26. Pandora's Box (3)
26. Pandora's Box (3)
[Episode 26] - Pandora's Box (3)
"Cough! Cough!"
I lifted the mirror, which was Ainsel's main body, and looked at the vivid red handprint remaining on my neck. Seeing the dark red handprint stamped on my white neck sent shivers down my spine.
'And they said they didn't want to kill me...'
If I had been even a second later in calling Silphy, I really would have died. Still feeling the sensation of my throat being constricted, I rubbed my neck, stood up from the floor, and looked at Silphy.
-Little one, are you alright?
"...Thank you, I survived thanks to you."
-Hehehe, I promised to help you once without a price. I was just keeping my promise.
Silphy, who had fluttered over and perched on my shoulder, smiled brightly. Really, if I hadn't been able to recall the promise Silphy made in that fading consciousness......
To shake off the bad thoughts, I shook my head and stopped thinking. I stood up and looked around the room, which was a mess thanks to the wind, but as expected, Aurora was nowhere to be seen.
Now I understood a little. Why Vivian 'failed' the ritual and died. Perhaps it was because what was in the First Queen's body wasn't the First Queen's soul, but the King's soul.
Then the words Silphy said about the 'ritual that was wrong from the premise' made some sense. Rubbing my neck, which still felt like it was being constricted, I looked at 'His Majesty' sitting in the chair.
'......What should I do now.'
Suddenly, the thought I had before came to mind. That this room was Pandora's Box, filled with things I couldn't handle. When that thought occurred, I couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh.
Isn't it exactly as I thought?
'What on earth am I supposed to do here?'
It was fine to open and enter the room where the King was secluded, but in reality, the King was as good as dead. That shriveled corpse on the bed was undoubtedly the 'King's' body.
This alone was enough to drive me crazy, but the 'King' wasn't the only one in this room. The 'First Queen Aurora,' who I thought was dead, was alive and guarding the side of the dead King.
Calling herself the 'King'.
What would other people think if they saw this situation?
The First Queen, who was thought to be dead, assassinated the King?
Or, that their love for each other couldn't even be separated by death?
Perhaps the latter?
Since others couldn't see 'fairies,' and the story that the First Queen and the King acted as if they couldn't live without each other was already a famous rumor among all the kingdom's citizens.
Regardless of the truth, the story would surely flow towards the latter. Because there would be no good in spreading a rumor that the King was assassinated by the First Queen.
Such a situation just needed to be made into a fairy tale.
If I were to make their story into a fairy tale, wouldn't the last line be this?
'Their love could not be separated even by death.'
However, reality was not as ideal as the last line of a fairy tale.
I slowly approached 'His Majesty,' who was blankly staring at the canvas in the chair. I knelt on one knee, took her thin hand, and looked up. The pupils of her dull, red eyes were dilated.
"Your Majesty."
The King still didn't answer my call. However, I gripped the King's hand tightly, called out once more, and asked what I had wanted to ask the King all this time.
"Your Majesty, do you remember the child you bore?"
This was a question for both the King and the First Queen.
Ironically, the body of the person whose hand I was holding was the First Queen's, and the soul was the King's. I thought there would be no reaction, but the King's hand twitched, and then turned to look down at me.
"Child...?"
"Yes, the child you bore with the person you love."
At the word 'child,' the King let out a snicker.
"Ah- of course I remember, you mean the child I bore because the Council of Elders made such a racket. Why, did that child die? Is that why you came to find me? To receive my seed?"
"...The child you bore because they made a racket?"
The King chuckled, shook his head, and began to ramble. I was no longer reflected in those dull red eyes. He was simply continuing his 'delusion.'
"Yes, it was a child I bore because the Council of Elders kept urging me, saying the royal lineage must be continued. Isn't that why you married me? Huh? Why did you marry me? Aurora died...? No, Aurora is always by my side..."
The King turned his head and searched the room as if looking for something. His eyes widened, and his breathing became ragged. And soon, he let out a strange scream and collapsed onto the floor.
"Ah-! Where did you go, leaving me again, Aurora! Ah!! Aaargh!! Aurora!!!!"
Scratching at the paintings scattered on the floor, he floundered amidst the pictures of Aurora. It was like someone screaming for help in a swamp they couldn't escape from.
'...In the end, you both abandon that child until the very end.'
Thinking there was no point in talking anymore, I stood up and turned my back on him. Then Silphy asked me, looking slightly worried.
-Is it alright to leave like this? I know that humans serve someone with authority called a King... If you leave him like this, as you think, he will...
He will die.
As Aurora said, he really looked like he didn't have much time left. It was certain that within a day, or at the latest a week, he and she would be found as corpses here.
