The mirror spanning one wall showed two women. The first was a noble lady with violet eyes and silver hair. Thought by all to be dead, she was the princess of the Argyll Empire, Fiarca Jeva Argenteia. Behind the seated Fiarca stood another silver-haired girl who looked exactly the same. This was Elmira Almathe, an agent raised from birth to act as the princess’s body double.
The two of them were in Prouss, in a safe house used by the imperial family. Fiarca had left the imperial palace in secret to carry out a particular mission—an important task only the princess herself could handle.
Elmira was here to help Fiarca dress. This role was usually filled by Shishka, but the servant girl was unable to leave the palace. Fiarca rarely put care or attention into her appearance, but today Elmira was brushing her hair, and just a modicum of makeup altered her looks quite drastically. Elmira was used to it by now, but still she sighed at how far the Silver Bloom’s looks exceeded her own. A replica could never match the real thing.
And yet Fiarca seemed dissatisfied as she stared at her own reflection. She turned and asked her double a question.
“Elmira, do you think I look cute?”
“I beg your pardon?” said Elmira, her hand holding the brush halting. “Is that supposed to be some kind of secret code, Your Highness?”
Fiarca puffed out her cheeks like a child. In turn, Elmira only grew more confused. She sincerely could not fathom why the princess had said such a thing. Fiarca was a proud and confident princess, with wisdom and intellect to match. She was the last person Elmira would ever expect to harbor doubts over her own beauty. To say nothing of the fact that Fiarca was so blessed with good looks that only a blind fool could ever claim she wasn’t cute.
Yet Elmira said none of this. Instead, she bowed her head and spoke meekly.
“I am sorry, Your Highness. I just did not expect you to talk like that.”
“Well, I suppose the days of worrying about my appearance are long over,” said Fiarca, casting a bittersweet gaze at the metal mask lying on a desk nearby.
It was the mask she had been forced to wear ever since assuming the identity of her fallen brother. Indeed, with it on, she had little need to concern herself with beauty.
“Have the imperial guards been speaking ill of you again, Your Highness? Have they been saying things like your face was your only redeeming quality, or the inside didn’t match the outside, or that your bust could have stood to be a little larger, or…?”
If so, Elmira could see how that could cause the princess to lose confidence. However, her words caused Fiarca to frown and glare at her through the mirror.
“Are you sure those are the thoughts of the Imperial Guard, Elmira, and not your own?” she grumbled. “It’s not that. It’s just that sometimes I wonder. When people speak of Princess Fiarca, they call her the Silver Bloom, or the most beautiful woman in the realm, or an angel descended from heaven. How much of that is objectively true?”
“Ah, I see,” said Elmira knowingly. “You used to grow bigheaded off these compliments, but now you’re starting to wonder if they were all just flattery.”
“I haven’t been growing bigheaded!” Fiarca protested. “But in the eyes of the public, I am dead. Humans have a tendency to view the past through rose-tinted spectacles, and no one would dare speak ill of the deceased, would they?”
“That is true.”
“And even when I was alive, people feared insulting the imperial princess. I’ve always wanted to know, from a neutral viewpoint, are my looks really so remarkable?”
Fiarca’s tone calmed as she returned to her conundrum. Ever since her “death,” Fiarca’s subjects had lamented the loss of her legendary good looks. Fiarca herself, meanwhile, wondered if the rumors had not simply grown out of hand. The only person she could speak about her doubts frankly with was Elmira. However, the silver-haired agent simply shook her head sadly.
“I’m afraid,” she said, “that I cannot answer that.”
“Why not?” asked Fiarca, pouting. “I’m not going to have you executed, you know.”
And yet Elmira’s reservations were understandable. Even if the two were good friends, Elmira was a mere servant; she had no right to insult the princess’s appearance. However, Elmira had no intention of doing that at all.
“That is not the reason,” she said.
“Then why?”
“Have you forgotten, Your Highness? We look the same, you and I. I cannot possibly give you a neutral opinion on this matter.”
“I suppose that’s true.”
Convinced, Fiarca left it at that. Elmira was raised as the princess’s double, so there was more than a passing resemblance between them. Any judgment she passed on Fiarca’s beauty was bound to be influenced by that fact.
“However, I do not think you have anything to be worried about, Your Highness. You might not know this, but several men have taken a keen interest in me.”
“What, they have?”
Fiarca’s eyes went wide.
“Yes,” Elmira replied. “And since we look so similar, I do not doubt many people think the same way about you.”
“I don’t care about that anymore! What’s all this about men being into you? You’ve never told me that before! Why did you drop that so casually?!”
“Because it’s true.”
“Well, don’t stop there, for crying out loud! Tell me more!”
Elmira sighed.
“A few of the men around the court have expressed their affections,” she said matter-of-factly. “The sons of Baron Clarki and Viscount Zelenoi, for example. Recently, Chief Adviser Tory of Central Command has been sending me gifts as well.”
“Those men, they’ve got some nerve, making passes at the crown prince’s lover at her own place of work. Did they come to the palace just to fool around?”
Fiarca’s pretty lips curled into a scowl, and she grumbled under her breath. In order to allow the woman to enter and leave the crown prince’s quarters as she pleased without raising suspicion, Fiarca had let slip the rumor that Elmira and Auriol shared an intimate relationship. It wasn’t great for Elmira’s reputation, but it did the job, and as an order from her employer, she couldn’t well refuse.
“Besides, don’t I know Tory from when we went through the academy together?” said Fiarca. “He never showed any interest in me, so why is he suddenly so taken by you?”
Grumbling to herself, Fiarca ran her eyes over Elmira’s body, finally landing on the woman’s bust. It was the one distinguishing point even an amateur’s eye could pick out. To put it plainly, Elmira’s was bigger.
“Grrr… That must be it. Men truly do like them large.” She spoke through gritted teeth.
Even though she possessed a face most women would die to obtain, Fiarca’s scant curves were her one point of shame. It wasn’t something Elmira had given too much consideration, but Fiarca apparently found it quite vexing.
“I wouldn’t say there’s that big a difference,” said Elmira. “Besides, I daresay it works in your favor when disguising your gender. I’ve had to do it before, and let me tell you that wearing a tight corset is quite painful with breasts like mine.”
“I’d appreciate it if you could lay off the false modesty,” Fiarca retorted. “If you’re trying to make me feel better, it isn’t working.”
“I really do feel like something must have happened, Your Highness. You’ve never cared this much before about what others think of you.”
“Well, you can hardly blame me. I’m about to speak to Ras for the first time in two years, and I must convince him to help us.”