I’m an Immigration Officer!

I’m gasping for air.
It’s rising all the way up to my throat—
I can even taste sweetness in my mouth.
“Huff… huff…”

The moment we reached the gates of the capital, I sprinted with everything I had.
Now my heart was pounding like it was about to burst.
Who would’ve guessed the princess’s room would be the farthest from the entrance?
The only reason we made it this quickly at all was because Hannah knew a shortcut.

Trying to regulate my breathing, I quickly scanned the situation.
—Rrrumble…
The heavy wooden doors had been shattered and jammed into the wall.
The chandelier dangling from the ceiling had crumpled and now swayed dangerously.

All the marble pillars lining the corridor were cracked, seconds away from collapsing.
Was she trying to bring the entire castle down?
I knew the princess’s abilities were terrifying.
To wield telekinesis solely through willpower, without even drawing on mana, was extraordinary.

But I hadn’t expected it to shake the entire palace—
To tear through stonework carved centuries ago.
If she’d used even a little more force, the entire third floor would’ve crumbled.
But by some miracle, not a single person had been harmed.

Just servants and guards, paralyzed with fear, keeping a safe distance while watching us.
We’re not too late.
I leaned toward the girl panting beside me.

“Miss Hannah. Thanks to you, we made it just in time.”
“Haa… haa… no, it was Chief Officer who insisted we come here first…”
She swept her sweat-drenched red hair aside and murmured,
“We were really close to disaster…”
If we had followed the original plan, we’d have been far too late.

The first reason for this visit to the capital was to speak with Minister Karton about the Zero-Incident Bonus.
We were supposed to meet him first.
Then the princess.
But what Hannah had said in the carriage kept echoing in my mind:
“When the princess wrote letters with you, she smiled for the first time. She never tried to talk to anyone but me until then.”

“But then Her Majesty came in… and took all the letters away. I was punished for ‘encouraging’ the princess to do something dangerous.”
“They say her abilities rampage when she’s emotionally unstable… That’s why the queen forced the Blessing of Peace on her and got rid of anything that might provoke her.”
Hope always has a shadow.

And that shadow is despair.
The princess had hope.
Elaine had Hannah.
She had letters—her only connection to the outside world.

But when something precious is ripped away, the emptiness it leaves feels worse than if it had never existed.
I know exactly what that feels like.
The Sight Officer’s voice echoed faintly in my head.

I remembered what I had done when I lost her.
Emptiness becomes sorrow.
Sorrow becomes rage.
Rage becomes destruction.
I had the benefit of a clear enemy—Gerrard and the Syndicate.

But when power is suppressed, with no place to go, it twists.
It lashes out at the world… and then at the self…
…and it births new emptiness.
She had enough power to do all that.
That’s why I scrapped the plan and came here first.

I turned to check on Elaine with a heavy heart.
Her cheeks were gaunt—she hadn’t eaten in days.
Her pale, bare feet stood on shards from the shattered door, and blood dotted the floor where she stepped.
Her neatly kept brown hair swayed, as if caught in an invisible storm—overwhelmed by her own power.

She no longer looked like the somber, well-mannered girl I met at the royal tombs.
What I saw now…
…was a harbinger of disaster.
She looked exactly like the Sight Officer right before his own mana spiraled out of control.

A wildfire that could incinerate everything—
Or a candle flame, about to blink out.
“…”
Only her green eyes, fixed on me, were slowly starting to regain light.
But even that gaze trembled, uncertain.

Still—there was hope.
She hadn’t crossed the final line.
She hadn’t killed anyone.

Though she had raged, though her powers had surged—
—no one had been harmed.
That means it’s still recoverable.
Property damage and human casualties are two different weights.

As long as no one has died, this can be resolved—
—but only if I convince her to let go of the power completely.
I opened my mouth, steady and calm.
“Your Highness.”

And then, a problem.
“Ah… ugh…”
I remembered.

She’s mute.
“Damn.”
Not good.

What she needs is dialogue, not just me talking at her.
Hannah, who had run into the room, cried out in panic.
“N-No paper or pen! There’s nothing!”

Of course—
The queen had confiscated all the letters.
She had no way to communicate.
“Shit.”

Just then—
“This way! The princess is—”
“Still not there yet?!”
“They’re on their way! Just a bit longer, they’re in the courtyard—”
From the end of the hall came a loud commotion.
A group of people burst into view.

