Chapter 2

Chapter 2

As she looked at the densely built bars, it felt more and more realistic.

‘It’s cold.’

She was shivering because she couldn’t wash properly.

One of the guards handed her a towel, perhaps because she was trembling like a shabby tree.

“Here, you go.”

The favor was appreciated, but the towel had a strange smell. It looks like it hasn’t been washed for a long time.

However, she couldn’t help but clean her body with it. Seraphine, who was looking down at the towel, could not bear it and called someone.

“What’s the matter?”

“At least you need to explain to me the reason why you’re doing this.”

She just asks nonchalantly, but the guards looked at Seraphine with unfamiliar eyes, then one of them answered in a polite tone.

“The princess has entered the sacred fountain where the baptismal ceremony was held. Detention is a natural procedure until you receive your bail, so please bear with it.”

“The fountain……?”

Somehow, I thought the water was only about the waist, and it seemed that the place I fell into was a fountain.

“I’ve reported the news to the Rubia family, so I’ll get back to you soon.”

“Why do you keep calling me a princess?”

The name they called her was offensive, so she asked. But he had a bizarre look on his face.

“It doesn’t work even if you pretend to be crazy. Even if you say that to me, it won’t fit on the ears of your fiancé, the Crown Prince, and to your brother.”

The guard who answered politely earlier drew a line and treated Seraphine as a strange person.

And the other guard, who was quietly listening next to her, said absurdly.

“Everyone knows that you won’t die just because you’re immersed in that depth, but you have to act in moderation because you want to get his attention. Even if I’m the crown prince, I’ll be more annoyed than worried.”

“……Are you saying that I tried to commit suicide to get my fiance’s attention?”

What an absurd thing to say.

Holding on to the iron bars, she narrowed the distance with the guard who said that.

As Seraphine’s face suddenly drew closer, his face flushed red in embarrassment, and he took a step back.

‘You must have been surprised that I approached you in an ugly way.’

Because of the situation, she felt her head pounding and tried to think calmly.

No matter what I thought, it ended up being ‘I think it was a dream.’

“Well, isn’t that something that the princess often does? If you want to commit suicide, do it at home! If you do this on the street for nothing, we’re the ones cleaning up your mess!”

When she thought it was a dream, her heart became lighter.

Yes. Falling in molten iron and being imprisoned in molten iron as a fountain are both dreams.

They seemed to have more things to argue with Seraphine. However, the prison door that had been tightly closed was opened by the news.

“The Rubia family paid the bail. Princess Seraphine von Rubia is free to come out.”

Coming out like a sinner, Seraphine tilted her head.

Maybe because it was a dream, they called me by the same name. The only problem was the title referring to me.

But when I thought of it as a dream, it felt like all those issues were nothing.

Seraphine, who was quietly following outside, happened to see a  calendar.

“517 years of imperial history?”

Seraphine frowned at the arrogant era.

“Since when did the kingdom become an empire? At the very least, I am dreaming of my father’s dream of being the conqueror. It’s crazy.”

“What are you talking about? It has been over five hundred years since the founding of the Empire.”

“You’ve been pretending to be crazy since a while ago, but you have to stop…Oops!”

“She’s still a princess! You stay quiet!”

The guard, who kept showing his negative feelings toward Seraphine, was eventually silenced by his colleague.

Either way, Seraphine couldn’t hear their conversation correctly.

‘This must be a dream.’

It had to be a dream.

More than five hundred years have passed since the founding of the empire.

Come to think of it, the people around me were all human, not the winged god’s lineage.

It was also the first time I heard the language he spoke.

‘How can I naturally use a language I hear for the first time? No, more than that… .’

The facts I hadn’t noticed flashed through my eyes one by one, where I was confused.

“Then are you saying this is not the Tilmun Kingdom?”

“The Tilmun Kingdom? Why does the Tilmun Kingdom, which would likely appear on the first page of a history book, suddenly pop up?”

It is now a country that only exists as a legend, and her guards looked at her as if she were a real madman.

‘I can’t believe it.’

The startled Seraphine wished she would wake up from this monstrous dream.

However, while they were ridiculing her, her five senses gotten more sensitive than usual.

She hasn’t touched anything yet, but the smell of a wet towel was hovering on the tip of her nose, the wind passing through the clinging clothes, and the chatter of people talking.

All of that became an indicator of reality.

“Princess, why are you not getting in!”

Seraphine was standing blankly when the coachman who came to pick her up yelled.

Even though he was talking to a person whose status was much higher than him,  his urging tone was similar to the attitude of getting rid of annoying things.

Even if you ask me to pull a heavy wagon, I would have been more docile than that.

From what I’ve heard so far, I guess I’m now the daughter of a powerful ducal family.

Even if she is the daughter of a lord who manages a small territory, her family should usually visit her in such a situation.

If not, the servants should come to get her.

However, a wagon was sent in bulk, and no one came.

It seemed that the bail money was roughly paid by the driver who came to run the errand.

“Princess, I have been ordered to return to the mansion immediately without any leaking! Don’t think about running away and get on quickly!”

She couldn’t understand the situation properly, so she got on the wagon as instructed.

