#15
“Your Highness?”
Could Persis get hurt in this dark place? I frantically called for Persis while flailing my hands around. However, this small prince had long since escaped from my fingertips. I could hear small footsteps running far away.
“Your Highness!”
I don’t know if he knows where this is and is running like that. Even if it was a place he’d been to once, in this darkness he could trip or bang his head against a wall. Thinking of Persis sniffling while holding his reddened forehead made me feel despair.
I had to stop him somehow, but I didn’t know what method to use.
“Persis!”
The moment I unconsciously called out to him and took a step forward, the dark underground space became brightly lit. I hurriedly covered both eyes with my arms because of the light that suddenly entered my eyes, but I couldn’t help frowning. When I thought I had gotten somewhat used to the light, I opened my eyes with difficulty and checked on Persis.
I could see Persis pressing against part of a wall. It seemed there was a magical device on the wall that could turn on lights. Persis, who had accurately remembered that spot, had apparently run forward and turned on the lights.
“Your Highness, are you alright?”
Still, just in case he might have gotten hurt, I decided to check casually. Persis blinked his eyes and slowly approached me.
“Ana, you called me!”
“Yes. I called you. Because I was worried.”
“Persis!”
Persis shouted his own name once more that I had just called out. Unlike Persis who was delightedly bouncing his shoulders, the three characters “I’m screwed” passed through my head.
“Persis, call me!”
“Ah, yes. I did.”
“Ana call me!”
That Ana is about to become a criminal who carelessly called the prince’s name, but I don’t know what this prince finds so good about it. It would be really nice if he could just erase it from his mind.
“I’m sorry, Your Highness. I’ll make sure this never happens again.”
“No! Ana! Call me Persis!”
“Have you been to this place before?”
“Ana! You’re changing the subject!”
Our prince even notices when I change the subject. Andelion, you’re doing well. Next time he’ll notice your sarcasm too.
Ignoring Persis who was whining beside me, I looked around. I didn’t know there was such a large open space like this beneath the temple. The walls surrounding it looked like gray stone walls at first, but looking closely, I could see black writing densely written on white walls.
“What is this place?”
“Ana, you’re ignoring me.”
“Of course not.”
After giving Persis a perfunctory answer, I walked along the path that extended into the distance. Unlike the open space, the single path extending forward was dark without lights, but as I stepped on it, lights automatically turned on as if there were sensors.
As magical orbs hanging overhead lit up in time with my steps, I could see the place connected to this path in the distance. Something cylindrical was connected lengthwise between the floor and ceiling. Since the light hadn’t reached that far yet, I couldn’t see what was inside it.
The moment Persis, who had quietly followed me, and I stepped to where the path ended, lights illuminated the place with the cylindrical tube.
Inside was a man with long black hair. The sight of the man floating in mid-air as if submerged in water, with his white arms and legs stretched out long, was extremely eerie. It wasn’t a sight for a seven-year-old to see. I hurriedly went to Persis and covered his eyes.
“Huh? What? Hide and seek?”
“What is that thing?”
“Amazing! I found it first! I discovered it!”
Since Persis had already found it, he would know the way here. He had probably seen it thoroughly when he came last time, but I absolutely couldn’t take my hands away.
No matter how I thought about it, that was a corpse. To put a corpse in a place where even young children could find it. Corpses should be buried in the ground in the first place. Or burned. I don’t know what the temple people were thinking putting a corpse like that.
“That person!”
As I was inwardly cursing a bowlful of bad words, Persis’s voice pierced my ears. Wondering what he meant, I looked once more at the man inside the round glass tube.
When his black hair was slightly swept to the side, I could see pointed ears. I unconsciously drew in a sharp breath. Pointed ears. Snow-white skin. Though I couldn’t confirm it, if there were sharp fangs too, what was in that tube wasn’t human.
“That person from the picture!”
A demon, the demon that the Duke was said to have killed.
“Even if I take my hands away, Your Highness must keep your eyes tightly closed.”
“What? Why?”
“If you keep your eyes tightly closed, I’ll do whatever you want later.”
“Yes! I understand!”
