The Slave Princess Every Night - Chapter 18

There stood Regnos, wearing armor and a cloak and holding a sword. As Lena and a few others took notice, soon everyone in the square was looking up at him, and a great silence fell over the city.

As if waiting for that moment, Regnos raised his sword high. He received the tearful cheers of his people for a long, long time. Lena stared at him in a daze. What under the sky could shine so brightly?

‘Ah…’

And when she became aware of her own situation, she felt ashamed. She felt like a bug for even dreaming of being by his side for a moment. It would be enough just to live under the same national flag.

It was then that she was about to turn her head.

“Princess?”

A voice, neither close nor far, not too loud, particularly caught her ear. Lenagea froze in that position. Even as she tried to reassure herself that they weren’t calling her, she was the only one in this country who could be called anything like a princess.

As if mocking her trembling with a feeling that was a mix of excitement and embarrassment, another voice chuckled and chimed in.

“What? Princess? What are you talking about? That woman is not a princess. She’s a stand-in.”

“Really?”

“Of course. How do you think Prince Regnos is in that position? You don’t know anything, do you?”

Her heart seemed to drop. She looked ahead as if she hadn’t heard, but tears were about to well up.

“…Really? How could they deceive everyone for over a decade?”

“Rumor has it that she warmed the bed of the usurper emperor.”

“How could she do such a shameful thing under the name of the Aitalos royal family…”

The creeping malice stung her body uncomfortably, like a stray thorn in her shoe. Lena could no longer stand there as if nothing was wrong. She hunched her shoulders like a closing mimosa leaf and turned away aimlessly. Somewhere, where no one would recognize her.

So when Regnos on the royal palace looked at the spot where she had been, not even a strand of silver hair could be seen anymore.

* * *

“We’ve finished organizing the palace, focusing on the most urgent areas first, Your Highness.”

“Good work.”

As the soldier who delivered the report retreated, Regnos fell into thought.

Recapturing Aine wasn’t difficult. It wasn’t exactly easy either, but with the strategies he devised and the mercenary tactics he was still getting used to, he was more than capable of securing victory.

The overjoyed Aitalosians showered him with praise, but he felt uneasy deep down. The source of that discomfort became clear as soon as he was left in silence.

‘What is that guy doing, and where?’

Godfrey of Taringia was known as a born commander. The small country tucked away in the north transformed into an unrivaled empire as soon as he took control, defeating powerful neighboring countries. The epithets “invincible ruler” and “god of war” always followed him.

To say he fought against such a man’s army, this victory was too simple, even anticlimactic. As Regnos delved deeper into his thoughts, he grew more tense. Was it because he disregarded the Aitalos army he raised as a ragtag bunch from the outskirts? Or was it to assess the potential of our army with this one battle and then unleash a more powerful attack next time?

He didn’t feel good about either possibility.

Determined to strengthen defenses in preparation for a Taringian invasion, Regnos left without removing his armor. As he emerged, the personal guard waiting outside immediately fell in behind him.

The hastily assembled personal guard consisted of half Lord Maido’s private soldiers and half volunteers who had gathered on their own. They were all overcome with emotion at the sight of the prince, who had been shrouded in mystery or whose existence they hadn’t even known for over a decade, standing before them in such a magnificent form.

“Your Highness, where are you going?”

Unable to contain his overwhelming emotions, a guard ended up blurting out the question. Regnos gestured lightly with a cool, calm gaze.

“Ah, uh, yes, sir.”

At the gesture to stand back, the soldiers retreated in confusion. Only when their faces were as small as beans did Regnos stop gesturing. Then, he began to head somewhere.

Did Lena see his victorious figure? When he went up to the second-floor balcony so everyone could see him, Regnos scanned the cheering crowd, but he couldn’t find Lena’s frail figure.

Could she have been left behind at the end of the long procession? Alarmed, he checked, but the women who were with her near the food carts said they saw Lena Zia enter the Aine gate.

If so, wouldn’t she come to the palace? He waited all evening, but she never came. So, he had no choice but to go looking for her himself. Besides, Regnos felt like he knew where Lena Zia would be right now.

The winter land was half-frozen. Cutting through the night air, which still carried the scent of the blood of enemies and allies, Regnos arrived in the residential area built against the fortress walls.

