Chapter 1

Six years ago from now.

Lulahel, who was originally a commoner, became an adoptive daughter due to her beautiful appearance. She approached the emperor and had a child.

I heard she was intelligent and smart enough to target the emperor. Contrary to her plan, however, the emperor did not care about the beauty of the women who had deliberately approached him.

If we too, who were just born, did not have the blond hair, the symbol of the royal family, we would surely have been decapitated by his hands.

[We are called Argen and Arienne.]

The only memory that remains is that the emperor gave us a name.

Usually it would not be enough to hold a celebration, crying for several days and nights after the birth of a member of the royal family, but the day that the fourth prince and first princess were born, the emperor sent us to the abandoned castle of Derolina.

Still, it was a better treatment than many expected. It wouldn’t be strange if three people died side by side on the day we were born.

Since then, the emperor did not have any interest in the three of us, including Rurahel, but he did send over dozens of maids to serve us and an abundant amount of money to the castle.

But that was the problem. The overflowing money had been spent on Lulahel’s extravagant lifestyle.

The servants seemed to be hoping that in a few years we would be in better shape, but after that, they realized that three of us, who had been abandoned, were a hopeless cause and no longer served their masters.

At least, when Lulahel was screaming and angry, everyone felt reluctant to follow, but we were not young. Our mother gave up raising her children and the servants ignored Argen and I while deliberately harassing us. They seemed to think that they came to this abandoned palace because of us. By the time we were two years old, the head maid came from the emperor’s palace every month to live here.

One day, after Lulahel was drunk and shouting, the head maid said not to pay attention to her children who she deserted and then the small sound of footsteps from the servants stopped as if the embers were extinguished.

There was only one fortunate thing in this miserable situation. It was that Argen and I were not ordinary children. On the surface, we were five-year-old children who yearn for their parents’ love, but in fact, we were ordinary high school students at the age of 18 who died and reincarnated.

“It’s already our fifth birthday.”

“Then what’s your point?”

I muttered as I pick up my small feet and looked out. Argen, who was sleeping from behind frowned at my very serious tone of voice.

Wrinkling his forehead, he made a face as if his birthday was not important, and gave a prickly blow.

Beautiful blonde hair shone under the warm sunshine coming through the window.

‘Nobody cares.’

‘Well…… that’s true.’

I was wearing a forsythia dress with a pretty frill Lurahel had bought me when she was in a good mood, but in the end, I sighed because Argen was right.

I was Arien Beatrice Yuriana, the only princess of this empire.

At the same time, I was a person who died with my twin brother and was reborn again.

“It’s your fifth birthday and you’re going to sleep more, Argen?”

Unlike me who was dressed extravagantly, the boy still holding a big pillow and wearing his white pajamas, was the fourth prince of the Yuriana Empire named Argen Ishilben Yuriana.

This may seem to be the case, but we were born as the imperial son and daughter of the Emperor. leaning against the window frame, I moved my face. I murmured as if I were listening to Argen as the cold breeze hit my face and tousled my hair.

“Isn’t it actually our 23rd birthday?”

Pulling his face from the quilt, Argen retorted, as if he didn’t like the number 23.

“Aren’t we supposed to subtract from the previous life?”

Argen shook his head gently as he unfolded his hands, recalling memories of being 18 years old. With a face that had not yet fully awoken, he crumpled his face into the large pillow. I was thinking about taking that pillow away immediately, but I decided to let it go since today was our birthday.

“Fine, then let’s just say it’s our fifth birthday.”

“I’m sleepy… …are we going to make fruit cakes like last year?”

He said he would celebrate our birthday with a pronunciation like a baby on the verge of sleep.

Normally, the prince and princess deserved to have a grand celebration too difficult to express in words, but we didn’t. Argen crumpled himself into the quilt.

“Let’s make it after lunch.”

“Lurahel is out. I don’t think we’ll be able to eat lunch today.”

Lulahel was our biological mother. Then Argen jumped up and frowned, as if he had come to his senses at what I said. His face was cute because it’s a child’s face, but I didn’t dare to say this.

“We starved yesterday evening and this morning…..”

There was no one to take care of our meals unless Lulahel had a meal at home. Lulahel, who had been out playing around since yesterday afternoon, hadn’t returned to the castle even though it was already noon.

“I’m hungry.”

