People Aren't Meant to Be Fixed! - Chapter 53

“Your Highness, this is what Poppy just bit!”

Ronowe held out a gift about the size of her head towards me.

“Come closer and take a look.”

“Very well.”

I approached with my arms crossed. As I carefully traced the surface with my fingertips, the texture wasn’t entirely unfamiliar.

‘It’s strangely familiar. It resembles a conch shell. But I’ve never seen one this big. I think I’ve found something similar but much smaller before.’

As I rummaged through old memories, I naturally received the gift from Ronowe and turned it this way and that, suddenly recalling a brief life in a small fishing village.

Unlike the perfect life of a princess with everything provided, back then I was the daughter of a poor couple who could barely make ends meet. Our circumstances were so dire that we couldn’t even afford medicine when sick, so at the time I thought I was doomed and gave up on finding the answer to God’s question.

I don’t know exactly how old I was when I died, but the only thing I clearly remember is that with my weak, dying body, I mustered up the strength to take one last walk on the beach. On the way home, I picked up a few seashells and conch shells, then lay in bed fiddling with them before closing my eyes for the last time.

‘How strange. To think I remember even this.’

I suppose it remained etched in my mind since it was the life where I first saw the sea.

I lack literary talent, so I’m not sure how to describe it, but the feeling of the sea I saw and felt firsthand while walking barefoot on the sand was special.

Understandably so, since there was no sea in the paradise where I lived my first life, making it novel.

Even though I’ve lived for hundreds of years, dying and being reborn repeatedly, trapped in the cycle of immortality, I never had a connection with water. So just having lived near the sea once gave it meaning.

Still, it was just part of the repeating lives, no different from the others except for the sea. I can’t even clearly remember the names or faces of the family I lived closely with in that life, which says it all.

To begin with, it’s abnormal to perfectly recall large amounts of memories without any discrepancies.

Even for my primordial life, aside from Yongyong and a few other things, the rest of the memories were hazy no matter how hard I tried, like looking through a fog.

So if someone were to growl at me, threatening dire consequences if I didn’t tell them who I lived as 100 years ago, I wouldn’t be able to say anything.

But would such a bold person actually appear? Somehow, I feel like I’d harm them first.

Why, you ask?

Isn’t it obvious? Because they’d be impudent towards perfect me.

“Is it a snail?”

The more I look at it, the more it resembles a conch shell, but it’s not quite a conch shell.

Like how Ronowe occasionally changes, it seemed like something else wearing the disguise of a conch shell.

Perhaps it’s a byproduct left behind by a dead marine creature that drifted in the sea and happened to wash up on some shore, then someone made it into a souvenir.

‘It’s creepy.’

Just thinking of it as a corpse makes me shudder, but seeing how well it’s been processed to be presented as a gift to royalty, it would be perfect to sweep up a bunch, increase their monetary value, and export them for trade.

Wouldn’t vain people scramble to buy them?

“Ronowe, does anything come to mind for you?”

Meanwhile, I casually asked Ronowe, feeling a bit foolish for having been lost in thought. Standing still right next to her could lead to unnecessary misunderstandings.

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

Tch, even someone who knows about the book by scholar ‘Rof de Zaniata’ doesn’t know this. I clicked my tongue inwardly, expressing disappointment.

“Is that so? I thought you might know.”

Then I shrugged and looked at Carlyle. It was strange that he hadn’t come closer during all this commotion, when I expected him to.

“Kwaek…”

As it turned out, Carlyle had been continuously comforting Poppy. Thanks to that, Poppy had stopped crying loudly and was now just sniffling, leaning her back against Carlyle’s chest and looking up at the ceiling.

Anyone could see it was a face of regret.

‘No matter how strong your appetite is, to try to eat that…’

When we first got Poppy, there was the mosquito incident, so I was happy thinking she might be able to stand up to God, but not anymore.

I found Poppy pathetic. I wondered what part of that conch shell looked like food to make her rush at it.

“Keep a close eye on that one.”

I sighed and gestured to Ronowe to go to Carlyle. I didn’t want to keep someone who didn’t know the answer to my question around for long.

“Watch over Poppy with Berith. She might pick up and eat something strange again.”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

If I had spoken frankly, she would have cried out “Uwaaaaang,” so I made up an excuse.

At this, Ronowe didn’t probe further and quickly ran over to where Carlyle was. After patting Poppy’s head a few times, she turned to Berith, who had suddenly appeared beside her, and smiled with her eyes.

“Poppy seems to be in a bad mood, so let’s cheer her up!”

“Okay, sounds good!”

