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“You don’t want to eat alone?”
“Yees. I wanna eat twogether.”
Siervian nodded shyly. Fortunately, her father didn’t shake off her hold on his sleeve.
Next to her, Ellie was wiping her eyes for some reason.
Looking carefully at the other people’s faces, she wanted to say more so that it wouldn’t be considered to be a big deal.
“E-Even if it’s nwot evewyday, it’s okay.”
She wanted to rationalize it more.
She was so quiet in her previous life. Maybe that’s why she was having a hard time expressing her thoughts now.
It felt like there was a gag over her mouth so that she couldn’t say the things she wanted to say properly.
Maybe this was also a problem that’s caused by the synchronization issue that the status window told her about.
“……”
Perhaps it was hard to understand her because her father didn’t say anything back.
Losing confidence now, she bowed her head little by little.
She had been too greedy.
“T-Then swometimes only, not many times, only swometimes…”
Normally, she would have already asked for forgiveness at this point.
But why did she feel so sad today?
There were lingering feelings, so she made excuses now, asking for not much time.
‘I saved a lot of people today, and I got complimented…’
She had bowed her head so low that she couldn’t see her father’s status window when her father answered.
“There is a misunderstanding.”
At the displeased tone, Siervian looked up in surprise.
Frowning, the Emperor looked at his daughter closely.
There seemed to have been a misunderstanding.
“Didn’t the chamberlain tell you properly?”
Siervian, who thought that the grand chamberlain had come again to emphasize that there would no longer be breakfasts together with her father, felt as though her blood had turned cold.
And meanwhile, the Emperor didn’t know that her daughter was stiff and unable to say anything, so he turned to the chief lady-in-waiting of the Princess’ Palace.
“Answer. Why does the Princess think that she won’t be having breakfast with me anymore in the future?”
[ Alderuan Erveldote ]
Thoughts: I was planning to come back again after my schedule’s cleared.
Huh?
Raising her head, Siervian looked at Ellie.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to come anymore?
“I humbly implore Your Majesty, but the grand chamberlain of the Emperor’s Palace only briefly informed us that Your Majesty could not attend breakfast.”
“Then?”
“…It seems that Her Highness had interpreted this as Your Majesty not coming anymore, instead of only for a while…”
As Ellie was talking, there was a visible enlightenment dawning upon her features.
‘Come to think of it, that’s around the time the Princess strangely looked despondent!’
Naturally, everyone’s attention was drawn towards the princess who was sitting shyly.
“Is that true?”
[ Alderuan Erveldote ]
Thoughts: Hm. I can’t believe it blindly. I also wonder if the ladies-in-waiting interfered in the middle.
It was a situation that was easily misunderstood.
Flustered by her father’s thoughts, Siervian nodded urgently.
It’s not their fault.
“That’s not true, Siervy. I was going to come back here as soon as my schedule allowed it.”
“Weally…”
Her father’s tone, which seemed to be softer, tickled her ears. She misunderstood.
“Yes. If this father is busy in the future again, I might not be able to eat with you.”
“Mm, okaay…”
“But after my work is done and I’m not busy anymore, we can eat together again. So from now on, don’t skip your meals even if you’re eating alone.”
She liked how her father almost said that having meals with her was a fixed schedule for him. It was the same as making her hope for it.
She was about to smile a little. But on the other hand, she also wanted to cry for some reason.
With these vague feelings, Siervian tried to peek into her father’s thoughts as she asked.
“Big Bwother, too?”
“…Yes.”
[ Alderuan Erveldote ]
Thoughts: I wanted to get rid of that punk, but I can’t help it if Siervy wants him there.
And Siervian was surprised to see that her father was planning to exclude her brother.
But last time, her brother said that he wanted to eat with their father as well, so she should turn a blind eye to this.
Her hand, which was holding his sleeve, wiggled a little. It felt like there was something tickling her heart because of this light sensation.
Unable to control her emotions, she held onto that feeling again and asked.
“Evewyday?”
[ Alderuan Erveldote ]
Favorability: +100
Favorability: +100
At the cute whine, the Emperor hurriedly covered his mouth.
He was worried that his daughter, who was seriously asking him, might see his wide smile and misunderstand again.
“……?”
And she did, but she thought she was in trouble because of this. Even so, Siervian regained her courage after seeing his favorability in the window.
She wouldn’t misunderstand whatever her father would tell her.
Soon, her father lowered his hand again and calmly made eye contact with her.
“Let’s make it right. I’ll just get rid of everyone who dares interfere with our breakfast.
At his remark, Siervian was startled.
She was satisfied with just having meals together with him normally.
‘And more than that, the ones keeping Father busy are the ministers of this empire! You can’t get rid of them!’
She shook her head side to side.
“Nooo, you cwan’t.”
“…Anyway, I’ll try to manage my time every day and have meals together with you if possible, Siervy.”
There might be a foolish expression on her face right now, so as she bowed her head shyly, Siervian nodded slightly.
She didn’t have any appetite before, but she was feeling famished now.
* * *
The next day—
“Ohh. It’s her.”
