Chapter 46: Black friend in the basement

In the recreation of memories, Seleneum was always a happy land.

The king was benevolent and wise, and the queen was compassionate and intelligent.

Luna, who grew up in such an environment from a young age, felt as though her future would always be as bright as moonlight.

However.

Cracks slowly began to appear in Seleneum, which had always seemed destined for happiness.

“Why aren’t Mom and Dad coming home these days…?”

Luna waited alone for her parents in her bedroom.

The young girl hugged her blanket tightly, shedding endless tears.

“Dad… Mom… I’m alone every day…”

Since when was it?

Since when had the distance between her and her parents grown so vast?

Since when had the palace become so quiet?

Since when… had she become so lonely?

“You said it would be okay soon… Liars…”

The King and Queen became busy.

At first, they said, ‘Just wait a little longer, Luna.’

They said they would soon be with Luna again, just like before.

But that ‘little longer’ was a time that never came, even after a day, then two.

The princess’s waiting did not end, even after days turned into months.

“Mom… Can we eat dinner together today?”

One day, Luna asked, full of hope.

‘Maybe Mom and Dad had a fight.’

She didn’t know why, but if her parents hadn’t fought, they wouldn’t ignore her like this.

Luna gripped the Queen’s dress tightly with a trembling voice.

—Tremble.

The young girl’s small hands were trembling as much as her voice.

“Oh, I really want to eat together today… Please.”

‘Perhaps if I ask politely, they might agree.’

‘Maybe they’re leaving me alone because I’ve been too childish until now.’

As the time she spent alone grew longer, the young girl blamed herself for everything.

However, despite Luna’s earnest plea, the King and Queen merely shook their heads, their faces weary.

“I’m sorry, Luna. We have an important meeting, so we’ll be late again today. Next time, let’s definitely do it together.”

Her mother’s eyes, which had always been warm, somehow looked a little dull.

“Okay… definitely next time…?”

Next time.

And then next time.

Next. Next. Next.

The words repeated endlessly.

Eventually, from a certain day onward, Luna couldn’t even see her parents at all.

They weren’t there when she opened her eyes.

The seat beside her was empty even when she ate.

Not even a warm touch was felt, even when she fell asleep, exhausted by loneliness.

Only cold solitude remained as the princess’s constant companion.

“…When will they come…?”

Luna murmured to herself in the darkness, but still, no answer came.

“Lately… I seem to talk to myself a lot…”

When was the last time she had a conversation with someone…?

The princess slowly began to stutter.

For some reason, the words wouldn’t come out properly.

‘Was it because she was always rejected whenever she spoke…?’

“A little… lonely…”

The atmosphere of the palace had completely changed.

Before, it was always filled with people like warm sunshine, but not anymore.

The servants’ footsteps grew increasingly cautious, and the ministers moved busily with stern expressions.

Even the common folk spoke less and less.

“Um… Is something happening in the kingdom…?”

“I apologize, Princess. I’m busy, so I must go…”

Luna spoke to everyone she met, but no one answered the young girl’s questions.

“…Why won’t anyone tell me…?”

Heavy, quiet air.

The young princess gradually lost her way within it.

“Yesterday… today… and tomorrow… will I always be alone…?”

Luna quietly sobbed under her blanket.

Why had it turned out like this?

Everything had changed so suddenly.

How could Mom and Dad, who seemed to love her the most…

“Please come back… to how it used to be…”

The princess spent every day steeped in sorrow.

She always used tears as her pillow, and fell asleep covered by the blanket of loneliness.

The tears flowing from her beautiful golden eyes became rivers and oceans.

Then one day, Luna began to wander throughout the palace, searching for her parents.

“Lucian said nothing will change if I just stay still…”

She couldn’t just cry every day.

Luna was still a young girl, but she was not merely a passive princess.

‘I’m going to change everything again.’

Luna steeled her resolve and wandered alone throughout the palace.

“Huh…?”

Sparkle.

A strange light she had never seen before caught the young girl’s eye.

A faint red light was rising from the passage leading to the basement of Seleneum Palace.

“This place was always blocked off…?”

— “Luna, you can go anywhere in this palace, but you must not go in here. Understand?”

Her kind mother and her father, who would grant her any wish, had both told her never to approach the basement.

Simply because she didn’t want to disappoint her parents out of curiosity, Luna had always regarded this place as non-existent until now.

