The Lighthouse in the Storm

We came down from the mountain the moment the blizzard showed the slightest sign of letting up.

It was already well past midnight. The path down was pitch black, so I had clung to Varkan's forearm like a lifeline the whole way — and yet the grand duchy in the distance glowed with an almost unbelievable brightness. Like a lighthouse encountered in the middle of a storm-lashed night sea.

Despite the late hour, no one in the duchy had gone to sleep. It was only natural, with both the Grand Duke and the princess unaccounted for. Servants and knights stood clustered together, torches and lamps in hand, fully armed and ready to climb the mountain the instant the snow stopped.

The moment we entered the back courtyard, Celine spotted me through the crowd and came bounding out, face crumpled with tears.

"My lady!"

Her small body ran straight into my waist with a thud. Oof! I staggered back with a playful laugh, and she wrapped her arms tight around my waist, looking up at me with a sob.

"Why are you only back now?! Do you have any idea how worried I've been?! I— I really thought... I thought you were really gone, and I—"

Waaah! She buried her face in my stomach and burst into tears, nose and all. I slowly patted her round little head as she wailed.

"Celine..."

"My laaady...!"

I patted her back, telling her to calm down, and said, "What a shame, Celine."

"...What?"

The sniffling girl looked up at me, and I grinned wickedly. "You just missed the perfect chance to have my emergency savings all to yourself. The ones hidden under my bed."

At my joke, Celine's eyes — which had only just steadied — wavered again before she burst into even sadder tears. "Waaah! I never needed any of that in the first place!"

How desperately, how adorably her little fern-leaf hands clutched the hem of my cloak. Watching myself find her flustered innocence so endearing, I realized anew just how twisted my own heart truly was.

I hugged her tight. Even back in Bilote Village, where I'd lived all those long years, no one had ever worried over me like this...

As I soothed Celine's back, I happened to turn my head. A little ways off, Varkan was removing his soaked cloak and handing it to a servant while listening to reports from his aide Roan and the knights.

Then, across the air, our eyes met briefly.

"..."

"..."

"The princess is a nuisance."

His voice echoing in the cave flashed through my mind — along with that arrogant look, as if he wanted nothing more than to snap a collar around my neck and haul me off somewhere.

Very well, Your Grace.

Go ahead and try putting that collar on me.

Because even if you do, I'm the kind of person who'll dig straight down into the ground right where I stand.

Anyone who goes meek the moment they're threatened is the real madman, isn't she?

It's the one who can't take a hint and rages even harder who's properly insane.

I turned my head away first. "Let's go inside, Celine."

"Yes, my lady."

The next morning.

Perhaps because we were due to leave for the Imperial Palace the following day, the duchy had been in a flurry of preparations since dawn. Thanks to that, I woke earlier than usual and headed down to the first floor with Celine.

All the way down the stairs and along the corridor, I kept crossing paths with the castle's servants. Whenever I approached, they would step back toward the wall with an almost imperceptible motion, clearing the way and bowing their heads. Needless to say, there was not a trace of warmth or feeling in their eyes or their manner. Stiff, dry, and utterly businesslike.

Just as I reached the first floor, I ran headlong into the Head Maid, Rayna, coming from the opposite direction. Neatly coiled hair, ramrod-straight posture — she walked with not a single gap in her composure.

"Where might you be headed, Your Highness?"

"Just a short stroll in the garden. I've been cooped up in my room so long, I feel stifled."

At my answer, Rayna's gaze swept over my clothing. Then, without a word, she gestured to the maid beside her. A moment later the maid returned with a thick fur scarf, which Rayna took and wrapped around my neck herself.

"You must not underestimate the northern winter wind."

"Are you worried about me?"

"Should you catch a chill, the schedule for the journey to the palace would be disrupted."

Rayna fingered the scarf and continued in her flat, matter-of-fact voice. "The dress you are to wear at the palace must be inspected after lunch, so I ask that you keep the schedule in mind, Your Highness."

"I will."

The moment I answered, Rayna gave a slight bow and brushed past me without a backward glance, on her way. I watched her retreating figure for a moment, then started walking toward the garden again.

The duchy's garden lay blanketed white under the night's snow. Whenever the wind blew between the neatly trimmed hedges and the frozen fountain, the drifts scattered and swirled.

"Aren't you cold, my lady?"

Celine hurried along at my side, asking in her quick little steps. I shook my head.

"Not cold at all. The wind blowing toward my future is far more brutal than the North's infamous chill — this is nothing."

"...What?"

"There's such a thing, Celine."

As we walked along the garden path, we came upon two knights on patrol. They stopped the instant they spotted us.

"Your Highness."

The two knights bowed in unison. I gave a light nod and greeted them brightly. "You work hard."

"It is our duty."

They stepped aside to let me pass, and once I was a few paces off, resumed their patrol. I glanced back at their upright figures and let out a small sigh.

Every servant and knight in the duchy was like this. Not disrespectful — but not kind or warm, either.

Not that it was a bad thing. The fact that I felt no rudeness from the Grand Duchy's people meant they were putting in that much effort.

A war that had stolen parents, siblings, comrades, and friends. Of course they would hate the princess of the enemy nation that started it — hate her enough to want her dead. And yet none of them showed me hostility or loathing.

Just once. Aside from the two servants I'd overheard talking about Varkan making me do maid's work, no one so much as mentioned me carelessly.

Probably because of the Grand Duke.

Perhaps they thought that being rude to me, even as a princess from an enemy land, would tarnish Varkan's honor for having brought me here.

Well, though the person in this entire castle who looks at me like I'm the most worthless thing alive happens to be Varkan himself.

He had to escort the mad princess of an enemy nation — forcibly dumped on him by the Emperor — all the way to the Imperial Palace, so I could understand his prickliness to a degree.

And speaking of the palace...

When I'd first arrived at the duchy, all I'd thought about was removing the Helbine and surviving under the Bellum Guild's watchful eyes. But now this enormous stage called the Imperial Palace had appeared out of nowhere.

The situation had changed. I could no longer afford to ignore the original story.

Even in the original novel, relations between the imperial family and the Grand Duchy of Escar were poor. The Grand Duchy had long wanted independence as a duchy. Defending the brutal northern lands, holding back the endlessly surging monsters — all of it fell on their shoulders alone. Yet the imperial family, while fearing the North's overwhelming military might, refused independence with every petty excuse they could dredge up. The Grand Duchy of Escar had been the empire's shield and its sword for generations.

And that precariously balanced relationship plunges to its absolute worst when Varkan meets Floria, the original novel's heroine. Crown Prince Kain and Grand Duke Varkan, locked in a blood-spitting rivalry over one woman.

Reading it as a reader, that conflict was thrilling and fun... but still.

The one mercy was that there had been no word yet of Floria awakening as a saintess. According to the original story, her being summoned to the heart of the palace was still some time off. So the odds of Varkan and Floria crossing paths on this trip were low.

The problem was the original's male lead, Crown Prince Kain...

The plan to live quietly without ever getting tangled up with the protagonists went overboard long ago.

From the moment I witnessed the real princess's death in that dark forest and entered the castle under her identity, I had to admit I was already deeply entangled in the whirlpool of this grand narrative.

Not that I intend to walk meekly into that whirlpool.

Until now, I'd avoided recalling or making use of the original story, determined not to get involved. But my life was hanging by a thread — I had no choice anymore. If only I could remove the Helbine and leave this cursed continent behind.

And if I can do that, then I'll just have to squeeze the original story for every last drop it's worth!