WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 281: Room 204, Mission Room - ‘Hotel Cinema’ (5)

──────

- Yoo Song-i

A sudden ‘zoo date’ event!

But this storyline hadn't happened when Elena entered the film, had it? A brief sense of unease came over me.

Perhaps he noticed my expression, because the Crown Prince's face darkened. He really was easy to read.

“I'll consider Your Highness's invitation an honor of a lifetime.”

I slowly bowed at the waist, almost exaggeratedly, so he wouldn't feel even the slightest unease toward me.

“Y-you don't have to do that! We're friends now!”

The boy's smile was impossible to conceal. The attendant beside him, Gellion, said he would soon send a servant to arrange a date.

Of course, the space had already begun shaking the moment I accepted.

* * *

“The story is unfolding differently? An invitation to the imperial palace? This didn't happen with Elena...”

“It seems the story changes depending on how you act. Well, it has to. That's how some people get good endings and others get bad ones.”

* * *

The ‘Crown Prince's Zoo’ event that followed naturally was a little absurd.

Whenever we tried to look at an animal, time would suddenly skip ahead unnaturally. It seemed to be a feature of the film, which boldly skipped over mere animals and devoted its time to the relationship between the male and female leads.

Honestly, I was a little disappointed.

I wanted to see the mysterious creatures from other worlds that the Crown Prince had collected from across the world, at least once. Still, I hadn't entered the film just to look at animals, so I let it go. I needed to go along with the flow.

“Your Highness, isn't there a riding ground nearby? Could I see Motian, the horse you told me about before?”

“... Motian? Motian hasn't been feeling well lately.”

For a moment, I almost sighed at the Crown Prince's transparent lie. I understood not wanting the girl he liked to see him fall off a horse.

But I had my own plan, so I pressed a little harder this time.

Using the excuse that I wanted to check on the horse's condition, I made it difficult for the Crown Prince to refuse. After all, within the film's setting, it was a gift my father had given him.

As expected, Motian, the fine horse that failed to recognize its owner, had a terrifying presence.

--- Neigh!

“U-ugh! See? Motian is acting strange, right? It must be sick.”

“Just a moment.”

I tugged my top down slightly to hide the bracelet. A white flash that could not be concealed flickered across Motian, and the horse shuddered. Fortunately, the Crown Prince behind me didn't seem to see anything.

Horses were naturally very fearful animals. When a horse acted aggressively, it was often not because it was vicious, but because something had frightened it.

The cause could be anything. Certain clothes the owner wore, a smell, their build, or a sound. Simply put, I believed Motian acted aggressively because the horse was afraid of the Crown Prince.

How could I solve this problem?

Long ago, dragoons who rode horses and fired muskets used a brutal method to handle horses that couldn't adapt to gunshots. They made the horses deaf. Sometimes, blocking a sense so the horse couldn't perceive whatever triggered its fear might be the answer.

A moment ago, I had shaken Motian's senses. The world Motian perceived had been recreated by my hand.

“What? Why is it suddenly acting like this?”

“Hasn't it calmed down?”

“Uh... it has. I've never seen Motian this calm before.”

“Why don't you try riding it now?”

The Crown Prince looked anxious, but he couldn't refuse my request. It was almost funny how easy it was to tell what the boy was thinking.

Please! Motian, please! Don't throw me off this time!

A little later, my plan succeeded.

“Hyah! Haha! Motian, why were you so hostile toward me until now when you're such a good horse?”

“Maybe it needed time to adapt to an unfamiliar environment.”

The Crown Prince's laughter filled the stable at first, then the open field.

After a long while, the Crown Prince returned to my side with a broad grin still on his face.

“You know a lot about horses too! That was really fun. It's strange, but whenever I'm with you, everything seems to go well.”

The knights waiting nearby also looked brighter, perhaps happy to hear their master's cheers.

“Lady Crosibel! You are quite skilled. Actually, Lady Evelyn is-”

“Rupert!”

The sharp shout nearly split my ears. As I turned to look at the Crown Prince in surprise, our eyes met. He had looked my way as though gauging my reaction.

For an instant, the two of us exchanged glances as though trying to guess each other's thoughts, then both looked away.

“I-it's nothing. It seems Rupert said something unnecessary again, so you don't need to worry about it.”

“...”

What was with this atmosphere?

The knight named Rupert had his head lowered with a miserable expression, while the attendant glared at him as if ready to devour him. The Crown Prince flinched, then watched my reaction.

All of this had been set off by one word, ‘Evelyn.’

Evelyn... I had a rough idea who she was. She was one of the young ladies at the party during the first event. She was quite beautiful, so A-ri would mention her whenever she teased Ga-in during the meeting.

Beautiful...

The moment I focused on that word, I felt a little creeped out.

This place wasn't reality. It was a film. In a movie, a beautiful woman was practically the same thing as an ‘expensive actress.’ Actors already had looks ordinary people couldn't compare to, so if someone stood out even among them, it meant your jaw would drop if you met her in real life.

