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Chapter – 09
Anyway, I recognized Jane at a glance, and she must have recognized me as well, so now Rafael could hear about me.
I wanted him to believe that I was doing well and was in good health…
I looked up at Calishion and spoke warmly.
“Your Highness, I’ve heard that the Justinian lace is very beautiful. I’d like to take a closer look!”
Calishion smiled kindly and said,
“If you’re interested, I can order the finest quality. There’s a specific supplier that provides goods to the royal family.”
I glanced over the lace and replied naturally,
“Thank you for your kind offer, but I’m fine. I just wanted to give it as a commemorative gift to my maid.”
“Oh, you brought a fairy, didn’t you?”
“Yes, she’s been feeling quite intimidated since coming to the palace.”
I described the mischievous fairy in the exact opposite way, and Calishion’s eyes lit up with curiosity.
“Really? Could it be… a fairy with magic?”
Clementine had acted as if it was very special that my maid had magic, so I guess it really was.
Surprised, I awkwardly smiled and replied,
“Just one thing. My maid has the ability to teleport. Of course, it comes with some conditions and limitations. But she can’t use her ability right now, so she seems depressed.”
For some reason, Calishion laughed joyfully.
“It must feel quite inconvenient—something that an ordinary person could never imagine.”
“It’s definitely inconvenient. For her, it was as natural as walking or running.”
I answered instinctively, feeling like I was speaking on behalf of the little mouse.
The little mouse’s ankle was essentially broken, and I couldn’t use my fingers either, so I fully understood her feelings.
“Hmm.”
Calishion nodded thoughtfully and glanced over the lace on the table.
“What would be suitable as a gift for a foreigner?”
At the crown prince’s question, Jane lowered her head even further than before.
“It’s an honor to have you look, Your Highness.”
She gave a fairly proper bow and carefully lifted a piece of lace from the center.
“This is a specialty of the Empire, made with the tatting lace technique. If you like it, I’d recommend this one.”
Calishion then turned to me and asked,
“Is it acceptable?”
Since I had been playfully cozy with Jane in front of the crown prince, I didn’t really care about the pattern.
“Yes, I like it very much. Let’s go with this one.”
Jane quickly wrapped the lace and handed it to me, but the crown prince paid for it on my behalf.
“Ah, this is supposed to be a gift for my maid…”
Calishion smiled lightly.
“Consider it a gift from me. I’ll prepare something even better for you later.”
“Really? Can I look forward to it?”
I asked playfully, and he shrugged.
“What do you think I am? You can look forward to it.”
Of course, he seemed like a rising star of Justinian—beautiful, kind, and incredibly wealthy. Even if frail, his appearance was flawless.
I received the wrapped lace and smiled brightly.
“Thank you, Your Highness. My maid will be delighted.”
After that, we spent quite some time on the path of the princess.
The crown prince even bought me colorful Empire-style almonds and anise seed candies, and a rose made of sugar.
“Wow.”
The almonds and candies, which had always been white or pink in my life, were now multicolored like glass beads, and the sugar rose was so realistic that it could easily be mistaken for a real flower.
“I’d heard that the Empire’s sugar art was famous, but I didn’t expect it to be this exquisite.”
I couldn’t help but marvel, feeling as though the land I had lived in, Basewater, might not even be the same as this Empire.
“It seems you like it even more than a real rose.”
Calishion teased me about my mistake from the previous day, and I quietly blushed.
“I was… rude yesterday. I’m sorry for troubling you with the tour.”
“It’s nothing. Honestly, I enjoy this place more than the garden.”
“Really…?”
I asked suspiciously, and he smiled brightly.
“Really.”
As we plucked the rose petals one by one and ate them, the afternoon slowly faded, and a hint of red began to color the sky.
“Tonight, we should visit the ailing Emperor. Will you go to the banquet?”
I shook my head quickly at Calishion’s words.
“May I return to my room? I’m too embarrassed thinking about the mistakes I made on the first day.”
“Haha, I’ve heard about that. Everyone enjoyed it, though.”
He continued,
“If the Emperor were well, we could have visited together. It’s a pity.”
The Emperor had been ill for several years. Now it was time to recite the very lines that the little mouse had been drilled on.
“We are always praying for Your Majesty’s health, even from Bristol.”
Once back in the carriage, returning to reality, he subtly asked,
“Did you not find anyone you like in Justinian? Lady Green seems to have a favorable impression of the princess.”
Nina Green was cute, but that was all.
Rather, I was suspicious of the crown prince suddenly bringing up the social scene.
Was he simply concerned because I said I wouldn’t attend the banquet? Or was he implying that since he had already spent two days with me, I should now handle the rest myself?
He seemed to read my silence and added,
“Of course, if you wish to quickly rise to the center of society, I’d recommend Lady Hillace. She’s influential in Justinian fashion.”
According to my prior research, she would be my greatest rival, Vivian Hillace!
Hearing her name immediately snapped me to attention.
Rumor had it that Vivian hosted tea parties almost daily from the day after the banquet, but I was never invited.
According to the little mouse, Lady Green was also being left out, so Vivian might be isolating potential rivals while consolidating allies.
I was not the only one wishing to stay near the crown prince.
With this atmosphere, he could easily spend time with other ladies tomorrow, and the more he did, the further my chances of being invited to his palace would slip away.
Since he was praising Hillace in front of me now, I had no way of knowing when the next opportunity would come after today.
“They really are charming ladies. I’d like to get to know them better.”
So I nodded politely and quickly changed the topic.
“There’s one thing I’ve been most looking forward to since coming to the palace…”
“Really? What is it?”
I had to speak so openly while looking into Calishion’s calm, lake-like violet eyes.
“The observatory.”
He let out a soft laugh at my shy answer.
“Ah, April.”
Hearing my name like that made my heart skip a beat.
More than anything else, I felt guilty.
Calishion added gently,
“You don’t have to go to such lengths to accommodate me.”
In fact, during the time he spent confined to the crown prince’s palace due to illness, he had taken to observing the stars.
He had been so absorbed in it that he even expanded the star observatory behind the palace, relocating it from elsewhere.
This was information I had read in newspapers before and was common knowledge to any citizen of the Empire. It was likely known internationally as well.
Of course, it also suited his desire to have the observatory near the crown prince’s palace, but my interest in the observatory was entirely genuine.
In the orphanage, my childhood had been unhappy, and if I did something wrong, I would be sent to the attic as punishment.
And the attic was always a place I had to endure alone.
The headmaster probably expected me to cry and be intimidated in that dark room, but I didn’t. Lying down in the dusty attic, I could see the stars scattered across the black night through the skylight.
