Chapter 12
I wished time would stop.
Because this was a question I couldn’t spend too long worrying over.
Hesitating would be strange. Hesitating over such an easy question would be extremely, extremely strange.
So I tilted my head slightly, as if I didn’t understand what had been said.
It wouldn’t be weird if I showed a flustered expression. No, really—what kind of question was this? “Are you Lucilia?”
How was I supposed to answer that?
Even as I wondered, time kept moving, and dozens of thoughts flashed in and out of my mind.
Am I Lucilia?
It was hard to say yes, and hard to say no.
My original life had existed in a completely different world. But that life was already over.
And the soul that would have been Lucilia wasn’t here now either.
Instead, here I was.
My body belonged to Lucilia. My soul—well, maybe it didn’t.
But the important thing was that from now on, I would live as Lucilia.
If the future I’m going to live isn’t mine, whose would it be?
“Yes.”
The answer came before the shock did.
I hadn’t prepared myself, yet my mouth moved first, as if some unconscious part of me, deep inside, had pushed me forward.
I straightened my back and looked at Rudolph. Then I spoke with certainty.
“I am Lucilia El Esperusa, the seventeenth princess of the empire.”
As if declaring to myself that this was now my life.
The cold night air drifted slowly.
Suddenly, blood gushing from my neck…
Didn’t happen.
The moment I realized that, I laughed brightly.
It wasn’t a forced smile. The tension melted, and the laughter came naturally, like exhaling the breath I’d been holding.
Carlyle’s three questions are determined by the responder’s belief in their answer. So this meant I had answered with conviction—but it didn’t objectively prove who I really was.
Even knowing that, I kept laughing.
For some reason, I felt accepted in this world. And I felt like I had seized the future. With my own hands, my own strength.
“Then now…”
I lifted my head and paused.
Rudolph was staring at me. Very intently.
His gaze, like he was observing something for the first time, carried no fabricated kindness. Dry and sharp, it sliced through me like a blade.
It was the gaze of an investigator wanting to uncover everything inside me.
I thought the same thing I had earlier.
I really must not relax…
“The last question remains.”
Rudolph said slowly.
“Yes, that’s right.”
I forced a smile.
It’s okay. Whatever Rudolph was thinking, I was still alive. Even if something seemed off, he would probably let it slide.
“Then I’ll ask the last question, brother.”
Let’s end this farce quickly and go our separate ways. I spoke the final question with a desperate heart.
“Are you going to kill me now?”
I had to preserve the image of a pitiable little sister.
With that thought, I clasped my hands and looked up at Rudolph, like praying.
Rudolph’s expression changed.
His sharp gaze softened for a moment, and tension appeared at the corners of his mouth.
Was he angry? Just as I flinched and lowered my hands.
“Hahaha…”
Rudolph’s laughter rang through the room like clear chimes.
I was startled by the unexpected reaction.
…He laughed? Rudolph?
Well, he had been smiling like a doll all along.
But that smile was clearly forced, and after the last question, he had looked at me with extremely suspicious eyes.
Somehow, Rudolph was laughing now. Truly enjoying it.
“What a really interesting child.”
Rudolph laughed for a while, then said.
“No, that’s enough for today.”
Don’t attach conditions after saying no! That’s terrifying!
At that moment, I felt something release from my neck.
Thin, web-like threads seemed to vanish one by one. Startled, I looked at Rudolph and saw the pattern of light on my neck disappearing from the top.
Finally, the cold energy around my neck was gone.
Carlyle’s three questions were over.
It ended suddenly. I sat there in a daze, touching my neck. I felt warmth through my fingers, along with my heartbeat.
I was alive.
For now, that fact alone was a huge comfort.
“Surprisingly enjoyable, that was.”
A voice came from afar. I looked up in surprise.
Rudolph was already outside, standing in the sky beyond the window.
“See you next time.”
He left with a rather ominous remark and disappeared into the air.
I collapsed to the floor.
I had survived. I successfully completed Carlyle’s three questions, and Rudolph hadn’t even touched me afterward.
But did everything really go according to plan?
“Something feels wrong.”
I had a premonition.
“Haha.”
A white breath of laughter spread into the air and disappeared.
Rudolph was at Solias, the highest altar in the imperial palace, even higher than the sky itself.
The sky above, with frozen clouds and wind, was freezing. But Rudolph showed no discomfort as he looked downward.
His blue eyes shone like stars, fixed on one spot. The white rooftops glittered quietly in the moonlight.
