Pretending to Be Human Is Exhausting Again Today - Chapter 66

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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Pretending to Be Human: Episode 066

Even with Liribel’s recommendation, it felt awkward to continue ignoring it.

I exhaled a weary sigh and turned my gaze toward Ruslara.

“Fine. Ruslara, what story did you hear?”

“I only heard of Princess Chloe’s purpose.”

“And what purpose is that?”

“Self-determination.”

‘So I didn’t mishear.’

I would have preferred if I had misunderstood.

“What’s her reason for wanting to die?”

“I haven’t heard that yet.”

I turned my attention back to the Knight.

He seemed to have much to say, his face flushed crimson as his mouth opened and closed soundlessly.

Finding his struggle rather amusing, Ivan—who had been observing the situation with arms crossed—spoke with a scornful edge to his voice.

“Isn’t it just some clichéd reason about not wanting to be a burden?”

“That’s not it! Princess Chloe would never throw away her life for something so trivial!”

At the Knight’s vehement rebuttal, Ivan let out a dismissive snort.

“Then what is it? Do you Guard Knights have some grand reason worth being complicit in this?”

‘Complicit?’

As I sent a questioning look, Ivan’s lips curved upward with a smirk.

“I didn’t see it myself since I was resting, but I heard that Princess Chloe suddenly rushed to the battlefield from a nearby hideout where she was supposed to wait. This Knight was the one who revealed the battlefield’s location. In other words, he facilitated the Princess’s self-destruction.”

‘Now I understand why that Guard Knight showed no will to rescue Princess Chloe.’

Only then could I comprehend why that abnormal situation had unfolded.

“There is a reason. Truly, I didn’t want to do this either.”

“Then tell me. I’m willing to listen.”

At last, the Knight began haltingly to reveal Princess Chloe’s circumstances and past.

“….”

The story I heard this way was far more shocking than I had anticipated.

* * *

Chloe had been a special existence from birth.

It was unusual that the pink hair once seen only in her ancestors had appeared through recessive inheritance, but what truly set her apart was that she was beloved by the Lake Deity.

The moment she was born, the Lake Deity bestowed blessings upon all the Royal Family of the Jins Kingdom. It was rare even in the kingdom’s history for a deity to directly intervene in the birth of a single child.

Moreover, Chloe even received a divine oracle.

It was a tender promise, as if from an old friend, telling her to seek out the deity whenever hardship arose.

Thus, she became the precious child bestowed by the Lake Deity, and in time, she became the jewel of the Royal Family.

‘Chloe, you need not worry about anything. Whatever you desire, your father will give it to you.’

The King was prepared to pluck the stars from the sky if it were her wish.

‘Our precious youngest, Chloe! I cannot tell you how happy I am to have you!’

Her Siblings sent gifts brimming with affection every day, saying they felt nothing but joy merely looking at her.

It was the perfect environment for her to grow into a carefree princess, yet Chloe was a good child who did not desire more than she deserved.

‘It’s fine, Father. I’m content with the dolls I have now! Jewels are pretty, but comfortable clothes suit me better!’

She harbored no love for extravagance, nor did politics hold any interest for her. All she desired was to spend her days surrounded by a loving family, kind Servants, and peaceful tranquility.

Thus, Chloe grew up within the Royal Palace—a perfect Greenhouse—as a Princess who harbored not the slightest curiosity about the world beyond its walls.

…Unaware that this very sheltering would become the genesis of tragedy.

‘Princess, have you heard the strange rumors circulating through the Royal Palace these days?’

The first whisper came from Chloe’s Wet Nurse. The woman who had walked beside her since birth, as dear as family itself, spoke these words while combing through her hair.

‘They say the Royal Family sacrifices living victims for dark magic.’

‘Such nonsense exists?’

Ignorance of worldly affairs does not equate to foolishness. Chloe dismissed the rumor as fabrication born from those who harbored hatred toward the Royal Family, refusing to give it credence.

Yet the Wet Nurse persisted, whispering insistently in her ear.

‘If you don’t believe it, why not investigate yourself, Princess? There’s an Underground Passage beneath the Main Palace that only the Royal Family can access. They say something suspicious happens there.’

‘Wet Nurse, this isn’t worth investigating.’

Even as she spoke these words, the Wet Nurse’s persistent insinuations planted a seed of doubt within Chloe’s heart.

‘Now that I think about it, Father and my older brother have been absent quite frequently lately. They didn’t even mention going out… Could there really be something in the Underground?’

Though she trusted her family, the lingering unease could only be dispelled by seeing for herself.

