Ch.5858. The Weight of a Princess

Soul Communion.

Though it sounded easy, since it was my first time too, I didn’t expect it to be anything extraordinary.

I thought simply connecting two souls would be enough, but…

“Where am I now?”

Looking around, I found myself in a massive room. Definitely not a place in my memories.

The wallpaper was antique, with luxurious furniture arranged throughout. The items were as lavish as those used in the royal palace, but with an added sense of old-fashioned dignity.

As I took a step to leave the room, I immediately felt something was off.

Forearms much thicker than Deus Verdi’s. The yellowish skin tone typical of Asians, and I was wearing a modern suit.

“Huh?”

The old-fashioned speech pattern came out naturally. Startled, I checked my body.

Looking at my face in the room’s mirror, I was truly Shinwoo Kim. My original self.

I’d experienced this exactly once before.

When I met Deus Verdi in soul form.

‘So does this mean I’ve become a soul and entered Elenoa’s consciousness?’

I needed to stay calm.

I couldn’t tell if this was soul communion or a continuation of a dream. I guessed it was a phenomenon caused by the resonance between Lemegeton’s power and the fragment of the vein.

But that wasn’t what mattered. First, I needed to find Elenoa.

If my thinking was correct, she would definitely be here.

And both of her personalities together.

With the thought that meeting those two would end this situation, I turned the doorknob and moved outside.

Creeeeak.

A dignified corridor stretched before me. Only after stepping outside could I be certain.

This was the royal palace.

The kingdom’s distinctive patterns and the neatly laid red carpet were proof of that.

‘I should probably head to Elenoa’s room first.’

I immediately headed toward her room. I thought I might encounter someone along the way, but surprisingly, there was no one around.

‘If this is a dream world, it’s still incomplete. That’s why these details are lacking.’

Since there was no one watching anyway, I started running down the corridor. Unlike Deus’s body, which had been soaked in drugs and alcohol, this body was definitely easier to run with.

I’d gotten used to it and hadn’t noticed, but moving like this made me acutely aware of how much Deus had abused his body.

‘Or is it just because I’m a soul?’

I wasn’t sure, but I finally arrived at Elenoa’s room.

Surprisingly, I could hear intense scolding coming from inside.

“Is that the right way to behave?!”

As I gently opened the door, I saw a young Elenoa and a woman who appeared to be her mother standing there.

Elenoa’s mother.

Hiran Luden Griffin.

However, this was my first time seeing her in person. From what I knew, she had died from illness long ago.

Young Elenoa was hanging her head, lips tightly sealed, unable to show even the slightest defiance to her scolding mother.

“Again! Do it again!”

At Hiran’s shout, Elenoa took a step back, then carefully bowed with grace.

But.

Slap!

Hiran struck Elenoa’s cheek. The blow was so hard that Elenoa’s body flew backward, yet Hiran showed no sign of backing down.

“Are you playing games? Is that how it’s supposed to be done? You stupid girl! You’re a princess! The face of this country! What good will it do if someone like you can only manage this much? That’s just acting! You need to bring out your true elegance!”

“I-I’m sorry.”

“Shut up! From now on, expect to be hit whenever you can’t do it properly. A few marks can be easily removed by a mage anyway!”

Hiran roughly grabbed the wrist of Elenoa, who was trembling and struggling to get up, and forcefully pulled her to her feet.

Elenoa bowed once more, but Hiran, still displeased, raised her hand again.

Grab.

I had entered the room and caught Hiran’s wrist.

“Y-You! Who are you?!”

Hiran shrieked at me, but my mana had already violently struck her body, lifting her up and slamming her against the wall.

Thud!

This was just a dream anyway.

Hiran, Elenoa’s mother, was already dead.

“Snap out of it.”

Elenoa stared at me blankly. She looked at me, who had just taken down her mother, without showing any surprise, then shuddered.

“Huh? What’s going on?”

I could tell immediately from her speech pattern.

This Elenoa was the second one, burdened with royal duties.

“Huh? I was just…”

“Are your memories coming back? Get a grip.”

“Huh? Wait, who are you?”

