Who Stole The Empress

Tasha and Louie were twin sisters who were now 21 years old.

Although they had been adults for quite some time, many people saw them as younger than their age because of their bright shining eyes, round faces, and high toned voices.

Although they were twins, they were not difficult to distinguish.

Both had bright orange hair and crisp green eyes, but their colors were slightly different.

If Tasha’s were yellow-green like the leaves of a small tree with new sprouts, Louie’s eyes were dark green like the entire surface of a majestic, huge forest.

Louie had cute freckles on her nose.

Louie’s freckles were from her mother. Her father called her ‘strawberry’.

And when Louie was born, he laughed, saying that a small strawberry was born.

Tasha and Louie grew up happily in a large family of seven.

That was, until they were sixteen.

“The twins are here! It’s just in time. This is the first edition.”

As soon as they entered the printing house, the smell of paper welcomed the twins with open arms.

But what was more welcome was Bookman’s words, the owner of the printing shop.

“Whoa! Is this really our book?”

“Wow, it’s really amazing! The cover is so beautiful, sir! Is this ours? Are you sure?”

Tasha, who ran in first, quickly took the book from Bookman’s hands.

The binding was pure white, decorated with gold, and the title was beautifully embroidered.

The book had three hundred pages, and that was an awful lot for a single volume novel from a living author.

Louie, who was looking at the book late, spoke in surprise.

“It’s much fancier than I thought, Mr. Bookman.”

“The sponsorship is very strong. If we can get a good response, I think we can print about two hundred more copies.”

“Really? 200 more copies?”

About ten days ago, a benefactor suddenly showed up at the print shop to sponsor the twins.

The anonymous benefactor had expanded the budget ten times that could print 100 copies of cheap papers.

This made it possible to publish the twins’ first novel as a bound book on plain white paper, not an old clearing.

The design was beautiful, not too different from a novel that the ladies would read in a shop.

“I assure you, it is the most exclusive and sophisticated book published in the capital this year.”

 The book was designed by Bookman’s daughter, Marianne, who was the first secretary of the Central Library.

Bookman ran the largest printing shop in Ginesh, the capital of Amor.

His printing shop was booming, so much so that he belonged to a wealthy class of commoners called the Bourgeois.

He published most of the books in the capital, and was rewarded “the best book published in the capital of the year”.

This was no nonsense.

“Louie!”

“Tasha!”

The twins jumped up and down as they held each other’s hands.

They both loved to read and write.

Although they were poor and did not have access to a high quality education, all of their siblings were willing to buy them books if they wanted to read.

Their dream from the age of 12 finally came true, and it turned out to be a beautiful book.

They couldn’t be happier.

“I’m so excited! It’s amazing, really!”

 “Yes, it is! Wow! We’ve really published a book. If our siblings know, they would be very surprised.”

“Hahahaha! That’s right. They teased us like that. We should definitely take this book on the due date to surprise everyone.”

The twins giggled as they held each other’s hands.

Only Bookman, who was watching them, smiled sadly.

The twins came up to the capital after losing their family in a fire five years ago. 

They were at a young age when they started preschool and when they became independent.

Holding hands tightly, the two came to the capital in search of a patron.

“I’ll pay you back. I promise.”

With red faces that still bore the sorrow of losing their family, the girls made a strong request for their patronage.

That’s right. The children demanded proudly.

They didn’t beg, they didn’t pester, they didn’t use their misery as a weapon.

It was this look in their eyes that led Bookman to sponsor the twins at a sponsorship meeting he attended by chance.

He was concerned because they were the same age as his daughter.

Anyway, Tasha and Louie helped out at the printing shop for a year and a half, and as soon as they came of age, they looked for work themselves.

With only a poor letter of recommendation from Bookman, the twins, who had somehow made it into the Krasis’ mansion, were well established.

“We’ll come to make a book someday. You’re going to make it for us, right?”

The art of printing was a very expensive craft, paper itself was an expensive material, and there weren’t many technicians.

The time and labor it took to produce a book was also considerable, and appointments were booked all year round.

But Bookman smiled proudly and said,

“I promise I will make your book with more sincerity than any other book. You must come!”

And now, five years later.

Seeking patronage with unflinching eyes, the twins really did come to print their own book.

Bookman was so proud of the twins that he even cried.

“Ah! Sir, you’re crying!”

“Huh? Huh? If you cry now, I’ll tell Lady Marche!”

“Be quiet, you punks!”

Bookman, who shouted, quickly turned around and pressed his nose.

The employees of the print shop chuckled under their breath at his appearance.

“Hmph, hmph! That’s it! And this is the first edition, the rest of the printing will go in after the first inspection today. Please take your time and look at it and tell me if there is anything that needs to be fixed or anything that doesn’t look right. If it’s going to be published, it has to be perfect.”

The twins faced each other with the two first editions in their hands.

Then they nodded at each other, as if they had read each other’s minds, though they said nothing.

“We are going to keep this one book, but there is someone we would like to give it to.”

“Are you talking about the one you are serving?”

“Yes!” 

Tasha said, staring into the air as if she was dreaming.

“She is so beautiful. I feel like my soul is being cleansed just by looking at her. Sir Bookman will never know what this feels like.”

“That’s right. Should I say that my eyes become clearer and the world becomes brighter? If I were her, I would be full just looking in the mirror all day.”

“Wow, just like that heroine in your book.”

Tasha and Louie didn’t deny it, they just laughed.

“Actually, she had lost her entire family in an accident, too.”

“Oh, dear…….”

“Maybe that’s why it bothers me even more. Still, we do have each other, don’t we?”

Tasha looked at Louie. Louie also looked at Tasha and nodded.

“She was the only one left. I just want to be nicer to her. It doesn’t matter who she is, or where she’s from.”

“Yes, that’s right. We want to treat her well, to make her feel better, to tell her it’s okay. We just want to do that for her.”

“Just like you did that for us.”

Tasha and Louie smiled brightly, looking at Bookman.

At those last words, Bookman’s tears, which he had been trying so hard to hold back, streamed down.

“You punks!”

Bookman was the only one who was embarrassed for no reason, and his voice shook as he shouted. He then hugged the twins.

“You two! You two!”

Bookman patted the twins with tears streaming down his face.

“I’m so proud of you. Tasha, Louie! You two are really impressive!”

At Bookman’s words, Tasha and Louie also swallowed tears by rubbing their noses.

The smiling twins’ wet eyes sparkled beautifully.

***

“Have they found Arsene?”

It was already the sixth day since Tamon left.

Tamon said that they would be able to track down the ship Arsene was on in about a week after they left.

Taking longer meant there was a possibility of the monsters appearing.

Her mind was complicated.

Roselyn looked out the window at the ocean, searching for his invisible ship.

Her hand touched the smooth surface of the book.

Aside from the bracelet Arsene kept, there were five other holy relics.

One of them was said to have been destroyed by an angry god.

 The object, known as a small wristwatch, was said to have been sealed with the ability to turn back time. 

The conditions for the expression of the ability were quite strict, but it was a very difficult ability, so they managed to use it. 

So, as the order of time was disrupted and the chaos in the world grew, the god of order himself came down and destroyed the holy object.

…that was the legend.

If the story was true, there were two implications.