Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Tap tap tap.

She ran to me with light steps, and at the sight of her entering in my arms, the breath I’d been holding escaped in a puff.

How could she be so cute?

I swiftly turned my head to the back, trying my best to avoid looking at her.

At least, one good thing about the curse was that I could completely turn my head around 180 degrees. It was the perfect body for someone when they wanted to avoid looking at something.

St, stop!)

I firmly made up my mind and closed my eyes to strengthen my resolve.

No matter how much I wanted a child, I wasn’t going to lose my life for it.

Now that I knew this kid is the little princess’ of the novel, it was absolutely dangerous to keep her close.

It’s only a matter of time before we’d get caught by her brother, and when we were it was no different from a time bomb blowing up the lake.

TI’m sorry but I’m not your mother. How could I be your mom?

…… You’re nwot mwy Mommy?

“I told you i’m not! Can’t you tell by the different colors of our feathers?

Mine are black, yours are white!

I kept my eyes closed and indicated to the baby’s feathers with my beak.

I wished she could understand my desperate gesture.

Full of will to survive, I spread my wings wide.

“Okay. You see this? You and are are this diff

Ah we, we’re the swame!

Fwish, the baby swan, who spread her wings along with me, couldn’t keep her balance and landed on her buttocks.

I wondered what she was so happy about as I watched her flap her wings as much as she could.

So you are mwy mommwy!

I’m going to go crazy, seriously.

My anxiety continued as we moved to the lake, even until the sun rose.

I roughly pointed my forehead to Haniel where to go and then buried my head in my wings.

“Mommy, Mommwy! Wook at thish!

……I said I’m not your mom.)

Oh, oh..

The baby swan’s shoulders sank.

Perhaps because she was in a swan’s body, it was more dramatic than slumped shoulders on a human body.

…Bu, bwut Mommwy and I are the swame..

Four colors are different, the colors!

When her shoulders were slumped, even the way she bowed her head made it look like she was my actual daughter.

At least our colors were different, otherwise I’d have really been driven to being her mother.

‘I can’t. I absolutely cannot

Who was she?

She was the younger sister of the tyrant emperor, the most obsessive man in the world.

I shook my head just thinking about what would happen when I got unfortunately stuck between the two of them.

And without all that, I had been living in a cursed body the minute I opened my eyes.

…….. What kind of fate is this?

Thadn’t even been wishing for something out of this world.

I didn’t want to be like everyone else who transmigrated, relying on a powerful and able husband, I wanted to live like a human being should.

Ah….not that I’m even human anymore!

It was another day of living as a half-person and a halfanimal.

Realizing my situation once more, I felt bitter.

Thinking how, in my previous life I was an orphaned parttime worker and in my present life I was now a cursed widow, I almost wanted to blow up the lake.

Hyooo.

“Is something the matter, Your Ladyship? Your face has greatly thinned in a day..

…..Selene.

Selene wobbled over to me and I scooched over to give her a seat next to me.

Haniel sneaked behind me, but I pretended I didn’t see her.

If I show any kind of hint of being happy that this small baby relies on me, I’ll end up getting attached.

Child, go stay over there for a bit while the adults talk…

…………Mm?

“Go over there and play in the water for a bit. Splash splash, you know, right?

………. Plash plash?

The tip of my nose soured as I forcefully sent away the Haniel who had been sticking to my wings like glue.

She wasn’t a child who deserved to be treated coldly like

this.

Even the back of her sadly walking away was so adorable to the point that my insides felt like they were burning.

“Is there something else you wanted to say, Your Ladyship?

.

..Just.

I turned around, avoiding looking at Haniel.

It was better for everyone that the child wasn’t here while I said what I wanted to say next.

Do you perhaps…… know about the emperor?,

“Y-y-y-yes?

What, what did I say, why are you already trembling.

Even before I properly explained more, just because the tyrant was mentioned.

Selene was shivering from head to toe like a Disney cartoon, and only opened her beak after searching her surroundings.

“You had asked about the emperor’s name last time. Though you then said it wasn’t important..

“No, that’s because at that time!

…… Because I didn’t know she was the female protagonist’s older brother.

When I first fell into a lake and was trying to find out what kind of novel this place was, of course, I had asked about the emperor of this country.

But I wasn’t smart enough to remember the name of an emperor in a novel I’d read for a bit.

I wasn’t even sure if his name was properly mentioned in the novel.

