Your new colleague
“Not yet?”
“Yes.”
Jess rubbed his tired eyes as he answered Riella’s question.
In front of Jess, on the desk in her office, was a rectangular crystal the size of a thick book.
This mysterious device, known as the “Emergency Communication Network,” projected the contents of a written message onto another device.
“We have no choice but to keep waiting like this?”
“Yes. We never know when a response will come.”
There was only one reason why everyone was guarding that precious tool, used only for urgent communications between countries, all day long with their eyes wide open.
“Your Majesty. Lady Riella. Eric has finally sent a message.”
‘Finally!’
It was to receive a report on the situation there from Eric, who had been sent to the kingdom under the pretext of a trading group.
“What did he say?”
“As Lady Riella had expected, Loriell forced the princess to confess. The princess admitted that she handed Loriell the poison with the intention of attacking Your Majesty.”
‘Ah.’
Riella, who was taking a break while sitting next to Herhan on the living room sofa, let out a sigh without realizing it.
A wave of exhaustion washed over her. Rather than relief, she felt an overwhelming sense of emptiness.
“However…. There is a bit of a problem.”
“What kind of problem?”
“That’s…..”
Asion couldn’t bring himself to continue speaking.
Herhan, sensing the gravity of the situation, frowned and stood up.
“I’ll check for myself.”
* * *
[… Loriell and Princess Greta jumped together. Loriell died. Princess Greta went missing.]
Everyone gathered in the office let out heavy sighs as the message from the crystal materialized before them.
The silence was broken by Jess’s irritated complaint.
“There were so many soldiers there, and they still couldn’t catch her? Seriously, guys with swords are just dumb sometimes.”
“She suddenly jumped off the third-floor railing. How were they supposed to stop that?”
“They should have placed soldiers under the railing in advance, idiot.”
The argument between Jess and Asion continued.
It wasn’t that they were really angry at each other, but they were frustrated that they had lost the princess they had caught.
“It’s surrounded by a wall. Even soldiers wouldn’t be able to enter easily from the outside.”
It was Riella who calmed them down.
Since she had lived in the royal palace before—especially having visited the princess’s palace—she knew the layout better than anyone.
Thanks to that, Jess and Asion stopped arguing and returned to the main topic.
“Jumped together, yet only she survived. She has remarkable luck at times like this.”
“Still, proving the princess’s involvement in the poisoning attempt is a huge achievement. What will you do now, Your Majesty?”
“Even if she survived, she must have sustained severe injuries. She won’t have gotten far. Tell them to continue the search. And make sure the King is detained until the princess is found.”
The princess’s escape was surprising but not entirely unexpected.
Since this was a meticulously planned operation, Herhan had already considered all possible outcomes.
And in that particular scenario, the conclusion was clear.
“If the princess does not return, I will charge the entire Feodorna royal family, including the king, and hold them accountable.”
A regime change in the Riota Kingdom.
“That kingdom’s monarchy is about to see a bloodbath.”
At that moment, Herhan looked at Riella standing next to him.
Riela slowly nodded in agreement, but her expression remained dark.
* * *
‘A nation in turmoil always exacts its price on the innocent citizens.’
Late at night.
Before retiring to his bedroom, Herhan soaked in hot water lost in thought.
He wasn’t thinking about politics.
He thought of Riella.
‘Riella is still a citizen of the Kingdom of Riota.’
Even though she has now left that place, her ‘homeland’ still has great meaning to her.
It had been Riella’s idea to send grain and livestock to help the people of Riota through the trade delegation.
Until then, Herhan was so angry at the royal family that he planned to send nothing but haystacks.
And now, once again…
He had just told Riella that he would uproot her country’s leadership.
Was his decision too inconsiderate?
What if it had hurt Riella, even just a little?
“Riella.”
As soon as Herhan came out of the bathroom, he looked for Riella, but she was nowhere to be found.
“Where is Riella?”
“Lady Riella stepped out for some fresh air. She said she’d be on the third-floor balcony.”
“Did she go alone?”
His voice carried a hint of worry.
The guard of the inner room answered with a smile.
“She went out with her maid, Lou.”
He probably said that to ease his worries, but it only made Herhan’s heart more unsettled.
Because Lou is also a citizen of Riota.
‘Was she feeling uneasy as expected?’
Herhan’s steps toward the balcony were slow.
For some reason, he felt both sorry and sympathetic toward Riella.
“Your Majesty, you have arrived. Lady Riella is inside.”
Herhan nodded to Lou and went inside the balcony.
Riella was leaning against the railing, bending far forward to look below.
“You’re making me anxious again, Riella.”
“Ah, Your Majesty.”
“It’s dangerous.”
As Herhan hugged her waist tightly from behind, Riella stepped away from the railing and leaned back comfortably.
She even seemed to be smiling, making Herhan tilt his head in curiosity.
“Are you smiling?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Hmm? Because Your Majesty is embracing me?”
The voice was puzzled, as if questioning why he was asking something so obvious.
“Weren’t you upset?”
“Me? Why?”
“Because I said I would destroy your country.”
“Huh?”
Riella lifted her head, as if she’d just heard the most ridiculous joke, and then burst into clear laughter.
“Not at all. The throne just changes, the country itself isn’t being destroyed.”
“…..”
“The Feodorna royal family was corrupt. For the sake of the people, Your Majesty’s decision is absolutely right. The people of Riota are strong and will overcome this.”
