A Fortune-telling Princess

“Leukemia?”

Did that mean the kid had gotten sick and couldn’t act anymore now?

She wanted to grab anyone nearby and ask right away, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t very well act like she was hearing it for the first time when she herself had supposedly been close to her.

“Ma’am!”

“Do I look that old to you? Call me sis.”

“Hehe, okay! Sis, could you look over these lines for me?”

“Can’t you just eat when it’s time to eat?”

“Oh, come on. If I just goof off with everyone else when they’re playing around, how am I ever supposed to become like you?”

“...You think becoming like me is that easy?”

“I’ll work hard!”

Even now, she could vividly remember little Yaeun clenching both fists and showing them off.

She could still clearly picture the look in the child’s eyes when she said she was going to earn a lot of money and buy her grandmother ten gold rings.

“Why gold rings? And ten of them, at that?”

“Because my grandma sold the only gold ring she had because of me.”

“......”

“She bought me meat with it, meat! Hehe, I kept whining because I wanted to eat meat. It was really, really good!”

“Will ten rings even be enough? Buy her twenty.”

“Yes!”

“.......”

Pediatric cancer...

A long sigh slipped from Camilla’s lips.

*****

Step.

Late in the evening, at an hour when few people were around.

Someone entered the columbarium.

Despite her plain clothes, the woman still stood out immediately. It was Isia... no, Camilla.

“......”

As if she were deeply familiar with this columbarium, she walked without hesitation toward a single place.

A short while later, she stopped in front of a photograph of a woman who looked to be in her early thirties.

...Mother.

The mother here, who had died long ago.

December 9. The day she had passed away.

‘Dorman.’

‘Yes?’

‘What’s the date over there right now?’

‘Where Lady Isia is? Mm... November 29.’

‘...There isn’t much time left.’

‘Yes? For what?’

‘.......’

Because no one else was going to remember.

When she had gone with her family to Tia Sorpel’s grave, the grave of Camilla’s biological mother, a thought had suddenly filled her head.

Would Isia know?

Would she know her mother’s death anniversary? She wouldn’t know something that detailed, would she?

Then who would remember the day that mother over here had died now?

Just as she herself had not known Tia Sorpel’s death anniversary exactly, the same would obviously be true for Isia.

That thought had never left her mind. It was probably the biggest reason she had decided to come over here.

Over there, she at least has other family.

Here, there was no one at all. If Isia did not take care of it, there would not be a single person left to visit this place.

Of course, Camilla knew. A death anniversary was not something especially meaningful in itself.

She had come to the columbarium every year, but not once had her mother ever appeared.

Only the ones who had failed to move on properly and were still wandering showed up for memorial rites.

A soul that had properly gone up did not suddenly appear again just because it was the day it had died.

Camilla knew those facts better than anyone, and yet she had never once let her mother’s death anniversary pass by without coming.

“......”

Seeing her mother wearing a smile that somehow looked awkward made her feel strange.

Looking at the photograph placed in front of the urn, Camilla gave a faint smile.

“It’s been a long time.”

Beside her mother, who was forcing that smile, a young child was grinning with unrestrained excitement.

It was me.

It had been the first and last photograph she had ever taken with her mother.

The day she had gone to an amusement park with her mother for the first time in her life.

The day before, she had been so excited she could hardly sleep, and that one day had been happier than any other day in the world.

Back then, she had not known. She had not known that it was the last piece of motherly love her mother would ever give her.

That it was the final memory she had left behind for the daughter who would be left alone after her death, in case something happened to her.

She must have sensed that trouble would come soon in one form or another, and with not even enough strength left to resist, that had probably been the best she could do.

“You must have had a hard time.”

That sense of rejection, as if it pressed down on her entire body. Even though it was clearly her own child, for some reason she simply could not feel attached...

But Camilla knew. Even so, her mother had tried, in her own way, somehow, to treat her like her child.

Right. That was what was normal.

No matter that the soul had changed, the side in the wrong was the one that had used violence against a child and had even tried to kill her.

Isia’s biological father had probably never been a good person to begin with. And my existence had probably been the trigger on top of that.

Rustle.

She set the bouquet she had brought down in front of the urn.

“......”

She did not have any particularly special feelings toward her mother. She neither hated her nor felt especially attached to her.

