Chapter 18.
It was a portrait of the Imperial family. Depicting the late Emperor Aeternus, Empress Lienne, and Crown Prince Calix.
Calix, sitting in a chair and gazing straight ahead, looked much younger than he did now.
And he looked happy. Perhaps because of the faint smile gracing his lips.
‘His Highness probably misses this time.’
Although it was Alec who killed Aeternus, Alec was my comrade.
So it was clear that I was also involved in his death.
Life as a maid in Eclipsia Palace was enjoyable, but whenever I thought of the dead Emperor, I felt guilt.
‘It’s still vivid when I close my eyes.’
The purplish-blue face. The unseeing eyes. The stiff, rigid body…
How terrified must he have been, feeling the poison spread through his body and death approaching?
How desperately must he have wished to live?
Having experienced death myself, I could understand that feeling a hundred times over.
So I wanted to apologize to Calix.
I’m sorry for making him lose his father at such a young age.
‘But… I’m scared.’
If I reveal the truth, I’ll be driven out of Eclipsia Palace.
And I would never see Calix or the people of the imperial palace again.
Foolishly, that fact made me hesitate.
‘It’s only been two weeks.’
At first, it felt foreign, like wearing clothes that didn’t fit.
When sweeping the yard while listening to birdsong in the early spring garden, or boiling the stew Vesti taught me to make for dinner.
The peacefulness mixed with a languid feeling that permeated my whole body, and the warm stillness unique to early spring…
But now, I could enjoy that stillness.
How absurd. I, who was accustomed to the moans of children suffering from drug side effects and the sound of whipping that lasted all night.
‘Still, I’ll have to tell him someday.’
But please, let that moment come just a little… just a very little bit later…
Just then, Calix’s voice came from behind.
“So it’s still here.”
“Y-Your Highness.”
“What, why so surprised?”
I almost dropped the portrait. Since when had he been standing behind me?
He approached and took the portrait from my hands.
“This is… a portrait painted to commemorate my birthday three years ago. I thought I’d lost it. Thanks for finding it.”
“I found it by chance too.”
He stared at the portrait without a word, then brushed his hand over Aeternus’s face.
And he began to speak in a calm voice.
“Do you know what blessing my father had?”
“…The power of earth.”
I was well aware of Aeternus’s power.
He could cause earthquakes to create fertile land and shift tectonic plates to subdue large-scale monsters.
It was the second most popular power among the empire’s citizens after water, and he was an Emperor who received much love.
“Father was a selfless person. Even during a meal, if something happened to the empire’s people, he would rush anywhere. Even when Mother was giving birth to me, and when I was battling a severe fever as a child.”
A look of regret flickered across his face and vanished. I listened quietly to his story.
“But I respect Father. There aren’t many emperors who set aside all else and devote themselves to the people. However, before he passed… Mother made just one request of him.”
“What was it?”
“A week before Father passed, Mother was very ill. It was homesickness.”
“She missed the Thebes Archipelago.”
“Yes. Mother wanted to see the ocean. But there’s no ocean in the imperial palace, so Mother would often sit by the small pond. Even when she was too ill to move properly……”
Though his words held a note of reproach, his voice carried an unmistakable affection.
“Mother would gaze endlessly at the cherry blossoms falling from the cherry tree. She loved cherry blossoms. But one day, the cherry tree began to wither without anyone having time to intervene, and she asked Father to check the soil quality.”
“……”
“…But in the end, until it dried up and twisted, Father never checked the cherry tree for her. Only then did I realize…”
“Realize what?”
“That in Father’s heart, that withering cherry tree and Mother’s existence held the same weight.”
“……”
“And perhaps… I did too…”
He shook his head and looked somewhere else, stopping himself from saying more.
In the direction where Empress Lienne was.
“Anyway, others mock me for living in Eclipsia without many servants… but I like it now.”
He added, a slight force in the corner of his mouth.
“When you live alone… you don’t have to tremble in fear of when you might become alone, right?”
