Edan answered with an even lower voice to his urging question.

“Is it not enough explanation to say it’s mine?”

“Are you just saying it’s possessiveness, sir?”

Hillstain’s persistent gaze, which seemed to say it couldn’t be, did not leave me.

The confrontation continued in a tension that seemed unending.

“Sir Hillstain! What are you doing? Hurry and catch…!”

When Ivy’s voice broke the silence once again, Edan moved nimbly and leapt onto the windowsill.

As I turned around, Hillstain was looking at us with a sinister smile.

“Just wait a bit.”

Edan issued a warning that wasn’t a warning and plunged straight down.

I held my breath and lost consciousness in that state.

Swoosh- I opened my eyes to a sound like film rolling.

Everything around was hazy as if covered in fog. I rubbed my eyes and turned my head towards the sound again, and a book was turning pages in mid-air.

‘What is this?’

As I blinked in confusion for a moment, several pages that seemed torn from the book rose into the air.

Scene after scene passed before my eyes like a panorama.

This was the true story of Latieana and Ivy that I didn’t know.

I saw Ivy with unkempt hair.

She was such a plain girl that if it weren’t for her hair color, I wouldn’t have known it was Ivy.

She was so thin and small that it was hard to believe she was nearly twenty years old.

Thin and tanned from the country sun, Ivy looked completely different from how I had known her.

Wearing rustic clothes covered in dust and black ash, Ivy was sweating nervously.

And in front of her was the real Latieana.

The two of them were standing holding hands in the backyard of the dilapidated orphanage building.

‘La, La, Latieana. Fo, forget what happened today. Th, this is a secret between you and me.’

Though she stuttered, Ivy spoke looking directly into Latieana’s eyes, and Latieana nodded blankly, her gaze unfocused.

‘Okay. I will.’

‘G, good.’

Ivy smiled with satisfaction.

The scene changed, and Ivy who appeared on the screen again had somehow become a little prettier. Her freckles had disappeared and her skin had become clear.

Her dark skin had also become a bit lighter.

As time passed, Ivy slowly began to become more and more beautiful, while conversely, Latieana began to look more and more haggard.

As if on that day when they held hands in the orphanage backyard, Latieana’s vitality had somehow transferred to Ivy.

While I was watching Ivy, satisfied with her much prettier appearance than before, swoosh- with the sound of pages turning, the scene changed rapidly.

The village was all in a bustle.

News spread that people from the temple were coming to the village to find holy maiden candidates.

‘La, Latieana! Over here.’

Ivy called Latieana to the backyard once again.

‘What is it, Ivy? Haven’t you heard the director yet? He said to gather quickly.’

‘I, I know. That’s why, La, Latieana. Can you give me your ha, hand?’

‘Why my hand?’

‘It, it’ll just take a moment.’

‘Oh geez. We don’t have time.’

As soon as Latieana grasped Ivy’s hand, she lost focus.

Large, vivid black lines spread from Ivy’s body like blood vessels, then quickly extended towards Latieana like tree roots.

When the mysterious black tendrils enveloped Latieana’s body, pink healing power surged up.

And that power was gradually moving towards Ivy along the tendrils.

Before long, Ivy had absorbed most of Latieana’s power.

It happened in an instant.

When everything became quiet again, Latieana was in a daze like last time.

‘Latieana, wake up. This is a secret between you and me.’

‘Mmm.’

As if not remembering what had just happened, like last time, Latieana nodded.

Looking exhausted, Latieana leaned against the back wall of the building and fell into a sleep-like state.

When it was all over, Ivy had become so beautiful that she could be said to be a completely different person.

Her stuttering, anxious speech was gone, and her shoulders that had been hunched with insecurity were now straight.

‘Such power suits me more than the likes of you. It was a power I should have. It just went to you by mistake.’

Ivy stroked Latieana’s fallen hair.

‘Are you alright, Latieana?’

With a grinning face, Ivy yanked her hair hard.

The pink hair that had been softly shimmering in the sunlight instantly lost its vitality.

‘Oh, what tremendous power!’

Soon after, the priests who visited the village from the temple exclaimed in admiration towards Ivy. The artifact shone so brightly that anyone could see it was clearly different from others. At Ivy’s urging, Latieana also placed her hand on the artifact.

Latieana’s faint power shone so dimly it could be said to be even less than that of common holy maiden candidates.

‘I’m not sure if this one would be of any use if we take her.’

