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Chapter : 06
I wandered around the palace I had fled to avoid Gote, squeezing out a smile as bright as spring flowers.
The idea was to learn the servants’ faces, greet them, and leave a good impression.
But not a single person returned my greeting.
Instead, most of them immediately apologized or looked like they couldn’t believe their ears.
“Hi!”
“Huh? W–Wait, am I hearing things because I didn’t sleep…?”
“Good morning.”
“I–Is there something I did wrong…?”
“Have you eaten before working?”
“I will prepare your meal at once! Jake! I’ll go to the kitchen, so you stay with Her Highness!”
Eventually, word must have spread, because people began avoiding me the moment they spotted me from afar.
I’d toured the entire palace, but only one person properly responded to my greetings.
“Nice weather today!”
“A perfect day for moving discreetly without even a ray of sunlight!”
“The breeze feels refreshing, doesn’t it?”
“Even the foulest stench would be swept away clean!”
“This weather makes me feel calm.”
“A day when many guests are likely to visit… It’s quite thrilling.”
The maid, with dark skin and broad shoulders, smiled back at me bravely, without a hint of fear or disregard.
It wasn’t exactly what you’d call a proper conversation.
But maybe because my standards had sunk so low after repeated failures, I found myself fairly satisfied.
“Hoo…”
I’m exhausted.
This wasn’t so much physical fatigue as it was mental damage.
I thought I’d gotten used to pretending to be a child and speaking in a childish way,
but squeezing out an unfamiliar cheerfulness while roaming the entire palace was unbelievably draining.
It didn’t help that young Eirencia didn’t seem particularly lively either—her memories were no help at all, doubling the impact instead.
Feeling deeply skeptical and completely worn out, I slumped down on the stairs.
“Your Highness!”
Someone came running toward me from afar, calling out loudly.
A plump figure, a gentle face, and a warm, comforting presence just from standing still.
“Michelle?”
The one who called me was none other than Michelle Green, head maid of the Mirror Palace.
If Gote was the strict yet kind grandfather figure among the servants, then Michelle was their mother.
Everyone in the Mirror Palace followed Michelle like baby chicks. Partly because she was the second-oldest after Gote, but more than that, because she always watched over those around her with careful attention and cared for them with parental devotion.
Michelle approached in quick yet unhurried steps.
“Your Highness, so this is where you were.”
“…!”
The moment I saw Michelle’s warm smile, I forced myself to ask casually, pushing back the throbbing headache tightening around my skull.
“What is it? Is Gote looking for me?”
My thoughts were still in complete disarray.
「…!」
「…Don’t… use… it…!」
This one’s pretty bad.
Indistinct voices buzzed in my head like a swarm of bees.
If I hadn’t experienced countless injuries before, I probably wouldn’t have been able to stay calm right now.
But it seemed impossible to fool the eyes of someone who had watched Eirencia for over a decade. Michelle, who had been gazing at my face with concern, smiled knowingly.
“Don’t worry. The head steward is still in his office.”
“Then why…?”
We just had lunch, didn’t we?
Is it already time for dinner?
It wasn’t because I was a glutton—it was simply that there was rarely any reason to look for Eirencia.
Other than waking her up, feeding her, or putting her to sleep.
I was idly recalling my one and only daily schedule when—
“His Highness the Crown Prince has come to visit.”
“Why would he?!”
It was such shocking news that even the princess’s memories, which were forcing their way into my head along with the headache, seemed to leap in alarm.
“He’s been waiting in the reception room. It’s already been an hour since he arrived.”
An hour?
Hearing that left me confused.
In Sword of the Firmament, the Crown Prince and the Princess were constantly at each other’s throats.
Sometimes they ignored each other as if the other didn’t even exist.
It was practically an instinct engraved into their genes.
So what on earth possessed him to come here?
All kinds of thoughts crossed my mind as I walked down the corridor.
Maybe he was worried about his sister who had collapsed? Since she was still young, perhaps they hadn’t completely grown apart like in the novel.