Even so, if there was one feeling that remained...

Pity.

Pity for someone who had still tried somehow to live on with her child even under those circumstances.

“I won’t be coming here anymore.”

I won’t be able to come here anymore. From now on, not me, but the person who truly should have been born as your daughter will be the one to come here.

Camilla had also written her mother’s death anniversary on the note she was leaving for Isia.

After looking one last time at her mother and at her younger self in the photograph, Camilla slowly turned and left.

*****

“S-Sia.”

“What? You don’t like it?”

“No! I love it! But...”

“I’m glad you like it.”

Manager Hyunseok could not hide the flustered look in his eyes. Isia had suddenly held out an extremely expensive suit and watch, saying they were a gift.

“It’s not my birthday.”

No, even if it were his birthday, was it really okay for him to accept something this expensive?

“I just wanted to give it to you.”

Watching Hyunseok’s gaze shake over and over, as if he had no idea what to do with himself, Camilla let out a light laugh.

“You can take it.”

“Huh?”

“You’ve more than earned it.”

No matter what anyone said, he was someone who had looked after her with care for a long time.

Whether he had felt any sense of rejection toward her after her soul changed or not, in the end, he was still someone who had sincerely worked for her sake.

Whether that had been professional ethics or simply because he was kind by nature, it was still more than enough reason for him to deserve gratitude.

“Sia...”

Looking at Hyunseok as he teared up with emotion, Camilla clicked her tongue soundlessly. Getting this moved over something like this. There was no helping how timid he was.

She gave gifts not just to Hyunseok, but also to Jihyeon and the other staff members who had been with her for a long time.

They had shown similar reactions too, though none of them had gotten as teary-eyed as Hyunseok.

Because this was the last time.

She was never going to be with them again after this. From here on out, it would be Isia who laughed and cried with them and stayed by their side.

She isn’t going to complain about this, is she?

It wasn’t really her money anymore, but she had still earned it herself by working this hard, hadn’t she? She had lived so fiercely and spent so little all that time.

Isia will understand this much.

And if she doesn’t, then what? By the time that brat comes back, I’ll already be gone from here. She can live with it.

“Are they still not ready to film?”

“Huh? J-Just wait a second! I’ll go check right now!”

“Okay.”

A problem had come up with that day’s filming setup, and all the actors had been stuck waiting for a long time.

To make matters worse, the heating in the waiting room that had been prepared for them had broken down, so everyone was either at a nearby café or taking care of other schedules first.

Camilla too had just finished a short interview schedule and was waiting in the parking lot. And while she was at it, she had given her manager his gift.

With a quick swipe at his tearful eyes, Manager Hyunseok jumped out of the car and ran off energetically, and Camilla let out a small laugh.

“Please keep taking good care of Isia.”

She slowly lifted the coffee in her hand to her mouth.

The taste of coffee in this world, something she was having again for the first time in a long while, was as satisfying as ever. It was similar to the coffee in the other world, and yet somehow different.

“This is ending too.”

Because she regretted it, the pace at which she drank the coffee grew slower and slower. As though each sip was something precious.

“Hm?”

A short while later, Camilla’s eyes widened slightly.

Her eyes, which had been gazing out the window without much thought, caught sight of two people.

One was a young woman with a babyish face who looked as though she had only just become an adult, and the other was a man in his mid-twenties.

As the woman hurried along with her head lowered, the man quickly chased after her and caught up beside her.

Those two...

They were familiar faces. They were both appearing in this drama.

The man was an actor named Lee Dowoo, who had debuted quite a while ago but had only recently begun to gain popularity, and the woman was a complete rookie whose first-ever project was this drama.

Was her name Seo Yumi?

The way she always bowed at a full ninety degrees and greeted her brightly whenever she saw her had been fairly memorable.

What are they doing?

Camilla watched the two of them for a moment, as if studying them.

“Hey, do you seriously not know whose help got you into this drama?”

“...Yours.”

“I told you to just call me brother.”

“Yes...”

Seo Yumi bit her lip slightly, careful not to let it show.

Lee Dowoo’s pestering had started long ago already.

From the moment she had joined the agency, he had kept putting his hands on her here and there under the excuse that he was going to teach her how to act.