WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 284: Room 204, Mission Room - ‘Hotel Cinema’ (8)
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- Yoo Song-i
Honestly, the final fight with Evelyn wasn't all that dramatic.
It wasn't like I was going to fight with my fists like Jin-cheol or jump from body to body like Ga-in.
Tormented by illusions of monster toads suddenly appearing throughout the carriage, Evelyn screamed and ran toward a “safe place.” Put simply, she threw open the carriage door and jumped out.
The duke's servants and knights rushed down in horror as Evelyn fell from the coastal cliff. Looking at her crushed limbs and scar-covered body, I let out a small sigh.
It would've been better if she'd died, but somehow, she survived.
That aside, we couldn't leave the carriage stopped here.
“Sir Cedric.”
“What is it? Lady Evelyn is-”
“Let's head for the capital. We're almost there anyway, aren't we? If we take Miss Evelyn to a hospital in the capital, they should be able to save her. And have you forgotten the last order Miss Evelyn gave?”
“Lady Evelyn's order?”
“She told me to go to the Imperial Palace and report that Miss Crosibel had come down with a fever.”
Cedric seemed persuaded and hurried the people around him. The carriage moved at one and a half times its previous speed.
Or it probably did. The moment it set off, the scene changed, and we arrived at the Imperial Palace.
No matter whose carriage I was in, we'd made it to the palace, so that was all that mattered.
* * *
The moment we arrived, I saw Joshua running toward us. As he welcomed me with a smile, I suddenly wondered what Cedric was doing and glanced back.
I'd never seen anything so funny.
What had he been thinking until just now? He must've planned to deliver some shocking truth alongside me to the Crown Prince, who would be confused to see someone other than Crosibel.
There was no such thing.
Because I was the real one!
“Oh, Your Highness.”
“Hmm?”
“I'd like to express my gratitude to Sir Cedric here. I suffered terribly after getting into a carriage accident on the way to the Imperial Palace.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“Oh my! Don't worry, Your Highness. I'm standing right in front of you, aren't I?”
“Th-that's an embarrassing thing to say...”
“We received help from the duke's household, which happened to be passing nearby.”
The Crown Prince looked puzzled, perhaps because he found it hard to believe Evelyn's family had helped me. Still, he soon told Cedric that he would remember the favor and walked past him.
Cedric stood there with a blank expression for a long time, unable to take even one step.
* * *
The conversation I'd been anticipating with the emperor didn't mean much.
An emperor with plenty of free time would be strange in the first place. In a formal tone, he said he had heard about me from Joshua and hoped we would form a good relationship. Less than ten minutes later, he left, saying he had matters to attend to.
The real variable was elsewhere.
“I heard Evelyn was seriously injured and admitted to a hospital in the capital. Crown Prince, have you heard this news?”
“Ah, I received a report earlier-”
“And yet you remain so calm? How can you be so heartless?”
What was this? She was openly worrying about Evelyn right in front of me?
As I hesitated, unsure how to react, a sharp dagger flew my way.
“Come to think of it, Miss Crosibel. I heard you were in the same carriage as Evelyn?”
“Yes. It was an unfortunate accident-”
“I heard Evelyn suddenly screamed and jumped from the carriage. How strange. You were in the same carriage at that exact time, weren't you? The knights said they didn't know what happened inside.”
“Y-Your Majesty! What are you saying?”
That was practically accusing me of hurting Evelyn. I almost frowned in irritation. If the Crown Prince hadn't taken my side, I probably would've talked back.
... Though I really had hurt her, so my anger faded. Come to think of it, I had no reason to be angry.
The conversation continued in that vein for a long time. The empress had welcomed me with an awkward smile while the emperor was present, but once he left, she stopped hiding her displeasure.
Only then did Evelyn's setting return to my mind. She was the empress's relative and had met the Crown Prince through the empress's introduction.
In other words, she was the empress's pick.
How would the empress see me? I was a thieving cat who had slipped into the gap created by the growing distance between her cherished future daughter-in-law and her son. My family was far less impressive, and I was even suspected of harming Evelyn.
Once I reached that point, I felt like I understood. Thoughts I hadn't considered before and various possibilities rose in my mind. The final picture and the concluding period leading toward the ending were slowly beginning to take shape.
After the audience with the imperial couple ended, the Crown Prince looked somewhat apologetic.
“Um... Song-i. It seems Mother isn't ready to accept this yet.”
“That can happen.”
“D-don't worry! I'll speak to her properly.”
“I'm not worried.”
Maybe because I seemed so composed, the Crown Prince smiled happily as he saw me off.
I felt a little sorry for him. If he knew the “plan” I was thinking of, he wouldn't have been smiling so comfortably.
* * *
Late that night, I left the residence the Crown Prince had arranged for me and headed to the Empress's Palace. I told the maids that I wished to meet Her Majesty, and they reacted as though it were out of the question.
“Hah! Just because you're His Highness the Crown Prince's lover, you think you can behave this brazenly? Do you take Her Majesty for some commoner from the marketplace? There are procedures that must be followed-”
“Just tell Her Majesty that I've come. I guarantee she'll want to meet me, even if she has to cancel her schedule.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Listen. Are you going to presume to know Her Majesty's wishes, someone like you? Without even knowing why I've come?”
