Chapter 6
When Ellen returned home from Karzelga, she immediately pestered Gloria the next day to let her start learning letters.
Pretending to be a curious child by constantly asking, “What’s this? What’s that?” had its advantages, but nothing was better than books for gathering information without worrying about seeming strange.
“Already? Ellen, you can still play for a while. It’s fine to start learning letters when you’re eight.”
In Korea, she’d begun reading letters at the age of four, so she thought starting now wasn’t too early. But it seemed she had miscalculated. Gloria seemed half-proud, half-worried—apparently believing there was no need for a child to study so soon.
“Mm-mm. I want to learn.”
Ellen shook her head. Why stop a kid who wants to study? She could play and learn.
When she fixed Gloria with bright, shining eyes, Gloria finally promised to find her a tutor for letters right away.
As expected—what parent would dislike a child wanting to study? If she learned to read, surely they’d buy her lots of books.
She was a little daunted by the idea of learning letters that, to her eyes, all looked like identical squiggles, but the thought of having new books to read excited her even more.
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In less than two days after pestering Gloria, a study room was set up right next to Ellen’s playroom, and books began to fill the shelves—one by one.
Usually, the study or library would be placed next to the bedroom, but Gloria seemed to have arranged the playroom closer to Ellen’s bedroom so that the still-young girl would spend more time playing than studying.
Entering the study, Ellen admired the shelves full of books and randomly pulled one down. It was clearly a children’s book suited to her age, with large print—but of course, she couldn’t read it.
“At least in Korea, we learned three languages in school. But here… I’m completely illiterate. The black part’s the letters, the white part’s the paper, that’s all I know.”
She sighed heavily and put the book back.
Sitting down in front of the bookshelf, she picked out another thin book. She wasn’t expecting much—she couldn’t read anyway—but this one, fortunately, had more pictures than text.
“A picture book?”
Even without being able to read, it was fun to guess the story from the illustrations.
“So this is why kids like picture books.”
The one she’d just “read” was about a mischievous boy who burned his sleeping grandfather’s beard, ran away, got chased by all sorts of animals, and finally came home repentant.
It was simple, with no complex plot twists—perfect for deducing the story from the pictures.
She grabbed another book and sprawled on the floor, fully absorbed in her browsing.
Finished books piled up beside her, until, while looking through the seventh one, she suddenly sat up.
“This is it!”
Her heart pounded wildly.
On the open page was an image of a large golden-winged lizard tossing two people into what looked like a circular gateway.
Beyond that entrance, another world seemed to stretch out. But in the next picture, the two people hadn’t reached the new world—they had fallen into the space between the entrance and the other world.
“If that’s an entrance to another world… is that how I got here too?”
It was just a children’s fairy tale, so it could be complete fiction… and thinking rationally, it seemed far too ridiculous to happen in reality…
“But me being here at all is already ridiculous, isn’t it?”
She looked down at the book again.
Maybe—just maybe—it held a clue to why she was here.
She had already been planning to read stories like myths once she could read a little better.
Clutching the book, Ellen dashed out of the study to find Gloria. When she learned Gloria was out, she ran straight to find Marsha.
“Marsha! Marsha!”
Marsha was in Ellen’s dressing room, supervising maids as they arranged her dresses.
“Come here—quick!”
Ellen grabbed her sleeve without warning and dragged her to her room, shoving the book at her.
“Marsha, what’s this winged lizard?”
Marsha glanced at the book and chuckled.
“This isn’t a lizard, young lady—it’s a Gold Dragon.”
Ellen sat her down on the bed and asked,
“Then you know this story?”
“Of course. It’s about a poor couple lost in the desert who accidentally find a Gold Dragon’s lair.”
“What’s a lair?”
“A dragon’s nest is called a lair. Dragons pile up treasure in their lairs.”
She pointed to the illustration of the dragon’s lair—one room stacked high with gold and jewels.
“This couple gets permission from the Gold Dragon to enter the lair, explore another dimension, and bring back treasure.”
Another dimension?
Ellen’s eyes sparkled, and Marsha, noticing her interest, continued with a smile.
“But a greedy lord and his wife hear about their fortune, sneak into the lair without permission, and demand treasure for themselves. Naturally, they anger the Gold Dragon and fall into the dimensional rift, never to return.”
