Epilogue 2: The Queen’s Secret

(Was it because I suddenly kissed her after all…)

At dawn, Ludwik, who had returned to the castle, was dragging his feet, which felt heavy, through the corridors.

(I guess I should have spent more time trying to get her to like me and trust me more first.)

But, when they were dancing, Florin looked like she was having a blast. Moreover, her eyes that looked up at Ludwik seemed like they would melt and her lips were opened slightly as if awaiting a kiss.

If you look at me with such a face, it’s only natural to think that the feelings are mutual…

(Will Florin come meet me again?)

Ludwik had told her to visit his stepfather’s dressmaker, but did she hear him back then? Will she come?

(I wonder what Florin was saying in Endrish back then.)

He finally arrived at his bedroom; in truth, he wanted to collapse onto his bed immediately and sleep, but he resisted and flipped through his Endrish dictionary instead.

That Florin looked like she was about to cry also bothered him.

(Maybe there was a reason for that. Right, like the lazy man who’s completely uninterested in her that she has an unrequited love for.)

As he recalled Florin’s words, he looked up the definitions one by one and assemble the words into sentences.

“Let’s see… Este… romena… was what she said.”

“You philanderer!”

“—Eh?”

Ludwik, left speechless, double checks to make sure he didn’t match the wrong definition.

“Please go die once over! You big, lying swindler!”

Ludwik thinks, “This has to be wrong.” and checks the dictionary over and over again. Even though he desperately looks for similar-sounding words, he simply can’t find any that would form a coherent sentence.

“Someone like you should just go to hell!”

Ludwik is unable to take his eyes away from the extreme words listed in the dictionary.

“I don’t want to see your face ever again!”

In the end, he looked up the word “boru” which Florin had repeated several times, and was left even more astounded.

“Stupid stupid stupid stupid!”

“What is this?!”

Far from there being any hope, he was completely despised and rejected.

As he opened his mouth in a daze with his eyes still on the dictionary—

A banging sound was heard by his window.

Turning around, Ludwik flinches before opening his eyes wide.

“!”

There’s a girl clinging to his window! Not just any girl either, but the one who just now thrust Ludwik off the cliff of broken love, the one who had left him back in town, Florin!

(Why is Florin in the castle? Am I hallucinating from the shock of being rejected?)

Upon meeting Ludwik’s eyes, Florin becomes flustered and tries to get away from the window. Doing so, it seems either a hand or foot slipped, and

“Kyah—”

She chirps in a tiny voice.

Florin falls but grabs onto the outer ledge of the window as her delicate body shakes violently.

Ludwik rushes to the window and opens it, grasping onto Florin beneath her arms and pulling her into the room.

(It’s not a hallucination! She’s warm, and I can touch her with my hands!)

As Ludwik’s heartbeat was disrupted to the point that he thought his heart had flipped upside-down, he landed on his butt onto the floor with Florin in his arms.

At that moment, Florin’s flaxen hair tangled onto the button on Ludwik’s shirt and was pulled forcefully.

Florin’s hair slips off halfway.

(Eh?)

The first rays of sunlight shined down from the sky and bounced off the golden hair like the color of melted gold bunched up under the flaxen hair.

“Noa! (No!)”

Florin hurriedly tries to adjust the flaxen hair, but her mask had fallen off halfway as well, revealing her violet eyes adorned with long, golden eyelashes and the elegant form of her face. Unlike during the festival at night, Ludwik’s eyes perceive her face literally as clear as day.

“!”

That he lost his breath is because Florin, whose eyes were jumping about flusteredly, looks just like Queen Katerina.

He had thought that the color of their eyes are the same, and that their figures and voices are similar too.

However, he had accepted that as due to them both hailing from Endra.

In the first place, Queen Katerina’s and Florin’s expressions and aura are divergent enough to be considered antipodes of one another.

However, there’s just no way.

Even at this stage, unable to discard the feeble hope` that this is some sort of mistake, Ludwik asks fearfully,

“Florin`, could` you` actually` be`… Queen` Katerina`?”

Florin, who has been grappling` with the flaxen hair stuck on the button of Ludwik’s shirt, flushes her face reeeeeeed as a tomato.

The mask which has slipped off more than halfway now, revealing a face that is unquestionably Queen Katerina’s.

Ludwik wavers, being lost in turmoil as well.

“What, are you serious—!? Is Florin really the queen? The Florin who was flustered upon having her gold coin rejected by the food stand? The Florin who licked her fingers looking embarrassed after getting them sticky from eating candy? The Florin who boasted that she has a wealth of life experiences and had survived hell several times over? The Florin who suddenly chased after a thief? The Florin who fell off a branch after saying her specialty is climbing trees? You’re telling me that Florin is Queen Katerina!?”

