Sisterhood (2)

“I’m exhausted.”

Mirabilis, still in her red dress, plopped down on a chair in the Main Chamber of the Rose Palace. The sun was sinking towards the west beyond the window. The Princess had dismissed everyone else, so only the two of them were in the Main Chamber.

“Your Highness-nim was, as always, the most radiant at the tea party today,” Serina offered, standing attentively. Mirabilis replied dismissively.

“Who else would it be but me? Of course, I’d stand out. It was satisfactory in many ways. I shouldn’t have to attend such events for a while.”

Mirabilis leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes and letting her face slacken. Serina moved behind the chair and slowly massaged her neck.

“It’s just that having a maid of such low birth wounds my pride,” Mirabilis said abruptly. Serina felt as if a long thorn had pierced her heart. It was something she’d experienced countless times, but it still stung terribly each time. As if she had been particularly displeased at the tea party earlier in the day, the Princess continued to hurl harsh words at the maid by her side.

“Not all nobles are worthy of their status. Even if rabbits running through the fields look the same at first glance, the ones that eat snow and the ones that eat ice are different. What did you eat and grow up on from down there?”

It wasn’t specifically directed at Serina. Even if the maid by her side had been Miella or someone else, she would have acted the same. She was simply expressing her dissatisfaction rawly.

However, Serina couldn’t take it lightly. The Princess’s words were quiet, but they seared the maid’s heart like a hot iron. If Serina herself was lacking in her noble status, was Mirabilis, who could only employ such a person as a maid, truly worthy of her status as a Princess? Resentful pus flowed from the cauterized flesh of her heart.

Serina struggled to maintain her composure, clenching her fists. But Mirabilis, seemingly unconcerned, relaxed her body in a slightly disheveled posture.

“Your Highness-nim?”

“What is it?”

Mirabilis asked without turning her head. Serina didn’t expect her to. She had simply thrown out a word.

“Regina Lecta.”

Mirabilis kept her eyes closed and said nothing. Serina spoke with a nervous feeling.

“What are you doing now?”

“In the Rose Palace’s basement…”

The hypnosis was effective. A sinister joy and malice mixed in Serina’s heart, creating a dangerous pleasure. The corners of her lips twitched upwards, wanting to deepen the influence on this hateful Princess-nim, but she couldn’t show it yet.

“Your Highness-nim… Even if Your Highness-nim hears ‘Regina Lecta’ now, you will not go to the Rose Palace’s basement. But that feeling, that sensation, that state will still continue. Now, slowly open your eyes, hasoseo.”

As Mirabilis raised her eyelids, calm eyes appeared beneath her long eyelashes. Her eyes were as fresh green as water reflecting the foothills, but her pupils were unfocused like empty glass, as if detached from the world. Seeing Mirabilis leaning her slender body against the chair, looking blank, Serina was immersed in a sensation as if an indescribable pleasure was flowing down her spine.

“Your Highness-nim… Now, get up from your seat, straighten your posture, and stand facing Serina, hasoseo.”

Mirabilis grabbed both sides of the chair with her hands and slowly rose from her seat. She staggered for a moment. Serina quickly rushed to support her, but the Princess, though swaying, stood straight and looked at her.

Serina briefly opened the door to check if anyone was outside, then closed it again. One must always knock before entering the Princess’s Main Chamber, so no one could see this scene now.

Serina sat in the dark leather chair that Mirabilis had been sitting in just moments before. It was a bizarre sight. The Princess in her red dress stood blankly in front of the chair, while the daughter of a fallen noble in her maid’s uniform sat comfortably in the chair, watching the scene.

Serina felt an indescribable emotion at this reversal of their usual relationship, but at the same time, she was on edge, listening for the sound of anyone approaching from outside.

“From now on, when you hear the words ‘Regina Lecta,’ you must look at Serina and stand straight like this. You must remember, because only then can you continue to feel this feeling.”

“Okay…”

Serina pondered what suggestion to give Mirabilis, and then an idea came to her.

“From now on, Your Highness-nim will like Serina very much. You will think that the way I work for Your Highness-nim is beautiful, and that I am a trustworthy person. So, you will consider me worthy of respect.”

“Okay…”

Serina smiled faintly as she sat in the chair.

“So, from now on, Your Highness-nim will call Serina Older Sister… No, ‘Older Sister-nim.’ With goodwill, trust, and respect, in the most polite way possible.”

Mirabilis flinched and shook her head. Emotion rippled in her eyes, which had been emptily sunken.

“No… Serina is just my maid… I only have Padrentia as an Older Sister…”

Serina was greatly surprised and almost stood up from the chair. She sensed that the hypnosis was about to break. Her heart pounded, and cold sweat trickled down her forehead.

“That’s right. Your real Older Sister is only Padrentia-nim. But do you respect and like Padrentia-nim?”

“No… I hate her… very much…”

Serina’s voice continued to penetrate Mirabilis’s ears.

“But Serina, who works for Mirabilis-nim, is different… I am not just a mere maid… I am someone whom Your Highness-nim thinks is beautiful, trusts, and respects… I remember the words and the bird I saw on the 100th floor of the Rose Palace’s basement… Serina is Your Highness-nim’s ‘person of destiny’… The words on the 100th floor… Serina Lantalum… Regardless of status… Regardless of age… I will call Serina ‘Older Sister-nim’… and respect her… and follow her.”

