Novel Lived
Chapter 20
Chapter 20
Translator: wuttisyun
[Year 821, the 5th Day of the Month of Habermia.
While taking a walk, I saw a beautiful white bird.]
The contents of the diary remained unchanged.
[This was the first time I had ever seen such a bird. I asked Hannah if she knew the bird’s name but she shook her head. Hannah then told me that she saw cats often but she had never seen a bird like that!
No wonder. It couldn’t have flown in westwards from the Forbidden Forest.
The Forbidden Forest where only the Emperor and the 1st Prince were allowed to enter. Was it a place where beautiful animals like this bird lived?
Oh, I smelled something very fragrant. I didn’t know where it came from.]
I flipped to the last page to check in case there were any new pages but unfortunately, the contents of the diary remained the same. This can’t be true.
I guess my experiment failed. The things I did today that were completely different from the diary did not appear. I had tried to change up my usual routine but even that didn’t work.
“I was expecting the contents to change…”
I buried my face in my hands as I threw myself into the sofa.
Fear suddenly clouded my head.
“I seriously thought it would change if I did something that wasn’t written in the diary…”
If nothing changed today, will living from now on have any meaning?
I blinked my eyes. Lethargy hit my body in waves. Although I could keep myself from breaking down, my mind continued to think about the fact that I was stuck in such a tragedy. I even thought it would have been better if I had died when I was asleep instead. So that there would be no pain.
Where is my buff?*
*T/N: She said this in English HAHA
I was the only one without buffs. I was the only one who wasn’t a main character. I wanted to burst into tears. What kind of child was I if I was deprived of a comfortable life? I just happened to be an extra that had been given no respect.
The God from my previous life didn’t even grant my materialistic wish to win 3rd place in a lottery even though I had visited temples so diligently. The one in this life was an even bigger scrooge.
“Hahaha. How could I have been so foolish?”
My mind cleared up a little after laughing. Life was not responsible for anyone and it was already too late to expect an answer from a God that never replied.
“That’s right. If I don’t want to die, I’d have to crawl.”
I opened up my diary and read each page over and over again. By the time I reached the last page, Hannah walked in.
“My Lady?”
“I’m here.”
As I half-laid on the sofa, I waved my hands.
“You look tired.”
I could not answer Hannah’s carefully asked worries with nothing but a laugh.
“Hannah, have you ever seen a bird like this before?”
“Yes? A bird? I’m not sure…”
“Have you ever seen it near the Palace?”
Hannah looked at my drawing of the bird carefully before shaking her head.
“Well, I’ve never seen a bird that looked like this. Is the end of its tail blue? Actually, other than a cat, I’ve never seen anything else around here.”
I observed Hannah’s face for a while but that didn’t seem to be a lie. I guess there was nothing to lie about.
I sighed over the embarrassed Hannah. She then apologised for being unable to help. I made Hannah leave my room before laying down completely.
“… Well, that was a failure.”
Thinking about it again, it was not a complete failure.
Judging from what the laundry maids told me, the main characters of the novel were not much different from what I knew about them. Except for the 4th Prince.
Then, could I say that the supporting character had a different personality than what was stated in the book? Or did I have to look at it case by case?
I wrote the word ‘pending’ next to the 4th Prince before circling it.
I also found out that I could use the amazing power of teleportation. But I will need that stele like rock for it to work.
So, could I use it when I need to escape in times of crises? I drew a tick next to it before writing ‘need to experiment again’.
Finally, all the rumours about the Forbidden Forest were lies.
The rumour about how we had to wander in the forest till we die if we were to get lost.
Without any further thought, I left the sofa. Then how and why did the rumour come about?
Finally, I had written ‘We’ll see’ before folding the piece of paper in half and hiding it.
‘I still haven’t failed yet.’
Fiddling with a pen in my mouth, I was lost in thought. There were still so many things I don’t know about my death that was coming in about a week’s time. I had been thirsty so I dug up some roots to get some water but I got a sweet potato… and the Tomb of King Muryeong instead. It feels like I will soon find the Palace of Gyeongju as well.* What should I do with all these things coming out one after the other?
*T/N: She’s just describing how she was getting other interesting information instead of the one she wants.
“I can’t sleep since I don’t even know if I was going to die tomorrow…”
Goddamn it. Ah… I shouldn’t curse. If I wasn’t careful, it will all come out in a string of curses.
“This is seriously too much…”
The day that never seemed to end was now ending.
“… So, Hannah’s lines didn’t need to be exactly the same.”
After this day passes, I’ll only have 4 days left. In just a blink of an eye, I was nearing the end.
‘What’s written in the diary will come true.’
Could I stop this?
My breaths filled the quiet room. I told myself firmly, “I can do it.” But my voice blended with the air.
The castle that I had been so focused on building so far was now tumbling down. Soon, my exhausted body couldn’t win against sleep .
I blinked away any thoughts about the diary and fell asleep just like that.
***
Hannah, who had just turned the lights off in the last room, saw light leaking out from the door.
“My Lady?”
A glimmer of light was coming out of the Imperial Princess’ room. Has she not slept yet? The clock had already struck midnight. Hannah carefully opened the door.
From where she crept in, she heard the thin breaths before seeing the young girl who was fast asleep on the sofa. After a while, Hannah touched her forehead before shaking her head.
“She should be sleeping on her bed.”
