Chapter 1
Chapter 1
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: The Kingdom's Troublemaker
-----------------------------------------------------------------
It was a dream. She realized at once that the happy scene unfolding before her eyes was just a dream. The moment she saw her mother's face—scolding her yet smiling—she knew. And she thought to herself.
This is a nightmare.
The dream showed her exactly the time she longed to return to most: those happy days with her mother. Back when she was a child who knew nothing and just enjoyed life.
That was why it was a nightmare. Because she knew she could never go back.
[I have to survive no matter what!]
And today, as always, the dream ended there. She screamed inwardly.
Please, please, let me wake up!
It was another peaceful day.
She was thrilled. The weather was exceptionally clear, and the breeze felt refreshingly cool. She let the maids dress her. Though they tied her hair painfully tight and the clothes weren't to her taste, none of that mattered.
Today is the day Father Emperor comes home!
"All done?"
She beamed and urged the maids on. They sighed openly and told her.
"Not yet, Your Highness. Your dressing isn't finished, so please stay still."
"Hurry up! I wanna see Father Emperor~"
The maids scowled at her whining. They muttered among themselves and quickly shoved any old shoes onto her feet. Just then, a servant opened the door and entered.
"Your Highness, Her Majesty the Queen Consort is here."
"Okay! I'll go to her!"
She bolted out the door. The maids yelled after her not to run, but she ignored them and dashed to the palace entrance.
"Father Emperor!"
A middle-aged man was just stepping down from his carriage. She ran straight to him and threw herself into his arms. He stroked her golden hair. His hand trembled slightly. But he hid it and said.
"Kanibella, were you well while your father was away?"
She giggled and replied.
"This girl has no aches or pains."
The male consort—called the Queen Consort hereafter for convenience—gazed at Kanibella's face with pity. But she looked back at her father with utter innocence, oblivious to it all.
*'A pitiful child turned childish from the shock of the accident.'*
That was her public image now. She merely tilted her head at her father's sorrowful expression. At that moment, two girls appeared.
"It's Lansien. How was your trip?"
"Welcome home."
They were Kanibella's stepsisters, Lansien and Lakaeri. Unlike Kanibella, who clung to him without letting go, they kept their distance from the consort.
The consort tilted his head. His eldest son was missing.
"Where is Michaelson?"
"Brother is away on business. He should return tomorrow."
"Tsk tsk. This father returns, yet he can't stay in the palace—he's out wandering instead... It's truly regrettable that such a one is the crown prince of this kingdom."
The consort clicked his tongue. Lansien smoothly changed the subject.
"Her Majesty has ordered a meal. We should head to the dining hall right away."
"I see. Thank you, Lansien."
"It's nothing. Right now, this is all I can do."
The consort glanced sadly at Kanibella, who gripped his hand tightly, then followed the guidance. It had been ages since he'd been back here.
"How was your trip?"
"It was quite enjoyable. I'd love to go again sometime."
The door opened to reveal Muila Lu Rasoni seated at the head table—the 26th Queen of the Rasoni Kingdom. In her navy dress, she was stunningly beautiful. Unlike the consort, now in his fifties, she was vibrant, like a flower in full bloom.
"Mother Queen, this girl has arrived."
Kanibella clasped her hands, bowed her head, and greeted properly. As the queen watched her back, contempt flashed across her face for an instant. But she hid it masterfully, so the consort noticed nothing.
"Bring the meal at once."
At the queen's command, attendants served various dishes. But Kanibella's eyes fixed only on the meat. She beckoned her maids, who speared the foods she pointed to and fed them to her.
Satisfied with her meal, she tugged at a maid's skirt beside her, signaling it was time to go. The maid bowed to the royals and left. As soon as the door closed, she said to Kanibella.
"Your Highness, your room is straight down that way—find it yourself. Got it?"
"Yes!"
Kanibella replied, then hurried to her room and locked the door. She scanned everywhere to ensure no one was there. Satisfied, she went to the mirror and muttered.
"Even so, that's too sloppy. They tied it way too messily."
Her voice was now low and different, her eyes sharp, her speech mature. She looked far too grown-up for someone supposed to have a child's mind.
She sat at the vanity, undid the hair ornaments, and brushed her hair. Then she stripped off the lace-heavy dress that chafed her and tossed it to the floor. The mirror reflected her back, scarred like she'd been beaten with clubs.
"Even so, lace overload on an eighteen-year-old? Makes me wanna chuck it."
She eyed the discarded dress coolly, then turned away. Now in comfortable clothes, she murmured into the air.
"Lukamin. You there?"
Someone dropped from the ceiling. A knight clad head to toe in black. He removed his mask and bowed. His eyes were fierce, his nose sharp enough to stab, his whole face intimidating—hard to approach.
