episode_0052

The darkness that had been blanketing every corner of the city of Maibaon the night before began to clear away as the morning sun rose, and the twin sisters, wide-eyed from the early hours of the morning, were leaning against the head of the bed and looking down at the face of the boy who was soundly asleep.

“Are you sleeping?”

“I’m sleeping.”

The boy’s chest, covered with a cotton blanket, slowly rose and fell, and his expression, with his eyes tightly shut, was so peaceful that he seemed to have no worries in the world.

“… … She looks just like a doll.”

“But he’s human.”

The girl unconsciously reaches out to his face, feeling as if his eyelids, nose, and lips, each of which seemed to have been carved with a chisel, would remain the same for the rest of his life unless moved by human hands.

“Don’t touch me! I’ll get mad.”

“Oh, I see… .”

The surprised girl’s hand stopped. Since she didn’t want to be scolded, the sisters hid their hands tightly behind their backs and watched Ray’s sleeping face for a long time as if it was strange. The room was completely quiet, and the only sound was the cold morning wind occasionally blowing in through the cracks in the window. There would still be some time before the others woke up.

“I’m hungry.”

“Me too.”

As the girl with her hair braided to the right rubbed her stomach, the girl with her hair braided to the left rubbed her stomach as well. The sisters searched the room just in case, but they could only conclude that the owner of the room, who was currently asleep in bed, did not seem to have a hobby of hiding snacks. The sisters promised that later, when he woke up, they would teach him how to hide roasted nuts in his pillow or where to hide cookies so that the adults would not find out.

“Should I wake you up?”

“Wake up.”

The two sisters looked at each other and nodded. They could have opened the door and gone out to find their mother, but they thought it was a little scary to wander around alone in an unfamiliar place. If they asked the owner of this room, who had played with them gently until they fell asleep last night, they could have breakfast, or maybe they could meet their mother again.

“… Why don’t you wake me up?”

“You wake up.”

The sisters, who had been staring blankly at each other, began to pass the blame onto each other.

“You wake up!”

“You were the one who said to wake me up first!”

“Ugh… .”

“Hic!”

“Eek!”

As Ray writhed and muttered, the sisters covered each other’s mouths with their small hands. He pursed his lips a little, then let out a deep breath and began to groan, and the sisters agreed to talk to each other by whispering in each other’s ears.

“Why won’t it happen?”

“Yeah, if you wake up late you’ll get in trouble.”

The girl, who had been looking at Ray, who blinked and seemed to have no intention of getting up, clapped her hands as if she remembered something.

“Shhh!”

Another girl, who looks exactly like a mirror, puts her index finger to her lips and warns her. Her sister, who doesn’t care, whines as if telling her to quickly put her ear close.

“Did you swallow some poisoned fruit?”

“Snowflake Prince Story?”

The girls nodded with serious eyes, regardless of whether they were you or not. For them, the fairy tale provided a reasonable explanation as to why Ray did not wake up.

“Ah…! I’m sure that evil wizard fed it to me.”

“I guess it’s because you’re being so kind to us!”

They shudder as they recall the face of the evil wizard, Memer, who remains vividly in their minds, and at the same time, they feel a great sense of responsibility at the thought that the reason Ray does not wake up may be related to them.

“We have to help!”

“Then what do we do now?”

The sisters face each other, their ears tickling each other’s breath. They recall the contents of a fairy tale that the adults once read to them.

“The princess just needs to give a kiss!”

“The princess just needs to give a kiss!”

Two identical voices overlap, creating a strange interference.

The sisters turned their heads at the same time to look down at the sleeping Snow Flower Prince, and then one of the girls took a step toward the bed while fiddling with her braided hair that fell over her right shoulder. Then, the girl carefully leaned forward.

“Wait, why are you kissing me?”

The braided hair of another girl who looked exactly like her, who was teasing her from behind, swung around her left shoulder.

“My mom called me a princess.”

“You called me a princess too?”

The two princesses of the Songrad family looked at each other with displeased expressions and puffed out their cheeks like puffer fish.

“… You can’t eat mushrooms.”

“Ugh… … . I don’t close my eyes when I wash my hair!”

“I can do that too!”

“Ugh… .”

It seemed as if their match had been decided, with one side smiling triumphantly while the other hung their head with a sullen expression.

***

Remili got up from her bed at a slow hour, looking disheveled. She picked up the long pillow between her legs, sniffed it, and frowned. Remili had sewn the long cloth pockets herself, and had filled them with cotton one by one, so she skillfully removed the cloth covering the cotton pockets. Remili got up from the bed, walked to the laundry basket, picked up some of the contents, and put the pillowcase into the bottom of the basket.

“Hwaaam… … .”

Remili roughly wrapped the leather straps of her sandals around twice and headed toward the kitchen. Like the other members of the vigilantes, she wanted to wear boots in the winter, but she didn’t want to hurt her pride as a special forces leader because there was a rule that the special forces had to wear sandals even in the middle of winter.

Remili, who was sighing and trudging along the long line stretching out to the entrance of the kitchen that could be seen from afar, almost got bumped in the side by some kids who suddenly jumped out from the corner of the alley.

“Oh my gosh, that’s surprising!”

“Gyaaaah!”

