I Raised Snow White!

“Cough! Cough!”

I lifted Ainsel’s mirror, her real form, and looked at the clear red marks left on my neck. Seeing the dark red handprint on my pale skin sent a chill down my spine.

‘So much for not wanting to kill me…’

If I had been just a bit later in calling Sylph, I would’ve really died. I still felt a strangling sensation around my neck, so I rubbed it while standing up, then looked at Sylph.

-Are you alright, child?

“…Thank you, I’m alive because of you.”

-Hehe, I promised to help without a price just this once. I simply kept that promise.

Sylph fluttered over and landed lightly on my shoulder with a gentle smile. Honestly, if I hadn’t remembered the promise Sylph had made to me in that fading consciousness…

To shake off unpleasant thoughts, I shook my head, stopping myself from thinking further. Rising to my feet, I looked around the room, still a mess from the commotion stirred up by the wind, but as expected, Aurora was nowhere to be seen.

I thought I was starting to understand it, just a little. Why it was that Vivian had ‘failed’ and died during the ritual. It was probably because the soul in the First Queen’s body wasn’t hers but the King’s instead.

Now I somewhat understood what Sylph meant by a ‘fundamentally flawed ritual.’ Still clutching my sore neck, I turned to look at ‘His Majesty’ seated in the chair.

‘…What on earth should I do now?’

Suddenly, a thought from last time resurfaced. That this room was like Pandora’s box, filled with things beyond my ability to handle. The thought brought a bitter smile to my face.

Really, isn’t that exactly the case?

‘What am I even supposed to do here?’

I had unlocked the door to the King’s secluded chamber and entered, but for all intents and purposes, the King was practically dead. That shriveled corpse on the bed was without a doubt the body of the ‘King.’

This alone was enough to drive me mad, but the King wasn’t the only one in this room. The ‘First Queen Aurora,’ whom everyone thought to be dead, was alive and keeping vigil over the dead King.

Calling herself the ‘King’ all the while.

What would others think if they saw this situation?

That the First Queen, presumed dead, had murdered the King?

Or perhaps, that even death couldn’t part their love?

Most likely, it’d be the latter.

No one else could see the ‘fairy,’ and stories of how the First Queen and King acted as though they couldn’t live without each other were already a well-known rumor across the kingdom.

Regardless of the truth, the story would probably drift toward the latter, with nothing to gain from spreading a rumor that the First Queen killed the King.

In a case like this, all it took was to frame it like a fairy tale.

If their story were made into a fairy tale, the final line might read like this:

‘Their love could not be parted, not even by death.’

But reality wasn’t as ideal as the closing line of a fairy tale.

Slowly, I approached ‘His Majesty,’ who sat vacantly, staring at the canvas. Kneeling on one knee, I took her thin, dry hand and looked up. Her muddled red eyes were unfocused.

“Your Majesty.”

There was still no response to my call. But I tightened my grip on her hand and called her again, finally asking the question I had wanted to ask all this time.

“Your Majesty, do you remember the child you bore?”

This was a question directed at both the King and the First Queen.

Ironically, the body of the person whose hand I held belonged to the First Queen, yet the soul belonged to the King. I didn’t expect any response, but the King’s hand trembled, and he turned his head to look down at me.

“Child…?”

“Yes, the child you had with the one you loved.”

At the word ‘child,’ the King let out a brief chuckle.

“Oh, I remember. The child that the Council of Elders wouldn’t stop pestering me about. Why, did the child die or something? Is that why you came to find me? To bear my seed?”

“…The child born because of the council’s pestering?”

The King let out a deep chuckle, shaking his head as he began to mutter nonsense. In his murky red eyes, I no longer appeared. He merely continued with his delusion.

“Yes, the Council of Elders insisted that the royal lineage must continue, and that was why I had a child. Didn’t you marry me because of that? Hm? Why did you marry me? Aurora is… dead? No, Aurora has always been by my side…”

The King turned his head, as if searching for something, scanning the room. His eyes widened, and his breath became ragged. Then, suddenly, he collapsed onto the floor with a scream.

“Ah-! Again, where did you go, leaving me behind, Aurora?! Ah!! Aaah!! Aurora!!!!”

He clawed desperately at the drawings scattered on the floor, struggling amidst the images of Aurora. It was as if he were a man trapped in a swamp, screaming for someone to save him.

‘…In the end, you all truly abandoned that child.’

Thinking it pointless to speak further, I rose from my seat and turned my back on him. Sylph, appearing slightly concerned, asked me.

