Chapter 191: When the clock rings multiple times (2)

The sun was setting.

– Rustle, rustle…………

The ‘woman’ stumbled as she stood on the vast grassy field.

She put down the basket that she struggled to bring all the way here.

It really was hard to breathe now.

Her knees felt as if they might buckle at any moment, but she decided to push farther.

The power to persist was a part of her soul.

“Huff, huff, ugh…”

Desperation, vanity, futility. Those empty words flew across her mind.

Her body was at its limit.

The small territory in the southwest region was peaceful like its master and there were no cold winds.

Meeting her end in a warm place might be the greatest luxury for this ‘orphan.’

Her life started with empty hands and was ending with nothing.

It was not just her; it was the same for everybody in the circus troupe.

That was why a lonely death was destined from the beginning.

But why did it feel so absurd?

What the hell did she push herself for during her short life?

“Ha. Hahaha…”

The woman laughed after seeing the view just around the corner.

The Riester Empire was a rich and powerful place.

The current Empress cared for her people and showed off her firm authority.

Even as a clown at the bottom of the Empire’s totem pole, she had heard about the kind of person the Empress was and learned it.

However, the Empress was at too high of a place. That was her only flaw.

No matter how much she loved and worked hard for those beneath her, there was no way for a ruler to thoroughly look through all corners and gaps of her Empire.

It was physically impossible. The Empress was still human; she was not the Almighty God.

“No, that’s not it.”

The woman mumbled. The Empress might have been even colder toward her had she been the Almighty God.

The one and only god of the continent who was known for being capricious was, at times, extremely cruel.

“…Why the hell did I pray so hard?”

She did not manage to succeed in her revenge nor did she manage to save those who were as important to her as her own life.

Looking back at her life, it felt as if she had never received the Almighty God’s blessing.

If she had, the end of her life would not be cracking so much like the ground during a famine.

– Quack quack, honk!

A group of geese waddled as they flailed their wet feet. She was envious of them.

The woman stood up straight and greedily took in the warmth of another existence.

That was her final theft.

She then waited for her final moments.

The horizon was turning dark blue now that the sun had gone across.

There were no stars embedded in the sky.

* * *

– Clack, clack, clack!

“I see it, your highness! It’s the temple for the March!”

Christelle pointed outside the carriage window. I tightly clenched Julite’s headdress.

We frantically left Juliette Palace a few hours ago.

We were busy jumping into carriages and portals, giving me no time to put the headdress back in the box.

I kept it carefully inside my inner pocket with the crystal bell as we were in a rush.

I could see the two knights guarding the temple looking shocked as an Imperial family carriage suddenly arrived without prior notice.

“Woah, woah!”

– Neeeeeeigh!

A procession quickly formed at the entrance of the Sérénité March.

We quickly alighted once the coachman opened the door.

Percy was with us, but he instantly flew up into the sky and hid himself.

A knight confirmed our faces and quickly ran toward the Lord’s Castle.

He was probably delivering the message to the Chief Attendant, Chantal. The other one quickly bowed.

“I, I greet our esteemed Royal Highness and Prince Jesse Venetiaan.”

“Hello. Umm, where is the painting? I’m talking about Joanne’s latest work. .”

I urgently asked. The knight was about to respond, when…

“Huh? Isn’t it our flower of a Marquis?”

A familiar face walked over from the end of the colonnades.

The couple soldiers keeping an eye on her quickly bowed silently toward us.

“Did you come down because it was cold?”

The first born of the fallen Baron’s House of Haas, Joanne de Haas.

There was nothing very different about her except the luxurious cloth wrapped around her head was thicker for the winter weather and her cheeks and hands had paint on them.

She must have eaten well and been well as her light brown skin sparkled healthily.

She smelled like oil as she waved her arm. She then finally noticed crown prince Cédric and gasped before she got down on the ground.

‘You finally noticed that handsome face?’

“Your loyal subject greets our esteemed Royal Highness. Yessir.”

“… “Where is the painting?”

The crown prince held back a sigh as he asked.

This punk also seemed quite accustomed to Joanne’s nonsensical actions.

Joanne jerked her head up and tilted it side to side in confusion.

