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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Fall (2)
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Suddenly, the door to the massage room burst open.
"Oh my god!"
Lavenda let out a scream and threw herself over Serena's body to shield it.
Serena yelled at the uninvited guest hidden behind Lavenda.
"How dare you!"
If it had been a man's voice instead of a woman's, she would have shouted to cut off his head on the spot. And the staff at the massage parlor who had let him in as well.
"There you are! I'm so sorry, Lady Serena!"
But somehow, the intruder's voice sounded familiar.
Serena covered herself with a towel and shoved Lavenda aside.
The one who had flung open the door was the very reason Serena hadn't earned a reputation as the kingdom's beauty.
Silver hair that sparkled fantastically as if emitting its own light without need for any, blue eyes that outshone every sea, lake, pond, and sky in the world. A slender, elegant figure. Features so striking that one glance could topple a castle, and two could topple a kingdom.
She was Hwaj's greatest beauty, Philia. Her job was serving as Serena's handmaiden.
Coincidentally, Philia had been off duty when Lavenda's shop first opened, so this was the first time she and the staff had laid eyes on her.
Everyone froze in shock at her stunning beauty.
It was the perfect example of how people lose their reason when faced with something too beautiful.
Serena frowned slightly. She'd been found too quickly.
"You found me quick."
"I looked so hard, Lady Serena! How long have you been coming here? Why didn't you take me with you? You didn't go out with some other handmaiden, did you? Right?"
"Nothing like that. I've always come alone. Don't make a scene—come in. Shh. You know I ran away from the palace."
"Ran away?"
Lavenda, standing beside Serena, blurted it out without thinking. Serena shrugged.
It was an emergency evacuation to escape exploitative labor.
"If you were leaving the palace, you should have told me. Or come to my house. I felt like I was dying without seeing you during the Founding Festival."
As you could see, Philia's beauty was so overwhelming that it slightly overshadowed her mistress, so she'd been given leave for the duration of the festival.
But Philia teared up, aggrieved that her princess hadn't sought her out.
Tears welling in those matchless blue eyes made everyone feel genuinely sorry for her.
Everyone except Serena, who was used to that face.
"Shh. I said be quiet."
"If Count Baker sent you to find me, go back. I'm doing nothing and resting today."
Philia was always on Serena's side, but she might have been tailed by Count Baker while searching. She'd probably been spotted already.
If word reached Count Baker, the Foreign Minister? The rest was predictable. Foreign Ministry staff would come begging the princess with tears.
'Please, just do your work!'
Labor! It was truly horrific.
Just thinking about it made her teeth chatter and shivers run down her spine. Her stomach churned.
"Oh, it's not that!"
"Then what is it?"
Something had clearly happened—Philia's face had looked pale from the moment she walked in.
"Archduke Oran is looking for you, Lady Serena!"
"Same if it's Richard. Tell him you couldn't find me."
Richard Oran Hwaim. Archduke Oran was Serena's cousin, one of the few true members of the Hwaji royal family, just like her.
He, too, was suffering under a mountain of work during the Founding Festival for the simple crime of being sensible, much like Serena.
'He must hate work that much too. Though maybe a bit much.'
How desperate must he be to send someone after his runaway cousin sister, with whom he rarely even interacted?
"It's not like that. It's... really weird. A lot weird."
"Richard's always weird."
He kept trying to pat his not-so-close younger cousin's head. Still, he was better than the druggie or the flower trash, so he enjoyed everyone's love.
"For real!"
Philia raised her voice, as if it were no small matter.
"They say Archduke Oran drew his sword at the barracks and is searching for you!"
'For real?'
Drawing a sword while looking for someone meant he intended to kill.
Serena was dumbfounded.
"I'm gone, and he's that pissed? That's too much."
"It's true! He looked serious! I didn't see it myself, and the person who told me didn't either. Anyway, they say it was serious! He drew his sword before His Majesty!"
Drew his sword before the king?
"That's treason."
