Chapter 71
Chapter 71
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 71
Chapter Title: Do You Think I'm Beautiful?
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71.
‘That White Skull bastard….’
This guy is definitely sentient.
No way around it.
How else could ‘Unlucky Day’ trigger at such an absurd timing?
Does that even make sense!
Anyone can see this is deliberately screwing me over!
Kakaduk-
Along with the grinding of one man’s teeth.
My gaze dropped to my right wrist.
Kwaak-
Right now, the Queen had my right wrist in her grip.
A being who could turn a human like me into a stuffed doll without breaking a sweat stood right in front of me.
‘Save me!’ I screamed internally.
Unless it’s a ghost story that reads minds, who’s going to hear my inner pleas.
Even the Princess, who’d been fawning over me as “Prince” just moments ago, simply watched the scene unfold.
There wasn’t the slightest hint she’d help.
Far from helping….
Siiik-
‘That, that girl!’
Look at that bright smile creeping across her lips! She’s actually enjoying this!
Relishing the moment more than anyone else.
In the end, she’s a ghost story too.
The kind that takes the most pleasure in a human’s suffering.
Right now, I should pull out the quill pen with my left hand….
〖O-over there!〗
!
The Queen’s slender voice, still gripping my wrist, brushed past my ear.
But….
‘What did you just say… Your Majesty?’
For a moment, I thought I’d misheard.
Back when we first met, her voice had dripped with unyielding stubbornness, like a lone general.
But now, that voice tickled my eardrum.
It didn’t sound like the Queen’s at all—an utterly foreign tone.
I doubted my own ears.
It was so hard to believe it was the same person; her voice just now was small and fragile, like the chirp of a baby bird.
A fleeting, delicate voice that seemed ready to vanish on the wind.
‘Is it really the same person?’
Kwaak-
The Queen’s grip on my wrist wasn’t as strong as I’d feared.
It was bearable.
But I was flustered.
I doubted whether the Queen before me was really the one I knew.
Kwaak-
Once more, the vise-like pressure wrapped around my right wrist.
The baby bird’s chirp tickled the ear of one man again.
〖Do you… truly think I’m… beautiful?〗
“…….”
Pardon?
‘…Your Majesty. Are you seriously asking me this—someone who was trembling in fear of death just moments ago?’
Something like….
-
How do I look today, oppa?
Just ask that from afar, please!
I’d been steeling myself to lose my right arm moments ago, and now I vented my frustration inwardly.
But.
Of course, part of me was relieved.
A little relieved, at least.
The Queen didn’t seem hostile yet. She just wanted compliments on her appearance from me.
If she craved praise for her looks that badly.
‘…I’ll give it to you.’
If that’s truly what she wants.
I composed my expression.
With a smile so blatantly radiating ‘innocence’ on my lips.
My eyes gazed at the Queen with the pure, sparkling clarity of a benevolent saint.
“Why would I ever lie to Your Majesty?”
Jjaeak-
…….
Lie-Detecting Watch.
This watch, just like the White Skull, only works at the weirdest timings.
‘They’re both conspiring against me.’
I cleared my throat again, smile unwavering and flawless.
I felt the pressure on my right wrist gradually easing.
‘Now!’
Seureuk-
I slipped my wrist from her grasp as naturally as possible.
But I couldn’t pull away from the Queen entirely yet.
I couldn’t give off any vibe of fleeing.
Seuk-
Naturally, I wrapped both my hands around hers in return.
Even if I hated it right now.
I had to do it.
If I didn’t want to end up as a stuffed doll….
〖….〗
I felt no resistance from the Queen.
In that case.
Park Yeon-jeong’s barrage of flattery continued.
“Your Majesty is more than beautiful enough. Just thinking back to our first meeting… I still vividly remember how my heart pounded like mad that day.”
The day I first saw Her Majesty’s bare face.
I thought my heart would stop.
〖….〗
No response from the Queen to my flattery.
Was this level of praise not enough?
‘…This is such a hassle! This ghost story Queen!!’
But backing down here meant becoming a stuffed doll for real.
“Whenever I see Your Majesty’s crescent-moon smile, all the stray thoughts cluttering my mind just scatter away.”
〖…….〗
Still no response from the Queen.
No reply came, but….
The tremor transmitted through her hands, clasped in mine, reached me clearly.
And I thought.
‘…Did she see through me?’
Did my sleazy, sugar-coated flattery rub her the wrong way?
…No good.
This won’t do.
If things kept going like this, the situation would spiral out of control.
This place would turn into a slaughterhouse.
I’d end up a human stuffed doll for sure.
‘Maybe I should run now….’
I glanced sideways at the exit door.
〖E-enough!〗
Hump!
The Queen’s sudden shout nearly knocked me backward. I barely steadied myself.
When I looked straight at the veiled Queen again, her voice remained, faintly trembling.
〖I-I get it… how you feel about me.〗
“…….”
I slowly released my grip on her hands.
