Episode 37
Orion looked at the newly replaced Warp Zone employee, then turned to the knights.
“If it were you, would you lie when it comes to your own child?”
At his words, Reinolf and Hephy, who had been chattering noisily, fell silent.
Truthfully, there was no real need for Orion to personally step in this time. Officially, he had nothing to do with the Intelligence Bureau. On top of that, he was supposed to return from a long disappearance soon, so it was better for him to act cautiously.
Yet, the reason the crown prince had personally ordered him to do this was the same reason Orion himself wanted to take it on.
Because it didn’t feel like someone else’s business.
His own daughter was already dead, but he still wished for the prince of Aint to be alive. Enemy prince or not, he understood better than anyone the feelings of a parent who had lost their child.
“W-warp starting.”
The new employee, replacing the entire previous staff, checked again and again for fear of making a mistake before finally activating the Warp Zone.
A bright light filled their vision, and when they opened their eyes again, they had arrived in the County of Remiblanc.
At the northern imperial border city of Count Shinsea, Narein silently gazed at a long-forgotten view.
The northern Intelligence Bureau agents, who had come to greet him, hesitated and lingered nearby, but Narein ignored them, keeping his gaze fixed beyond the border.
Across the vast plain stretched pure white snow-covered mountains. Beyond them lay the homeland where he and his family had once lived.
Cold, hungry, yet filled with warmth — until it had become a blood-soaked battlefield in an instant. The adults were dead, and the children were taken away as prisoners; he didn’t even know what had become of them.
He had survived only because Ron had taken notice of him, but the other children had likely met miserable fates — whether death or slavery. No one knew better than him how the Empire treated northern tribes.
“Uh… Sir Narein?”
At last, one of the hesitant agents spoke to him, but when Narein’s cold gaze turned on him, the man stumbled back in fear.
For a fourteen-year-old boy, his eyes were far too icy and ruthless. The sharp aura radiating from his whole body was enough to make even seasoned Intelligence Bureau members hesitate to approach.
Without turning his head, Narein spoke.
“Why don’t you go find him yourself. That so-called prince of Aint.”
“Pardon? But we agreed to move together…”
“I said find him yourself.”
The agents exchanged glances.
‘This kid’s insane, right?’
‘Yeah, completely off his rocker.’
‘Should we just leave?’
‘Let’s just report it to the director.’
With unspoken agreement, they nodded. Handing him a communication orb and telling him to contact them if anything happened, they quickly left — swift in judgment, swifter in action, just as Intelligence Bureau operatives should be.
Alone now, Narein didn’t watch them go; his eyes remained fixed beyond the city walls.
A wall like that? He could cross it right now if he wanted. He could gather his scattered tribespeople and return to life in the mountains. It would be a harsh journey, but still far better than living among the people who had murdered his family.
‘If it weren’t for Soi, I would have left long ago…’
The snowy mountains merged with the image of silver hair in his mind.
A woman with a past both similar and different to his own — fragile yet unyielding, seemingly about to break yet never breaking.
‘But…’
Narein clenched his fists as if steeling himself.
He had someone he wanted to protect, to stand beside, to respect and emulate — but that was merely a new emotion layered on top. The deepest feeling within him still remained unresolved.
Now was the chance. Miss it now, and it might never come again.
He reached into his clothing. His fingers brushed against cold metal. The chill and sharpness of it cleared his thoughts. Narein turned and began retracing his steps exactly as he had come.
By the fifth day, even the picturesque view outside the window had grown tiresome. Of course, Mishi’s face was still beautiful no matter how many times I looked at it, but the law of diminishing returns was real — seeing it from morning until night made it feel less special than the first time.
Mishi and I had already played every game we could think of inside the room: card games, chess, go (I had even taught it to him), and omok. We’d cut paper to make Rummikub tiles, played Uno, played “Catch the Thief,” and pretty much every board game I could remember. I even ended up teaching him the playground game “Gonggi” from my elementary school days — scraping the bottom of the barrel.