“……”
“This loneliness will also fade like layers of strata. Someday…”
I looked at him without a word.
The day was exceptionally clear, yet his face, bathed in the bright sunlight, was paradoxically dark.
‘But Your Highness, is this my错觉?’
I thought as I looked at his face.
‘The face that says you’re not lonely, not afraid… looks the loneliest of all.’
I could have offered him formal comfort.
Told him No. Your father and mother loved you, and still love you.
I could have given him a sweet dream, like cotton candy soaked in water.
But I didn’t.
‘Because I too… have experienced a similar pain.’
So, I said nothing.
Because sometimes silence. And waiting… can be a better comfort.
‘But someday.’
I hope the loneliness you feel becomes a little less concentrated.
In this warm and splendid spring festival, I hope you too can be a little happy.
It was a day where I found myself wishing for that.
Drip. Drip.
A water droplet fell from the ceiling. The child carefully moved her body, avoiding the puddle.
Stepping on the matte tiles, she entered the corridor, where an entirely white hallway stretched out.
The child swallowed and looked at the blue fluorescent lights hanging at regular intervals on the wall.
A light so cold it felt like it could freeze you.
The child had been afraid of that light since she was little.
“What number is Maria’s Arcana injection this time?”
Just then, the thick iron door opened and white-coated researchers poured out.
Startled, the child hurriedly hid her body behind a pillar.
Fortunately, the unnoticed researchers began talking in front of the iron door, looking at a chart.
“It’s the 8th session.”
“Looking at the vital chart, this should be the last one.”
“Is there any chance she could become a ‘Depono’?”
“Not now. Unless a psychological shock is applied.”
The child’s face turned pale.
Arcana was an illegal drug that amplified physical abilities or awakened special abilities inherent in an individual, and every child at the Lumiel Research Institute had to receive it.
Because refusal meant a minimum of beating, and a maximum of being ‘discarded.’
But just as all light has its shadow, Arcana had side effects. And their severity varied drastically from child to child.
And she, Maria, Rosie’s roommate, had some of the worst side effects.
In the 1st session, she developed orthostatic hypotension; in the 2nd, hyperventilation; in the 3rd, rashes broke out all over her body.
But the researchers did not treat her.
When a rejection reaction appeared, all the people in white coats would surround her, say things like ‘Hmm, I see,’ or ‘This rejection is interesting,’ just jot something down on their charts, and leave.
And from the 4th session onward… she entered that ‘laboratory’ and didn’t come out.
The ‘laboratory’ was the most terrifying place even within this research institute. According to other children, no one who entered the laboratory ever came out alive.
‘I want to see my sister.’
Tears welled up in Rosie’s eyes instantly.
Maria was a child who had entered the institute three months before Rosie.
She was only one year older than Rosie, but being kind and affectionate by nature, she took good care of the trembling, fearful Rosie.
Rosie, who had lost her parents and was adrift, followed Maria like a mother and went through every training session together.
On sleepless nights, they sometimes talked about the future.
‘Maria, sister, what will you do when you get out of the institute?’
‘I want to live making hairpins. Look, I made this one myself.’
Maria pointed to the flower-shaped hairpin in her hair and smiled.
Even though it had become dirty and crumpled from the harsh training, she still treasured that hairpin.
‘I want to load a cart with the hairpins I make and travel all over the country selling them. Freely, wherever my feet take me…’
‘That’s amazing! I want to go with you!’
‘Then, I’ll take you with me, Rosie.’
‘Promise me, promise!’
‘I promise.’
Unlike Rosie’s bright reply, Maria’s laughter was profoundly lonely.
What was the reason for that…?
“Where’s the next test subject?”
“Ah, over there, A-48.”
In the meantime, the researchers who had finished their conversation disappeared into the distance.
Wiping her tears quickly, Logy hurriedly stood before the laboratory door. And…
Wrench!
She twisted the thick iron door just enough for her to enter, trying her best not to make a sound.