But today, feeling as if something was calling to her, she unconsciously drew closer to it.

‘Maybe… there’s something there…’

‘Could the reason Mom and Dad changed so strangely be here?’

Luna picked up a lantern and cautiously began to descend.

Tap.

Tap.

The continuous stone steps felt like an endless path of hardship.

“Haa… I finally made it down.”

The basement was narrower than she expected.

Only a massive iron cage existed there; nothing else.

“I came all this way down… but there’s nothing—”

At that moment, an unpleasant gnawing sound was heard.

—Crunch.

“What… is that sound?”

A sound like some being chewing metal with its teeth.

Gnaw.

Chomp.

Crumble.

Luna, shining her lantern towards the sound, couldn’t help but be startled.

“Wh-what is that…?”

Inside the massive iron cage, a black entity, bound by chains, was eating something.

—Crunch.

The entity looked as if black soot was mimicking a human form.

The being, as if made of charcoal soot, kept mumbling something in an unsettling voice.

[Damn it… it’s not enough… This isn’t nearly enough…! Only ‘she’… only she can satisfy my desires.]

What the entity in the cage was eating were various jewels and treasures like gold, emeralds, and rubies.

[If it weren’t for that damned savior… I wouldn’t be trapped here…! I will… I will definitely get my revenge.]

The black entity continued to mumble something, chewing on the treasures.

‘I can’t quite hear what it’s saying…’

Luna took one careful step after another towards the entity.

“Wh-who are you…? Eating things like that will give you a stomachache…”

—Clink.

Hearing Luna’s voice, the black entity stopped eating and dragged its chains, approaching the cage bars.

[To think the Goddess of Moonlight would visit such a humble place… Being trapped in the basement has its good moments, it seems.]

—Clank-clank.

Each time the black entity moved, an unpleasant metallic clanging filled the basement.

[Princess Luna, have you lost your way? Or… have you come here, unable to bear your loneliness?]

“You know me…?”

[Of course. Seleneum’s treasure! How could I not know the most beautiful princess, acknowledged by countless nations? It’s truly an honor to meet you like this.]

The black entity shook itself and stood up, bowing politely like a gentleman.

Its puppet-like movements, mimicking a human, instead evoked a sense of sheer grotesqueness.

[Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Tam… No, just call me the Black Entity.]

“Sooty…?”

Luna gave him the name ‘Sooty’, as he seemed to be made of charcoal soot.

[Haha! Sooty, that’s a good one too. Now that we know each other’s names, shall we be friends, Luna?]

“Um, well… that is…”

The young girl hesitated for a moment.

Not only had she entered the forbidden basement, but now she was considering befriending an entity that radiated an ominous aura.

‘If Mom and Dad find out…’

But Luna was so lonely.

No one spoke with her except for Tsuki, the shrine maiden, and Lucian.

If she could have been with those two every day, she wouldn’t have been this lonely.

Tsuki always had to be at the shrine, so she couldn’t stay with the princess for long.

Lucian, as the savior, had to travel all over the world, making it very difficult to see him in the first place.

‘I want to talk to someone…’

The princess wasn’t asking for much.

She simply wanted to share her daily life and converse with someone.

‘She didn’t know who Sooty was, but if it was just talking, wouldn’t it be okay?’

“Yes. Let’s be friends…”

[To form a friendship with such a beautiful princess, today calls for a celebration, doesn’t it?]

The black entity extended a small gold piece to Luna.

It was just a gold piece, without any special craftsmanship or decoration, yet it seemed like a unique item, emanating an inexplicable aura.

[It’s a gift to celebrate our first friendship. You must keep it safe, Luna. Carry it with you always, thinking of your friend who waits alone for the princess in the basement, whether you’re sleeping or eating.]

“Okay, see you next time, Sooty…! Be well until then!”

[Haha, of course. May the Goddess of Moonlight always be with you, Luna.]

Contrary to its words of blessing, the black entity’s red eyes were filled with sticky, chilling desire.

A gaze coveting an unripe fruit.

“Sooty, you sleep well and dream of the moon too!”

Luna, unable to discern the black entity’s gaze, smiled brightly and bid him farewell.

She was simply a pure young girl, her heart fluttering with the joy of having found a friend to talk to.

One night, as moonlight poured down as if shattering, Luna befriended an ominous entity.