And so, Chloe made her way secretly to the Underground of the Royal Palace.

Soon enough, she arrived at the Underground Passage beyond the door that could only be opened with the Royal Family’s seal.

‘What… is this?’

And there, she confronted the truth behind the rumors.

The Underground Passage, which was said to lead beyond the Royal Palace, was no longer a passage at all.

At its end, a chasm yawned open—vast enough to swallow an entire village whole.

And within it lay a spectacle so horrifying that the eyes could not turn away.

Corpses. Countless corpses.

Death that discriminated neither by age, nor race, nor skin, nor gender—it filled that place entirely.

The methods of slaughter varied endlessly, the postures of death were infinitely diverse, and their number could not be counted.

Amid that mountain of death that would overwhelm any human, Chloe discovered an arcane circle of unknown origin. Corpses were stacked at every vertex of the incomprehensible magical formation.

Countless corpses, a mysterious magical circle—only one word connected them.

‘Dark magic….’

Her family truly had been sacrificing people for dark magic.

‘No, this cannot be. This cannot be!’

Gripped by terror, she retraced her steps back to the surface. Her instinct to flee overpowered her reason to investigate the truth of this tragedy.

‘Oh my, Your Highness.’

Blocking her path as she returned to the surface was none other than the Wet Nurse—the very one who had planted suspicion in her mind.

With a sinister smile she had never shown before, she spoke.

‘From your expression, it seems the real evidence does exist underground.’

‘W-Wet Nurse?’

‘So it was there after all…. Our son. Hee- hehehehe!’

The Wet Nurse, her smile stained with hatred and ecstasy, bolted down the corridor beyond. The elegant bearing she had displayed until now vanished without a trace, replaced by the innocent running of a child who had obtained a cherished toy.

Chloe stood dazed, watching the woman disappear without explanation, before finally seeking out the King.

She believed that the King alone could dispel this dread and terror.

Yet when I finally met the King—my father—he smiled and spoke thus.

‘Oh dear, so our Chloe has witnessed it after all. But do not worry, child. It is all by the will of the Deity. Just as the Lake God granted you an oracle, so too has one descended upon us.’

That could not be true. The Lake Deity had said the oracle was given to me alone—had he not?

The King paid no heed to Chloe’s doubts, instead defending the existence of dark magic.

‘That is no wicked dark magic. It is a ritual to summon the Deity who protects our Royal Family and brings us prosperity.’

‘But… but those people are subjects of the kingdom, are they not? Killing those who have committed no crime is…’

‘It is necessary! This is a required sacrifice. You know well how much our people love the Royal Family!’

Only then did Chloe realize that an unbridgeable chasm of reason existed between herself and the King.

‘No, that is not right. We are meant to protect our people. We cannot kill them. We must not.’

Yet the King did not listen to Chloe’s words. Instead, he sent her back to her room, ordering her to continue her life as before—as though nothing had changed.

You are most beautiful there, in that place.

There is nothing you need to know.

It was then that Chloe understood.

What role had been permitted to her in this kingdom.

That the Chloe they desired was nothing more than a decorative flower—beautiful to behold, but meant to be confined.

Thus Chloe was imprisoned once more within the Palace. Her pleas to spare the people were silenced, and the King demanded ever more sacrifices for his mysterious ritual.

But secrets, when their threads grow long enough, are inevitably exposed. The underground truth reached the ears of the Ducal House, who stood in opposition to the kingdom.

And it was none other than Chloe’s Wet Nurse who revealed it.

‘Seize the Butcher King! We must save the Jins Kingdom!’

The flames of rebellion consumed the Royal Palace in an instant. As Servants and Knights fell helplessly around her, Chloe could only watch.

By the time the flames had begun to spread to the palace where Chloe dwelled, the First Prince appeared.

“Brother! Are you alright?”

“Chloe, I have a request!”

He seized her, his eyes burning with desperate urgency as he spoke.

“Would you… would you die in my place?”

“…What?”

“The Rebel Army is searching for whoever initiated this ritual! If that person appears, the rest of the Royal Family might be spared execution! So…”

Say that you are the culprit.

The First Prince was saying this.

If only you die, we can all live. The Rebel Army and the people might be satisfied and leave.

Chloe could not speak. Her brother’s plea for her to die in his stead felt far too surreal.

If only this were a dream.

If only the Wet Nurse’s smiling face as she chased her sister were a hallucination.

If only her father’s screams invoking the Deity, begging them not to lay hands upon the King, were auditory illusions.

How she wished it were so.

Then, the Lake Deity whispered into her ear.

[Sweet Chloe. Do you have need of me?]

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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