Chapter 54: Confession

“A prince saved by a princess. It’s kind of refreshing, isn’t it? Hmm…but does this mean the nickname ‘princess’ that they gave each other is actually true?”

A voice.

I hear a voice that’s the same as mine, and my submerged consciousness resurfaces.

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I felt was that I couldn’t see anything.

It wasn’t dark.

Rather, should I say it was too dazzling?

The whole world was painted white.

The floor…I can feel it.

But apart from the fact that I’m standing, I couldn’t see anything that proved this was the floor.

It was the same white as the surroundings, and there wasn’t even an awkward corner that would inevitably appear when it met a wall.

If you painted both the sky and the ground white, and removed everything else, would it look like this?

“You’re awake? You have good mental strength.”

Where is it coming from?

I looked around, but the owner of the voice was nowhere to be seen.

“Ah, you can’t perceive it? Sorry. It’s the first time someone other than me has come here.”

Whoosh.

Suddenly, I felt the flow of air.

Then, surprisingly, a chair appeared in front of me.

A chair with a similar design to the one I sit on at school…?

No, it wasn’t.

A teddy bear sticker attached to the back of the chair.

It was definitely the sticker that Sohee put on my chair to commemorate becoming classmates.

I soon found out why that chair appeared in front of me.

Blink.

I just blinked once.

As if it had been there from the beginning, a person was sitting there naturally.

“…Hmm. Looking at it like this, it’s definitely different.”

The atmosphere was different.

However, there was the same face that no one could deny.

“…Kim, Hayeon?”

“Surprised?”

Saying that, she, ‘Kim Hayeon’, continued speaking with a mischievous expression.

“Well, it’s understandable to be surprised. Suddenly, a person with the same face and the same voice appears in a white space and starts talking…is it a horror movie?”

I hadn’t thought of it that way.

While muttering that, her sharp eyes were fixed on me.

‘…Did the kids feel this kind of pressure?’

Facing a gaze that was much colder and sharper than when I looked in the mirror, I unconsciously wanted to take a step back.

However, I straightened my mind and put the question I had to ask into words.

“Who are you?”

“Huh?”

“Are you really, ‘Kim Hayeon’, the owner of this body?”

I excluded the reasons that this situation was not real, such as this situation being my dream, a ghost’s trick, or any other reason that could be attached.

Assuming that this situation is all real.

There was only one thing to ask now.

“Well…maybe yes? Maybe no?”

She shook her fingers to the beat, and she seemed to find this situation quite amusing.

“What will you do if I say yes?”

“…That’s.”

A problem I’ve always thought about since my memory returned.

If the real ‘Kim Hayeon’ of the original work appears….

“Ah~wait. That’s enough. I think I know what you’re going to say.”

“Mmph.”

My mouth was covered by a hand that had suddenly approached.

She, who was sitting on the chair and looking up at me, was looking at me at the same eye level.

The physical distance between our eyes also became closer, and I could see my reflection in her eyes.

A look of suffering somewhere.

It was a frustrating expression to look at.

“First, let me tell you clearly. I am the ‘Kim Hayeon’ you’re thinking of.”

“…You are? Then, are you really…the ‘Kim Hayeon’ who appears as a villain extra in the original work?”

At that, ‘Kim Hayeon”s expression became somewhat sullen.

“…I’m not entirely a character in a crudely expressed comic. But yeah, it’ll be easier for you to think of it that way.”

Whoosh.

Her other hand grabbed my hand.

And, for some reason, she began to interlock her fingers.

“An ignorant person who harassed the princess and ended up being imprisoned.”

She ruthlessly invaded from the thumb to the little finger, and brought the interlocked hands she had made to her mouth.

As a result, her right hand covered my mouth, and the back of my hand covered her mouth, a ridiculous posture was completed.

“But, if you ask if I’m the owner of the body you’re moving now…I don’t know that either. After all, ‘you’ were already there when I came to my senses.”

“…Me?”

“Haha. Silly face. I wonder how you can make that expression with my face.”

Her eyes, with her lips stretched long, came a little closer.

Now, she also released her right hand that was covering my mouth.

Just a simple interlock of fingers.

With that one thing, my lips and her lips faced each other.

“You heard it correctly, so you don’t have to make that face. I know it’s hard to understand…but for now, just memorize it by rote.”

“I am ‘Kim Hayeon’ who has already experienced ruin once and returned.”

Blink.

When I first opened my eyes, I faced a pathologically clean white ceiling.

“…An unfamiliar ceiling.”

After saying the line I wanted to say once, I slowly awakened my submerged five senses.

The smell of alcohol lingers at the tip of my nose.

A stuffy mouth.

The feel of the blanket thinly covering me.

At the end of my slightly turned gaze, the flowing IV drip.

