Shadow Queen

“Pri-princess? Did you just say princess?”

Liabrick nodded. No matter how ignorant Elena was, if she was called a princess, it could be assumed that this family was not lower than at least a duke.

“I’m…going to be a real princess…”

Elena brought up the foolish memories of her past life, in which she had been delighted with the idea of living as a high-ranking aristocrat.

There was no comparison between living as a biological daughter and being a foster daughter simply because of the resemblance in appearance. When she had first heard this, she had been so excited and overwhelmed that she’d been able to be of noble descent.

‘But it was all fake.’

Elena swallowed the surging anger at how abominable they were. Instead, she recalled her birthday with her family last year. As she recalled the happiness of that day, the joy spread to Elena’s face like a snow flower [1]. To deceive Liabrick. Elena continuously controlled her emotions and acted.

“That’s not all. Princess Veronica is the Crown Prince’s partner every year, it’s society gossip.”

“Cr-Crown Prince?”

Liabrick fanned Elena’s insatiable, burning desire.

“They often say dreams are dreams. However, if Lady Elena decides to do so, her dream will soon become a reality. That is Princess Veronica’s position and status in the Empire.”

“Ah… Ah.”

Elena grinned as if she could not hide her joy. She hoped Liabrick would look down on her and feel that her materialistic and frivolous appearance was pathetic.

“Fufu.”

Liabrick laughed lowly. She could get a glimpse of Elena’s thirst through the smile bright enough to see her gums. I only gave her a taste, but she’s already blinded. Liabrick knew better than anyone how to deal with such a human being. She didn’t know how deadly her misjudgement was.

“Oh, I apologise. I’ll stop being disrespectful.”

Elena belatedly covered her mouth with her hands and smiled, pretending to be ashamed. She also did not forget to try to hide her embarrassment.

“On the other hand, I’m worried. What if my ignorance makes the young ladies doubt that I’m the real daughter?”

Liabrick waved her hand as if for her not to worry.

“You make them unsuspicious of you.”

“How?”

“I will teach you. I will make you a queen who stands in society with grace, elegance, and undaunted authority.”

Elena put her hand on her chest and answered as if she was determined to.

“I will try. I’ll be sure to.”

Elena looked excited, as if she had already become the crown princess. Liabrick let her flounder in the swamp of delusion.

Once the conversation was over, Elena could quit her silly acting and look outside the car window. Soon, her eyes were calm.

‘Did Mother and Father get away safely?’

She suddenly thought of her parents. If they had taken the ferry and followed the rapids as planned, they would have passed the northern part of the country and reached the border of the Royer Kingdom by now. Due to the rugged topography of the northern mountainous regions, there was a high possibility that they were moving eastward, taking advantage of the rare pass inspections.

‘You must go to the Empire safely…’

The light under the lamp was dark. Her parents would go through the kingdom to the Vecilia Empire. It wasn’t an easy journey, but it was the surest way out of Liabrick’s pursuit. They would start over there again. With a new identity, a new name, a new family, and an unlikely meeting five years from now.

‘You must live. If you break your promise to meet again…I won’t forgive you two.’

Elena was wishing and hoping. She hoped no resentment towards her parents would form. Please.

The independent city of Sylronce was a port city located in the southwestern tip of the continent and was an independent, autonomous city that did not belong to any other country. The governor-general–controlled area was the continent’s most deliberate port of travel, which had not suffered war for hundreds of years.

As soon as she arrived at the lodge, Elena, who was unpacking, couldn’t take her eyes off the sea outside the window.

“Isn’t it wonderful? Looking at the ocean makes me feel reverent.”

“…”

Elena didn’t answer. As Liabrick turned around in wonder, Elena was sobbing lowly.

“I apologise. Suddenly…I thought of my mother and father whom I’ve left.”

“Lady Elena.”

“I couldn’t do anything for them. I’ve only been receiving so far, and I’ve taken it for granted… I’m regretting it so much. I should have at least said goodbye to them…”

Liabrick embraced Elena’s shoulder with a friendly touch and comforted her.

“Please take good care of them. Sister [2] is the only one I can trust now.”

Liabrick’s eyes narrowed at the title of ‘sister’. She had no recollection of allowing her to call her ‘sister’. Elena, who had become weak, just sang it freely because she wanted to rely on her.

“Please, call me Liv. It’s my nickname.”

Elena stared at her. Liabrick could see how much Elena was relying on her now through her shaking pupils.

“I trust you well. It’s impossible right now, but after some time, we will take measures so that you can send and receive greetings.”

“I don’t know how to convey my gratitude, Liv.”

Liabrick quietly hugged her. Elena did not refuse and was comforted in her arms.