We had recognized each other from birth. It didn’t take that long for me to realize that I was reincarnated in a cradle without warmth and that we were born again as twins. When Argen said he was hungry, I approached the bedside slumping my body down and opened my mouth.

“I want to eat chocolate cake.”

Starting with that, I was talking about the food that I wanted to eat with Argen, who was mumbling in bed.

Bang!!

It was quite a loud noise. Others may turn their heads to look, but it wasn’t the case for Argen and I. Argen’s lazy complexion turned pale and I jumped to my feet. Argen quickly grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me to his side since I couldn’t wasn’t fast enough.

An old picture frame hung beside the bed. A small space emerged when we pushed the frame, which had existed since we started living in this room. We squeezed our body into the space behind the frame with quick movements, like when we fell asleep. To hide our existence, we covered the frame over it as if nothing had happened.

‘we couldn’t eat lunch.’

Argen said with a glance and I nodded vigorously in agreement . Our premonition wasn’t wrong. A woman staggered into the room, smelling of alcohol. It was our mother, Lulahel.

A woman dressed in luxury enough to know where all the money the emperor sent each month went, looked around the room and shouted loudly.

“Where are you both?”

With a reluctant look, the maids behind Lulahel hurriedly stopped her. Fortunately, Lulahel wasn’t too intoxicated and wandered around a little then was guided out by her maids. She didn’t have the figure like a woman with two children. We watched the situation through a small gap in the frame and exhaled a breath of relief.

“She came back early.”

“I thought she was going to play outside for a week like last time.”

Argen and I had many scars on our body. It was something like a burn mark or a long scar. All these large and small wounds were irremovable traces from Lurachel. Under these circumstances, it was natural for us to avoid our mother Lulahel. Perhaps it was a miserable situation that we would not have endured if there weren’t two of us, even if we were children.

Coming out from the gap behind the cryptic frame, Argen took over the quilt that had been lying there a little while ago. When arhen came out of the picture frame and took up the quilt, he looked at me, but he didn’t tell me to come.

“But you know, when we get bigger, we can’t go in there any more.”

“Wouldn’t we be able to rebel against Lulahel when we get a little bigger?”

“……will it be possible?”

On our birthday, I was in the middle of sighing enough to fill our room with worry and bitterness.

Quang-!

“……”

“……”

At the loud sound of the door opening, the body sitting on the bed and putting on the blanket hardened. With a sweaty face, Rural stood by the door looking at us. The servants in the back closed the door with no guilt, saying, “Yes, mam.” Only Lulahel, Argen and I were left in the room. It was not once or twice that the servants were like that, but I was amazed that they could ignore young children even after seeing them abused.

While blankly looking at the door for a moment, Lulahel strode over and picked up a vase without flowers from a nearby table.

Cheng–!

With a loud noise, the vase broke at my feet, leaving water stains on the carpet.

“This vase, the color isn’t pretty. Mom, I’ll change it for you to something a little more colorful.”

I fell while running away from the vase that shattered nearby, but I was fortunate it crashed by my feet.

If I had made the wrong move, I would have been hit with the vase. With a shattered vase by my feet, Argen grabbed my immobile arm trying to pull me up, but Lulahel was faster. With a red face, she held Argen’s shoulders and applied pressure pushing him down.

“Baby, you have to answer.”

It was a sweet voice at first glance, but it never sounded so sweet to Argen and I, who almost got hit by the vase on the floor.

Argen was holding onto his ankle, perhaps because he had sprained his foot while trying to shake her off his shoulder, but Lulahel did not even give him a glance.

“Why even you….. His Majesty has abandoned me…… Even you have also…… Me…… Me…”

I could bet that Lulahel was not normal. It could not be normal for a woman to be drunk and violent against her young children. She didn’t have that kind of mental disorder once or twice, it seemed to come and go, so I sneaked away from Lulahel, who sat covering her face.

I crept up to Argen.

‘Get up quickly.’

It was clear that if we didn’t run away now, we’d be the target of her anger for a while. While trying to get Argen up, Lulahel leaned against the wall and staggered out of the room. Only then was I able to ease my anxiety and released a breath of relief without realizing it. Even though it’s our birthday……

“Are you all right, Argen?”

“You.”

“I’m saying it because I’m fine.”

“…… I’m fine, too.”

“Lies.”

