Two Swords and the Angel’s Feather - Chapter 2 - Sleepy Translations

Before leaving the room, Ellen looked in the mirror for a moment.

Never had she liked mirrors throughout her whole life. It was because the mirror always reflected what she did not want to see. But that was the figure that others saw when they looked at her.

She gathered her dark hair under her neck with one hand and turned her face slightly. From her right ear downwards into her clothes were hideous burn marks that would never disappear even if she died. Her right ear looked as though it was folded in half, and from there, the scar followed down her chin all the way down her neck. It only grew worse inside of her clothes. The large, hideous scar continued down her right arm, right torso, and back. Whenever her fingers brushed against the rough, uneven surface of the scar, only one thought came to mind. There would never be a day this scar would be touched by someone else. This scar would forever only know the touch of her hand. Because of such thoughts, sometimes she wanted to stroke that pitiful scar. It was a scar that would never feel the gaze or touch of others.

Ellen lifted the comb and carefully combed the hair she had set back in place. It was still fortunate that she possessed dark and thick hair long enough to cover the scar. Sometimes she wanted to comb and pin her hair with ornaments like every other woman, but that would reveal her scar. She did not like that.

“I’ll be late.”

Ellen, who murmured softly, brushed her hair to the right and weaved thin strings into her braid that covered her ear with experienced fingers. This was the most ornamentation she could do. She was satisfied with being able to do at least this much. She turned her back on the mirror and quickly left.

The Royal Palace was always crowded. Three years since the start of diarchy, the country was slowly stabilizing. The past power struggles over the throne that took place prior to the diarchy had also been largely forgotten. No one knew what happened below the surface of the water, but the two kings remained resolutely united around a single queen, and the nobles were starting to give up trying to sow disparity to separate them to strengthen their power.

Above all, with the birth of the crown princes, it was now difficult to gain power just by separating the two kings. The two kings declared that the twin princes, like themselves, would lead the country together in a diarchy with a single queen, leaving the nobles to ponder which side to stand with. As a result, the Royal Palace was always filled with aristocrats.

The aristocrats’ fear of the two kings was consistent, but their attitudes toward the queen were completely different. The queen, who rarely appeared in public, was a cousin of the two princes and a princess adopted by the Royal Family prior to she rose to become Queen. In addition, she received the haughty contempt of the nobles. Even now, after she had given birth to the twin crown princes, she was the scapegoat of the nobles’ disregard in the closet. Sometimes it did not quite make sense to Ellen how the world’s sweetest person was receiving such an attitude and why the two kings did not correct such actions and stood by the sidelines.

Nobles and other servants and maids glanced at her as they passed her in the corridor. Ellen headed towards the kitchen in quick steps with her head half-down. The kitchen that prepared meals for the Royal Family was separate from the Great Mess Hall but was not adjacent to the royals’ private quarters so it was necessary to pass by the nobles. As they watched her walk by, some of the aristocrats started to whisper amongst themselves. Ellen straightened her back and ignored them. As the Queen’s lady of honor and herself, there was an attitude that should be maintained.

“Is Her Majesty’s meal ready?”

The scullery maids quickly brought the meal and handed it over to her. On a heavy tray, there is a rich meal of soup, bread, salad, meat, and even drinks. It was due to the fact that even the scullery maids knew that one of the two kings would often eat together with the Queen in her chamber.

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