Ch.156Season 2 – What’s with the Hotel Room?
by fnovelpia
# Princess Rio
She was a princess known for being particularly eccentric among the many imperial royals.
It started with her first impression that didn’t look like a princess at all.
She always wore comfortable leotards.
She had never dressed up for formal occasions, and very few people within the imperial palace had seen her moving around in a dress.
Even her mother, Empress Lia, had given up with “Sigh… fine, do whatever you want…”
For reasons unknown, she had pursued power and entered the prison tower as the warden, and now.
“Wooow~. It’s been so long~.”
Truly,
She was absolutely overjoyed to meet a “connected sister” after such a long time.
“It’s been exactly 927 days since I left the empire. So we’re meeting after almost three years, right? Sister Yurian.”
“Hehe, when you put it that way, it really does feel like it’s been a long time.”
So Yurian had been acquainted with Rio in the past.
After being tense and barely able to speak properly at first, she soon started smiling and went along with her younger sister’s pace.
“I heard you left the empire for training. But I never imagined you’d be in charge of the prison…”
“I applied directly. As you know, this prison tower is always short-staffed and welcomes talented people anytime, right? So I came in for a meteoric rise and now I’m already the deputy director!”
“Deputy director?! You’ve risen that high already?”
The deputy director of the prison tower was an extremely high position.
It meant she was directly under the director who supervised the entire prison tower.
If that was the case, couldn’t they use that position to make their original plan easier?
Yurian looked down at her half-sister with whom she had been acquainted, about to show an expression suggesting she had a good idea, but…
“Sister?”
“…!”
She quickly closed her mouth.
Because it felt like she would be deceiving her younger sister.
‘This is the right thing to do… but somehow I don’t want to…’
But she had no choice.
She had already crossed that line herself.
As she steeled her resolve again and tried to look at Rio in front of her…
“Hey, who are you?”
“?!”
Rio had somehow passed by her and approached her past mother who was behind her.
“……”
“Hmm? Are you mute? Why can’t you speak?”
“R-Rio!”
“Sister, is she really unable to speak? If so, we do have medical facilities in our prison tower…”
“Th-that’s not it!”
Had she strengthened her unique “walking technique” even more?
Yurian, looking back at Rio who had already passed by her, ran over there…
‘Wh-what should I do?!’
Since she hadn’t known Rio would be here beforehand, she wasn’t sure how to judge and act in this situation.
It was right at that moment when Yurian was anxiously pondering by herself.
“I’m!”
“…!”
“Your older sister.”
“Older…”
“Sister?”
Wouldn’t it be more natural to say younger sister?
She could have smoothed things over by saying she was a younger sister born while Rio was away at the prison tower.
But not a younger sister, but an older sister?
“I… don’t remember having an older sister like you?”
Humans typically remember those above them clearly, even if they don’t know much about those below them.
Even though she was a monster, Rio had half of Shinwoo’s human blood mixed in, so there was no way she wouldn’t maintain such hierarchical relationships.
‘What are you thinking?!’
Was there some deeper meaning?
Yurian looked at Lia with such an expression.
But in reality, it was just Lia’s ad-lib, not wanting to be beneath her own daughter.
However, even so.
“I’m originally an illegitimate child!”
“Illegitimate… child?”
“Yes! Due to various difficult circumstances… I… no, my mother hid my identity quite a bit.”
Strangely, her brazen approach started to gain a peculiar persuasiveness.
Above all, whether sister or not, the girl looked exactly like the mother Rio remembered.
“And there’s no way this appearance could be fake, right?”
“W-well, that’s true…?”
Ruby-red eyes.
Skin as white as jade.
The features covering the woman before her were evidence of Empress Lia’s blood, much stronger than in herself or her siblings.
Of course, it was because she was Lia herself, so it couldn’t be otherwise.
“I’m also collaborating with Yurian to enter the empire!”
“Sister… is what she’s saying true?”
“Huh?! Oh, yes… that’s right. This person is currently moving with the same purpose as me.”
“W-wow! I never knew I had another sister like this. As expected of our mother! She really does give birth to children left and right?!”
So she’s falling for it after all…
Perhaps it was possible because the other person was the simple-minded Rio.
Yurian, who had been tense but then relieved at that thought.
Meanwhile.
“…Hmm?”
“……?”
Well, having met family.
Since it was the usual job of transporting prisoners, Rio signaled for the prison tower door to be opened, and was about to guide everyone inside when it happened.