Next, they started playing by throwing Poppy up in the air like a ball, which startled me. I was worried they might accidentally touch a sore spot or drop her on the floor.

But Ronowe and Berith skillfully passed Poppy back and forth like jugglers performing an act, and later they even held hands with Poppy between them, spinning around and dancing in circles.

I thought I should stop them, but Carlyle didn’t scold them for their outrageous behavior and instead clapped along.

Seeing this, I wanted to ask what on earth they were doing, but I gave up, feeling it would be making a fuss over nothing.

‘I hope there won’t be any more incidents now.’

I watched Poppy and Fleur playing with the children with a disinterested expression before returning to my original spot. With three people looking after Poppy, I was confident there wouldn’t be any unfortunate incidents of damaging the items sent by the nobles later.

“Your Highness.”

“What is it?”

Not long after, Sasha appeared as if he had been waiting and abruptly spoke.

He looked at the large gift I had brought. Anyone could see it was written all over his face: ‘I know what that is! I want to talk about what I know!’

In other words, Sasha was itching to show off his knowledge.

“I couldn’t interrupt earlier when you were speaking with Princess Ronowe.”

What is he up to now?

From our first meeting when he called me ‘elder sister,’ my impression and liking of Sasha were already low, so I was suspicious from the start. Although his tone was polite and gentle, he was the type to subtly get under people’s skin, so my reaction was natural.

“If it’s not too presumptuous, may I examine the gift for a moment?”

“Very well. Here it is.”

For a moment, I almost said ‘I don’t want to,’ but I quickly handed it over, thinking it wouldn’t be a loss if this guy could tell me what Ronowe didn’t know. It was perfect timing, as I had been considering asking a maid to hide it somewhere out of Poppy’s reach.

“Your Highness, this isn’t a snail, but a musical instrument called a conch horn.”

“I didn’t know such an instrument existed.”

In fact, the only musical instruments in my mind were the flutes, lutes, and lyres played by humans who came to praise me in paradise, and the piano and violin I had seen during my time as a noble young lady.

I might have seen other instruments too, but I didn’t pay much attention, so I can’t remember.

“In coastal regions, there are many crafts made from conch shells like this instrument. Your Highness probably didn’t know about it because you’ve been living inland.”

“How fascinating.”

At last, my curiosity was satisfied. I felt a sense of relief, as if something that had been blocked was suddenly cleared.

‘Should I try blowing it?’

It looked like an instrument that you blow into rather than hit or strike, so apart from its weight, it didn’t seem too difficult to handle.

“Alright, give it back to me for now.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

So I quickly took back the conch horn from Sasha, found the part where you put your lips at the end of the shell, and blew into it with all my might, my face turning bright red.

Pwooo~

‘Did I do something wrong?’

I hastily removed the conch horn from my lips, feeling embarrassed as Sasha’s gaze seemed to be looking at me as if I were a fool.

“Your Highness, the conch horn produces sound through lip vibration. If you blow too hard, you’ll tire quickly.”

“I… I see…”

Oh, you should have told me that when I asked for it back!

I gritted my teeth at the belated feeling of shame. I have my pride, you know. I’m not three years old anymore, and as the heir to the throne, I didn’t want to show such an unsightly display of being easily swayed by emotions.

“But how did you know about this?”

After catching my breath for a while, having overexerted myself trying to play the conch horn earlier, I finally managed to ask.

“Have you played this instrument before? I haven’t heard that you’re skilled with instruments.”

For a family that produces strategists, wouldn’t they have to change their career path if they showed talent in music?

“Ah, I only know about it because my mother is from a coastal region. Moreover, the conch horn was an instrument my sister often played.”

That’s right!

I remember Hecate mentioning it on the way back from visiting the Vladimir mansion before.

The Duchess is from a coastal region, she said.

“By sister, do you mean that child I saw at the mansion last time?”

How strange. That child who only exuded the aura of a corpse despite being alive, lying in bed – to think she could handle such a heavy instrument that even I find cumbersome.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Seeing Sasha’s expression soften at the mention of his sister, I felt a subtle discrepancy.

“Perhaps someday Your Highness will be able to hear my sister play the conch horn. If her health improves, that is.”

So there were times when she wasn’t sick. I thought I might have been suspicious for nothing, but this wasn’t the first time I’d felt something off about Sasha, so I decided to probe for information while pretending to change the subject.

“It seems she’s still quite ill. I’m sure you’ve tried all sorts of good medicines, but has there been no improvement at all?”

“No, that’s not necessarily the case.”

But to my surprise.

“I think I might be able to obtain a medicine that will cure my sister’s illness soon.”

Sasha’s demeanor changed drastically, and he smiled meaningfully.