"Kkhup."
Lavenda, who'd just heard words too heavy for a mere masseuse to bear, choked on her saliva and coughed.
Snapping out of her daze, Lavenda hurriedly excused herself. She didn't forget to usher the gathered staff away too.
Serena pressed her forehead. Her face got sticky from the oil she hadn't wiped off her hands.
'Annoying.'
The handmaiden chattering about palace matters without clearing the room, and the oil on her face. Both annoying.
But what could she do?
Who was the one who'd hired that handmaiden for her looks alone? Serena.
Who forgot the oil on her hands and touched her forehead? Serena again. All her own fault.
"Anyway, it's dangerous. Run away with me."
With her handmaiden urging her, leisurely washing off didn't feel right. Serena roughly wiped the oil from her body and threw on her clothes over it. Sticky, with fabric clinging—utterly unpleasant.
Serena decided to throw out everything she was wearing, clothes and shoes included.
"If he did that before His Majesty, wouldn't the Royal Knights have arrested him?"
"Guess not. I only heard about it, so I'm not sure. Anyway, he said to hurry and escort you to the imperial embassy."
"That serious?"
She'd expected at most Philia's house, but an embassy? Serena stopped in her tracks, baffled.
"Is it really a rebellion?"
Serena's gaze sharpened.
The Kingdom of Hwaji was currently divided into factions—the Crown Prince Kiban faction and the Archduke Oran faction—due to the messed-up line of succession from the "Hwaji Tragedy."
If Archduke Oran had rebelled, the crown prince's side had no chance. He suited the throne better than the prince to begin with. Even his daughter Serena thought so. Anyone would.
And the "anyone" here included Serena's grandfather, King Harold II. Archduke Oran had no need to play such a reckless hand as rebellion.
"Everyone knows Grandfather wants to depose Father and make Richard crown prince. Even the stray dogs in Hwajichen know that. And Richard drew his sword before Grandfather? Not Father or Seraph?"
To pull a mad stunt like drawing a sword before the king, you'd have to be mad. As far as Serena knew, the only one mad enough was her father.
"He must've hallucinated from withdrawal and drawn his sword. It got twisted into Richard, right?"
Crown Prince Kiban was a severe drug addict. Forced to quit cold turkey by royal decree during the Founding Festival, withdrawal symptoms could easily make him draw his sword.
'He hallucinates sometimes.'
The hallucinating prince had nearly assaulted or killed people around him plenty of times. Not before the king, but if it finally boiled over, it wouldn't be surprising.
"With all the foreign envoys here now, Richard or Seraph wouldn't draw swords. It must be Father who caused trouble. The message got garbled on the way to you."
"But he clearly said to run..."
"He's probably worried the fallout might reach me too."
Sadly, when her druggie father caused trouble, the sparks flew to his kids too.
King Harold II often vented his anger over his worthless son on the son's worthless offspring.
As the eldest of two children, Serena got scolded the most.
'Father's so lacking, so as his child I have to make up for it? Ridiculous.'
Serena had only just come of age. She had plenty of resentment toward her grandfather scolding her over incomprehensible things.
'Clan punishment sucks. Druggie dads suck more. What am I supposed to do about being born to a druggie? If it's your kid, take responsibility yourself. Don't neglect the youngest's discipline just because you have many kids, then blame your granddaughter when he goes astray.'
Serena furrowed her brow. Worried about wrinkles, she smoothed it out firmly.
This damn dysfunctional family—thinking of her blood kin alone made her face crumple involuntarily.
"Or maybe Father drew his sword before His Majesty, and Richard drew his trying to stop him. He's looking for me to calm Father down."
"Hearing it now... yeah, that makes sense."
Philia nodded easily. Truth be told, she'd rushed out after only hearing her husband's message through the communication orb, so she didn't know the details either.
"He just said Archduke Oran drew his sword and is looking for you, then cut off."
"Contact him again."
Philia called her husband through the communication orb. No response.
"He must be really busy."
