Chapter 55 - Break Down

Sven didn't join us for dinner that night. Nor did he join us for breakfast the next day. 

When I came down to the landing, I had expected to see him already up and cleaning like he usually did. But no, he was nowhere in sight.

"What's wrong with the boy?" Mama asked as she grinded sugar with two stones. "Is it puberty?"

I choked. "I don't think so, Mama. Let's leave him be."

Mama shrugged and went back to crushing sugar, but I noticed that she was putting a bit too much force into it now.

"Go put the pot on," Mama grunted. 

I nodded and hurried to put the pot on and poured in some milk. Today, we were making custard. 

"Sven likes custard," Mama explained earlier. 

I had just nodded and gone along with it… even though I had never had custard before. Mama called out instructions to me while she finally crushed the very last chunks of sugar and then slid them all into the milk pot.

After a while of mixing and more mixing, the custard started to curdle up and soon, it was ready. The kitchen was filled with a lovely vanilla essence that I inhaled gratefully.

Mama Ruth carefully poured a bowl of smooth, creamy yellow custard and gave it to me.

"Go give this to Sven," she said, her specs fogging up because of the hot custard. "I doubt he'll come down. Just this once, I'll let him eat in his room."

I wiped my hands on my dress and carefully held the bowl. With my legs, I opened the kitchen door and silently walked upstairs, making sure nothing dripped over the bowl's edges.

"Sven? Hey, Sven," I knocked quietly as I knocked on his door. "Sven, will you please open the door?"

I didn't hear a response, but I did hear rustling of sheets.

I took a deep breath. "Sven, Mama made you some custard. Look, I even brought it up for you. Are you really not gonna try it?"

As I awaited an answer, I couldn't wonder how miserable Sven must be feeling. To think that you found your long lost sibling and lost her on the same day… I couldn't imagine it.

"Sven, please," I muttered as my hand rested on his knob and turned. It was locked. "Sven..."

I sighed. "Fine. I'm gonna leave it here. Up to you if you want to miss out on it or not and hey, Mama's really worried about you."

With that I put the bowl in front of his door with a deliberate loud 'thud' and trotted away. He didn't have any right to be so upset. I mean, he barely even knew her! Hell, it's better to say he's never even met her and in comparison, I was so well acquainted with her… It should be me who's upset, not him!

Now very upset as myself, I shut myself in my room and flopped down on my bed. I had gotten very used to the palace beds which bounced right back out if you jumped on them, so on reflex, whenever I threw myself on one of the inn beds, I always managed to hurt my butt. Just like I did now.

"Ow... GOSH!" I hissed as I furiously rubbed my hips to ease the pain. I picked up the flimsy pillow and screamed into it, letting all my frustration and anger out.

I threw angry punches at the mattress, letting the pain in my knuckles travel up to my elbows.

"Why… did I… have… to be… the one… to deal… WITH ALL THIS CRAP!? Why me, God?" I cried. "It was never my fu*king novel to begin with!"

This frustration had been building up in me from the very first day. I have no idea how I had kept it suppressed for a whole month or so till the point it had to burst out like this. 

But was I so wrong to complain?

I had become the main character of a Novel. But why a tragedy Novel of all sorts? This past month, I had tried earnestly to adjust to my new life. I rarely complained and even when I did, it was mostly to myself because there was no one else whom I could share my bizarre story to. And with every day brought with it new twists and turns. In the span of one month, I had become a princess, met a snake, befriended a criminal, attended a ceremony which was never supposed to be mine, jumped from a tower, discovered that I had extraordinary powers, and kept hidden from guards. And I couldn't even complain?

My punches slowed down as my adrenaline started to die down. The place where my knuckles had constantly come in contact with the bed was left a depression of my fist.   

I sighed as I brushed it to soften it up and laid down, thinking about my misfortune. 

I was so sick of this. I wanted to go back home.

I missed Juwon and Jieum. Never thought I'd say this but I did miss my sisters a bit too. 

I turned to my side and stared at the cracked wall.

As thoughts ran through my mind, I started shaking my leg just as I had seen Sven do. The vibrations brought my body calm, and the faint creaking of the bed provided background music for my thoughts. To and fro… to and fro… I sighed as I focused on my breathing, trying not to cry.

And just like that, I drifted off to sleep.

✿

When I woke up, it was nighttime. 

Blue light flooded my room. In a haze, I wondered why I hadn't gotten those curtains yet. At the palace, I never needed to worry about all this. Princesses really did have the best life.

As I lay on my back and stared up at the cobweb covered ceiling, I felt at peace. My stomach grumbled, for I had missed lunch.

Slowly, I sat up and slipped on my slippers. I quickly hand-combed my black hair which desperately needed some brushing. As I turned the knob and opened the door to my room, I heard something rattle. Stepping in the corridor, I saw that the bowl of custard I had left outside Sven's room was slightly shaking before it came to a stop, as if someone had put it down just a moment ago. And it was empty.

Smiling, I picked it up and took it to the kitchen downstairs. I rinsed it and put it on the counter and wiped my hands on my dress.

So Sven really wasn't able to resist Mama's custard, huh?

In a pot near the wall was the leftover custard. I picked a dry bowl and poured myself some. With the bowl, I headed upstairs to my room but stopped to see if Mama was awake. When I peeked in, she was fast asleep in her armchair.

Shrugging, I went back up and closed the door shut before sitting comfortably on the bed and digging into the sludge.

I understood why Sven couldn't resist; this was delicious. 

As I took another spoonful, I leaned to the side and opened my drawer. I pulled out the key to the 5th room and studied it. It was beautiful, really. Old and orange with rust, but beautiful.

It had a top that curved down into two spirals and in the middle of it was a crown. I brushed my fingers on the engravement as I took another spoonful of custard.

"Was there really something in the room that I missed?" I whispered to myself.

As I scraped off the last sludgy bits , I stood up and decided: Right, I'm gonna try once again. I was gonna find whatever was worth hiding, may it be in plain sight or not.

I tip-toed outside and listened hard. Amidst the silence, I heard heavy breaths from Sven's side of the corridor, indicating that he, too, was asleep. 

Thankful for the perfect setup, I slid the key into the door of the room it belonged to and twisted it. A familiar click was heard and this time, with more ease, the door swung open. 

With a deep breath, I stepped in and closed the door behind me.