Soon after, the wagon departed, and the scenery outside the window passed quickly.

It was a very different city from what I had seen before. There were no divine beings to be found in it. It was all human.

Five hundred years ago, human beings who were weak and disrespectful built an empire.

‘Is that possible?’

Conceptually, it was close to impossible.

But right now, even Seraphine herself was going through something beyond common sense. Her face was reflected in the window. And at first glance, it was a beautiful and unfamiliar face.

It was not difficult to notice that this body was also human.

Seraphine had to accept the pain she felt as she pressed her fingernails on the palm of her hand.

After more than five hundred years, she became a reckless princess of a troublesome family.

***

When she entered the mansion, the maid name Jane had a surprised look.

But only for a while.

She guided Seraphine to the room with her businesslike expression and tone of voice.

As she went up the stairs, Seraphine heard a giggle of laughter.

“It smells like a gutter here.”

“What the hell is that? A filthy beggar is far cleaner than that.”

“His Highness didn’t hear any news? The master seemed to be responding as well. With such a personality, who would pay attention to you?”

The maids who chatted with each other pretended to work quickly when Seraphine and her eyes met.

The type of people who openly gossip about their owners was not new.

‘If grown-ups are ignoring them, they’ll look down on the things below.’

Seraphine was also like that in the past.

Her servants tended to ignore her until she made weapons and was recognized by the king.

She knew how to deal with such people.

However, she needed a proper understanding of the situation, so Seraphine first took a quiet bath. She knew that she had attempted suicide and that she had gone to jail.

Everyone in the mansion knew. But their attitude towards her was the same.

Either it’s neglect or contempt.

The guards were also looking down on her as if he knew it.

Seraphine, looking for a chance to ask questions while taking her bath, caught the maids who didn’t attend her bath as if it were natural.

“The young lady doesn’t like someone attending her bath. She usually refuses other’s touch, so no one is attending.”

tl/n: They were referring to her in a third person for formality’s sake.

As time passed and the water that had moistened her body was half dried up, it was even more unpleasant.

I said I wanted to wash up immediately, and I was startled by the wounds revealed as soon as I took off my clothes.

Both large and small scars were scattered all over the body.

“Have you been abused?”

The worst has never been this bad.

Seraphine looked away and tried to not see her terrible figure as much as possible.

‘I think the people around her would notice, but when I see that no one cares……”

There was no one on Seraphine’s side here.

‘You can’t ask for help from anyone.’

Seraphine felt the need to overcome the problems one by one, but she suddenly felt hungry.

‘I guess it’s not really a dream. Seeing that I feel hungry in this situation.’

After finishing her bath, she went outside and ordered her maids to bring snacks.

The food was then prepared quickly.

But there’s a problem……

“Ugh.”

As soon as she smelled it, she almost vomited. It was so bad that she couldn’t even eat it.

Seraphine called the maid who brought her food. Then two maids stood in front of Seraphine.

“What are you doing?”

She must know why she called her, but the maid was brazen.

‘You’d have to be shameless to give your owner spoiled food.’

Seraphine briefly clicked her tongue inside and said.

“You didn’t even check the food before you brought it, didn’t you?”

“Confirming?”

“Answer. “

“Yes?”

“You have to answer my question first. Don’t tell me you don’t have enough hands for a maid to help a princess.”

The sarcastic maid showed a moment of perplexity, and then she responded quickly.

She said, “I don’t know what kind of confirmation you’re talking about, but it’s the food you’re going to eat.”

“Yes, that’s right. Then you should try it first.”

“How can I eat your meal….”

“I suspect it’s poisoned.”

“There can be no poison.”

“That is unknown. You may not know it, but the higher you are, some forces are more likely to want to harm you. So you should always be careful.”

There was no poison.

There was only spoiled food.

No one knew that the food was spoiled at this place.

But she wasn’t stupid enough to bring that fact out of her mouth.

Because it will be like confessing your sins.

“Didn’t you tell me? It’s what I eat. But I’m afraid it might not taste good.”

Saying that, Seraphine laughed. It was a cold laugh.

“Fret not if you’re afraid that there might be poison in the food. There are enough lawmakers to run at me with my call.”

The maids were not expecting such a reaction.

Originally, Seraphine, who couldn’t win a battle, had to huff and throw things away.

Further, she immediately runs to her father, the Duke of Rubia, and tells him the insults she has suffered.

Then, with a tired face, Duke Rubia gave the maids some money and kicked them out.

Since the amount of money given was ‘roughly,’ it was widely known among the maids that they could bully Seraphine if they wanted to leave this place with a lot of severance pay.

Aside from her lack of personality, Seraphine was a pushover.

Because no one in her house could hear her properly.

“Will you eat it if I feed you? After all, we don’t know who the owner is.”

The maids looked into each other’s eyes.

Then, the most brazen maid who served her finally scooped the soup with trembling hands.

She was only going to pretend to eat it.

However, Seraphine’s eyes were persistent that she had to put a mouthful of soup in her mouth.

“Ugh.”

She then immediately felt nauseous.

Seraphine gave orders coldly as if she already knew it.

“Don’t spit it out.”