It was now a ruin. Even when Aitalos was at its strongest, the poor and vulnerable were the first to lose their homes and scatter when the country collapsed. The abandoned shacks were half-destroyed, creating a bleak atmosphere.

She stood in the middle of that ruin. Her long silver hair shone transparently in the trickling moonlight, and her frail figure looked as if it would vanish at any moment.

“Lena.”

Lena turned around in surprise. Her blue eyes were wide open, as if she hadn’t expected it at all.

“Your Highness? How did you get here…”

Lena didn’t know what to do. She had been walking away from those who recognized her and with her back to the impossibly bright Regnos, and her steps had led her here.

It was a space with nothing left but rotting wooden planks and rats rummaging through leftover food, but she felt a little more at ease here.

But for the prince to come here?

A longing she had suppressed surged like a tidal wave, but even stronger was her embarrassment. She felt as if the place she had crawled into, believing it to be a cozy darkness, had been gently dug up, exposing her naked body under the blinding sunlight.

“This is not a place for Your Highness to be…”

“Lena Zia.”

Regnos gently grabbed her as she tried to step back. Lena shivered at the touch on her shoulder, and their gazes met, creating a strange atmosphere.

She felt his gaze on her face as she tried to lower her eyes. The gaze that had clung to her long eyelashes slowly swept down her flushed cheeks, lingered on her lips, and then fell away. Lena’s heart was pounding uncontrollably.

Even though she had lived half her life as a princess, life in the palace had never been comfortable or natural for Lena.

“What is this?”

The queen, who had been noble since birth, was elegant even when pointing out things she didn’t like. When Lena first moved into the palace, she hugged her doll tightly, as if hiding it from her cold gaze.

“My mother bought this for me.”

“Oh, my.”

The Fourth Queen smiled sweetly. She would later learn that it was the expression the queen made when she wanted to hide her displeasure.

“I told you that you didn’t need to bring anything. Rather, items from your lower-class days only dilute your roots and hinder the process of adding royal dignity. Now, give it to me.”

“But…”

Hesitantly answering, Lena still couldn’t let go of the doll in her arms. The Fourth Queen hid her annoyed face and patiently coaxed her.

“If you live in the palace, you’ll have much prettier things than this crude thing. Can’t you be satisfied with that?”

“…”

Lena dropped her head. ‘Crude thing,’ she thought. Although the colors had faded a bit from constant stroking and hugging, this doll was the most wonderful and precious thing Lena had ever had.

When it seemed that Lena wouldn’t listen, the queen changed her tactics slightly.

“Well, then, give it to me first. I’ll keep it safe for you.”

Only then could Lena barely entrust her doll to the queen’s hands.

After that, time passed. Life in the palace was not difficult, but it was overwhelming and often sad. When she failed to achieve the grades the queen demanded in history lessons and discussions. When the older princes, except for Regnos, sent her lewd glances every time they met, and when the ‘real princesses’ who were better than Lena looked at her indifferently as if she were inferior. Lena wanted to go back to her original home. But she knew very well that it was a wish she couldn’t even voice.

“I want to raise a puppy.”

Wanting to light a fire to give a little warmth to her heart, which was constantly being invaded by chills, she saw a princess petting a cute puppy one day and had such a wish.

“A puppy?”

But the queen’s reaction was cold.

“Looking at your attitude now, it seems that even raising that small creature will act as a weakness. You’re barely managing to keep up with your daily routine, so if you’re distracted by a small animal, how much more ridiculous will your behavior and atmosphere become?”

The Fourth Queen’s words flowed smoothly but were watertight, making it seem impossible to defy her in any way. So, every time Lena saw the Eighth Princess’s puppy, she just tried to hide her envious gaze and passed by. Nevertheless, there were times when she couldn’t help it.

Her body was almost fully grown, but she still needed a mother. She longed for someone who would tell her that even if she didn’t act like a princess, she was still her mother’s princess, and for that embrace. She fell asleep hugging fluffy bedding like clouds every night, but her tear-soaked pillow never felt warm.

One day, Lena asked the Fourth Queen to let her touch the doll she had brought with her.

“…Why suddenly that? Weren’t you forgetting about it?”