-Are you certain it’s fine to leave like this? I know humans think highly of one with the King’s authority… If you abandon him like this, he will…

…die.

Just as Aurora had said, it looked as though he didn’t have much time left. Likely within a day, or at most a week, he and she would be found here as mere corpses.

When I reached the door, I turned once more to look at him, struggling on the floor. He hugged the drawing he’d made of Aurora tightly to his chest, curling his body like a child.

“It’s fine.”

I opened the firmly closed door once again.

Without a single backward glance, I stepped out of the room.

“He is not my King.”

With a heavy sound, the door closed firmly shut once more.

Within the week, there would surely be chaos within the royal palace.

A great upheaval brought about by the King’s death.

Leaving the King’s secluded room, I placed Ainsel’s unconscious form in my room and headed directly to the Princess’s chambers. The knights asked if I had entered the King’s room.

I made an excuse, saying, “How could I enter a locked room?”

I simply told them I had stood outside the King’s room, shouting and pounding on the door in anger, and the knights nodded in understanding before resuming their post in front of the King’s secluded room.

Without even realizing the King was dead.

Arriving in front of the Princess’s room, I saw Ellie, looking worried, standing guard by the door. When she spotted me approaching from the end of the corridor, she hesitated, then came over to me.

“Your Majesty the Queen… the Princess is sleeping right now…”

“…I see. I’ll just take a quick look at her.”

When I opened the door and entered, I saw the darkened room with the curtains drawn. On the bed lay the Princess, covered with a blanket pulled up over her head.

Watching the Princess curled up under the blanket like a cocoon, I slowly approached her. Then, I sat down gently on the bed, looking down at the Princess…

“Stop pretending to sleep. Don’t you think I know your sleeping habits?”

“Ah! Ahaha! I-I’m sorry! P-Please…! Ahaha!”

I tickled the Princess’s side over the blanket.

The Princess, who squirmed like a caterpillar, peeked out from under the blanket, looking up at me. Though she was laughing from the tickling, I could see her eyes were slightly red.

“…Were you crying?”

“N-No… I wasn’t crying…”

The Princess shook her head in denial, but with her sniffling and red eyes, it was clear she had been crying under the blanket.

I gently lifted the Princess, wrapping her in the cocoon of the blanket, and set her on my lap. Caught off guard by the sudden embrace, the Princess squirmed, not knowing what to do.

“Princess.”

“Yes, yes…?”

…Could I tell her?

No, of course, I couldn’t say it. That her father, the King, was already dead. That not only the King but also the First Queen was in that room.

That those she longed for love from had forgotten she even existed here. That she was just a child born out of necessity for an heir. That she was a child who had never once received love.

No, I couldn’t say any of it.

“…Next time, let’s paint on a bigger canvas.”

“B-But…”

“How about this time, instead of giving it to His Majesty, we keep it just for ourselves? We can draw a cat, a cake, the Princess, me, and Ainsel next to us.”

Holding the Princess’s small shoulders in my arms, I continued to speak softly. Even if there wasn’t love from them, there were still many people around her who loved her.

“I think it would be nice to draw us standing in a flower field again, like last time. Let’s include Ellie, too. Oh, and let’s draw Bainshaw as well. Since he doesn’t have any hair, it’ll definitely be easier to draw him.”

At my joke, the Princess chuckled. Even such a young Princess seemed to know Bainshaw’s hair situation wasn’t ideal.

“And let’s hang it in a big frame to decorate the room. Or, what if we hang it in the hallway this time? So everyone can see it.”

Gently brushing her messy hair back, I spoke to the Princess in a warm tone. The Princess, looking like she was about to cry, smiled slightly and nodded.

“Do you feel a little better now?”

“…Yes. But… there’s one thing… I’d like to ask of you, Your Majesty…”

The Princess hesitated a little, then lifted her head slightly, cupping her hands around my ear to whisper, even though there was no one else around to hear us.

“Could we… just hang it in my room? It’s embarrassing to put it in the hallway…”

Hearing her shy request, I smiled down at the Princess. She glanced up at my smile and tried to return it, but…

“No, I’m going to hang the Princess’s painting in the royal hall this time for everyone to see.”

“A-Ah…!”

Though it was only a joke, the Princess’s face began to turn pale. Seeing her expression, I chuckled softly and pulled her into a hug.

Though the Princess squirmed slightly as if finding it hard to breathe, I wanted to hold her, even if only for a moment. If I didn’t, she might sense my unease.

For the first time, I’d resolved to stand by and let someone die.

And the anxiety brought on by that decision seemed to tighten around my neck.

Just as Aurora had once choked me.