Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Translator: wuttisyun

His body shivered slightly as the wind blew. The tip of his nose was becoming frigid. At the moment where everything around us was preparing for the oncoming night, this was the only place that seemed to have escaped from this natural progression.

“Your Majesty.”

The slender girl, who looked like she could be knocked down just by a hit, bowed her head and said confidently.

“My apologies.”

The boundaries between children and adults began to blur as the girl seemed more mature than childish based on her actions.

Castor, who had been blankly staring into space, slowly lowered his gaze and stared at the girl.

What’s this? The Crown Prince was just about to ask but all he could see was her back.

Her golden hair fluttered busily behind the shawl over her head. Seeing the sight, Castor frowned. The yellow looked faded like that of old wheat grains.

Where had he seen that before? He could see the grim terror and fear that slightly shone through the girl’s eyes.

“She ran away.”

Hernandez mumbled next to him.

Certainly, compared to her gait before, she was walking away much faster now. She looked like a furry two-legged creature. That’s what he felt when he saw the disappearing girl.

“This is my first time seeing a maid with a dress like that. Aren’t I right?”

“Ah.”

Castor replied softly.

What Hernandez meant was that what she was wearing resembled that of the casual clothes knights often wore.

“She must have recognised me. She must have noticed from your hair colour.”

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“I see.”

Even though there was no one else around, they maintained their dignified posture as they stood. For this reason, even if some were to not recognise their faces, they were instinctively aware of who they were and would lower their heads.

‘I hadn’t tried to hide my presence so I thought she would have avoided us.’

In essence, a quick wit is a virtue that subordinates should possess. Something akin to that of an herbivore’s senses. They could not conceal that they were nobility from their steps so knights would have lowered their heads and made way immediately while maids and servants would have purposefully taken another way before they would meet.

Maids who could sense them and fear them will have no issues.

‘You’ve grown a lot.’

However, Hernandez knew that the girl was not a maid.

‘But I’m sure the girl addressed him as ‘Your Majesty’ though?’

He tilted his head as he mulled it over. Then how did she recognise Castor?

***

“Ha. Ha…”

The breath that I could not take a while ago finally burst out of me. From the field where she met the Crown Prince, I had already run quite a long way without stopping. I straightened my bent back and clasped my mouth with my hands and I took in a quick breath.

“The stars that saved me…”

After saying that line, I was out of breath again.

Let’s squat. It became easier to breathe once I sat down. Resentment came shortly after. I mean, this makes no sense. Isn’t this some kind of violation? How could I meet the final boss when I was only in stage 1? I rubbed my eyes which were welling up with tears as I reflected on my situation.

Damn right. If you were going to send me to die, you should have at least given me a hint so I could escape.

Or at least give me some time to level up. Couldn’t I have been given a safety net before being pushed into this?

As if I had been watching a horror movie, goosebumps exploded across my body.

Did God find this funny? When I was struggling to live somehow with the least amount of favour given to me and then suddenly dropped next to one of the main characters?

I could only admire my misfortune as it all came crashing down on me during my last struggle.

Unlike my muddled head, my body just followed my instinct.

“Where is this place? Was this the place the map was pointing to?”

Fortunately, I think I managed to escape but then comes the next problem.

Don’t tell me, they managed to remember my face, did they?

Ah. At such times, I was proud of my hair colour but there was still some part of me that was anxious. I could not completely erase my nervousness. I raised my hand and patted my cheek.

“Did my cheek give it away… No, maybe it was my eyes.”

I shook my head. It was now more important for me to head back first.

With the sudden appearance of the final boss, I felt like fainting after running away but I had to keep my eyes open to the reality I was currently facing.

… It would most probably be the 4th Prince who will call for me next, right?

“Looks like this place is the one shown on the map.”

Even amid this chaos, I managed to find the place the map was pointing to which had strange towers of rocks. Furthermore, it was a dead end. It felt like all I did so far was just futile and for vain.

‘I wanted to get to the Palace I lived in, not some ruins of dolmens and moai statues.’

What’s more.

“The sun is setting.’

If I don’t manage to head back before evening, the Palace will be sent into a frenzy.