Persis, who nodded at my words, kept his eyes tightly shut even after I took my hands away. He’s really good at times like this. There’s no need for him to grow up this good. I was worried that people who wanted to take advantage of Persis might appear later.
Anyway, I slowly walked toward the round glass tube. The demon’s face, which hadn’t been visible from far away, came into view. White skin, red lips, black hair. This was exactly like Snow White from old fairy tales. His bewitching appearance also played a part.
I don’t know why the demon that the Duke was known to have killed is here. What was the temple thinking keeping a demon confined like this?
I gradually approached the tube. Perhaps this demon might have some connection to the Duke. Was he still alive? Or had they displayed the corpse of a completely dead demon here? Whatever it was, I thought it was quite a cruel punishment.
I took one more step closer and looked at his face. Looking closely, it was a face I’d seen somewhere. I wondered if I might have seen it in a picture, but there are no pictures anywhere that properly depict a demon’s face. Most cover the face with black hair.
But why does it feel familiar? As I got closer, the glass tube fogged up white. Just as I brought my hand to wipe the clouded surface, I heard someone’s voice from behind.
“Found you.”
“Ahhh!!”
I hadn’t even sensed anyone approaching. When I screamed in panic, even Persis, who was far away, was startled.
“What! What is it! Ana! Are you okay? Ana!”
“I’m, I’m fine. I’m okay, so absolutely! Don’t open your eyes!”
“Really? *sob* Ana, you’re okay, right?”
I didn’t have time to comfort Persis right now. My heart was beating violently from being so startled. Clutching my chest, I looked at the culprit who had startled me this much.
“I’m sorry for startling you, Young Master.”
“Kara.”
How did she even get here? And I don’t know how long she’d been following us. Was she someone who could walk this carefully? Kara picked me up with one hand and started walking with swaying steps.
“Wait, Kara!”
“This isn’t a place where Your Highness and Young Master can come. Let’s go up.”
“Wait, let me see a bit more.”
“Stop it, Young Master! Come, let’s go. Your Highness.”
Kara carefully supported Persis’s back and guided him as he kept his eyes closed. Persis was so good that he didn’t open his eyes until we left that space. There was no way Persis with his eyes closed could help me.
“Kara! Just a little more!”
“No, Young Master. It’s no use even if you throw a tantrum.”
To think I’d live to hear Kara say I was throwing a tantrum. How unfair. Who was throwing a tantrum right now?
“Kara!”
However, even to me, my voice sounded like a whining child. I tried my best to escape from her, but Kara’s footsteps had long since moved away from the underground. Persis, who didn’t take my side at times like this, was just a little bit frustrating.
In the end, Persis’s and my second exploration ended with Kara’s forced escort.
* * *
My lips were sticking out the entire way home. I was so frustrated with Kara who had forcibly dragged me away. There might have been important clues that could stop the Duke. There was actually a demon there. Wasn’t that surprising?
In such an important situation, Kara too easily ignored my words saying I didn’t want to go. Even if it was a secret place we couldn’t go to, Kara’s behavior was more extreme than usual. Usually Kara would flexibly overlook things even when we did something we shouldn’t.
But now she was sharp as a knife, trying to get me away from that place as quickly as possible, and even raised her voice.
The busy Duke didn’t ride in the carriage home with us today either. Normally I would chat about this and that with Kara until we arrived home. But today it was just cold. In the end, it was Kara who broke the silence.
“Young Master.”
“Yeah.”
“Are you angry?”
“No.”
I wasn’t angry. Actually, to be angry about something like this, there were too many things Kara had overlooked for me until now.
“Then are you sulking?”
I pursed my lips because I didn’t want to admit it. Honestly, I was sulking. I didn’t expect Kara, who would have taken my side at other times, to take me away so quickly. It’s not like the dead demon would come back to life just because I looked a little more. At minimum, I wanted to confirm whether the demon was really dead or alive.
“Young Master, from next time, even if His Highness wants to, please try not to go to the temple.”
“What? Why?”
My eyes widened like lanterns at Kara’s sudden words. I thought she would talk about something related to what just happened, but something completely unrelated came out.