Chapter 40: The Princess and the Queen

When she was born, the first thing she saw was her genetic father’s face, showing his teeth.

“Oooh, did it work? It worked!”

From the beginning, she had at least a minimal level of knowledge. She had a sense of self.

She had a body, but it wasn’t hers.

“The entire procedure has been completed. Your daughter’s ability has been successfully sealed before it could bloom.”

The one explaining next to her father was a scientist in a white lab coat.

“Right. Chaemi doesn’t need abilities! Whether a hero or a villain, let those clowns play their games. Chaemi will be raised as an excellent child to take over the company, my company!”

A smile spread across her father’s face.

There was no fatherly love in that smile.

Only the petty desires and calculations of an adult.

Having fully understood what that meant, she felt a wave of disgust rise up from her stomach, and she wanted to twist her father’s neck. This man thought he was excluded from the company’s succession rights because of his bloodline.

He didn’t even question his own lack of abilities.

So, he planned to use his daughter as a tool to try again.

As people with abilities were restricted from entering top-tier educational institutions, he had already cut off that potential from an early age.

‘What does he think I am?’

The growing irritation made her want to yell in frustration.

But her body moved of its own accord.

The clear voice that came from her throat echoed beautifully.

“Daddy, congratulations! I’m happy when you smile!”

Hearing her own voice, she felt utterly miserable.

There was no anger, hatred, resignation, or pessimism in it.

Only positivity and happiness.

Absolute goodness.

What surprised her even more was her father’s reaction.

“Ah, right! You’ve done well, Chaemi. You’ve worked hard.”

The man, who had only been calculating how to use his daughter to gain power, was now affected by her words.

Unconsciously, he felt warmth and reached out gently to pat her head.

She began to wonder.

Who is this person?

No.

Who am I?

“Wow, how amazing! I never knew my younger sister was going to be born inside my head!”

“Why am I the younger sister?”

“Oh my, I’m seven years old, you know?”

“The knowledge of those seven years is also in me.”

“Really? You already know so much, that’s impressive!”

One body, two minds.

It was somewhat different from dissociative identity disorder. It felt like sharing a single body.

The two of them could still perceive the outside world while co-existing inside the same body.

They exchanged roles, having conversations between themselves.

Chaemi, who had spent her time studying since childhood, only knew socializing through knowledge. She quickly began to feel affection for her younger sister, who was her peer.

“What should we name ourselves?”

Chaemi asked her. The younger sister couldn’t answer right away.

“I’m not Chaemi. I might be the personality created as a side effect from sealing the power, or maybe I am the ability itself.”

“That’s just a matter of perspective, right? Does our younger sister like the name Chaemi?”

“…Not really.”

“Then I guess I like it. Alright, let’s both be Chaemi.”

“But then we won’t be distinguishable.”

“That might be more convenient. It’s our secret, after all.”

“Yeah, I guess…”

“Want to read a book together?”

Saying that, Chaemi pulled out a picture book. Chaemi read the picture book with her.

Though they shared the same vocal cords, she wondered why their voices were so different.

Chaemi’s voice made her feel clean and at ease just by listening to it.

The storybook was about a princess, a knight, and a queen magician joining forces to defeat a demon lord. Both main

characters were heroic, and they were really cool.

“Did you enjoy it?”

Yoo Chae-mi, who had closed the fairy tale book, asked,

“Yeah.”

“This is my favorite story.”

“I think it’s going to be my favorite too.”

She agreed with Yoo Chae-mi.

“Shall we call each other by the names from here? You can use both of our names.”

Yoo Chae-mi suggested this to her.

She liked it.

The princess, the queen, and their names were all nice, but what she liked the most was Yoo Chae-mi’s

thoughtfulness.

In the first place, this body and name belonged to her.

She was just an uninvited guest who appeared suddenly.

In just a few hours since meeting her, Yoo Chae-mi had cherished her, loved her, and been considerate.

“…Alright.”

She answered shyly.

“Which one do you want to choose?”

She slowly pointed to one person with her finger.

It was the queen mage standing arrogantly.

“Hehe, I’m the princess. Please take care of me, ‘Lena.'”

“…Yeah. ‘Ellie.'”

That was the moment their secret nickname was born.

Ellie and Lena grew together.

One advantage they had was that they didn’t need sleep.

When Ellie slept, Lena would wake up and move. Physical strength and acquired knowledge stayed.

Though their time together was reduced, they worked towards their goal.

“I don’t want the El Corporation just because of my father.”

When Ellie was sixteen, she said that.

