Bibliophile princess, p.1
Bibliophile Princess, page 1
Table of Contents
Cover
Color Illustration
Character Profiles
Chapter 1: Foreign Temptation
Chapter 2: Unbending Heart
Chapter 3: Those Who Dream
Chapter 4: The Light That Shines at Night
Chapter 5: A Shadow’s Tenacity
Chapter 6: A Messenger at Sunset
Chapter 7: Ray of Hope
Chapter 8: Theories and Rebuilding
Chapter 9: Signs of a Counterattack
Chapter 10: The Place of Dreams
Chapter 11: A Winter Bug’s Dream
Chapter 12: King of the Temple
Chapter 13: Light and Shadow
Chapter 14: One Last Shadow
Chapter 15: Maldura’s Secret
Afterword
About J-Novel Club
Copyright
Chapter 1: Foreign Temptation
Twilight enveloped the land as the sun began to sink over the horizon. Coughs could be heard from all directions. Some were softer and lighter, while others were more noticeable and pronounced, seeming to echo. The vast space of the assembly hall was dominated by anguished breathing and a melancholy atmosphere. Even the air was musty. Everyone knew that anyone who entered here would never leave—not alive, anyway.
This was the Ralshen Region of Sauslind Kingdom, where the Urma Mines were the main source of people’s livelihood. A town rested at the foot of the mountain, where the miners and their families lived. It was a place that saw all sorts of people and merchants going to and fro. Although the town was called Modzth, few referred to it by that name. The Urma Mines were what this area was famous for, so for most, this was merely “the town at the foot of the mountain.”
As a major town, it had a respectably large town hall. The mining industry here was also of crucial importance to the realm, so both the regional lord and the top brass at the capital had dispatched officials to oversee things. Those same officials now found themselves secluded in a cramped space after the citizens of the town had taken up arms.
The coughing remained incessant even after night fell. Sadly, there were too few people present trying to alleviate or otherwise offer aid to those suffering from these symptoms. The only ones present even making an attempt were a single individual who’d taken on the role of doctor and a select few who’d chosen to follow that ambition. Their numbers thinned as the days pressed on.
The doctor who’d been looking after the patients fell ill with the Ashen Nightmare, and those who’d acted as the doctor’s assistants began to exhibit symptoms themselves. No one could be blamed for wondering if it would be their turn next. Naturally, many escaped under the cover of night. Not a soul left behind could blame them for it either.
The assembly hall began to be known as “the Final Stop.” As the name implied, it was the final place people went before they left this world for the next.
In places where Ryzanity had taken root, it was taught that people shouldn’t resist whatever trials God set before them, so some people genuinely believed they were supposed to accept whatever happened as God’s will. This led some to view the dead as pious believers for having obeyed God. Still, it was also a natural part of human nature to want to help those whose lives could be saved.
Outside, the snow was unrelenting. Talks continued with those who’d risen up. Day by day, the number of infected increased. People who were still in good health made a run for it, while the ones who remained behind saw no happy ending in sight or any reports that would signify impactful change was on its way. As the seriousness of the situation mounted, people understandably began to criticize the person serving as representative—me.
“Raqqa, I’m really starting to think chasing off the regional lord’s envoy wasn’t the best idea,” said one person.
Another chimed in with more depressing news. “We’ve been holed up in here for over seven days now. We’re going to start running low on food soon.”
“Doesn’t help that the road is blocked by snow drifts,” mumbled another, implicitly suggesting that perhaps all their efforts were going to be for naught.
“It’s a bit late for that now,” snapped a stern voice. “The regional lord’s envoy was just a hollow mouthpiece sent to smooth things over and shut us up. It’s not like they brought medicine and doctors along with them. They just want to stop the people from rebelling and pretend none of it ever happened.”
“Exactly,” someone agreed. “Everyone knows the upper crust always abandons Ralshen when it suits them. If no one had risen up, they’d have turned a blind eye like usual. This place is forsaken land, as far as they’re concerned.”
The people who spoke loudest grew increasingly impatient and indignant because they were the ones whose families had been infected. This prompted everyone else who’d given their negative opinions on the situation to keep their mouths shut; they didn’t know if they and their loved ones might be next.
Even before the New Year came, many at the foot of the mountain had caught colds. There were always years like that, so people had remained optimistic at the start. It was only once they realized that this was a life-threatening plague—the Ashen Nightmare—that things took a sudden turn.
Those of a certain age could still remember how horrific it had been when it had last visited sixteen years ago. The spread had been rampant, claiming one life after another. People had begun to disappear from each other’s lives—a neighborhood acquaintance, the local shop owner, and even close family. One day a child might play with another only for both of them to be gone the next. As the community’s population dwindled, leaving few alive, the pungent odor of death had hung like a thick curtain over the city.
I never want to see that happen again. That was a sentiment shared by every member of the town.
Perhaps an uprising was inevitable in this situation. Even if the townspeople summoned doctors and herbalists from the surrounding areas to provide assistance, everyone already knew the path they were headed down. Their town was far from the capital and well removed from any major highways, nestled in the heart of the kingdom. No matter how immediate any help was, things would still be like they were before. This would once again become a land of the dead.