As Elenoa pointed at me with a frown, I answered indifferently.

“Deus Verdi.”

“What? You’re completely different from the Deus I know! Who are you?”

Elenoa was confused, but there was no time to explain. Because Hiran, who had been slammed into the wall, was slowly getting up.

And she was beginning to grow enormous, her back hunching until it touched the ceiling. With her elongated hands, she slammed the door shut, preventing our escape.

“Where do you think you’re going, talking to a man, princesssssss!”

At the curse-like scream, Elenoa and I simultaneously turned toward the exit.

Once again, I manipulated mana to shatter both her hand and the door itself as we escaped.

It felt strangely like the mana was moving better than usual.

As I was thinking this, Elenoa clicked her tongue and answered.

“It’s dream mana. Will is more important than talent or effort, basically.”

“Really?”

“But precise control is probably impossible.”

I quickly turned my body and summoned as much mana as I could.

The giant Hiran, who had lost one hand, was trying to approach us with thundering steps.

Kwaaaang!

Pushed back by the flood-like wave of mana, she was eventually thrown out through a window.

“Indeed, I can use more mana than usual without any problems.”

As I nodded in amazement, Elenoa stared at me with her mouth open.

“But that should drain your mental energy and make you dizzy, right?”

Mental energy seemed like an ambiguous term, but anyway, since I wasn’t easily shaken mentally, it wasn’t too much of a strain.

“…Are you really Deus?”

As Elenoa looked at me and asked, I scratched the back of my head and answered.

“More precisely, I’m a man using Deus’s body.”

With my current appearance, I didn’t want to introduce myself as Deus.

I extended my hand to the small girl.

“Shinwoo Kim. That’s my real name.”

“Shin…woo Kim?”

Elenoa took my hand with a puzzled expression, but I had no intention of wasting more time.

Already, Hiran’s grotesquely distorted face was glaring at us from beyond the window.

“That thing just won’t die.”

Elenoa, glaring at Hiran with cold eyes, patted my thigh.

“Carry me. I think running away is better than trying to defeat it.”

“…”

“And I think I know where the other Elenoa is. Let’s go there.”

“Where?”

Honestly, I didn’t really want to carry her, but Elenoa’s stride was too short to escape from Hiran, who was crawling on all fours.

“The rooftop! I can feel my other half there.”

As I heard her answer and put her on my back, Hiran banged her forehead on the ground and screamed.

“A princess! On a stranger’s back! You’re crazy! Crazy! Crazy! Come here! Come here right now!”

Hiran was catching up at a frightening speed. Instead of running, I confronted her head-on, pouring out mana to push her back.

Pushed by my mana, Hiran crashed into a wall, and we passed by her, jumping through the window she had been thrown out of earlier.

The outside scenery wasn’t properly rendered.

Moreover, the sense of scale was strange—the palace walls looked as tall as a skyscraper.

Perhaps this was how the palace appeared to Elenoa when she was young.

“Haah!”

I poured out mana and flew through the sky. Elenoa desperately clung to my neck, but it didn’t choke me.

Moreover, since I couldn’t use precise magic, my body was tossed around as if caught in a gale.

Yet I felt no dizziness or nausea.

“Hey!”

Elenoa shouted through the artificial wind that was battering us.

I turned my head slightly to see what was wrong, and Elenoa asked with an annoyed expression.

“Why did your speech pattern change?”

“…”

“No, it’s just so different. The original Deus has a kind of… obnoxious way of speaking, you know?”

Maybe it’s because she’s royalty.

She really speaks without any restraint.

Should I just let this slide as part of royal dignity?

“I’m deliberately making a distinction.”

I explained briefly and moved on. Elenoa didn’t seem to understand immediately, but being a clever child, she would figure it out soon.

Before we knew it, we had reached the end of the building. We floated and landed on the rooftop.

Behind the scenery that rippled like a watercolor painting with spilled water, I spotted a blonde girl curled up.

Unlike the small Elenoa, she had the appearance of a 17-year-old girl.

As we approached her…

“Stay away!”

Her sobbing voice was filled with despair.