Each time Ludwik confirms a detail, Florin— Queen Katerina, rather, becomes redder and redder, shoving her flaxen wig against Ludwik’s chest with one hand and removing the mask from her face before throwing it against the ground and yelling, looking vexed and mortified.

“That’s right, I’m Florin, and? It seems you remember nothing about me but my embarrassing sides, huh, Ludy`!”

“I can’t believe it…”

Ludwik mutters with his eyes still wide open.

“After all, don’t you hate dancing?”

Yes, she definitely did say that. “I hate dancing,” she had said clearly in a chilly voice.

It looks like Queen Katerina caught a lump in her throat again. She casts her eyes downward as if feeling guilty and pinches her skirt with her fingertips as she twirls it one way then the other repetitively, before eventually saying, looking resigned,

“I’m sorry.”

◇　◇　◇

After Ludwik closed the window and they sat down on the sofa together, Queen Katerina shrank her shoulders inward as she began to explain “the circumstances”.

“I told you that there’s someone I’ve set my heart on, didn’t I? Since I was a child, I couldn’t imagine becoming anyone’s bride but his, so I rejected every single marriage proposal that my father brought to me.”

“I would do things like identifying my father’s new lover and threatening to disclose it to a newspaper, threatening to shear off all the fur of the prime minister’s boasted horse that had a golden mane, and investigating the small improprieties of the cabinet ministers and threatening to expose them— Doing so, I successfully broke off every engagement. I also made plans to have the sacred temple declare a divination that it is my fate to be wed to that person, and that our marriage is tied intricately with the continued prosperity of our country. Because that person lived in the outer palace, I also spent a lot of effort to commute to his room every night, making my way across on roofs and through windows every night while hiding from the eyes of the guards.”

Weren’t you spending your efforts in the wrong places…

The imperial princess of a country threatening its emperor and retainers… Furthermore, trespassing onto roofs and through windows… Weren’t you supposed to be a proper princess of high blood?

In front of Ludwik, who couldn’t come up with any suitable comment, Queen Katerina casts her eyes down despondently and tugs her shoulders in. Despite feeling guilty about it, Ludwik couldn’t help but think that her gesture just now was adorable.

“But, it seemed like I worked a little too hard… I was told by Father that if he leaves me in the country, he won’t be able to tell when my wild actions will defile the honor of the imperial household again, so he’s going to to marry me off to a faraway country where my infamous reputation had yet to reach. However, at the time I thought this was actually a hidden opportunity.”

Considering how much havoc she caused, Ludwik feels like he can understand the feelings of her father, the emperor, in marrying her off to a faraway country.

“…Why?”

Ludwik mutters, upon which

“I was hoping that, if I’m going to go off somewhere so far away, even that person who finds everything bothersome may stop me.”

Queen Katerina answers.

“…So he didn’t stop you.”

“Uguh”

Queen Katerina clogs her throat with an unladylike whimper and shrinks her body despondently again. However, she quickly recovers, making a tight fist with one hand and raising it up.

“That’s not true, he might still come to pick me up in the future. That’s right, you can’t tell yet. After all, the one who told me that Rhodesia is the nation of stories is that person, and he also told me that he’s always wanted to compile an anthology of Rhodesian stories. Thus, he might come chasing after me to Rhodesia and take me away like in a romantic fairy tale. Indeed, I’m not going to give up hope.”

She proposes then asserts.

After which, shrinking again, she confesses,

“That’s why… there was no way I could consummate the marriage with the King of Rhodesia.”

Princess Katerina had calculated that if she pulls the same unprecedented stunts in Rhodesia as back home, the groom would probably break off the engagement. However, she found out she couldn’t afford to do so.

As for why, it’s because she was told before she departed by her father, the emperor, with a face as serious as could be, that if she does anything to damage the reputation of the Endrish Empire in Rhodesia, he would forcefully summon her back and lock her up in the palace dungeon for the rest of her life.

The idea of having her ties with her father severed caused Princess Katerina to shrink more than being threatened to be exiled out of the country.

“Father said that, though he would have my attendants return to Endra after the wedding so that I would get used to Rhodesia faster, he would have an informant secretly stay behind to observe me, so that I had better watch myself.”

