Chapter 1
1
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“Second Princess of Luelle greets the skies of Habib.”
“Yes, you’ve come… Cough, cough!”
I had heard that the Emperor was old, but instead of a greeting, he coughed, leaving me unsure of what to do.
‘My name is Lilin Rostel La Perca.’
As the Second Princess of the defeated kingdom of Luelle, I had just arrived at this empire today.
Rosa must have coaxed them with sweet words, but in truth, the Empire had shown Luelle a lot of leniency.
‘Among the defeated Pira Allied Nations, no one received such simple surrender terms as we did.’
Unlike other countries that had been stripped of everything and practically become Vassal Kingdoms, the only condition we were asked to fulfill was this:
To offer one of the two princesses.
‘Judging by the fact that they regard Rosa and me as equals, there seems to be some misunderstanding.’
We didn’t bother to point that out.
Of course not.
What if they asked for Rosa instead!
I am nothing, but Rosa is different.
‘My sister Rosa is a prophet chosen by God.’
So, I feigned a worried expression and knelt down to ask.
“Your Imperial Majesty, are you alright?”
“Cough, cough!”
Instead of answering, the Emperor flicked his fingers.
As a princess who had grown up experiencing hardship, I wouldn’t let my pride get in the way and defy something big over something like this.
So, I quietly did as I was told and approached him.
‘Just as I was told.’
But it was when I approached on my knees and barely looked up at the Emperor on the bed.
“Gack!”
He suddenly clutched his chest and collapsed forward.
“Your Imperial Majesty?”
In a fluster, I supported him and shouted outside.
“Is, is anyone there! His Imperial Majesty is unwell! Quickly, someone…!”
Looking at the Emperor’s blue lips, I wished I could die in his place, but that didn’t happen.
‘Of course not.’
I, Lilin Rostel La Perca, only have my health.
The approaching Imperial Guards pulled me away from the Emperor and shouted.
“What have you done!”
“I didn’t, I didn’t do anything!”
Really.
I had only said one greeting…
The Emperor coughed a few times in that spot and passed away, and I was accused of assassinating the Emperor and imprisoned in the underground dungeon.
‘…This can’t be happening?’
* * *
Bang!
The dense bars blocked my view.
I shook the cold, dirty bars and pleaded.
“It’s not true, I didn’t do it!”
Naturally, no one listened.
I was abandoned in the dark and gloomy underground dungeon in just my chemise.
I didn’t have a dagger, not even a hairpin to stab the Emperor with, and they even took off the dress, anything I was wearing.
‘What should I do….’
I was filled with worry.
I was worried about being falsely accused and dying right away, but what worried me even more than my own life was…
‘Rosa’s prophecy was wrong.’
Rosa Rostel La Perca.
My twin sister, who looks exactly like me.
Luelle’s pride, who has been seeing the future since she was fifteen.
Of course, she doesn’t see all the future, but the future that my sister occasionally sees is so important that it sways the rise and fall of small Luelle.
‘And my sister’s prophecies have never been wrong until now.’
The fact that our Luelle, though defeated, retreated in time to protect its soldiers, and that we were able to surrender with much simpler conditions than others, was all thanks to Rosa…
The reason why I was so carefree even though I was dragged here as a hostage was, in fact, because I had something to rely on.
“Lilin, the Emperor is actually head over heels for the Third Empress. And the Third Empress is so jealous that she won’t even let the Emperor look at you. If it seems like the Emperor is starting to forget about you, take frequent walks in the back garden.”
Rosa had definitely said that…
When I asked her why I had to take walks, my sister, who dotes on me, grinned.
“Because the Crown Prince Shade Joseph Valenhaier will fall in love with you at first sight there.”
Yes, it was like a dream rather than the future… Somehow, it was terribly sweet.
“Make sure to carry the Scent pouch with you. You know it’s a lucky charm, right?”
Come to think of it, even that precious Scent pouch that Rosa mentioned had been taken away.
‘Sister, are you watching? The Emperor died. If I’m falsely accused of assassination, won’t the kingdom be in danger?’
I kept looking for Rosa in the windowless prison cell.
