The Marionette with Broken Strings
In the center of the Grand Hall, the most beautiful woman in the world danced. When the dance ended, she raised her hand in greeting. The crowd erupted in cheers and splashed wine from their goblets.
“Please dance with me as well, Your Highness the Princess!”
“It is my turn this time, Your Highness!”
The woman was none other than Cayena Hill, the Princess of the Eldaim Empire, and elder sister to Emperor Rezef.
“It is His Majesty the Emperor’s turn now.”
Rezef, who had been resting his chin on his hand while observing the hall from the highest seat, appeared before her. He erased his cold expression and smiled as he kissed the back of her hand.
“Happy birthday, Sister. You are the most beautiful woman at tonight’s banquet, and you will be at tomorrow’s as well.”
“Your lips are coated in honey!”
Cayena burst into bright laughter at Rezef’s words. This sort of flattery was exactly what she loved most.
Rezef looked at his sister, who enjoyed having her worth confirmed through such praise, and smiled faintly.
‘She must remain beautiful for a long time, or else her value as a tool will diminish.’
Cayena’s worth lay solely in her legitimacy as the late empress’s daughter, her status as the empire’s most beautiful woman, and her uniqueness as the only princess.
‘My foolish, beautiful doll.’
“Oh, Rezef.”
Cayena caught him and straightened his collar with her long, elegant fingers.
“You’re still such a child.”
Her behavior was practically insubordinate. Yet Cayena did not even realize it was a problem. She viewed her younger brother as someone beneath her, someone she had to look after. And that was precisely the result Rezef had engineered.
“Do you like the gifts?”
“Very much! Especially this dress.”
“Since you like roses, I wanted to give you a dress that reminds one of them.”
He gently brushed her hair aside, and Cayena accepted the touch naturally. It was only natural that someone would find her lovely.
“Now, dance with me, Sister.”
“Gladly.”
As they took their positions, the music began anew. Once again, she spun and danced through the Grand Hall, held in the emperor’s arms.
* * *
“Rezef!”
Cayena burst into the emperor’s bedchamber.
“How dare you address His Majesty the Emperor—!”
The palace attendants were horrified. Even the princess had protocols to follow. No matter how foolish she was, she could not call the emperor by name or barge into his private quarters without permission. Cayena’s recklessness had only grown worse with time, until it finally led to her ruin.
“It is fine.”
The knights moved to stop her, but Rezef raised a hand to halt them. Cayena threw herself into her younger brother’s arms, her face streaked with tears.
“Rezef, this is all a conspiracy. A plot! Kill that insolent wench at once!”
But Rezef merely looked down at his half-sister with indifferent eyes. Unaware of his cold gaze, Cayena spat out vicious words in her fury.
“How dare that lowly, filthy woman covet Duke Kedrey! It is all because of her. He would never have been so cold to me otherwise…!”
“Sister.”
Rezef pushed her away. He had used the beautiful doll named Cayena to bring foolish male nobles to their knees. He had also wielded her vicious temperament to manipulate the noblewomen. Until now, she had played her role splendidly. But she had gradually become a nuisance.
“Do you still not understand? I knew you were foolish, but I never expected you to be this incapable of grasping the situation.”
At Rezef’s icy words, Cayena instinctively sensed that something had gone terribly wrong. She took an unconscious step back. Rezef seized her before she could flee.
“Since you failed to properly kill Olivia and have now been caught by the tail, how could I possibly help you?”
“Rezef…!”
“I have no choice but to dispose of you with my own hands. What a waste…”
He stroked Cayena’s trembling cheek with an almost tender touch.
“How could you… How could you do this to me!”
“Unfortunately, you failed to seduce Duke Kedrey, but since his vassal, Viscount Gillian, desires you, I suppose I can hand you over to him. That should leave some room for negotiation.”
She stared at Rezef in utter shock, unable to believe what she was hearing.
“Rezef! I am your sister. How could you do this to me?”
Rezef sighed as he looked at his sister, who still failed to understand the situation.
“Realize that all the power you possessed was merely lent to you by me. Though it is already too late.”
“Let go of me! How dare you humiliate me!”
Cayena felt as though she would go mad. The world she had believed in had collapsed in an instant.
“You cannot do this to me! I am the one who made you emperor!”
At her frenzied cry, Rezef burst into laughter.
“Have you still not realized that you were being used? My poor doll.”
“Why… Why are you doing this? What did I do wrong? Are you angry? I truly do not understand. There is no reason for you to treat me this way.”
