I Raised Snow White!

I left the Princess in Ellie’s care and headed to the ‘room’ where Bainshaw was.

When I arrived at the room, it was a stark contrast from the usual—always closed tightly and empty of people. Now, the large double doors were wide open, and the hallway was bustling with knights inspecting the room.

In the middle of it all, Bainshaw was holding his face as if he couldn’t believe what was happening, quietly sobbing. After a deep breath, I approached Bainshaw and stood next to him, looking around the room.

…It was a room no different from before.

The room was filled with paintings of the King, and on the bed lay the shriveled corpse of the King. The only difference from last time was the First Queen’s body, found collapsed on the floor.

The knights who saw the room for the first time frowned at the grotesque sight. Aurora’s paintings were plastered up to the ceiling, and there was the body of the First Queen Aurora, who should have been in her grave.

And the two corpses, so shriveled they seemed almost bloodless. Even the doctors who came to investigate the King’s death could only shake their heads as they looked at the King’s body in the room.

“The cause of His Majesty’s death…”

The doctors examining the King’s body could only come to one conclusion. The King had simply died of ‘exhaustion.’ That he had passed from lovesickness, too heartbroken over the First Queen.

Though it was unknown why the First Queen’s body was here, given the number of her portraits in the room and those displayed in the main palace, the doctors could only reach this conclusion.

After briefly surveying the room, I sighed heavily and gave Bainshaw, who was standing next to me, a gentle pat on the shoulder. As if just realizing my presence, Bainshaw looked at me with weary eyes.

“Your Majesty the Queen…”

“…Are you all right?”

“When His Majesty’s door remained closed for the fourth day, we forcibly opened it to check His Majesty’s condition… But in the end, His Majesty has…”

I simply nodded in response, unable to say anything.

How should I react here? Should I act shocked or saddened like someone who loved the King, as Vivian would? Or should I lose my temper in a fit of jealous rage over why the First Queen’s body was here?

…Pretending to feel emotions I didn’t understand would only come off as awkward. Without saying or doing anything, I simply gazed into the room with a bitter expression.

As I stood silently, Bainshaw began comforting me instead. He dabbed his tears and offered me a fresh handkerchief.

“Your Majesty the Queen… Are you all right…?”

“…I’m fine, so worry about wiping your own tears. And…”

Most likely, Bainshaw had already known. Watching the decaying food at the door, he must have anticipated this situation to some extent. With a small sigh, I looked distantly around the room.

“…Didn’t you already suspect that a day like this would come eventually?”

“Well, that’s…”

Perhaps unable to refute my words, Bainshaw’s trembling lips struggled to find an excuse, but in the end, he said nothing. I patted Bainshaw on the shoulder and commanded the knights and doctors in the room.

“…Thoroughly investigate His Majesty’s death, then clean and prepare his body properly for a grand funeral. Also, quickly inform Her Majesty the Queen Dowager and the Council of Elder.”

“Yes, Your Majesty the Queen!”

“And… issue a gag order regarding the First Queen. For now, do not speak of her to anyone except Her Majesty the Queen Dowager.”

Everyone began to move busily in response to my command.

Throughout the day, the kingdom’s finest doctors examined the King’s body, but ultimately they all concluded the cause of death as simple ‘exhaustion.’

The day after the King’s death was confirmed, to announce his passing, the national flag was lowered from the tallest spire of the palace, and a black flag was hoisted.

Knights on horseback rode out with black flags and national flags strapped to their backs, spreading word of the King’s death to the noble families in distant regions.

Thus, the King’s funeral began amidst an atmosphere of solemn grandeur.

The King’s funeral, led by the Queen Dowager and the Temple, continued for ten days.

Usually, a royal funeral would last from half a year to a full year. When the Queen Dowager suggested only ten days, the nobles protested, saying that was far too short for a royal funeral.

However, the Queen Dowager dismissed them, saying, “To me, His Majesty has been as good as dead since he secluded himself two years ago. Given that it has already been two years, ten days should be sufficient.”

In the letters sent to the regional nobility, she also added that they should mourn from their own locations rather than coming to the capital. Despite this, some nobles rode for three days and nights to attend.

As Queen, I too had many duties during the funeral. I had to attend every step of the funeral process—cleaning the King’s body, offering prayers all day, and greeting the attending nobles.

The continuous work kept me so busy that I hardly knew how the funeral proceedings unfolded. It was exhausting as many nobles did not look kindly upon me.

Finally, after the blur of activity, the last day of the funeral arrived. The final ritual took place in a temple larger and grander than the cathedral where ‘Vivian’s’ funeral had been held.

Everyone attending the funeral gathered in somber attire, mourning the King’s death in an atmosphere of solemnity. I, too, dressed simply, attended the funeral holding the Princess’s hand.

…Throughout the past ten days, the Princess had not shed a single tear.

Not a drop of tears for her parent’s death. When informed of the King’s passing, she had only fallen silent in shock, saying nothing, just wearing a look of sadness.

It pained me to see.

That a child had resigned herself so much that she could not even grieve her parent’s death. That a child who had done her best to earn her parents’ love had now seemed to give up on everything.

“Princess. Let’s go give our final farewell.”