She was kind enough to misunderstand that she was her own sister. However, in the eyes that could not meet over the cheeks of the two women in contact, there were conflicting feelings towards each other.

Liabrick laughed at the pathetic Elena. She even had a vicious idea on how to use Elena’s filial piety. On the contrary, Elena’s eyes were so rational that there was no gap for her emotions to spill over.

‘You’ll start doubting me as early as today—tomorrow at the latest.’

Sooner or later, she would find out about her parents’ escape, and naturally, she would be suspicious Elena. Today’s tears and the title ‘sister’ was to confuse her in preparation for that time. To what extent was it true or false? Whether she really relied on her or she was pretending to. Elena calculated that far. In the midst of what appeared to be naive words and actions, there was a thorough arrangement, and none of it was wasted.

‘From now on. You and I are fighting.’

To this moment, Elena was playing with Liabrick’s head.

Twilight fell in Sylronce. The setting sun that lay over the horizon dyed the sky red and then disappeared. Soon, it was the pitch-black darkness that filled the void.

“They disappeared?”

Liabrick doubted her ears. She wondered if she had heard it wrong.

“When I came in, the house was already empty. I felt suspicious and followed the trail, but when I reached halfway up the mountain, the footprints cut off, so further optimal tracking was impossible.”

Lorence, who was leaning against the wall, replied in a somber tone. It was difficult to notice that there were people, unless you hid yourself in the shade where even the moonlight could not reach and looked up close.

“Speak in detail. The footprints cut off?”

“It appears that they went back to the stream when they reached halfway up the mountain.”

Liabrick raised her eyebrow.

“Back to the stream?”

“It seems that they didn’t want to leave any traces.”

“Huh.”

Liabrick was taken aback. It was hard to believe that the couple had actually run away and erased their traces, as if they had anticipated that they would be tracked down.

“I’d belatedly found the wet sand and tracked it, but the traces were completely cut off at the ferry dock at the canyon.”

“They escaped on a ferry?”

“That was all I could see. I tried to track it, but the current was too fast. I apologize.”

Throughout the report, Lorence couldn’t raise his head. This was because he had failed to fulfill his responsibilities as a knight.

“It’s not your fault. This was my carelessness.”

Liabrick looked back on this ridiculous situation.

‘Ran away? Without a trace, even?’

They could’ve given up a hundred times and then run away. They would’ve jumped into a fire pit if they had thought they could be a burden to their child. But the method of escape had been too precise. A skilled knight found it impossible to track even though he had moved in the most optimal route. Could this be dismissed as a coincidence? She couldn’t erase the impression that they had run away in anticipation of danger.

‘It doesn’t make sense.’

It wasn’t that there was nothing suspicious about it. However, it wasn’t easy to draw a conclusion, because nothing was clear.

‘It was odd. Her parents said goodbye to their daughter without any promises to meet again and didn’t even come out.’

They, who cherished their daughter so much, had made no promises as to when they would meet again and hadn’t sent her off as she’d left.

‘There are two possibilities.’

The couple had sent Elena out alone in order to gain time to run away. This could be the key agent as to how the couple had come to escape.

‘The other possibility is that she pretended not to know in front of me, even though she knew that the couple had run away.’

Liabrick recalled Elena crying when they had arrived at Sylronce. She begged her, saying that she only had older sister and to take good care of her parents. If she had been an accomplice, there would have been no reason to do so.

‘What if, really, what if…those tears were acted to deceive me?’

Liabrick firmly shook her head and disposed of the roots of her thoughts. It was a delusion. Elena did not possess exceptional intelligence, nor was she cunning enough to fool Liabrick. Moreover, she was a see-through woman with a deep sense of inferiority because of her life as a half-noble.

“Abandon the pursuit.”

“Please give me your command. I will definitely search the continent and find them. And somehow settle…”

Lorence recovered his tarnished honour and protested, but Liabrick refused to allow it.

“I’m reluctant to leave any possible concerns, but it doesn’t matter. Stand down.”

“… I understand.”

“Hide for a few days and then get on a ship. It would be difficult if you were to needlessly run into Lady Elena.”

Lorence nodded his head reluctantly and assigned himself amid the darkness. She couldn’t hear the sound of his footsteps as he left—he wasn’t there already. Liabrick raised her chin and looked up at the night sky.

“I don’t feel good about this.”

There’s clearly something—I don’t know what it is, but I feel uneasy about it. I haven’t felt this irritated in years.

“I need to check. Did you really deceive me, or did I overreact?”

[1] snow flower: (figurative) Snow piled up on branches, making it appear as if flowers are in bloom.

[2] sister: Elena called Liabrick 언니