The guards and servants who had fled had returned with reinforcements.
One of the soldiers pointed and yelled,
“There! She’s there! Get the priests! Now!”

…Priests.
“…!!!”
That word.
Elaine’s eyes flew open.
She snapped her head toward the sound.

“Ugh…!!”
Her hand lifted again.
—Screeeeeech…!!

The chandelier above them groaned, its metal frame warping in a hideous twist.
One more push and it would drop—crushing the people below.
“Don’t come any closer!”
“It’s dangerous! Her Highness’s powers—”
“Goddammit, I said stay back!”

I spun toward Elaine and pleaded,
“Your Highness—please! You don’t have to do this!”
Her green eyes trembled, overwhelmed by emotion.

Hatred for them.
Hatred for herself.
Joy at seeing us.
Terror at the same time.
She extended her hand—
But didn’t know what to do with it.

I have to calm her.
—Rrrumble…
That ominous sound shook the palace again.

The chains holding the chandelier swayed wildly.
Shit. What now…?
No way forward.

How do I calm someone this far gone?
Not without… words.
Words…?

A thought flashed through my mind.
I turned back to Elaine and shouted—
“I have a way! So please—stop!”
“…?”

She blinked at me.
“Your Highness… you’ve never spoken. Not to anyone.”
After Lassen’s death, Elaine had fallen mute.
All her words had become breath—
All that remained were meaningless moans and cries.

Fifteen years of silence.
No one could understand her.
Eventually, she must have given up trying.
But I’m different.

I took a step closer.
“I will listen to everything you want to say.
All the words you couldn’t speak.
Give your sorrow to me.”
She hesitated—distrust flickering in her eyes.

“…”
She shook her head.
You won’t hear me.

No one ever has.
Why would you be different?
She didn’t believe in her voice.
She didn’t believe in me.
But still—I spoke, more earnestly.

“Please… trust me.”
This was the only way.
The one thing I could do.

“I can hear you.
Any words. Any language.”
“…”
Her green eyes stared into mine.
And slowly—
She opened her mouth.

“Ah… uuuh…”
A short groan.
I focused with everything I had.

Please.
If this Talent Emergence truly lets me hear all languages—
If I can understand the extinct tongues of dead races—
Then let me hear the voice of someone still alive, whose mouth has closed.

Maybe this is why I was given this power.
I prayed harder than I ever had.
I focused harder than I ever had.
Please—let me hear it.

“Uuh… uuh…”
And finally—
[None of it matters. It’s already too late.]

—I heard it.
“No. It’s not meaningless.”
I replied instantly.

“It’s not too late.”
Elaine’s eyes widened in shock.
“…Wha—?”

 
****
Impossible.

That was her first thought.
Even Hannah couldn’t hear her.
She turned to Nathan.

His black eyes were filled with quiet relief.
Did I mishear?
Is this a dream?

Stammering, Elaine asked:
[Y-You can hear me? What I’m saying…?]
“Yes. I hear you clearly.”
He understood her.

[But how…?]
“I’ll explain later.”
Nathan bowed his head.
“Forgive my rudeness. But allow me to say this.”

And then—he said her name.
“Elaine.”
No titles. No formality.
The name only family ever used.

He continued.
“Don’t cross that line.”
“…”
It felt like a hammer to her chest.

No one had ever said that to her.
Not even she could say it to herself.
[B-But I’ve already…]
“No. You haven’t. That’s why we came.”
Nathan gestured behind him—
To Hannah Meyer.

The girl who had stayed by Elaine’s side longer than anyone—Hannah—nodded.
Just then, a voice shouted from the far end of the corridor.
“…Hannah? Is that you, Hannah?”

It was the maid who had taken Hannah’s place in delivering meals—the same one who’d been nearly strangled by the princess.
Hannah replied bluntly.
“So what if it is?”

“Weren’t you dismissed?”
“I came back.”
“Why? H-Her Majesty said you were never to go near the princess again…”

Hannah went silent.
Her presence here was open defiance.
The punishment for her first insubordination had been brutal—she’d paid dearly for it.
But this was the second time.
And the second would be worse.

Yet she came back.
Why?
Even Elaine stared at her, puzzled.

You had no reason to go this far…
Elaine didn’t know what Hannah thought of her.
It wasn’t like how she felt about Hannah—how precious she was to her.
Hesitating under those green eyes, Hannah muttered softly:

“…B-Because I wanted to help my friend.”
“…”
Friend.

That tiny word made Elaine’s chest ache.
So ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) it wasn’t just me…
For the first time, she felt relief.

