Chapter 60
Chapter 60
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 59
Chapter Title: Beautiful Night
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Elenoa hated herself.
She hadn’t even met her mother’s expectations. As a disappointing daughter, her mother had closed her eyes on the day she passed without ever looking at her.
Why hadn’t she remembered that?
The self that had obsessively driven her to maintain the image of royalty.
And then, one day, how she had suddenly felt free from all of it.
Why had she let it pass so naturally?
She asked herself, but the answer was all too obvious. The clever Elenoa already knew it.
Because it was comfortable.
Because she didn’t want to look back at the duties of royalty. So the young Elenoa had naturally ignored it.
And that was.
An ugly, worst of all, foolish tantrum—she now admitted it.
Her burden.
She had passed it on to another version of herself.
That little Elenoa, bearing it, now stood over there.
Though with a man she’d never seen before, as Elenoa took in the sight of the little girl, memories calmly settled into her mind.
The conversations they’d had here imprinted themselves like knowledge in her head.
That man was Dayus Verdi.
No, Dayus’s true identity.
But that didn’t matter at all. What the current Elenoa needed was time alone, and the desire to vanish.
“Hey.”
The little Elenoa approached cautiously. But she bristled with thorns in response.
“I told you not to come! Why are you here! The fragile me is gone! Only the strong you remains! You know the duties we have to bear!”
“…….”
The little Elenoa couldn’t reply.
In the end, they were the same person. She too knew it was right for the self bound tightly by royal conviction and pride to take control of the body.
Logically, yes. But emotionally, no.
The little Elenoa wanted to say she was needed, but uttering such weak words was impossible for her nature.
Royals didn’t speak weakly.
That was why Dayus Verdi stepped forward.
Kim Shin-woo.
“What should I say to you?”
A tone and voice different from the original Dayus. But an aggressively similar manner.
“Comfort you? Tell you it’s okay? Or say you’re needed?”
As he took a step forward, Elenoa stepped back. Her eyes trembled, revealing fear.
“I’ll tell you clearly. You have no qualification as a princess, no rights, no sense of duty or responsibility.”
It was absurd.
In truth, this entire exchange was unnecessary, and the situation itself was ridiculous.
Elenoa was saying she couldn’t do it. But wasn’t that perfectly natural?
“Hey! Hey!”
The little Elenoa behind him rushed desperately at Kim Shin-woo. She grabbed his pant leg, tugging and shouting what he was saying.
But Kim Shin-woo pulled the little Elenoa forward.
Then, pointing at the little girl, he declared with utmost certainty.
“Look at this little girl. She hasn’t fled from her duties, hasn’t rejected them, has faced them head-on and fought, and even possesses the nobility of sacrificing herself for the kingdom.”
“Huh? Huh?”
The little Elenoa, flustered at the sudden praise directed at her.
The more she did, the darker the original Elenoa’s expression grew, her lips pressed tight.
That was why he asked.
“Which of you is the real Elenoa?”
Both Elenoas responded simultaneously with a puzzled “Huh?” But they couldn’t answer readily.
As if they had no idea what he was asking.
“Of course…….”
“……Both.”
They hesitated before speaking. It was the right answer. He wanted to applaud.
He’d never properly trained a student as a professor, but guiding them to voice the answer themselves felt like this.
“Yes, you’re not different people. In the end, you’re just one personality.”
“Ah.”
Finally realizing what he meant, the two Elenoas gaped at each other.
Yes.
The Elenoa who was emotional and varied, always bright and cheerful, who loved character stories and chattering in flower fields.
The Elenoa embodying royal pride, self-respect, honor, and conviction as the ideal monarch.
In the end, they were one person.
“I know it’s been tough. I can tell you’ve pushed through despite the hardship, feeling like you’d collapse. I can see it plenty.”
Even with holes torn in her body, falling, collapsing, she’d risen again and made it this far.
“Now, look at each other.”
He was saying.
There was no need to blame herself for not meeting the ideal she desired.
Because.
“Through all that hardship, you’ve already grown magnificent enough to bear the name of royalty.”
They’d walked different paths, but their growth together was no different.
The little Elenoa slowly reached out her hand. Her smiling gesture carried the meaning of ending a long wandering.
Cautiously, their hands touched.
No need for flashy light shows. No massive mana surges. That was excess.
Just one girl.
Had finally faced herself squarely and recognized her identity.