When the games ran out, we got drawing paper from Parcel and started sketching. Mishi had talent and drew well; I gave up after a few stick figures. Drawing was not my thing.
While Mishi drew, I read books Parcel had given me. Books from Aint were very different from those in the Empire, so there was a small joy in learning new things.
But reading required a peaceful mind to truly focus. Trapped in here, all it did was make reality feel heavier.
So, after five days, I declared my “escape.”
“This is the royal palace. And we’re surrounded by the sea. How do you plan to get out?” Mishi asked with concern.
I thumped my chest confidently.
“No one comes here anyway. If I just step out for a little while, no one will notice.”
I called it an “escape,” but really it was just an outing. I planned to sweet-talk Parcel into letting us take a walk outside for a few hours. I wasn’t planning to flee — just stretch my legs a bit.
So I waited for Parcel to arrive.
When the sun was already tilting westward, he finally came, later than usual. He looked exhausted, shoulders slumped, as he set our dinner down and started rambling about his day.
“The Sioum Principality’s delegation is coming again?” I asked, chewing bread.
He nodded. “Yeah. Their schedule got delayed because of you two last time. We had to rearrange the warp schedule.”
“So they’re coming tomorrow morning?”
“That’s right. Ugh, I just hope nothing goes wrong this time. You don’t know how hard it was to get the magic stones.”
Apparently, magic stones were even harder to come by here than in the Empire. In the Empire, a high-ranking noble could just buy them for warp travel, but here they were only used for major state events. The fact that we had been warped into Aint at all was practically a miracle.
‘A miracle I didn’t need,’ I thought bitterly.
Still, listening to Parcel, I realized something: even if I could somehow get out of the palace, there was no way to leave this island floating in the middle of the sea. We couldn’t sail a stolen ship, and stealing one was nearly impossible anyway.
The best way was to somehow activate the Warp Zone and get back. Normally, that was almost impossible — Aint rarely operated it, and it had to be coordinated with the Empire. But now one of those two conditions was already about to be met.
An idea sparked.
“Parcel, can I ask you a favor?”
“Sure, tell me. If I can do it, I will.”
“Could you get me a communication orb? I… miss my family back in the Empire so much…”
I forced out nonexistent tears and spun a sob story. Parcel’s face immediately darkened, and he awkwardly patted my shoulder. Honestly, he was too nice for his own good — I didn’t know why the kingdom had put such a kind person in charge of watching us.
Sneaking a glance at Mishi, I saw him giving me a puzzled look — like, “What’s with you now?”
Mishi, this is for you too, so just go along with it, okay?
“Communication orbs also use magic stones, so it’s hard to get…”
“I knew it… it’s okay…” I sniffed.
“But! Maybe I can get just one somehow!”
With that, Parcel shot to his feet and started pacing, thinking hard. Finally, he said he knew someone to ask and ran out of the room.
As soon as he left, I turned to Mishi. His big rabbit-like eyes were wide. Seriously, too beautiful for his own good. I avoided getting lost in them and asked:
“Mishi, you know the palace coordinates, right?”
“Huh? Oh… yeah, I know them. Why?”
“Let’s escape.”
“What?”
“Think about it. How long will it take them to find the Aint prince? Let’s say they’re quick and do it in a month — it could just as easily take a year. And that’s if they find him at all. It’s been ten years; odds are they won’t.”
“…That’s… true.”
Even in advanced Korea, finding a missing child was close to a miracle. Here, with no CCTV or forensic tech, it was nearly impossible. We could grow old and die waiting.
Sure, the crown prince might start a war to get Mishi out, but who knew when that would be.
‘If we get caught escaping, it’s probably execution,’ I thought. Escaping the royal palace? A quick death would be considered mercy.
Still, living like this with no end in sight was unbearable. I’d already died once — what difference would dying again make?
Clasping my trembling hands together, I prayed to a god I’d never sought before.
‘Please, in my next life, let me be a noble. Or the child of a billionaire.’
Just… not an overworked, suffocating wage slave.
That was my one and only wish.
