was wrong. It was a sight to behold.
“I knew it, you are Haniel’s mama!”
◇ ◆ ◇
“…….”
This is driving me crazy, seriously. Just before dawn, my endless sighs echoed across the shores of Lake Perdium. I pressed what I assumed was my forehead and buried my head deep into my wing.
“Mama, Mama! Look at this!” “……I’m not your mama.” “Ung.”
The baby swan’s shoulders slumped. Now that I looked, since she was a swan, the motion of her shoulders dropping was far more dramatic than a human body’s.
“……B-but Mama and I are so the same.” “The colors are different! The colors!” “…….”
When she lowered her head in dejection, tucking it into her wings, she looked like my daughter no matter how you sliced it. It was a relief the colors were different, at least; otherwise, I would have been cornered into the role of ‘mother’ without a doubt.
‘No. Absolutely not.’
I knew exactly who she was. Wasn’t she destined to be the sister of the tyrant Emperor and the one involved with the world’s greatest obsessive male lead? My head shook just thinking about the mess I’d be in if I got caught in the middle. I already had enough to deal with, waking up in a cursed body—I couldn’t handle any more.
‘……What a life.’
It wasn’t like I asked for much. I didn’t even want to possess a body and live a sweet life with a rich, powerful husband like others do; I just wanted to live like a human being, at the very least.
‘Ah…… right. I’m not even human.’
And so, this half-beast cried again today. My realization of my current situation was bitter. My past life was as an orphaned temporary worker, and my current life was a cursed widow—and now I was on the verge of losing my home, this lake.
“Huuuuuuu.” “Madam, what’s wrong? Your face has shrunk to half its size overnight.” “……Selene.”
I made some room for Selene as she waddled over. Whether out of shyness or fear, Haniel crept behind me to hide, but I forced myself to ignore her. If I let myself feel proud that such a tiny baby was relying on me, it would only be harder to detach myself later.
“Kid, go over there. The adults need to talk.” “……Huh?” “Go play in the water. Splashing around, you know?” “……Splashing?”
My heart twinged as I forcibly pushed away Haniel, who was clinging to my wing. She wasn’t the kind of child who should be treated coldly like this. Even her dejected back as she walked away was so adorable it made my heart ache.
“Madam, what is it? Is there something you wanted to say in private?” “……Just because.”
I intentionally turned halfway around, keeping my back to Haniel. Considering what I was about to discuss, it was better for both of us if the child wasn’t listening.
“Do you happen to…… know anything about the Emperor?” “Whaaaat?” “…….”
Good grief, I barely said anything and she’s already trembling. Even before hearing the details, the tyrant’s reputation was palpable. Selene, whose feathers were quivering like a Disney cartoon from head to toe, glanced around before opening her beak.
“You asked me his name out of the blue before, too. Back then, you said you didn’t need to know even when I tried to tell you.” “No, that was then!”
……That was before I knew that man was the female lead’s brother. Back when I first dropped into this lake and was trying to figure out which novel I was in, I had naturally asked about the Emperor. But I wasn’t smart enough to remember the name of a side-character tyrant from a novel I’d dropped halfway through. I even doubted if his name had been mentioned properly in the book at all.
“……I-it’s Lord Rashid. Rashid Felnoa III.” “Ah.”
As expected, the name didn’t ring a bell. Fantasy novel names all sound similar, and his was no exception. It sounded appropriately grand and suitably tyrannical. Besides, the name wasn’t the important part right now.
“So, is he really…… that scary?” “Don’t even get me started! After His Majesty took the throne, the territory of Rohan doubled in size!” “……Just how many wars did he fight?”
The description of ‘blood pooling in his footprints’ was so vivid in my memory that I wasn’t even surprised. Isn’t that how all tyrants operate anyway? Waking up and beheading those who talk back, turning people to dust if they offend him…… in short, he was someone best avoided.
“Still, they say when he was the Crown Prince, he used to visit this Winter Palace once in a while to escort the former Emperor and Empress.” “Winter Palace?” “Yes. It’s not just here; there are imperial villas in every region. But our Northern Winter Palace is the best, so the late Empress always came here in the winter.”
Selene raised a wing and pointed somewhere across the lake. Although I had never been there, the silhouette visible through the hazy fog was indeed massive.
“But since they’ve both passed away, there’s no reason for him to come. Why do you ask about him, though?” “Ah, doesn’t His Majesty have a younger sister?” “……Does he? Hmm. Now that you mention it, I think I might have heard something like that.” “What? You don’t even know that?”
Flaring up momentarily, I looked at the baby swan. My god, a princess whose very existence is unknown. Seeing her hovering piteously by the water just waiting for me to call her, my webbed feet felt like they were revving up in indignation.
“How can you not know? She’s the one and only baby princess of the Empire!” “But Madam, aren’t you asking me because you don’t know either?” “Ah…….”
Well, that was true. Selene usually seemed dim-witted, but she had a knack for hitting the nail on the head once in a while. As I calmed down and looked away, Selene became even more confident.
“To be honest, His Majesty has quite a few siblings. We only hear rumors long after the fact, but every time we heard anything, the Empress was pregnant.” “……T-they must have been a devoted couple.” “It seems so. That’s probably why they left this world together.” “…….”
My heart stung as I watched the baby swan looking back at her own footprints and enjoying herself. Truly, what did she do wrong? If even one of the parents had remained, she wouldn’t have been treated like such an unwanted nuisance.
‘Kid, you’ve got a rough lot in life too.’
Ignored by all those brothers and now pushed away by a cursed widow black swan. I wrapped my wings around my aching heart. It was a clear danger signal. My heart, which turns to mush whenever I see a swan, was lowering its guard again.
“S-still. If she’s the only princess, shouldn’t she be treated better? Ah, is she perhaps the daughter of a concubine? Like, does she have a different mother than the Emperor……?” “Not at all. The late Emperor only had the Empress. They say there wasn’t a single concubine.” “What? She’s his full sister?”
It would be easier to understand if she were a stepmother’s daughter. Their mother went through all that trouble and actually passed away—is the remaining baby not even piteous to him? He has the money and the power! Honestly, if he had the heart, he could have looked after her easily.
Hostility toward the tyrant I hadn’t even met yet began to burn within me.
“That makes no sense. How can a brother be like that?” “It’s probably because the Empress isn’t around. The other princes were formally invested, had their names entered in the Great Temple, and had commemorative festivals held for them. It’s been a while since the twin princes were the last ones eight years ago. I even remember the Duchy sending offerings for the celebration.” “Then what about the youngest princess?” “Normally, she should have been invested as a princess before she was two, with her name and title registered in temples across the continent. But some people say she’s ill, and others say she passed away early…….” “Who’s dead?! Nobody’s dead!” “……No, Madam, why are you shouting?” “Am I in any position not to shout right now?!”
She has perfectly fine webbed feet and a beak as dainty as if it were sculpted! My kid is just suffering from a little curse, she’s not lacking in any way!
Quack!
I flapped my wings wildly as if trying to vent my fury.
End Of Chapter : 09