* * *
I couldn’t sleep all night, trembling with fear.
I don’t know how much time had passed, but as I was dozing off with my knees hugged to my chest, I heard clear footsteps.
Tap, tap.
When I opened my eyes slightly, I saw well-polished shoe tips.
Something fell at those feet with a thud.
‘My Scent pouch….’
I stared blankly at the object I had possessed my whole life and then raised my head.
Long legs, a neat imperial uniform and a blue cloak, skin that shone even in the underground, deep gray-blue eyes, and silver hair that resembled moonlight.
Although it was the first time I saw him, I couldn’t help but recognize him.
‘Crown Prince Shade Joseph Valenhaier.’
The destined love that Rosa told me about.
Instead of taking a walk in the back garden, I was crouching in a prison, so it would be the second time that Rosa’s prophecy didn’t come true.
I protested in a voice smaller than an ant.
“…I didn’t do anything. I didn’t harm him.”
Shade stood there for a while without answering, then plopped down on the damp stone floor.
He stared at me, picking up my Scent pouch that had fallen on the floor, holding it lightly, and then letting it go.
Of course, he wouldn’t have found any evidence that I killed the Emperor.
‘So, he’s trying to get a confession from me.’
I wish I could confess, but I really have no guilt.
But he suddenly said.
“Siare.”
“…Yes?”
“It’s the name of the grass that’s filled in here, do you know it?”
Ah, the grass in the Scent pouch?
I blankly shook my head.
I only carried it around because it had a sweet scent, but I don’t know anything about plants.
“Coughing, difficulty breathing, heart attack. These are symptoms that can occur even if you ingest just one leaf of this grass. You may not have had time to feed this to my father, but for some people, just smelling it can have an effect.”
“…I don’t know what you’re talking about. Th, that’s just a Scent pouch. Since I was little… I’ve been making it by filling it with the same grass since I was seven.”
Then Shade picked up the Scent pouch, untied the tied string, and poured it out on his palm.
Dry grass piled up on his large palm.
I watched with a sigh, and then something strange happened.
There was a rustling sound and his skin was burning.
My eyes narrowed involuntarily at the unbelievable sight.
“Siare is a grass that grows naturally in Momi Mountain in the northern part of Habib. It has a similar scent to Mercure, which is often used as a fragrance, but it is a powerful Poisonous herb that causes immediate burns when it touches the skin.”
“…That can’t be, that can’t be true.”
I stared intently at Shade’s palm visible through the bars.
“I know this much, but what I’m curious about is….”
He shook his hand.
“Then how are you alright?”
Blisters were already starting to form on his reddened palm.
I approached on my knees and reached out through the iron bars.
With trembling hands, I picked up the dry grass scattered on the floor.
It was rolled up, but if you carefully unfolded it, it was a leaf in the shape of a baby’s palm.
‘It’s what I’ve had my whole life.’
I looked at the Scent pouch embroidered with my name in curly letters.
It was embroidered with the hands of a seven-year-old, so it was so crude that it would be difficult for others to imitate.
‘It’s mine….’
I crumbled the dry grass with my fingertips.
But they just turned into powder and scattered helplessly, without burning my skin like when Shade touched them.
As I was about to claim my innocence with relief, he said in a dark voice.
“…You have poison resistance.”
“Yes?”
I was so taken aback that I answered.
“No, I… I don’t have anything like that.”
Shade gestured to the guard next to him.
The guard calmly picked up the grass on the floor and crumbled it with his fingertips like I did.
‘A strange smell….’
When he shook off the powder, the skin on the guard’s thick, large hand peeled off in tatters.
Even that brief contact caused the skin to be gouged out and pus to flow.
‘What is that…?’
I looked down at my hand again in horror at the gruesome sight.
It was white and smooth.
So normal that it was scary.
“Go get treatment.”
At Shade’s command, the guard hurriedly turned around.
The sound of coughing echoed behind his receding back.
‘Just like… when the Emperor died.’
Shade sighed as he looked at me trembling in fear.
“Healthy people don’t die from that much. More than that… didn’t you know you had poison resistance?”