Here, Elenoa had always been one person.
Ridiculously, she had admired herself.
“Really, what an idiot.”
She called herself pathetic, but her expression held relief and refreshment.
Light and lively, just as before.
But the girl’s eyes now held deep conviction, along with faith and will toward herself.
BOOM!
Suddenly, the entire building shook. The two, startled, had no time to reminisce.
The dream was collapsing.
“Crazy.”
“M-Mother?”
Both shouted from the railing, looking down.
Hiran, whom they’d flung away earlier, had grown enormous, devouring the building itself as she climbed toward them.
An overwhelming sight, like a giant from a comic. Startled, but they couldn’t fully defeat her.
“Excuse me for a moment.”
Kim Shin-woo wrapped an arm around Elenoa’s waist, pouring mana once more to soar into the sky.
Since mental power determined mana here, he essentially had near-infinite mana.
“R-Rough!”
But lacking fine control, his body swayed like in a storm.
* * *
She didn’t know how far they’d flown.
She’d just kept flying endlessly, until the ground below faded to nothing.
No destination.
Just held in his arms, Elenoa recalled the most memorable story he’d once told her.
It was about a magical girl.
An ordinary academy student meets an animal with strange powers, gains unique mana, and fights for justice.
Hearing it, Elenoa had thought it truly mystical.
Amazed at how he’d imagined such a vibrant tale.
Her favorite part was this.
The girls fighting to protect the world lived ordinarily otherwise—laughing, chatting, loving normally.
It had comforted her a bit.
Even little girls with grand purposes like saving the world weren’t always transformed.
‘Me too…….’
She was royalty, a princess.
A being who had to be special.
But she didn’t need to be special forever.
Showing her princess side only when needed—that was true wisdom.
Grateful for realizing it late, Elenoa looked at Kim Shin-woo.
To add more about the magical girl story.
They loved too, but their partners weren’t highlighted much.
Usually already in love from the story’s start.
She’d thought that part lame. Sudden first love? Love at first sight romance?
Overly contrived and convenient.
But now, Elenoa had to admit it.
‘Truly, a realistic story.’
Using the excuse of feeling like she’d fall, she hugged his waist tighter.
She should’ve felt nauseous from the dizziness, but no motion sickness came.
Because it was a dream.
The final difference from reality she hadn’t noticed about her other self.
No vertigo.
But now, Elenoa hated that.
‘Of all times.’
Even in this violently shaking situation, no dizziness or nausea.
So this man’s face etched itself more clearly into her mind.
“I wish it had been so dizzy I couldn’t think straight.”
Then, she could’ve dismissed these wildly pounding heart feelings as mere vertigo.
Regretful, yet.
She hoped this dream would last a little longer.
That was Elenoa’s wish.
* * *
“Ugh.”
Opening her eyes cautiously, vertigo hit hard. What she hadn’t felt in the dream now crashed in belatedly.
Like anesthesia wearing off, she took deep breaths to steady herself.
“Urk!”
But Elenoa was worse.
Unable to steady herself, she nearly fell over the balcony railing, but I yanked her back roughly, barely saving her.
Crash!
The problem was our bodies tumbling together onto me.
Anyway, Elenoa straddled atop me, clutching her throbbing head.
She’d thought they’d spent a long time inside, but the party below the balcony was still in full swing.
Glancing at the Black Necromancer nearby, she explained with a subtle expression.
[About 10 minutes passed. You two just stood there blankly, so I wondered what you were doing.]
‘10 minutes.’
It could be seen as Remegaton’s intense power sweeping their souls into the dream.
‘Won’t try that again anytime soon.’
She had to admit it was dangerous. Remegaton’s power was stronger than imagined, tearing the boundary between dream and soul.
Well, the result seemed right, though.
Glancing down, Elenoa—now recovered—looked up at me from my arms.
Seeing her flushed face, I meant to tell her to get off now.
But after a moment’s thought, staring past her at the night sky, I spoke.
“There was a novelist named Natsume Soseki. He’s famous for expressing a love confession as ‘the moon is beautiful, isn’t it?’”
At my words, Elenoa blinked her big eyes, then laughed brightly.
“What are you saying?”
With a voice refreshingly free of regret or lingering attachment.
“Of course it’s reality!”
At her answer, a crescent-moon smile crept onto my face unwittingly.
Truly, it was a beautiful moonlit night.