Lovers Beyond the Mirror

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Chapter 1 – Lady Looking In The Mirror (1)

Inside the dark barracks made of tanned goat skins, a man was gazing down at the map.

The flags of the old desert kingdom, Chaitun, were planted everywhere on the map, where fine sand was piled up to create mountains and furrows to represent rivers.

“Shall I turn on the light?”

“No, it’s perfect right now.”

The man who answered the question from someone standing behind him in a dry way picked up a small flag that had yet to be placed on the map. Then, he stared at the sandcastle, on the highest point of land that the flag had not yet occupied.

“How long do we have left?”

“According to Nurabi’s calculations, it was about a full moon (or fifteen days).”

“Late.”

He lowered the flag as if crushing a sandcastle with his rough hands.

“Push as fast as you can. With my warriors, it is possible.”

“I take your orders.”

The man, who looked down satisfactorily at the crumbling small sandcastle, stepped out of the barracks. The charred remains of the Tadaman building, the scorching smoke, and the bloody smell that lingered all around were drawing a different landscape under the clear blue sky.

“You mean my Ranua is at the end.”

“Yes, Kudra.”

He was a man of great stature, overbearing muscles, and copper-colored skin. The man swept his long black hair swaying wildly in the wind with one hand, his amber eyes glistening.

“I’m already looking forward to it.”

“Shall I send a letter first?”

“Yeah, write it down very politely. Give me my Ranua, or I’ll throw them all in the sand swamp.”

“…Very politely?”

“Is it difficult?”

“I will try.”

The movement he felt from behind disappeared, but the man didn’t care. He stood still, looking in the same direction as before.

At the end of his gaze, the finish line, which was not yet visible, seemed to be reflected.

“Will my Ranua bless me for trampling on her land?”

A smile of anticipation rose over his thick, dark face. It was a bright smile that matched the blue sky, but not the bloody smell.

 

* * * 

Seriana woke up early in the morning and sighed as she looked at the frills on the unfamiliar canopy.

It’s only been a week since she moved, and the unfamiliar scenery of the room seemed to suffocate her breath together with the awkward air.

“I’m okay. It will be fine…”

Seriana, who muttered like so, as if memorizing a spell, exhaled the sigh she had been holding back as she got up from the spot, trying to ignore the string that she saw in her eyes.

She will have the same suffocating day as yesterday, though she didn’t want to get tired from early in the morning by calling someone on purpose.

“Did you sleep well? I met you yesterday, and I was able to have a happy dream.”

Coming down from the bed and standing in front of the mirror with her bare feet, Seriana murmured as she ran her fingertips across the cold, smooth surface of the mirror. It was an antique mirror that revealed the passage of time with its whole body.

At the same time, it was the only thing in this room that could be called hers.

“I won’t see you until the night when the full moon rises again. It’s okay. I can stand it.”

Seriana, who had said hello for a long time as though talking to someone, picked up a white cloth that had fallen on the floor and began to wrap the mirror.

If anyone finds out the secret of this mirror, it will be taken away.

And, she will never see him again…

It was because the items that contained magic were reserved for the high, and were never allowed to be hers.

“…I had to… get married.”

Suddenly, she softly muttered.

Now, she whispered to the mirror, which would completely hide her if she only covered one corner.

“No… Was I sold, not getting married?”

It was a problem to see his face last night. Looking at his face as he ran through the desert through the mirror, such a complaint came out.

Seriana slightly bit her lower lip and lowered her head.

“At first, they almost sold me to a diamond mine.”

It was the seat of an old marquis.

The old man was sixty years old, he had three wives, had dedicated his diamond mines to the King of Rajen, hoping to get Seriana. However, just before she was sold to the mine, the border collapsed and Rajen shook, and she was sold to someone else at a higher price.

“I was sold on behalf of Rajen, so the ransom was higher. Right…?”

Seriana tried to laugh.

Like a joke, she wanted to laugh as if the fact was comical, but her face in the corner of the mirror was distorted.

Chaitun was a sand kingdom that had been torn apart by internal division a hundred years ago and disappeared.

And, Seriana was doomed to marry the king of such a kingdom and leave Rajen.

It was said that the kingdom, which should have been recorded as the past in the history books, was resurrected only a few years ago.

Even Seriana did not know the details of the Sand Kingdom. But, she knew that the descendants of the old Chaitun kingdom had a ‘prophecy’ that would unite the desert winds, and that all tribes in the desert were subject to the name of “Chaitun.”

It was because she was listening to the maids talking about her without paying any attention to herself.

Other than that, there were no other words. Perhaps that was the limitation of the maids.

So, Seriana got a middle name, ‘Winne’ that was granted only to the dear royal family when she was brought to the royal castle.

On the day she became a princess, she visited the royal library. She locked herself in the library until the attendants arrived, searching for information about Chaitun.

Nevertheless, the history books in the library were poor, and they were only written from Rajen’s point of view.

Seriana was disappointed, but she had to be grateful that she could get even the tiniest information. If it wasn’t for that, she would have almost got married without knowing anything about Chaitun except that it was a country founded by barbarians in the desert.

The Desert King Kudra and Queen* Ranua.

Did they say that they were brother and sister born to the god of the desert?

She doesn’t know how a brother and sister could become a couple, although since they are a child of God, there must be a law different from that of humans, Seriana guessed.

‘Kudra is in charge of politics and Ranua is in charge of religion.’

It is said that the warriors of the desert who received the blessing of Ranua will never be defeated. But, Seriana shook her head lightly. They won one after another against Rajen without the ‘Blessing of Ranua.’

