I Raised Snow White!

26. Pandora’s Box (3)

[Episode 26] – Pandora’s Box (3)

“Coke! Coke!”

I lifted up the mirror, the main body of Aincel, and looked at the red handprints clearly left on my neck. Seeing the dark red handprints on his white neck gave him goosebumps.

‘He said he didn’t want to kill me…’

I thought that if it was too late to call Sylphy a little longer, I would have really died. I still feel like my throat is tight, so I caress my neck, get up from the floor, and look at Sylphy.

-Baby, are you okay?

“Thank you, thanks to you.”

-Whoops, since I promised to help you once without a price. I just kept my promise to open it.

Sylphy flew in and landed on my shoulder, smiling brightly. Really, in her fading mind, if she hadn’t remembered the promise Sylphy had given her…

I shook my head and stopped thinking to get rid of bad thoughts. I got up from my seat and looked around the room, which was chaotic because of the wind, but Aurora was nowhere to be seen.

I felt like I knew a little bit now. Why did Vivian ‘fail’ the ceremony and die? Perhaps it was because the body of the first queen was not the soul of the first queen, but the soul of the king.

Then, what Sylphy said about the ‘consciousness that was wrong from the premise’ made some sense. I looked at ‘His Majesty’ sitting in the chair, caressing his neck, which still seemed to be tightening.

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‘……Maybe it would be better now.’

Suddenly, a thought I had the other day came to mind. This room is called Pandora’s box, filled with things I can’t handle. When I thought of that, I smiled bitterly.

Isn’t that really what you think?

‘What the hell am I supposed to do here?’

It was good that the king had opened the room where he was hiding, but in reality the king was as good as dead. Because that dried up corpse on the bed is definitely the body of the ‘King’.

This alone makes me crazy, but there wasn’t only a ‘king’ in this room. The first queen, Aurora, who was thought to be dead, was alive and guarding the dead king.

Calling himself ‘King’.

What would other people think of this situation?

The first queen, whom she thought was dead, murdered the king?

Or was it that even death couldn’t cut their love for each other?

Maybe the latter?

The story that others could not see the ‘fairy’ and that the first queen and the king acted as if they couldn’t live without each other was already a well-known rumor among the people of the kingdom.

Whatever the truth was, it was clear that the story would probably flow in the latter direction. It wouldn’t do any good if rumors spread that the king was murdered by the first queen.

It was enough to make this situation like a fairy tale.

If the story of the two were to be made into a fairy tale, wouldn’t this be the last line?

‘Their love couldn’t even cut through death.’

However, reality was not ideal like the last words of a fairy tale.

I slowly approached ‘His Majesty’ who was staring blankly at the canvas from a chair. I got down on one knee, held her skinny hand, and looked up. The pupils of the red eyes that had turned cloudy were released.

“Your Majesty.”

Still, the king did not answer my call. However, I firmly grasped the king’s hand and called out once more, asking the king what he wanted to ask.

“Your Majesty, do you remember the child you gave birth to?”

This was a question asked of both the king and the first queen.

Ironically, the body of the person I held hands belonged to the first queen, and the soul belonged to the king. I thought there would be no response, but the king’s hand twitched and he turned his head to look down at me.

“A child…?”

“Yes, the child you had with the person you love.”

At the word ‘child’, the king burst into laughter.

“Ah- remember, you are talking about a child born because the elders were making too much noise. Why did the child even die? So, did you come to find Jim? To receive Jim’s seed?”

“…A child born out of being noisy?”

The king smiled and shook his head and started talking nonsense. The turbid red eyes no longer contain me. It was just that he continued his ‘delusion’.

“Yes, he was born at the urging of the elders, saying that he should succeed the royal family. So you didn’t marry Jim? Uh? Why did you marry Jim? Aurora is dead…? No, Aurora is always by my side…”

The king turned his head and searched the room as if looking for something. His eyes widened, and he was short of breath. And then, he groaned and fell to the floor.

“Ah-! Also, where did you leave your luggage again, Aurora! Ah!! Aww!! Aurora!!!!”

I struggled in the picture of Aurora, scratching the pictures scattered on the floor with my arms. Like, he was like a man screaming for help from a swamp he couldn’t get out of.

‘…You guys, in the end, abandon that child to the end.’

I thought there was no point in talking further, so I got up and turned my back on him. Then Sylphy asked me slightly worried.

-Is it okay to go on like this? I know that humans serve an authoritative person called a king… If left as it is, he will do what Aga thinks…

I will die.

