Chapter 144
“I’m done!”
Aurora set down her quill with a sharp tap.
She lifted the manuscript high with both hands.
“I finally finished it…! It’s finally complete!”
A novel created under Aurora’s direction, from its premise and structure to the actual writing, with Leon’s help kept to a minimum.
The manuscript of [It Turned Out My First Love Was a Tyrant] had just been completed.
Her face was haggard with exhaustion.
The deadline wasn’t looming, nor was she being confined and forced to write while eating nothing but sweet potatoes, and no one had threatened her with a knife.
It was something she could have written at her leisure, but Aurora rested only at set times and devoted every other moment entirely to writing.
That was because, once she had gotten into the rhythm, even her breaks had begun to feel like a waste.
Her body and mind were exhausted because of it, but she looked more refreshed than ever.
“You’ve worked hard. I’ll read it straight through from beginning to end, so rest for a while.”
The writing was over, but the most important process still remained.
Leon’s review.
If it didn’t pass this process, this damn novel of Aurora’s couldn’t see the light of day.
Like her other novels, she might have to bury it in her heart and give birth to another new child.
“Hup.”
Leon gathered the manuscript, sat on the sofa, and began reading.
Gulp. The sound of someone swallowing rang out.
Despite Leon’s urging her to rest comfortably, Aurora watched with an intensely nervous expression.
Had there ever been a moment in her life more nerve-racking than this?
‘There was. And it wasn’t long ago.’
The kiss with Leon……a brief touch of the lips too short to even call a kiss.
Her heart had pounded madly because she was afraid of how Leon would react afterward.
If Leon had hated it, she would never have been able to endure it.
In fact, when he first reacted that way, she had felt a pain as if a spike had been driven through her chest.
That was when she realized a person could die from a sense of loss.
Fortunately, it had only been a joke, and when Leon said he had felt the same way she had, she had felt as though she could fly instead.
To think she had even been Leon’s first kiss. It made her happy, like receiving an unexpected gift.
‘How ridiculous.’
For the imperial princess she was to be so affected by a mere slave’s every word and action.
Her past self—or anyone else in the present, for that matter—would never have understood.
They would have called her crazy.
But there was nothing Aurora could do now.
Her feelings for Leon had already bloomed.
How could she pluck a flower in full bloom? She had to tend it with care.
More than that, she was simply amazed that the feeling she had thought was curiosity sprouting anywhere like a weed had turned out to be love.
-Flip.
Leon put down the manuscript. It seemed he had finished reading it in the meantime.
It had been far from a short manuscript.
Seeing the pages she had labored over for days and nights disappear in just a few minutes left her feeling hollow.
“How was it?”
“It’s good. There are still parts that need polishing, but Eileen’s emotional portrayal, which I pointed out before, has improved tremendously.”
Compared to Serena, an extra character and the villainess, the heroine Eileen had possessed markedly shallower emotions.
The emotional expression surrounding her had improved noticeably.
Especially the moment she first realized what love was.
“……I’m glad you liked it.”
Aurora let out a small sigh of relief. She looked at Leon with a gentle smile in her eyes.
Did you notice?
That I put the most effort into that part?
She desperately wanted to ask him that, but Aurora forced the words back down.
Because she believed that a writer should convey things through writing, not words.
There would be another opportunity.
***
It was only after going through several more rounds of revision with Leon that Aurora was able to complete the novel.
She no longer needed to give birth to another new child.
“Do you think it’ll do well?”
“I can’t give you a definite answer, but it has plenty of potential.”
Leon was neither well-versed in novel writing nor a professional editor.
All he possessed was a rotten brain steeped in stimulation.
That meant that if the novel managed to stimulate Leon’s brain, it could at least guarantee a minimum level of commercial success.
In that respect, this novel, eighty percent Aurora’s own work, showed promise.
‘It’s a little far from my taste, though.’
He hadn’t liked every part of it.
But Leon didn’t go out of his way to say so.
Aurora would inevitably waver if she heard it.
Her novels already bore the strong imprint of Leon’s influence.
If he imposed his own tastes on her here, Aurora would surely take them as the correct answer.
If she kept changing things one by one like that, the color unique to Aurora would fade.
Leon’s role was simply to point out the parts that snagged as he read.
He must not invade Aurora’s territory through interference beyond that.
He had to wait until Aurora found her own color.
That was the only way Aurora could stand on her own as a writer.
“Then all that’s left is to turn it into a book.”
***
The process that followed moved quickly.
They made and sent an additional copy to the Marchioness of Chandler.
The manuscript was copied in bulk.
The cover was made.
The bound books were packed into boxes.
And a few days later, Aurora’s new novel went on sale simultaneously in bookstores across the Empire.
Thanks to the Silver Feather Merchant Guild’s publicity, there wasn’t a person who didn’t know that the princess was publishing a new novel.
Long lines formed in front of bookstores from the very first day of publication.