The final ritual of the funeral began.

The process involved placing a flower on the King’s coffin and bidding him a final farewell. I placed a single white lily in the Princess’s hand. She gazed blankly at the white lily she held.

The Princess and I each held a lily and walked toward the King’s coffin.

As we approached, countless gazes fixed on the Princess and me, but I ignored them and held her hand as we walked forward.

When we reached the coffin, the sight of the King’s face, covered in white cloth, came into view.

Gently, I placed the flower on the King’s hand and finished a short, silent prayer.

The Princess, hesitating for a moment, placed her lily on the King’s chest.

As I waited for her prayer to end, large tears suddenly began to fall from the Princess’s eyes.

Holding my hand tightly, she looked up at me through her tears.

Then, as if confused, she asked me,

“Your Majesty the Queen… why… isn’t he waking up like you did? I-I thought… if I offered him a flower… like I did with you… that he’d wake up… but… he isn’t moving…”

Ah.

Seeing her expression, I clenched my teeth without realizing it.

I finally understood why the Princess hadn’t cried until now.

The Princess hadn’t resigned herself to her father’s death.

Just as I had opened my eyes in the middle of my own funeral, she had held onto a sliver of hope that her father might do the same.

But that wasn’t happening.

Despite placing her flower, the King did not rise from his spot.

With that final, faint hope shattered, the Princess was left with only a sense of devastation.

As if her strength had failed her, the Princess’s legs buckled beneath her.

Holding my hand, the Princess sank to her knees, wiping away her pouring tears with the back of her hand as she sobbed in front of the King’s coffin.

“Father, Father…” she called.

She mourned her parents, calling out to the father she had never once been able to address as such.

I lifted the Princess, who had collapsed to the floor, into my arms and gently, continuously stroked her back.

All I could do for her, as she wept so hard she couldn’t even breathe, was to hold her close and soothe her.

They may have been parents who had never shown her love, but to the Princess, they were still the only parents she had in the entire world.

As I watched her crying in my arms, I thought, for the first time since I came here, that I had to stay by her side.

To be someone she could rely on, since she had no one else in the world.

For the first time, I truly wanted to be that person for her.

When the ten-day funeral finally concluded, I barely had time to take off my mourning clothes before being summoned by the Queen Dowager to the royal palace’s main conference room.

Not only I, but Bainshaw and all the nobles of the Council of Elders were also summoned.

Normally, gathering the Council of Elders in one place was no easy feat.

But with the national emergency of the King’s funeral, they had finally gathered in one place.

Seizing the opportunity, the Queen Dowager called for a major meeting before the council left the palace.

…I could roughly guess what this meeting was about.

A discussion on who would fill the empty throne.

The Queen Dowager would likely govern in the young Princess’s stead through a regency. Frankly, there was no other option.

Even though the Queen Dowager was old, it couldn’t be me in her place.

From the beginning, I wasn’t confident in managing state affairs.

And, on top of that, I was a ‘Lilienthal’—someone without the royal ‘surname.’

So there was no way the matter of handling the nation’s affairs would fall to me.

‘Looking back, maybe it’s lucky that ‘Vivian’ never shared the bridal chamber with the King… or maybe not…’

But in fact, the most pressing matter in today’s meeting was not about the Queen Dowager’s regency—it was about me.

While the King was alive, even as a reclusive King, he had at least been someone I could rely on.

While the King was alive, there was always a chance, however slim, that I might bear the King’s child, a ‘little sun’ of this nation.

Even if the King was a recluse, that opportunity still existed as long as he was alive.

But now the King was dead, and I, the Second Queen, had never even shared the bridal chamber with him during the past two years.

To the royal family, it was as if I had lost any reason to remain here.

It would be stranger if no one at this meeting called for the removal of a ‘Second Queen without the royal surname.’

Feeling frustrated, I loosened the ribbon in my hair and, with my hair disheveled, arrived in front of the conference room.

As I took a deep breath to calm my nerves before entering—

The attendant stationed at the door spotted me, and before I could stop him, he announced my arrival in a loud voice.

“The Second Queen! Her Majesty, Queen Vivian Lilienthal, has arrived!”

No!

The moment his announcement ended, the large doors slowly began to open, scraping against the floor.

Inside, an impossibly large round table came into view.

Seated at the center of the table in black mourning clothes was the Queen Dowager, surrounded by nobles in mourning attire who resembled aged raccoons.

They were all ministers responsible for the kingdom’s administrative departments.

The Ministry of the Palace, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and so on—all were represented by ministers who glanced my way as I entered the room.

My seat was on the exact opposite side of the Queen Dowager, making me gulp at the uncomfortable arrangement.

I shifted my gaze slightly to take in the conference room, only to realize that I was the last to arrive.

What? I was certain I came thirty minutes earlier than the scheduled meeting time.

I quickly bowed my head in apology.

“My apologies for being late, Your Majesty the Queen Dowager.”

“No, you arrived right on time. Please, take your seat.”

…What?

I quickly took my seat as the Queen Dowager motioned for me to do so.

The nobles’ gazes bore down on me intensely, but as soon as the Queen Dowager raised her hand, their attention shifted back to her.

“Now that everyone is present, let us begin the meeting.”