Word had spread all the way to Mt. Urma that the capital had the pomelo fruit, which was effective against the plague. We weren’t asking for all of it to be handed over, but if we didn’t receive some supply of it, then the afflicted would have no hope of survival. We knew our methods were violent, but last time we’d reacted too late and lost too many lives in the process. There wasn’t time to make polite requests.
I, Raqqa Arkto, acting as a representative of the town’s miners, rose up alongside my comrades and encouraged those gripped with fear to take up arms with us. We resorted to unsavory means to accomplish our goal—storming the town hall and arresting the officials stationed there. It was an anticlimactic act of rebellion, considering how easily we were able to gain control. Part of that was because the officials were so caught off guard that they had no idea how to react. Maybe some even sympathized with us for having to resort to such violent means.
Those who’d weakly resolved themselves to our cause clenched their fists and tried to talk themselves up about the decision we’d made. My fellow miners were more committed, perhaps because most were naturally short-tempered with a propensity for letting their fists do all the talking.
“Raqqa. It’s no use talkin’ to those envoys. We oughta send someone directly to the capital, dontcha think?”
“Yeah, but the capital’s busy preparin’ for war, right? Doubt those guys’d be worried ’bout a town like ours, here in the middle of nowhere. It’s no skin off their backs what happens to us. I say we send someone to the regional lord’s manor instead.”
I could understand where they were coming from as they argued back and forth. His Majesty in the capital city of Saoura had fallen ill as well, and word had spread far and wide that this was Maldura’s doing. We were on the cusp of open war. Even the men here with me, as ignorant as they were of national politics, could tell that sending someone to petition for aid wasn’t likely to produce any results.
The former earl’s predecessor was still alive and living at the regional lord’s mansion, however. Even if the current lord had proved undependable, the people still had great trust in his grandfather, who’d fought alongside us to protect our lands during the last great conflict. That was why many proposed going there to demand assistance directly. Moreover, two people close to the royal family were stationed there currently: a young man in line for the throne, who was the son of a duke and the king’s elder sister, and the current crown prince’s betrothed. Maybe people thought we might have some luck if we pleaded with them.
That plan had some issues, though; it had been over a week since we had commenced our uprising. We lacked doctors and medical assistants as well as medicine and provisions. The royal family was making no move to alleviate our situation. That was the reality we were faced with.
A profound but not entirely unexpected disappointment fell over all of us. We all knew it would probably be futile to hope for anything from our kingdom’s royalty. That was precisely why I resolved myself and opened my mouth to speak, drawing everyone’s attention in the process.
“We waited until now in the hopes that aid had been delayed because of the snow, but our sick are only increasing by the day, and the envoys that came offered nothing but empty words. If it wasn’t clear before, it is now. The regional
A ripple of bitter, angry agreement rose from the gathered group. I surveyed their faces before continuing.
“The reason the regional lord and his people are so flippant is because they don’t understand yet that we’re serious. As soon as this blizzard lets up, we’ll take those officials as hostages to make our negotiations. If they refuse to listen, we can always throw the mayor and the officials in with the sick and dying.”
Those more half-hearted about our cause audibly gulped. I was suggesting we purposefully expose healthy individuals to the plague. I saw the resistance—the urge to argue that my proposal was immoral—on my friends’ faces, but I returned their looks with one of resolve, having already made peace with my decision. I knew full well there was no coming back from this.
“We’re going to show the royal family—the whole country—just how serious we are.”
Several strong voices rang out in agreement, their spirits encouraged. I scanned everyone’s faces as I reaffirmed my own commitment to this course. I wasn’t going to let my people reexperience the same horrors. I would do anything to make sure that didn’t happen. If it came to it, I was willing to stoop to any low necessary.
As I curled my hands into fight fists, the roar of the blizzard grew stronger, as if responding.
~.~.~.~
The blizzard outside began to rage, the howl of the wind echoing through the room. A single voice spoke, quiet but firm.
“Elianna. I want to steal you away.”
Those intrusive black eyes stared at me, his foreign scent invading my senses. I, Elianna Bernstein, was engaged to Sauslind’s crown prince, but this man was trying to tempt me. His invitation sounded sweet, especially right now when my heart was in tatters.
At the same time, I remembered something I read in a book once, about the roar of the snow. It could be so deafeningly loud, like the rumblings of a beast, that it would scare travelers who went up north. A person could be walking straight toward their destination, but the moment they began to hear the howling of strange voices in their ear, their sense of direction would vanish. They would find themselves pummeled by strong winds and blinded by the heavy snowfall. The drifts blocking their path would sap whatever strength they had left in their legs, and before they knew it, they’d find themselves in the belly of the white beast. With no landmarks to guide their way and having been chilled to the bone, they’d shiver and shake as their heart—their very will to trek on—crumbled inside of them.
I pictured myself as that traveler at this very moment.
