“Why are these damn ears so long? You look like a female ghost.”
Three days had passed since Kim Hanseong had possessed Estel’s body.
At first, Estel thought she was seeing hallucinations before her death, but after the ninth meal in this body, she slowly accepted that the current situation was real.
It was too vivid to be just a hallucination, and there was no way it could be a camera prank, special makeup, or a simulation created by advanced technology—humanity’s tech wasn’t capable of creating this level of realism, at least not in Estel’s knowledge.
She had already been destined to die, but given this second life, maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing for Estel.
However.
“Why am I in this little brat’s body… This is just ridiculous.”
Estel was quite dissatisfied with the reflection in the mirror.
From a young age, she had grown into a sturdy figure with a deep voice and beard after handling tough jobs. Now, she had turned into a little girl, which was truly disappointing.
Her bright blonde hair, like melted gold, plump skin, long eyelashes, and sharp nose…….she had the Western beauty that made her more striking than many child actors Hanseong had worked with. In fact, in terms of appearance, she was way ahead.
Knock, knock
“Princess, breakfast is ready.”
“You damn…”
As she was holding a small mirror on her bed, Estel muttered a curse at the voice coming from outside the door.
Estel, an elf princess by birth, had attendants who brought her breakfast to her room every morning.
She didn’t mind this arrangement, as she had grown used to eating in bed, especially after over three years of hospital food.
However, the reason why a vein popped on her little forehead was because…
“Hey, young lady.”
“Young… lady?”
“What kind of meal is this? Just some plain vegetables?!”
The food presented to her was a 100% vegan meal with no meat in sight.
“At my age, we’re supposed to be eating meat! What is this crap?”
Having been accustomed to the rich taste of meat before entering the hospital, Estel had been most excited about meals in her new body.
However, elves, as forest dwellers blessed by the World Tree, had no need for meat. They could survive solely on fruits, vegetables, and even dew.
Thus, elves didn’t develop much of a food culture, and the first meal Estel had after taking over this body was just a cup of water.
Shocked by this, Estel ordered that the next meal include something to chew on, and what she saw in front of her was exactly that: fruit that resembled apples and some grass, along with that same cup of water.
After having eaten hearty meals before, she finally lost her temper and scolded her poor servant.
If there was rice at least, it wouldn’t have been so bad, but these damn elves hadn’t even offered her kimchi, and Estel, who had always believed in the power of Korean food, was furious.
“Princess, eating meat is something only lower beings do, don’t you think?”
“Well, when I was your age, I used to get obsessed with the smallest things, you know?”
The servant, who was on the receiving end of Estel’s outburst, eventually understood that the princess had entered a rebellious phase, thinking, ‘Ah, puberty’s hitting her now.’
Estel Celebrian, a 93-year-old elf who was still a young girl by their standards.
For humans, 93 was an age where one would be nearing the end of their life, but for elves, she had just barely left her childhood.
“So, when you’re done with breakfast, call me…”
“That’s fine. I have no appetite, so just leave.”
“Understood.”
Not in the mood to eat, Estel instructed the servant to take the food away, glaring at the servant silently as they complied.
“Hey, young lady.”
“Oh ho ho! Princess, I’m already 1142 years old, you know? You’re not going to get anything out of me with compliments like that~.”
“Hmm. Anyway, I need to ask you something.”
Suddenly, Estel remembered something and turned to the young servant (1142 years old).
“Where’s the place where books are kept? Preferably somewhere with history or something like that.”
When encountering the unknown, Estel’s priority was to learn more about it.
She decided to take her first step toward understanding her species, her surroundings, and this new world.
Under the guidance of the attendant, the library of the Elf Kingdom, where they had arrived, boasted its vast size.
It was because the elves, whose lifespans were incredibly long, had been recording documents about their history and culture since ancient times, and these books could not be managed in a regular library.
Even Estel, who boldly stepped into the grand library, couldn’t help but be slightly surprised by its overwhelming size.
“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you, Princess. Has it been… 52 years? My, how you’ve grown into such a fine lady…”
Then, a man sitting at an information desk in the center of the library greeted her with a warm smile.