‘Maybe soon…’

Hearing the priests talking in low voices, Ivy hurriedly spoke to them.

‘Please let my friend come along too. I’ll be too lonely by myself!’

‘Well, if that’s the case…’

The priests then loaded the two of them into a carriage.

With that scene, swoosh- several pages turned at once, and after a while, the screen appeared again.

It was the temple in the middle of the night.

Ivy was looking down at Latieana.

‘Today is the last day, Latieana.’

Ivy reached out towards Latieana, who had become unsightly thin and pale. Tears were flowing from Latieana’s eyes as she lay collapsed on the floor.

‘Ivy, how could you do this to me… Why…’

Ivy wrapped her hands around Latieana’s throat as she barely moved her dry lips.

‘It’s because you’re stupid that you were deceived. From today on, I’m the real one. Goodbye.’

Ivy gently smiled as she took all of Latieana’s power.

All of Latieana’s beauty and shining light became Ivy’s.

Black tendrils instantly enveloped Latieana, and when she reappeared, Latieana had turned into a mummy. Her cherry blossom-colored hair, which had remained beautiful even after losing its vitality, became dry and brittle like dust.

Just like Ivy’s hair at the orphanage.

Ivy, who had been staring at the hair that had become so dry it would crumble if squeezed tightly, got up from her seat with satisfaction.

‘Help! My friend has died!’

Ivy’s face as she shouted was filled with a smile of utmost happiness.

Rumble- Boom boom!

“Gasp!”

I suddenly sat up, startled by the thunderous sound as if the world was collapsing.

Lightning flashed outside the large window. I squinted and closed my eyes, then opened them to find a room brightly lit by a chandelier.

As soon as I came to my senses, I hurriedly felt my hands.

“Thank goodness…”

My right hand, which had turned into a dried-up mummy, was back to normal.

“The princess has awakened!”

Huh? Princess? Who? Me?

I quickly looked around to find an unfamiliar room.

A fireplace with flames rising, dark but luxurious furniture, a thick blanket of moderate weight covering my body.

Three or four maids in maid uniforms were looking at me lying under that blanket.

“Are you alright, Your Highness?”

What’s with this pattern? An unfamiliar ceiling and an unfamiliar title…

“J-just a moment. My head…”

I held my forehead, overwhelmed by the rushing reality, when someone entered the room as if they had been waiting for me to wake up.

The maids simultaneously retreated on cue.

“Are you awake, princess?”

As I raised my head, there was Edan with a gentle smile in his eyes.

Are you in your right mind? The culprit who made me a princess has appeared.

“You may leave now.”

With a light gesture from Edan, the maids disappeared in an instant.

“Why that expression? Don’t you like it?”

Edan quietly closed the door.

“What is this?”

“What is what.”

Edan approached me with long strides and lightly placed the back of his hand on my forehead.

It seems I had a fever while I was unconscious, as there was a bag of ice on the small console beside the bed.

“What happened? What about Sir Hillstain? And Ivy? How did we escape from the temple…”

“Ask one question at a time slowly.”

Edan met my gaze and gently stroked my cheek.

I froze with my mouth agape.

Ah, right. One by one. Calming my excited heart, I asked.

“How did we escape?”

At my calmed voice, Edan patted my head as if to say ‘well done’ and headed towards the console under the window.

As he picked up a glass, rain began to pour heavily outside. Pitter-patter- Edan paused for a moment, glancing outside, then his hand began to move again.

“I jumped from the window, and we escaped using a portal that Maxium uses.”

“Didn’t Sir Hillstain chase after us?”

“Unfortunately not.”

Unfortunately? That’s fortunate, isn’t it?

“If he had chased us, I would have killed him right then and there.”

Edan truly looked disappointed, as if he had lost a toy he was playing with.

He’s insane. Even for Edan, it wasn’t a situation where we could easily escape.

Whatever Hillstain was thinking, it was fortunate that he let us go anyway.

‘But that look in his eyes at the end, really. I never want to see it again.’

Remembering that piercing gaze that seemed to cling, I got goosebumps again.

Edan picked up the teapot with a clatter.

“The doctor strongly recommended drinking something warm, is that okay?”

“Yes. It’s fine.”

Edan’s body movements were elegant yet unbound by rules. Every time he moved so properly like that, I realized he was of noble birth.

As I was observing Edan’s actions as if entranced, I suddenly looked at my hand again.

I opened and closed my hand, examining it from various angles. Contrary to my worries, my hand had completely returned to normal.