I’ve done enough. I put in plenty of effort already. I faced numerous hardships, overcame the trials and tribulations that challenged me, and fought to my very limits to come this far. Grandpa Teddy has been so precious to me from a young age. Even though he’d made demands of me to leave the prince, we’d managed to reclaim the mutual trust we’d once enjoyed...only for him to die trying to protect me. Jean was someone I thought I could place my faith in, and he turned on me. Furya’s Jar promised to be our light in the dark, and it was swallowed in flames. Even the person I mentally depended on more than anyone else, someone so precious and irreplaceable to me, seems to be lost amid the raging blizzard in my heart.
The storm was so powerful that it even stole any energy I might have had to question why this was happening. Like the traveler, my heart had shattered, and the terrifyingly tempting mirage in front of me was too captivating to ignore. It was a beautiful illusion, one people said could only be discovered as one teetered between the brink of life and death.
The man before me was the very vision of the legend written in the books; his beauty was otherworldly, and his eyes, though cold as ice, were so gentle and sweet as they invited me to indulge myself in dreams. I knew all they promised was true despair, a frozen future, but most people lacked the will to resist such temptations.
As I mumbled something inaudible under my breath, the man in front of me blinked. The way I was reflected in his black eyes was almost enchanting enough to draw me in, but their effect weakened the more he continued to blink. I found the courage to repeat what I had tried to say before.
“We must contact Lord Alexei.”
He was blinking so fast now that the fluttering of his eyelashes almost seemed audible, and his black eyes were staring straight at me, scrutinizing me. The magic spell his exotic appearance and vulnerability had cast over me was broken.
“Elianna Bernstein,” he called my name, as if groping for answers.
“Yes?”
When I answered back, he peered deep into my eyes again. His hand continued to linger on my skin, finding its way to my cheek and pinching it. The reflection I saw of myself—still disguised as a boy, of course—in Prince Irvin’s eyes looked almost comical now. That did nothing to dissuade me from staring right back at him.
Prince Irvin expelled a heavy sigh. “Why,” he said, sounding utterly mystified, “are you mentioning the name of a man other than the prince right now...”
His full name was Irvin Orlanza, and he was the fifth prince of Maldura, the very country with which Sauslind was rumored to be on the brink of war. He had sun-kissed skin and a casual posture that seemed to hint at his sarcastic nature. His menacing countenance distinctly separated him from other aristocrats, but he still retained enough grace about him so as not to appear crude. His hair was jet black, dark enough to be swallowed in the shadows of night, but despite being the same color, his eyes could heat like burning charcoal when filled with emotion. An exotic scent hung in the air around him.
The reason we found ourselves teetering on the edge of war with his nation was that word had spread that his people were responsible for the Ashen Nightmare—the plague of death—rampantly spreading throughout our realm. There were even claims they’d infected His Majesty. The lead suspect of these crimes was Prince Irvin’s elder brother, Prince Reglisse. The pro-war faction had taken him into custody at the capital, making the situation even more volatile.
Prince Irvin’s wry smile gave no hint that he was at all concerned by the severity of our circumstances, however, and after breathing out another sigh, he said, “I was planning to steal you away immediately if you spoke the prince’s name, you know.”
A chill ran down my spine, and I swallowed hard.
Prince Irvin smiled the same way he always did as he resumed pinching my cheek. “I bet you’re actually really at a loss right now, aren’t ya? I’ve got a pretty good idea as to why you’re not used to guys trying to make passes at you. Being able to corrupt someone so innocent from start to finish does sound pretty amusing. Maybe I should kidnap you after all?”
“Um,” I tried to respond, though my voice came out distorted due to his refusal to release my cheek. Prince Irvin snickered, as if he was perfectly aware of what he was doing.
I was surprised as well that I’d managed to regain my composure, but the roaring of the storm outside had reminded me of the stories I’d heard and helped me cool my head. Or perhaps it wasn’t the stories, but rather the spirit who appeared in them that so reminded me of Lord Alexei; they called this spirit a “snow woman,” a seductive mirage with eyes so cold they could freeze you to the core—not unlike what I’d experienced with Lord Alexei. Perhaps it was the memory of that gaze that brought me out of my stupor.
I lifted my hand and pushed Prince Irvin’s away. Staring straight up at him, I asked, “Why?”
His brows raised a fraction.
I found him truly perplexing. His country had been at war with Sauslind a number of times in the past. His mother had once been a woman of high noble status here until her father’s plot to betray the crown had cost her and her family everything; she had lost her name and house and been driven from her homeland. Not a soul had cared where fate took her after that.
I was the one responsible for uncovering his mother’s accomplishments during the course of a certain incident last autumn, but I didn’t get the sense that that was the only reason for his fascination with me. I suspected there was another reason at play, and I was going to ask about it.
“Is this because my house is called Sauslind’s Brain?”
The periods when the Bernsteins served the kings of Sauslind were remembered for how prosperous the kingdom had been. Sauslind’s Brain was a hidden name our family had long carried since, but I knew Prince Irvin had already discovered our secret. Mentioning it wasn’t my attempt to act conceited about my family or house; I brought it up because I knew the first thing to naturally pop into a person’s head was how they could make use of this information. I suspected the reason he wanted to take me with him was for Maldura’s benefit.