“Then? Do you have any other concerns?”
“……”
“You seemed like that a little while ago.”
Riella was silent for a moment.
She couldn’t deny it.
Perhaps in front of him, even the smallest fragments of her emotions couldn’t be hidden.
“Actually, it’s not a concern. There’s something that’s been bothering me for a while now.”
“What is it?”
Riella hesitated and then pointed down to the balcony.
“This is the third floor.”
“Yeah.”
“Your Majesty, have you ever fallen from the third floor?”
It was an oddly random question.
* * *
‘How many hours have passed, or how many days have passed?’
Greta couldn’t tell.
Even after losing consciousness and regaining consciousness, the inside of the place remained pitch black.
It was natural.
This was the bottommost part of the palace, where not a single ray of light enters, day or night.
It had been built as a temporary refuge for royalty in times of war or rebellion. As far as she knew, only her father and she were aware of its existence.
‘The fact that no one has come to search here yet means that my father has not abandoned me.’
Greta thought so.
‘So I just have to endure a little longer. Just a little…’
But every time she tried to relax, she would hear the footsteps or shouts of soldiers nearby.
Each time, her heart pounded so hard it felt like it would burst.
‘Do those damn bastards never sleep?’
There was nothing more miserable than the darkness, the dampness, the stench, and the fear.
‘It hurts.’
Her arm had broken, and her ankle had twisted when she fell from the terrace.
Not only were the bones broken, but in the places where the skin was torn and the flesh was worn away, the entire body was like a tattered rag.
‘Fortunately, I landed on Loriell…’
The moment that thought crossed her mind, the image of Loriell’s final moments resurfaced, sending chills down Greta’s spine.
Greta shook her head vigorously, as if to drive away the evil spirit within her.
But no matter how hard she tried, the trembling from that moment wouldn’t leave her, and her hands shook uncontrollably.
‘Don’t think about it. For now, Just focus on surviving.’
Gritting her teeth, Greta forced herself to endure.
Whenever she heard soldiers’ footsteps again or Loriel’s eyes flashed in her mind, she bit her tongue and pulled at her hair just to keep herself together.
‘I will survive. I just have to hold on a little longer. I can make it.’
* * *
It was probably a day or two later that Greta began to realize that holding out wasn’t always possible.
The passage of time was still unknown and darkness still surrounded her.
The soldiers remained as vigilant as ever. The only thing that changed was Greta’s determination.
‘Is this how I’m going to die?’
Her limbs, swollen from infection at the site of her broken bones, had turned red—no, blue.
The pain was so intense that her teeth chattered uncontrollably, and her body trembled beyond her control.
‘It’s so painful.’
The moment she let go of her will, her consciousness began slipping away uncontrollably.
Just before she completely abandoned the desire to live, an absurd thought surfaced—Fabian.
‘Really? Even now? How pathetic.’
Ever since returning to the palace, Greta had always looked toward the east—the direction of the Central Temple
But trapped in that place, she had lost all sense of direction. She could no longer tell which way was east.
‘I’d rather die. That would be easier.’
When her consciousness starts to fade like that.
A sound of footsteps came closer.
Greta tensed for a moment and then stopped.
‘They’ll just walk past, like always.’
Because they have done it hundreds of times so far.
But that wasn’t the case.
The sound of footsteps was not getting farther away, but rather getting closer.
Then stop just outside the place where Greta was hiding.
Suddenly, Greta came to her senses and a cold sweat began to run down the back of her neck.
Although she had just accepted death, the thought of being captured by the Empire still filled her with fear.
‘No way. No way. There’s no way they know I’m here.…’
Then, the narrow underground entrance creaked open, and a sliver of red light seeped through.
Her heart stopped.
Her mind went blank.
It was over.
—Thud
A hand came through the open door, threw a bundle at Greta, and disappeared.
The sound of footsteps fades away.
‘….What was that just now?’
Greta was frozen in shock for a moment.
For a long time, she couldn’t even bring herself to touch the bundle that had fallen at her feet.
When she finally reached for it with trembling hands, she hesitated before opening it.
The bundle contained a bottle of clean water, dry bread, ointment for wounds, and pieces of cloth that could be used as bandages.
‘What is this? Who… Who did this?’
Shaking, she turned the bundle upside down, emptying its contents completely.
The last thing that fell out was a small pocket watch.
There was a neatly folded note inserted into the watch.
[Tomorrow night, midnight. East back gate]
* * *
Something strange happened.
‘How did they do it?’
As the note had foretold, some time past eleven the next night, the soldiers who routinely patrolled the area suddenly blew their whistles and rushed westward.
By midnight, the area around Greta was eerily quiet.
Taking deep breaths, she crawled out of the cave for the first time in days.
At first, her legs gave out beneath her, and she collapsed onto the ground.
She had used the medicine and wrapped her wounds, but one ankle was utterly useless.
Still, Greta limped toward the east, as if she was running on the other foot.
As soon as she passed through the back gate and turned a corner, she saw a small carriage.
For Greta, who had been trapped in the darkness for several days, even the moonlight reflecting off the carriage’s windows was dazzling.
“Who are you?”
Greta asked the man standing in front of the carriage with a voice full of doubt.
Then the man, who had pulled back his robe that had been pulled down deeply and revealed his face, answered with a refreshing smile like moonlight on an autumn night.
“Your new colleague.”
* * *