It was the Fourth Queen who reacted as if she had forgotten that such a thing even existed. Lena tried not to be intimidated in front of her and explained with great difficulty how much comfort it would be to her to receive that doll again.

“I’m not asking you to give it to me. Just for an hour. No, even just for ten minutes…”

“Why are you suddenly acting up like this when you’ve been doing so well? It’s as if I haven’t taken good care of you enough to make you rely on such junk.”

“That’s not it…”

Lena stammered in embarrassment. She had already squeezed out all her courage and eloquence, so she couldn’t even continue speaking properly. Her heart was pounding and tears welled up. Meanwhile, even in the midst of that, she could feel that the Fourth Queen was showing an unusually sharp reaction.

‘But why?’

Lena couldn’t figure out anything more than that. She could only helplessly watch the queen, who continued to elegantly pour out an unknown anger.

“I thought I had washed away all the lower-class days without roots.”

“…”

“I’m disappointed. It’s better to eliminate the source of trouble before it becomes more of a headache.”

“Yes?”

Lena didn’t immediately understand the Fourth Queen’s declaration. But when the queen strode over with her long legs and unexpectedly took ‘that doll’ out of the stacked chests, she was shocked. And as soon as she realized what she was going to do with the doll, she desperately cried out.

“Please! No, Your Highness!”

But Lena didn’t have the courage to dare stop the Fourth Queen, nor the belief that it would be okay to do so. She could only watch in despair as the thing most precious to her sparked and was swallowed by the flames.

‘Ah.’

At some point, Lena felt as if something inside her had snapped, and she turned around and left the palace. She thought she heard the Fourth Queen’s voice calling her from behind, but her running legs didn’t stop.

Passing through a small path, she threw off her fancy outer dress and twisted and turned her steps into a shabby and secluded place. There was a door where maids, stable keepers, clowns, and laborers came and went. It was also the door that Lena, the daughter of a maid, had passed through when she first entered the palace.

After taking off her embroidered silk clothes and jeweled pins, no one noticed that Lena was a princess. After finally leaving the palace gates, she didn’t know where to go this time.

She couldn’t even dream of going to the noble’s mansion where her mother worked. She was sure that the moment she set foot on the gate, she would be sent back to the palace.

<Where, where should I go…? >

She couldn’t be in a place where nobles could be seen even a little. If any of them recognized her, her escape, which she had barely carried out, would be as if it never happened.

Lena retreated into alleyways, and then more alleyways, whenever she saw a noble’s carriage passing by on the street. The farther she got from the main road, the darker the streets became, and a foul odor wafted from somewhere. Passersby glanced at Lena once before moving on.

In such a dirty and impoverished environment, even the linen dress Lena wore looked very luxurious and neat. Thanks to being well-fed and well-washed for years, her silver hair was clean and glossy.

Lena, shrinking back, hid her small body in the shadows. It wasn’t comfortable here either, but she felt that this was where she belonged, rather than the suffocating royal palace.

The problem was that even here, there was no place for Lena to stay.

…Should I ask someone to take me in?

Just as the noble living on that main street had taken in Lena and her mother in exchange for labor, someone living on this street might feed and shelter Lena.

But who?

It seemed unlikely that the man with the fierce expression or the frail old woman who looked like she was about to collapse would be able to.

After much deliberation, Lena spotted a woman and followed her. The woman’s age, thin frame, and eyes that seemed both bright and weary reminded her of her mother.

She followed at a distance, wondering how to start a conversation. She hesitated several times, worried that she might startle or anger the woman if she spoke suddenly. Just when she found the right moment to speak, a neighbor or shopkeeper would come out from a street corner and greet the woman. Whenever that happened, Lena would quickly hide behind a hay wagon or a pile of planks, and then follow the woman again from a distance when she was alone.

After crossing three or four low hills, she arrived at a cramped shanty. Compared to the noble’s mansion or the royal palace where she had lived with her mother, it was an incredibly shabby place, but when she recalled her very early memories, it seemed like she had spent warm moments alone with her mother in a house just like that.

Lena, who had been hesitating to step forward, suddenly stopped. As the woman opened the gate and entered the yard, a pair of siblings, wrapped tightly in old clothes, ran out of the house.

As the small children ran into her arms, the woman burst into laughter while hugging her son and daughter. Immediately, the surroundings were filled with pure happiness. Lena couldn’t bring herself to approach any further.