“You all came down to see my painting in advance? My lord, you have that much interest in art?”

‘I guess it was good to send her the esquisse.’ She smiled like a troublemaker.

The way her face had a bunch of white paint on her face made me think of the three little troublemakers back home.

I looked at her with a desperate gaze without answering and Joanne awkwardly rubbed her nose.

“I did finish it. I hung it in the lobby but I can make changes before the reveal. You’ll be able to see it right away if you walk inside, your highness.”

“Could you please confirm that it is inside?”

I immediately asked the temple knight. He reliably nodded his head and ran to the lobby.

Vice Captain Élisabeth motioned with her chin and a portion of the Imperial Guards went with him.

“Were there any suspicious individuals?”

The Vice Captain of the Imperial Guard sharply questioned.

Ganael was hiding behind his fiancee while poking his head out.

Joanne’s eyes rolled around in thought as she asked.

“Mm… Who are you looking for? This is a temple. Anybody is free to come and go. Thanks to our esteemed Marquis’s desperate plea, everybody comes and goes without caring about their position or status. Basically the whole neighborhood came to watch when I was drawing his portrait. ”

“What about anybody who came today? She should have been on her own. A woman completely covered in a robe and about Dame Sarnez’s height. Her health might not have been good as well.”

“I don’t know. Oh!”

Her mouth opened and closed at my question. She suddenly pointed up into the air.

Christelle looked as if she ate four sweet potatoes without milk as she asked, “hat is it?”

The artist scowled.

“But…she didn’t seem that suspicious.”

“We will be the judge of that!”

Christelle showed the reaction of an intense Korean person. It was at that moment.

“Your highness! My lord!”

The temple knight who went to the lobby urgently ran out. Our gazes focused on him.

He bowed and reported to us. His face was pale underneath the torch.

“T, the has fallen on the ground, your highness. Someone seems to have tried to move it and failed. There is a pool of blood that seems to belong to the culprit. The trail continues to the back door and the Imperial Guard is currently investigating the area around the temple. ”

Christelle, the crown prince, and my gazes quickly met.

Joanne shouted, “My masterpiece!” Then she ran inside. Vice Captain Élisabeth quickly motioned with her hands.

“Sir Geens and I will be in charge of guarding his Royal Highness and Prince Jesse. The rest of you chase after Victoire while you go to the Lord’s Castle to accurately explain the situation. Don’t miss a single drop of blood!”

“Yes ma’am!”

“Yes, Vice Captain!”

The Imperial Guard quickly moved out with some torchbearers.

We moved as one without saying anything.

We quickly entered the temple lobby to see the trail of blood on the floor.

Sir Johann bent down to thoroughly inspect the blood. I quickly whispered to him.

“Sir Johann, you can’t taste it this time. You can get sick like that.”

“Haha. I’ll keep that in mind, your highness.”

He answered in a gentle voice.

I had no idea what kind of things he experienced as a top grade mercenary.

I turned my gaze to see Christelle blankly looking toward Joanne.

The young artist was petting the side of her portrait in relief.

I thought that it would be the size of the Mona Lisa or something but the canvas was as tall as the crown prince!

“That could have been bad. It’s been a while since I worked so hard on a project like this. I would have been so upset if it got ripped or scratched!”

“… That’s a relief.”

I barely managed to answer.

Joanne’s new painting, , was a completed piece, unlike the rough sketch I received before.

Each strand of my blonde hair was so vivid that they looked as if they could be touched.

The purple eyes that seemed to be looking at you no matter what angle you looked at them, were magical and full of life.

I don’t recall ever smiling brightly in front of Joanne, so I had no idea how she could imagine up and draw out such an expression.

Technically speaking, this wasn’t my face, but it still felt embarrassing to look at it like this.

“I gotta have this. It’s so pretty.”

Christelle mumbled almost as if she was bewitched. I questioned my ears.

“Excuse me?”

“Please sell this to me, Miss Haas.”

Christelle sternly asked. Joanne’s lemon-colored eyes blinked.

I immediately flailed my arms.

“Dame Sarnez, you can’t forget our main purpose for coming here. We are here to capture Madame Victoire-”

“There is an old saying, your highness. Buy pretty things even if they are expensive. Even if you regret it in the future, the pretty things will remain.”