Even with her judgment impaired by hypnosis, Mirabilis hesitated greatly. Serina remained seated in the chair, calmly and without moving, as if nothing was wrong. But tension filled her chest, and her heart pounded painfully. Fear that she was falling into the abyss of ruin by being greedy and not knowing her place flashed through her mind, but she tried not to get caught up in that emotion. Grasping the threads of her scattering mind, she quickly searched her mind for helpful passages from the book written by Bingalsa.

“From Mirabilis-nim’s chest… her soul is coming out… little by little…”

Serina extended the index finger of her right hand and gently pressed Mirabilis’s heart area, just enough not to hurt. Then, she slowly pulled her hand up as if pulling a thread.

“Don’t be afraid… Rather, you will become happy and peaceful… Freed from the shackles of the body… Deep peace and stability…”

Serina put the power of language more and more strongly into her words. Her tone also became lower and lower, becoming a whisper, yet with a strong, assertive tone. Serina slowly brought her index finger to her own heart area.

“Mirabilis-nim’s soul… has become one with… Serina’s… soul… You are getting younger… 20… 19… 18…”

The Princess tilted her head, but her expression became more and more relaxed. Serina could be sure that her suggestion was working.

“4… 3… 2… 1… 0… And back to before you were born… And you remember… A distant past… Before the Awimica Empire was even founded… When there were no mountains on the land… No water in the sea… When only fog filled the land… In that distant time… Mirabilis-nim’s soul… was separated from Serina’s soul…”

It was an absurd suggestion borrowing the framework of a mythical story, but she deliberately quoted that story to stimulate Mirabilis’s imagination.

“When great cold struck the land… Mirabilis-nim… was with Serina… When great floods covered the land… She was with Serina… When the first sprout sprouted from the land… She was with Serina…”

It was a ridiculous suggestion borrowing the framework of a mythical story, but she deliberately quoted that story to stimulate Mirabilis’s imagination.

“Now, you slowly forget your memories again… And you get older again… 0… 1… 2…”

Serina’s tone became even thinner, as if whispering softly. Mirabilis, in the midst of her confused consciousness, focused her mind entirely to hear those words. The language of hypnotic magic, imbued with the power of language, slowly permeated the Princess’s mind.

“18… 19… 20… Now… Mirabilis-nim… can trust Serina… More than anyone else… A cozy feeling… From a distant past… As it has always been…”

Mirabilis blinked with vacant eyes and slowly opened her mouth.

“I understand…”

Serina wanted to dance on the spot. But Mirabilis was still under hypnosis, and the ‘Serina’ that Mirabilis thought of due to the suggestion was not someone who would move frivolously. So, she made an effort to clear her throat.

“My cute younger sister… Mirabilis… Isn’t that right…?”

The first words she threw out, abandoning all the etiquette that a maid should show to a Princess. It was a very rude act from the start to refer to herself as ‘I’ instead of ‘this girl’ or ‘Serina.’ And Mirabilis accepted it.

“Yes…”

“You… respect Older Sister-nim…?”

Mirabilis hesitated again at this suggestion. It was clear that she had somehow agreed to ‘Older Sister-nim,’ but she had not properly understood the suggestion to ‘respect’ her. But without urging her, Serina waited calmly.

“…Yes.”

Although it wasn’t satisfactory enough, she had achieved her initial goal. For now, she had acknowledged Serina as a ‘respected Older Sister-nim,’ so there was no need to overdo it. She didn’t want to risk breaking the hypnosis by forcibly suggesting complete agreement. She simply sat in the chair with an arrogant expression and casually extended her right hand.

“Now, Mirabilis… As a younger sister, to Older Sister-nim… As a sign of fulfilling your loyalty… Kiss my hand…”

It was originally a form of etiquette for subordinates to show respect to their superiors. There was no way it could be a way for a younger sister to express loyalty to her older sister. But Serina lied so that Mirabilis would not feel humiliated.

Mirabilis swayed and slowly approached. Serina was afraid that she might wake up from the hypnosis and slap her cheek or call the guards. But the words had already left her mouth. Like an arrow that had been drawn, she couldn’t turn back now.

As the sunset, tinged with red, cast a faint vermilion light through the glass of the Rose Palace’s Main Chamber, the shadows of the two people stretched long on the floor. Mirabilis’s figure in her red dress was mixed with the sunset, making it dazzlingly hot to the eyes. The Princess slowly knelt down. Her white, slender fingers took Serina’s right hand, and her soft lips came down and touched the back of the maid’s hand.

Flesh touched flesh. But Serina felt as if the skin that touched Mirabilis’s rose-like red lips was burning as if she had received a hot brand.

The Princess, the Princess who was beautiful but whose personality didn’t match it, acknowledged me as ‘Older Sister-nim’ and kissed the back of my hand as if I were her superior. Her heart pounded as if it was going out of control, and hot heat surged from her whole body. Unable to bear the strange pleasure, she clenched her fist tightly, and sweat welled up inside, making it damp.

‘I won’t let go. I can’t let go.’

Serina felt ‘possessiveness’ towards Mirabilis for the first time. Serina stroked the golden hair of Mirabilis, who was kneeling in front of her while sitting in the chair, and the Princess, who had become her younger sister, smiled happily and leaned her head against the chest of the maid who had become her older sister.