Chapter 1
“Open it.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Clatter. Clank.
The door, which had remained tightly shut no matter how much the princess wept, begged, or pleaded, opened easily at the man’s single word.
As the chains wrapped tightly around the main gate of the desolate Princess’s Palace loosened and the heavy iron lock was undone, the man pushed against the rusted door.
Creeaak.
It seemed the door hadn’t moved in an eternity. The chilling sound echoed throughout the inside and outside of the palace.
It was proof enough of just how long the princess had been imprisoned here.
The man stepped through the opened doorway and cast his gaze around the palace interior.
The curtains, which should have hung from the windows, had long fallen to the floor, forgotten. The carpet was worn to tatters, and dust-covered ornaments lay scattered throughout the room.
It’s time this place was cleared out as well, the man thought as he surveyed the interior.
Just then, a faint presence stirred on the second floor.
“…..”
“…..”
At the end of the staircase leading up, a woman stood leaning against the railing, her face as expressionless as a wax figure, staring down at the man.
“Eileen.”
“…Lucas.”
As if greeting someone he had seen only yesterday, the man lifted the corners of his lips in a friendly smile and called her name.
“It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?”
“What brings you here?”
The man asked after her well-being in a light, cheerful tone.
But the woman’s face showed no signs of welcome; instead, a wariness surfaced in her gaze.
“Our birthday is coming up soon. I came to bring you a birthday present.”
“I didn’t know you were capable of such a thought.”
The woman let out a faint, hollow laugh at the sight of her twin brother, who hadn’t spared her a glance, let alone a word, since she had been confined in this palace, now showing up bearing gifts.
“Haha. It’s something I prepared especially for you. I really hope you’ll accept it.”
“I wonder what kind of present you could have prepared.”
It was the moment when Eileen, the mistress of the Princess’s Palace, and her twin brother Lucas came face to face for the first time in seven years.
***
Creeaak.
“So noisy…”
A sound ill-suited to the stillness of the Princess’s Palace shattered the silence and disturbed her sleep.
The palace, which should have been as quiet as always, where was that noise coming from?
She had stayed up late the previous night reading, and now, without even realizing the sun had climbed high into the sky, she remained fast asleep.
There wasn’t much she could do in this place. Reading had become her only routine.
The books she’d once collected as a hobby before her confinement were finally serving their purpose.
“How much time has passed?”
In this perpetually silent palace, it was impossible to tell the passage of time.
All she could rely on was the rising sun and the arrival of nightfall to mark the passing of a day.
And yet, this was the loudest sound she’d heard in the seven years since she had been imprisoned here.
“Has something happened?”
With no one meant to visit this place, the sudden noise was unsettling. She tossed beneath her covers and forced herself upright.
Using the washbasin that had been brought in at dawn, she hastily wiped her face and stepped into the dressing room.
There were only a handful of dresses left now; the room looked empty.
At the time of her confinement, it hadn’t been this impoverished. But little by little, things had been taken away until only the bare minimum remained.
The maids assigned to this palace siphoned off the meager budget, stole the dresses, and sold them outside. These days, even meals had become rare.
No doubt, even now, the maids were divvying up whatever provisions had come into the palace amongst themselves.
Without a maid to assist her, she stripped off the old nightdress herself and changed into a faded dress whose original color was no longer recognizable.
After brushing a hand over the fabric of the worn dress, she stood before the mirror propped in the corner of the room.
“…..”
Reflected in the glass was the empire’s only princess, dressed in garments shabbier than a maid’s, standing with an emotionless face.
Hoo.
Letting out a long breath to chase away the remnants of sleep, she stepped out of the room.
Rustle, rustle.
“Ha…”
Having gone three days without a proper meal, she barely had the strength to walk.
With great effort, she made her way to the second-floor balcony, where she spotted a man standing in the first-floor hall, his short, golden hair neatly combed back.
At the sight of his face, her brow furrowed on instinct.
It was Lucas, her twin brother, who hadn’t sought her out even once in seven years.
Lucas, too, seemed to sense her presence and lifted his gaze.
Except for the slightly drooping corners of his eyes, everything about his face was identical to hers. The heterochromatic eyes, one golden, one jade, said to be a blessing of the sun and sky, and the straight, sharp nose, it was as if their faces had been stamped from the same mold.
But beyond that, everything about them was different.
Unlike her dull, coarse hair, his shone like strands of molten gold, smooth and gleaming. It was proof enough that their lives had been worlds apart.
“How many years has it been? I imagined you’d have grown up, but you’ve turned out rather fine.”
She spoke in a voice stripped of all emotion as she looked down at Lucas.
It had been far too long to show any feelings now.
“I have been remiss, sister.”
At those words, she let out a hollow laugh and descended the stairs.
“You, who never once considered me your sister, yet now you so easily speak the word.”
“Even if we’re twins, the fact remains you were born before me. It’s not such a difficult thing to call you sister at least once.”
