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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Fall (3)
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'It hurts.'
The first sensation she registered was pain. Then came discomfort and cold.
'It's cold. And sticky.'
Once pain and touch returned, she became aware of her thirst.
'Someone, come here.'
Serena naturally beckoned for a servant. Ever since her rebirth, whenever her throat was parched or her stomach empty, calling for someone had been the obvious course.
Even as her hand elegantly swept through the air, no response came.
'Right, the earthquake.'
The world was as dark as night. Then Serena realized her eyes were closed.
Serena cautiously opened them. Her vision was still blurry, making it hard to see her surroundings.
A slightly damp, musty smell hung in the air. For Serena, who had been delicately raised, this was the first time in this life encountering such an odor. Thanks to memories from her past life, she could judge it similar to the scent of soil.
Blinking repeatedly, her hazy vision gradually sharpened.
'It's dark...'
It wasn't pitch blackness where she couldn't see a thing. A faint, milky light filtered in from not far away.
Serena slowly widened her eyes and blinked to clear her sight. Even so, sprawled face-down on the ground, all she could make out was the dirt floor.
Serena pushed herself up with her hands, rising laboriously. It felt like she'd plummeted endlessly from a great height, yet surprisingly, her body was intact. Her whole frame throbbed with aches, but there were no visible wounds.
As she checked herself for hidden injuries, Serena scanned her surroundings.
The place where she'd awakened resembled a cave. Moss clung to the walls, which were uneven along with the floor. A thin layer of dirt and moss coated the ground, but beneath lay solid rock.
"It's a cave."
Serena frowned. She rummaged through her memories.
'A sinkhole opened up, and I fell in.'
It had been a massive sinkhole, large enough to swallow not just Serena and Philia, but the surrounding buildings as well.
Or perhaps an earthquake had cracked the earth open.
Either way, it was no ordinary occurrence.
'Was there a space like this beneath Hwajichen? Even a thousand years ago, it would have been common knowledge that a capital's foundations needed to be solid.'
They would have compacted the ground when building the castle in the first place. If a cave had existed, they would have found it. Yet here she was, waking in what appeared to be a fairly sizable cavern.
'Maybe it was a cave very deep underground, and the earthquake caused it to rise up...'
If she'd fallen that deep, her body wouldn't be unscathed, so the cave rising made more sense.
'Ah, this wasn't under the castle—it was near the shops. So it must be in the expansion district...'
Hwaji's capital, Hwajichen, had expanded bit by bit as its population grew. There was a chance the ground in the newer areas was riddled with holes.
Serena frowned and looked around. The hole she'd fallen through was right there in plain view.
"It's blocked."
The opening she presumed she'd fallen from was completely sealed by enormous boulders and debris. Serena tapped a rock lightly. No need to test it thoroughly—it was solidly packed.
"Haa. Well, at least it didn't land on me."
If those rocks or rubble had crushed her, Serena would have been reduced to an unrecognizable corpse.
Even a limb pinned would have meant serious injury. Not being trapped anywhere was a miracle.
As relief washed over her, Serena suddenly remembered her fallen handmaiden. Her heart sank.
"Philia!"
They'd been holding hands when they fell, so she couldn't be far. Serena hurriedly peered under the rocks. It was sealed tight—nothing visible.
"No way she's under there... No, she can't be."
The kingdom's famed beauty couldn't meet such a gruesome end.
Still, just in case, she sniffed the air. The strong scent of wet earth dominated. No metallic tang of blood.
"Philia!"
Serena called her handmaiden's name again. No reply.
"Damn it."
Serena readjusted her shoes. Grease, dirt, and dust had caked on disgustingly, making every step a chore. Grit had worked its way in, chafing her feet.
Serena shuddered. Having lived her whole life as a princess, this situation felt utterly alien and terrifying. Truly nightmarish.
"Get it together, Serena. It's better than barefoot. The low heels are a blessing."
With the uneven floor, her usual high heels would have snapped, forcing her to go shoeless or hobble.
Serena fixed her thoughts on the positive.
'Staying here won't help.'
The unidentified cave had a straight path visible within eyesight, no forks. One end blocked, so the way out was clear.
'Light's coming from that side, so it must connect outside.'
