Keywords

Since Serina cast her suggestion on Mirabilis, the work he was assigned gradually increased. The number of maids in the Rose Palace was not large, and since Mirabilis often kept Serina by her side even during the day, the work that had to be done as a maid was concentrated on him.

The other maids, who had relatively less work, didn’t know whether to be happy that they had to serve a less demanding mistress, or to hate that Serina was taking away more of the ‘royal connections’ that were the reason they endured the hardship. For those who made a living as maids with only their bodies as capital, apart from their nominal status as ‘nobles’, it was a very important issue.

“Don’t be jealous that the Princess-nim seems to cherish one of her maids. If you do, you might not be allowed back into the palace ever again…”

Mullaba interjected as she passed by where the maids were. The maids all turned their gazes at once as if they had made a promise, but when the old palace maid’s eyes flashed like a snake, some of the weaker palace people shrank back. But Mullaba had no intention of stopping there.

“Don’t envy favor. The grace bestowed by high-ranking people is like silk when it’s good, soft, warm, and splendid, but like a knife when it’s bad, cutting the flesh and picking the bones of the recipient… What do you think is the secret to my survival in the palace until this day?”

Eunrim (恩臨). The word itself means ‘grace descends,’ but in the palace, it meant the attention or grace shown by a high-ranking person to a subordinate.

Among the palace people who entered the palace with Mullaba decades ago, Mullaba was the only one who remained in the palace until now. The few maids remaining in the Rose Palace took the old palace maid’s warning, which she uttered in passing in a place where young palace people gathered, heavily. No one dared to say anything else to him or argue back.

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In July and August, even if all the windows in the palace were opened, hot air rushed in like a pack of hungry dogs, biting at the palace people. When sweat soaked the uniforms they each wore, even the most well-trained palace people would sneak into the shade, avoiding the eyes of their superiors, and shamelessly loosen their clothes to let out the heat.

Since palace people couldn’t wear thin, light clothes to maintain their dignity, it was customary, even for superiors, to turn a blind eye to the indecency of their subordinates in such cases.

However, they couldn’t let the place where the palace’s owner resided remain hot. The maids and court ladies of the Rose Palace struggled to bring a box of cold ice to the main chamber where Mirabilis, the owner of the Rose Palace, stayed.

Arion, a low-ranking magician working in the Naemawon (內魔院), came all the way to the Rose Palace, held his staff, sprinkled powder over the ice, and chanted a spell. White energy gushed out from the ice as if it were surging. As the cool energy lowered the heat of the main chamber, even the youngest court lady, who had been struggling just a moment ago, smiled. The temperature of the main chamber stopped at just the right level.

“Wow…”

The maids and court ladies who were seeing this sight for the first time since entering the palace couldn’t close their open mouths. However, Serina, who was already in her third year and somewhat used to it, was not surprised. Rather, she had other worries.

‘If I speak, they might feel the power of the suggestion magic.’

“Serina, you must be happy. You serve the Princess-nim the most. You’re the one who avoids the heat the best in the Rose Palace, besides the Princess-nim.”

Miella, a maid who entered the palace with Serina, poked her in the side and asked, but Serina mumbled and smiled without saying anything. Because there was still a magician present. The magician left after finishing his work without saying anything else.

The palace was vast, and there were many places to cool down. But the magician stopped with a lingering feeling and turned his head to glance inside. Serina couldn’t tell whether the magician wanted to see the Princess’s main chamber more, or the female palace people gathered inside.

****************

Mirabilis rarely went outside anyway, but in the summer, she wouldn’t leave the cool main chamber of the Rose Palace at all. Even the few external events she presided over as a Princess, such as tea parties, were reduced to a minimum. Thanks to serving Mirabilis often, Serina was able to avoid the summer heat relatively easily, but others were not.

When Mirabilis was in a bad mood, she would dismiss everyone else from the main chamber and be alone. Because of this, even Serina was chased out and suffered from the summer heat, panting like a heat-stricken cow. It’s a shame to only bask in the summer heat for a short time, but she didn’t want to be with the sweltering air at all.

But she couldn’t leave her post and be in the cool shade because she didn’t know when the Princess would call her again. Serina waited in the shade between the windows in front of the main chamber’s door, hoping that the Princess would call her again, and then took turns with other maids.

It wasn’t until September that the heat subsided. The court ladies and palace people who had little to do with serving high-ranking people could also take a breather. Around this time, Mirabilis’s insomnia had virtually disappeared. However, she often called Serina to the main chamber at night, and the palace people thought that it was all thanks to being favored by the Princess. Serina smiled faintly, knowing what others were thinking.

“Princess-nim… Where are you now, Princess-nim?”

Serina whispered softly into Mirabilis’s ear, who was lying on the bed with her eyes closed. The Princess answered quickly.

“I am now… in the Rose Palace…”

But Serina shook her head.

“No, Princess-nim. You are on the stairs leading to the basement of the Rose Palace.”

“…Stai…rs…?”

The image of the stone stairs leading to the basement of the Rose Palace flashed through Mirabilis’s mind. Her eyes moved inside her eyelids. She seemed a little surprised to suddenly think that she was on the stairs. Perhaps recalling the cold and damp stairs, Mirabilis shrank even while lying on the silk bed. Serina was taken aback, but she put strength back into her tongue and spoke again. She was used to this by now.

“There’s no need to be surprised… It’s already a familiar place. You’ve been back and forth in the Rose Palace several times, haven’t you? Now, no one can harm you, Princess-nim… It’s not cold either. Please be at ease… Straighten your shoulders.”

Mirabilis’s answer was not heard, but her expression calmed down again as if she was relieved, and her breathing became quiet as well. Serina carefully wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand, being careful not to make any noise.

