Steel Princess (Royal Elite 2)

It’s almost like a rich person’s taste.

Lion statues are everywhere; beside the sweeping stairs. On the way to the entrance. Near the tall French windows.

Everywhere.

I shudder at the image.

No matter how much I blink, the red doesn’t disappear. With careful steps, I approach one of the tall windows from which the red light comes inside.

I freeze in front of it. It smells of something… burning? Flesh burning?

When I glimpse through the window, a large garden with unkempt trees and withering flowers comes into view.

It’s also red — if not redder than the inside of the house. Even the sun is projecting red light.

A lake glints in the distance. It’s dark and inky. Even the red light doesn’t reduce from its pitch-black darkness.

A shudder goes through my spine and I avert my gaze elsewhere.

I don’t want to look at that lake.

Across from me, a blonde-haired woman sits on a swing. Her frail pale arms are wrapped around a child who’s sitting on her lap as she rocks back and forth. The child is giving me its back and is completely hidden in the woman’s lap, so I can’t make them out.

The woman, however, is in complete view. She’s wearing a white dress that stops under her knees. Her pale skin and white-blonde hair make her appear like an angel.

A heartbreakingly beautiful angel.

She stares in the distance with a vacant expression. It’s like she isn’t seeing anything at all.

A sob catches in my throat and I block the sound with a hand to my mouth.

Ma.

It’s my ma.

I resemble her so much, it’s haunting.

“M-ma…” My voice catches no matter how much I want to call her name.

But that’s not all of it.

I also want her to call my name back.

My eyes stray to the child sitting on her lap, carefully tucked into her chest.

Her polka-dot dress reaches her knees. Her blonde hair is gathered in neat braids that fall down her back.

My heart beats louder as Ma strokes her hair and says something I can’t hear.

Is that… me?

Am I seeing a memory?

I open the window with trembling fingers. My heart beats so fast, it’s threatening to cripple me.

Thump.

T-thump.