episode_0024

A woman wearing a long purple robe embroidered with gold leaf runs across the palace corridor with a hurried stride that does not befit her dignity. Her dress, which is too short for her height, drags on the floor. The soldiers standing guard at both ends of the corridor in front of the door are focused on her as she looks as if she might trip over her dress at any moment, but strangely enough, she runs quite well.

As she turned the corner, the sweet and luxurious scent of tea faintly mingled in the air, and the woman’s face seemed relieved, as if she had been panting a little, but when the door to her destination opened and a cat-like woman in a military uniform walked out, her face turned ashen again.

“Heh, heh. What are you doing coming out of that room?”

Christie glances down at the woman who has stopped in front of her, resting her head on her knees and catching her breath.

“I can enter any room.”

“Wow, this is the palace! Don’t you know who I am? A place where a lowly soldier like you can come and go⋯.”

“I know who you are, Lord Chamberlain Ferrel Dice. I heard you had a bad cold. Are you feeling any better?”

Christie cuts him off, deliberately lifting her chin and looking down as she speaks.

“⋯I, I didn’t know you guys would act this recklessly! You should know that the story about sticking with the Eastern Army is far from the truth!”

Ferrell suddenly felt uneasy as Christie looked down at her with her icy gaze, still not showing any particular emotion.

“No way… Did you do something to harm the Crown Prince and his wife?”

He asks, his face pale from sweat.

“⋯It was so noisy. As expected from someone who had been hiding to avoid the chaos, your gaze is kind. ”

Christie glances at the uncorked scabbard on her waist, then ties it back up with one hand and responds coldly. Ferrel’s pale face contorts.

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty the Crown Prince!”

Sir Dice pushed Christie aside with trembling hands, opened the door, and ran in.

“Ferrell? What’s wrong with your face? Where does it hurt?”

The crown prince and his wife look at her with surprised faces.

“Dice said he was sick last time too, Princess.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, thanks. Thank you for even giving me an escort. If you’re sick, it’s okay to rest a little more and then go to work.”

Dice tilts his head. The Crown Prince and his wife tilt their heads in the same manner after a short silence. He turns around and looks out the door, where he sees Christie walking down the long hallway.

“Prince, that sword decoration I saw earlier was really cool!”

“It was my first time seeing it so close!”

Sir Dice collapses on the spot, his nerves suddenly released.

***

“Don’t you think that’s too selfish? Why would you drag me there?”

“I can’t trust someone like you even more?”

“What on earth made you want to date me? You said you came to see me from the beginning.”

Ray, who was going down the stairs, stops in his tracks when he hears a loud noise coming from downstairs and listens carefully.

“He said he came to see his mother. He said it was all thanks to me that he was able to come all the way here from the countryside!”

“In return, give me your body and mind, I think that’s what they were talking about. You’ve been charging a pretty high price for giving me directions. Which of us is the less trustworthy adult?”

“Uh, we’re not like that⋯.”

“Aren’t you feeling anxious inside? I think you can feel the difference in class that makes it impossible for a relationship to work out. Why would a noble guy like that date you? It’s because you don’t know anything yet. You’re using that as a weakness to hold him back.”

“Ugh⋯⋯.”

Although the average appearance of this world is said to be outstanding, he had thought that Mila was a woman who was not inferior to him in terms of face or body, and that she was only someone he would talk to in his previous life. Ray was surprised to see Mila hesitate for a moment to answer, wondering if he really thought that way.

“That innocence that you don’t know anything about might be good⋯. That’s what makes you different from other men, that’s what makes you attractive!”

“I guess it’s nice to think about staining that pure blank page with your footprints.⋯Have you ever dated anyone else before?”

“There’s nothing wrong with saying no! Isn’t it ideal for both of you to get to know each other for the first time?”

“Tsk tsk⋯. You’re being too greedy.”

Even a new car wants a skilled driver rather than a novice driver. It was a painful phrase that Ray himself had heard once in his previous life. Is this how things turn out in this place where the nature of love between men and women has been reversed?

“What’s so loud?”

