『"Welcome home, my Queen."』
Egyptian Female Pharaoh (Top) x Egyptian Queen (Bottom) Ever since you were young, you've had a deep impression of ancient Egypt. Books about ancient Egypt would often mysteriously appear in your house, or algorithms would constantly push related videos to your feed. In your mind, ancient Egypt was shrouded in mystery, possessing an insurmountable divine aura. As you grew a little older, whenever you got a bit close to another girl, you would dream of a woman with sun-kissed, wheat-toned skin. Her face remained obscured in shadows, impossible to see clearly, save for a pair of grayish-green eyes that stared directly at you. Narrow and elongated, those eyes carried an overwhelming sense of pressure that made you want to submit instinctively. Emeralds set in pure gold gleamed with exquisite luster, engraved with hieroglyphs you couldn't understand. Pieces of silk stitched together fell in clean, graceful lines. The woman would whisper words you couldn't quite make out, yet in the dream, you found yourself incapable of arguing back. It felt as if her words were never meant to be challenged, as if all you needed to do was yield in unconditional surrender. These dreams followed you all the way into your university years, gradually bleeding into your everyday life until you had long grown used to them. At college, you had casually joined a student club. One day, you received an invitation for a trip with all expenses covered by the university. Going by the philosophy that it would be a waste not to go, you signed up. The moment you landed, the sweltering Egyptian heat felt like it would bake you dry. The site you visited was a ruin, said to be the tomb stele of an ancient Egyptian female pharaoh. You leaned in closer to look at the relief pictured on it. Around the portrait of the woman, halos of light radiated outward—whether etched intentionally or naturally weathered—just as ancient Egyptian legends claimed: ascension into godhood and immortality. Unfortunately, you were a materialist who didn't believe in any of that. The informational plaque beside it was covered in a thick layer of dust, reading: "Sobekkare and her wife..." The words after that had been completely scraped away, making them entirely illegible. Ancient Egypt was even more mysterious than you had imagined. No matter how bold you were, there were places you wouldn't dare explore, leaving you to browse the local novelty and bazaar stalls instead. The shopkeeper was an elderly woman, yet the passage of time seemed to have barely touched her features, leaving only the faintest crinkles at the corners of her eyes. You couldn't shake the feeling that she looked remarkably familiar, though you couldn't recall where you had seen her before. Jewelry of various sizes filled the display case. In the center lay an emerald crafted into a heart, edged with a border of gold. Sensing your fascination, the shopkeeper proactively took it out from behind the glass. "This was the most cherished possession of the wife of Pharaoh Sobekkare. Legend has it that wearing it will reunite you with the one your heart desires." Looking at the brooch, you knew such claims were usually just fabricated sales pitches to jack up the price, yet you couldn't stop yourself from swiping your card to buy it. Above all, it wasn't nearly as expensive as you had feared; the shopkeeper had even bargained the price down herself. And so, an apparently priceless jewel became yours for a modest sum. You examined the brooch as you walked. Under the Egyptian sun, the emerald looked more stunning than anywhere else, casting an eerie, iridescent gleam that seemed to pull your gaze right in. A black cat suddenly darted out from the sand. In ancient Egypt, black was never an omen of misfortune—quite the opposite, it was considered a divine blessing, a gift bestowed by the gods. Its breed resembled an Abyssinian. Being an avid cat lover, you always carried cat food in your bag. You poured a little into your palm, and the Abyssinian sauntered over, sniffing with its moist little nose before turning away in apparent disdain and padding forward. It seemed to want you to follow. Carefully putting the cat treats away, you trailed after the cat until you arrived before a pyramid. Along the way, the crowds had thinned from bustling to sparse, until now, not a single soul remained in sight. The Abyssinian's claws rasped against the stone brick as it stepped forward and pushed open a door. Inside, the pyramid was hollow, with torches burning as though recently refueled. The walls were covered in dense reliefs and hieroglyphs, and the only thing you could decipher was that every illustration and inscription depicted the exact same woman. The passage was longer than you anticipated. At the very end shone a beam of white light, and before you could react, the radiance engulfed you, wrapping around you like a mummy's shroud. Inside a colossal hall, the ancient architecture, once swallowed by time, no longer bore any trace of dust. Soldiers clad in linen cloaks stood motionless in two rigid ranks. The walls were carved with elaborate murals, and the flickering candlelight cast a golden rim upon the indecipherable hieroglyphs. Kneeling in the center of the hall, your modern clothing was gone, replaced by ornate, heavy royal Egyptian vestments that accentuated your pale complexion amid the sea of wheat-skinned courtiers, making you stand out like an anomaly. Seated upon the throne was a woman, cradling that very same Abyssinian cat in her arms. She gently scratched the cat under its chin, and as she looked up, you caught a clear view of her face—it perfectly matched the woman from your dreams and the female pharaoh from the relief. She appeared far more divine and inviolable than any portrait could convey. On her chest was a brooch that seemed to form a matching pair with yours. When she spoke, her voice was ethereal, and though she struggled to suppress her excitement to sound composed and measured, her voice couldn't entirely hide the tremor of emotion. "Welcome home, my Queen."