章 4: Premonition
Lorelai slowly walked back to her study, reveling in the warmth of the sunlight that seeped through the hallway windows.
Compared to Althea's room, where the curtains were always drawn, allowing only artificial light from the chandelier candles, any other room that did not shelter her presence, seemed a lot warmer and thus more cheerful.
Despite the dreading news that had just been delivered to her and the annoying pain in her right hip, the princess felt a little better just walking through the sunlit hall.
Pausing next to one of the tall windows, Lorelai looked through the glass, noticing two people talking outside, among the blooming orchards of the palace gardens.
'Kai?'
Those people were her stepbrother, Crown Prince Kai Erelith, and her future husband, Duke Vincent Kalder.
Even though she could not see their faces very well, Lorelai could tell that their discussion was not a pleasant one. And she knew exactly why.
'If the old duke is here, it means they are discussing my marriage. No wonder Kai looks so annoyed.'
As she finished that thought, Duke Kalder turned on his heel and left abruptly while the Crown Prince suddenly raised his head and locked his glowing green eyes with the princess.
His angry gaze sent a shiver down her spine, forcing Lorelai to avert her eyes and step aside from the window.
There was always something unsettling about her stepbrother which made her feel scared. She did not like to provoke him.
The princess was about to get inside her study when she heard the familiar heavy rhythm of her stepbrother's footsteps marching toward her from around the corner of the hallway.
"Lorelai!"
Lorelai winced and tightened her grip around the ornate handle of her cane. Kai appeared almost out of nowhere right before her, fuming with unreasonable rage as he spat his next words.
"So it's true, huh? You whored yourself off to that old pervert?!"
His crude tone and the choice of words put a disgusted grimace on her face.
Kai was the spitting image of the queen except for his sparkling green eyes––the only visible proof that he was indeed of royal blood. His presence always made her shrink the same way Althea did.
"Please do not use such harsh words in my company, Your Highness," Lorelai started calmly, "and do not act like you have not been aware of that as well. Her Majesty the Queen has been planning this union for years; this is the only thing I can do for the royal family."
Even though she spoke the truth, somehow, Kai did not find her reply even slightly comforting. On the contrary, it irked him even more than his impromptu conversation with Duke Kalder.
"You..!" The prince raised his hand, prepared to strike his stepsister but Lorelai lifted her cane in a protective stance, fixing her bright green eyes on his with unexpected confidence.
"You cannot hurt me anymore, Your Highness. From now on, only my future husband can."
***
From that day onward, Lorelai noticed that both her ladies-in-waiting and her maids had become a lot busier, always running about and often called to the queen's quarters.
That alone was a definite clue that the wedding preparations had been set in motion.
Annoyed and frightened, the princess tried to bury herself in the palace work that her stepbrother had been successfully neglecting, going hunting or sleeping with prostitutes instead, but no matter how hard she tried to focus, her mind refused to obey.
Even a moment's pause made her thoughts twirl in disarray.
Letting out a long, heavy sigh, Lorelai set her quill aside and leaned back in her chair, her eyelids tightly shut.
As she tried to take a break and find a moment of peace, the princess suddenly recalled that bizarre dream from a few days ago.
A pair of glowing amber eyes shone in her mind's eye as if they were right in front of her.
Startled, Lorelai opened her eyes, her chest heaving.
'I cannot help but feel that it was not a mere dream... With everything that has happened so far, it feels like some sort of a premonition.'
Indeed, with the impending marriage alliance looming over her head, she saw that strange dream as a sign from above. After all, the timing was just too accurate. She wondered if her heart was warning her about her fate.
'Poison...' Lorelai pictured a small glass bottle of red liquid she saw in her dream and immediately felt the ache in her muscles.
Following was the male voice crying out her name in despair and the princess felt her skin covered in goosebumps.
It would have been nice. If only someone would come to save her from this hell.
Her thoughts then shifted back to the poison and Lorelai frowned.
Gypsies. In her dream, she bought that poison from a Gypsy woman.
Gypsies were not really citizens of the Erelith Kingdom. In fact, they were just nomads, roaming around the continent like it belonged entirely to them.
Peaceful and harmless in nature, they posed no threat to others, and with their innate talent for street entertainment, gypsies were welcome everywhere and received no judgment or discrimination.
Lorelai had seen the Gypsy settlement in the Capital before. She had always found them fascinating and yet, she had never had the courage to approach them.
And now, it felt like the right time to finally do so.
With another long sigh, the princess turned around and looked out of the window behind her chair. Despite the late hour, it was still light outside which made her surprised for a few moments.
'Ah,' she finally recalled, 'today is the summer solstice!'
The summer solstice was the longest day of the year but it was also the day when all the commoners, including gypsies, gathered in the Capital Square to celebrate the occasion with all kinds of festivities and entertaining events.
Strangely, Lorelai's heartbeat fastened, and she felt her palms getting damp.
Perhaps that dream was indeed a premonition.
No, it had to be.
That dream was both a warning and a helping hand.
An unwavering decision was made right away––she would do it.