(To think there’s actually a daughter who threatens and is in turn threatened in reverse by her father…)

“Isn’t how he purposefully told me that he would have someone secretly watch me a nasty touch? Even though there might not actually be a secret observer, he’s taking into account that I would be worried about whether there is one or not. After all, if there really is one, I’d be doomed to the palace dungeon if I cause a commotion. To demonstrate that I’m unfit to be Rhodesia’s queen without damaging the Endrish Imperial Family’s reputation, my only recourse was to become a cold and haughty, detestable woman. See, my face looks perfectly proportioned to the point that that it looks eerie and cold like a doll, right? Everyone in my family looks like this. When we all gather in one place, we look like an evil family of despots. I’ve always had a complex about my doll-like face, but, I was thankful for it for the first time in my life. If I could use it to successfully play the part of an arrogant princess, I thought that I might be able to get your retainers to pity you for having a such a wife and ultimately return me to my homeland.”

“We’re not talking about goods here so we can’t return you. In the first place, your country is far more powerful and influential than mine, so we wouldn’t have the authority to do so even if we wanted to.”

“…You’re right. I’m sorry.”

Queen Katerina casts her eyes down and apologizes weakly.

The reason she cried on the night of the wedding is because that was something she absolutely did not want to do with anyone but her beloved.

As Ludwik feels a piercing pain in his chest,

“Was your polite speech also part of your act? Is this how you normally speak?”

He asks, upon which Queen Katerina replies,

“Yes. Although, as for as Dahl goes, I was taught in polite speech to begin with. I learned how to speak casually in Dahl from listening in on the maids’ everyday chatter. The base of my vocabulary is still polite speech, however, so I mixed things up sometimes when I was speaking as Florin.”

“Wow, it’s amazing that you picked it up in such a short time from just listening.”

(Leaving the eavesdropping aside…)

Ludwik thought as he was genuinely impressed.

Receiving Ludwik’s praise seems to have delighted Queen Katerina a bit. She effuses,

“I figured that I should learn Dahl casual speech for when that person comes for me and we escape the castle together, so I worked hard at it. I also explored the castle here and there, memorizing possible escape routes, looking for hidden paths, and fishing for compromising information of high officials as bargaining chips if it came down to it. It was all so much fun.”

“What, you were doing things like that?!”

“Covert operations are my forté.”

That’s not something a princess should boast about.

(It’s true that she seemed experienced in tree climbing as well. Just now as well, she tried to peek through my window to see how I was doing instead of visiting me normally… Wait, speaking of windows—)

“Could it be that the suspicious person I saw on the day of the wedding was…”

“That was me. I thought that that person might come to abduct me during the wedding, so that I had to secure an escape route. Thus, I conducted a preliminary inspection of the possible escape routes…”

It appears that even Queen Katerina felt awkward admitting this as her face reddens.

(For a bride to jump from tree to tree before her wedding ceremony to look for an escape route…)

How many times am I going to be shocked today? Shouldn’t a bride who suspects that she’ll be kidnapped be scared instead of eager?

(I’m starting to get a headache.)

“Umm, I think I get the gist of what’s going on now, but why did you go to the festival? Going through the trouble of disguising yourself no less.”

Ludwik didn’t understand that part. The one whom Queen Katerina likes is an Endrish man; she should have no reason to go to the festival, whose main feature is arguably the masked dance for young singles to meet each other, that Ludwik was rumored to plan on joining.

(Perhaps, to try to get ahold of blackmail on me—)

As he began to think such ominous things,

“T, that’s, I was worried about you—”

“Eh?”

Until then, Ludwik had been crestfallen, thinking, “Ah— another unrequited love, huh. In the end, I guess she never had me in her sights to begin with.”, but he felt his heart jump in a start just now.

While gazing at Ludwik with upturned eyes, Queen Katerina murmurs in a voice that sounds as if she herself is confused as well,

“Well, because you really are too nice of a person… Even if I treat you coldly, you try so hard to talk to me, to smile at me… a, and at the beginning too, when I cried on the wedding night, you didn’t do anything but console me the whole time… It’s because you’re an unbelievably nice person like that—”

A nice person is in no way a compliment when it comes to love.

Yet—

Is it because Queen Katerina’s cheeks are steadily taking on more color?

Or is it because the voice that called him a nice person has confusion mixed in it?

Ludwik’s heart begins to ring as it pounds thump-thump.

“Plus, your face is refreshing and handsome, you’re sociable, you’re considerate, and the girls in the castle are all aiming to be your concubine, so—”

(She sounds as if she’s jealous… So she actually thought of me like that…)

Ludwik ruminates in his mind as his face becomes hot.

“You really really are the ideal husband, so I couldn’t stay still thinking that you might have been ensnared by a malicious girl because I’m always so cold to you. A sense of duty rose within me to ascertain your rumored lover’s identity and chase her away if she’s really an assassin or a swindler after your status and wealth.”

“So that’s why you even bothered to disguise yourself to sneak out of the castle and chase after me…”

Ludwik mutters, unable to hide his growing hope from seeping into his voice.

