“That makes this easy. Correct. He was a librarian of the royal palace library. But a mere librarian who knew too much and overstepped his bounds, if that counts as a reason to die, then that is the reason.”

“What kind of b*llshit is that?”

“Haha. You really are nothing like Princess Blair. This is why home education….”

Lia could no longer stand the man’s sneering.

“You. You can’t kill me, right? You have to keep me alive. So if I bite my tongue and die while fooling around with you, what happens to you? Hm? Aren’t you curious too? Shall I try?”

When Lia stared at him with eyes flashing with madness, the smile finally vanished from his face.

“From now on, don’t try anything funny, don’t toss in pointless words, and answer with proper courtesy toward the dead. The moment you sneer even once, I’ll bite my tongue off, so remember that clearly.”

“…My apologies. I overstepped as well.”

The man returned to his earlier manner and began to answer with a clean, unwasted breath.

“Noah’s life as Your Highness’s… father ended because he deceived the king, deceived the princess, and deceived the entire country.”

He cut himself off and glanced at her mouth.

“Continue.”

“He was a man who adored Lady Lorelia, Your Highness’s mother and the former queen. So naturally he helped Lady Lorelia at the risk of his life. Because he fled with you in order to save you and Princess Blair, born as twins.”

“!”

“He raised the king’s daughter as his own, a mere commoner’s daughter. That alone already makes him worthy of execution.”

“So what you’re saying is that I’m the king’s child.”

“Yes. You are a princess of this country, born between His Majesty King Gryphon and the former queen, Lady Lorelia.”

Lia realized that the truth her father hid was enormous and heavy.

The reason he moved house every year, kept her from befriending the villagers, and tore out parts of the books.

The reason he said so little about her mother despite missing her terribly.

The very reason he never sent his daughter, who longed to learn, to school and kept her only in his arms!

It was all her father’s ceaseless effort to erase her existence from the world and protect her from any possible threat!

“Do you have any more questions?”

The rims of her eyes burned red. She doggedly held back the tears threatening to burst out and asked the next question.

“You said it’s a curse. You said a twin princess is a curse in this country, so why are you looking for me now?”

She longed painfully to see her father’s softly wrinkled face, but the truth she absolutely needed to know was right before her, so she had to keep her mind straight.

“It’s simple. Living without knowing of your existence, we found that having only one princess in the castle solved everything. What curse? It was so peaceful.”

“Then. Then why do you need me?”

“Because Princess Blair passed away a few days ago.”

He lowered his eyebrows and the corners of his mouth as far as they would go, seemingly most regretful. The expression he made was a truly light sorrow.

“Marrying a handsome, splendid prince of a neighboring country. Isn’t that every princess’s dream and wish? That’s how I grew up believing, but apparently the reality differs. Perhaps throwing tantrums about not wanting to marry gave her a sickness of the heart, because she died young at dawn a few days ago, just like that.”

It was enough to make Lia’s rage explode.

“I told you to watch your mouth!”

“Ah. Ahh. So ‘courtesy for the dead’ included Lady Blair as well. My apologies. Shall I say it again?”

Lia wanted to wake from this terrible nightmare at once.

This was a dream. It had to be a dream.

Soon her father would push breakfast with a delicious aroma in front of her and gently urge her to get up. Then, as always, he would teach her the etiquette and refinement that only noblewomen would learn, and when noon came he would leave the house with a single fishing rod on his shoulder. Then night would come again….

In the end, Lia collapsed onto the bed and burst into tears.

The man, who watched while clicking his tongue, patted her shoulder a couple of times in the name of comfort.

“Still, you found your rightful place, so that’s fortunate. Poverty is over, and happiness begins.”

Lia thought she would sell her soul to the devil if she could only tear that damned mouth apart. How could her life, calm and peaceful like a lake, change so tragically? Overnight, no less.

The person she believed to be her father all her life was not her father, but even if he was not her real father, he was someone with whom she exchanged love with all her heart. That person was dead, and her twin sister, whom she never spoke a word to and met only in a drawing, was dead.

Was this what it felt like to be left alone in the world?

Lia despaired and despaired again.

What reason was there to live? She decided to bite her tongue.

“Oh dear.”

But his hand was one step faster. He pressed her cheeks with his thumb and index finger and spoke in an icy voice.

“You’ve heard enough, so now do your job. Sleep well, Princess.”

With the man’s words as the last thing she heard, a white handkerchief pressed against the edge of her slightly parted lips, and she sank into the world of unconsciousness again.

* * *

She did not know how much time passed, or whether it was day or night.

For four days, Lia lay sprawled on the huge bed without drinking a single sip of water. Her glossy white skin looked quite dry, and her black eyes, which always sparkled, lost their spirit. Even her lips were white and parched, so it would be no surprise if they split at any moment.

“His Majesty will arrive soon.”

“….”

The ghostlike man clicked his tongue at her silence and glared. Watching her not stir in the slightest, he was thinking how different they were for people born of the same womb.

The woman collapsed on the bed, breathing only faintly, was nothing like the frail Princess Blair.

Four days. Four whole days.

She fainted and woke repeatedly, but not once did she drink water of her own will. Without the man prying open her unconscious mouth to force water in, she might already have left this world.

That tiny girl did not know how to yield moderately and endured on spite alone.

Without the gag in her mouth, she might have bitten her tongue already.

She was armed to the teeth with poison and spite. The man even found the willpower of that small girl astonishing. However he thought about it, it was not something a nineteen-year-old girl could do.

Then again, even the way she acted in her first conversation with him showed she was far from ordinary.

She had no fear, could make quick judgments even in moments steeped in terror, and was very bold. It was a way of carrying herself he could never have imagined at nineteen. In her face, the man saw his master.

Just as the man swallowed dry saliva, the door burst open and King Gryphon appeared. The man immediately stepped aside and bowed his head.

The king walked straight toward Lia, who lay collapsed on the bed. A little light seeped into her murky eyes.

The king sat before the bed and pulled the gag from her mouth.

“Sit up. Are you not in front of your father?”

The king’s calm words made Lia’s corpse-like body shoot up at once.

“Ptoo!”

It happened in the blink of an eye. Lia spat in the king’s face.

“Ha! Hahahaha!”

The king laughed loudly, while the ghostlike man’s expression went cold. It was a stark contrast.

“How dare you call yourself a father.”

Her voice was dry and cracked, but it held considerable backbone.

King Gryphon wiped off the spit with a handkerchief and began scanning every part of Lia with sharp eyes.

“You truly look alike. Truly alike….”

Feeling like a snake was sliding across her whole body, small bumps rose on Lia’s bony arms.

“If I had to name a difference, perhaps it’s that the corners of your eyes tilt up a little more, like mine.”

The king was appraising her. It was by no means the attitude of a father facing a daughter he met after twenty years.

“Kill me.”

Lia said.

“Oh! That expression you’re wearing now is one I often make when I am furiously angry.”

King Gryphon clapped, wearing a pleased look.

“How could I kill the daughter I went to such trouble to bring back? Do not say cruel things, Blair.”

The smiling king’s eyes flashed.