Ellen thought for a moment before asking,
“Do Gold Dragons really exist?”
“Of course. Not just Gold Dragons—there are Silver Dragons and Black Dragons too. Gold Dragons live in deserts, like in the book. Silver Dragons live in the depths of the Irkana Sea. Black Dragons’ lairs are in the Gredelos Mountains of our empire.”
Her head spun. She’d suspected it when she saw the map, but this confirmed—this wasn’t Earth.
So she hadn’t traveled to another planet—she had shifted dimensions.
The realization made her feel even more lost.
“Wait—Black Dragons live in our empire? Isn’t that dangerous?”
Memories of dragon stories she’d read back as Hye-seo came to mind—dragons greedy, cruel, or disdainful of humans.
“Is this country really okay?”
As if reading her worries, Marsha replied casually,
“Strictly speaking, our empire is within the Black Dragon’s domain. The first emperor was granted permission to settle here.”
“So it’s safe to live here?”
“Of course. The first emperor was the Black Dragon’s friend. And dragons usually stay in their lairs unless it’s their turn to serve as a ‘Gatekeeper of Dimensions.’”
Ellen’s ears perked up.
“What’s a Gatekeeper of Dimensions? That means another world, right?”
“Oh my, young lady, how clever! You already know what a dimension is, without me teaching you?”
Marsha’s eyes curved kindly.
“Yes, another world. I think there are theories about it, but I don’t know them well. They say dragons take turns as gatekeepers, but not much is known about it.”
“I see…”
Ellen scratched the book’s corner with her fingernail.
“By the way, young lady, do you like your study?”
Marsha asked warmly.
“I love it!”
Ellen replied brightly, flopping onto her stomach to study the book again—this time, determined not to miss even a single blade of grass in the illustrations.
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Gloria had hired not only a tutor for letters but also an etiquette teacher.
The tutor for letters was gentle, kind, and quick to smile.
No matter what silly thing Ellen said, he never got angry or impatient, teaching her patiently. So she could ask him all sorts of questions, hiding her curiosity under the guise of childish imagination.
The etiquette teacher, on the other hand, was a strict, Spartan type. Ellen disliked how she even criticized the position of one extra finger when Ellen brushed back her hair.
She carried a fan-shaped stick, listing all the noble ladies she had trained, boasting how one had become the “flower of high society” and another had married into a prestigious family.
At first, Ellen humored her bragging, but after a couple of days, it grated on her nerves.
Especially since she always finished with,
“I turned down offers from many other houses just to come to the Quinter family, o-ho-ho!”
Every time Ellen saw her smug face, she wanted to say, “Yeah, we don’t need you—just leave.”
But if she actually said that, rumors would spread before her debut that “The Quinter young lady is so ill-tempered and difficult that even an etiquette teacher couldn’t stand her.” And if the teacher’s boasts were true, it meant other noble girls had endured her and learned well. Ugh.
The thought that “Mom wouldn’t have called her for no reason” also stopped her from driving the woman out.
So there was only one solution—learn everything as quickly as possible and ensure this woman never set foot in the Quinter estate again.
Ellen was forced to learn everything from etiquette to how to blink. She worried that soon she might be taught how to breathe.
Inside, she was still “twenty years old but a bit immature,” so she had managed to behave like a calm child until now. But at this point, she wanted to act out.
If the training was this harsh for a little kid, how much stricter would it get as she grew?
Better enjoy her “youth” before she got older. She decided to start acting exactly like a mischievous child.
Short limbs didn’t make for much elegance, but she bowed the teacher out with all the grace she could muster, clenching her fist once the woman was gone.
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Contrary to her resolution, Ellen still behaved herself.
Then, she learned she would be attending the Pollet in Roanoke for the first time this year.
Ah—so “Roanoke,” which she had been curious about when she’d overheard her father mentioning it, was the name of the empire’s capital. The Pollet was a gathering of noble children held there.
Not all noble children attended; the Pollet was mainly for younger children to form friendships early. Older children had separate gatherings of their own.
There was no strict starting age, but parents of similarly aged children tended to send them around the same time.
Ellen had been excited for days, and on the morning of the event, she rose at dawn and got ready. Then, together with Gloria and Marsha, she headed to the teleportation magic circle office.