Our older half-brothers, The three princes, whose face we have never seen before, had rows of splendidly dressed aristocrats from all over the world coming to their birthdays.

“……”

“You’re lying.”

We have never celebrated, received gifts beyond our imagination, blessed by the temple, or seen the three princes. We who are part of the same imperial family, are in this situation.

“Does it hurt a lot?”

“I think it’s a little off.”

I sat down on the opposite side of Argen, with my head slightly drooping in vain.

********

In addition to Argen, I had three more brothers. Argen also had three brothers. All I knew about them was that they had gorgeous blond hair, a symbol of the imperial family, and that the second prince’s birthday was two weeks apart from us.

So when our birthday passed and the second prince’s birthday approached, we had to feel an invisible gap and deprivation that the world we were living in was different.

On the day when no one congratulated us, everyone else was delighted and joyful for the second prince’s birthday, unlike us, who were reprimanded for being born. On our birthday, we always climbed up a tree and watched the second prince’s palace from far away under the same silver sky. We couldn’t take our eyes off that place.

Bright magic fireworks floated in the sky, loud enough to be heard from this abandoned castle, and the extravagant outer wall shined brighter than usual. Nobles arrived endlessly in well managed carriage and there was a pleasant sound of music and a delicious smell. The scene was so precious to Argen and I who were born in a new and unfamiliar world and who have never been outside our castle. At the same time, I felt so envious.

Unlike the princes, who did not even get a speck of dirt on their hands, only saw what was good, heard what was good, and obtained what they wanted to hold in their eyes, Argen and I had never received any happiness just because of our mother’s lowly birth. we’ve never had enough of what we wanted in our hands.

As soon as I tried to raise Argen lying on the floor, Lulahel, who had left before came back in. I felt like I couldn’t breath as I was beaten by Lulahel, who came up close. I don’t know what she thought about when hitting me on the white cheeks that I wanted to press down on, but I was glad that her nails were shorter than usual and she didn’t wear a ring while I was getting beaten. In my experience, if she hit me with a ring on, I would have had a scratch on my fragile skin. I grabbed my cheek and fell down beside Argen.

“Ah.. ouh…”

Lulahel stood in front of us who had fallen down and who was filled with groans of distress. Soon, she looked at us with an evil gaze, but fortunately there was no more violence.

After a while, Lulahel closed the door with a loud noise and went out. She went in and out three times, but compared to the usual, it was a really quick exit, so I put my hand on my right cheek opening and closing my eyes. It’s a relief that it ended with just a blow. No, it’s not relief but luck. It was fortunate compared to usual. Argen tilted his head and this time he was the one to ask.

“Are you okay?”

“I think I look okay?”

“I think I’m okay…”

“It doesn’t look like it.”

“I’m not okay.”

“I’m not okay, either.”

Argen wiggled his toes a few more times to see if he was injured much more than expected, then slowly grabbed a chair nearby and pulled himself up.

“I did it for a while because I hit it wrong. It doesn’t hurt much.”

“What if the ligament is stretched or obvious?”

“It doesn’t hurt that much.”

He fell because of Lulahel’s hands and swept his legs against the carpet. As I walked on my skirt, I looked down at Argen’s burning-red ankle again. As if Argen couldn’t do it, I took out a bandage-like cloth from the drawer and began to tie it to his legs.

Only after fixing his ankle with short, chubby hands, I gazed at Argen to see if he was satisfied. Last time I cut up a white blanket that was left unattended in a room, but I didn’t expect to use it in this way.

“It hurts a little bit on the cheek.”

I spoke with a swollen cheek and Argen reached out sweeping over it. A cold hand brushed over my cheek.

“There are no scars left because she didn’t wear accessories.”

If she wore a ring, she would have gained more impact. I’ve been beaten like that once, so I shuddered at the thought of the horrible memories.

“That’s a good thing.”

It was a very sad conversation, but after a month or two, it repeated for several years increasing more each day becoming a daily routine. It was worth living until the age of two, but after the emperor ordered the head maid to visit, it became quite awful.

Our mother’s abuse got worse and the maids left us unattended. They didn’t provide meals every few days, accidentally spilled hot water, and pretended they didn’t know. However, thanks to our outstanding resilience, a characteristic of the royal family, we were nowhere as bad and scared as we should be .

Of course no one will understand our pain with scars engraved on our body, despite having the imperial blood flowing in our veins.