The soldiers and knights of Rajen could not stop them from breaking down the border and advancing relentlessly to the capital.

‘That’s why I’m going to marry their King…’

The warriors of Chaitun, who seemed to be pushing to the capital, stopped right in front of them and sent a letter asking for national marriage.

Though it was a threat rather than a request… Threatening to attack the capital and wipe out the royal castle at any moment if the princess was not released. As if the King wrapped his arms around her head.

For such a king, the old marquis offered his bride that he had exchanged for a diamond mine.

He can just get any lady to warm the bedroom, so of course, he made the choice to keep his comfy bedroom.

That’s why Seriana is here now.

“Was I lucky? Or, is it another misfortune? I am deceiving my husband before I even enter the wedding hall.”

Chaitun’s Kudra doesn’t know she’s a fake. Having inherited a pale purple hair from the King, he does not know that she has been living as the daughter of a County, when she is the illegitimate daughter of the King.

She can’t tell a lie. She had no talent.

So, Seriana was worried. She was afraid he’ll notice her lie. Since the truth was, it was actually the King who told the lies, and she was only taken advantage of by it, though she was already acting as if she was a sinner.

Perhaps, if her mother had seen it, she would have slapped herself on the chest in frustration. Of course, it’s not that she’s worried about her daughter. It’s that she’s frustrated with the attitude that doesn’t take advantage of the situation.

“Are you awake, Princess?”

As Seriana was thinking depressingly, a maid’s voice was heard along with a light knocking.

Seriana replied as she cleared her throat after wrapping the white cloth around the rest of the mirror, surprised.

“Yes, come in.”

“You woke up early today, too, Princess. Good morning.”

“Yes… Good morning.”

The maid, squinting at the white cloth-wrapped mirror, beckoned behind her, revealing the other maids waiting at the door.

“You have a lot of work to do today, so you must move quickly.”

The maid continued her speech with an expressionless face.

Moments later, she washed Seriana’s face with warm water and wiped her face with a clean towel. The rose-scented lotion that wet her face was so strong that she frowned slightly.

Seriana was quietly listening.

“The fitting of the wedding dress is all over. We will have one last check this afternoon, so we will reduce the meals a little.”

“Yes.”

“In the evening, there will be a banquet to welcome guests.”

“Already… arrived?”

“This is the most important thing in Rajen right now. Pay a little more attention.”

“Ye…Yes.”

At the spiky tone of the maid, Seriana trembled her body as she flinched.

In Rajen, it was a rule that the maid who was rude to the royal family was immediately dragged out and whipped. However, the maid spoke to her in a cold voice as though she knew that Seriana was one who couldn’t do such a thing.

“Keep your mouth shut and lower your eyes in the banquet hall. As always.”

It must be the words of the Queen of Rajen.

She always wanted Seriana to go unnoticed.

The main character of this banquet was Seriana, but the Queen did not seem to be able to see her becoming the center stage.

“And, you should never go near Countess Fjord.”

“But, my mother…”

“The Princess’s mother…! There is only one, Maia Darmian, the Queen of Rajen!”

Seriana hardened her body at the sullen voice.

Contrary to the cold voice before, now, she was terrified and unable to hide her fear.

The maid grabbed Seriana’s hand, who had turned pale in an instant, chewed out words so much that even the deaf could understand it.

“You are Princess Seriana Winne Darmian. Never forget it. The lives of millions of people in this Rajen depend on your name!”

At that, she could only nod her head without saying a word.

She knew it, too.

She knows that if it turns out that Seriana is a fake princess, calamity will come to this Rajen…

“Do you, a maid, dare to threaten my daughter?”

The maid, who had once again pushed a promise to the depressed Seriana, turned her gaze to a woman who appeared with a loud noise.

She could tell from the sight of the maids rolling their feet with helpless faces that they were having a bit of a fuss.

“Countess of Fjord! How are you here?”

“Is there any reason why, as a mother, I can’t come to where my daughter is?”

“Mother…”

“By the way, why is the Princess’s room like this? What in the world is that curtain? Are you guys crazy? The sun is shining! What if her skin burns black?”

The woman resembles a luscious flower hanging from a slender stem. With every step she took, her beautiful blonde hair swayed, creating the illusion of light breaking in the sun. As she moved the hem of the voluminous dress, a strong rose scent permeated.

Seriana got up from her seat.

“What brings you here? They wouldn’t have let you in…”

“Who would dare stop me? My daughter is a princess of the Darmian family!”

The King’s mistress, Countess Elaire Fjord…

She was the mother of Seriana, otherwise known as the vulgar Elaire.

“I stopped by on the way out of His Majesty’s bedroom. Oh my, do you still have that dirty mirror?”

“….”

“What’s good about a mirror like that? Besides, if it’s a mirror, you have to think about decorating your face by looking at it from time to time. You have an idea of it, right?”

“I have enough of that.”

“What is enough is not enough! You need to develop an eye. I can’t believe you were begging for a dirty mirror like that as a birthday present when you were a kid.”

“It is a precious mirror to me…”

“You’re a princess, so I’m telling you to put higher-quality things by your side.”

Elaire gently waved the fan in her hand and sent the maids out of the room.

Meanwhile, the maids had their faces full of dissatisfaction, though they couldn’t raise their eyes to the King’s mistress, who had spent the night in the king’s bedroom.

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After all the maids had left the room, Elaire, who was glancing around Seriana’s room, sat elegantly on the luxurious sofa.

“Today, your future husband is coming?”

——

T/N: It actually has more meaning in Korean, so the word used was ‘female king,’ as opposed to the usual ‘king’s wife’; in English, they’re both queens.

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