With this much, I could fully understand where I was.

‘Somehow, I’m alive.’

I fell to the burning first floor and woke up alive in the hospital.

Just looking at the sentence, this was a situation that even if I lied that it was a movie story, people would believe it.

“Ugh.”

I was a little less sleepy, and I got up from my seat.

Looking around more, I couldn’t feel the presence of anyone else.

It seemed to be a single room.

Then there’s no reason to hesitate.

I unbutton the hospital gown I was wearing.

Then, the pink tip attached to my chest popped out first and greeted me.

Ugh, how embarrassing.

When I took off my clothes completely, a single mole on the top revealed a perfect breast.

“Let’s see….”

The skin…is fine.

I couldn’t see below that well, but as I looked around in various ways, I couldn’t see anything that looked like a wound.

I was a little surprised that there wasn’t even a small burn.

Even excluding the incident of falling, my skin was already red when I evacuated the kids, so I was prepared for burns even if I escaped safely.

Besides….

“Sigh, haa….”

Even breathing was no problem.

I had definitely inhaled so much smoke, but as if nothing had happened, no, rather, I breathed much better than before.

“It doesn’t make sense.”

An event that cannot happen in reality, breaking causality.

There was only one person I knew who could cause such a miracle.

“Kyaak!”

“Whoa!?”

I almost fell over on the bed I was sitting on, startled by the sudden scream from the direction of the door.

With the determination not to show such an unsightly appearance, I somehow managed to balance myself, but as a result of supporting myself with my arm behind me, I ended up in a pose that boldly showed my naked upper body.

“I, I’m sorry Hayeon! I didn’t know you were taking off your clothes….”

Yoon Sejeong tried to cover her face, but realized that she was holding a washbasin with water in her hand and quickly turned her head.

“No, it’s okay…. But can you wait until I get dressed?”

“Yes….”

Rustle, rustle.

The sound of clothes rustling quietly spread in the quiet room.

That was a little embarrassing.

It was a slightly different feeling from what I felt when we changed clothes together in the changing room.

Why?

While thinking such thoughts, my hands moved quickly, and I succeeded in getting dressed perfectly without any mess.

“Sejeong-ah. I’m done.”

“Really?”

Yoon Sejeong turned around.

Sejeong’s lips, approaching me, were filled with a smile.

‘Golden eyes.’

At first, I was so flustered that I didn’t notice, but her eyes were a deep golden color.

Golden eyes.

It was evidence that the blood of the royal family had awakened.

‘Her hair color…has also changed to pure white.’

The dark black color, which was her original hair color, was gone, and a white color, as if it had been bleached, and much more natural, was in its place.

If I compare it to pure white snow piled up on a snow-capped mountain, it might be easier to understand.

That appearance matched the appearance I had seen in the comic.

‘It’s certain.’

She had clearly awakened her power completely through this incident.

“Hayeon-ah, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”

Sejeong, who put down the washbasin she brought, sat down comfortably on the chair next to the bed.

“Yes. I’m fine. I’m overflowing with energy, actually?”

I smiled brightly at Sejeong, who was worried about my body.

Even though her appearance had changed, Yoon Sejeong was still Yoon Sejeong.

“I’m glad….”

Saying that, Sejeong leaned her upper body towards me as if she was falling.

At the same time, she buried her face towards my legs sitting on the bed and rubbed her cheeks here and there.

Rustle.

That appearance was somehow cute, and I stroked Sejeong’s white hair with one hand.

At first, she flinched, but soon Sejeong seemed to feel good and gave her head quietly.

“…Hayeon-ah.”

“Hmm?”

When Sejeong called my name, I felt a vibration in the hair I was stroking.

That, somehow, felt a little ticklish.

“Thank you. So much that I don’t know where to start thanking you. And….”

After that, Sejeong was silent for a while.

Nevertheless, I didn’t urge her with any words, and only slowly moved my stroking hand.

Sincere words come out of the mouth quickly, but there are cases where some words are so full of sincerity that they do not want to come out of the mouth.

The words that were about to come out of Sejeong’s mouth now were probably that kind.

…And, after a few minutes.

I felt a weak vibration as if she had made up her mind.

“I love you. More than anyone in this world.”

At those words, my stroking hand stopped for a moment.

‘…Ah. This way, I can’t even pretend I misheard.’

I didn’t intend to, in the first place.

Sejeong’s words were definitely shocking, considering that I had approached her from the perspective of an ‘extra’ and from the perspective of a ‘friend’.

However, for some reason, I thought, ‘It’s finally come.’

I had tried to ignore it, but now I couldn’t ignore it, and I didn’t want to ignore it.

The anxiety and fear I felt when I thought I would lose her still remained like a scar.

Therefore—.

I hugged her and whispered briefly.

“Me too.”