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Chapter 62 – Rudine Eckhart (1)

Rudine Eckhart.

She was born into the Royal Family and grew up as a Princess her whole life.

From the moment she could stand on her own two feet, she learned court etiquette, and as soon as she could speak, she was exposed to numerous scholarly subjects.

No matter how trivial the mistake, it was not tolerated.

From her walking to the smallest habits, she was meticulous in her actions to avoid being criticized by anyone.

Everyone in the Imperial Palace treated Rudine kindly, but that was ultimately just a facade conscious of the status difference.

No one called her by her name, Rudine.

She was only referred to as Princess, or Your Highness.

Not even her father, the Emperor.

Not even her mother, the Empress.

No one gave her affectionate attention.

Only the watchful eyes ready to criticize her slightest mistake were present.

So, Rudine put in the effort.

No one recognized her efforts, but she didn’t need anyone’s acknowledgement in the first place.

She expected nothing and hoped for nothing.

The measure of all value was solely her own ability.

To become a talent worthy of being the Rising Sun of the Empire.

To bear the weight of the responsibility pressing on her shoulders.

That was all there was.

Because these were the things a Princess of the Empire naturally had to do.

Living days that seemed close to deprivation, Rudine became rigid.

She lost her smile, wore a mask, and thus became increasingly cold, growing into a girl befitting the Sun of the Empire.

Then one day.

An unknown boy fearlessly approached Rudine.

— Hi.

It was just a simple greeting and a smile.

His untainted smile was dazzling like a scene from a masterpiece painting.

The boy was clumsy and awkward.

From his jet-black hair to his blue eyes, his personality and appearance, everything was different from hers.

What could it be?

It’s not a hallucination only I can see.

Seeing him wandering around the Imperial Palace as if it were his own home, he was undoubtedly a royal like her.

— Are you going out?

— Want to follow me for a bit?

The boy took her hand and led her outside the Imperial Palace.

Then he gave a bright smile.

An indescribable discomfort bloomed in a corner of her heart.

It didn’t sit well with her that such a harmless person could exist while being a royal like her.

Why does this feel so unfamiliar?

She couldn’t understand it at all.

Rudine continued to associate with the boy after that.

She moved at set times to set places.

As she nonchalantly drank tea, the boy would suddenly appear with a bright smile and carefully approach her.

The boy said his name was Kyle.

It was a name she had never heard before.

Judging by her lack of memory of it, he must be an offspring of a distant branch, hardly considered a member of the Royal Family.

— What’s your name?

Rudine hesitated.

Her name was essentially her status.

She felt the boy’s attitude might change if he knew she was a princess.

So for the first time, she lied.

— Ru.

From then on, the boy called her “Ru”

It was then that Rudine realized the source of the discomfort blooming in her heart.

Expensive clothes, insincere smiles, affected speech, obsequious attitudes…

It was vastly different from how others treated her.

She mistook the unfamiliarity stemming from that gap for discomfort.

Yes, it wasn’t that there was something wrong with her.

Neither her own self, who had endured like this all her life, nor the suffocating Imperial Palace, nor anything else was wrong.

— Do you want to be friends?

— Yeah, you look like you don’t have any friends, too.

— I’m in a similar situation.

The one who was wrong was Kyle.

That’s why she felt uncomfortable.

But she didn’t dislike that discomfort.

One day, she skipped her lessons and got scolded by her mother for the first time.

Another day, she abruptly skipped a tea party she was invited to, just to meet Kyle.

Gradually, Kyle changed Rudine.

The boy named Kyle, slowly melted into the daily life of Rudine, who had hardened to survive in the Imperial Palace.

Or so she thought.

— Pr-Princess…

When she met Kyle a few days later, he addressed her as Princess with a face full of tension.

She couldn’t understand.

Hadn’t he said they were friends? Then why even he…

— Don’t.

It was the first time.

The first time she revealed her emotions with such a crumpled face.

— Don’t call me that.

Her heart ached.

The Imperial Palace was full of people who called her Princess. That was enough.

At least Kyle, she wished Kyle wouldn’t call her that.

The only one who had first asked to be her friend.

Her clenched fist trembled.

A crack appeared in the mask she had worn all her life.

The bewildered expression on Kyle’s face as he looked down at her was evident.

The more he did, the more Rudine’s expression contorted.

She hoped Kyle would say the answer she wanted.

Kyle hesitated for a moment, then turned his head to look around.

And with warm hands, he held Rudine’s hands.

— I’m sorry.

The warmth of his skin against hers was soothing.

— So, don’t cry.

The hand wiping away the tears out of her control was warm.

— …The answer?

At the question she courageously asked, Kyle nodded.

As always, his smile was clear.

That day, Rudine made a friend for the first time in her life.

Or so she thought.

— Oh, that boy?

— Sorry, but he’s been missing since last evening.

— It seems he left the Imperial Palace.