Maids from noble households.
Merchant guild clerks.
Girls attending the academy.
Each of them waited their turn with a few silver coins clutched in hand.
“They say it’s Her Highness’s new novel. I couldn’t sleep a wink because I was so excited to read it.”
“What on earth will it be about this time?”
“I don’t know. But Her Highness wrote it, so it’ll definitely be fun.”
It was the new novel by a princess who had already produced two major bestsellers.
The people’s anticipation rose to a fever pitch.
The shelves were emptied, restocked, and emptied again.
“We’re sold out! Completely sold out! We’ll announce it as soon as more stock comes in, so please come back then!”
The mountain of books piled up sold out in an instant, and the first-edition stock was gone before noon.
As a result, all sorts of situations arose.
“Didn’t you buy two copies? Lend me one.”
“No. One’s for my collection, and the other’s for me to read.”
“What? Hey, why buy several copies if you aren’t even going to read them all?”
“It’s my choice. There was no law saying I couldn’t buy several, was there?”
While some people bought multiple copies for collecting and reading.
“Her Highness’s new novel for sale! There aren’t many left!”
“Really? How much?”
“I’ll sell it for ten silver coins!”
“Ten silver coins? Are you crazy? That’s more than triple the list price!”
“Then don’t buy it. You can’t get it anywhere else anyway.”
There were also dealers who bought up books in bulk to resell them.
The price openly announced their intent to gouge.
Since it was more than triple the list price, any sensible person would naturally have cursed them and walked away.
If what they wanted to buy hadn’t been the princess’s new novel.
“Did you see the scene where Eileen reunites with Rowan?”
“Wait! I haven’t read it yet. Don’t tell me!”
“Oh, sorry. But there’s an even more amazing scene later.”
“I said don’t tell me!”
In the streets, too.
In teahouses, too.
At the academy, too.
Everywhere they went, people chattered about the new novel.
Anyone who hadn’t read the book couldn’t join the conversation.
Worse than that was getting spoiled.
It was already this bad on the first day of publication. Could anyone really wait until the next shipment arrived?
By then, they would have been spoiled on the entire story.
“……I’ll take one.”
“A wise choice.”
In the end, they had no choice but to buy the book at an inflated price, tears in their eyes.
Even so, seeing the piping-hot new book nestled in their arms melted their anger and drew a smile from their lips.
Those who had bought the book returned to their respective places and opened it.
They began reading as if falling into a new world.
***
Another stretch of time passed after Aurora’s new novel was published.
The servants of the princess’s palace bustled about.
They were in the middle of unloading boxes from a carriage and carrying them to Aurora’s study.
Inside the boxes was a huge quantity of letters.
Looking blankly at the piles of letters filling the study, Aurora murmured.
“These……are all addressed to me?”
“It would seem so.”
They were fan letters from readers who had read Aurora’s new novel.
Aurora carefully picked up one of the letters and opened it.
They contained all sorts of messages: that they were Aurora’s fans, that they had been deeply moved by her novel, that they hoped she would continue writing wonderful stories, and so on.
Aurora hugged the letter tightly to her chest. Her heart gave a sharp throb at the indescribable feeling.
“Leon.”
“Yes.”
“I feel like I could fly away right now.”
“Is that anything new? You’ve already heard praise plenty of times.”
“It feels different from that.”
As Leon said, she had already heard several times that her novels were entertaining.
She had felt good then, too, but she hadn’t been able to dispel the bitter feeling lingering in one corner of her heart.
Because she suspected they might only be flattering her because she was the princess.
But letters were different.
The fact that they had gone through the trouble of writing a letter meant they hadn’t been able to simply let those feelings pass.
The feelings of someone who had read the book, thought about it, taken out paper, and written down their thoughts one letter at a time.
It felt as though she could sense that entire process intact.
The story she had sent out into the world had made its way around someone’s heart and returned in the form of a letter.
How could anything feel this wonderful?
Only now did she feel as though she was being recognized as a writer in her own right.
“I’m going to keep all of these. I won’t throw away a single one.”
“Your room will be full of letters someday.”
“That might be nice, too.”
If she were buried in letters, it would be a heaven of its own.
What could the other letters contain? What stories and feelings had they come to share?
Aurora continued reading the letters with a pounding heart.
Just as she was reading a few more,
“……Huh?”
Aurora’s hand stopped halfway. She stared down at the letter without a word.
“What’s wrong?”
At her strange reaction, Leon tilted his head. He read the letter Aurora had been reading along with her.
[I really can’t understand this. Why Eileen? Serena is far more charming, so why does Eileen end up with Rowan?
If you were going to do this, you shouldn’t have given Serena affection in the first place. Is it fun to toy with people’s feelings?
Do you think you can write carelessly just because you’re the princess? A novel isn’t a joke. Don’t write trash like that.]
“Ah.”
It was the first hate comment Aurora had ever received in her life.