Who Made Me a Princess?

Chapter 2

The place I was living in now was called the Ruby Palace, where the emperor’s concubines were housed for generations. In essence, his harem.

My mother, Diana, was said to have been a dancer invited to perform at a palace banquet. There, she had caught the emperor’s eye and eventually gave birth to me.

Apparently, after Diana entered the palace, no other women had stayed at the Ruby Palace for quite some time. It seemed that the emperor had indeed adored her.

However, that only lasted a season. Later on, the emperor stopped coming to see her entirely.

Diana had come from a very humble background, humbler than that of a commoner. She never had the chance to become the emperor’s official concubine. She died in childbirth, leaving me behind as an infant.

After my mother’s death, the Ruby Palace experienced a shocking incident. The day I was born, the emperor slaughtered everyone in the Ruby Palace. He had since kept his distance from me, his only biological child, and never came to see me.

Such were the trials and tribulations of life that ended up raising me...

Just kidding! It was the maids of Ruby Palace.

Hmm, saying this now makes me think that this life might be just as rough as the last.

Actually, what Lily told me was a little different from what the other maids whispered about. She said that the emperor had truly loved my mother, Diana, and that the sense of loss incurred by her death was preventing him from coming to see me.

When I heard that, it made so much sense that I was fairly convinced. And it was quite the coincidence that the timing of my mother’s death coincided with the emperor lashing out.

But lately I was beginning to believe it might have been either Lily’s misunderstanding, or her way of trying to console me.

All the maids were busy claiming, “He’s a crazy man who has lost his mind!” and yet, Lily was the only one arguing, “No, he’s crazy for a reason!”

Given my position, I couldn’t help but lean toward the opinion of the majority, which was that “My dad is crazy!”

After hearing the story for the first time, I had nightmares every single night. How could he ditch a baby in a place like this? Such bad form.

But more so than the terrifying lore surrounding this place, I was more afraid of the emperor, whose face I had never seen.

What if he suddenly loses his mind again and rushes over to kill me? So much for being reborn a princess. What a horrible fate.

Anyway, so here I was living in this haunted castle. Eek!

“Goo gaa.”

Oh yeah. Come to think of it, had I mentioned what my name was now? In my past life, the director of the orphanage just picked a random name out of the phone book, Lee Ji-hye. But in this life, my mother chose my name herself.

My name was Athanasia.

It meant “immortality”—quite grandiose.

I learned of this because Lily had told me the previous night. It seemed like a fairly extravagant name for a reject princess like me.

And it just so happened it was the same name as the unlucky princess in the romance novel Lovely Princess. Although I was sure my mother had given me this name in hopes that I would live a long, prosperous life under the emperor’s care…

*Sniff* Too bad the Princess Athanasia died tragically at the age of eighteen in the novel. By the emperor’s own hand, no less!

Why do I keep thinking about that novel now that I’m in this infant body? This has never happened to me before.

“Ughhh.”

That was why, from the moment I woke up that morning, I’d been glancing at the door and trembling in fear in case the man who was my father came looking for me.

Suddenly, the door flung open with a bang, shaking me down to my bones.

Thankfully, it was only the maids who entered. They looked down at me lying in the cradle and muttered disapprovingly amongst themselves.

“What the...? She’s not asleep.”

“Do we have to be here? It’s not like she can go anywhere on her own.”

“Oh, you know how much of a big deal Lilian makes of it. She’s really such a bother.”

Ugh, here we go again. All that whispering and chastising whenever they lay eyes on me. We’re all stuck here together anyway. Let’s be nice to the baby, hmm?

“Let’s just think of it as a little break, then.”

“She better not start bawling out of nowhere.”

“Rock the cradle so she can fall asleep already.”

The way they talk, you’d think I was howling all day long! What other baby in the world is as quiet as me?!

Lily actually worried about how little I cried, but these maids were so eager to say such nonsense whenever they saw me.

Did that make me sad? Hell no! My goal was to spend the rest of my life as a forgotten princess. I could lead an entire life of luxury if I could just get my hands on a few gold pieces from this room.

You’re on your own in life, you know.

I wasn’t interested in a father who had no interest in me.

Besides, the babbling maids were actually right.

“The princess gets no attention from His Majesty, but at least she has a good life because of her status,” one said.

I may have just been drinking powdered formula for the time being, but I lived in a palace, after all. I got three square meals a day, my bed was nice and cozy, and I was surrounded by gold.

As long as I continued to stay under the radar and avoided the emperor’s attention, I wouldn’t have to worry about starving to death. I may have been bestowed an unfavorable fate, but the life of a princess was still pretty darn good.

I’d grow up in no time, and when the time was right, I’d swipe some gold from that place and make my escape. I’d be able to live a life that was enviable.