It seemed likely that if Ludwik asked how she procured the wig and clothes to disguise herself, an answer that would ruin the sweet mood right now would come forth, so he couldn’t bring himself to ask.

The queen droops her shoulders downward.

“But, there were so many people that I ended up getting lost. As I was flubbing about, you called out to me. I really thought my heart would stop back then. Ah, by the way, Florin is the name of a cat. She’s not my pet cat “Assassin”, but the one that that person keeps. She’s a really rare blue-furred cat… Ludy? Why do you look pale? You’re sweating bullets as well.”

(I just realized. I wooed my own wife thinking she was another girl, didn’t I…)

It’s understandable why she cursed at him angrily in Endrish back then. It’s only natural that he was denounced as a philanderer and a swindler.

After his sudden rain of sweat passed, Ludwik bows his head down emphatically.

“I’m really sorry—!”

Flustered and confused, Queen Katerina replies,

“No, why are you apologizing? Don’t.”

“But, when I confessed to Florin, you were really angry and told me to go to hell.”

“T, that’s— I, it’s true that your conduct as both a married man and the king was too imprudent— but, that wasn’t the only reason that I became so emotional.”

Qeen Katerina averts Ludwik’s gaze as if she’s feeling guilty and shrinks her voice,

“Weull… I— I felt my heart flutter from your words.”

“Eh?”

Queen Katerina’s cheeks turn redder and redder.

“Not just that time, but when I was about to fall after bumping into someone and you caught me, when you smiled gently at me as you guided me around the festival… Every time you helped me, my heart would somehow feel— strange.”

“D, does that mean—”

That she’s become taken with me?

Queen Katerina lifts her face, which has been stained rosy red, and rapidly fires off as if to make an excuse,

“It can’t be helped, can it! I was always shunned as a crazy princess, so I’ve never had a man be nice to me before. Being gazed at with such sweet eyes, having gentle words whispered into my ears, being led wonderfully while dancing, being k— kissed even—. All of them were for the first time. I was even confessed to so boldly—”

Gazed at by eyes glistening with bewilderment, Ludwik feels heat rise to his head, numbing his brain.

Queen Katerina says with a faint, blurred voice,

“I was afraid… of my heart beating any faster.”

So she’s saying that’s why she yelled at me in a fluster.

Ludwik’s heart throbs violently as not just his head, but his cheeks, ears, and eyes all swelter with heat.

(She’s attracted to me. She’s different from the girls who had come to me for love advice up to now. I’m in love with her as well. That Florin is actually the queen… Now, if this isn’t fate then what is?)

Ludwik opens his mouth that seemed like it would burst with expectation as he grasps both her hands and cups them into one with both of his,

“Let your heart beat faster and like me more and more. Because as for me, I’ve already long been smitten with you. And after that, let’s become true husband and wife.”

Queen Katerina’s response was quick.

“I can’t.”

She smoothly frees her hands from Ludwik’s grasp and announces flatly and clearly.

(Ehhhhhh! Given the current flow, why did she reject me?!)

To Ludwik, who’s stunned, she explains flatly,

“I’m a devoted girl. I can’t easily change whom I like.”

“Even though you said that I made your heart flutter just now.”

“T, that’s, I’m just not used to interacting with men. It’s not the same as love. Right, after all, my heart fluttered when I saw two twin baby bears balance themselves on a ball for the first time, when I accidentally knocked over a statue of God at the sacred temple and its neck broke off and rolled onto the ground as well, plus, when the arch priest fainted with his mouth frothing upon seeing that, and also when I was practicing throwing five knives at once and accidentally lopped off half of Father’s moustache.”

(You’re kidding me~~~~)

Probably because Ludwik was making an extremely pathetic face, Queen Katerina begins contritely,

“I truly do feel bad about this. You’d be the ideal husband for any girl but me, so I think any other girl would come to like you if you court her. Someone as good of a person as you should become happy with someone worthy of you. That’s why—”

This time, it’s Queen Katerina who cups Ludwik’s hands in hers as she leans towards him and says,

“While I wait for that person to come take me away, I’ll take responsibility and find the perfect girl for you!”

She’s different from the girls who have broken his heart up to now.

That hunch was correct.

There has never been a girl who proposed something so preposterous before.

“It’s a good idea, isn’t it? I’ll pursue my love and you’ll pursue yours. We’ll help each other fulfill our respective loves. Right, let’s form an alliance and become fellow comrades.”

(Comrades, you sayyy?)

Seeing his adorable wife sparkle her eyes brightly, Ludwik, her husband, was left speechless as he stared at her on and on and on.

---

Couple more chapterettes, preview, author’s note

So, main story’s over. What do you guys think? Also, any of you early Katerina haters change your minds or are you still unsatisfied?