It was the day of my coming-of-age ceremony that I was imprisoned in the Princess’s Palace.
While the Imperial family typically awakens their special abilities on the day of their ceremony, mine had manifested a full month early. Thrilled, I shared the news with my father, and he promised to hold a magnificent celebration for me.
Then, a month later. On the day of my once-in-a-lifetime ceremony, I fell into the abyss in a single moment. The ability that had manifested without issue until yesterday vanished overnight. The joyous banquet hall turned into a courtroom in an instant.
‘Princess Aileen, who mocked the Imperial House, must be deposed immediately!’
‘She must be confined to her palace at once!’
The nobles tore into me as if they had been waiting for this moment.
‘…Confine the Princess to her palace immediately. Until I give the word, she is not to take a single step outside.’
Faced with the outcry of the nobility, my father, unable to hide his disappointment, issued the decree of confinement.
‘I’ll try again! Please, just give me a chance!’
‘Aileen, was it a lie that your abilities manifested? Did you want to become Emperor that badly?’
‘Lucas, you saw it too! I didn’t lie!’
‘How do I know that wasn’t a trick, too?’
‘Lucas…?’
When even Lucas turned his back on me, it felt as if something inside me died.
‘Ah! Please…!’
As I was dragged away by the knights who stormed the hall on my father’s orders, my eyes met a girl standing in the corner of the room. Though she quickly looked away, I clearly saw the corners of her lips curled upward as she watched me.
‘You…?’
Before I could say a word to her, I was dragged off and locked inside the Princess’s Palace.
‘Open the door! Let me out of here!’
From the first day of my imprisonment, I don’t know how many days and nights I spent clinging to that door, begging to be let out.
‘Please open this door! I really didn’t lie!’
Blood burst from my hands as I pounded the door without rest, and even when my voice turned into a metallic rasp, I didn’t stop.
‘Please, let me out of here…’
I prayed for anyone to open the door and save me. Eventually, childhood memories faded, and in this place where neither my father nor Lucas ever visited, I withered like a dried flower, wishing only for death. One day passed, then two, then a year, until the Princess’s Palace became a place forgotten by all.
How much time had passed since my exile? A cold-hearted maid offhandedly mentioned that my father had passed away. Tears I had suppressed for so long streamed down my cheeks.
‘Lucas, I was wrong about everything! Just let me see Father one last time!’
Even though I had given up on everything, I wanted to be there for my father’s end. I begged until I vomited blood to see him one last time, but I was not allowed to attend the funeral.
I was only able to escape that palace when I died at Lucas’s hands.
“……”
That’s certainly how it happened…. So how am I supposed to accept this current situation?
“Hau.”
Moving my heavy head, I rolled my eyes to survey my surroundings. The ceiling and furniture, engraved with patterns symbolizing the Empire, were familiar—I had seen them right up until the moment I died. I was trapped in a horrific hell until I finally reached death just moments ago, so what is this?
Before I could even rejoice at escaping the loathsome Lucas and the prison-like palace, I felt as if I had been moved to a new cage. I stared blankly at the chandelier hanging from the ceiling.
Where on earth was I? Was this a world of the gods decorated exactly like the Imperial Palace? Was this heaven, and had I, who died because of my twin brother, been reborn as a baby angel?
“Haya.”
Thinking that way made the situation slightly easier to swallow.
“My, why is our Princess being so well-behaved? Not even a single tear. Jam-jam~” (TN: A Korean hand-squeezing game for babies)
However, as if to mock my efforts, a woman’s voice suddenly pulled me back to reality.
‘Princess?’
I blinked at the sight of the woman before me.
“Jam-jam~”
The woman was clenching and unclenching her hand in front of my face, trying to coax a reaction out of me.
“Princess, jam-jam~”
She called me “Princess” again. Remembering my past life, I felt a surge of unpleasantness at her words. When I continued to show no reaction, I saw cold sweat break out on her face.
“The Princess is exceptionally quiet today.”
As I continued to stare intently, the woman spoke with an awkward smile.
“Our Princess, you didn’t go pee-pee, did you?”
“…!”
I flinched at the unfamiliar touch on my body. The woman was tapping my chubby bottom.
“Dda-eu!”
I let out a shriek at her sudden “buttock attack.” Even if we were both female, I felt a sense of shame.
“Au!”
While I was babbling and shrieking at the woman, an unfamiliar babble mixed in from nearby.
“……?”
Another baby’s babble besides mine? A chill ran down my spine. A babble flew through the air and pierced my heart.
“Kyau.”
I turned my head—which felt as heavy as someone else’s—toward the sound.
“…!”
Lying in the spot next to me was a fellow who, except for his gender, was a carbon copy of me—the very person who had “gifted” me death in my past life. My twin brother, Lucas.
