Chapter 54
Bruised all over and holding only the torn-off arm of a teddy bear, Pri sat gloomily in the flower garden, catching Zell’s eye.
“Princess! What happened to your face! Are you hurt?”
That wasn’t all.
Pri’s cheeks were flushed red, as though she had a fever.
“I’m sorry. I’m late answering you. I’m sorry… the teddy bear…”
“No, the teddy bear… that’s not the real problem here!”
“My sister… she tried to take it away… so I resisted… and then…”
Since the day they first met, Zell had never seen Pri cry.
That day, it felt like her heart was being torn apart. Pri, trembling with lips quivering but not shedding a single tear, as if she didn’t even know how to cry.
How much must she have hidden her feelings, that she couldn’t even cry freely?
“It’s okay. I’ll buy you another teddy bear! When I grow up!”
“Mm… But Zell! I think we can stay together from now on. Father said even I would need a maid someday, so he gave permission for you to enter the palace!”
“Really?”
“Yes! He did kick me a few times when I asked… but it was fine.”
Fine? What part of that was fine?! Zell’s heart nearly dropped when she saw Pri smiling so brightly. Why did she have to be treated like this? Why was being beaten or having things taken from her so normal to her?
“Isn’t it great? From now on, Zell, you’ll be my maid! I even asked for lots of money too! That way, we can punish that bad noble who ruined your father!”
Pri had remembered the story she’d once told—about her father’s unfair death.
The noble who caused all her family’s misfortune. How, because of one tiny mistake, her father had been executed, leaving her mother to raise her alone, only for her mother to die as well. Those painful memories flashed through Zell’s mind in an instant.
It had been something she only mentioned once, in passing, because it hurt too much.
She had even told Pri that the noble who destroyed her family was still living well. And yet Pri had not forgotten. She had worked hard for her sake.
That little girl, who had been used to always losing things, how much effort had she made for her?
That day, for the first time, Zell wanted to protect someone. That someone was Pri.
And when Pri said she even demanded more money for her sake, Zell entrusted her life to her. She had overcome her own fear of her family’s tragedy for her. She had to repay that. Never having received such deep affection from anyone before, Zell felt tears welling up.
“You foolish princess.”
She wanted to say, Why did you suffer so much? I never wanted you to go through hardship. But before she could—
“Now I can be with Zell. Every single day…”
Mumbling with a satisfied smile, Pri collapsed.
“Princess! Princess!”
Shocked, Zell barely managed to carry her back into the castle.
But no one worried.
Even then, no physician was ever called for Pri. She had to endure it all alone. After that day, thanks to the promise kept by the King of Ezian, Zell safely became Pri’s maid—despite her young age.
Zell, reminiscing about the past, gently stroked Pri’s head as she slept soundly on her lap.
They had so many memories together that even if they talked all day, there would still be more stories left untold.
“Princess… at least now, I don’t think you’re lonely anymore.”
When she came here, countless worries weighed on her.
She was afraid Pri would still be as lonely as she had been as a child. Afraid no one cared for her. But thankfully, Pri seemed happier here than back then.
Zell ran her fingers slowly through Pri’s soft hair.
Seeing her sleeping uncomfortably on the sofa made her chest sink heavily.
“Princess… you may not remember, but I still do.”
She remembered Pri, covered in bruises, collapsing after saying they could stay together. Since that day, Pri seemed to have forgotten only that event, as though someone had erased it from her memory. Zell wasn’t upset about that.
She only worried if something might be wrong with her.
Fortunately, Pri never suddenly lost memories again after that.
“I still haven’t kept the promise I made when we were children—to buy you another teddy bear.”
She had failed to keep that promise, and when Pri left, all Zell could do was watch her go. She spent the whole night in Pri’s room at the Ezian palace, regret gnawing at her that she hadn’t followed, even if she had been rejected.