“And you are…?”
“I’m just a humble librarian who oversees the kingdom’s library.”
“Then, may I ask what brings you to the library?”
“I came to look for some books.”
“What kind of books are you searching for?”
“Hmmm… yes, books… well…”
Estel paused, thinking for a moment in response to the librarian’s question about the books she wanted to find.
“I’m looking for books that detail the history, myths, legends, and culture of this kingdom… something that explains it all in detail.”
There’s a saying that if you want to know about a country, you should first learn about its founding myth.
Estel, knowing that the stories from such myths still influence the country today, decided that in order to understand this land of elves, she would begin by studying its founding myths, ancient texts, and the culture of the kingdom.
“Hmm, understood. Please wait for a moment.”
“I’ll be waiting. Please hurry.”
The librarian nodded at Estel’s request and then closed his eyes, as though concentrating, and clasped his hands together.
Then…
—Books! —Books!
ᅳLet’s find the books! Everyone, gather!!
“Eh…? What…?”
The empty air in front of her seemed to ripple as if a crack had appeared, and then something emerged from it.
A translucent, glowing, blue light radiated from it, and it was a small creature, no bigger than the size of a palm, with wings like those of a fairy. It was flying freely through the air, its wings fluttering gently.
“Princess? What’s wrong?”
“What… what are those? Ghosts? Fairies…?”
Estel, startled by the sight before her, asked in confusion, but the librarian merely tilted his head in response.
“Aren’t they sylphs? The library here is so vast that we often receive assistance from such spirits.”
Spirits.
As the elves were deeply connected to nature, they naturally had strong ties with spirits, which were considered embodiments of nature itself.
By the time elves reached around 200 years of age, it was common for them to form contracts with spirits, which is why elves made up the highest proportion of spirit mages.
“Sylphs…?”
“Haha! These little ones can be a bit mischievous, but when it comes to finding books, they’re simply the best!”
“Oh, I see… Alright, I understand, please hurry.”
Although Estel was still somewhat bewildered by the magical sight in front of her, she stopped asking questions and simply requested the librarian to proceed with her original request.
At this point, any further questioning seemed unnecessary. The man before her had lived an entirely different life from hers, and it was more efficient to quickly familiarize herself with this kingdom and its people.
So, Estel sat at a table on the edge of the library and began to watch as the sylphs fluttered around, carrying books through the air.
The sight of these tiny fairies, no bigger than her palm, skillfully flying through the air while lifting various books was so surreal that it felt like she was watching a scene from a movie.
Time passed, and eventually…
“Is this… all of it?”
“Ah, this can’t be all of it. These are just the simplified and condensed versions of the materials you asked for.”
Estel stared in disbelief at the books placed before her.
The sight of a towering stack of books, each one seemingly twice the size of her own body, was enough to make her dizzy.
And then, when she heard that this was just a summary, she couldn’t help but wonder how the kingdom even functioned with so much information.
But of course, this was to be expected.
The elves’ lifespan was exceptionally long, and thus their history—spanning centuries—naturally far outstripped that of the short-lived humans.
“The, then, if there’s anything else you need, please feel free to call for me anytime.”
The librarian, having placed the mountain of books in front of her, turned to leave, heading back to his duties. Soon, Estel was left alone, surrounded by towering piles of books.
No matter which book she picked, it felt overwhelming.
But…
“Hoh… this is rather strange. This is definitely not the language I know, yet there’s no difficulty in reading it. It’s almost as if I’m reading a book written in Hangul?”
Despite the overwhelming number of books, Estel did not feel discouraged. Instead, she marveled at how the meaning seemed to come to her naturally, even though she had never learned the elves’ script.
They say that learning has no end.
From the time she was a child, unable to read, she had worked hard to learn the alphabet just to read a book. Later, she expanded her horizons, using the light of a full moon to study an English dictionary.
Now, she was deeply engrossed in learning about this new world she had never known before.
“Well then, should I give it a try?”
Estel opened the first book that caught her eye and began reading its first page carefully.
And so, Estel’s reading journey began—she stayed up for days on end, reading without sleep, until her eyes were nearly exhausted, before finally finishing the books.