…He is Ra, Rashid-nim. Pernoa the Third.

Ahhj

As expected, I didn’t know even when I heard the name.

All characters in fantasy novels had similar names, and this guy was no different.

It sounded like a pretty respectable name, a name appropriate for a tyrant character.

And it wasn’t like the name was important for my situation.

“That, Is that person really……that terrifying?

Don’t get me started! The empire’s territory expanded to twice its original size after the emperor ascended the throne!

……… How many wars must it have took for that to happen.

I wasn’t very surprised, as it was expected of the one who’d been described as leaving trails of pools of blood behind him.

It was typical of a tyrant, wasn’t it?

He’d cut down anyone who disagreed with him in court, if his temper was roused, he’d turn them to dust…..in other words, there was nothing good that came from being near that character.

But it’s said in the days when he was crown prince, he would visit the Winter Palace every once in a while, escorting the late Emperor and Empress..

Winter Palace?

‘Yes. Not just here, but every province of the empire has its own royal villa. But among all of them the Winter Palace of our Northern Lands is the best, so much so that the late Empress would always make a trip to the Winter Palaces

Selene raised her wings and indicated towards an area beyond the lake. Though I hadn’t ever been to that area before, I caught sight of a vague shape in the hazy mist.

“But since the two have passed away, the visits don’t happen anymore, of course. But why do you ask about him?

“Ah ah, doesn’t the emperor have a younger sister?

“Is that so? Hm. Now that I think about it, I do believe I’ve heard about something like that. )

“What. You don’t know for sure?

I suddenly felt a surge of emotions and looked at the baby swan.

My god, for her to be a princess that no one was aware of.

I wanted to groan at the sight of the pitiful little swan that was paddling in circles, still waiting for me to call her name.

“How can you not even know that? It’s the empire’s one and only princess!

But Your Ladyship, weren’t you asking because you yourself don’t know?

“Ah……

That’s true, but still.

Even though Selene was usually staring off into space, she’d hit the bull’s eye every once in a while.

When I calmed down and stealthily turned my head back to her, Selene energetically spoke.

“To be honest, the emperor has many younger siblings. You see, every time we eventually heard a rumour, it was usually of the late Empress being pregnant.

…..Loo, looks like the late Emperor and Empress lived in conjugal harmony

Indeed. That’s why they must have passed on almost at the same time.)

Tap tap, when I turned around at the tap on my foot and looked at the baby swan and saw how delighted it was to get my attention, my nose soured.

I mean, it’s not like the child did anything wrong.

If just one of the two parents had stayed behind, this child wouldn’t be subject to such a horrible life.

Child, your fate isn’t so good, either.

I can’t believe that, with so many brothers around, you would end up being thrown to a cursed and widowed black swan.

I wrapped my stinging chest with my wings.

This situation was definitely a red flag.

But my heavy heart felt at ease as soon as I looked at the baby swan.

“Even so. If she’s the one and only princess of the empire, wouldn’t she get some kind of special treatment? Ah ah, is she perhaps a concubine’s daughter? Perhaps it’s like that because she doesn’t share the same mother as the emperor…

“Of course not. The late Emperor was only ever with the late Empress. He had no concubines.

“Wait what. So they’re even blood-related siblings?

I’d be able to understand if she was a stepmother’s daughter instead.

Their birth mother had suffered so much giving birth, but did they not even feel pity for that last child?!

They have money, they have power! Frankly, as long as they had the heart to, they could take care of the child as much as they wanted.

I felt enmity flare up at the tyrant I hadn’t even met.

“That doesn’t make sense. How can a brother treat his sister like that?

“It’s probably because the late Empress passed away. At least for the other princes, their names had been officially announced and had a festival in celebration of their birthday. The last commemoration was 8 years ago for the twin princes, so it’s been a very long time. I even remember that the duke offered up a present for the celebrations

“And for the little princess?,

Originally, before a prince or princess reached 2 years of age, they should have had their names and titles put up on temples all over the continent, but some people said the princess was sick, and other s said that the princess had died early…….

Died, who said she died!

…. Wait. Your Ladyship, why are you yellingu

Do you think I can’t not yell in this situation?

She had perfectly fine webbed feet and an adorable little beak!

My kid might be cursed, but that doesn’t mean she’s lacking in other ways!

Ho-onk!

I flapped my wings, trying to cool off.