The Unfinished Novel
“So your sister is called Elise?” Mia followed Anne upstairs.
“Yes, she’s the same age as Mia-sama. But she is sickly. I only wish that she was as healthy as you.”
Anne smiles sadly.
“I’m sorry to hear that she is sickly.”
“No, she’s not actually ill, or anything. Thanks to Mia-sama, my salary has increased. We’re able to feed her a lot of nutritious food, so she’s getting better and better.” While saying this, Anne knocked on the door. “Elise, are you awake?”
“Anne-neesama, is that you? Come in.” A small voice answered. Upon hearing it, Anne opened the door.
It was a small room. Unlike Mia’s room, which was full of things, this room has only a wooden desk and a bed. On the desk, there were tattered books that seemed to have been read many times. Books are valuable, so it is common for them to be read again and again. What is uncommon is for them to be read to the point that they are tattered as they are now.
“I’m sorry neesama. I couldn’t go down to say hello…”
A young girl sat on the bed rubbing her eyes. She looks a lot like Anne with her bouncy red hair that was sticking at all directions. It seemed like she have just woken up.
“I guess Her Highness have already returned. That’s such a shame, I really wanted to meet her.” While saying this, Elise was putting on the large glasses from her bedside. “Huh?”
Seeing Mia standing beside Anne, Elise froze.
“Nice to meet you, Elise. My name is Mia Luna Tearmoon. I am always indebted to your sister Anne.”
“Wow, wow, wow, uh, nice to meet you. Excuse me for being dressed like this, Your Highness, Princess, I…”
“It’s alright. Please relax. I have heard about you from your sister.” Mia smiled as she placed a hand on Elise’s shoulder and stopped her from trying to get up.
“But …”
“Elise, you don’t have to mind your words. Mia is a very open-minded person and a heart of gold. So she’s not bothered by a few lapses in protocol.”
“Indeed, I did not even notice anything amiss.” Mia said, not missing a beat. After all, she is good at giving praise to others.
Then, for a while, Mia enjoyed chatting with Elise. What pleased Mia above all was that Elise declined the frozen dessert.
“It’s painful to refuse what you received from Her Highness, but my body might get a cold if I eat something cold.” As soon as Mia heard this, she immediately decided that she liked this girl. Not because of any particular trait but because she got her frozen dessert back. Mia was so happy that she could start bouncing.
“Aren’t you glad Elise? You kept on saying how much you wanted to meet Mia-sama.” Anne also smiled happily next to Elise.
“Oh, did you want to see me that much?”
“Yes! Um, I’m writing a story…”
The excited Elise brought a stack of paper that had been sitting on the desk. On the cover was the title “The Poor Prince and the Golden Dragon.”
My, it seems that I have seen this title somewhere…
A memory arose in Mia’s head.
Life in the dungeon was boring. After all, there was nothing to do. She didn’t want to be taken out to a kangaroo court where everyone shouts curses at her, but at the same time, it was also painful for Mia to be stuck in the cell doing nothing.
At that time, Anne started telling her about the story of “The Poor Prince and the Golden Dragon.” It was a story that Mia had never heard before. An adventure story about a Prince who became poor because he shared all his wealth with the poor. He then met an injured dragon whom he took care of. Then the two of them went off on a series of exciting adventures.
Fantasy novels were rare in Tearmoon Empire, and Mia liked it. However, she never got to hear the ending. It wasn’t because she was executed before she had a chance to hear about it. Rather, it was because the author – Anne’s sister – died in the famine before she could finish writing it.
When Mia was on the guillotine stand, it was one of her deepest regrets that she wasn’t able to know the ending of the story.
I almost forgot!
Mia was so caught up in her thoughts. Destiny was changing, little by little. She didn’t know whether the famine would still strike. But if it did, its effects might not be so disastrous with Ludwig’s efforts.
But …
After flipping through the stack of paper, Mia looked at Elise.
“This story is very interesting.”
“Eh?”
Elise’s face betrayed her confusion. She didn’t think that Mia could have read through it so quickly. Regardless of Elise’s reaction, Mia continued…
“Elise, I want you to become my court author.”
“… Huh?”
