29. What Remained in the Box (2)
29. What Remained in the Box (2)
[Chapter 29] - What Remained Inside the Box (2)
I entrusted the Princess to Ellie and headed to that 'room' where Vin Chaud was.
Upon arriving in front of the room, I saw a scene that contrasted with the room that was always empty and tightly shut. The two large doors were wide open, and the hallway was bustling with knights who had come to inspect the room.
In the midst of them, I saw Vin Chaud, quietly sobbing while clutching his face as if he couldn't believe this situation. After taking a deep breath, I approached Vin Chaud and stood beside him to look into the room.
...It was a room no different from before.
The room was filled with paintings drawn by the King, and the shriveled corpse of the King lay on the bed. If there was one difference from back then, it was the corpse of the First Queen found collapsed on the floor.
The knights seeing the room for the first time couldn't help but frown at the grotesqueness of this place. Aurora's paintings stuck all the way to the ceiling. The corpse of the First Queen, Aurora, who should have been in a grave.
And, the two corpses that were so shriveled they seemed to have no blood left. Even the doctors who came to investigate the King's death couldn't help but shake their heads while looking at the King's corpse in the room.
"The cause of His Majesty's death is..."
The doctors examining the King's corpse could only come to this conclusion in the end. That the reason the King died was a simple 'death by debility'. That the King, who loved the First Queen too much, died of lovesickness.
They didn't know why the First Queen's corpse was here, but judging by the amount of paintings of the First Queen piled up in the room and hanging in the main palace, the doctors had no choice but to reach this conclusion.
I looked around the room appropriately, let out a deep sigh, and tapped the shoulder of Vin Chaud standing next to me. Perhaps he was out of it, but Vin Chaud, who had just realized I was there, looked at me with weary eyes.
"Queen-nim..."
"...Are you alright?"
"His Majesty's door hadn't opened for four days, so we forced it open to check on His Majesty's safety... but in the end, His Majesty..."
I couldn't say anything and just nodded.
What kind of reaction should I show here? Should I be surprised or sad, like Vivian who supposedly loved the King? Or should I go crazy with jealousy and get angry, asking why the First Queen is here?
...It would only be awkward to act out emotions I didn't even understand. I didn't say or do anything, just looked into the room with a bitter expression.
As I stared into the room without a word, Vin Chaud actually started to comfort me instead. Hul-jjeok, Vin Chaud wiped away his tears and held out a new handkerchief to me.
"Queen-nim... are you alright...?"
"...I am fine, so you should wipe your own tears. And..."
Perhaps Vin Chaud knew too. Looking at the rotting food in front of the door, Vin Chaud must have also expected this situation to some extent. I let out a small sigh and gazed into the room with a distant look.
"You must have already guessed it too, that a day like this would come eventually."
"Th-that is..."
Unable to deny my words, Vin Chaud tried to find some excuse with trembling lips, but in the end, he couldn't utter a word. I patted Vin Chaud's shoulder and ordered the knights and doctors in the room.
"...After thoroughly investigating His Majesty's death, clean up the bodies and prepare for a solemn funeral. And inform the Queen Mother-nim and the Council of Elders of this fact quickly."
"Yes, Queen-nim!"
"And... I am issuing a gag order regarding the First Queen. For now, do not tell anyone except the Queen Mother-nim."
Everyone who heard my order began to move busily.
For a day, the most prominent doctors in the kingdom checked the King's corpse, but in the end, everyone shook their heads and concluded the King's cause of death as a simple 'death by debility'.
The day after the King's death was confirmed, to announce that the King had passed away, the national flag on the highest spire of the royal palace was lowered, and a black flag was hoisted.
Once the flag was hung on the spire, knights on horseback began to gallop outside the palace gates with black flags and national flags on their backs. It was to inform the nobles in the provinces of the King's death.
Thus, the King's funeral began in a solemn atmosphere.
*
The King's funeral continued for ten days under the leadership of the Queen Mother and the temple.
Originally, a King's funeral basically took a long time, ranging from half a year to a year if it was long. When the Queen Mother said she would only hold the funeral for ten days, the nobles opposed it, saying that ten days for a royal funeral was too short.
However, the Queen Mother drew a line, saying, "I have thought that His Majesty was as good as dead since he went into seclusion two years ago. Since two years have already passed, ten days should be enough for the funeral."
In the letters sent to the provincial nobles, she added that they should grieve there and that they didn't need to come to the royal castle. However, even though she said that, there were provincial nobles who rode horses for three days and nights to come.
I also had a lot to do during the funeral as the Queen. Basically, I had to attend all the funeral procedures. Things like washing the King's body or praying all day.
I had to handle a busy schedule, greeting the nobles attending the funeral, to the point where I didn't even know how the funeral was passing by. It was even harder because the nobles I met didn't look at me kindly.
As I spent such a hectic time, the last day of the funeral arrived before I knew it. The final procedure took place inside a temple that was larger and more magnificent than the cathedral-like building I saw at 'Vivian's' funeral.
Everyone who attended the funeral gathered in plain attire and mourned the King's death in a solemn atmosphere. I also attended the funeral in plain attire, holding the Princess's hand.
...For the past ten days, the Princess hadn't cried even once.
She didn't shed a single tear at the death of her parent, the King. Even when I announced the King's death, the Princess was just immersed in shock. Without saying a word, just with sad eyes.
That appearance was pitiful.
Because it seemed like she had resigned herself to everything, to the point where she couldn't even grieve for her parent's death. Because it seemed like the child who had tried so hard to receive her parent's love until the very end had given up on everything.
"Princess. Let's go pay our final respects."
The final procedure of the funeral began.