"Your Highness."
She drew the curtains at once. Then sat at the desk. Lukamin sat opposite her.
"Any progress today?"
"I apologize. My skills are lacking; I couldn't find the culprit."
"It's not your fault. I investigated on the sly too, but the records are too sparse. It's like someone's deliberately hiding them."
"As I said before, the Muila family is highly suspicious."
"I agree. After Mother Queen died... she took the throne too smoothly and swiftly. Like she'd prepared for it."
"Will you tell the Queen Consort?"
"Tell that man who doesn't even know what I'm up to? Give that idea to the dog. You know well how cowardly he is."
Her demeanor was worlds apart from the giggling girl who'd hugged her father that morning. Recalling him brought only deep hatred and cynicism. Flames blazed in her eyes.
"That man won't get another thought from me, so let's focus on finding who killed Mother Queen."
She was hunting her mother's killer. The masked assailants who murdered her mother and tried to kill her too. Six years ago, the fire that changed her life.
She could still vividly recall the masked figure lunging at her with a blade whenever she closed her eyes.
Crunch.
Her teeth ground together. She clenched her fists. She didn't know why the masked intruders had stormed the queen's palace to kill mother and daughter. So she'd ordered Lukamin to gather every scrap of info.
But even after time passed, she hadn't identified the culprits, let alone how they'd breached the supposedly ironclad security of the palace. The investigation stalled. She grew weary.
She had to find them, yet she was trapped in the palace. No—not just the palace; she could barely leave her room. A sigh escaped her.
"This life is wearing me down. The restrictions are infuriating."
"Please endure a bit longer. If you act rashly, it could give them cause to expel Your Highness from the palace."
"I know. I've long suspected Muila wants me gone. And now's the perfect timing."
She'd caught the undisguised contempt the queen sometimes showed. She also sensed the woman's anxiety that she might seize her throne anytime. The queen plainly despised her.
And she felt the same. To her, Muila was just a shameless usurper of her mother's seat. The sight of her acting like it was rightfully hers disgusted her.
She suspected the Muila family. But Muila was too inept a ruler—couldn't even hide her expressions—to be the mastermind, and there was no proof. It was as if evidence had never existed, unrelated from the start.
*'If not for those people, I wouldn't have had to pretend to be a child...'*
Publicly, Kanibella was said to have regressed to a child's mind from the trauma of that fire six years ago. But that was a lie.
It was due to the Muila family's merciless violence and abuse. They'd beaten her countless times. With switches, with clubs. Forced her awake or punished her for nonexistent crimes.
[What did I do wrong?]
[Arguing like that is wrong, dear.]
[What?]
[So you must be punished. Present your calves.]
Under such absurd pretexts, they'd whipped her dozens of times. At first she didn't understand why, but later it became clear.
She was their threat.
She was the only true heir. Thus, she could reclaim succession rights anytime. Had she moved properly, she could have rallied the scattered nobles.
So they saw her as a threat. They beat and humiliated her dozens of times a day without hesitation.
Enduring such brutality for years, she felt powerless. That powerlessness turned to despair and hatred.
Yet she was still young. With nowhere to turn, she cried herself to sleep every night.
*'Father Emperor will save me from this pain...'*
No resentment for his absence filled her head. Only faith that he'd rescue her from this hell soon. At dawn, she'd run to his chambers.
But what greeted her was a single letter.
[I will travel. Do not let anyone come.]
At first, she waited with hope. But it faded quickly. He'd return from one trip only to leave for another without delay. He wouldn't even see her face.
Deep betrayal hit her—her sole ally had abandoned her. She hated him to madness, wandering outside while ignorant of his daughter's plight.
A lonely fight with no allies. She was withering away.
In truth, the consort bore immense guilt for failing to protect the queen. He believed his slowness had killed her.
But as Kanibella grew to resemble his late wife more, he couldn't bear it. It felt like his wife had returned to scream, 'Why didn't you save me!' So he kept fleeing to other lands.
Yet that truth never reached his daughter. In the end, she gave up on her father.
*'This can't go on.'*
Time flowed on, forcing a choice: fight unseen battles daily, life constantly threatened? Or renounce succession fully and search for her mother's killer from the shadows.
The answer came swiftly. She'd relinquish her rights herself. But declaring it wouldn't convince them. Her very existence threatened them.
*"I have to act like a child."*
She told Lukamin, who she'd seen after three years. He nodded silently. Her young lord's face looked utterly exhausted. Days later, she fell from a tree and hit her head.
Naturally, the Muila family's scrutiny faded. She gained freedom from their gaze. And so her double life truly began.
The battle against those unseen foes started now.