She murmured at the sleeping girl. Later, Hannah covered her with a blanker and propped her head with a pillow. Her actions were all the result of the affection this maid had for the little girl.
“Aigoo, her hand has been stained with ink… She should have washed up before sleeping.”
It was now time for Hannah to be sighing as she got up. When she did, something from the sofa fell off.
“Oh my. What is this?”
Hannah wanted to look due to her curiosity but she soon took in a sharp breath. She hurriedly closed the book she found. When she saw a date written on the paper, she could tell that it was a diary. Oh goodness. And she was sure that it was today’s date, right? Reading about the private life of one’s master was extremely intrusive.
‘I didn’t see anything!’
Hannah carefully placed the diary right next to the Princess before fixing the brush.
“Oh?”
When she thought of the door again, Hannah looked up. The same dim light that Hannah saw when she approached the door could be seen near the Imperial Princess.
“… Hmm did I see things wrongly?”
That was weird. She was sure that she saw something like light just now though?
Ring.
The clock that had been placed along the corridor alerted her the time.
Ring ring ring.
Other than those who were on night watch, it was time for everyone to go to sleep. In fear of getting scolded by the head maid, Hannah hurried out of the room.
“Phew, seriously.”
The head maid was always the last to get to bed.
“And that clock is always ‘3 minutes’ late.”
Hannah clicked her tongue as her gaze alternated between her pocket watch and the clock on the wall. Thud thud. The sound of footsteps gradually faded away.
***
[Year 821, the 6th Day of the Month of Habermia.
The class at Terron Palace got cancelled so I was supposed to receive a replacement in the Terence Palace.
It rained heavily after class.
For the first time in a long while, my dearest brother Dane and one of his knights came to have tea in the greenhouse.
My dearest brother Dane had always been a gentle man. He always smiled and helped me when I had difficulties in my studies. He was also a very very beautiful person. A kind person who was always smiling. If I had been as pretty as my dearest brother, would His Majesty come to visit at least once? Hannah told me that she too would like a brother like mine. I was proud.
When my brother was away for a moment, his knight praised my brother for treating everyone the same. The knight had told him to not be fooled by me just because we were in a similar situation or because I was slightly worse off. What does that mean? The knight said that he felt sorry for us.
Was it because the Emperor never comes to visit me or my dearest brothers Dane and Fleon?
When I saw Dane off, I tripped and fell. I didn’t get hurt quite badly but the dress I cherished was now torn and I could never wear it again.
The maids in the sewing room were all heavily reprimanded because the dress was too long.
But it wasn’t because of them. It was all because I insisted on wearing a lightly-coloured two tone dress.
I shouldn’t have worn it…]
***
—The 6th Day of the Month of Habermia.
The Imperial Family receives education on politics, administration, diplomacy and cultural studies. We were even taught how to socialise. It was according to the will of the First Emperor who insisted on the Imperial Family receiving the perfect education.
“Today, we’ll be having a class on theology.”
Basically, he thought that if we could complete that education, we will become great royal family members. The education they were talking about putting us through was about the same level as that of post graduate master’s and doctorate courses.
It was useful knowledge if you knew it but even if you didn’t, it doesn’t matter in the end.
“Please open your books.”
I took out my book on theology. Unlike the classes I had in my previous life, I had no time for breaks and I felt like I was suffocating in steel. I rubbed my eyes and tried not to fall asleep.
“The Imperial Palace has a vast collection of mysterious artifacts. God’s power which only resides in our Empire gave it its own unique technology. And the very essence of such an example can be seen in the Imperial Palace where the Princess and Princes live.”
The teacher looked at me curiously when he noticed that I haven’t fallen asleep yet.
“Well, it seems like the Princess is paying attention today.”
Our teacher was an old man with sweat droplets trickling down his face. Anyone could tell that it was a hot day and his unfamiliarity with my attitude was evident.
“Sir. I have a question.”
“What? From the Princess?”
He asked back in astonishment.
“Haha! Sir, aren’t your facial expressions too honest?”
Fleon who was sitting next to be cackled as he told me to look at our teacher’s surprised face. The way he acted like a gangster from some dingy back alley made the tips of my mouth curl up. But it was a shame that he didn’t look that mean and in fact looked more like a painting.
“Well, I know very well what kind of image our teacher has of me. And also, stop grabbing my hair, my dearest brother.”
I said without hiding the outright displeasure in my voice at Fleon who was pulling my lush hair by my side.
“So, all these artifacts in the Palace use the power of God?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“So, among all the artifacts in the Palace, are there any that belongs to the ‘God of Wind’.”
“If you’re talking about the God of Wind… Hmm, probably? I mean, this was where the King of Gods lived.”
The teacher tapped at his book as he became lost in thought.
“Among the 24 Gods excluding Jupiter, there are actually 4 Gods of Wind.”
While he used his wrinkly hands to rummage through his books and fiddle with his glasses, he came up with a well thought out reply.
“Boreas is the North Wind, Notus the South Wind, Zephyrus the West Wind and Eurus is the East Wind. However, even the traces of these Gods are now dissipating so there’s probably none of their artifacts left behind anymore. There are many theories as to why this was happening but the most common was because the Templars of the Wind Gods refused to take over from their predecessors. So, almost all of them have left the Imperial Palace and none of their artifacts have been left behind. With the exception of Boreas’ since it was used in the war against the Northern Kingdoms a long time ago.”
“What does it look like?”
Seeing his student finally improving her learning attitude, our teacher looked very moved.
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