The procedure of placing flowers on the coffin where the King lay and saying a final goodbye. I placed a single white lily in the Princess's hand. Then, the Princess stared blankly at the white lily she was holding.
The Princess and I headed to the King's coffin together, holding the lily flowers. While heading to the coffin, countless gazes were fixed on me and the Princess, but I tried hard to ignore their gazes and walked out, holding the Princess's hand.
Upon arriving in front of the coffin, the King's corpse, with his face covered by a white cloth, came into view. I gently placed the flower on the King's hand and finished a short prayer inside.
The Princess also hesitated for a moment, then placed the lily on the King's chest. At the moment I was waiting for the Princess's prayer to end, tears dripped down from the Princess's large eyes.
The Princess, holding my hand, looked up at me, shedding tears.
And she asked me, as if it were strange.
"Qu, Queen-nim... just like you... he isn't waking up... I, I was sure... just like you... if I gave him a flower... I thought he would wake up... he, he isn't waking up..."
Ah.
Seeing that expression on the Princess, I gritted my teeth without realizing it.
I felt like I knew the reason why the Princess hadn't cried until now.
The Princess hadn't resigned herself to anything. It seemed she had harbored a tiny hope that just as I had opened my eyes at the funeral, the King might also open his eyes during the funeral.
However, that didn't happen.
Even though the Princess placed the flower down, the King did not rise from that spot.
As the very last, single ray of hope collapsed, all that remained for the Princess was a miserable heart. In the end, just as the Princess's heart, which had been holding on, collapsed, the Princess's legs also gave way.
The Princess, who had been standing while holding my hand, knelt on the floor and sat down. Wiping away the tears pouring down like a rain shower with the back of her hand, the Princess wailed in front of the coffin where the King lay.
Saying, "Daddy, Daddy."
Calling for a daddy she had never called even once, the Princess grieved for her parent's death. I lifted the Princess, who was prostrate on the floor, into my arms and kept stroking her back, over and over.
For the Princess, who was sobbing with her whole body, unable to even breathe properly from crying, all I could do was just hold her in my arms or stroke her back like this.
Even though it was a parent who had never once shown love to the Princess.
It seemed that to the Princess, they were the only parent in the world.
Looking at the Princess sobbing in my arms, I felt like I had thought this for the first time since coming here.
That at least I should be by this child's side.
By the side of this child who has nowhere to lean on.
That I want to be someone this child can lean on.
For the first time, I thought this.
*
As the ten-day funeral concluded, before I could even take off my mourning clothes, I headed straight to the royal castle's grand conference room at the Queen Mother's summons. Not just me, but all the nobles of the kingdom's Council of Elders, including Vin Chaud, were summoned.
Originally, it wasn't easy for the nobles of the Council of Elders to gather in one place.
It was only possible to gather them in one place because of the national emergency that was the King's funeral. The Queen Mother, not missing that opportunity, convened a grand meeting before the Council of Elders could leave the royal castle.
...I could roughly guess what kind of meeting they were going to have.
A meeting to fill the empty throne.
The Queen Mother probably intends to run state affairs through regency on behalf of the young Princess. Honestly, there was no other way but this. Even if the Queen Mother was old, it wasn't something I could do instead.
In the first place, I had no confidence in managing state affairs. And furthermore, I am a 'Liliensole' who did not receive the royal 'surname'. So, it was clear that there would be no talk of entrusting state affairs to me.
'Thinking about it now, maybe it's a good thing 'Vivian' didn't consummate the marriage with the King... No, maybe not...'
...Actually, the most important thing in this meeting wasn't the Queen Mother's regency, but the issue regarding me.
At least when the King was alive, even such a shut-in King could be my backing.
After all, if the King were just alive, there would have been a chance for me to receive the King's seed and give birth to the country's 'little sun' someday. Even if the King was a shut-in unemployed person, that opportunity existed because he was alive.
However, the King died, and furthermore, the Second Queen hadn't even consummated the marriage with the King for two years.
From the royal family's perspective, it was as if the reason for me to be here had completely disappeared.
It would be strange if the words "Kick out the Second Queen who didn't receive the royal surname!" didn't come up in this meeting.
I untied the ribbon holding my hair back out of frustration and arrived in front of the grand conference room with disheveled hair. The moment I was about to take a deep breath and go in because I was nervous-
The Chief Chamberlain at the door, as soon as he made eye contact with me, announced my arrival to the conference hall in a loud voice before I could even stop him.
"The Second Queen! Her Majesty Queen 'Vivian Liliensole' is entering!"
No!
The moment that shout ended, the large doors began to open slowly with a sound of scraping the floor. What I saw when the doors opened was an absurdly large round table.
In the center of the round table sat the Queen Mother wearing black mourning clothes, and around her, old raccoon-looking nobles wearing mourning clothes were lined up.
They were all ministers in charge of the kingdom's administrative departments. The Ministry of the Royal Court, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Home Affairs, etc. - numerous ministers glanced at me as I entered the conference room.
And, my seat was in the exact opposite position facing the Queen Mother. I swallowed dry saliva without realizing it at the burdensome seating arrangement.
Glancing around the conference room by rolling only my eyes, it seemed I was the last one, as everyone except me was seated. What is this? I definitely came 30 minutes earlier than the informed meeting time?
For now, I bowed my head and offered an apology.
"I apologize for being late. Your Majesty the Queen Mother."
"No, you arrived on time. Sit down quickly."
...What is this?
For now, I sat down quickly as the Queen Mother gestured.
Once I sat down, the pressure of the nobles' gazes pouring in from all around was no joke. Fortunately, when the Queen Mother raised her hand and gestured, the nobles' gazes instantly turned to the Queen Mother.
"Then, since everyone is gathered, let's begin the meeting."