He placed a particular emphasis on ‘at least once’, his words smooth and practiced. He had grown tall, so much so that she now had to look up to meet his gaze.
And at that, the corners of her lips twitched faintly.
“So then, how does it feel, living so well on your own all these years after locking your twin sister away in this cold, empty palace?”
“It wasn’t my will that confined you.”
“Your tongue’s grown clever. What an amusing thing to say.”
She had been dragged into this palace and imprisoned for the crime of deceiving the emperor and nobility on the one and only day of her coming-of-age ceremony.
Since she had been locked away while their father, the late emperor, still lived, she’d once believed that when Lucas took the throne, she would finally be freed.
But Lucas hadn’t so much as let his shadow fall upon the Princess’s Palace in all those years.
In the entire span of seven years, the doors of the Princess’s Palace had not opened even once, not until today.
The bitter sense of betrayal she’d felt back then surged up once more, and her gaze toward Lucas turned frigid.
Lucas, sensing that cold stare, furrowed his perfect brow and spoke.
“Eileen.”
So much for calling me ‘sister just once.’ Straight to my name. Shameless brat.
Summoning what little strength she had left, Eileen scolded him.
“Just because you’re emperor now, do you think you’re above me?”
“…..”
Lucas remained silent for a moment as if lost in thought, then slowly opened his mouth.
“There was a time when we were close, wasn’t there, Eileen?”
“Are you referring to when we were still nursing infants?”
“…..”
At her barbed reply, Lucas clamped his mouth shut again.
“If you have nothing more to say, you may leave now.”
Turning away, weary to the bone, she spoke coldly.
“Eileen, after so long apart, won’t you offer me a cup of tea at least?”
“Tea? You want tea?”
Lucas, showing no intention of leaving, uttered something so absurd she couldn’t help but scoff.
Was he mocking her?
There wasn’t a single thing in this forsaken palace she could offer anyone. He knew that better than anyone, which meant he’d only brought it up to taunt her.
“Lucas, as if this palace would have tea for you.”
Her voice was heavy with exhaustion and her wish for him to leave was barely concealed.
But before she could finish speaking, one of the attendants Lucas had brought with him stepped forward.
“Your Majesty, please come inside. Everything’s prepared.”
The attendant’s words made her stiffen. In no time, Lucas turned to her with a grin as if waiting for this exact moment.
“You heard him. Shall we go?”
“Ha!”
Eileen let out a breathless laugh at Lucas’s shameless display.
It had been years since she stepped into the drawing room. It was spotless, not a speck of dust in sight, as though it had been carefully cleaned in preparation.
In the center stood a table, set with an assortment of colorful desserts and a teapot sending up gentle wisps of steam.
Seeing those bright, delicate treats, she was forcibly reminded of just how wretched her life in this palace had become.
“So this place wasn’t entirely mine either, it seems.”
She murmured under her breath, and Lucas, catching it, smiled faintly and took a seat on the sofa ahead of her.
“Eileen, go on, try it. It’s from one of the best kitchens in the empire.”
“…..”
Lucas, acting like some generous benefactor, even pushed the dessert plate in front of him toward her.
The idea that he had asked for tea and then prepared this charade behind her back made her stomach turn.
“You didn’t come all this way just for tea, did you, oh so gracious emperor?”
Ignoring the desserts, Eileen sat down in the chair opposite him.
“Eileen, if we’re ever born again, I’d like us to meet as friends, not as twins.”
“Our bond ends with this life.”
“Haha. That’s a cold thing to say.”
Lucas laughed as though the words didn’t sting at all.
“So then, what exactly brings you here…”
She lifted the teacup, warmth rising from it, her dry throat craving even a single sip.
But just as she took a mouthful—
Khak!
A searing, twisting pain clenched her stomach, doubling her over. The cup slipped from her hand.
Crash!
The porcelain shattered against the drawing room floor, shards scattering everywhere.
“Khuk…!”
Glass splinters cut into her exposed ankles beneath the shortened dress, but she barely felt it.
“Told you. Should’ve started with the dessert.”
Lucas leaned back comfortably against the sofa, his voice calm as if this were some casual conversation.
“Khugh…!”
She tried to cover her mouth as something surged up her throat, but it was too late.
Dark red blood burst past her lips, staining the front of her faded dress.
The poison in the tea was so vicious that thick clots of blood spilled out before she could stop them.
“Eileen, do you like the little gift I prepared for you?”
“Kh… you…!”
Lucas’s face, watching her suffer, betrayed no emotion. Nothing could be read in those features.
Hands trembling, slick with blood, she looked down at them.
Her weakened body, long starved and now poisoned, couldn’t hold on. Already the toxin was spreading through her, blurring her vision.
Hah…
A bitter laugh escaped her.
Finally, finally, she would be freed from this prison of a palace.
Her lips curved faintly as she closed her eyes, blood rising once again to choke her.