Kyle left the Imperial Palace.

Without any word.

Leaving her alone in this dreadful place.

****

Kyle never returned.

No matter how long she waited, no contact or news came.

So Rudine erased Kyle from her mind.

She closed her heart completely and stopped looking for Kyle.

Thus, she handled her duties.

Slowly solidifying her position in the Royal Family as a princess.

Then it happened.

When she first heard the news about Kyle, buried in her memory.

— Kyle is a bastard?

The bastard son of Winfred.

The Empire’s greatest bastard.

Kyle Winfred.

It was undoubtedly the Kyle who remained faintly in her memory.

An indescribable rage welled up inside her.

But something was strange.

He wasn’t supposed to be a Winfred.

The vile rumors also didn’t match the Kyle she remembered.

Rudine ordered her servant to investigate Kyle.

And then.

— Is this… Kyle…?

As expected, it was strange.

His gait, habits, speech.

Everything was different.

It was as if he had become a completely different person.

Suddenly, curiosity arose.

Could he have gone through something so drastic that he became a different person?

Or had he learned to act to deceive her?

Could it be related to why he left without a word?

Rudine invited Kyle to her coming-of-age ceremony.

But Kyle didn’t attend.

As if he was trying to avoid meeting her as much as possible.

Before long, news of Kyle’s wedding spread throughout the Empire.

The bride was Isabel Yustia, the daughter of Count Yustia, who had been betrothed to Kyle.

She felt no particular emotion.

Any strange feelings she had when thinking of Kyle were long forgotten in the distant past.

So, ignoring her servants’ dissuasion, Rudine attended Kyle’s wedding.

— Congratulations on your marriage, Kyle Winfred.

Rudine smiled brightly and congratulated him on his marriage.

As expected, his response was polite.

— Thank you, Your Highness.

Although it was just a simple exchange of greetings, Rudine instinctively felt it.

Ah, indeed.

He is not the Kyle I knew.

Split personality?

Or had his soul been switched?

If so, who was the person who took over Kyle’s body?

What on earth caused his soul to be switched?

Her interest was piqued.

At the same time, numerous possibilities branched out like a tree and bore fruit.

Her heart pounded in her ears.

Like a child who received a new toy for the first time, Rudine’s face flushed.

On a sunny early summer day.

Rudine sat in the garden with the Empress, enjoying tea.

Then it happened.

— Kyle Winfred.

The Empress’s lips uttered a familiar name.

— That child, it turns out he’s not really related to the Winfred family.

Kyle was actually a collateral descendant of the royal family, not truly part of the Winfred family…

The Empress shared a story all too familiar to her.

Rudine listened to the Empress’s words with a disinterested face.

And swallowed a sigh.

The Empress’s decision upon learning all the facts was all too predictable.

— Kyle Winfred.

— That boy needs to die.

The Empress wanted Kyle dead.

To eliminate any future threats.

To conceal the fact that the ultimate bastard was actually a member of the royal family.

To obtain the promised reward from the Duke.

— Rudine, you need to handle this.

Ah, this is troublesome.

I have no intention of killing Kyle.

But I couldn’t refuse easily either.

If I refused and the Empress intervened herself, the situation would completely spiral out of control.

Well, this works out well.

At least I can ensure contact with Kyle for now.

Rudine smiled brightly.

And responded in an innocent voice.

— Please leave it to me.

****

Rudine put Kyle in danger numerous times.

She either issued unreasonable royal decrees that threw him into life-threatening situations.

Or slandered him with absurd accusations to disgrace him.

She felt no guilt.

She always made sure to have contingency plans for any unforeseen situations.

Of course, it wasn’t easy.

Somehow, Kyle had made many enemies, and she wasn’t the only one after his life.

— Isabel Yustia is attempting to procure poison through her maid.

Rudine sighed and handed diluted poison to her attendant.

She instructed them to give it to Isabel, pretending it was deadly poison.

Her plan was to use it as an excuse to isolate Isabel when Kyle fell ill from the supposed poison.

However.

— Kyle Winfred has died.

Kyle died.

He was poisoned by the concentrated poison.

— No, it’s not true!

— I definitely gave diluted poison to the maid!

— What on earth… I saw with my own eyes as she took the poison…!

Rudine sighed and pressed her fingers against her temples.

Then she gave an order to the knight standing beside her.

— Kill him.

Swish—

The sharp blade easily pierced through the servant’s chin and into his brain.

Rudine collapsed to the ground, covering her face with her hands.

She wasn’t sad, nor was she despairing.

She was just empty.

She could no longer see Kyle.

And she could no longer uncover the truth.

****

Kyle’s body was finally transported to the Duke’s residence.

A few days later.

News of Luna Winfred’s death spread rapidly across the Empire.

— They say she poisoned the feast.

— Luna Winfred and everyone who attended the feast died on the spot.

