The Trio Odyssey

Part I: Soul to Soul

Chapter 5: The Princess of Mixed Blood

The lead dresser informs the Princess.

“The grooming, and the rest has been completed, Ma‘am.”

She can’t figure out the spell because all she sees are the Princess’s agony and selfless self-blame, securing redundant information throughout the replays of the memory.

‘Ugh—I just couldn’t figure it out, didn’t I?!’

‘Hm—what should I do now?’

The Princess’s body acts up to face the lead dresser, wanting to express her gratitude.

She shakes her head once in slow motion to the east and west, avoiding to ruin her looks in forceful moves.

After that, she talks about this tendency. 

‘Whatever, let’s say thanks to the dressers now.’

She looks into the face of the lead dresser and expresses her gratitude to all of the dressers for spending their time and effort for aiding.

“Heartfelt thanks!”

The lead dresser greets her thanks in honorary.

“It’s our honor, Ma’am.”

She looks back into the mirror, recounting everything that she recalls.

One second later, she complains about the Princess aloud.

“Ah—just what are you, Raeké!?”

“You’re just too depressed that everything you remember is your depression. Over and over!”

Almost all of the dressers react, seeing the Princess’s demeanor become unusually active because she’s usually quiet among the workers of the Royal Household. 

Some of them drift their hands to cover their mouths in shock and some of their shoulders jump, while some of them instantly pull their mouths toward the others’ ear, whispering as silent as possible, and while one dresser leaves.

“You see that? The Princess is unusually loud today.”

“Yeah—what happened?”

Frustration drives her toward self independence, assuming the Princess is useless. 

“If you can’t do the spell, then let me do it instead.”

She leans the palm of her hand against the mirror and tries to do some spell with a grimace on her face. 

“Hnggh—! Hnggh—!”

But nothing comes out since she knows nothing about casting a spell; she’s just blindly mimicking the others’ actions about magic spells. 

The Princess’s overbearing pressures still rest deeply inside her chest.

She lets it all out in a single, long hush of the Princess’s breath, and she grieves, almost giving up with her life in the Princess’s body.

‘No good, I’m just here, stuck within her body.’

While she’s lost in her own world, her mother and Lord Chamberlain unexpectedly arrive at the entrance of the Dressing Room, awaiting the Princess’s exit. 

The lead dresser silences the small talks from the other dressers and approaches the Princess. 

“Ma’am, Lord Chamberlain awaits for your escort to settle the next matter.”

The Princess gazes back to the dresser that informed her, saying her mild jolt out.

“Ah—! I see. I will be there, in short.”

The lead dresser brings the Princess through the path for her exit.

As the Princess follows the lead, she sees her mother standing right in front of the entrance, glimmering in her smile with her ivory white, veiled, modest dress.

Soulfully, the Princess footsteps become faster, striding her heels and approaching the Queen. 

While the dressers come back to their formation, standing and repeating their curtsy.

Raesha’s heart reacts to her daughter’s presence in the sudden rush, she curves her mouth upward gently and opens both her arms while slightly bent her body forward and closer, welcoming her daughter with her warm embrace.

It’s all Raeké’s intents to claim that hug, she’s running and reaching her mother with her arms opening up to her mother.

Their bond is unbreakable, the mother and the daughter wrap each other, talking inseparably. 

“Mom, will Dad be there too?”

“No, honey. Dad is absent from his business at Harda.”

“How long has Dad been there? I miss him.”

“Maybe around 3 months. He promises that he will return to Dotem soon.”

“Oh—3 months. That’s super long already, Mom!”

Her mother responds as enthusiastically as her daughter.

“Right?”

Lord Chamberlain speaks to the lead dresser.

“Shouldn’t there be 14 dressers working, straightly sent from the Royal Household? Where is the other one?”

The lead dresser is shocked, glancing around, and then replies to Lord Chamberlain. 

“I’m not sure, she’s here and was supposed to be here. Probably, she went to the lavatory.”

Lord Chamberlain closes his eyes for a moment.

“Understood.”

Then, Lord Chamberlain faces toward the Royals. 

“Your Majesty, Your Highness, I await to escort both of you to the walkthrough of the event, if pleased.”

The Queen and the Princess nod to Lord Chamberlain, signing in to their preparations.

And so, Lord Chamberlain and the Royals walk altogether. 

An hour later, the momentous scene passed. 

Before 10 Sol-Togue, the punctual Lord Chamberlain finally brings the Princess into the entrance of the Ceremonial Hall of Heto Palace.

Lord Chamberlain, once again welcomes the Princess with his gestures. 

“This way, if you may, Ma’am.”

As the entry of the Princess into the hall occurs, the hall is empty of the Royals, but the Assembled Courts; in other words, the Court Offices and the Nobles.

From all States, they already sit at their banquet tables apiece.

Yet she glances around, seeing the setting of the area of the Ceremonial Hall all the while.

The Ceremonial Hall of the Heto Palace is a hexagonally closed amphitheater hall.

It has six, tall doors placed at each side of the six walls, forming a hexagon, with each side having colorless chandeliers hanging.  

She murmurs.

‘Each door steers the Royals from each States, converging into this very same space. All for this event of gathering.’

She cheers up. 

“Hu~I don’t know why—but I’m so excited!”

Raeké faces downward in the hall, seeing the assembling, descending order of the banquet tables. 

Each side represents each State.

The lower the row, the higher the ranking.

Amid the lowest level of the banquet tables, there stand six, tall, lone tables at the mid forefront of each side.

And the straight banquet tables are split into two, with a gap in between, designed as the staircase aisles for the Royals from each State to pass through, leading to their seats.

All of the tables are empty for those who haven’t arrived yet, except the labeling for each person. 

In Raeké’s sight, she views the one with the tallest table from that space, at which it’s the table of the Sovereign, glorifying her father’s position.

‘That’s where Dad is supposed to sit. He’s the Sovereign anyway.’

‘But Dad is absent today… I wonder who’s going to be his proxy.’

Raeké appears to be standing in the middle of the aisle, while she’s lost in her wonders and she’s staying unnoticed that she’s blocking the pathway for the other Royals from Dotem to pass through.

Footsteps of a few people arrive by her ears, stopping right behind her. 

Before she ever gives any reactions, an ambience of a cold hearted, older lady’s words vibrate her ears in chills, whose voice happens to be one of her recognizable half-sisters.

“Step aside, Princess of Mixed Blood.”

Raeké abruptly falls into eye contact with one of her half-sisters, and the eldest: Kostana Nanse Souht.

As Raeké’s just about to move to the side, she’s already getting on the nerves of Kostana.

Kostana’s frigid glare pushes her to the side promptly.

Raeké performs a subtle curtsy as an apology, facing her head slightly downward and holding her head humbly in humility. 

“Um—sorry. I was ignorant, Big Sis.”

The pathway has been cleared, and thereupon, Kostana and Raeké’s other half-siblings pass by. 

Raeké’s standing there, staring at her other, older half-sister: Meria Nanse Souht.

Meria covers her mouth, whispering in Kostana’s ears to sarcastically pitying Raeké and giggling. 

“No way you would have said such cruel things to her, Kostana. You’re too mean, you know? Hihihi—”

“Don’t you ever feel sorry for her?”

Kostana keeps quiet as she walks to the front, followed by Meria from the side. 

Both of them step down to take their seats at the banquet table.

After the passing of Raeké’s two half-sisters, she takes a focused, deep breath, rounding her mouth and letting the tense air out of her chest.

Another storm of discrimination enters so suddenly, adjoined by the footsteps of Kostana and Meria. 

The duo of her older half-brothers gossip and slander as soon as they see her, with Lisole Nan Souht, begins his conversation with the most undeserving sentence ever.

“Cazdaeans don’t deserve a place to belong here.”

After that, Randar Nan Souht replies with his unrelenting statement. 

“Look, we don’t want to declare a war here. Yet, the existence of Her Highness, Raeké Issocelle Cazdae, is just skyrocketing the rivalry between us; the Ivadans, and the Cazdaeans.”

Lisole response comes. 

“Yeah—such a pain to have her among our bloodline.”

Then, they walk down to do the same thing as Kostana and Meria do, while leaving their tongues and gazes pierce Raeké’s heart, ostracizing her before she can even judge.

Raeké’s hand slither up to her chest in a tight grip. 

Her eyes reflect her harrow and her face writes of her gloomy moods, mumbling whatever she has in her mind.

‘Goodness gracious, I’m an Ivadan too!’

Raeké’s overridden subconsciousness drives her to bring her fangs and fingers together.

A bite comes from her teeth, compressing her nails through the bandage.

And she screams on top of her lungs, reacting from her loneliness, repulsions and tenderness from her fingers.

She lets go of the bite quickly, pushing her tendered fingers away.

Her eyes are filled with sadness and little tears, instinctively grasping her wrist with the bandaged fingers tightly and holding on to her burning tenderness of the fingers.

And she eyes to the table of the Sovereign. 

‘Did they ever know who they’re judging?’

She breathes and relaxes, explicitly thinking.

‘Isn’t that right?’

‘I’m the Princess of Mixed Blood, after all, isn’t that right?’