The moment I saw that face, my babbling mouth snapped shut. My body trembled with instinctive rage.
“Oh my, it looks like the Prince woke up because of the Princess’s voice.”
Are you saying it’s my fault he woke up?
I glared at the woman in disbelief.
“Silvia, come here.”
The woman, oblivious to my gaze, called out another woman’s name.
“Leni, what is it?”
“…!”
As I watched the two women standing before me, it finally clicked. That “God”—no, that woman!
Glossy brown hair and cotton-candy pink eyes. Her smile, which turned her eyes into half-moons, had been quite beautiful. She had a likable face but was terribly slow-witted and lacked competence as a nanny, so she was a former nursemaid of mine who had been married off and sent out of the palace early.
‘Was her name Leni?’
If Leni was here, did it really mean I had returned to my infancy?
“Seeing them fall asleep and wake up together, they really are twins.”
“Aren’t they? How can they be so adorable?”
At Leni’s call, a new woman appeared and smiled happily at Lucas and me. Unlike Leni, this woman had dark gray hair, olive-green eyes, and freckles across the bridge of her nose. This was Silvia, Lucas’s nanny.
“Kyahat.”
“The Prince is in a good mood too, isn’t he?”
At their smiles, my “legal roommate” seemed delighted, raising his short arms and clapping his hands together.
“Eububu.”
No way. It can’t be. There’s no way I’ve truly returned…!
“Eongeo!”
In my shock, I opened my mouth wide and tasted the sweetness of milk.
“Chop-chop.”
Hiccup. Had I become a baby so instinctively that even my actions had turned infantile?
“Princess, you just ate. Were you still hungry?”
While I was reeling from my own instinctive behavior, I heard Leni’s chuckling voice. Leni leaned over the crib, slipped her arms under my armpits—as I sat frozen in shock—and hoisted me up.
“…….”
I wanted to scream at her to put me down immediately, but my startled mouth only gaped like a fish. They say heaven and hell are a paper-thin apart. It was starting to sink in that I had returned to a time when I couldn’t even go without a diaper.
Clearly, my connection with Lucas should have ended then. So why was that fellow lying in the spot next to me? This was undoubtedly a prank by the gods. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to return alongside Lucas.
Unable to accept this reality, I glared at Lucas, who was beaming beside me.
“Princess. You’re staring so hard you’ll put a hole in the Prince’s face. Even if you are twins, do you really love him that much?”
Then, Leni said something utterly nonsensical and oblivious.
“Kaaaak!”
I shrieked like a crow to deny her words.
“Oh my, how cute!”
“The Prince is cute too, but our Princess is just precious.”
Leni and Silvia chatted excitedly among themselves, oblivious to my plight and my feelings.
How could I ever forget? That gut-wrenching pain, as if my insides were being wrung out, and the blood that poured from my mouth without stopping. I hadn’t been with Lucas since the ceremony, but I had thought being twins connected us—only to be betrayed in an instant, as if that bond were being severed.
It felt as if all those memories were etched into my very soul. I spent a significant portion of my life locked in a palace, and if I have to endure that same life all over again….
‘Can I really survive this?’
A surge of uncontrollable rage welled up, making my body tremble.
“Hic.”
“Oh dear, why is the Princess suddenly doing this?”
Because I was so angry, I started to hiccup.
“Hic.”
“Princess, it’s okay. I’m right here.”
Leni noticed my hiccups, quickly pulled me into her arms, and patted my back.
“Hic.”
“Silvia, check on the Prince, too.”
Leni spoke to Silvia while patting my back.
“Yes, I will.”
Silvia picked up Lucas, who was lying in the crib, and began to examine him thoroughly.
“Eubuu.”
“Fortunately, the Prince seems fine.”
Silvia let out a sigh of relief, laid Lucas back in the crib, and spun the mobile hanging from the headboard.
“Kyahat.”
That fellow is so carefree and bright, so why am I still suffering because of you? I crossed the threshold of death because of you, yet you are just beaming.
Seeing Lucas flailing around as he watched the mobile over the side of the crib made me even angrier.
“Hic.”
“Princess, calm down. Where does it hurt?”
My anger wouldn’t subside, so the hiccups wouldn’t stop.
“Silvia, what should I do? Should I call the Royal Physician?”
“Leni, calm down. I’ll go bring him.”
As Leni spoke worriedly while soothing me, Silvia said she would go herself and asked Leni to look after Lucas.
“Thank you.”
Knock, knock.
Just as Silvia was about to open the door, a knock sounded from the other side.
“His Imperial Majesty enters.”
Along with the attendant’s voice, the sound of the door opening rang out.
If it’s His Imperial Majesty… is it Father?
“Hic.”
My hiccups stopped instantly.