Serena gathered the hem of her long dress and walked cautiously, then hiked it with both hands and ran. She'd spotted a pale shape collapsed on the ground.
"Philia! Oh my god! Thank you!"
By some miracle, Philia hadn't been crushed by rocks.
Serena rushed to her handmaiden's side. Even as she offered thanks to every god in this world she'd never believed in, a sliver of anxiety lingered.
'What if the impact killed her... No, don't think like that.'
"Philia!"
Serena knelt beside her, checking her pulse first. Her skin was soft and warm, pulse strong and steady. Breathing even.
"Thank you for real this time! Truly!"
Serena offered fervent thanks again to this world's countless deities she'd dismissed until now.
"Philia. Can you hear me? Philia! Wake up!"
"Mmm..."
How many desperate calls later, Philia groaned and stirred.
Serena stopped her handmaiden from sitting up. She looked unharmed like Serena, but better safe.
"Don't move. Just lie still. Any pain? How many fingers am I holding up? Can you hear my voice? Eyes, ears, nose—all working right?"
Philia, still dazed, rolled her jewel-like eyes around before suddenly bolting upright. Serena tried to hold her down but was overpowered in a hug.
"Oh my lord! Lady Serena! Are you all right?"
The awakened Philia clung to Serena. Serena sighed.
Beauties were beautiful even in tears, but Philia's face—fresh from collapsing on the floor—was smudged with tears, sweat, dust, moss, and dirt, looking utterly grimy.
'Still pretty, though. Impressive.'
She'd chosen her for her looks, and she delivered. Not a moment, not a day, did her beauty falter. Remarkable.
"Waaah, I thought I was dead."
"Philia, calm down. Stop crying. Any pain?"
"No, waaah."
"Don't just say that—answer seriously. Check yourself properly. You might not feel injuries yet from the shock."
Philia sniffled and released Serena from her embrace.
She flexed her elegantly sculpted fingers, then rose slowly, standing on tiptoe.
Serena stood too and snapped her fingers by Philia's ear. Thankfully, Philia seemed uninjured like her.
"Can I hug you now?"
"No."
Refused by her mistress, Philia teared up again. Ignoring the beauty's tears, Serena questioned her memory.
"The earthquake hit suddenly, so I grabbed your hand tight, ready to die together... Gasp!"
"What?"
"I was definitely holding on tight—why were we apart? I wouldn't let go even in death!"
"You must've gone limp when you passed out."
"Even unconscious, even dead, I wouldn't let go of your hand."
"Then you'd end up in the coffin with me."
"If it's with you, I'd happily be buried alive."
"That's horrifying."
In a cave that might have no exit, it was an unwelcome joke amid real peril.
"Let's head that way first. The other side's blocked."
"In a situation like this, shouldn't we wait for people to come? You always said to stay put if something happens."
'That was just advice for you.'
Her handmaiden looked innocent but was a troublemaker at heart—Serena had told her to stay still to avoid bigger mishaps.
The situation now was different.
"Normally yes, but the quake was huge."
Serena swallowed dryly, her heart heavy. Adults had been bounced off the ground, buildings collapsed, earth split—a massive quake.
In the kingdom's capital, no less. Imagining the damage made her dizzy, chills running down her spine.
'The whole capital must be caught up. How many dead? Is Seraph okay?'
Serena recalled past-life footage of earthquake devastation and shuddered.
An earthquake in the capital during the millennial Founding Festival. It felt cursed.
'Hold on.'
Serena furrowed her brow deeply, lips pursing.
'Is it really a curse?'
In her past life, she'd scoff at such talk. But here?
Reborn as a fantasy princess in a world of gods, magic, monsters, and labyrinths.
Look at Hwaji's tragedy eighteen years ago. Different place, but earthquake-caused.
Ahead of the millennium founding, the royals—all collaterals too—went on a royal mausoleum visit, and everyone but the king perished.
Thanks to that, Serena's father, hated by the king for skipping it, became crown prince.
'No, too big for a curse. Is this place on a fault line?'
The terrain felt oddly enclosed—maybe because it was seismically active? What if the towering, rugged mountains encircling the kingdom were from clashing plates?
"If you're founding a country, build it somewhere stable, not on a fault line."