Like Aurora said, he seemed really short-lived. Perhaps within a day, or a week at the latest, he and she would be found dead here.

When I arrived at the door, I turned my back for a moment and looked at him struggling on the floor. He hugged Laura’s painting he had drawn in his arms and curled up his body like a baby.

“It’s okay.”

I opened the tightly closed door again.

I walked out of the room without looking back.

“He is not my king.”

The door to the room closed again with a thud.

It was clear that there would be a big commotion in the royal castle within this week.

A great commotion caused by the king’s death.

*

I came out of the king’s room, left the unconscious Aincel’s body in my room, and headed for the princess’s room. The knights asked if I had entered the king’s chambers.

I made an excuse, ‘How the hell am I supposed to get into a locked room?’

As soon as he said that he had only shouted and knocked on the door in front of the king’s room, the knights nodded in agreement and started guarding the room in front of the king’s room again.

I didn’t even know that the king was already dead.

When we arrived in front of the princess’s room, Ellie was standing guard in front of the princess’s door with a worried expression on her face. She spotted me approaching from the end of the hallway, Ellie winced and then she came over to me.

“Wow, Her Highness the Queen… The Princess is sleeping now…”

“…Okay, I guess I should just look at your face for a while.”

When I opened the door and entered, I saw a darkened room with the curtains drawn. And, the image of the princess on the bed with the blanket over her head was also seen.

I slowly approached the princess as I watched her lying on the bed, wrapped in a blanket like a caterpillar. And lying softly on the bed, looking down at the princess…

“Stop pretending to be sleeping, don’t you know I have a habit of sleeping with you?”

“Ah! Ahahahaha! I’m sorry! That stop…! Ahahahaha!”

He tickled the side of the princess on the futon.

The princess, who really wriggled like a caterpillar, poked her face out over the rolled up blanket and looked up at me. Although she was laughing because of the tickling, she could see that the princess’ eyes were slightly reddened.

“…Were you crying?”

“Oh, no… I didn’t cry…”

The princess shook her head and said no, but from the sniffling of her nose and her red eyes, I could tell that she was crying under the covers.

I slowly lifted the princess up and put her on my lap, just like a caterpillar. The princess, who had quickly become embraced in my arms, struggled, not knowing what to do.

“Princess.”

“Yes, yes…?”

…Can I talk to the princess?

No, there was no way I could say it. Your father, the king, is already dead. In that room, not only the king, but also the first queen was there.

Those you sought love forgot you were even here. You are a child born only because you need an heir. You are a child who has never been loved even once.

There was no way I could speak.

“…Next time, let’s draw on a bigger piece of paper.”

“Yeah, but…”

“Don’t give it to His Majesty this time, why don’t we keep it to ourselves? Like last time, I’m going to draw a cat, a cake, a princess, and me, and an angel next to me.”

Holding the shoulders of the princess in my arms, I continued my story slowly. Even if they don’t give love, there are many people around you who love you.

“It would be nice to see you standing in the flower field like last time. Ellie and, yes, let’s draw Bansho too. It must be easy to draw since Bang Shaw has no hair.”

The princess laughed at my joke. Even the young princess seemed to know that Bangshaw’s hair was not young.

“And let’s decorate the room by hanging it in a large picture frame. No, how about hanging it in the hallway this time? It wouldn’t hurt to let everyone see it.”

As I brushed the princess’ disheveled hair, I spoke to her in a gentle voice. The princess looked at me as if she was going to cry a little, then smiled and nodded her head.

“Are you feeling better now?”

“…Yes. But… One thing… I want to ask Her Highness the Queen…”

The princess hesitated slightly and continued talking to me. Then she lifted her head slightly, covered my ears with both hands, and whispered. Even in this place where no one will listen but us.

“It’s embarrassing to hang it in the hallway. Can’t I just hang it up in my room…?”

Hearing the shy request, I smiled and looked down at the princess. The princess looked at my smile and tried to smile slightly, but…

“No. This time I’m going to hang the princess’ picture in the royal hall so everyone can see it.”

“Ah, ah…!”

Of course I’m joking, but the princess’s face started to turn pale. Seeing that, I smiled at her and hugged her princess in her arms.

The princess struggled a little as if she was choking her breath, but for a moment, even for a moment, she wanted to hug her. If I didn’t do this at all, I thought the princess would notice that I was anxious.

For the first time, I made up my mind to let people die.

The anxiety caused by that choice seemed to keep tightening her throat.

Like Aurora strangled me.

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