Side story 12: continued story
Have you ever heard a rumor?
There were two great knights in the empire. One of them was the former emperor, who roamed the battlefield called ‘the slayer’ and the other was the princess who succeeded him and ascended to the throne as the new emperor.
She inherited all of her father’s strengths and was known as ‘the knight of light’ who never fell on the battlefield.
When the light flashed, she appeared immediately and got up on that spot. Everyone who saw it said she was blessed by God.
“It’s not God’s blessing.”
She, Reina, banged her head on the desk and muttered.
“Magic, it’s magic!”
As she complained, a small woman standing next to her spoke in a cold voice.
“Well, what do you think? People are inherently beings who believe what they want to believe. It is more advantageous to believe that you are a messenger from God, so let’s leave it as is.”
“Is that what you’re going to say? It’s because of you that I became like God’s messenger in the first place!”
“What did I do?”
Irene looked at Reina with an expression of ignorance. But she was with her for decades. Reina wasn’t deceived by Irene’s acting.
“You were the one behind the scenes. Do you think I wouldn’t know?”
“I just did what I had to do.”
Irene spoke calmly and pushed up the glasses she was wearing with her fingers.
“Aw, you were so cute when you were little, cute crybaby.”
“I am not a crybaby, aren’t I?”
“Isn’t that true? Even now, sometimes you hide and cry loudly, right?”
“I’ve never done that.”
Irene denied it, but Raina knew everything. Because she actually witnessed it.
Her younger sister, who was a crybaby and a soft-spoken child when she was young, decided to help her older sister as she grew up. So, she studied hard and worked hard to change her personality.
As a result, she was now known as a scary duke within the imperial palace, but no matter how hard she tried to change, her true nature was not going anywhere.
When she was having a hard time, she would hide in a corner, hug her beloved teddy bear, whimper and cry.
“Well, let’s leave it that way.”
Reina shrugged her shoulders.
“Anyway, what happened today? Now is not the time for you to be in the imperial palace, is it?”
“I stopped by because something important came up.”
“What?”
As soon as Reina asked, Irene skillfully lined up several envelopes on the desk.
“Now, choose one of these.”
“I have a somewhat ominous feeling. Do I have to choose?”
“You have to choose.”
“Then let’s do number 2.”
“Okay, number two.”
With a calm movement, Irene opened the second envelope and took out a portrait. When Reina turned around so she could see, she began to explain.
“This is Raymond Yeongsi, the eldest son of the marquis. Although the marquis is still alive and well and he has not inherited the title, he is rumored to be a very good person. Of course since we cannot believe all rumors, we also conducted an in-depth background investigation.”
It seems that Raina’s ominous premonition was about to come true.
“Hmm, cute little sister. Why are you suddenly showing me information about Marquis Yeongsi?”
“That’s because he might end up becoming Her Majesty’s consort. Shouldn’t you know the basic information before meeting?”
“I told you I had no intention of getting married yet!”
“Your majesty is the Emperor. Among the emperor’s duties is the duty to leave an heir, but since you keep going back to the battlefield, men don’t stick around you! That’s why I came here to make you select candidates like this!”
“I’m going to get married for love like my parents!”
Her parents met by chance and fell in love. Her parents, who had always been friendly and affectionate, were strongly embedded in Raina’s memories. So, if she were to get married, she wanted to meet someone like that.
“It’s good to have a love marriage like our parents. They met by fate, fell in love, and that love continues to this day. Every time I go to see them, I feel envious that they are still in love so beautifully. But your majesty, with your personality, you would not be able to marry for love! I think it’s unreasonable.”
Her overwhelming swordsmanship skills are said to resemble her father when he was young.
She is taller than the average woman and has a fierce personality. It was good up to that point.
At least, she was beautiful, just like her father, but then what!
She have no intention of using it to do anything. She wasn’t trying at all, but she always say she wanted a love marriage. So, as her younger sister, Irene couldn’t help but be worried.
“Why can’t I?”
“Then meet the man!”
“That’s unreasonable!”
“Look here, you will meet the Marquis’ Young-si as planned.”