Maybe he cared about his little sister but just couldn’t express it.
A classic childcare romance cliché.
But the moment I entered the reception room and saw the Crown Prince, I confidently tossed that foolish hope straight into the trash.
The Crown Prince, Robelius, looked at me as I entered, slowly took a sip of black tea, and greeted me politely.
“You look fine.”
His voice was so calm that I instinctively glanced at a mirror. The child reflected there was pale as death, looking like she could collapse at any moment.
“Me?”
“And that decoration attached above your neck looks even stupider than before.”
Tsundere, my foot.
That gaze—like he was looking at a squashed cream bun—had absolutely no trace of hidden affection.
Even a kindergartener could tell that their relationship was already beyond repair.
Just recalling the so-called “Scarecrow Incident” Gote had mentioned, along with several other memories, was more than enough reason for mutual resentment.
Of course, most of the blame lay with the Princess.
And Robelius never missed a chance that rolled conveniently his way.
After the Scarecrow Incident, every time the Princess caused trouble, he would seize the excuse of a sword-training match and beat his younger sister mercilessly until she was reduced to a ragged mop.
Even now, judging by how my fists trembled, the hierarchy established through pain was deeply engraved into Eirencia’s body.
Though the urge to flick that shiny forehead suggested he hadn’t completely crushed her spirit.
“You’ve become much tamer, from what I hear. At least you’re somewhat tolerable now.”
Despite being only three years older than Eirencia, the prematurely mature brat lounged arrogantly against the sofa, his face openly bored.
I stared silently at Robelius’s teacup.
I had clearly seen him drink earlier, yet the black tea hadn’t decreased at all.
What a poser.
I snorted and deliberately lifted my glass of milk, gulping it down in exaggerated fashion.
I knew I was being childish. I really did. But doing this made my chest feel refreshingly clear—like downing a fizzy drink—perhaps due to the influence of those memories.
What was I even doing, picking a fight with a thirteen-year-old? A wave of doubt washed over me, but I stubbornly kept drinking.
Clack!
When I slammed the now-empty glass down provocatively, the Crown Prince’s brow furrowed.
“You’ve really become—”
“Why did you come here?”
I cut him off quickly, seeing his lips twitch as if he were about to unleash a lecture.
Even the novel’s heroine had been driven to despair by his nagging. If I had to listen to hours of it while the Princess’s personality suddenly resurfaced, it could easily turn into a full-blown brawl.
And if a fight broke out, no one would bother judging right or wrong—they’d side with Robelius without question. I’d be the only one losing.
He might even happily bring out a wooden sword.
Wait.
…He didn’t bring one, did he?
Thankfully, only a real sword hung at his waist.
I crossed my arms, keeping my expression indifferent so he wouldn’t sense hostility. Robelius blinked a few times before answering stiffly.
“…Sir Brown told me that my sister had awakened and that I should come see her.”
Sir Brown was one of the Crown Prince’s three senior aides.
He clearly meant to display the Crown Prince’s warm magnanimity by showing concern even for a foolish, unruly younger sibling.
“This feels less like a visit and more like you came to make me sick.”
Embarrassingly, the words escaped my mouth before I had time to think.
“What nonsense. Are you a person, or a wild colt?”
As the atmosphere grew tense, Robelius twisted his lips, looking more relaxed than before.
Crackle. Our gazes collided in midair like sparks flying.
Even in the novel, Eirencia and Robelius’s relationship was worse than sworn enemies.
If not for the hidden mastermind, Eirencia likely would have died by her brother’s hand.
Normally, the cliché in childcare stories is reconciling with a family that once hated you and living happily ever after…
I glanced sideways at Robelius.
That blunt, stiff demeanor—broadcasting how utterly irritated he was with me—reminded me uncannily of a certain corporate chairman’s son.
For some reason, it really rubs me the wrong way.
Among the male leads of Sword of the Firmament, Robelius was the closest thing to a normal person—but only when it came to everyone except the Princess.
Partly because their personalities clashed so badly, but also because—
She was the easiest experience monster to farm.