“Go down slowly… Slowly… I’m curious about what’s below…”

In the illusion where she couldn’t distinguish reality, Mirabilis stepped down the dark stairs one step at a time. In a dream floundering in the hazy depths of unreality, one cannot consider anything strange to be strange. Even though there was no light, Mirabilis could clearly see the stairs she had to go down, but she didn’t feel awkward. Thanks to the suggestion Serina had given her, she didn’t even feel scared. She was just wondering how long she had to go down.

“There are 100 floors to the basement… On which floor are you now, Princess-nim?”

“32nd floor…”

The actual basement of the Rose Palace was only up to the 2nd floor. 100 floors was a truly absurd scale, but Mirabilis accepted it without doubt in her half-dreaming state. Serina lowered her voice even more.

“Keep going down one step at a time… Come on, it’s not far. 33rd floor… 34th floor… 35th floor…”

Serina called out each floor one by one. And it was when the number of floors reached 90.

“Princess-nim, it’s really close now… I can faintly see a light over there. Your steps are getting faster… 91st floor… 92nd floor… 93rd floor… 99th floor… 100th floor.”

Mirabilis took a deep breath as if she was really exhausted. Even in the illusion, she had consumed quite a bit of energy because she had come down 100 floors. Serina thought that she should slowly insert today’s suggestion.

“You are the first person to arrive at the 100th floor of the Rose Palace’s basement, Princess-nim… You are happy… and also joyful… I can see something faintly shining over there. You are approaching it stealthily…”

As if wondering what it was, Mirabilis tilted her head while lying down.

“It was shining letters… It’s written like this… Serina Rantalum… Serina Rantalum… Princess-nim, what does it say?”

In the past, she would have been worried about even daring to ask in case she woke up and issued a stern order, but now that was not the case at all. Mirabilis also opened her mouth willingly.

“Serina… Rantalum…”

A faint smile appeared on Serina’s lips.

“That’s right… The moment you see that name, your heart becomes more comfortable… and joyful… Suddenly the letters clump together… and turn into a shining bird…”

A smile seemed to appear on Mirabilis’s face as well. Even if it was a hallucination, it would be a mysterious sight. Serina was secretly sad that she couldn’t see the scene that Mirabilis was seeing, but she still had to continue giving suggestions.

“There are two birds… three birds… four birds… five birds… The birds gently sit on your arms and legs, Princess-nim… They are soft and warm… The last one sits on your head… Now, your body moves as the birds tell you to move…”

Mirabilis slightly lifted her arm from the bed and moved her foot a little as if she was actually trying to move.

“How do you feel now?”

“Mysterious… joyful… beautiful…”

Serina realized that things were going according to her plan and smiled broadly. Now it was time to drive in today’s wedge.

“That’s right… You want to come back here again and feel this way again…”

“Yes…”

Mirabilis nodded her head.

“Then remember… If Serina Rantalum says to you, Regina Recta, you will be in this state now… Who says what to make you like this?”

“If Serina… says Regina… Recta…”

“That’s right. You must, remember, and, memorize, it.”

Serina emphasized especially. She put the power of suggestion on her tongue as much as she could and spoke strongly. The ‘keyword’ technique that Bingalsa explained in the book. He said that if the hypnotic state deepens to a certain extent, you can designate a keyword to induce the hypnotic state even without activating hypnosis magic. In the book, it was explained that the ‘keyword’ was like a key to enter the hypnosis room.

Serina tried hard to plant a keyword in Mirabilis. In fact, Bingalsa warned that if you plant a keyword that is too bad or humiliating, there is a risk that the hypnosis will be broken. For example, if you designate ‘stupid bitch’ as the keyword, the other person may not accept the word and the hypnosis may be broken on the spot.

So Serina pondered for days on what to designate as the keyword. What word would be good to symbolize the influence on the Princess, be a phrase that others would not normally say or write, and make Mirabilis remember and acknowledge it?

Regina Recta. In ancient language, it means ‘controlled princess’ or ‘manipulated princess’. Serina designated this word as the keyword while showing Mirabilis the illusion of beautiful birds sticking to her and moving her body so that Mirabilis would not feel this word as humiliating. It was a trick she came up with after racking her brains for a long time.

Although Mirabilis is not a ‘Princess’ yet but a ‘Princess’, the Emperor’s daughter is roughly called ‘Princess’ in the common world, and she will become a formal Princess someday, so she thought that such a thing didn’t matter. And the reason why she designated the word ‘Regina Recta’ as the keyword was that Serina had her own meaning of taunting Mirabilis.

Mirabilis mumbled the words ‘Regina Recta’ several times as Serina told her to, and then slipped into the world of sleep. Serina sat on a chair and watched the sleeping Princess for a while.

Thinking that her words were seeping into Mirabilis’s mind like ink gradually dyeing white cloth, she felt that she could willingly endure the hardships she had experienced so far. Feeling a thrill wriggling from the depths of her heart, she quietly put out the candle and came out.

She couldn’t help but want to dance in the palace. Only after silently and demurely entering her room did she roll around on the bed, repeatedly muttering the word ‘Regina Recta’ that she had chosen, and then fell asleep belatedly.

The light of the pine torch in the hand of the soldier walking along the outskirts of the palace was hazy that day, flickering beyond the curtain of the night. Under the dim moonlight, the soldier trembled at the secret cold seeping through his uniform, took out a bottle of alcohol from his waist, and wet his lips. The face of the old soldier, feeling the bitter taste of the watered-down alcohol passing over his Adam’s apple, was weary as he waited for the dawn when the rooster crows.