Who Made Me a Princess

A nameless store at 13th Newgray 56

It was a suspicious store at first sight. Was this a palace that dealt with books about black magic? Black magic wasn’t taboo in Atlanta like it was in Obelia, so that was probably why he gave me this…

I didn’t think it would be dangerous, but I wasn’t completely comfortable with it.

I thought for a moment, and decided to go to where it was located on the note.

“Welcome.”

The store that I entered was unexpectedly normal.

It looked like it would be in a suspicious and dark alleyway from what I saw on the note. But it was completely out in the open. And there was even a restaurant across from it with plenty of people passing by.

“Do you have any books that deal with people’s memories of their minds?”

“We do.”

The old store owner didn’t look twice and pointed towards somewhere. I walked suspiciously to where he was pointing.

Ew, the dust! Why was there so much dust like it hadn’t been cleared in a year! Were there usually no customers here? Looking at the old man’s sour attitude, it seemed like he didn’t really want to sell.

I wrinkled my forehead and looked at the books stacked up in the corner. There was so much dust that it was hard to read the title.

[Love is war! 44 curses to dry your love interest’s blood.] , [Love spells from a real witch] , [You can push and pull at your lovers heart too, 100 types of black magic.]

Huh, but why were they all related to dating? It was completely different from the category of books I wanted.

I looked at the old man with a frown. But he seemed to be solving a puzzle in the newspaper, having lost interest in me already. So I decided to look for a book I wanted myself.

I was surprised after looking at a few black magic books. There were a lot of books that I was looking for. Of course, it was too much for me to cast, but I decided to take them to learn about it anyway.

“Please ring these up.”

“Hm? You’re gonna buy all these?”

When I stacked the books up on the counter, the store owner lifted his head.

But when our eyes met, his gaze suddenly changed. He shouted loud enough to destroy my eardrums.

“Lady, now that I see, you’ve been cursed!”

What did this old man just say to me?

“A curse?”

“Yes, you were cursed by someone who wished you were unhappy!”

There was a madness in the eyes fixed on me. It was creepy that the old man with a careless expression was looking at me like this.

“Are you a black magician?”

I didn’t know why I thought this, but when I met his eyes, the thought popped up in my mind.

“I’m clean now, but I used to.”

The store owner answered without taking his gaze off of me.

“What was I cursed with?”

***

I was a bit nervous because it was my first time meeting a black magician, but I decided to push it into a corner of my mind. Then, he looked at me with mad eyes again.

“It’s very strange, very……”

Everytime his gaze slid on me, my hand flinched.

“The curse that you have…”

But I was let down by what he said next.

“I don’t know either. Huhu.”

The old man got his careless expression back and scratched his chin with a futile laugh.

“But this is just a light one, so it’s not too bad. It’ll only make you trip on a stone and fall, or get food on your white clothes.”

It was a forlorn answer compared to his reaction just now.

This old man, wasn’t he just a weirdo? Well, there was no way a skilled magician would be working in this store with all this dust.

“So if you’re buying these books to release the curse, you don’t need to. Seems like the effects of the curse have disappeared anyway.”

C, Could I trust him? It was really suspicious since he said it was a curse.

But a businessman should try to sell more things, he strangely felt trustworthy because he told me not to buy them….

I looked at the person in front of me with baffled feelings.

“Can I ask another question?”

“What is it?”

“I want to ask since you said you were a black magician back in your old days. The magic in these books, are they not dangerous if used on others?”

He scanned the books I brought up and tsked.

“Lady, do you want to ruin someone’s life?”

I shouted in surprise at his question.

“It’s the opposite! Someone got hurt because of me and I want to heal them.”

“Heal? With black magic?”

“They said there’s no way to fix him with normal magic.”

“Give up.”

But he cut me off like he didn’t need to listen to me anymore.

“Lady, it’s better to not touch black magic. Black magic, you see, has a cost. So people who use black magic or the people around them don’t meet good endings.”

I paused at his words.

I knew black magic was dangerous. But I didn’t know how dangerous it was, because it was hard to find books about it.

“Also, using black magic to heal someone, I’ve never heard of that kind of crap in my entire life.”

“But…”

“You came here because you’re desperate for something, right?