She swallowed her rage and tried to persuade him as pitifully as possible. Never once had her tear-streaked beauty failed to work.
“Poor Cayena. Why could you not kill Olivia properly?”
Rezef shook his head and sat down on the sofa.
“How truly tragic. I cannot believe my own sister is such a wicked person.”
“What…?”
“Duke Kedrey has requested investigative authority, has he not? Very well. Grant it.”
“Rezef!”
Reclining on the sofa, he regarded Cayena with indifferent eyes.
“Lock that wicked woman in her room.”
The knights roughly bound her. Cayena, who had never suffered such humiliation in her life, screamed.
“Let go! Let go of me! Do you even know who I am, you madmen!”
She struggled desperately against the knights’ grip, but her delicate body, accustomed only to luxury, could not overpower them.
“Rezef—!”
Cayena cried out his name as if vomiting blood. But the knights dragged her away mercilessly, and soon the bedchamber door shut firmly behind them.
* * *
The woman turned off her phone screen. It was a novel she had forced herself to read in order to witness the villainess’s final moments. Her chest had felt tight as she watched Cayena being sold off to Viscount Gillian and living a miserable life. It felt as though she had experienced it herself.
“Team Leader, we have a meeting.”
A subordinate called out to her. The woman nodded.
“Yes, I’m coming.”
Even while working, the novel lingered in her mind, leaving her with an unpleasant feeling. A strange sense of déjà vu kept surfacing. She and the villainess were alike—both puppets thoroughly used by someone else.
“You’re leaving early?”
A team member asked, surprised to see her packing up when she rarely left early. The woman simply bowed her head in silence and stepped into the elevator.
“Wait a moment.”
It was Executive Director Kim.
“Let’s go down together.”
The elevator doors closed.
“You’re leaving early.”
“……”
“Your performance this first half of the year was excellent, as expected. You really are capable.”
He placed a hand on her shoulder. It felt as though insects were crawling up her body.
“I’ll be going ahead.”
As soon as the elevator doors opened, the woman hurried out. From behind, the executive director called out loudly.
“Are you still sulking?”
The woman stopped walking.
“Thanks to me, you became the youngest team leader, and you’ll soon be promoted to assistant manager.”
“Realize that all the power you possessed was merely lent to you by me. Though it is already too late.”
The line from Rezef in the novel flashed through her mind, and she laughed. She turned around.
“You need me again, don’t you?”
Executive Director Kim grinned and snapped his fingers, pointing at her.
“You know it. There’s only one Team Leader Jung for me.”
The woman wiped the smile from her face and turned forward again. She was sick of living as someone else’s doll.
That was when it happened.
“……Who are you?”
Someone was standing by the driver’s side of her car. The man wore a black jumper and had pulled his cap low over his face. Something about him felt ominous.
The man slowly turned around.
“It’s all because of you.”
The woman stepped back.
“Everything that happened to me is your fault!”
The man rushed forward and plunged a knife into her abdomen.
Executive Director Kim, who had been following her, found the woman collapsed between the cars. The man pulled out the knife and charged at him as well.
“You die too!”
Clutching her stabbed abdomen, the woman watched as Kim was attacked.
‘I suppose all villainesses meet similar ends.’
Her vision began to fade.
‘Dying like this isn’t so bad.’
That was her final memory.
* * *
“Ugh……”
Her head throbbed and her throat was parched. The woman curled up and coughed several times.
“Haa…… Haa……”
She forced her heavy eyelids open. Someone’s voice gradually grew clearer.
“Her Highness has awakened! Call the physician at once!”
The woman clutched her throbbing head and shifted. What was going on? She had clearly been stabbed.
“Your Highness the Princess! Are you conscious?”
She could hear people bustling about. The woman squinted to focus. A foreigner in old-fashioned attire was looking at her with concern. Strangely, his face seemed familiar.
Just then, the door opened and someone entered.
“I greet Your Highness the Prince.”
“Sister.”
It was a young man with golden hair. He closed the distance in an instant.
“Sister Cayena, are you all right?”
‘……Cayena?’
The man took her hand.
In that moment, the woman’s eyes flew wide open in shock. Ah, so that was it.
“Rezef……”
She muttered in despair, as though struck by lightning.
“Yes, Sister. I am here.”
The man carefully kissed her hand, his expression filled with worry. The woman—no, Cayena—whispered wretchedly.
“I’ve returned.”
And then her consciousness faded once more.