The Princess Wants to Live

Between the crimson sunset, a swallow flew low in the evening. As people passed through the outskirts of the capital, they all hunched their shoulders and hurried their steps.

 

“Hey…”

 

“Whoa!”

 

“Ouch!”

 

Suddenly, as a hand brushed his shoulder, the startled man let out a scream, prompting the one who had touched his shoulder to scream along. The man, realizing it was his neighbor who had tapped his shoulder, wiped his pale face and let out a deep sigh.

 

“What’s up, was that you?”

 

“Why are you so startled? You almost jumped out of your skin.”

 

When his equally startled neighbor mocked him, the man frowned.

 

“It’s because of the rumors going around lately, nothing special.”

 

“Rumors?”

 

The man, disdainfully looking up and down at the puzzled neighbor, leaned in and whispered with his throat constricted.

 

“Haven’t you heard? Bodies have been turning up one after another.”

 

“What? Bodies?”

 

“Hush, hush. Oh, you’re hopeless.”

 

Grabbing the shoulders of his neighbor, who widened his eyes and asked loudly, the man squeezed them tightly. By chance or whatever, there were only the two of them around. The man’s throat trembled as he swallowed dryly. The dimly lit night road was eerie to the point of being uncanny…

 

“What bodies…”

 

“Ouch!”

 

“Ouch!”

 

Once again, as the startled man screamed, the neighbor who had lightly tapped the man’s arm also screamed. How long had they been staring at each other with eyes wide open? Breaking the awkward silence, the neighbor muttered.

 

“You’ve made me so curious, and then you just space out and look into the distance!”

 

Whether it was unfair to be startled twice in a row or not, his expression and tone were very rough. Glancing around, the man lightly tapped his neighbor’s arm.

 

“Enough, I don’t want to talk long here, let’s go.”

 

As the man hurriedly took steps, his trembling neighbor grumbled but still kept pace with him. Another shadow was cast at the end of their shadows, then disappeared, that night.

 

“W-who… who…”

 

Pale and terrified, someone tried to flee from the laughing man, but then everything flashed before their eyes, and they lost consciousness. -Thud. As time passed unceremoniously and dawn tinted the edge of the night. -Rustle, rustle. The sound of something being cut could be heard, and not long after, the body of someone sacrificed to an ancient god was buried in another pit.

 

* * * 

 

The night passed with the damp smell of earth mixed with the pungent odor of blood, and the sun rose in the morning. Olivia, disguised, was about to leave the palace. It wasn’t through the main gate of the palace, but along the path frequented by servants, she hastened her steps towards the guard standing at the door and nodded respectfully.

 

“Leaving so early. Most would be coming in by now.”

 

“Yes. I was told there’s something urgent. Here’s my permit.”

 

With Olivia’s casual reply, the guard carefully inspected the permit and opened the door. Just as she furrowed her brows momentarily under the piercing sunlight, a subdued voice reached her ears from right beside, tingling her eardrums.

 

“Are you heading to the scene?”

 

Frozen, Olivia brushed the down on her raised cheek and swiftly turned her head towards the left where the voice came from. But the owner of the voice was nowhere to be found, just the empty air shimmering in the sunlight. Olivia hesitated for a moment, then slowly turned her head back. She didn’t want to attract attention by behaving any more strangely.

 

“Where are you?”

 

“In the shadows.”

 

“What? Shadows…?”

 

With a surprisingly simple and quick response, Olivia grabbed the nape of the fleeing person’s neck and asked. It’s unlikely that the man suddenly had a surge of poetic sentiment and meant figuratively being in the shadows. It must be taken literally, but how could a person hide in the shadow without leaving any trace?

 

“No, forget it. Alright, yes, in the shadows.”

 

But soon, shaking her head, she realized who she was dealing with, Craeyer. If he wanted, he could hide anywhere, not just in the shadows. Then Olivia stopped and spoke again.

 

“Rather than saying the security is a mess, it’s more accurate to say the disguise is excellent. I’ve been doing this for over ten years, if it wasn’t excellent, it would be unfair.”

 

After flicking her hair, Olivia rubbed her tired eyes. Her distinctive bright red Bolshiic hair was covered by a dull straw-colored wig, and her intensely blue eyes were partially hidden under unkempt bangs. Moreover, her appearance had been changed so thoroughly from head to toe by the servants, even they wouldn’t recognize her. Would the guards at the outskirts of the palace recognize Olivia, let alone the ones guarding the door frequented by the servants? However, the answer that came back was indeed from Craeyer, and it was anything but ordinary.

 

“If you can’t recognize a person with a slight change in appearance, you’re not fit to be a guard. Even if you can’t catch their gait or gestures, the skeleton remains the same.”

 

Standing next to her suddenly, Craeyer added.

 

“Besides, just looking at the shape of the exposed hand would make it easy to tell.”

 

“I don’t know. Well, maybe some people can, but most people don’t scrutinize others that closely. Ah, never mind.”