Rudine still sipped her tea with a calm expression.

Since Kyle’s death, nothing in this world could interest her anymore.

However.

— Your Highness! There’s trouble!

— Isabel Yustia…!

Isabel Yustia.

Kyle’s wife also took her own life soon after Luna’s death.

Rudine’s eyes widened in shock.

And at that moment.

Wooong—

The rosary around her neck vibrated and began to emit a bright light.

A flash of light burst forth.

Rudine closed her eyes tightly.

Tick tock, tick tock.

The faint sound of a ticking clock gradually slowed down.

And when she opened her eyes.

“…What is this?”

Dust floating in the air.

Curtains fluttering in the wind.

A servant raising their arms to shield themselves from the light.

Everything was frozen.

Time had stopped.

The people had stopped.

Everything except for her.

Yes.

It was as if the world had stopped.

“……”

A chilling silence settled.

Standing before this defiance of reality and laws, she was at a loss for words.

Rudine lightly touched the frozen servant.

As soon as her fingers made contact with the skin, it felt like they were sinking into a muddy puddle.

The sensation was like… mixing mud with water, soft and yielding.

The skin, which had sunk deeply, bounced back to its original state as soon as she withdrew her hand.

The sight was disturbingly surreal and grotesque.

Frightened, Rudine ran out of the room with all her might.

The servants walking down the hallway.

A noble lady about to fall on her butt.

The Emperor and Empress chatting in the garden.

Everyone… everyone…!

Everything in the Empire was completely frozen.

No matter how much she ran, she didn’t get tired.

She didn’t sweat, nor did she feel hunger or thirst.

All the natural biological responses of a living person had stopped.

“Ugh…!”

No matter how much she struggled to remove her clothes, the zipper wouldn’t budge.

It was as if it was fixed in place.

Even kicking the dirt several times didn’t stir up any dust.

The glass shards floating in mid-air.

The spittle hanging from someone’s mouth.

“Everything is stopped…”

An overwhelming fear crept up her back.

****

An incalculable amount of time passed in this frozen world.

How much time had really passed?

A year? Ten years? A hundred years?

She didn’t know.

Counting numbers to measure time was only a matter of days.

In a world where time itself had stopped, measuring the passage of time was the most inefficient thing one could do.

“…”

She simply sat down and stared at the frozen sky.

The situation was so absurd that she let out a giggle.

She tried talking nonsense, throwing herself out of a window, and even holding her breath, but nothing changed.

The world was still frozen, and she alone was alive and moving in this preserved world.

“This is absurd! Why am I the only one who isn’t frozen?”

She laughed.

She leaned back and laughed hysterically, then screamed like she had seen a ghost.

She grabbed a mirror lying on the floor and carefully observed her reflection.

Ah, my face.

Yes, it’s my face.

Rudine laughed quietly, fumbling with the mirror.

“Why am I the only one moving? Why!”

A cracked voice climbed up her throat.

The sound of her voice reverberating in a world where everything had stopped was chilling.

Her soul was wearing thin.

She couldn’t keep her sanity.

She screamed and rolled on the floor, pretending to be crazy.

It was the only way she could endure.

Her values and sense of self were suppressed to the point where she started to forget who she was.

Just kill me.

Please, I can endure any excruciating pain.

But unfortunately, her prayers lost their way and only hovered in the air.

At that moment, she realized.

God had abandoned this world.

“Puha…”

Rudine stood up and started walking aimlessly.

She walked and walked, like a mindless person.

How long had she walked like that?

Black Mist.

A massive wall of black haze blocked her path.

“…”

Without hesitation, Rudine walked into the Black Mist.

She walked through the darkness, which was as thick as black smoke.

She emptied her mind.

Whenever she felt overwhelmed, she sat down and screamed.

She walked.

She ran.

She kept moving endlessly.

And then, at that moment.

“…!”

She saw it.

The black haze that had been suspended in the air rippled for a brief moment.

A sigh of relief escaped her clenched teeth.

As she widened her eyes and reached out her hand.

Wooooong—

A massive vibration shook the ground.

Rudine lost her balance and fell helplessly to the ground.

Moments later, the vibration gradually subsided.

At the same time, an anomaly occurred.

“I can feel…”

She could feel the sensations.

The fresh air filling her lungs, the hot tears welling up in her eyes.

She felt all of it vividly.

As she closed and opened her eyes, the scene changed with a swish.

The omnipresent darkness lifted, revealing a new scenery.

Buildings of an unfamiliar architectural style, towering into the sky.

Unfamiliar music echoing faintly.

People walking around in strange clothing.

Along with honking noises, massive chunks of metal were moving around, and people were speaking in languages she couldn’t understand.

Panicking, she reached out to grab anyone.

But.

“…Ha.”

Her outstretched hand passed right through as if they were a mirage.

“What on earth…”

Where is this place…

“…Where am I?”