“If you have power, you can hear the voices of many people.”

However, Lena felt that, over time, the direction she and Ellie were heading was different.

Ellie’s brilliance, her radiance, could never fit in Lena’s own vessel.

It was a difference in origin.

Her origin was ability.

Ellie was too bright to see the shadows behind her.

If darkness threatened Ellie, it was up to Lena to protect her.

Lena began to train her abilities.

Enchanting was a rare skill, but her talent was immense.

At first, Ellie tried to stop her, saying it was dangerous, but when Lena persuaded her that it was self-defense, she understood.

Then, one day, when they were nineteen years old,

while returning from the academy, Lena got caught up in an incident.

Bang! Bang!

The bodyguards of Yoo Chae-mi collapsed from gunshots.

Even though Yoo Chae-mi came from a wealthy family, her branch family wasn’t extremely rich, and she only had

one bodyguard who doubled as a knight. She also commuted in a regular car.

A van.

“Got it! I killed her!”

“Here’s the b*tch! Grab her!”

At that moment, Ellie was outside.

Frozen in fear, she couldn’t resist and was kidnapped, dragged into the van.

The kidnappers were a bunch of punks who couldn’t even form a villain organization.

Their goal was, of course, money.

Ellie’s hands were bound with rope, and tape was put over her mouth.

‘Ellie, pull yourself together. Hand over control of your body.’

Lena, who was observing the situation in her mind, urgently called out to Ellie, but all they shared was knowledge.

They couldn’t communicate with just their consciousness.

‘Ellie!’

After shaking in fear for a long time, Ellie finally started to think and handed control over to Lena.

Yoo Chae-mi’s gaze changed.

Her mouth was blocked, but that didn’t matter. With Enchanting, it could be activated with just her vocal cords and

tongue.

There were five punks in the van.

“Explode.”

At the moment the Enchanting spell was cast, one of the punks’ hearts exploded.

Bang!

Someone crashed through the front windshield of the van.

It was a hero in a suit.

“You can’t just walk past a crime scene! This is a perfect stage for my debut!”

“What the hell is this guy!”

“Shoot him!”

The situation unfolded in an instant.

A rookie hero nearby had burst in.

“Remember me! I’m Glasspop! The man who will become an S-class hero! Take this!”

Glasspop activated his ability.

At the same time,

Clink!

The kidnappers’ guns turned into shards of glass and embedded into their bodies.

“Ahhh!”

“You bastard!”

The kidnappers screamed in pain. Glasspop, emboldened, jumped into the van. The driver turned the wheel, starting to rampage.

Of course, this method of suppression was nonsense in a hostage situation.

But he was still a rookie hero. No, he was just an academy student.

He only wanted to show off his flashy name.

He didn’t even understand how his own abilities worked.

That was a huge problem.

“Die!!”

One of the excited kidnappers pulled out a grenade and thrust it toward Glasspop’s face, aiming to shove it into his mouth.

Glasspop activated his ability on the grenade—

Boom!

The grenade exploded instantly, sending thousands of shards of glass flying in all directions.

““Harden!”

Recognizing the severity of the situation, Lena cast the Enchanting spell.

But at this moment, she was still in the process of training her abilities.

She was a bit too late.

Before the Enchanting spell could take effect, the exploding glass shards pierced her body, and Yoo Chae-mi’s body as well.

“Ugh—Aaahhh!!”

She couldn’t see.

Oxygen leaked from her punctured lungs.

Her torn arm, chest, abdominal muscles, flowing intestines—pain flooded her synapses unexpectedly, tearing them apart.

She was going to die.

For sure, she was going to die.

In the midst of this unimaginable pain, as she was struggling to stay conscious, suddenly—

Whoosh.

All her senses disappeared.

The pain that had been tormenting her just moments ago vanished as if it had been a lie.

‘Huh…??’

Her body didn’t respond.

Through the torn tape caused by the glass shards, blood poured out as her mouth slowly opened to speak.

“…Lena, it’s okay now.”

Lena realized.

In order to bear the pain, Ellie had taken control of their body.

‘No, no!’

Ellie couldn’t possibly endure this.

Even I almost lost consciousness from the pain.

Come back, hurry and come back.

I couldn’t protect our body.

I have to bear this pain.

Hurry, hurry and fall asleep.

Please faint already.

It hurts, it hurts.

Why? Why are you enduring it?

What are you holding on for?

Give up the body!!

If you keep this up, you’ll really—

Really—

No.

No.

No.

Ellie.

Ellie.

Ellie!!

…2?