 

Without even seeing Craeyer’s lips parting, Olivia waved her hand to stop him.

 

“Don’t refute me as someone who can be recognized without a closer look.”

 

Craeyer chuckled faintly, but even that fleeting smile went unnoticed. Olivia, familiar with leaving the palace, seamlessly blended into the bustling streets of the capital.

 

“You often leave the palace.”

 

Responding lightly to Craeyer’s words as they walked side by side, Olivia said.

 

“It’s obligatory.”

 

As the princess of the Bolshiic Empire and the future empress, Olivia had no specific reason for leaving the palace unattended and roaming the capital alone. It wasn’t because she was curious about the lives of the people! How free would it be to leave the palace! Such whimsical thoughts never crossed her mind. Perhaps, in the murky past, before this repeated regression, during her first life, she might have briefly had such thoughts during the first outing. However, the reasons for subsequent outings were solely due to the obligation to the imperial family, the descendants of the Bolshiic.

 

“This outing isn’t an obligation but because of His Majesty’s request.”

 

A few days ago, in the early morning when the emperor summoned Olivia.

 

“‘Serial killings?'”

 

Olivia tilted her head as she held the bundle of documents Emperor handed her, or rather, a few ambiguous sheets of documents.

 

“Yes. People have mainly disappeared in the outskirts of the capital and haven’t reappeared.”

 

“If they’ve disappeared, isn’t it considered missing?”

 

“I want the princess to verify that fact.”

 

In response to the emperor’s notice, Olivia nodded quietly. Her focus, which had been wandering in the past, returned to reality with Craeyer’s question.

 

“Has someone from a significant family gone missing?”

 

It was a reasonable question. The imperial princess was assigned to handle a missing person case every month, after all.

 

“No. I’ve examined the documents, but there have been sporadic disappearances in the outskirts of the capital.”

 

“Why you, then?”

 

“It’s a sort of disciplinary measure.”

 

“Disciplinary?”

 

Craeyer’s eyebrows raised in disbelief, and Olivia shook her head.

 

“It doesn’t mean that the disappearance and death of imperial citizens are so unimportant that they can be brushed off as a mere discipline.”

 

Due to working for a few hours each day for several days, Olivia’s stiff neck ached.

 

“Rather, handling the safety and future of many imperial citizens is more urgent than anything else.”

 

“That’s not the meaning of my question. It’s because you, who are at the top of the minds of the imperial citizens, do so much.”

 

Craeyer replied, brushing his collarbone without realizing it.

 

“Ah, you don’t sleep much either.”

 

To be precise, it was close to not being able to sleep at all… Nevertheless, as Olivia rarely slept, he spent his days reading Bolshic history books by her side.

 

“Yeah. Sometimes I wonder if that dense mountain of paperwork will ever collapse.”

 

“Oh, that mountain… I’ve heard stories about it collapsing heavily. Was it during the reign of Sunseonda Emperor? Or before that?”

 

She continued, searching her memory.

 

“He must have fractured around this area from being crushed by documents.”

 

Olivia tapped her ribs lightly and added calmly.

 

“Of course, even in that condition, he managed to handle all the documents that needed to be processed that day.”

 

It sounded trivial, but dealing with a significant number of documents even with a broken rib wasn’t something trivial. To Olivia, it wasn’t particularly impressive or strange. As a Bolshic princess born into the imperial family, she had obligations to bear. Although her life became the most precious after four regressions… Ultimately, she had to protect the well-being of the imperial citizens to live. Olivia shook her head and redirected the conversation.

 

“Anyway, this investigation is probably a disciplinary action for pushing for the Continental Congress to be held quickly.”

 

With a shrug, Olivia naturally grabbed Craeyer’s cuff.

“Over here.”

 

Following her, Craeyer obediently turned to the left and asked.

 

“The Continental Congress was held earlier than scheduled. Why?”

 

“Oh, there’s no particular reason. Just wanted to meet you a little earlier.”

 

To those unaware of the situation, it was a truly romantic statement of considerable magnitude. Olivia, the imperial princess, forcibly advancing a national event with insufficient preparation just to meet Craeyer. However, her subsequent words were exceedingly realistic, with not a hint of romance.

 

“In order to fulfill the duty of protecting world peace, the responsibility of the Peace Dove, I had to somehow grill you, the starting point of the conflict, as quickly as possible.”

 

She really did everything she could… Even hung onto his shirt trying to turn him around. As memories of that time resurfaced, Olivia blinked her eyes hazily. It was a memory she really didn’t want to recall. She had to forget it.

 

“The Peace Dove.”

 

With a barely audible, soft voice tinged with laughter, Olivia struck his arm lightly.

 

“Stop laughing. You laugh every time you hear it. It’s really not… right…”

 

She stopped speaking abruptly and pressed her lips tightly together. What was she about to say? Not right, how so, in Craeyer’s way?

 

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Translator Note:

 

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