Chapter 25
‘……You said you’d be working at the Academy starting this week, right?’
His stream of consciousness continued without interruption. She had said she would be working as an assistant librarian at the Academy library starting this week. Pretending to read the booklet carefully, Ellenen pondered with an intent gaze.
‘If it’s this week, then exactly when does it start? Today? Don’t people usually start work on Mondays? Or does the day of the week not matter?’
Up until just moments ago, he had been brainwashing himself that there was no longer any need to pay attention, no reason for their lives to be entangled anymore—yet before he realized it, he was already making plans to go see the girl.
‘I’m an Academy student, and she’s now an Academy librarian. That means we’re both officially part of the Academy. As members of the same community, wouldn’t it be polite to go say hello at least once?’
Before he knew it, the boy was even inventing reasons why he absolutely had to go see the girl—without yet being aware of why he was doing this at all.
Then Ellenen suddenly flinched again, overwhelmed by confusion and self-reproach.
‘What on earth am I thinking right now…….’
What would he even do if he went to see her? It would be inconsiderate toward her. For a commoner like her, getting involved with a prince like him would only be exhausting on her side. The boy resolved not to be a burden to the girl.
In order to push Noxia Dekan out of his mind, Ellenen finally began to read the booklet in earnest. However, this only had the opposite effect.
‘She said she was very interested in mythology, didn’t she.’
Especially the stories of Promeon and Hermeon—of all things, those two. Coincidentally, they overlapped with the theme of the play. With a serious expression, Ellenen recalled their conversation from a few days ago.
[Miss Dekan, do you think Promeon and Hermane were real, historical figures?]
[Yes, I believe they were.]
In response to a question Ellenen had asked half playfully, Noxia had answered with an unexpectedly earnest expression. Ellenen remembered the faint sense of unease he had felt at the time.
‘It was like she became a completely different person.’
It had felt as though the person sitting in front of him was not Noxia Dekan at all, but an entirely different being. It must have been nothing more than a momentary illusion, though.
Before he knew it, he was back at square one again. Shaking his head slightly as if to brush away a gnat, Ellenen tried once more to focus on the contents of the booklet.
The theme of the performance was ancient mythology. The protagonists were the primordial king and the primordial hero, and this year the Academy drama club had prepared a script about the two, reinterpreted in a modern way.
On the very first page of the booklet, it was written that by adding modern sensibilities to a story everyone already knew, they aimed to portray not the heroes themselves, but the conflicts, joys, and sorrows the two had experienced as human beings.
[In particular, we plan to add content not found in the original heroic epics, depicting the anguish Hero Promeon felt before sneaking into the palace of the gods to steal fire.]
[The Promeon we know is a great hero who boldly deceived the gods for the sake of humanity’s progress—but wouldn’t even he have hesitated? Wouldn’t he have felt fear? Might he not have been afraid that if something went wrong while stealing the fire, he alone would be destroyed and that would be the end?]
[The same goes for King Hermane. In the heroic epics, Hermane is portrayed merely as the hero’s companion and a genius ruler. As a three-dimensional human being rather than a king, her joys, sorrows, anger, and delight are hardly revealed.]
[Her heartrending love with Promeon is only depicted later in the requiem for the hero, and is not emphasized in other parts.]
[Did King Hermane truly just watch as her lover risked his life to steal fire? Might she not have tried to stop him? Knowing how dangerous it was, she might even have tried to go in his place. Or perhaps she tried to persuade Promeon that, regardless of what happened to the rest of humanity, it would be enough for the two of them to live well together.]
[Even such a great being may have possessed that kind of human selfishness. Taking these points into account, we aim to share a completely reinterpreted story with the audience.]
It was an intriguing interpretation. Ellenen continued turning the pages. By now, he had forgotten Noxia Dekan entirely and was genuinely immersed in the text.
[And in this play, there is a new lead character who did not exist in previous performances: the god Pellenne, a friend of Promeon and Hermane.]
[In the original epics, Pellenne is little more than a name mentioned a few times. She appears as a device who helps Promeon sneak into the palace of the gods—a hesitant, gentle, and slightly dull god who falls for Promeon’s clever scheme and opens the palace gates for him.]
[But let us think about this for a moment. In our mythology, Promeon is a wise and great hero who deceived even the gods for the sake of humanity—but how would it look from the perspective of the one who was deceived? Especially since Pellenne is said to have been one of the rare gods who were friendly toward humans.]
[Wouldn’t she feel wronged? She extended goodwill by opening the palace gates for humanity’s hero, only for her kindness to be repaid with betrayal.]
[Though Pellenne is a god, through adaptation we intend to rebirth her as another deeply human character.]
