The Letter and the Princess's Silent Sacrifice
The man extended a handful of tattered, threadbare rags to the girl and spoke in a voice thick with regret.
“I am truly sorry. It seems this is all that remains…”
He told her the tragic end of the servant who had fled to the Holy Kingdom after failing to endure the bullying.
“…Is this… everything?”
The girl gazed at the man with dull, lifeless eyes, her once sharp spark extinguished.
Only a short while ago, this same man had received the most contradictory and absurd orders imaginable: to seek out the target who had been commanded to die, and to rescue that very target as quickly as possible. Yet he had done his utmost, leaving no stone unturned.
Now he could only bow his head in sorrowful silence, watching his lord smile with a soul already lost.
The girl cradled those worthless rags in her arms as tenderly as one might handle a precious jewel, stroking them gently.
Exhausted from countless sleepless nights, her small lips parted slightly.
Only then did the name she had longed to call out for so long finally escape her lips.
“Finn… Finn… my only Finn…”
She held the rags in her embrace as if they were her one true love, stroking them with infinite care.
“Princess…”
The man, who had been about to ask in confusion why she was acting this way, swallowed the rest of his words the moment he saw her smile.
“…”
Precisely because he had once witnessed the final expression of those who had already accepted death.
“…I am truly sorry… I will never leave you alone again.”
Red petals began to bloom slowly from the girl’s trembling hands as she held the boy’s belongings to her chest.
“Your Highness!!”
The moment the man saw this sight, his body vanished, and he was instantly left clinging desperately to the girl’s arms as he thrust his hands toward the sky.
At that instant, the red flowers blooming from her hands transformed into a blazing orb, shooting high into the heavens like the red moon itself, and the man finally released a sigh of relief.
“BOOM!!”
Because she had nearly succeeded in hurling her flower—her very light—toward him.
Yet even so, the girl refused to surrender her resolve to end her own life. Trembling with despair, the man shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Let it go…!”
“Everyone!! Grab Princess Lilysiana’s body!! No harm may come to Her Highness!!”
Soldiers rushed forward one by one, wrapping their arms and legs around the girl in a desperate attempt to restrain her.
It was an impossible choice for them; they could never treat their lord like a criminal.
For a long time the girl struggled against their hold, and the anguish in her voice was unbearable.
“It is an order! Release me at once!!”
“…I am deeply sorry, but I cannot obey that order!!”
The consequences if they released their princess were obvious as day. As mere guards, their first duty was always her safety, above even her command.
“Let me go…!”
“Lily…!! What in the world is happening?! That just now… what… what…?”
Still struggling against their arms, the girl suddenly froze the moment she saw her father appear.
She could not bring herself to show her father the sight of a daughter choosing death before his eyes, or perhaps she simply believed she no longer deserved to stand before him.
“Lily… could the magic just now… have been you? No… why…?”
The Emperor noticed at once that his daughter had cast the spell and was now being held back by the guards.
He had not yet learned the reason for the sudden scream or why she was being restrained in his arms.
Only the Emperor had witnessed the scene; no one else knew what had truly happened.
“Your Majesty… I…”
The man, still unaware of the truth, began to explain the full sequence of events.
The more the man spoke, the darker the Emperor’s expression became.
First came shock.
Then disbelief.
Then doubt.
Then emptiness.
Then pity.
Then compassion.
And finally, when the full truth sank in… unbearable guilt.
“So the magic just now…”
The Emperor’s gaze turned to the girl.
“You understand now, do you?! You understand?! I am the villain who repaid kindness with ingratitude!! I can never take it back!! I must live the rest of my life carrying guilt and sin…”
The girl screamed at the Emperor, who had learned that she was the one who had pursued and killed the servant who had fled in search of salvation— the same servant she herself had sent to her death.
“I am the sinner who repaid kindness with ingratitude. The one who ordered such nonsense without even knowing the benefactor… is none other than me…”
She begged him desperately, tears streaming down her face: “Please… don’t let me live in this hell that has no end…”
She believed that the only way to atone for her sin was to choose death together with the boy she had followed into it.
The Emperor’s lips moved, unwilling to fall silent.
“Finn…!”
“Finn sacrificed himself because you wished to live! If you choose death here, his sacrifice will be in vain!!!”
The Emperor’s expression was strangely twisted, almost unnatural. He knew his own disgust all too well. He had used the boy’s sacrifice as a tool to protect his daughter, and that very sight disgusted him to his core.