“……”
“……”
As they were all about to enter, the princess’s face froze as she glanced at the prisoners.
Currently, she was just standing there, staring blankly at the past emperor who had made eye contact with her.
That is, Shinwoo.
“Rio?”
“What’s wrong?”
What’s wrong with her?
As both Yurian and Lia anxiously looked at Rio.
“Sister, I’ll take this one to my room.”
“Huh?”
“What…”
“What did you say?!”
Her straightforward proposal caused everyone’s expressions to collapse instantly just as they were about to enter the prison tower.
***
How did it come to this?
Clearly our plan was to have a monster team and a human team.
The goal was for Lia and Yurian in the monster team to disrupt the prison tower’s system, while those of us in the human team would regroup the rebels from underground.
But why had the forces been divided from two into three?
While the two were being dragged down, I alone was taken up to the upper levels of the prison tower, accessible only to executives.
By the hands of the daughter supposedly born between Lia and me, no less.
The place I arrived at was a luxurious room like a hotel, with a soft bed and teacups visible.
“Would you like some tea?”
“Tea?”
“Yes. Oh, I guess since you’re human… maybe you’ve never had tea before?”
“Well… I suppose?”
Tea culture was enjoyed by only a minority in Korea.
Coffee maybe, but I had never specifically brewed tea to drink.
Perhaps sensing my thoughts, Rio, who had brought me alone to this hotel-like room, first sat me down and then began boiling water in a kettle that was in the room.
“At first you’ll only taste bitterness, but it becomes delicious as you drink more. That’s the charm of tea.”
My daughter explaining the aesthetics of tea to me.
I decided to listen quietly since the child was telling me about it.
After brewing oolong tea, Rio brought two teacups to the desk where I was sitting and placed them in front of herself and me.
It looked like a father and daughter enjoying themselves at a café somewhere.
Except it wasn’t a café but a tower turned into a prison.
*Sip*…
“Huh?! You’re just drinking it? What if there’s poison in it?”
I first taste the tea my daughter made.
Rio was startled, as if she hadn’t expected this, showing her surprise.
I just smiled at the child, since I had received her kindness.
“This place is under your control anyway, so there’s no reason to assassinate someone by putting poison in their drink, right?”
“…!”
“Besides, you don’t seem like the type of person who would play pranks with food.”
If she had wanted to kill me earlier, she would have cut off my head right in front of the prison tower.
There was no need to go through all this trouble.
Above all, the reason I just drank this tea was partly because of trust in my daughter, but also because of what I saw reflected in my eyes.
The sight of Rio smiling very happily.
“Did something good happen?”
“Huh?”
“You look very happy, that’s why.”
“Ah… it’s nothing special, just that seeing you, human, reminds me of someone I miss very much…”
“……”
If it’s someone she misses, it must be the future me, right?
Thinking about that made the tea that was going down smoothly feel stuck.
Because the future me that this child misses is the one I have to kill.
For the sake of our future, I had to kill the idol of the future children.
“Somehow… I felt a sense of nostalgia as soon as I saw you. Isn’t that strange? A monster feeling something when seeing a human.”
“It’s not strange at all.”
“Huh?”
“Whether monster or human, if you can communicate, you can become friends or enemies.”
“Ohhh…!”
“At least that’s how it was for me.”
“Oh, really?”
Well, I was in a half-and-half position.
Rio’s eyes lit up with curiosity at my words.
“That… doesn’t sound like something a rebel would say! You’re really interesting!”
Ouch.
Come to think of it, I’m currently a rebel, aren’t I?
From my position, is it right to say such things?
I pondered for a moment.
But as a father, I couldn’t lie to my daughter.
“Whether human or monster, if ‘hearts’ can connect, they’re not different from each other.”
“…!”
“At least that’s what I think.”
I smiled at Rio, who had opened her eyes wide, and told her about myself.
Perhaps she sympathized with my words.
She gently placed her hand on top of mine, which was resting on the desk.
“Can I… be like that too?”
“Of course.”
Maybe it’s because she’s still a child.
Seeing her show the possibility of changing so quickly reminded me of Shina, which was nice to see.
But then.
“Um…”
“Yes?”
“Can we… become like that too?”
My daughter asking with a somewhat reddened face.
To her question, I patted her head and said:
“Of course! If you ever have any troubles, just tell me. I’ll… I’ll listen to everything!”
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