I had to say that I didn’t know, that I had no idea.
I was so dumbfounded by myself.
‘I have poison resistance?’
But I didn’t know?
So, I survived carrying a Scent pouch filled with Poisonous herb all my life?
“Do you have Healing Power? I’ve heard that among powerful Healers, there are cases where they are born with resistance naturally, unless you deliberately cultivated poison resistance.”
I shook my head in confusion.
“No, no. I don’t have anything… I don’t have any abilities.”
“Have you ever been sick?”
I blankly looked up at Shade.
I don’t remember ever being sick.
But that’s not because I have Healing Power, but because I’m too healthy…
“Have you ever been hurt?”
Shade asked again.
“You said you’ve been carrying the Scent pouch since you were seven. Since then, have you ever been hurt?”
No.
I remember almost getting hurt a few times, but each time, my sister Rosa got hurt instead of me…
My twin, Rosa, who sees the future, even with a weaker body than me… to protect me.
“Who gave you this Scent pouch?”
I was reminded of Rosa and flinched, my shoulders trembling.
I was breathless.
“You said you replaced the grass when the scent faded. But you don’t even know the name of this grass. Who filled it for you?”
I couldn’t answer.
The person who gave me this Scent pouch.
Was that person trying to kill me?
Or did they know I had poison resistance?
“Lilin, there’s no time. Tell me who gave it to you.”
The person who gave me the Scent pouch.
The person who learned embroidery with those same small hands and skillfully embroidered my name, the person who has taken care of everything for me to this day, just like they replaced the grass in the Scent pouch every year.
The person who didn’t hesitate to do all sorts of dirty work for me.
That is…
“Your sister, right?”
I looked up at Shade with trembling eyes.
“Before we even set conditions in Habib, Princess Rosa said she would offer her twin sister as a Royal Concubine.”
Royal Concubine?
No, that can’t be true.
I was told that being a war hostage was just a name, and that the Third Empress wouldn’t allow me to become a Royal Concubine…
“Are you going to die for the person who abandoned you?”
Rosa… that can’t be true.
Rosa. My twin sister Rosa.
I was here for Rosa.
‘Because my sister is more precious than me, who has no abilities….’
Because our defeated kingdom will find its next opportunity if Rosa survives.
I was willing to give myself up for Rosa and the kingdom.
I would have definitely done so even if I was told to go as a Royal Concubine.
But Rosa…
“You’ll be happy. I definitely saw it. Everyone in Habib will love you.”
You didn’t have to deceive me so thoroughly, sister.
If you had just said one word of apology, I could have died for you…
“Princess Lilin.”
Shade looked blurry in my teary vision.
Suddenly, I heard several footsteps, followed by a sharp female voice.
“Crown Prince, what are you doing? Why haven’t you dragged that thing out and executed it immediately!”
Shade stood up and whispered in a low voice.
“Say your sister gave it to you. Say you didn’t do it, now!”
I couldn’t.
Even if Rosa abandoned me, even if she deceived me all my life…
‘I can’t give my sister’s name….’
Then the Empire will use me as a witness and trample on Luelle again.
No matter how much I hate Rosa, I can’t drive thousands of soldiers and people to their deaths again because of her.
‘I’m… I’m a princess too.’
Yes, Rosa must have seen this too.
She must have seen me dying without being able to say her name.
“Lilin!”
The door creaked open as Shade called again.
“If the Crown Prince can’t do it, I’ll do it myself!”
A woman in a black mourning dress entered the prison, leaving the soldiers behind.
Is that the Third Empress, who was said to be the last love of the old Emperor?
The moment I looked up at the tearful woman, she directly drew the sword of the Imperial Guard standing next to her.
“Die, you wicked thing!”
The blade came without delay, aiming for my heart.
As terrible pain pierced me at once, the face of Rosa saying goodbye came to mind.
My twin sister, who smiled with the same face as me as she sent me on this path of death, Rosa, who must have known all of this.
Tears of regret wet my cheeks.
‘God, if there is a next life… please don’t let me be born as a royal twin again.’
Just before the silent darkness swallowed me, I made that one wish.
