The Princess Wants to Live

Around the time Olivia was busy walking to meet the person from Norden. The streets on the outskirts of the capital, bathed in a scarlet sunset, were quiet, with only evening smoke blowing about. Normally, it would have been bustling with the voices of parents looking for their children who had been playing late and the conversations of those heading home. As the number of people disappearing in succession and not returning increases, people become more concerned and forbid themselves from going outside. Of course, I had to make a living, so I went to work during the day, but as night approached, everyone just looked around and rushed to get back home. And the criminal who terrified them was greeting a peaceful evening with the face of an ordinary, very friendly neighbor. No, it looked extremely calm on the outside…

-Click, rattle, clatter. 

The eyes of the man who was dragging the box back and forth, opening and closing the box containing the items of those sacrificed to the ancient gods, were half-covered.

“Taren, Taren, Taren, Taren Taren Taren!”

-Bang! 

The man’s shiny eyes turned toward the Sanghoe after he slammed down the box. He licked his dry lips, his mouth split open in laughter.

“I finally found it.”

The prey that would be the final sacrifice needed to bring down his god. Ambuch Taren. At first, I only planned to extort money… The man licked his upper lip and smoothed out the money bag that En Buhe had given him today. Soft pink hair, a flawless smile, and an expression and voice full of good intentions. And those light blue eyes. Weren’t his eyes as clear as a child’s?

“It will be a good offering to decorate the ending.”

He had always dreamed of the end, but he had never thought of singling out someone specifically as a sacrifice. He said she was the damsel of Tarenga. Perhaps kidnapping her would be as difficult as picking a star from her sky.

“The harder and harder the sacrifice is, the more rewarding it will be.”

And tonight, the eve for the end begins. 

-Kkii.

The box door creaked open, and two empty spaces suddenly entered.

“One, and then another.”

A place for sacrifices to be offered to the ancient gods today. The moment the man sweeps away the empty seat. 

-Knock, knock.

“Brother, mom gave me this.”

The child who handed the basket to the man who opened the door was the same child whose mother had said that she was having a hard time near the man not long ago.

“What are you doing?”

The basket the child handed over contained hard, dry bread and two sprouted potatoes. But the man, who knew that this was almost the last food her mother and daughter had, patted the child’s head. The child lowered the tips of his eyebrows and kissed his lips. The man bent his knees to the eye level of the child who could not speak and touched the child’s forehead.

“Don’t worry, you won’t have any worries after tonight.”

The child tilted his head, rubbing his forehead with his hand. He seemed to have drawn something and…

“Tonight?”

The man who was looking down at the blinking child opened his mouth.

“Wait here for a moment.”

The man entered the house, leaving the child nodding calmly, and took some soft white bread and a watery soup that wouldn’t upset his stomach. A neighbor who was complaining that the chair was creaking put food into the child’s arms.

“Take this and eat it. You’ll have to move around a bit.”

It was an incomprehensible statement, but the child was simply distracted by the food in front of him. The man, wiping the saliva from the corner of the child’s ringworm-pinned mouth, smiled as kindly as he could.

“Eat this well and come here this morning. You can’t be separated from your mother.”

The man handed the child a small note. Instead of writing, the note contained a picture that anyone could recognize. Not an empty lot that has already been dug up, but a much smaller but much more secret place… The child who received the note smiled with a dry face as if he was extremely happy.

“Huh! Brother, thank you so much! It was nice of you to talk to your brother. My mom cries less now, too.”

The child smiled and left the man. And unfortunately for the child and his mother, fortunately for the man, no one saw the child’s visit. The man looked around and nodded his head. Hasn’t it become a blessing in disguise that people don’t even look out the window, let alone go outside when it gets dark? The man stood outside until he could no longer see the top of the child’s head, and then he went inside the house and stood in front of the box again. He whispered as he touched the empty space in the box.

“You should be thankful. I will purify you and your mother.”

The man’s eyes were shining with madness as he laughed from ear to ear. And a few hours later, the remote, small vacant lot written on the man’s note. 

-Puck.

“Brother? Why, why are you doing that…”

The child trembled, his eyes wide in disbelief, but the man grabbed the child’s head, laughing at the length of his mouth.

“I will purify you. Get some sleep now.”

“I-I hate it. Mom, um…!”

-Puck. 

That night. In a man’s ritual wishing for the coming of an ancient god, two sacrifices were imprisoned on his own altar, leaving only the last offering.