Rudolph looked down at the Opal Palace, thinking of its small, humble owner.
“A truly strange child.”
Years ago, when Lucilia was about ten, Rudolph once sent someone to Opal Palace.
It was meant to be a light information-gathering mission, but the first report made him laugh outright.
“I’m not sure, but it seems all the staff at Opal Palace are spies, just like me.”
That absurd statement proved true in a few weeks. The palace’s spies hadn’t even tried to hide their identities.
Rudolph even guessed that the spies knew about the seventeenth princess. How could they not? She had said it so openly.
Hearing that, Rudolph had a sense of what type of child the seventeenth princess was.
“She endured humiliation and lowered herself. If you have no power, that’s the best you can do.”
Some might scorn that attitude, but Rudolph thought it smart.
Moreover, this type of person avoids political action at all costs. They watch cautiously to protect their own life, ultimately casting invalid votes even in the Solea election.
Not worth the trouble to recruit or deal with. Especially since she was only ten.
When she reached marriageable age, he could evaluate whether she was useful or just leave her be.
That had been Rudolph’s judgment at the time.
But he hadn’t expected things to turn out this way.
Rudolph smirked, recalling the memory.
News that Richard had gone all the way to the palace to recruit a young princess was almost unbelievable.
So this time, he came personally, to see and evaluate the seventeenth princess with his own eyes.
When Carlyle’s three questions began, Rudolph had been speechless at the first question.
Everyone knew of the conflict between Rudolph and Richard. For someone to ask about Richard directly—Rudolph couldn’t have imagined it.
After the first and second questions, he looked at the twelve-year-old standing before him and recalled his earlier evaluation.
Had she truly been foolish, rather than just humble and enduring?
Calling him “brother” so warmly, and thinking the conflict between Rudolph and Richard was like a child’s squabble to be mediated by her…
So naive it was almost laughable.
The older brothers fight, and the little sister tries to reconcile them? Then what? The emperor is chosen by lottery and everyone lives happily ever after?
Whatever fairy tale she had read at Opal Palace, it was utterly ridiculous.
Rudolph felt his interest in the seventeenth princess fade instantly.
Only two things caught his attention: Richard’s interest in her, and the possibility she might be Stella.
Did Richard want her because she was Stella? Or because her innocent nature stirred familial affection?
Either way, an interesting situation.
The girl was desperate to reconcile the two. This could be used to approach Richard or perhaps even uncover weaknesses.
After considering this, Rudolph decided to end the questioning as planned. The girl didn’t seem ambitious enough to aim for the throne, but he needed to confirm it. That was the purpose of the questioning.
Just as he opened his mouth, Rudolph felt a strange sensation.
A feeling hard to describe. Not rational, more instinctive. He had sensed it from the first moment but only now recognized it.
The girl waiting quietly, looking at him.
She didn’t quite fit in here.
Not because of naive, absurd dreams, but because of her tone, gestures, and expressions—a subtle, unexplainable sense of incongruity.
The seventeenth princess didn’t seem twelve. Not even royal.
Of course, it was unreasonable suspicion. Many children in the Esperusa family grew up unusually. Richard Khan Esperusa, who at thirteen killed assassins with a wooden sword, was a prime example.
Considering the seventeenth princess grew up without proper guidance, her unroyal behavior was understandable.
Still, Rudolph couldn’t shake the feeling of unease.
“Alright, let’s ask the final question.”
So at the last moment, Rudolph changed the question.
“Are you Lucilia El Esperusa?”
She answered yes.
“Hahahahaha!”
Rudolph burst into laughter.
No matter how many times he thought of it, recalling that moment sent a thrill through his body. His heart pounded, and he felt blood rushing to his fingertips.
A child whose face had turned pale at a simple question. Relief came the moment she answered truthfully.
It was incredible.
Carlyle’s three questions are a magic that judges truth and lies based on the speaker’s intent.
This magic, named after the ancient god Carlyle, is so intricate and powerful that its principles remain unclear. If tricks worked, Rudolph wouldn’t have used it so often.
It isn’t a magic that can be bypassed by falsely believing in a lie.
Yet, the girl had answered with confidence—and wasn’t killed.
The question was nothing more than asking her name.
Why had she hesitated? And what was the source of the strange incongruity Rudolph felt?
Who was this girl, really?
It was the most challenging puzzle in Rudolph’s life so far.
And puzzles were the driving force of Rudolph’s life.
“Lucilia El Esperusa…”
Rudolph muttered, looking down at the Opal Palace rooftops as if admiring a newly acquired toy.
