Chapter 06
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Despite her exceptional learning abilities, Dongbaek was not arrogant. She knew her own limitations.
The world was vast, and these were turbulent times. In an era where geniuses were sprouting up like bamboo shoots after rain, Dongbaek’s intelligence wasn’t particularly rare.
Setting aside monsters like Zhuge Liang and Guo Jia, even just comparing among rulers, she couldn’t ignore ‘that’ existence who received particularly favorable treatment in secondary media.
Cao Cao—the grandson of Cao Teng, who was a former high-ranking official and responsible for security in northern Luoyang.
He was promoted so much in various media that she desperately hoped this was based on historical records. This was especially true since Cao Cao was a candidate for ‘Queen.’
To ease this anxiety, she wanted to send a crow to spy on what kind of person Cao Cao was, but unfortunately, he wasn’t in Luoyang at the moment.
Rumors said that after resigning from his post as Xianling* (賢令) of Dunqiu in Jizhou, Cao Cao had returned to his hometown in Yanzhou. Being the capital of the Han dynasty, Luoyang was relatively well-informed about news from other regions.
[*District Magistrate]
“I hear Lord Cao Teng hasn’t been well lately?”
“They say that ‘Cao Cao’ resigned his position and went to Yanzhou. It seems the old man’s days are truly numbered.”
She overheard men talking while visiting a bookstore to buy books. Cao Teng being on his deathbed… She could roughly gauge what time period she had fallen into.
Of course, even with this knowledge, there was nothing Dongbaek could do. All she could do was study diligently.
At the bookstore, she quickly scanned the shelves, searching for titles.
“Six Secret Teachings (六韜), Six Secret Teachings, Six Secret Teachings… Ah, here it is.”
Dongbaek struggled to pull out a total of six books. Since the books were stored somewhat high up, she had to nervously stand on her tiptoes to barely reach them.
The ‘Six Secret Teachings (六韜) and Three Strategies (三略)’ were representative military texts, occupying two spots among the Seven Military Classics. Military texts were essential for what lay ahead. She planned to read the Six Secret Teachings first, then the Three Strategies later. Dongbaek hurriedly carried the six books to the counter.
The bookstore owner warmly greeted Dongbaek, who had become a regular customer recently.
“Oh, it’s Dongbaek. Here to buy books again today?”
“Yes. I finished reading all the books I bought last time.”
“Already?”
The bookstore owner was surprised, then smiled approvingly and said,
“I haven’t seen such a clever child since Cao Mengde.”
Mengde was Cao Cao’s courtesy name. There was always information to be gained from such casual conversations. Dongbaek quickly picked up on this.
“By Cao Mengde, do you mean Lord Cao Teng’s grandson?”
“Yes. Though he was quite a rascal, he was just as intelligent. The problem was that he used that intelligence mischievously. Fortunately, he matured with age, otherwise… Haahh.”
The bookstore owner shook his head.
Dongbaek smiled awkwardly. Behind that smile, her worries about Cao Cao kept piling up.
Perhaps because Luoyang was Cao Cao’s base, she heard talk about him everywhere. As expected of a notorious figure, he was already drawing people’s attention. Dongbaek clicked her tongue inwardly.
“Compared to him, you’re truly well-behaved. You must take good care of your mother when you succeed in life.”
“Don’t worry.”
Grinning broadly and answering energetically, Dongbaek left the bookstore with her bundle of books. The sight of the marketplace, crowded with people instead of books, filled her vision.
As if switching channels, Dongbaek entered into the midst of the commotion and slightly squinted at the intense midday sunlight. The stinging made her eyes water.
The three tear moles under Dongbaek’s left eye shimmered in her tears.
There’s an old saying that people with tear-shaped marks cry often, and it seemed to hold true for Dongbaek.
While it was partly because her light irises absorbed too much light, making her eyes sensitive, she was also extremely susceptible to tearjerker movies. Whenever she went to see such movies, she would always come out with tears and snot everywhere, and finding this amusing, her friends would always take her to watch sad movies…
Dongbaek’s nose tingled at the sudden memory of the past.
‘You promised not to cry anymore, So Dongbaek.’
Just as Dongbaek hurriedly wiped her eyes with her flowing sleeve, she heard a crow cawing above her head.
Dongbaek slightly lifted her head while walking. The intense sunlight shone behind the black crow.
The crow followed Dongbaek wherever she went. Though they bickered daily, in the end, this crow was all that remained by Dongbaek’s side, and the only one who would continue with her going forward.
