The Gloomy and Timid Princess Heads to the Academy

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The humid dawn air brushed against my skin, and I felt a slight chill. It was almost damp, but the mix of forest scents made it not too unpleasant.

Above all, Dokan was next to me. At this hour, only the guards were around, and even they were few in number, so there was no need to worry about anyone watching us.

Looking at the sky, I could faintly see stars still lingering, and the dark sky was slowly turning blue as the sun seemed to be rising in the east.

“…Feels refreshing. Unlike the Academy, it feels like we are in nature. Hey, Ho-yeon, how do you feel?”

“It doesn’t matter as long as I’m with you.”

I would probably even be fine in a place where divine powers swirl. Of course, Dokan wouldn’t drag me into such a place anyway. Just saying.

“Really? Still, don’t you have a preferred environment? Like the sea, mountains, grasslands, or maybe the city… something like that. I’m curious.”

Oh, so you want to know that. If it’s that kind of question, I could answer right away.

“Home. Or indoors. Anywhere that’s not outside. I like places like that. The outside… isn’t that I dislike it. It just isn’t somewhere I’d want to go out to. But if you say we should go out, that’s a different story.”

People can’t change easily. Even if I’m reborn, I’ll still be a homebody. When I was young, I roamed outside because I couldn’t contain my energy, not because I particularly liked the outside.

Still, I had some fun back then. Anyway, that’s how it is.

“Ah… really…? Then should I look for something to do indoors in the future…?”

“No, you don’t have to adjust to me. Like I said, just being with you is good.”

Him adjusting to me and me adjusting to him turned into a playful back-and-forth, which made me laugh. Here we were fighting over something trivial, pretending to consider each other, and that looked ridiculous.

“Why are you laughing? This is an important issue.”

“Aha, sorry, hehe… yes, it is an important issue… heh, hehe…”

Surprisingly, he took something trivial seriously, which was cute and made me feel warm inside. After all, it’s hard to expect this kind of relationship from my father or mother.

It’s not that I dislike them, but… I couldn’t have these trivial conversations with them.

My father was warm but always busy, and my mother was philosophical and asked me many questions.

So even the ordinary and unimportant things felt more special.

As we spent time arguing over trivial matters, Dokan sighed and gave up on the arguing.

What a pity. It was fun. I thought about teasing him a bit more, but it was better to stay quiet than create bad feelings for no reason. After a while of chatting and then falling into silence, Dokan asked me something.

“…Hey, Ho-yeon. You were nice to me yesterday, right?”

This guy asks questions like that outside. Even though there are hardly any people around, I would’ve preferred to have that awkward conversation indoors.

That aside, Dokan was speaking the truth. I felt I’d been too reckless last time, so I held back this time and adjusted to his pace. It seemed like I was just pretending to let him breathe, but maybe it was too obvious.

“Uh, yeah. Last time, I almost died, you know…”

I was about to speak the truth when I felt an unsettling presence in front of us, so I cut off my words. Dokan seemed to feel something too and looked in the same direction as me.

There stood Iris. However, she looked anything but normal. Her eyes were bloodshot, her legs were shaking, yet she was staring blankly at the sky.

Then, as if sensing us, her head unnaturally tilted. Her bloodshot eyes and parched lips made it hard to gauge how long she had been like this.

“…Miss Iris? Are you okay?”

Dokan stepped in front of me to check on Iris, but to me, she already looked like something other than herself.

Her eyes were so dark they reminded me of my mother’s when she looked at the night sky.

“Who are you? You, who carry my essence, who are you?”

Then she began to mumble nonsensically. I had no idea what she meant or who she was talking to.

“…Iris? Is that you?”

Dokan seemed to sense that Iris wasn’t herself and wrapped his mana around her, asking again. But even that wouldn’t reach her.

“From a distant place, I ask you through something small. You carry my essence, yet I have not created you. So who are you? There are no records of interference with me. Who are you? What are you?”

Her lips didn’t move, and she only spoke with her mouth open. I was even questioning whether I was hearing this in Korean in my head.

Her steps were staggered, and tears of blood were now flowing from her eyes, but her heartbeat showed she wasn’t in any immediate danger.

Yet when I listened closely to her body, it wouldn’t be long before she collapsed from exhaustion.

“…Ho-yeon, step back… Ho-yeon? Wait, that’s dangerous!”

“No, it’s not dangerous. I think she’ll collapse if you even touch her.”

Nothing was swirling around Iris. She looked threatening, but I wasn’t one to back down. I’m not bothered by horror games or ghosts.

…Actually, I think a living person talking is scarier than anything dead, so I’d rather deal with the dead than find the living.

“I am the White Royal Family’s Eldest Daughter. What are you? How dare you claim to carry a similar essence to mine?”

Iris couldn’t possibly be going crazy. For some reason, she seemed to be terrified of me. She could be scared enough to act crazy, but I didn’t think she wouldn’t recognize me.

“I have no name. Only a mission exists. My mission is merely to observe. I do not interfere. Therefore, what are you? Why do you carry my essence?”

I stopped Dokan from advancing toward the unsteady Iris. Dokan struggled a bit longer to hold his ground but ultimately stepped back, trusting me.

I could feel he still wanted to jump out at any risk. Still, he was preparing for anything.

I knew it was dangerous. Yet, I still wanted to know what that was.

I faced it directly, staring back unwaveringly at something that stopped right in front of me, piercing through me. I wouldn’t gain anything by doing so.

Inside those eyes, it felt like I could see constellations… but that was all I could get. I’m neither a technician nor a mana researcher.

“…Is this created by my lost fragments? I thought I was broken.”

Leaving those words behind, whatever was dwelling in Iris… departed from her. It left as soon as it said that, and Iris collapsed, losing consciousness.

“It seems she is okay. However, please refrain from doing anything heart-pounding like that in the future. More than that…”

After confirming that I was okay, Dokan looked at Iris. Indeed, he was more reliable than the church folks.

With obvious concern on his face, Dokan picked her up, but to me, it didn’t seem that grave. Objectively speaking, they could’ve just grabbed her by the head and dragged her along.

…Well. I couldn’t possibly say anything against Dokan’s kindness. Knowing what he would say, I headed toward where he was going first.

It was also a protest against him overly protecting Iris.

– – – –

When Iris regained consciousness, it was already daytime.

Her last memory was of looking at the stars through the window of the room, but now she was bewildered by why she found herself in a place filled with elves.

“Oh, you’re awake? When they brought you in, I really thought you were a corpse. To summarize, Miss Iris, you collapsed from severe exhaustion. According to their testimony, you were outside watching the stars until dawn. Do you remember anything?”

Iris shook her head at Cecilia’s explanation. The only thing she remembered was a particularly brightly shining red star. However, suddenly, memories that she hadn’t experienced surged in her mind.

“…Oh, were there others…? Wasn’t it just Ho-yeon?”

In her memory, she had had an inexplicable conversation with Ho-yeon. But “others” – was there someone else?

“Dokan carried you in. Did you happen to see him?”

In her memory, there was only Ho-yeon. No one else.

“No… there was only Ho-yeon.”

Then Cecilia tilted her head, puzzled.

“Well… that’s strange. After you collapsed, did Ho-yeon call Dokan to bring you in…?”

Even with their heads together, there were no parties involved in the truth, so they ended up concluding they didn’t know.

Even if they figured it out, it wouldn’t be very useful. It wasn’t particularly dangerous, but since Iris was the patient, she lay back down on the bed.

For some reason, the outside was noisy, but that was something she didn’t need to worry about.