Judging by the maids' sharp attitudes, the empress must have talked quite a bit behind my back already. Still, my words must've sounded convincing, because the maid returned to the Empress's Palace despite looking displeased.
Just as expected, I was immediately told to enter.
Unlike the confused maids, I knew why.
She had to be terribly curious.
The empress couldn't possibly understand why I was alive while Evelyn had been left at death's door!
--- Click!
As I walked through the tense palace, I thought.
Would the ending I was about to create really be all right? I knew there was a more stable, ordinary path. I also knew that, depending on how one looked at it, the ending I chose could seem completely insane.
But let's return to the basics.
What was my goal in the first place? To defeat Evelyn? To overcome the empress's opposition and marry the Crown Prince?
Sorry, Joshua, but both were wrong.
My goal was simple. I had to get three circles from the “evaluators” outside.
I recalled what one of them, an inhuman being, had said.
“A new age, the twenty-first century! It's about time romance films started having plots where the female lead tears the male lead apart and kills him! Isn't this totally MZ? Isn't this totally multiverse?”
I think I understand your standards.
You hate familiar, comfortable developments, right?
* * *
「You hate familiar, comfortable developments, right?」
“Ugh. This feels a little worrying...”
Kim Sang-hyeon immediately agreed with Cha Jin-cheol.
“That insane Merchant isn't the only evaluator. The girl at the souvenir shop seemed to prefer conventional developments.”
A-ri answered simply.
“Both of you, be quiet. Watching this so far, I think Song-i understands this genre far better than either of you.”
The two men immediately shut their mouths.
* * *
Perhaps because everyone nearby was someone the empress trusted except for me, the conversation was even harsher than before.
“So, you must be excited at the thought of changing your fortunes.”
“...”
“I found you unpleasant from the moment you started running wild without knowing your place. I never imagined you would come to find me at this hour. You are quite a lucky girl. What did Joshua see in you-”
“That line is so cliché.”
“What?”
“I see things differently. Meeting me was lucky for His Highness. At least he fell in love normally.”
“What insolent nonsense are you saying?”
“What if it had been someone else? One person already beat the Crown Prince to death with Scales. Another is even a man and plans to use Possession.”
“What... I have no idea what absurd nonsense you are spouting. The more you speak, the more painfully clear your vulgarity and inadequacy become.”
“Not as much as a mother-in-law who instigates the murder of her future daughter-in-law.”
The empress flinched and stepped back. Perhaps ashamed of that reaction, she took another step toward me, murder in her eyes.
“What did you say? You! Do you think you can take responsibility for those words?”
“If you think about it, isn't it obvious? Isn't the timing of the Crown Prince's carriage arriving at the House of Crosibel supposed to be confidential? Could even a ducal house learn something like that so easily? Well, let's say they found out somehow because they're such a powerful family.”
“Shut your mouth this instant!”
“Your Majesty, please listen a little longer. That much could happen, but then I realized that Evelyn was someone you had chosen.”
“What proof could such a thing possibly be?”
“The most important basis is actually something else. You could call it the nature of the genre.”
“What?”
“Ha! The battle of wills between a future daughter-in-law and mother-in-law! It would be disappointing to leave out such a crazy development. This is romance fantasy, isn't it? No way this could be left out! It has to be there. Just as expected, it existed in this world too.”
For the first time, the empress forgot even to be angry and looked genuinely bewildered.
“I truly don't understand what you are talking about. Have you been drinking? Guards!”
“One last thing. Your Majesty, what evidence do we need between us? Sorry, but I don't need anything like that. This place happens to be on the fourth floor.”
The empress now seemed to think I was completely insane and gestured for people to come. I gave her my final farewell.
“It's even better that you're calling witnesses yourself. Have a good night, Mother.”
The next scene would be one the rushing maids and knights would never forget for the rest of their lives.
Horrified by the Empress's Palace suddenly shaking and flames blazing everywhere, the empress fled in a panic before throwing herself from the fourth-floor terrace.
Soon, wails began to echo throughout the entire Empress's Palace.
Now that I'd cut down the former girlfriend and brought down the mother-in-law, no one in this world could stand in my way.
* * *
The mood was dark and gloomy. Dressed in black mourning clothes, I watched the coffin being carried.
I'd created it, but I hadn't expected the ending to come in such an atmosphere.
After receiving the sudden news of his mother's death following what had happened to his former girlfriend, the Crown Prince cried and cried like a young boy. Thinking it was time to comfort him, I approached and tightly held his hand.
“S-Song-i. Sob! Why did this suddenly happen?”
... Ah! I was genuinely speechless for a moment. I almost said, “I'm sorry I killed your mother!”
Calm down, Yoo Song-i! Calm down, calm down!
“Your Highness, you must remain strong at times like this. Everyone dies someday.”
Your mother would've died when her time came anyway. I only sent her off a little early.
“I, Song-i Crosibel, will be your strength.”
The boy's swollen eyes turned toward me.
At that moment, my instincts told me this was the ending of the film! Shouldn't I say something impactful?
I looked at the empress's coffin with the most wistful expression I could manage and left behind a beautiful line to decorate the end of this film.
“Mother. I hope your journey is peaceful. I'll take veeeery good care of your son! Yay!”
And then...
The ending credits rolled.
Footnotes:
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