I shut my mouth like a clam at his question. Then, he clicked his tongue again and spoke.

“Interfering with something that was meant for unhappiness can’t be turned back. Can you be responsible for that?”

I quietly bit my lips.

To be honest, I knew there was nothing I could do now. My skills weren’t that great yet. And staying still might be the wisest choice.

But I didn’t want to lounge around doing nothing.

And I thought I should somehow fix this, since it was all my fault.

If he asked me if I could be responsible, I didn’t know what to say. And I didn’t know if I could.

But I sincerely wanted to try anything I could. So I nodded my head at the old man.

“Wait, don’t reply that easily. That black magic guy takes things special to you when you don’t notice.”

His face was dark and regretful compared to before, and I couldn’t bring myself to speak.

“And it’s so evil that it tries to eat a person’s soul. Think well. Think the reason why you ended up coming here probably wasn’t normal either.”

His eyes gazed deeply into me like he was actually a skilled black magician back in his day.

“It seems like you lost a lot, and that’s the more reason why you shouldn’t come here. Don’t you have anyone to cry with when you’re in these situations?”

“…”

“If you have even one of those people, you can’t take a step in here.”

Then, he turned around like he didn’t have anything to say.

“Return. I won’t sell any books to you.”

* * *

A moment later, I walked down the road with the sun setting behind me. I saw people busily walking round. I just watched them.

When I was in the store, I felt something rushing me, but now I felt calm.

It was like I was pushed back by someone and barely managed to catch my balance.

When I looked back, I saw the nameless store again. The old man was still sitting with his back towards the door.

‘Interfering with something that was meant for unhappiness can’t be turned back. Can you be responsible for that?’

His words echoed in my ears.

‘It seems like you lost a lot, and that’s the more reason why you shouldn’t come here. Don’t you have anyone to cry with when you’re in these situations?’

I silently looked at the store and moved a while later.

My shadow on the ground was long.

“….Wake up.”

I muttered those words to myself. I wanted to cry for some reason, but I held it back.

I wanted to see Claude again. But I couldn’t yet.

Stuffing my regrets behind me like the shadow, I walked down the road by myself.

* * *

A few days later, I walked into the school’s library with invisible magic.

I was familiar with the library like it was my own now.

It could’ve been because there weren’t any students in it. They were all in class.

If I were to pick one place in the library that I liked, it was the library.

My library in Obelia was great, but this place was also amazing in its own way.

There were a lot of books, because it was a school library, and it was well organized to easily find whatever books I needed.

And I especially liked that it had books hard to find in Obelia.

They were all written in Atlantan, but where else would I use my Atlantan language skills?

I could easily read the books. Even though I was only a newbie compared to Ezekiel….

But speaking of Ezekiel, why was I behind in education to Ezekiel even though this was my second life? He was the male lead but still…I’m suddenly tearing up….

I passed the shelves with tears in my eyes.

Looking at them, I realized the books I read in Obelia were in the foreign language section. It felt strange. Like I was really in Atlanta now.

I looked around and pulled a few books out to read on the desk in the corner. Actually, even though I had invisible magic on me, I wasn’t confident in retaining it on objects that I held.

And I thought some people might get a heart attack seeing a few pages floating in midair, so I decided to sit in the corner.

They were all magic books.

There were still a lot of things I needed to learn about magic application, so I studied by myself frequently. Then, I suddenly remembered the events in the store, and I felt down in the dumps again. I shook my head to shake those memories away.

But I still felt depressed.

No, let’s focus on what I can right now….

I started to turn the pages sadly.

“So that’s why I said. You have to push it along!”

Huh? But suddenly, I heard voices coming from somewhere.

Was class already over? Looking at the class, I realized an hour had passed since classes were over. Oops, I better leave quickly!

I thought I wouldn’t have enough time to carry each of the books one by one, so I gathered magic power in my hands.

“Did I ever ask for your advice?”

“You won’t lose anything if you listen to my advice. John, you have to think well. The girl you like is popular, and someone else might snatch her away.”

As I did, the books started floating up. They flew back to where they were.

I looked at the books returning to their original places with a happy heart, forgetting about my sad feelings from earlier.