"Of course chaos erupted. Someone definitely drew a sword before His Majesty."
Serena felt dizzy and pressed her forehead again. It was still sticky, hair clinging unpleasantly.
"What a disgrace to the kingdom, to the family. Unbelievable."
Serena left the massage parlor, passing the bowing staff.
"How did you find me? Did you send people?"
Instead of answering, Philia pointed to the café across the street. A knight sitting by the window, openly watching the massage parlor, looked utterly out of place.
"He's staring so blatantly, no wonder he spotted us."
Everyone was caught up in the festive mood, but a knight in plate armor glaring at the shop opposite stood out hugely. He'd removed his helmet, but that didn't make the armor vanish.
'Even without the knight getup, he'd stand out.'
An adult man eyeing a men-only massage parlor. Suspicious as hell. Without the uniform, she'd want to report him to the Capital Guard.
'Rookies, man.'
The knight escorting Serena today had no guard duty experience. At least not with her. Might have the strength of a knight, but zero protection skills—clumsy.
'All the veterans are busy, can't be helped. Can't go alone either.'
Who in Hwajichen would dare harm Serena? Still, safety first.
Festival crowds, outsiders everywhere, incidents up—better safe.
The knight who spotted Serena fumbled his bill and hurried out of the café.
Philia scanned around for her own escort and carriage.
"No carriage in sight. Yours either, Lady Serena."
"He probably parked elsewhere, thinking you'd join me for a massage."
"Oh, right."
Places to park carriages nearby for noble clients. As Serena headed there, the knight reported.
"I heard the horses might spook at fireworks, so they parked elsewhere. He told me the spot—I'll fetch it."
The knight pointed the direction and beckoned nearby kids by the café and shops—errand boys. Toss them some coin to bring the carriage.
Serena was about to say go ahead when fireworks burst nearby and the crowd surged, changing her mind.
"If the horses bolt from fireworks on the way, trouble. Two carriages clogging streets too. If it's not far, we'll go ourselves."
"It's a ways, but they said a back alley cuts through quick. This way."
The knight pointed to a narrow alley between buildings. Cramped and filthy.
As Serena hesitated, children clutching wooden toys tumbled out laughing from the alley. Their cheerful voices drowned the fireworks.
"Thanks, Daddy!"
A grim-faced man emerged behind them. Clothes unwashed for months, ragged and filthy; skin peeling in spots.
Didn't look well-off, but festival spirit—he'd bought toys for the kids.
Serena's lips curved unconsciously.
'If kids are using it, can't be dangerous.'
Serena nodded, and the knight led the way. The path was tight—barely room for one or two adults in spots, wider in others.
"You can't do business here!"
"Aigoo, what a pain. Coming all this way to collect stall fees."
"Not stall fees! I'm Capital Guard, Capital Guard!"
A street vendor selling kids' toys argued with a Capital Guard. The knight, tense at the voices, relaxed hearing it. Serena and Philia did too.
"The stall's blocking the way. I'll clear it."
The knight approached them. That instant, the ground shook.
"Kyaa!"
Startled, Serena lost balance and stumbled, foot slipping. Philia, close behind, collided and fell backward.
Serena pitched forward, Philia backward. They should have hit the ground—but instead, they flew into the air. More precisely, the earth flung them off.
Rumble.
Her head spun. Vision blurred. Their hands met in midair, but off-balance, their free arms flailed wildly.
Roooar.
The ground quaked. Cracks spiderwebbed the alley walls, dust raining down. Pillars snapped in places. The alley floor heaved like waves—then caved in below.
"Kyaaaaak!"
The terror of being hurled from solid ground was swallowed by the greater horror of plummeting.
For Serena, from birth—or even before—this was the scariest thing ever.
Am I dying like this? After being born a princess?'
She could suck honey for decades more, yet die before twenty? What nonsense!
Objection!
Whether Serena objected or not, gravity mercilessly dragged them down.
Down, down, endlessly down.