Ray, who had decided to stop eavesdropping, appeared in the living room.

“You’re coming. What do you think of my room after taking a look around?”

Algaet, sitting in the exact same spot where she had breakfast, starts talking to me.

“⋯⋯I think I have a good memory. The books I had on hand had a lot of difficult words, so I can’t really tell what they’re saying.”

“Don’t worry about that. I can teach you slowly.”

Ray felt a little awkward as he spoke with a loud, hearty laugh that made him feel uncomfortable.

“What are you talking about? Ray. Come down south with me.”

Ray turns his head to look at Mila, who suddenly stands up and starts talking out of the blue.

“⋯Where is that?”

“Ah, don’t worry about it too much. He said he’d join the vigilantes because he couldn’t do business anymore, and he’s going to drag you along with him. We have a lot to talk about between ourselves, so we won’t have time to hang out, right?”

Algae intervenes.

“Stay still! Yeah, that’s right. Ray. Now all I have left is you. To be honest, I don’t know what kind of hardships you’ll face there, but no matter what happens, I’ll make sure you don’t get hurt. Can you follow me?”

Mila, who was making an urgent request. Ray thought that she was a better person than his previous life, as long as she had the courage to ask him to stay by her side. She was somewhat naive, but she was familiar. It was as if he wanted to support her love, even if it was only for a little while.

“⋯Okay. I’ll follow you.”

“Really?”

“What!? Wait, wait. We still have so much to talk about!”

This time, Algaet suddenly wakes up.

Knock knock

In the midst of the commotion, a knock on the door is heard from the front door, and Holt comes out of the kitchen and walks across the living room.

“Do you know it’s a lawless place right now? Ray. As you know, ‘we’ are not used to such a chaotic place. Are you going to let that woman control your precious new life?”

“It’s already over. Okay, Ray? Let’s get out of here. What else can we talk about with that annoying pervert?”

Mila grabs Ray’s hand with a smile on her face.

“Um… You left this in the carriage.”

As Holt opens the door, the woman who was the coachman and Ray’s mother, who had carried Algaet and the coachman the day before, stands there. As the coachman’s eyes turn to her palm, there is a small yellow metal object that Ray and Algaet are more familiar with calling a bullet. Before the coachman can take it, the coachman’s eyes turn to Mila and her only son, and her fist clenches. She strides into the mansion and hits Mila in the jaw.

Kwadang

***

“Yes, how are the couple doing?”

Only when the sun has set and the dark inside the castle begins to light up with bonfires does Christie report the day’s work to Uriel.

“He was a person with no real ambitions. The Crown Prince and his wife would not pose much of a threat to us.”

Christie reports, her back straight and her posture relaxed. Uriel bursts into laughter at those words.

“Ahahahaha. That’s the answer I was looking for. You’re really talented.”

“⋯You are too kind.”

Christie answers, swaying her heels. As someone who has easily seized power, she must have known that her nerves are on edge, not knowing when or where a knife might be stabbed in the back. The more nervous and suspicious a person is, the more they need a reliable corner. Christie felt that Uriel was gradually building up trust in her.

“Have you seen the palace? The royal guys, while people are dying outside the Frauah, how extravagantly you are eating seriously. I want to invite you to a meal sometime. It’s a meal that the royal family eats. Aren’t you excited?”

“⋯I don’t know what to do.”

If it was a meal, a spouse would accompany her, and Christie knew better than anyone how much food and drink could help in the act of interception. Her smile was seen as a kind of embarrassment to Uriel.

As she left Uriel’s office and headed to her quarters, her expression was as cold as ever. At first, she might have been a little intrigued by the Eastern Garrison, a force that had overturned the capital and broken the existing system, but Christie was gradually becoming increasingly disappointed by their stupidity and dullness, which were no different from anything else.

What changed was the clothes she wore, and her position. The fact that she lived entangled with boring people remained the same. Christie, who had no interest in luxury, felt a sense of emptiness and looked out the window, far away, at the edge of the police station where she had worked until a few days ago. Someone was running busily, and the new officer who had been her successor was running busily after him again.