I Raised Snow White!

13. Unfinished Question

[Episode 13] – Unfinished Question

A pitch-black room.

In a dark room where light doesn’t come in properly, the only light source was the minute light leaking through the curtains. There was a large mirror in that dark, dusty room.

A mirror that looks exactly like the large full-length mirror in Vivian’s room. Ripples were created in the large mirror, and the image of Ainsel with Vivian’s face slowly began to be reflected.

-…It’s not long now. Soon, ‘Vivian’ will notice you.

Ainsel spoke to ‘someone’ in the dusty room, but in the dark room, only the sound of something moving could be heard.

-I’ve reached the point where I can no longer fulfill the contract. Secrecy will continue, but in fact there is nothing I can do other than keep it a secret.

Ainsel continued talking as if she was annoyed, but she didn’t answer anything from ‘someone’ in the room. Ainsel squinted her eyes and looked up at the faint afterimage and shouted.

-So now..!

*

The Marquise’s work was finished, and when I returned to the room, it was already past dinner time. After changing into light pajamas, I sighed and collapsed onto the bed.

“I’m exhausted…”

It was a really, really tiring day.

I’m tired of pretending to be Vivian on a regular basis, but today I was angry and even slapped people on the face. So many things happened in one day that I couldn’t keep my head down.

In the first place, the Marquis had done more than expected. As it turned out, the Marquis was managing everything about the princess, so it was quite a big deal to deal with it.

‘I wonder why the princess was alone in the garden…’

At the time, she thought the princess had slipped out of her castle without her maid, but she found out that her maid hadn’t assigned her maid to her. What? Didn’t the first queen have a maid when she was young?

First of all, since I had few trustworthy maids, I had no choice but to take charge of Ellie as the princess’s preliminary maid. Out of the five maids under me, the one I trusted the most was Ellie.

I was able to return to my room only after I had sorted out what the Marquis had done, albeit roughly. Then, all that’s left is…

I turned my head and looked at the large full-length mirror that was Ainsel’s body. Then, at the end of the mirror, Ainsel, with only her head sticking out, was looking at me.

It was like a child who was afraid of being scolded for knowing her fault.

“Ainsell.”

-……

“Don’t you have something to say to me?”

I got up from the bed, sat on the edge of her bed, crossed her legs, and looked at Ainsel. Ainsel hesitantly stepped out of the edge of her mirror, and she lowered her head with a sullen expression.

“…Concerning the first queen, do you have anything to say to me?”

-That, that’s…

“Why did you lie to me? You said to me, ‘Vivian was jealous of the first queen, who was loved by the king, and performed a ceremony to change her body.’ By the way, the first queen committed suicide? That was two years ago.”

-I-I didn’t lie..!

Ainsel bit her lip and looked at me with her tears welling up as if it was really unfair. However, I couldn’t believe it. In the first place, because the words themselves do not become.

-The ‘Sylphy’ I met last time did that to you too! Vivian died while performing a ‘body-changing ritual’! I really didn’t lie! After all, fairies shouldn’t lie!

“… Huh?”

Only then, I remembered the story of ‘Sylphy’ I met in the garden. Apparently, the fairy who climbed on my shoulder said the same thing as Ainsel. Vivian died because of a failed ‘body-changing ritual’.

-Really! There are many things I cannot tell you about the First Queen… I’m not lying to you! Vivian really did ‘perform a ceremony to switch bodies with the first queen’!

“No, wait a minute, no matter how you say it…”

As I listened to Ainsel’s plea, I closed her mouth and fell into trouble.

The first queen who committed suicide two years ago.

A month ago, Vivian held a ceremony to switch bodies with the first queen.

And then, I entered Vivian’s body due to the failure of that ritual.

‘If Ainsel’s words are true, then why did Vivian only try to switch bodies with the first queen after two years? It makes no sense. Two years have passed and his body has rotted-‘

Huh?

