The Destiny of the Rainbow

Her heart overflowed with darkness. Not an actual ‘darkness’, but Iris could feel it.

Iris couldn’t apprehend it. No matter how many times she ignored, slapped, or humiliated Cadere, she kept coming back. She didn’t want to understand but also didn’t want to do these worthless things anymore. She was mentally exhausted from hitting someone. Iris wondered, ‘How twisted the Princess could go further? Why is she doing this to me?’

Iris roughly pulled her hand out and shoved Cadere. The delicate body fell behind in a swift, but she didn’t care. Because she knew that even if she did this, Cadere would recover quickly then scoot closer with a naive smile.

Iris moved farther from the figure because she knew that if she kept trying to figure Cadere out, she would end up with no answer and ended up having a headache instead. Soon after, Cadere raised to her feet and held Iris’ hand tightly. The cheek that was smacked by Iris was swelling red, however it was even redder now as Cadere spoke with cautiousness.

“Mother, I’ll bring some warm water. Don’t get up.”

“…What?”

Her eyes widened as if she didn’t believe what she heard while lifting her hand. Barely registering the words, Iris reached out to catch Cadere, but only met with air as the said person had already left the bed and headed quickly to the bathroom. “Wait, Princess!”

“Oh, God. Oh, Lord. What is that Princess talking about? Did she really go insane?” Iris murmured, burying her face in both palms. Then she sighed when she realized that the Princess was already crazy enough in the first place. This kind of behavior happened once or twice. To be fair, it was abnormal to come every day even though she knew she would be slapped.

She placed down her hands in defeat and buried her face on the pillow once again. ‘Fine. Let’s give up. I was used to giving up anyway.’ Way before she was trapped in this palace, she recalled things she had to let go one by one. Then, she found something funny. Who in their right mind would think of her as a Queen when she was only a shell? Didn’t all the people in this kingdom think she was merely a criminal or hostage? Those on the border might not even know she existed.

“Should I thank the Princess for treating me like a human being?” Her voice that harbored surrendered everything sounds so empty and hopeless.

A forced laugh escaped her mouth. ‘Yes, at least I got treated like a human.’ Iris decided to be content with it, agreed that at least she wouldn’t be treated like a slave. Her body and mind were exhausted. It didn’t occur to her that she wanted something more. Iris consoled herself by thinking it wasn’t bad to live apart from her homeland while she was in the state of almost being insane like now.

In the meantime, she heard a clattering sound. This time, she straightened up and saw Cadere carrying a large ceramic basin. As Iris saw the water was spilling with every step she took.

“There’s no fool as silly as that.”

Her mouth moved spontaneously. Iris hurriedly covered her mouth to stifle her giggle.

‘Is there another Princess like that in the world? What on earth was she thinking? What does she want to do to me?’

“M-Mother. A moment… please”

Iris believed there would be no water left by the time Cadere arrived. She was contemplating whether to help Cadere or let her be. But then she was taken aback by her thoughts, so she laid back to hide her face. Even so, she kept reminiscing about the scene where water spilled out every step Cadere took which made Iris smile. Due to her forcing her face to hold back her laughter, her pretty face distorted into a weird face, though she didn’t pay heed to that.

The sound of the clatter was getting closer and closer. Iris wondered how much water was left, but she endured it while watching the goddess carved on the ceiling.

“Are you going back to sleep because I’m slow? Were you bored? If I had known this would happen, I would have asked the maid to bring it.”

Iris’ lips began to tremble again once she heard a sullen tone. She tried calming down while holding back the laughter that was about to burst out at any moment.

‘Don’t laugh, Iris. You can’t laugh right now. You have to put on an angry face. Stay calm.’

If a laugh erupted, it wouldn’t be easy to subsidize it. Moreover, it was even more difficult to hold back laughter while thinking to press back the laughter. Eventually, the voice of Cadere who blamed herself with a grumpy tone made Iris burst out a hearty laugh as she couldn’t restrain it anymore. It was a fresh, refined laugh that pleased the one who listened.

Cadere’s eyes opened wide as the stars twinkled one by one in the eyes that were like the pool of the night sky.