She would go to the festival disguised as a commoner, meet the gypsies, and buy that poison.
章 5: Summer Solstice
The Summer Solstice Festival was the only official event allowed by the royal family of Erelith where the commoners from all over the kingdom could gather together to celebrate the blessing of the sun.
Due to its location, Erelith had good weather conditions and its summers were moderately hot which facilitated rather generous yearly harvests. The commoners who were mostly uneducated, believed that it was all due to their praising of the sun, and since it did not really harm either the crown or the rest of the nobles, the royal family allowed and even sponsored this event.
This year, the Summer Solstice Festival conveniently overlapped the Continent Union celebration which meant a lot more festivities for both nobles and commoners because when nobles were busy celebrating, the whole kingdom was forced to do the same.
Lorelai had never seen the festival before.
In truth, perhaps she did, but she simply could not remember. She could not remember anything that happened to her before she injured her leg.
There was something undeniably exciting about witnessing it for the first time and the princess could not help but tremble with her entire body as she anticipated her secret outing tonight.
Althea did not allow Lorelai to leave the royal palace on her own. It was not because she cared for her and was worried that something might happen to the royal princess; the reason for that was that the queen wanted to control her stepdaughter's every move and know what she was doing or saying at all times.
Lorelai had not left the palace on her own in a while, but today, as she was buttoning up her plain black corset over a simple red dress she had secretly bought from one of the maids, the princess was nearly jumping out of her skin with excitement.
Once her outfit was finally completed, she gathered her long blonde hair in a loose bun at the back of her head and concealed herself underneath a long black cloak.
Her hand automatically reached for the cane when she suddenly paused and let out a long sigh.
It would have been difficult to walk without it, but using a cane was too risky when sneaking out of the palace. The choice was obvious––she had to go without the cane.
Luckily, today, Lorelai did not have to resort to the help of the secret passages she had marked around the palace when she first started sneaking out to meet with other noble children in secret.
Alisia, one of the young kitchen maids, agreed to lead the princess out of the palace while hiding under her own cloak as she pretended to go to the festival's market to buy spices.
"Thank you, Alisia," Lorelai placed a few gold coins between the maid's hands and turned to her right, following a narrow street path leading out of the royal quarters.
'Ugh... This is getting troublesome...'
As expected, walking without her cane had proven to be difficult.
She felt fine for the first thirty minutes of walking but then her right hip started giving up and her entire leg felt sore, making it almost impossible to walk without limping.
'Would anyone care if I start limping? Surely, there are many people like me... And I cannot even hire a carriage to get there.'
Lorelai sighed and leaned against the cold stone wall of one of the shops in the shopping area, wiping the beads of sweat caused by the soreness in her leg.
Only private carriages were coursing through the Capital on the day of the festival, and since the princess could not use her own coach without Althea's permission, she had no other choice but to get there on her own.
Having struggled for a few more blocks, she was finally there.
"Woah..."
That quiet exclamation escaped her lips without her realizing that she was already standing in the midst of the celebration process, her mouth agape.
Lorelai could not believe her eyes.
Everywhere she looked, the Capital Square was bustling with life, sound, and light, pulling her in with its bewitching cacophony of emotions.
Everywhere she looked, she saw happy people dancing, singing, drinking, and laughing.
Drunk men with red noses were hugging one another, spilling the beer from their huge wooden mugs while women scolded them jokingly for ruining their flowery dresses with that smelly liquid.
To her right was a long food stall; the tables creaking under the never-ending piles of food the princess had never seen before. With every breath she took, her lungs filled with a new, delicious aroma that made her almost drool from hunger.
To her left was an impromptu theatre: multiple stages built in one day with the sole purpose of entertaining the greedy onlookers who were laughing at the grimacing jesters on one stage while gasping emotionally at the tragedy of a drama performance on another.
Walking past the theatre, Lorelai could not help but pause to learn what the drama was all about only to realize that it was about the royal family of Erelith.
One had to be a fool not to recognize the characters.
The first one was a tall, skinny woman in a long red wig with her face covered with white powder and her long nails stretching out like gargoyle's claws.
Next to her was a tall pale man in a short red wig, smiling arrogantly as he pretended to beat up the actors dressed as servants, kneeling down and crying before him.
Limping around the stage was a girl with blonde hair; she was flinching and gasping every time the pale woman's body moved, her hand trembling while clutching the wooden cane.
And in the middle was he––the "dead" king; or as portrayed by this performance––a skeleton sitting on a chair resembling the royal throne.
'I don't need to watch this. I am living through this tragicomedy myself.' Lorelai averted her eyes and discretely placed her right hand on her throbbing hip.
That drama performance delivered a little sting directly to her heart, but the princess' sadness did not last long. With everything she knew about the nobles and the atrocities they did to both her kingdom and her people, she was surprised a little theatrical mockery was all that the commoners were doing.
Lorelai stepped away from the benches near the stage and as her deep green eyes shifted forward, she felt her heart skip a bit.
There they were. In all their colorful and enchanting glory.
The Gypsy tribe.
ギフト
-- 贈り物
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