Irene snorted and insisted about her plan to send her to the meeting.
“I don’t like it!”
“I will ignore Your Majesty’s opinion just this once.”
“Why is that? And it’s not just this time!”
In other matters, her opinion was always carefully considered, but there was absolutely no compromise in this area.
“Then, shall I tell our parents?”
“Do you think our parents would tell you to have free love?”
Oops, she made a mistake, she don’t talk about this with her parents. Reina was right, If they heard this news, they would take the side of their strangely open-minded mother or her older sister, Raina.
“Ahh, I don’t know. Just meet him. He is not a bad person.”
Irene left the place after giving her greetings.
“Irene? Irene!”
***
She heard Reina calling from behind, but she completely ignored it. Then she walked down the quiet hallway and approached a nearby window.
The wide open window seemed large enough for Irene to pass through.
“I’d like to go on a walk for a while.”
Irene threw herself out the window holding the documents. It took a moment for her body to fall, but then she stood with her feet in the air and slowly rose upward.
After some time, she finally arrived at the top of the highest tower of the imperial palace. Irene, who sat on it, looked into the distance and sighed softly.
‘Actually, I had one more thing to tell you.’
She was arguing with her exasperated older sister and forgot to report it. However, if she went back, they would be caught again on the issue about love marriage, so she decided to postpone this issue for a while.
‘Ingrid.’
Irene stretched her legs and remembered the names on the agenda. She was the last princess of the kingdom now incorporated into the empire.
‘Now that I think about it, my mother was a princess too.’
Ingrid was her mother’s older sister’s name. She wanted to reclaim her kingdom and revive it, so she gathered people and tried to regain the throne.
But how can that be easy when the opponent is a huge empire? It was an impossible story.
‘But that doesn’t mean we can just catch her and strangle her.’
Her mother said it was okay, but her father didn’t believe it at all. Even to young Irene, her pensive expression did not look good. So her father even thought about giving the kingdom back to Ingrid. Although Irene couldn’t execute it.
“She is involved in too many problems.”
The former lover of the now dead Emperor Raytheon. The person suspected of murder. The person who mixed in with a group of traitors and attempted to commit rebellion. It was impossible to raise her to the throne until her identity was changed.
However, Ingrid did not want to ascend to the throne by changing her identity. She wanted to rightfully reveal her identity and become the queen. So in the end, the matter continued to be unresolved and passed down to the children.
Ingrid and her knight Cain are leading the rebel group now. There was also a boy born between them. He is a man of similar age to Irene and would have been her cousin if the situation had not been like this.
“Ah, I don’t know!”
Even though Irene studied hard help her sister, there was a lot to learn in the world. No matter how hard she tried, there were times when she made mistakes.
Irene was not a perfect person. So, she decided to worry about it in moderation.
Irene stepped into the air again and slowly went down. Her small body fluttered and moved gracefully, resembling her mother.
Witch of Light, Rayna.
The Floating Witch, Irene.
The children they both have will become witches again, and the bloodline will continue.
However, if there is a good thing, it is that the perception has now changed significantly compared to before. Their father’s efforts over several decades were not in vain.
Unlike before, witches can now be seen in any town. They were no longer a rare entity that was ostracized. ‘Respect magic rather than fear it’. It has been done, now witches are by people’s side and helping them.
All of this was the result of a mother and a father’s efforts for their children. Now Raina and Irene will take over that effort. They will continue to work hard for their descendants and their race.
Irene smiled as she stepped on the ground. Although she wasn’t as talented as her older sister, she was confident in her efforts. She decided to move forward even more vigorously in the future.
“Now, for that purpose, shall I select more candidates just in case?”
Her sister would hate her again, but what could she do?
She did this out of necessity. Still, she had no intention of picking just anyone and introducing them to her sister, so she planned to thoroughly dig up information and bring in only the right people.
“If I do that, there will be at least one connection among them.”
The Iron Chancellor of the Empire, Irene, is called the Ice Witch.
With that in mind, she headed towards her destination with light steps.
The sun moved.
***
TL:
Today will be double update as a gift for the end of my first translation project.
Enjoy~