“Yes, I heard the rumor.”
This garden was usually quiet because not many people visited it.
Most people were reluctant to come here because the Emperor’s Palace was close.
But now, a group of people was snooping from far away and looking curiously, trying to peek.
And the target of their gazes was Siervian.
‘It’s uncomfortable!’
Everyone seemed to think that she wouldn’t mind their gazes because she was still young.
However, if the same people pretended to pass by regularly, she was bound to notice.
She felt burdened by them as they continued to stop by without greeting her, only continuing to observe her.
‘Now that you’ve seen me, quickly leave, please.’
Just before the storm season, there’s a particular flower that blooms in a short span of time. It’s called Fipic, and it’s usually difficult to find it in gardens, but she accidentally found one in her father’s garden today. She thought she saw it wrong, but when she took a closer look, she was actually right.
‘Since there’s a blue pattern in the middle, it’s in full bloom!’
After much consideration, Siervian sat down next to the white flower that only bloomed once during this time.
The attention on her was burdensome, but the Fipic flower, which bloomed and wilted quickly, could only be seen now.
It was originally a flower that could only be seen in between stones at Mt. Sol. It also bloomed during the coldest time of the year.
‘I might never see this again in the future. I can’t go out during the storm season.’
The nickname of the Fipic flower was ‘winter’s greeting’, meaning that a fierce snowstorm would come soon.
She wasn’t sure how its flower seed had come into this place.
“What are you doing, Princess?”
“Nwothing much.”
When the princess sat down on the ground, the people watching whispered curiously amongst themselves. Ellie, who was next to the princess, widened her eyes at their impertinent behavior.
[ Ellie ]
Thoughts: What rude people. I’ll remember your faces.
Siervian started eating well again after her father visited yesterday. And now, she went out for the first time in a while as if she was compensating for not being able to go around all that time.
‘Actually, I don’t want to go outside yet.’
She wanted to lay low until the rumors subsided. She felt so burdened by the status windows of the people around her that were passing by as she walked.
But when she was just staying in her palace, everyone was starting to get worried, so she tried her best.
‘They’re different people compared to before.’
As she glanced sideways, the status windows of the people in the distance suddenly popped near her.
Recently it occurred to her that the same people were hovering around her.
So she found a feature where she could look closer at the status windows of people at a distance.
‘Hmm… But I don’t know if this is good or bad.’
She didn’t know yet what benefit she could get from seeing the windows of those far away.
In any case, she could find out what people were thinking about her regarding the rumor, so she was using this feature as much as she could.
Even if she wouldn’t be able to solve it, she couldn’t help but be bothered by it.
‘I don’t want to have bad rumors anymore.’
Like a habit now, she skimmed through people’s thoughts. She was curious whether the rumors had changed strangely.
However, something else that was odd could be seen from their thoughts.
[ Cain ]
Occupation: Junior Administrative Officer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Lv.30)
Thoughts: This is the Princess who saved the west coast! She even shed tears while saying she felt sorry for those suffering from the epidemic. She truly is and even looks like an angel.
…She was just afraid of her father.
She held back her tears as much as she could, but this was an unfair rumor.
It wasn’t a bad rumor, but she still felt conflicted.
She looked at the person next to that one because she was anxious, but there might be another rumor that would make her eyes wide again.
[ James ]
Occupation: Junior Administrative Officer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Lv.35)
Thoughts: This is the Princess who made the terrifying Emperor reverse his order, and she even scolded the Chancellor very hard about the cost. How very virtuous at such a young age.
‘When did I do that!’
[ Abel ]
Occupation: Junior Administrative Officer of the Ministry of Finance (Lv.42)
Thoughts: The Princess persuaded His Majesty and said, ‘How could you weigh the life of a person with money?’ If the medicinal herbs hadn’t been sent on time, it would have been a huge tragedy. I’ve learned the importance of loyalty now.
‘But when did I ever do any of that!’
She couldn’t hide her embarrassment and she kept looking sideways to see them. As they turned their gazes, they each coughed over nothing and pretended that they hadn’t been staring all this time.
‘What now.’
Obviously, these weren’t bad rumors.
However, she never blamed the chancellor. It wouldn’t be good to paint the Emperor’s trusted vassal as someone who could be controlled by a young princess.
In the first place, her father only looked at her side for a moment. She wouldn’t have been able to persuade him with logical words.
“Princess, what’s wrong? Are you frightened because there are people here that you don’t know?”
“Mmh, no.”
She wanted to catch them right then and explain that she never did such significant things. However, this was only an impossible wish.
In the end, there were many things she couldn’t do, so she shook her head. The only thing that comforted Siervian was the blooming white Fipic flower.
‘Huh? What’s that?’
Suddenly, there was a group of weak wisps of light near the Fipic flower. But when she blinked, they were already gone.
‘I must have seen it wrong.’
And from then on, Siervian just enjoyed looking at the flower for a while.
* * *
“You found something suspicious going on in Garambell?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. According to the Captain of the Imperial Knights who was dispatched at the time, someone seemed to have spread the epidemic artificially.”