But first I had to get out of this cradle situation.

If I wanted to do that, I needed to eat well and get my exercise so I could grow up quickly, just like Lily said.

Hup-two! Hup-two!

I kicked and floundered my limbs to build up some leg strength. The maids continued to glance over at me as they whispered.

“We’re all candles in the wind, you know? The emperor can kill us all with a flick of his wrist.”

“You’re right. Of all places, why did we have to be assigned here... Have you heard? Supposedly, there’s a ghost that appears in the kitchen every night.”

“It gives me the heebie-jeebies. What if that becomes us one day?”

I understood where they were coming from. I didn’t want to live in a palace where a massacre had occurred, either.

As soon as I am able to gather enough funds, I’m outta here!

I made myself that promise once again.

***

“Hehehe.”

I was in a great mood. Seeing me smile brightly at what was in front of me made Lily smile back at me.

“Do you like it that much?”

“Yuh!”

Come to mama, my gold. How pretty you are!

I was so excited to see the golden ball that I couldn’t help but love on Lily. I laughed and rubbed my cheeks on hers.

She seemed to be in a good mood as well, and kissed me on the cheek.

As more time passed, and I was able to crawl across the carpet without as much effort, my eyes began to glimmer with greed at the gold and jewels in every corner of the room.

It wasn’t an imperial palace for nothing. This wasn’t your typical room, smothered as it was in gold on all sides and corners. Even the walls were studded with jewels.

What more is there to say? Surely they must be real gold and jewels, right?

Anyway, as I continued to dawdle and reach for the gold-plated decor and jewels, Lily became convinced that I simply loved sparkly things. She would bring me things like golden rattles or mobiles, and my eyes would widen in awe.

The palace itself was a glittering wonder, having once housed concubines. I, however, only had a few things to call my own due to a limited household budget. Even toys were rare.

“I’ll get you another one later on if you get sick of this one.”

Lily was already such a beautiful lady, but when she said that, I envisioned a halo floating above her head.

Lily, you’re my veritable gold mine!

“Gaa. Goo gaa.”

I laid on my tummy on the carpet, playing with the golden ball that Lily had brought me. At least I could roll it around on the floor and play with it, since I couldn’t do anything else with a body that hadn’t even learned to walk yet.

I’ll have to safeguard this one so I can take it with me later! Ehehe—ugh, I’m drooling.

Life in the Ruby Palace was very peaceful. I had been a little nervous at first, but after several quiet months, it seemed highly likely that the emperor had actually forgotten about me.

All the maids, including Lily—who’d been nervous that the emperor might have brought about another bloody storm—finally looked like they were breathing easier. Though, it definitely looked like ghost stories from the kitchen and kettle rooms continued to haunt them.

Meanwhile, I was eating well, exercising diligently, and getting lots of sleep. I was growing swiftly like a new sprout.

Lily took such good care of me that I avoided any serious illnesses. Still, I wished that I could walk sooner than later in order to gather funds for my escape.

But I had a strange feeling that the decor in my room had been disappearing little by little. Was Lily putting them away in case I might accidentally have knocked something over while crawling about?

Waaah. No, my gold. Give me back my gold!

Instead of continuing to play quietly with the ball, I called out to Lily with a bellowing cry.

“Waaaah!”

My butt also felt wet.

Sob.

It was embarrassing, but what could I do? It was time to change my diaper.

***

“Even among the mages, it is the magicians of the Black Tower who are the most powerful of all,” Lily said.

I was sat in her lap while she read me a storybook. Despite being a children’s story, it was more like a history book. It summarized everything that had happened since the country’s founding, plus a few illustrations here and there.

I listened intently because I had a lot of questions about this place. Unfortunately, it would have been too difficult for any baby my age to have understood any of it.

Hmm.

Lily seemed to be very interested in early education for babies, and the story she was reading me was genuinely fascinating. I listened closely, but there was one thing in particular that really grabbed my attention: the existence of magic!

I really am in another world!

Ugh, honestly, when I had first heard that the emperor was a mage, I hadn’t believed it. But books like this gave me no choice but to cast my doubts aside.

“Dis!” (This!)

As Lily turned the page, I pointed at one of the illustrations. It was a drawing of a black tower wrapped in thorny vines.

“The Black Tower magicians are so powerful, they are capable of destroying an entire empire…” Lily read.

I was thrilled to encounter magic for the first time.

I wanna see! I wanna see magic!

“That’s why they must freeze their own hearts,” she continued.

At this point, the history book veered back into storybook territory. The magicians of the Black Tower were fascinating.

“If they put their emotions before reason, or their passions override their self-control, they could end up using their deadly powers for their personal affairs.”

“Oo-aah.”