Arriving at the door, I turned around for a moment and looked at him floundering on the floor. He hugged the painting of Aurora he had drawn tightly to his chest, curling his body up like a baby.
"It's fine."
I opened the tightly shut door again.
And walked out of the room without looking back.
"He is not my King."
Thud, the sound of the room door closing tightly again.
There would surely be a great commotion in the royal castle within this week.
A great commotion caused by the King's death.
*
Having come out of the room where the King was secluded, I left the unconscious Ainsel's main body in my room and headed straight to the Princess's room. The knights asked me if I had entered the King's room.
I made an excuse, saying, 'How on earth could I enter a locked room?'
When I said I had just shouted, thrown a tantrum, and knocked on the door in front of the King's room, the knights nodded as if they understood and began guarding the room where the King was secluded again.
Not knowing that the King was already dead.
When I arrived in front of the Princess's room, Ellie was standing guard in front of the Princess's door with a worried expression. Spotting me approaching from the end of the hallway, Ellie hesitated before coming towards me.
"Y-Your Majesty... The Princess is currently sleeping..."
"...I see, I'll just take a quick look at her."
Opening the door and entering, I saw the room darkened with curtains drawn. And I also saw the Princess on the bed, covered from head to toe with a blanket.
Watching the Princess lying there wrapped in the blanket like a caterpillar, I slowly approached her side. Then, I lay down on the bed gently and looked down at the Princess...
"Stop pretending to sleep, do you think I don't know your sleeping habits?"
"Ah! Hahaha! S-sorry! S-stop..! Hahaha!"
I tickled the Princess's side right over the blanket.
The Princess, who had been wriggling like a real caterpillar, poked only her face out from the rolled-up blanket and looked up at me. She was laughing because of the tickling, but I could see that her eyes were slightly red.
"...Were you crying?"
"N-no... I wasn't crying..."
The Princess shook her head and denied it, but just by seeing her sniffling and her red eyes, I could tell she had been crying inside the blanket.
I slowly lifted the Princess and placed her on my lap, still wrapped in the blanket like a caterpillar. The Princess, who had instantly ended up in my arms, struggled, not knowing what to do.
"Princess."
"Y-yes...?"
...Could I tell the Princess?
No, there was no way I could tell her. That your father, the King, is already dead. That in that room, not only the King but also the First Queen is there.
That the people you craved love from had even forgotten you were here. That you were just a child born solely because they needed an heir. That you are a child who has never even received love once.
There was no way I could say that.
"...Next time, let's draw on a bigger piece of paper."
"B-but..."
"This time, how about we don't give it to His Majesty and keep it just between us? Like last time, let's draw a cat, a cake, the Princess, me, and Ainsel next to us."
Holding the shoulders of the Princess in my arms, I slowly continued talking. That even if there is no love from them, there are many people around you who love you.
"I like the way you stood in the flower field like last time. Let's draw Ellie, and yes, let's draw Vin Chaud too. Vin Chaud doesn't have hair, so he must be easy to draw."
The Princess chuckled at my joke. It seemed even the young Princess knew that Vin Chaud's hair was really not great.
"And, let's put it in a big frame and decorate the room with it. No, how about we hang it in the hallway this time? It wouldn't be bad to let everyone see it."
Holding the shoulders of the Princess in my arms, I slowly continued talking. That even if there is no love from them, there are many people around you who love you.
Smoothing down the Princess's disheveled hair, I spoke to her in a gentle voice. The Princess looked at me as if she were about to burst into tears, then smiled brightly and nodded.
"Do you feel a bit better now?"
"...Yes. But... one thing... there's something I want to ask of Your Majesty..."
The Princess continued, slightly hesitant. Then, she lifted her head slightly, covered my ear with both hands, and whispered. Even here, where there was no one else to hear us.
"Hanging it in the hallway is... embarrassing. Can't we just hang it in my room...?"
Hearing the request full of shyness, I looked down at the Princess with a bright smile. The Princess also looked at my smile and tried to smile slightly, but...
"No. This time, I'm going to hang the Princess's painting in the royal hall so everyone can see it."
"Ah, ah...!"
It was obviously a joke, but the Princess's face began to turn pale. Watching that, I chuckled and hugged the Princess in my arms.
The Princess struggled as if she were slightly suffocating, but I wanted to hug her for a moment, just for a moment. Because if I didn't do this, I felt like the Princess would notice that I was anxious.
For the first time, I resolved to neglect a person's death.
The anxiety caused by that choice kept feeling like it was constricting my throat.
Just like how Aurora had strangled my neck.