[By using our imagination, we aim to explain as plausibly as possible what kind of feelings Pellenne had when she helped humans, what emotions she felt after being betrayed, and what fate ultimately awaited her.]
That was the end of the statement of intent. Ellenen closed the booklet. Onstage, rehearsals were in full swing, and while pretending to watch the actors, Ellenen sank into thought.
‘A reinterpretation of Pellenne, huh.’
It was certainly a fresh attempt. Though the myth had been loved for countless years and adapted and reinterpreted endlessly across all kinds of media, there were surprisingly few stories that focused on the gods themselves.
Myths were, after all, creations of humans—human stories. Tales of heroes who refused to submit to the immense beings called gods and instead achieved great deeds.
In those stories, Promeon and Hermane were always the brilliant protagonists. And Pellenne, the foolish god who was deceived into opening the palace gates by the hero, was always left in the shadows.
Ellenen found himself curious about how the Academy drama club would bring that Pellenne out of the shadows and flesh her out this year. His sense of anticipation was no longer pretense, but genuine.
Before he knew it, as he immersed himself in the rehearsal, thoughts of Noxia Dekan faded away.
However, the moment the rehearsal ended safely and the audience rose with polite applause, the girl’s face once again invaded Ellenen’s mind.
‘It’s already lunchtime.’
She must be getting ready to eat lunch too. There were librarians in the library even during lunchtime—did she eat at a different time, perhaps?
Thinking about her so naturally that he didn’t even realize he was doing so, Ellenen casually headed toward the student cafeteria with the literature students. There, he spotted a familiar back. A round brown head, a slender frame. Thinking, No way…, Ellenen approached as if drawn in.
“Ah.”
“Miss Dekan?”
As she stumbled after bumping into him, he reflexively reached out and grabbed her shoulder to steady her. She stopped swaying and looked up at him. Her eyes widened.
“Your Highness?”
Yes—it was Noxia Dekan. Ellenen smiled without realizing it. It wasn’t the artificial smile he carefully calculated for others, but a bright, genuine smile born of heartfelt pleasure.
“It’s nice to see you again. Is today your first day at work?”
He greeted her warmly, his voice low enough that only Noxia could hear. Noticing the curious gazes of their fellow students directed at the two of them, he removed his hand from her shoulder.
Ellenen took a step back, waiting for her answer, and deliberately angled his body to shield Noxia from the students’ view.
“…Yes, Your Highness. I just finished my morning shift.”
After staring at Ellenen in surprise, Noxia quickly came to her senses and answered politely. She was flustered by Ellenen’s unexpected friendliness.
‘I thought he’d just pass by me.’
This was, after all, the student cafeteria, so she had expected she might run into Ellenen, who also belonged to the Academy.
But in her imagination, the prince was always surrounded by friends, ignoring her as he passed by—or at most offering a brief nod in greeting.
Even imagining that didn’t particularly disappoint her. The time they had spent together was far too short for her to feel hurt over something like that.
But look at him now. Instead of passing by indifferently, he had come straight up to her and spoken in a friendly manner—as though greeting an old friend he had known for years.
‘What on earth is he plotting?’
Noxia stared at Ellenen with a suspicious gaze. Yet his handsome face was simply, transparently kind—so much so that it made Noxia, who had doubted his intentions, feel guilty.
“I see. You must be tired. Did you come here to eat lunch?”
“Yes, Your Highness. I was just going to grab some bread at the shop and eat outside.”
Noxia made an excuse quickly. Hearing her words, Ellenen dropped his smile and frowned.
“Will bread really be enough? If you’re going to work hard this afternoon too, wouldn’t it be better to have a proper meal?”
Of course, Noxia thought the same, and that had originally been her plan. But feeling intimidated by the refined atmosphere inside the cafeteria, she had changed her mind so she could eat without upsetting her stomach.
“I had a hearty breakfast, so I’ll be fine, Your Highness. The weather’s nice today, so I was thinking of sitting outside to eat.”
She brushed it off again. The prince’s expression softened once more, and Ellenen spoke gently.
“Then I’ll treat you today. To celebrate your first day at work. Would that be all right?”
“…What?”
Not all right at all. Noxia suppressed the urge to blurt that out honestly and instead rolled her eyes slightly. Once again, suspicion about his intentions crept in.
‘Last week, I could say he approached me to keep me quiet—but why today?’
Why was he being so nice to her? Could this even be called being nice? Was he trying to mess with her indirectly, burdening her like this every time?
‘…It doesn’t seem like that, though.’
Once again, the gaze of the boy her age was excessively clear. Unless Noxia was gravely mistaken, this was nothing but pure goodwill—though she had no idea why.