And by the next day, Pri’s room had been completely cleared out. The bed she had slept in, the sofa, the books she had read—everything was sent away to storage. The room was scrubbed clean, as if no one had ever lived there.
Just like that room, Zell drifted with nowhere to go.
Within days of Pri’s departure, she submitted her resignation and resolved to search for her.
But if even the Emperor of the Behfort Empire couldn’t discover her whereabouts, how could Zell?
It was then that Ian came to find her.
“I’m… relieved. To have met the princess again. I’ll protect you, my princess.”
At that moment—
The door opened slightly, and someone entered.
Hearing movement, Zell lifted her head toward the door.
“…Ah.”
The moment she recognized him, she hurriedly tried to rise.
“Stay seated.”
It was Argent who entered.
“Is she asleep?”
Like a night bird soaring through the darkness toward the moon, Argent quickly but carefully came to stand before Zell.
“Yes. She was tired, so she fell into a deep sleep.”
“I see. That’s good.”
Before Pri, his demeanor was sharp, but to Zell, Argent seemed like a completely different person.
She remembered the people who had escorted her here with such care.
Every one of their actions had been cautious, as though she were someone precious.
And now, before her, stood the king of the barbarians.
But he was nothing like what she had imagined. His gaze lingered on the princess with sorrow, as though looking at a jewel too precious to touch.
She couldn’t understand it. Yet as a maid, understanding was never required, so she only nodded silently.
“Yes.”
“If there’s anything uncomfortable, don’t hesitate to speak.”
She recalled the request from the day before.
Pri had asked her to speak ill of her. To tell everyone she had been forced here, that she had been kidnapped, dragged against her will.
No matter what misunderstandings arose between them, Zell was not to clear them up. Instead, she was to add to them.
Because, she said, that was the best for her. She promised someday, when everything was over, she would tell the truth.
She also told me to look after my health—to let the palace physician examine me.
She had done so yesterday, and for the first time in her life, she learned the truth about her body. She had been frail since birth, and now, parts of her body were failing. If things had gone on, she would have died within a year.
Thanks to that, she now had medicine to take. Zell looked at him with a forlorn expression.
She couldn’t know everything, but it seemed Pri hated this man with all her heart. Whatever she was planning must have been an extension of that.
Her duty was to help the princess hate him.
If she hadn’t spoken to him yesterday, she would have thought she could easily slander Argent, the man called the Emperor of this nation.
But no.
Those eyes—anyone could see they were the eyes of someone in love. Why? Why does he look at the princess like that? How can he say she should hate him, while looking at her like that?
“Your name is Zell, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t call her Empress. Keep calling her Princess, so she doesn’t lose herself.”
“You mean…”
“Just do so. If you call her Empress, she will become trapped in that role.”
“…Understood.”
Questions crowded her mind, but Zell could only nod silently.
That was what being a maid meant. Not only maids, but everyone in the palace was the same.
Ears existed only to hear their master’s words.
Mouths existed only to eat, and hands only to serve their master.
Words spoken by their master were to be heard, never repeated. This was the first lesson of their training.
So Zell kept her lips tightly sealed.
“I want her to be happy.”
“And… what would change by doing this?”
“She’ll be able to leave. You know she has always longed for freedom.”
How do you know that? Zell’s eyes widened.
“That’s…”
“She must hate me, or else she’ll never decide to go.”
“You mean… you’re planning to let her leave?”
“Yes.”
“Why…? Why did you bring her here then?”
“Ask nothing. I just want her… to live happily. Without worrying about anyone else’s gaze. Without feeling pressured by anything.”
His eyes seemed to show his words were sincere.
Zell, seeing that, could only nod silently. She didn’t know how much he truly knew, but it was a lot.
She had believed her duty, as maid and as friend, was to hide nothing from Pri, to tell her everything. But she couldn’t ignore the man who looked at her so mournfully.
Besides, she was indebted to him for allowing her to be here at all.
Somehow… I want to believe you.