‘But the effect is real’
If she chose death here, the very kindness would become meaningless, as if the boy’s efforts had never existed. The Emperor’s persuasion made the girl only open and close her mouth in agitation.
She could not decide. The thought of following the boy to his lonely death alone was one thing, but the fear that she would make his death meaningless weighed heavily upon her.
In desperation, the Emperor glared at her and begged.
“Lily… even for your father’s sake… and for the sake of the boy who gave his life for you… you must not choose death… is that not right, Lily…?”
“…”
The girl lowered her head, unable to bear the sight of her tear-stained father.
Only then did the boy’s belongings in her arms catch her eye.
‘…Finn, did you really wish for me to live…? Me… the one who caused your death…?’
The girl moved her head slightly as if to answer the question in her own heart.
No. Even if the boy had sacrificed everything for his love, he would never have willingly welcomed death.
‘Then… I will live with the guilt and pain of having killed you… and remember you… I will be the same as you…’
‘W-what…?’
At that moment, something brushed across her mind.
In that moment she realized what sin she had almost committed.
She had almost chosen death itself—another sin—because she could not bear the guilt of having caused the boy’s death.
Therefore…
‘True atonement… is to remember him until I die… to grieve… to ache…’
She understood the luxury of death.
Even the act of collapsing in a faint like her mother when her life ended—something she would never have allowed herself to do.
The girl finally understood.
Simply by her own will.
She drew a breath, gathered her resolve, and spoke in a trembling, broken voice.
“…I understand, Father.”
She had made her decision with resignation. She would choose death, but instead she would spend the rest of her life remembering the boy, thinking only of him.
“As long as I don’t die… that is enough, isn’t it?”
“…”
She looked up at the Emperor, but he could only feel an inexplicable chill from her gaze.
Even though her eyes were clearly fixed upon him, the focus was not on him. She stared into some empty void as if accepting everything, and the Emperor could only swallow hard.
***
“Finn! Today I brought cosmos flowers! I don’t know if you’ll like them… but I picked them myself! So please be happy with this…”
The girl knelt before a stone slab resting on a field already tinged yellow by autumn light and spoke softly.
How many times a day had she repeated the same ritual? The path she had worn across the field was now wide enough for a new trail.
She had truly resolved to live her entire life remembering the boy. She had moved into the boy’s grave, living there except when she slept or used the toilet.
Even her meals were brought to her—brought by her own hands—and she talked to the grave as if it were the boy himself, chatting endlessly.
She even answered herself, clapping back and forth in a conversation no one else could hear.
She looked like a madwoman to anyone who saw her.
***
“Finn…! It’s raining a lot today! So I’ll cast a magic to keep you dry from the rain, okay?”
The moment she chanted the spell, a wind barrier formed around the grave, deflecting the raindrops like an umbrella.
“Ehehe… how is it? Am I amazing? Thanks to the Elixir Finn gave me… I can use magic this well now… it’s only right that I use it for Finn…”
The girl spoke while extending her hand toward the sky again and again.
One hour… two hours… three hours…
With every passing minute her breathing grew ragged. Her complexion darkened, and soon she collapsed right there.
The guards rushed to her side in panic and carried her on their backs toward the Imperial Palace.
…Just as they had done so many times before. Their steps were familiar, unhesitating.
***
“Again today?”
“Punish us, O God…”
The Emperor waved his hand at the man who bowed his head, offering his neck.
He had no right to punish the man any differently than he himself had been punished. Moreover, as a father he felt the weight of his own failure even more keenly.
“…It’s fine. I never expected you to solve a problem I myself cannot solve… heh… more than that, how am I supposed to deal with that girl…”
“Sssssss…”
The Emperor had been lost in thought, clutching his head, and now papers scattered across his desk fluttered to the ground.
Then, as if remembering something, he pulled a single letter from the hidden drawer.
“Your Majesty? That is…?”
There was still a chance. The servant had said that if it were the princess, she would recognize his handwriting. It was worth trying.
The Emperor did not seem to hear the man’s question. He glared at the man staring at him in confusion and issued a command.
“Immediately! Bring a magician who can cast Tarot Magic!!”
‘I hope the letter contains something that can help Lily… please…’
The Emperor longed for this letter to be the faithful servant’s way of rescuing his daughter once more. It was shameless, yet he still hoped.
Did his prayer reach the heavens?
…Not long after, the palace magician arrived and used Tarot Magic on the letter, reporting its contents to the Emperor.
After confirming the letter’s contents with magic, the Emperor hurried to his daughter, clutching the unopened envelope.
With this, there remained at least the hope that she might reclaim her true self.