Chapter 817 - 254: The Prince’s Wedding Preparations
Then she looked at the others.
"Next."
...
Mirror Country, central hub region.
When she stepped out of the bath, the clothes on the Prince clung tight to her body, almost revealing the color of her bare skin underneath.
When she came in she’d been in a rush, so she hadn’t changed; now her clothes were soaked through and plastered to her, of course it felt uncomfortable.
As she walked out of the bath, the sound of water was painfully clear, even a bit piercing. Her soles pressed against the floor, and the squelch of water in her shoes felt like stepping on soft, air-filled bubbles, to the point her own consciousness seemed to be floating atop cotton.
Halfway down the corridor, she reached her own bedroom.
Her bedroom wasn’t feminine at all; there was practically nothing in it—one bed, one desk, one stool, and one enormous mirror. Nothing else.
Like a huge prison cell.
She stared at her reflection in the mirror, at her drenched clothes and body, water trickling down along her temples and sleeves, dripping in steady trails.
She felt a faint sense of unfamiliarity.
So she sat down on the stool and gently tugged at her already-soaked over-the-knee socks. They were stuck to her skin, and as she peeled them off there was a strange sensation of something being torn away; her hands and feet felt clumsy and uncoordinated, she even had to struggle to pinch and pull the sock out from between her damp toes.
Her body felt strangely off; when she stroked her own foot, there was a sense that it wasn’t really hers.
[Reminder: Your fiancé is planning to reassign the Full Bloom quota. His Highness the Prince is requested to proceed for handling... One moment, your neural signals are becoming disordered... Magic influence detected... Removing...]
The system’s voice in her ear began to blur; the Prince shook her head, feeling groggy and dazed.
She remembered meeting that Magical Girl from the Cyan Cloud Sect earlier—and then fleeing.
After that, she had entered Mirror Country’s medical pod for brain treatment. The girl’s ability had affected her brain; without Magic herself, she could only rely on technology to erase the influence.
In truth, judging from the outcome, it hadn’t been anything too serious; it had merely intensified her dependence on Si Motu, made her share intel with Si Motu, and finally, led to the annulment of the engagement.
She still didn’t know why Cyan Cloud Sect was so obsessed with forcing her to break off the engagement, but in reality, her relationship with Si Motu was never something as flimsy as a marriage contract. The feelings between them...
"My daughter."
Her reflection in the mirror suddenly spoke.
It displayed a gentle, kindly smile—one she would absolutely never show.
"You did very well, my precious child. You’ve worked so hard, for such a long time."
"From this moment on, you are no longer the Prince of Mirror Country. You are the King of Mirror Country."
Then the Prince realized she wasn’t standing in front of the mirror.
She was inside the mirror.
She watched that unfamiliar "self" smile at her, then slowly strip off all her wet clothes and dress her body in new, splendid garments.
They were ornate, the robes of the Mirror King.
A platinum trailing gown, and the crown she had always carried with her—luxurious, sumptuous, utterly unlike herself.
Or rather, they were two different people to begin with.
"Because, from now on, I am you, and we are the Mirror King."
[System entering silence.]
The Mirror Country, silent for so long, suddenly felt alive.
All the Alice units, the devices, the dormant machines, cheered in unison!
As if welcoming the King’s return.
Only the main system remained in mute stillness.
Trapped in the mirror, the Prince stared at the one who had seized control of her body, and could only keep shaking her head, trying desperately to clear it.
Her memories stayed hazy, as if she’d forgotten something crucial.
"You are my last insurance policy, my child."
The Mirror King sat before the mirror, gazing at her own young, delicate, beautiful face, her lips curling in satisfaction. "Long ago I knew that the struggle between Mirror Country and the New World would most likely end in defeat. Those little creatures are not so simple—as with the technologies they once gifted us, the world they come from must harbor powers far stronger than that."
"So I had you with a man from the New World. Child, you are a half-blood of the Old World and the New World. When all the citizens of Mirror Country are sealed away, you can escape by virtue of your New World blood. You are the only citizen of Mirror Country who might survive and live on in the New World."
"But you’re far too stupid, my child."
The Mirror King let out a long sigh. "From beginning to end, you never once satisfied me. Compared to your brothers and sisters, you are more dull, slower, less attuned to emotion. You are almost entirely made of flaws. So even though you are the only one from Mirror Country with a chance to survive, you are absolutely not the one who can restore the kingdom."
"I set the last safeguard in the medical pod. Whether you went in to become an Alice and gain power, or to heal your body after injury—as long as you lay down in that pod, sooner or later, I would emerge and seize your body, to restore Mirror Country..."
Her foggy head finally began to recover a fragment of memory. In the mirror, the Prince—still drenched and bedraggled—lifted her head at last and managed to truly see that gorgeous, noble version of herself.
Or rather, her mother.
"Just look at yourself, how pathetic you are." The woman sighed. "You haven’t the slightest bearing of a King. No strategy, no presence. You have nothing—nothing but that paltry scrap of ambition. In your hands, Mirror Country will never see the light of day."𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