Could a girl like that really be a simple extra? Didn't she have some kind of role?

* * *

“Song-i's analysis sounds convincing.”

At Eun-sol's words, A-ri agreed.

“That girl named Evelyn was definitely too pretty to be an extra. Is she a villain? We're already past the middle of the film, so it's about time she showed up.”

“Hmm... That joke you made might have been a plain fact.”

“A joke?”

“The joke that Ga-in should've entered the film and possessed Evelyn. Would we have had less to worry about from the villain if he'd done that?”

“Eun-sol, I've never made a joke. Ga-in is definitely going in next time.”

“Q-quiet. They're about to reveal who Evelyn is!”

* * *

... So that was Evelyn's role.

Unlike the knight and the Crown Prince, who had been desperate to hide it from me, the attendant must have thought it was impossible to keep hidden. He waited for an opportunity and carefully told me.

I barely had time to be surprised by the unexpected information before the space shook, announcing the next event.

The next event was the city's New Year Festival.

Elena had experienced this event too, but it unfolded differently. For one thing, the Crown Prince's attendant didn't secretly follow me and kidnap me. Instead, he openly came to convey the Crown Prince's cute suggestion.

“He wants to date like commoners?”

“Yes. His Highness says that walking among commoners and observing how they live is also related to his duties as Crown Prince-”

The attendant kept rambling on with unnecessary additions, but the meaning was simple. We would wear plain clothes instead of flashy dresses, disguise ourselves as commoners, walk among them, and enjoy the festival. Naturally, disguised guards would accompany us nearby.

Perhaps because of the pressure on the film's runtime, things moved quickly.

Honestly, they moved so quickly that I was a little startled. I had been talking to the attendant about three seconds earlier, but when I blinked, my clothes had changed and I found myself in the middle of a city holding a festival!

“L-Lady Song-i! This way-”

“Your Highness.”

“Hm?”

Elena was good at creating this kind of atmosphere, so maybe I should imitate her a little. No, seriously, stop thinking this kind of thing!

I'd rather think of it as imitating Ga-in. He's the best person in the world at suddenly acting cool and scamming people with strange words. It helped that he was handsome, so even nonsense sounded impressive when he said it. No, seriously, stop having weird thoughts!

* * *

“Song-i really has a lot of misunderstandings about me. Scamming people?”

A-ri gave him an incredulous look.

“Ga-in. Put that hand down. I know you're smiling.”

Eun-sol muttered with a frightened expression.

“I really don't want to enter a film...”

* * *

I tried to sound as elegant as possible.

“Could you call me Song-i today?”

The Crown Prince's face reddened as he cautiously muttered, “... Call me Joshua.”

The rest of the event was fairly enjoyable. This Crown Prince had started seeming rather cute to me. Walking through the streets, watching performances, and eating street food was quite fun.

But my mind was starting to race.

“It can't keep going this smoothly...”

“What?”

“It's nothing. Jo, shall we go to the center this time?”

“The center? Isn't that where people are dancing? I don't really want to dance.”

Why did this kid dislike so many things?

“Jo, I'm not saying we have to dance. I mean we should watch.”

When we arrived at the central square, the heart of the city's New Year Festival, where couples gathered to dance, the Crown Prince and I both fell silent.

There was a truly beautiful man and woman in the middle of the square. They looked so perfect that they might have been the main couple of this world.

* * *

“Wow... What even is this turn of events?”

Eun-sol's mouth fell open, while A-ri answered with a dumbfounded expression.

“It is an interesting development. I'm glad I didn't go in...”

“Song-i, please! You have to finish this! I'm begging you!”

Sang-hyeon, watching Ga-in's desperate prayer nearby, let out a dry laugh.

“I'm already curious about what the next film will be like.”

* * *

Beautiful music filled the square as so many couples whirled in circles that it was impossible to take them all in at a glance. And one particular couple looked as though all the light in the world had gathered around them.

The tall, sharply featured handsome man, young Duke Pendleton.

The girl as beautiful as a goddess of the night, embodying the beauty of the night sky itself, Lady Evelyn.

Their dance was so mysterious and noble that it felt as though they belonged to an entirely different genre. Yet there was someone who couldn't simply admire this beautiful scene, a scene like a film within a film.

I glanced to the side at the timid boy.

The Crown Prince stood trembling as though he had been struck by lightning, staring at the square. His eyes, expression, and gestures. I could sense the violent storm of emotions in all of them without even using the bracelet. What could he possibly be feeling right now?

...

I couldn't easily imagine how it would feel to watch your ex-girlfriend dancing in the arms of the man you were most jealous of.

Just then, Evelyn noticed us and approached with a faint smile. Pendleton came with her, grinning like an idiot. If he didn't know the situation, he was a clueless fool. If he did know, he was a fool who didn't understand the first thing about tact.

“Oh my, I didn't know Your Highness had come to the festival as well. And beside you is... who was it again?”

Footnotes:

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