After the family of three went inside, it began to snow in the now quiet yard. Lena leaned against the ramshackle fence made of interwoven branches, crouching down, and finally got up and started walking.

Wasn’t there a house somewhere that needed a family member? Lena went around to that neighbor’s house, and then to the next. Most were empty, and once, an old man who was as old as a dead tree, blind, and with a large tumor on his neck came out, and she got scared and ran away.

When she finally mustered the courage to speak at the next house, the woman, who had looked at Lena, who looked like a noble’s daughter, with shining eyes, changed her attitude as soon as she heard what Lena had to say.

“I thought you were a lost noble young lady, but it turns out you’re just some beggar!”

For the first time in her life, Lena was hit with a broom and chased away. After sobbing for a long time, it was dusk when she got a little bit of pig’s porridge from the next house, which was at least kind.

“What should I do? I can share food, but it’s almost time for my husband to come home. If he sees you, he’ll say we should sell you to a brothel right away.”

As she walked aimlessly outside, night was falling. It was too late to go back now, and she didn’t even know where to go back to. The tears she had been holding back began to fall.

“Sniff, sob.”

She had never felt so much despair in her life. It would be nice if she could just quietly breathe her last in a place where no one knew her tonight.

But then.

“Lena.”

Incredibly, Lena’s heart dropped when she heard the voice from behind. The moment it took to turn her head, trembling, felt like a lifetime.

“Lord Regnos…?”

How did he find this place? Perhaps because he had been searching for her from the palace, Regnos’s face was as red as Lena’s, as if it would crack from the cold.

But the boy’s hand, which she barely managed to reach out and grab, was warm.

 

* * *

 

That memory had become something Lena could never forget for the rest of her life.
But she had always thought, perhaps for Regnos, it was just an annoying memory—
of wandering through a filthy slum in the dead of winter, all because of a slave girl.
Something he would soon forget.

But Regnos—her prince—had not forgotten. Even now, just like then, he had come to find her, shabby and humble as she was.

“What are you doing here? Let’s go back to the palace.”

“But…”

“You are my savior. Even without royal blood in your veins, that alone gives you every right to stay in the palace.”

“That’s… not the problem.”

Mumbling, Lena lowered her head.

‘People will speak ill of you.’

She remembered the sneering faces behind her back. Whether it was during the long march or after arriving at Aine through endless hardships, what awaited Lena, who had sold her body to the enemy, was nothing but cold ridicule.

But what pained her most was the thought that, simply by keeping someone like her close, Regnos too would be tainted by suspicion. Even if she herself was wretched and worthless and deserved the scorn, her prince—this noble, precious prince—deserved nothing but the world’s praise.

‘I can’t bear it if your name is tarnished because of me.’

But speaking that raw, honest feeling aloud was terribly hard. Surely, her kind prince would tell her it didn’t matter, that the ones saying such shameful things were the ones at fault, that she only needed to trust him.

And yet, from deep within her heart, Lena could not fully accept those kind reassurances.

“I… I mean…”

As she faltered, the next moment, she simply froze.

The faint warmth she had felt until now suddenly drew near, a cool scent filled her nose, and, most vivid of all— wetness brushed against her dry lips.

“Mm, nngh…”

She had vaguely imagined that if Regnos ever kissed her, it would be soft,
as pure and gentle as the embrace he once gave without any sexual intent.

But it was nothing like that.

His tongue intruded without hesitation, prying open her lips as if he owned them,
twining and pulling at the tender flesh hidden inside. While Lena melted helplessly into the fire of sensation, Regnos remained firm and steady, as if untouched by any tremble.

His arm pulled her weakening body tightly against him. Their breaths tangled deeply, and every so often, Lena’s vision dimmed into blackness.

For a long time, she couldn’t even tell where his hands were touching her.

“Ah…”

And so, the moment she realized that his heavy hand was resting firmly on her full breast, Lena shuddered in shock.

At that, Regnos, neither hurriedly nor slowly, drew back.

Under the moonlight, their faces, still wet with each other’s saliva, were revealed. They stared at each other for a long time— sometimes meeting each other’s gaze, sometimes looking away, and then inevitably finding each other’s eyes again.