‘You just made that up!’

“She’s so cool.”

“Ganael, you can’t take after her in things like this. Everybody, please focus. Joanne said that she saw a suspicious person. We need to hear the rest of her testimony.”

I gently calmed the two children.

Joanne tapped the tip of the canvas and scowled.

“I don’t remember how much I told you.”

“Ah, I should have brought some cidre.”

Christelle lamented. I did not get flustered.

“You said that you saw someone but she wasn’t that suspicious.”

“That’s right! Yes. She came with a robe full of holes and was staggering, so the soldiers helped her to the seats. That was about two hours ago. I thought that she came to pray because she was hurting a lot-”

– Pipipipiiiii!

Percy chirped oddly and flew into the building at that moment.

He sat on the crown prince’s shoulder and jumped a few times, moved to Christelle’s arm to wag his tail, then landed on my palm and chirped some more.

The little guy’s small chest repeatedly filled and released.

“Calm down, Percy. You’re going to end up exploding. What is it?”

– Piruuuuu, piipipi, pirruuuuuu!

I gently petted his stomach area with my thumb.

His black eyes looked at me and sparkled. ‘Maybe?’

“Did you find Victoire or something?”

– Pipo!

The inside of his yellow beak opened wide. ‘Right answer!’

“Sir Johann.”

“Please leave it to me, your highness.”

I urgently called his name and he quickly understood what I was trying to say.

His mint-colored eyes curled up as a warm breeze wrapped around us.

*

… This really made no sense.

– Flap, flap!

How was something like this possible?

“Marquis-nim, you are not heavy at all! You are as light as a feather!”

“I understand…”

I said that and closed my mouth.

Then I stared at any spot in the night sky and quietly let myself be carried.

Yes. Miss Christelle de Sarnez, the main character of , was carrying me!

Until now, I thought that I would have to drag or lift up another person to fly together when Percy turned into the Ark of the Wind Deity.

The Ark did significantly decrease the air resistance, but I believed it to require a good amount of my own strength as well.

However, this divine item that ignored the laws of nature and flew with a single wing was truly different.

I now learned that anybody was capable of flight as long as they didn’t move away from me.

‘Wouldn’t it be easier if one person carried the other?’

‘Yes, we can try that.’

Christelle asked, so I naturally thought that I would be carrying her as we flew.

The results were the complete opposite.

Christelle simply seemed extraordinary to make such a suggestion without knowing any of the principles behind how Percy flew.

The wing was on my back but the main character was walking through the air…

“Hahahaha!”

Vice Captain Élisabeth didn’t even hide her laughter now.

The young Countess and the crown prince, who were flying thanks to Sir Johann, were as relaxed as if they were out for a walk.

I was the only one in this party who was embarrassed. Christelle looked at me and smiled as beautifully as a star in the night sky.

It felt as if my face would explode before Percy exploded.

– Swooooooosh!

The Ark suddenly descended at that moment. Christelle screeched with excitement.

I quickly looked down on the ground. The spot Victoire was at was, as expected, a familiar place.

A small hill with a large lake behind the Lord’s Castle. The place we went out on our picnic.

I saw a small and feeble figure at the center of the hill.

“I smell blood.”

Sir Johann commented. We quickly landed on a grassy field.

Christelle carefully put me down. The woman’s back reacted as if nothing was weird.

“You’re here, your highness.”

The old robe and her long hair were fluttering in the wind.

It was different from when she pretended to be Christelle, but her voice was still clear and sounded young.

I smiled bitterly as I responded.

“Yes. You seemed very tired.”

“…”

“I want to help you. Old lady Pomme.”

“Hohoho.”

The woman quietly laughed after hearing me.

The clear voice slowly became rough and her firm back slowly bent forward.

We quietly watched her.

‘Cough, cough!’ Her body bobbed up and down from the heavy coughing for a while before she stopped.

She moved her thin neck to slowly look at us.

Her wrinkled eyes that were visible underneath the moonlight were familiar.

“I have an apple that is as beautiful as you, Marquis-nim. Would you like a bite?”

—

Translator’s Comments

Why does she sound like the Queen from Snow White?