“I’m sorry… .”

A small child, about as tall as Remili’s waist, squeezed his eyes shut and cowered. A child who looked exactly the same ran up behind him, panting, and offered an apology instead.

“Why are there kids here in the morning? . Look carefully as you walk.”

Sometimes, the village children would wander around the barracks playing pranks, so I thought nothing of it and was about to move on.

“Hey, over there… Sister!”

“Huh? Me?”

Remili asks, pointing at herself with her index finger.

“Are you a princess?”

“… … Then, princess.”

The pretty princess of the Kindle family. Unlike others who were born from a one-night stand on the streets of Fraua Happiness when their mothers were in their prime, she was born from a family of fundamentals and culture, so what else could she be if not a true princess? The Kindle family had now fallen apart due to the chaos of the world, but she guessed that when she could rebuild the family with her own hands, the importance of bloodline would grow more than anything else.

“Really? Are you really a princess?”

The children looked up at Remili with eyes sparkling with anticipation and asked.

“Yeah, I really am.”

Ailee is fake. Remili smiles and pats the little girl’s head.

“Wow, she’s a real princess!”

“Let’s take it quickly!”

“Hey, hey… guys!”

After hearing Remili’s answer, the kids suddenly grabbed her wrists and started to drag her somewhere. The pulling force was so strong that Remili almost fell over and was dragged by the kids.

“Let go of this! Where are you taking me?”

Remili asks with a bewildered look on her face.

“Hurry up! We need to save him quickly.”

“The wizard poisoned you!”

The children were talking even more incomprehensibly. They were probably asking to join in on their own games. Just when she thought she had gotten involved in something annoying, the children stopped at a place that was familiar to Remili.

“What is this place… … .”

“This way!”

“The Snowflake Prince won’t wake up!”

The place he was standing was definitely Ray’s room, and the owner of the room was lying on the bed.

“Snowflake Prince…? Oh, you said you were taking care of the kids… Is he playing with the kids?”

Even so, Ray is really sleeping soundly with the blanket tightly covered, and the expressions of the children who are completely crying are not good.

“The wizard hates us… but… .”

“Because of us… … .”

The twin sisters are sobbing and talking incomprehensibly. At first glance, they seem to be just sleeping in, but Remili looks down at the kids and laughs, thinking that something strange is going on.

“… I need to kiss you soon!”

“The princess needs to kiss you to wake up!”

“Huh?”

Remili was a little flustered by the children’s nagging. She looked at Ray’s sleeping face, and before she knew it, her mouth was watering. She shook her head and looked down at the children again.

“Guys, that’s just a fairy tale… .”

“You’re a real princess! Hurry up!”

“We were both fake princesses… … .”

“So, what you’re saying is that she was a real princess… Wait, what?”

Remili, who was comforting and soothing the children with tears in her eyes, stops for a moment. She checked to see if it was real or fake… .

Tack-kong, tack-kong

“Ah …

“Ouch!”

The twin sisters who were hit by Remili’s nuclear finger scream and hold their foreheads. Remili stands in front of the crying children, hands on her sides, frowning.

“Wow―”

“Hueeng―”

“How dare you… to a sleeping person! Hey! You little rascals.”

Remili raises her voice, saying that it would be a lie to say that it is a privilege for children to be able to commit such acts while pretending not to know anything, and that she is not jealous at all.

“Ugh… .What the… .”

At that moment, Ray, who had suddenly woken up to the commotion in the room, sat up.

“Ah …

“Oppaaa―”

The twin sisters ran straight to Ray who had just woken up and hugged him. Ray, not knowing what was going on, patted the children on the shoulders and tried to comfort them.

“Why, what’s going on… since this morning.”

“Sniff… That girl hit me.”

“That’s right, without even kissing oppa.”

Feeling secure in Ray’s arms, the sister immediately glared at Remili and began to scold her.

“Kiss… ?”

Ray tilts his head and looks at Remily, who has entered his bedroom and is standing there.

“No, that’s not it. They dragged me here because you wouldn’t wake up. And… Also, you were a bit rude, so I scolded you.”

Remili waved her hands and protested desperately. It was a situation that was perfect for being misunderstood, so a cold sweat ran down her back as she backed away.

“… … .”

Ray glanced at the two sisters and Remili’s face, who were tightly held in his arms, and tried to guess what had happened before he woke up.

“… I wish you would just do something about it. They’re kids, so just let them hang out together appropriately. ”

Ray says nonchalantly, then covers his mouth and yawns.

“What… .”

Remili paused at his answer. As she looked at Ray, who was just waking up and shaking his bare feet at the edge of the bed, her face began to turn bright red from her neck to her broad forehead, and as if running away, she opened the door and ran outside. Even so, she made sure to close the door properly so that the cold wind wouldn’t come in.

“Run away!”

“I didn’t even say sorry!”

“… … Hey guys, are you hungry because I didn’t wake up?”

Ray wiped the children’s faces with his pajama sleeve. His nose was running, but he didn’t care because he thought it was time to boil them anyway.

“Yeah.”

“I’m hungry!”

The sister answered immediately.

“Oh no… I’m sorry. Let’s get up and go eat.”

The two little children stopped crying at Ray’s words and started running around the room.