Just as she thought of Hannah as a friend—
Hannah had thought the same.
Despite the enormous divide between princess and servant,
Hannah had never cared.
And it had taken her this long to realize it.

Her heart hurt.
It beat so hard it ached.
But at the same time—
Something quiet and warm filled her chest.
—Swsshh.

Elaine’s hand slowly lowered.
No matter how cruel this world may be—
No matter how heavy her sins—
There was someone who understood her.

Someone who held her up.
She carefully asked the one question she had never dared to voice before—
A question directed at Nathan.
[Am I… a monster?]

Everyone calls me a monster.
Do you think so too?
“Who says that? No one would mistake Your Highness for anything but a princess.”
Nathan scowled like it was the dumbest thing he’d ever heard.

[Am I… evil?]
Was I born wicked?
Is my destiny to commit sins and die as a villain?
No matter the reasons—what I’ve done is still unforgivable.
Is my very existence evil?

“Some might think so. But others won’t.”
A blunt truth.
Nathan turned to Hannah as he continued.

“But at the very least, Miss Hannah and I don’t think you’re evil. Right?”
“That’s right! Never!!”
Hannah shouted, squeezing her eyes shut.

“Never!! Our princess has done nothing wrong!!!”
Her voice rang down the corridor—
Sharp and strong.
Despite what she suffered at the hands of the queen, her resolve hadn’t broken.

Elaine’s lips trembled—for the first time, with something other than pain.
And then, in a faint voice, she asked:
[Can I… be forgiven?]

The truth buried deepest in her heart spilled forth.
A truth she hadn’t even allowed herself to imagine.
[Can everything I’ve done… ever be forgiven?]

By her brother.
By the people she had harmed.
By herself.
Can I forgive myself?
Tell me.
My only confidant.
My friend.
My most precious person.

If anyone would know the answer… it would be you.
“I don’t know.”
Nathan shook his head.

Elaine looked up at him in surprise.
He was wearing a bitter smile.
“Even I… can’t say if I’ve forgiven myself.”

His black eyes were looking at her—
But she could tell he was also seeing someone else.
Someone from long ago.
Someone from those tears he shed at the royal tombs.
“But even so… there’s a way forward.”

The Chief Officer took a step closer.
“Let’s find it together.”
And then—he extended his hand.

“All three of us.”
Hannah, her eyes brimming with tears, reached out her right hand as well.
“I’ll stay with you till the end, Princess.”

Sunlight streamed through the window, illuminating them both.
That radiant light had no place in the darkness she’d lived in.
It was dazzling. Beautiful.

If I take those hands… I might really be free.
I want to be there too.
Not suppressed. Not caged. Free.

To walk into the world they live in.
Carefully, she stepped forward.
Slowly—she reached out her hand.

Just as the three hands were about to meet—
“Elaine!!”
A voice like a blade, sickeningly familiar.

The one person Elaine feared most—
Had thrown aside her fan and come running.
Helena Castor.
“!!!”

Elaine’s hand recoiled at once.
The queen’s ashen eyes scanned the room.
She saw the chandelier, crushed and hanging by a thread.
The cracked pillars.
The splintered door of the room that had held her daughter for years.

Her face twisted.
“This… this is…”
The memories etched into Helena’s bones stirred again.
Twisting, rising back up.

“You’re doing it… again…?”
Her expression mirrored the same hopelessness as back then.
“A…”

Fear slammed into Elaine’s chest.
But this time—it was different.
—Shff.

Nathan’s hand came down gently on Elaine’s shoulder.
“It’s alright. Elaine, it’s alright.”
Warmth spread from his touch.

He turned to Hannah.
“Miss Hannah. Look after her.”
“Yes. Leave her to me.”

Her old friend stepped up to hold her.
—Step. Step.
The Chief Officer walked forward—
Right between the mother and daughter.

With his own body, he blocked Helena from Elaine’s view.
“Good day, Your Majesty.”
With a hard, grim expression, he stared down his oldest enemy.

He straightened his coat, and with the calm, resolute tone of an Immigration Inspector, declared:
“This is our first meeting since the trial.
Nathan Kell, Chief Officer, at your service.”
In his heart, he drew a line.
A deep one.

One she would never cross.
He would not let her reach Elaine again.
“Chief Officer…!”

Helena snarled, grinding her teeth.
The twisted oppressor—
And the only one who understood her—
Now stood face to face.