Seureuk-
〖….〗
The Queen gently drew her hands back to her chest.
…Rub.
She caressed the back of her hand for a while.
And when I felt her gaze again.
I realized the Queen’s eyes, peering from beyond the black veil, stared at me without a flicker of wavering.
〖…Back then.〗
〖I’m sorry.〗
“……Yes?”
‘What for?’
Please specify the subject.
Park Yeon-jeong had no idea what she was apologizing for right now, but….
‘I’ll accept the apology anyway.’
Whatever it was for, a heartfelt apology from the perpetrator felt good.
With those final words, the Queen returned to the Princess’s side.
〖See you next time.〗
“…….”
Our conversation with the Queen ended like that, and I hurriedly checked the expression of the other being I’d momentarily forgotten.
And that being….
Was smiling.
Brightly, watching the two of us, with a rigid smile frozen on her face without a hint of change.
I stared back.
Even until the moment I left the room, the Princess’s smile never left her lips.
What did that smile mean?
Anger?
Jealousy?
Or… just a plain, thoughtless smile with no deeper meaning?
There was no way to know right then.
Nor did I want to approach the Princess and ask some idiotic question like, ‘Are you angry?’
Right now, all I could do.
Was silently accept the situation.
Getting out of this room as soon as possible was the top priority.
There’d been a minor commotion from White Skull’s surprise event just moments ago.
But after that, I managed to bid final farewells to the two ghost story women unscathed.
I finally escaped those ghost stories.
Kkiiik-
I opened the door.
And outside, waiting.
【Your left arm… really gone?】
“…….”
It was the Orange Knight.
Ignoring the Orange Knight still loitering in the hallway, nagging about my left arm.
Dalgeurak-
I stepped into the dim corridor.
Dalgeurak-
Dalgeurak-
【…Really? Gone?】
‘Ugh, enough!’
Only after barely shaking off the persistently clinging Orange Knight.
Did Park Yeon-jeong finally break free from them for real.
*****
The woman who’d filled the emptiness in her heart with her meeting with the Prince.
Gently closed her eyes.
A warm smile graced her lips.
【Your Majesty.】
〖!!〗
At the Princess’s call, the Queen’s stiffened face flashed briefly beneath the veil.
Siiik-
The Princess’s following voice.
Was as warm as an early spring breeze, yet its end was as cold as ice.
【That’s a relief. The Prince still ‘loves’ Your Majesty. It’s such a relief that you’re not my Queen alone.】
【It seems Your Majesty’s heart still holds some ‘value.’】
The Princess’s eyes gleamed with her signature red glow as she gently.
As if handling a precious object.
Placed her delicate palm near the Queen’s chest.
Seuk-
Umjjeul!
Then slowly, tracing its curves, she caressed the Queen’s body.
【A heart unloved by anyone has no reason to exist.】
〖…….〗
【So let’s keep trying, like us, Your Majesty. So we’re not forgotten in the Prince’s memories. So no one else takes you away.】
Her delicate touch paused at the Queen’s lips, hidden behind the black veil.
Her even brighter red eyes shone beautifully, as if devouring the heart symbol within.
【Prince… Prince… Prince… Prince… satisfy me.】
Throughout the silent room.
Only one woman’s repeating murmurs echoed endlessly.
【Prince… I only need you.】
Endlessly.
Without end.
*****
Etchu!
‘Who’s talking about me?’
But….
Now that I thought about it again.
Truth be told, I felt no particular thrill anymore.
Honestly, ever since I heard that my existence had spread among the ghost stories, I’d let go of quite a lot.
Let go of what?
What else?
-
Stay out of sight, quietly watch for opportunities like a dead rat. Quietly leave this world.
I’d once dreamed of that.
That dream….
Shattered in a mere few weeks, something I never imagined.
But now, no helping it.
Now, whether I live or die, escape was my sole final goal.
No holding back on means or methods.
Escape as the absolute top priority.
…Wasn’t that always the final goal?
Of course, the end result’s the same.
Just changing the path to get there a bit.
With my location marked among countless ghost stories, the old ways won’t work.
Since I’d already decided to play ‘Little Noise.’
Whatever happens, happens.
From now on, it’s a head-on fight.
‘Come at me! You ghost story bastards!’
Just minutes ago.
After hearing the shocking truth from the Ghost Story Princess, one man named Park Yeon-jeong was in a strange state of adrenaline surging the wrong way.
Teobeok-
The man, vigorously pumping that youthful adrenaline, was currently.
Teobeok-
Strolling the dim corridor, before the head-on clash with the ghost stories.
‘So please….’
Searching desperately for the last ember of hope.
‘Please, just this once!’
Let me touch the receiver, just once!
The self-proclaimed ‘pacifist’ Park Yeon-jeong, who truly wanted to avoid all-out war with the ghost stories while walking the dark corridor.
Tak-!
“…….”
With the familiar sound of lights flicking on.
Just now.
He’d taken one step further from the pacifist title.
‘Noise… I truly hate you now.’