In an instant, a thought flashed through my brain and I looked up at Ainsel. Maybe it’s not what I think? As if I couldn’t understand, I asked Ainsel, wiping the corner of her mouth.

“Are you alive? The first queen?”

-……

Aincel didn’t say anything more. She doesn’t even nod, just keeps silent. I guessed that this was what Ainsel couldn’t say, ‘what to do by staying here’.

“I heard that the body of the first queen is buried in the royal tomb behind the royal castle. Am i right? Ainsell?”

-……

“…Why did the first queen commit suicide?”

-……

“Your Majesty, so the reason why the king stayed away is also the problem of the first queen?”

-……

I was convinced when I saw Ainsel’s reaction, as if he couldn’t answer anything about the first queen. Did you do any contracts? It was frustrating, to the point of going crazy.

…Even if the first queen was alive, this was a very dizzying problem. In the first place, she said that the fact that the first queen committed suicide was a story known to everyone in the royal castle.

That is also the story that the first queen hanged herself and took her own life.

The problem was that everyone thought the first queen was dead. In other words, if her first queen is really alive like Ainsel’s reaction, it means that her first queen is completely hiding her own life and death.

‘What the hell is going on? Is the first queen also a witch? Or is she a possessed person like me? Is that why she lives in hiding, hiding her life and death? Then where is she hiding?’

No matter how much I thought about it, the information was too lacking. Since the person who will fill in the information is keeping her mouth shut… First of all, judging by Ainsel’s reaction, it seemed right to judge that the first queen was alive.

I rolled my eyes and looked at Ainsel. When I saw Ainsel standing hesitantly, I felt somewhat frustrated and thought, ‘Can I really trust this mirror?’

“Whoa…”

The moment she let out a long sigh in frustration, Ainsel, whose tears were welling up on her, spoke in a very small voice as if holding back her tears.

-Hyuk, I’m sorry… I know you’re frustrated, but… Mi, I’m sorry… I couldn’t say more… But, uh, I can’t help it… I’m weak and It’s just a useless mirror.

While she was talking, Ainsel couldn’t hold back her tears, and eventually her tears welled up in her eyes and dripped down her cheeks. Her tears, which had once started to flow, grew thicker and did not seem to stop.

Eventually, Ainsel crouched down as if about to collapse, hugging her knees and bowing her head, curling her body into a circle. I don’t know why she can’t talk…

From my point of view, it looked like it was quite unfair.

I got off the bed, crouched down at her eye level, and looked at Ainsel, who rolled her body into a ball. Ainsel, who had started to cry after putting her head in her lap, now began to wail, saying ‘Huh-Huh-Huh’.

“…Okay, I was wrong, so let’s get up. Huh?”

-Huh. Heh, heh, heh

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“Yes, yes, shall we talk about something else? So… About the princess’s ‘class’ from tomorrow.”

When I brought up the story of her princess’ class, Ainsel raised her head as if interested in her. I read Ainsel in a calm voice, like soothing a child.

“My, you will have to help me with the class starting tomorrow… No, I really need Aincel!”

– Me..? Me..? How..? Am I just a mirror?

With her self-esteem running low, Ainsel buried her head in her lap again and started rolling on the floor. What the hell happened to her and the first queen, and her self-esteem would hit rock bottom just by talking about the first queen?

Kuh-hum, I cleared my throat and started talking about the class from tomorrow.

“That’s right…”

*

The princess, holding an armful of books, was walking waddlingly toward Her Highness’s room. Seeing this, Ellie quickly grabbed the princess’s book as if taking her book from her arms, and she asked the princess.

“Princess..? Why are you carrying so many books?”

“Yeah, but… Her Highness the Queen didn’t tell her what kind of lessons she was doing… because…”

“Uh…That’s right… Shall I ask Her Highness the Queen?”

The princess shook her head.

It was because I didn’t want to offend Her Highness the Queen from the first day of class. She was afraid that if she ordered her maid without asking directly, she would get angry like the Marquis.

