The Caged Bird and the Mirror

“Hello! I am Ophelia, and I’m offering you a chance to make a name for yourself!”

Ophelia knocked on the door with an air of confident purpose.

“My apologies, but I’ve already been recruited,” came the polite reply from within.

“Ah… I see. My apologies for the intrusion then.” Ophelia departed, a hint of disappointment clinging to her.

Following her memory, she proceeded to the next house.

“Hello, um, I am Ophelia, and I’m here to recruit you…”

“I’ve already been recruited, now get lost!” The voice from behind the door was decidedly rude.

“Ah, haha, my apologies for disturbing you…” Ophelia once again left, feeling crestfallen.

‘How could all these people have been recruited already?’ she wondered.

“Hello… I am Ophelia… um…” Hesitating for a long moment before the third door, Ophelia finally mustered her courage and knocked.

“Are you here to recruit a mage, bypassing the Mage Association? I’m sorry, but I’ve already been hired.”

This time, the door finally opened.

A lively, youthful girl, with flaxen hair and freckles dusting her face, peeked out, looking around.

“Wow! What a beautiful big sister!” The girl exclaimed happily. “Would you like to come in and sit for a while? My house is quite spacious!”

“No, no, thank you.” Ophelia’s face flushed crimson, and she hastily made her exit.

She simply couldn’t find the courage to approach a fourth house.

‘How could everyone already be hired?’ she mused, a disturbing thought forming. ‘Could the male lead have secretly cultivated his own forces in the capital during his disappearance?’

Ophelia’s spirits plummeted.

‘I should have asked that flaxen-haired girl who recruited them! I was too shy and completely forgot to ask, ugh! I had only just managed to pluck up the courage to knock on the door in the first place!’

Returning to knock again now was clearly out of the question; it wasn’t a matter of logic, but simply that she had lost face.

Draped in her veil, she could only return to the palace. She didn’t even dare mention this to anyone, feeling too ashamed and embarrassed to speak of it.

‘Who on earth stole all my talented recruits?!’

****

“Your Majesty? You went out?”

Ophelia stealthily slipped in through the back door. Before she could even catch her breath, she saw Vina looking down at her from the second floor.

The sun was setting.

Vina’s face was cast in shadow, yet her emerald eyes seemed to glow even brighter, shining with an eerie luminescence. She smiled, a seemingly sweet and innocent expression, but one that inexplicably sent a shiver of dread down Ophelia’s spine.

She couldn’t quite place the feeling.

Perhaps it was an illusion caused by the falling light, or perhaps her own mind was playing tricks on her, but a chill shot from her soles straight to the crown of her head, leaving Ophelia’s scalp tingling.

Yet, Vina’s smile was as usual, like a playful kitten.

“Your Majesty?”

She gazed at Ophelia, her eyes devoid of light, yet filled with an obedient curiosity as she awaited Ophelia’s answer.

‘Indeed… it must have just been my imagination…’

“I just went out, to… to take a stroll, yes, a walk after dinner is quite important for digestion, you know.”

For some reason, the words that left her lips instinctively twisted into a lie.

Vina’s smile vanished.

A shiver of terror ran through Ophelia.

Whether it was her spiritual sense or something else entirely, a warning blared within her, like a red alarm light beeping insistently. Vina appeared as normal, yet in this deserted place, shrouded in shadow, she looked truly terrifying.

She leapt directly from the second floor. Dressed in a flowing white trench coat, Vina descended gracefully, landing softly on the ground.

“Ophelia.”

Vina advanced slowly, and Ophelia retreated, step by step, until her back met the cold stone wall.

Vina’s lips curved upward slightly, yet her eyes held no trace of mirth; instead, they seemed to grow even brighter within the deepening shadows.

She addressed Ophelia directly by name, her words a soft murmur, yet also like the recitation of a love poem.

“My Ophelia, why do you lie to me?”

Ophelia started in alarm.

She was pressed tightly into the corner, unable to move. Though Vina was slightly shorter than her, she now held Ophelia pinned against the wall in a kabedon (TL Note: A Japanese term describing a situation where a person is pinned against a wall by another person’s arm, often seen in romantic or dramatic contexts) pose.

“Ophelia, you clearly went out to recruit those talented commoners who haven’t been hired by the Mage Association, didn’t you? Why would you hide this from me?”

‘She… how did she know?’

“Of course I know. I know everything about Ophelia. For instance, Ophelia dislikes having her body touched, yet when someone does touch her, she becomes pliant. For instance, Ophelia dislikes contact with others, and for instance…”

“Cough, cough.”

Vina cleared her throat pointedly, interrupting her own words.

“My apologies, Your Majesty, I was merely a little upset that you didn’t consult me. You can discuss anything with me, so why were you unwilling to do so?”

“You can rely on me for everything.”

Vina’s usual obedient smile returned.

Ophelia truly felt an inexplicable fear. She shrugged, offering a somewhat forced reply:

“Vina, um, well, I thought it wouldn’t be good to keep bothering you with such matters. After all, you have so many other things to attend to, don’t you? So I didn’t tell you…”

“As for deceiving you, that was, um, because I was afraid you’d worry, haha.”

This was Ophelia’s second lie of the day.

Vina’s gaze turned playful for an instant, before quickly shifting to an innocent, pitiful expression.

“Is that so? I apologize, Your Majesty. I was truly too hasty just now, pressing you against the wall like that.”

She took one of Ophelia’s hands in hers.

“You’ll forgive me, won’t you?”

Ophelia offered a few perfunctory words, then quickly made her escape. Vina remained standing there, her expression slowly morphing from innocent to utterly blank.

She turned her head.

In the garden stood a birdcage, home to one of the royal ornamental birds. Within it, a single bird continuously, relentlessly, battered itself against the bars.

“Oh dear, that simply won’t do.”

Vina cupped her face in her hands and chuckled.

She extended a hand, and the bird’s eyes instantly became vacant. Soon after, it ceased its struggles within the cage. Vina opened the cage door, yet the bird made no attempt to fly out.

Vina held out her hand, and the bird affectionately rubbed against her knuckles.

“Yes, a caged bird need only be like this. As long as it relies on me, always and forever, as long as I am the sole meaning of its life, that will be enough.”

She let out a soft laugh.

****

Ophelia’s heart continued to pound wildly in her chest.

She hurried back to her chambers, where Emily was busy moving items inside.

“Ophe, you’re back?”

“I saw you started learning magic, so I brought in some magical artifacts. Come take a look, is there anything you like?” she called out to Ophelia.

Ophelia surveyed the items, then picked up an exquisitely crafted mirror.

“Ah, this one. This mirror is called the ‘Astrology of a Thousand Miles’. It used to be a prop a charlatan used to trick people. After becoming a mage, one awakens their spiritual sense, which is part of the brain’s subconscious.”

“The subconscious maintains absolutely rational, high-speed calculations, thus forming intuitions akin to language. This mirror, then, reflects your intuition, showing you what your subconscious fears most. It’s the answer your brain provides regarding the greatest threat to you.”

Ophelia earnestly looked into the mirror.

Then, she gasped in fright, her hand trembling, and the mirror slipped from her grasp, shattering into several pieces on the floor.

In each shard, Vina’s vacant eyes stared back at her, silently observing.