* * *

Early morning after a bloody night. No, even if it is dawn, it is the time when the hazy light that no one would refute comes upon. Olivia had just arrived from Norden last night, and before she could do anything, she was face to face with a man who had passed out and couldn’t even see her face. Yes, she was facing a ‘man’. Anyone can see that she is not a ‘daughter’. Olivia narrowed her eyes and looked at the man from the Norden country.

“…Your Majesty, please come and say…”

The man is the next king of Norden. So, even though the Crown Prince was giving her a series of messages to tell, Olivia only listened with one ear and let them go with her other ear. Could something like the crown prince be important? Even if she wasn’t a wizard, she thought his daughter would come. Since it was related to the Old Gods, she had to come of course. Hmm? Olivia, who was resting her chin on her sour face, blinked her eyes rapidly. Of course she should come, but if she didn’t come, there must be a good reason. There are probably countless reasons why a wizard or his daughter cannot move. First of all, the Norden bureau will be busy preparing for a sudden state funeral. In such a situation, it would not be easy for the wizard or his daughter, who, according to Cryer, were ‘closely attached deep inside,’ to go on a long journey. And although it may be a one in 10,000 chance, it is possible that the ‘Ancient God’ has been discovered by the royal family of Norden and is protecting them. If that’s not the case, they could both be sick and in no condition to move. But I wanted to make sure of one thing among them.

“I ask you one thing.”

Olivia asked, immediately cutting off the man’s words.

“Is something similar to what is currently happening in the Empire happening in her country?”

It was a question that would have a very clear answer unless you were deaf. yes. Or no. However, the answer that came back was literally an alumni answer.

“I am grateful for the Empire’s interest, and what His Highness the Crown Prince has requested is nothing more than the prompt arrest of the criminal…”

A deep crack appeared between Olivia’s eyebrows. She raised one hand and covered his mouth.

“You didn’t answer the question I asked. I ask once again, are serial disappearances and murders occurring in the Norden country as well?”

Only then did the man give the correct answer.

“No.”

And Olivia, who had not taken her eyes off such a man, felt a strange sense of discomfort. She went through continental wars four times, and she avoided Cryer’s sword a whopping four times. Olivia’s astute observation of someone, or something about her, meant that her life depended on it. And as she experienced four deaths, they were accumulated as her experiences. So, should it be said that it was the strange behavior, or rather the reaction, of a man that no one noticed… Anyway, Olivia noticed that. It was possible for someone to give a strange answer to my words if they made up their mind to be friendly with the empire. That doesn’t make sense in the current situation, but it could happen anyway…

“This.”

Olivia seemed to have slipped while holding a teacup and sprayed tea in front of the man. And she could clearly see the sense of discomfort she felt. It wasn’t so hot that it was steaming hot, but I couldn’t believe I didn’t blink even when the tea flew right in my face.

“Are you okay?”

The Norden man obediently nodded his head at Olivia’s careless words.

“Yes, it’s okay.”

The corner of Olivia’s mouth quirked up when she heard the answer.

Was there any way it could be okay? The tea might not have drenched her face, but it would have at least splashed into her unblinking eyeballs. It’s strange too. While the workers who were quietly standing around hurriedly put away the tea cups and wiped the tea water. -Knock, knock.

“Come in.”

After Olivia’s permission, the door opened silently and Cryer appeared. He was pretending to be a very ordinary knight. Because it was able to hide the subtle intimidation of a gigantic beast hiding its extremely vicious teeth and powerful claws. Of course, with his shoulders that were harder than steel and wide open, and a face that everyone nodded his head at even if the princess had fallen in love with him at first sight, and according to Olivia’s opinion, ‘needlessly handsome’, he wasn’t that ordinary. And as soon as Cryer took a step into the room, the expression on the face of the man who had been smiling the whole time as if he was wearing a mask changed for the first time. The man’s eyes, which did not blink even once, grew so wide that they contained Cryer. Deeper inside than the inside of the man’s eyes that contained him, the eyes of Greta, who treated the man like a doll, sparkled purely. Ah, finally. Even when I close my eyes, I can see Cryer clearly drawn. Even though she couldn’t see him in person, just seeing him move made Greta so emotional that she didn’t know what to do. But Cryer didn’t give the man a single glance. He just approached her, looking only at Olivia.

“Endless glory to the empire.”

Olivia also slightly bowed her head in an even more elegant manner to Cryer, who was more polite than ever before.

“Cryer.”

The moment she said Cryer’s name, the eyes of the man from Norden blinked, but it was so fleeting that no one noticed.

“You’ve arrived just in time.”

Olivia naturally placed Cryer next to her and pointed at the man.

“How about saying hello to someone from your hometown after a long time?”

 

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Translator Note: