The Readymade Queen - Chapter 2

All the events that had happened in the past hour, flashed past her mind. It was an eerily quiet night. But suddenly, the jarring sound of several footsteps came from afar. The door opened noisily, creaking because of the rust dangling off the hinges. The assassins rushed into the room. Abigail loosened the tight grip she had been holding, a little. Only then did she notice that her hands that were holding the hem of her dress were trembling terribly.

The dark reddish-brown hair that Abigail had inherited from her father was coincidentally akin to the woman she had served.

The assassins who had entered the room in a rush, were a little confused by it even though they had seen the painting of the Princess. It could be said that there were two women, not one, who matched the portrait they had received.

They even had a similar eye color under the dim light. A dark green, and slightly bright green with lighter pigments dotting the iris.

The confusion, which began with who was the princess, soon turned into a very simple worry about whether to kill both right away or to kill who first.

For Abigail, declining from saying that she wasn’t the Princess was the utmost morality she could have, but it didn’t seem to have helped her.

The Princess was soon stabbed by their sword. And when she was about to be stabbed, too, a man appeared in front of her… appearing like a dream, an imaginary being. A halo of light surrounded him, making it seem surreal.

By the time Abigail recognized the man in front of her, his knights killed all the assassins. It was enough to provide her with temporary salvation. Until the man put a knife on my neck.

It was quite a miserable time. Abigail blinked, her eyelashes fluttering under the light, mind filled with conflicting thoughts.

The man seemed no longer interested in Abigail.

His strange, uncaring gaze was very burdensome as if filling in for the absence of the knife stuck to her throat, but Abigail found some peace just by the fact that the threat to her life had disappeared immediately. Like a madwoman, a sigh of relief, a smile of relief, and tears of relief burst at the same time.

But as if he were ridiculing her relief, the man’s next words sounded.

“You have to become the Princess.”

Before her head could digest the bolt from the blue, she, who was still laughing and crying like a madwoman, was dragged away.

Even though she was dragged out of the palace and put in a carriage, it was not until a while before Abigail realized what was happening.

To say it accurately, she came to her senses. She stared out of the window in a daze, blinking occasionally. The flames of fire were rising out of the palace where she had been only a few minutes ago.

The palace, far away from the carriage, was surrounded by red flames. It was a dark night, but the spot where the palace was situated, lit up. The gray walls of the palace, surrounded by the flames, glowed yellow.

“You can’t…”

Abigail couldn’t finish her words and pursed her lips when her eyes met the man. The man turned away from the window and stared at Abigail. She moved her lips slightly.

“You s-set fire to the palace?”

“The evidence had to be destroyed.”

“P-Princess Violetta! Princess Violetta was there!”

“The Princess is already dead.”

Abigail was speechless and mesmerized by his firm, careless tone. Like time had stopped, the Princess, who was like a child, didn’t even know she was going to die until the moment she was stabbed. Even though the assassins came in and the sword was plunged into her neck, the Princess had smiled brightly, a pure, brilliant smile.

The reason why Abigail did not die was that the assassins were struck with confusion by this bizarre sight and hence, they delayed her death. That’s what Abigail thought.

The child, who had been smiling without knowing the situation, cried as if she lost breath, only after being stabbed.

Abigail recalled the childish, desperate cry as if a child had seen an evil sight. The sight that Abigail was seeing out of the window and the cries in her head were all as unreal as it was in her dream.

“The poor Princess, how…” Abigail muttered blankly, her gaze fixed outside.

“How could he do this? He even burnt her body. Why did this…”

Whether he was bothered by her words or thought she was going to cry, the man now glanced out of the window, lowering the curtain, as if he was annoyed to answer.

Of course, she was not crying. But Abigail, who was emotional, shuddered at the cold response. The man suddenly asked, “What’s your name?”

“Abigail.”

“Do you have a last name?”

Abigail frowned at this. As soon as she heard the question, she didn’t think it was appropriate to ask it like that. Right now, Abigail was not sure if she was just a maid. And in her opinion, she was just like a commoner. However, because it was this man who was asking, she couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable.

“I do have one. Dilloa. Abigail Dilloa.”

“Where’s your family house?”

Even with Abigail’s tart reply, the man asked carelessly. It was a tone that made people feel even more uncomfortable because he was really just curious.

Abigail, however, was not in a position to show off her displeasure. She said with a gentle reminder of her situation.

“In the north frontier, there was a house.”

“There was? Now?”

“Not anymore.”

The man raised his eyebrows slightly to indicate that her simple answer was not too satisfactory. Abigail looked at him blankly and opened her mouth. She shouldn’t have forgotten. This was the man who had put a knife to her neck just minutes ago.

“My father…he ruled several rural villages on the outskirts. He lost that little piece of land he had and was left with nothing. In the countryside, there was no money, and the government gradually raised taxes. There was nothing to collect from the people of the country, and he said he couldn’t live like this anymore, so he got stuck in debt and invested the money, but it was all for naught. My father died all by himself, his estate was gone, his mother was sick in the mountains, his younger siblings are still sick. I gave a loaf of bread to the nanny because I didn’t have anything precious, and couldn’t pay the nanny for three years.”

Abigail recited in a calm tone.

“Well, I guess, it’s normal.”