Serena muttered unwittingly.
"Lady Serena?"
"It's nothing."
"If you're cold, wear my cloak."
Philia mistook her shivering for chill and removed her cloak. Serena returned it to her loyal handmaiden.
"It wasn't the cold. You wear it—you're sensitive to it."
"I'm not cold at all!"
"We can't waste time arguing. Just put it on."
"Yes."
Curse or fault line, survival came first. Hwajichen's disaster could wait until they escaped.
"That way's brighter—something must be there. Let's move while we're still fresh."
"Got it."
Less than three minutes of hugging the wall, and something unnatural for a natural cave appeared.
A statue.
The light illuminating the cave came from the space behind it. The low ceiling and obstruction hid it well, but it was clearly man-made at a glance.
Up close, the traces of human hands were unmistakable behind the statue. A short stone passage led to a wide area with what looked like a fountain in the center.
'A fountain?'
Wondering about the cavern's rear space, Serena first examined the statue.
'Ugly.'
Roughly chest-high on her. It looked like an amateur had hacked at incredibly hard stone and given up midway.
Still, the faded vermilion paint on its eyes made it recognizable as a human figure. Otherwise, she'd think it a failed stump attempt.
'No idea the material.'
As Serena touched its head to check texture, Philia spoke.
"There's people over there!"
"Quiet."
Serena clamped Philia's mouth and ducked behind the statue.
As Philia said, two people appeared, milling near the fountain.
"Where be this? You know, soldier?"
"......"
"If ya don't know, say so. Gotta kill folk afore ya answer?"
"......"
"Drivin' me mad."
The pair in the plaza were the capital guard and street vendor Serena had seen just before falling.
Philia lit up at the guard and tried to approach. Serena grabbed and silenced her.
"Shh."
"Huh?"
"He's armed."
The guard was equipped as befits one. No guarantee his spear wouldn't turn on Serena or Philia. Waist sword probably there too, out of sight.
Armed guard or not, why be cautious?
Philia, purely noble in soul, puzzled; Serena, plebeian-tinged, disagreed. Better safe.
"Can I fetch me cart?"
"No solo action!"
"That's me whole livelihood."
The guard was rigidly tense from the sudden crisis.
The vendor seemed relaxed by contrast. Real calm or poor grasp? Unclear.
'Where'd they come from? Ah, passage behind.'
Straight ahead from Serena's spot was a passage, hidden by the fountain. They must've come from there.
"P-people!"
Another joined the plaza. From the shadows of the passage Serena had belatedly noticed, a figure burst out.
"Soldier? That's Capital Guard uniform, right?"
The familiar voice belonged to the Vieta masseuse who'd massaged Serena just minutes ago.
Serena held back, observing the guard and merchant's reactions.
"What's going on? Do you know, soldier?"
Lavenda rushed toward the guard.
"Halt! Who are you!"
The guard leveled his spear. Lavenda startled by the menace, stopped midway.
"I'm not suspicious."
"Who! State your identity if you're legit!"
"Just a masseuse! From Vieta! Here's my passport—I'm clean! Vieta's cutthroat, but boss lured me saying I'd rake it in here! True story! Even princess visits my shop! She was there today!"
Terrified, Lavenda spilled unasked details, waving her passport desperately from her inner pocket.
"Closed early, went to my boarding house behind—then shaking! Woke up here, freaked, went looking for people."
Her frantic waving paid off. The guard lowered his spear and beckoned.
"Over here."
"Yes!"
His speech remained odd. Lavenda didn't care, hurrying over.
'Vieta must have good public safety. Trusts guards plenty.'
Philia trusted them too—maybe Serena was overly suspicious.
"Where are we?"
The guard didn't answer.
"Waste o' breath. Hear it when ya dead."
"Huh? Can't we exit that way?"
Lavenda pointed toward Serena and Philia.
"Ain't checked there yet."
"Lead on."
The guard pivoted like in drill, knees bending sharply in high tension.
'Gonna get skewered if he startles.'
With a familiar face now, time to emerge.
Serena stepped from behind the statue.
"No need. I've checked it already."
"Who are you! Identify!"
The guard startled near-fatally again, thrusting his spear.