First, I investigated the towers of rocks. There must be a reason why he sent me here unless the 4th Prince really wanted to screw me up. After staring at them for a while, I rubbed my face.

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‘Amor, were you really trying to screw me up?’

I was afraid that my brother was trying to get me in trouble. But there was really nothing to it. Nothing but these damned towers of rocks.

‘I ate it up like a dumbass*. Fuck.’

*T/N: as in she just blindly did what he said

I stared at the monuments which were dizzyingly tall. The rocks were engraved with a lot of unknown letters. I suddenly recalled the day when I had to stay up all night long fixing a PPT* as if I was decoding some expert’s cryptogram.

*T/N: presentation slides

Be it a cryptogram or some kind of stele, all I know that it’s something that is going to royally screw me over.

“Looks like it’s the Forbidden Forest.”

It was clear that the forest I could see from a distance was the Forbidden Forest where only the Emperor and his official heir had access to. There was a rumour surrounding the forest that anyone who was not recognised by the Emperor will find themselves lost forever once they were thrown inside. Because of that, even commoners did not dare to come near the forest. That’s why it was never popular.

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“Somehow the directions he gave me are weird.”

I crumpled down to a sitting position as I gazed upon the forest in vain.

“I have no idea if he wants me to go in there and go missing or not.”

Come to think of it, what have I done today? Nothing really worked out for me.

“All I’ve gained is a tiny piece of information…”

As I stared at the clouds flying by, I suddenly looked back at the rock.

“I’ve seen something similar in a history book a long time ago.”

It was of the tombstone of the Great King Gwanggaeto[1]. The large stone stele with smaller stones surrounding it, acting like a fence, reminded me of the ruins from long ago. After taking a quick look, I realised that the language that was engraved on the towering rock was the language of the Gods.

‘It looks something like the Quran.’

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I blankly read the mysterious language out loud.

“I am… clouds? No, from the wind to become a human being… from the sky… be free.”

Since it was an ancient language, the sentence structures were terrible. Usually, the main characters in the novel would get an unexpected talent as a gift but I won’t bother to complain anymore why God would not even give me a basic language patch.

“Hm. It sounds like something a grand finding from an archaeological site will sound like.”

The level of eloquence was too high for a mere 13 year old to understand.

‘It gets easier to read nearing the end.’

I scanned it with my eyes before they stopped at the last inscription. Fortunately, the level of difficulty of the last 2 sentences was now the same as the books I usually read.

“[Ride the wind and come to me.]” I murmured.

“[Bring me the spring breeze from the west to grow these seeds. Give me the power of the God who loves Man.]”

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Thinking that there was no way for me to get back to my Palace on time, I just read the entire thing.

“[Zephyrus]”*

*T/N: It would have taken me so long to scan through the list of names of Greek gods but lucky for me, I read pjo AHAH

At that moment, the moss lifted and the dense vines moved as if they were alive.

“What is this?!”

I was surprised and jumped up. A bunch of lights began to gather at the spot I was standing in. The letters engraved on the rock began to shine brightly.

Pak!

Just then, it started shining as bright as the sun as the dazzling light blinded me.

“W-what the hell is this?!”

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The bright light alone was surprising enough but a gale started blowing as well out of nowhere.

When I opened my eyes, the wind has now grown to be as strong as a typhoon began swirling while being dyed in a translucent green colour.

Was my body shaking? Or was it the ground? It seemed as if the Earth’s axis itself was shaking.

There was a tingling sensation in my eyes. My eyes were looking at the wind as if I had gained another sensory organ. I was already given all the information I needed for this strange situation. The small circle within the big one and the two diagonally placed triangles. I’ve seen it before. It was the first symbol of the Gods we learned in theology classes. It was the pattern Gods used before writing magic spells.

As soon as the figure began to approach me, the light started bursting into an explosion. A strange feeling came over me. No, it was as if I knew instinctively that I had to think of where I wanted to go. I accurately thought of Terena Palace.

The moment my feet were lifted from the ground, my body was whisked away.

“… Uh. My head.”