On the evening when Dongbaek declared to Geum Danyo that she would live as a man, the crow revealed everything to her.
The Fod, the Queen, Alice, and the Cheshire—all of it.
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Queen (麗王).
Only 2 souls loved by God.
God poured every ounce of fortune and care into their cherished queens, always protecting and nurturing them.
Like the sun and moon, the two Queens were born in different eras, never meeting each other, enjoying their lives and passing on.
But one day, a problem arose. The two Queens who were never meant to meet were born in the same era.
It was their destiny, as blessed beings, to rise to the top of the world. Eventually, they were fated to meet.
It would have been ideal if they could coexist harmoniously. However, beings born to stand above others couldn’t tolerate the existence of another like themselves. They dedicated everything to bring each other down, to kill one another.
God despaired watching their beautiful Queens become ugly with jealousy and fall into ruin.
Unable to bear it any longer, God finally made a decision. With permission from Earth’s God, they decided to send one Queen to Earth.
The Queen sent to Earth, the abandoned Queen, was no longer called Queen but became known as Alice.
God wasn’t the only one who sent Alice to Earth. Countless dimensional Gods who thought this was a good solution sent their own Alices to Earth.
Earth’s God accepted all the Alices sent by Gods from other worlds. This was possible because Earth had no Queens.
Earth’s God distributed their love equally. Unlike Gods from other worlds who engraved it in souls, they distributed love according to each life.
So even those who had been Queen’s souls were no different. They received the same ordinary fate of being equally loved by Earth’s God.
As countless years passed, the wheel of reincarnation turned many times.
Even Gods’ hearts change. During this time, God missed Alice and wanted to bring back the Alice they had sent to Earth.
Even knowing that if Alice returned to their original world, they would again engage in a deadly battle with the Queen.
But Earth wasn’t their domain. While sending was easy, bringing back what was already sent was difficult.
Unable to even see what form their Alice had taken on Earth, God consulted with other Gods who had also sent their Queens to Earth.
They decided to create and send “guides” to Earth to bring back Alice.
Beings with souls engraved with the mission to find Alice. Beings destined to wander the world searching for Alice…
Even if they ended their life without finding Alice, beings who would have to search for Alice again in their next life.
That was Chesire.
Earth’s God accepted these Chesires as well.
Created by mixing the energies of various Gods to increase the probability of finding Alice, Chesire could recognize any God’s Alice and, upon finding them, could open dimensional doors to return Alice to their original world.
But on Earth, both Alice and Chesire were equal.
The many worlds’ Alices and the Chesires meant to return them to their original worlds were all born according to Earth’s reincarnation cycle.
They might not be born for centuries, and even when born, Chesire and Alice often completed their lives without meeting each other.
Alice’s situation was somewhat better. Due to the slight influence of their original world’s God, they were only born as humans and lived their lives without knowing they were Alice.
But Chesire was different.
Chesire’s life existed solely for Alice. Since they didn’t necessarily have to be born human, they were sometimes born as animals.
“Fortunately, being born as a ‘bird’ like me makes it easier to find Alice. Well, it would have been impossible if I were a peacock, flamingo, or ostrich. Wow, just thinking about being born as an African elephant makes me feel hopeless.”
“…Is your ability to speak also some kind of special Chesire power?”
“Of course. I need to communicate with Alice. Chesire is not only a guide who helps Alice cross dimensions but also God’s spokesperson to explain this situation, and an early companion for Alice who has no foundation in this world.”
“Early companion…”
“Are you thinking about abandoning me? Don’t you know early companions are supposed to stay until the end? I’m going to be so helpful, how can you be so ungrateful? Huh?”
The crow made a noisy fuss. But instead of playing along with the crow’s commotion, Dongbaek leaned back deeply into her chair in resignation.
“Is there a way to return to the original world? Can’t we return as a reward for defeating the Queen or something?”
“Defeating the Queen is necessary for your survival… Since you’re originally a soul from here… There’s no separate way to return.”
“Then why give confusing names like Alice? Haha, I thought I could return to the original world like in the fairy tale.”
Dongbaek smiled with curved eyes. The crow, who knew better than anyone that Dongbaek wasn’t smiling because she found it funny, quickly observed her reaction and raised its wings.
“What about my mom and dad?”
Dongbaek’s first question was calm. But her voice searching for her parents soon became choked with tears.
“What happens to Mom and Dad when their only daughter suddenly vanishes?”
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Thank you for reading! ♡