The princess looked at Ellie with her arms wide open, asking for the book Ellie was holding in her arms. Ellie said she would carry the books herself, but she picked up the ten books she had used in class and followed the princess.

“Princess… Don’t worry too much, it’s okay. Her Highness, the Queen, will not teach like the Marquis.”

“Is that so..?”

The princess shrugged her shoulders as if she was slightly uneasy about Ellie’s story. When she played in the garden, she didn’t know because it was strange, but when she thought about it now, she had a lot of bad rumors about her before the queen.

She was the one who hated herself in the first place. Every time she met, she didn’t hit her, but she was the one who would swear, click her tongue, and look at herself with a gaze that said she’d seen something she really couldn’t see.

The princess had no idea why such a person would suddenly take over as her own ‘teacher’. All she could do was pray fervently, that she didn’t have to be spanked like the Marquis.

As she put her hands together and said her prayers, she arrived in front of Her Majesty’s room before she knew it. The princess gulped in front of her large door, swallowed her dry saliva, lifted her head and stared blankly at the door.

“Princess, can you open the door?”

“Ah, no, it’s okay..!”

Seeing Ellie’s arms shaking as she held ten books, the princess quickly knocked on Her Highness’s door. Then, she quickly heard Her Highness the Queen’s voice telling her to come in from the inside.

Opening the door, the princess quickly bowed her head and greeted Her Highness the Queen.

“Wow, see Her Highness the Queen-!”

Kwadeuk-

Perhaps because she was too nervous, the princess chewed her tongue out in the middle of her greeting. The princess’ eyes stinged in pain as if she were about to burst into tears, and her tears leaked out.

The embarrassment of making a mistake in her first greeting and the tearful tongue made the princess unable to think properly. He had to say hello again quickly, but his tongue hurt so the words didn’t come out.

Just at that moment when I was at a loss for what to do, Her Highness the Queen began to move. The princess closed her eyes tightly, and with her head bowed, she had no choice but to stand still, not knowing what to do.

As they stood still, Her Highness knelt in front of the princess.

“Princess, ah, let’s try.”

“Huh.”

“Quickly.”

According to Her Highness’ words, the princess opened her mouth wide. After examining the inside of the princess’s mouth, Her Highness smiled and raised her body.

“Fortunately, there is no bleeding. You’ll be fine soon.”

“Yes, yes heh…”

The princess blankly looked up at Her Highness the Queen.

And at the sight of Her Highness the Queen, the Princess tilted her head and looked at her. She was hardly wearing a teacher’s outfit for class. From a large white brim hat to a dress that is good for activities.

In the eyes of the princess, Her Highness’s attire looked like someone going on a picnic. Her Highness the Queen, wearing a large brim hat, asked Eli, who was standing next to the princess.

“Ellie? What is that book?”

“Uh, it is necessary for the princess’s class…”

“Let’s see… administration, diplomacy, military science, law, economy, monarchy…?”

Looking at the textbook Ellie was holding, Her Highness the Queen let out a blank laugh as if it were absurd.

Her Majesty the Queen, having received her Ellie as if taking her books from her hands, tossed her books on her own bed.

Books spilled and bounced on the bed, and several books fell under the bed.

As the princess stared blankly at the figure, Her Highness the Queen put a large brim hat on the princess.

“I don’t need books in my class.”

“Yes..? Uh, but… in the Marquis’s class…”

“What is the theory of monarchy when you are only six years old? You can learn that much later.”

She pressed the brim hat over the princess’s head as if Her Majesty was dumbfounded, and she grabbed the brim cap and lifted it up as if the princess was invisible in front of her.

Then, I saw the expression of Her Highness the Queen, who smiled brightly.

“Get ready, today’s lesson will be at the lake in the garden.”

“Ho, Lake..?”

“Yes.”

Her Highness the Queen smiled and crouched down to meet the princess and her gaze. The princess, slightly embarrassed, grabbed her brim hat.

“Let’s go boating.”