When I opened my eyes after I had closed them in that strange forest, my surroundings began to fill with a savoury fragrance.

“Where is this?”

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I slowly raised my head to witness a ridiculous scene.

“… This is crazy.”

I slowly turned my head to find the same stele. My gaze rose to something above it. I rubbed my eyes. It was the same stele as I saw near Amor’s Palace but it was of a completely different colour.

“… Oh my god.”

I could see a familiar roof in a distance.

“It’s the Terena Palace!”

The stele in front of me was clearly the same shape as the one near the 4th Prince’s Palace but it was of a duller colour. My head was spinning. Was this what they called teleportation? That’s right, I just teleported.

“This stele lets you teleport?”

After I got up and walked a little, I managed to regain my bearings. This white wall was that of my Palace. I was at the back of Terena Palace. If my shaking eyes could make sound, they would have made the most ear crushing sound. And at the back of the Palace…

“It’s connected to the Forbidden Forest.”

After following the wall for a while, I realised that it stopped right in front of the gates that marked the beginning of the forest.

… So this really is Terena Palace. It really was. I looked down and started getting tipsy from happiness.

The huge fence that separated the Palace from the forest could be crossed quite easily. I still remember crawling through a hole in the fence countless times before and shaking my hair wet from the forest dew.

When I looked back again, I couldn’t see the stele. But I’m sure it was still there, just covered by the thick trees and comparatively short grasses.

That startled me. Does this even make any sense? I was a modern woman in my previous life. The person that believed so much in reason and rationality was screaming.

‘Ppirong—’

I raised my head in response to the clear sound. I noticed a small bird looking down at me from a tall tree. As if it had been watching everything so far. But that’s not possible. That would be too much. I laughed at the thought.

‘Ppirororong—’

I covered my eyes with my hands to completely block the bird in my field of sight. It was making me nervous.

When I got back, my nanny and the head maid went ballistic. I thought I had been gone for only half a day but it seemed like Anna and my maids didn’t manage to seal their lips about it. They gave up chiding me after noticing that I returned looking very tired. I decided to deal with my nanny first since she was easier.

“Nanny, I’m hungry. What’s for dinner?”

The head maid seemed to have a lot to say but she held back and withdrew just like that. It looks like she decided to pretend not to know anything.

“Don’t scold Anna. Please? I still have many things I want to talk to her about…”

Those who were good and kind at heart could not dish out their grievances at me anymore. My nanny who glanced at me and noticed the tears in my eyes said, “My poor Princess. I didn’t know you wanted a friend this badly…” before ending the issue.

But Anna who knew some of the truth looked at me strangely. But even she sneaked up to me and whispered, “I’m glad you came back safely.”

I felt terribly fatigued. I sat on one of the sofas before taking off the bandage on my cheek before pressing down on my scar. I wanted to lie down on my bed right away but I still had a lot of things I needed to think about. I got up again and staggered towards my desk before sitting down.

“Hannah, could you get me a cup of tea?”

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It seems like the fragrant scent of the forest was still emanating from my hair.

In our Theology textbooks, [Zephyrus] was the name of the God of the West Wind and he was only one of the many Gods of Wind.

I felt that my reasoning that had been free of all superstition, religion and all other beliefs was slowly falling apart.

‘Wow, I really am in a fantasy. So, does that mean my life is now a suspenseful adventure?’

A smile leaked out of me. There’s a stele that I could use to teleport at the back of my Palace! I had been living in such an enviable world. I mean, I hadn’t even noticed that I had been living while surrounded by such a great fantasy. Hahaha. Was it because the life I had been living in the past 6 years had been too quiet? A dejected laugh burst out from me. Because I have still yet to adapt to God’s power and everything else.

Actually, my reincarnation, this novel world and the diary that could foretell the future? Everything I had experienced so far had been equally amazing and insane. These were all fantasies. In the end, I felt a little better after treating them all the same.

Yeah, from now on, let’s just treat everything like it was bullshit!

When I opened my diary again, my calm heart disappeared just as it came.

T/N: The Gwanggaeto stele looks like this https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/de/0/05/Gwanggaeto-Stele_1915.jpg for any of you curious