/
‘I should go say hi.’
Siervian strode towards the place where the status window was.
Surprised, Ellie followed behind the child when she saw her suddenly walking over towards the grass.
“Princess?”
The status window continued to express its owner’s predicament.
The one she’s been looking at all this time through the grass was Adante’s status window. She didn’t know that it was him before, however, she was now aware that her escort knight was following her. So, she easily found him.
“Hello!”
“…It is an honor to greet you, Your Highness the Imperial Princess.”
He immediately bent on one knee and bowed down to her to show his courtesy.
Siervian saw his status window often, but it was still amazing to see him like this because it’s the first time she found him like this.
Maybe she could even notice a potential intruder in advance later on?
[ Adante Roid ]
Thoughts: What great perception the Princess has. Erm, His Majesty will definitely scold me once I report that I’ve been caught.
Siervian didn’t mean to get him in trouble though. This was a big deal.
So, she quickly looked around, then she took out a caramel candy out of her pocket.
As she went out and explored more and more, she fell into the habit of carrying one or two sweet snacks with her.
“Here!”
“…Is Your Highness giving this to me?”
“Yeah!”
What she was doing now was nothing short of pretending to be close to the escort knight who was following her around.
Since her father would be monitoring, she at least wanted this to be recognized.
She knew well enough how difficult it would be to evade her father’s eyes anyway.
‘Of course, it’s not like I mean to do anything bad.’
So it was better to soothe his worries by doing this.
She didn’t want to be misunderstood, so she did something more straightforward.
And there was one other thing she had to do.
“Thank you for saving Sebi last time.”
“Ah.”
Hearing this, Adante reached out carefully and accepted the caramel candy.
When the little princess’ small hand hovered over the knight’s huge hand which was used to holding a sword, her hand looked even tinier.
‘I think you like sweet things.’
That’s why she chose to give him a caramel candy as a gift.
After reading his status window a few times, she recalled how he sometimes thought that Siervian’s snacks looked divine.
[ Adante Roid ]
Favorability: +50
Thoughts: It’s a gift from Her Highness, so I shall eat this to my heart’s content. If those other punks try to tease me, this is what I’ll firmly say.
After seeing Adante’s thoughts, Siervian realized that she was right on the mark.
But also thanks to this, Siervian couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.
It seemed like he was being teased a lot about liking sweets.
‘You like it, so you can just eat as much as you want…!’
So, she rummaged in her pocket again. It was the other caramel candy she saved for later, but she figured she could give him one more.
“Here!”
“Are you giving me one more, Princess?”
“Yeah!”
“…Thank you very much.”
[ Favorability: +50 ]
Siervian nodded cheerfully as she watched him hold the caramel preciously.
She was so overwhelmed with joy because of this. It was just like the day when she taught Karmen the greatness of macarons.
“Then it’s a secret that Sebi found you, shhh… Okay?”
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
Momentarily distracted by the candies in his hands, Adante quickly returned to his aloof expression.
It seemed like everything that was bothering him also disappeared from his thoughts, so that’s a good thing.
Looking at him nodding his head calmly, Siervian made a mental note that she should give him more snacks in the future.
* * *
The day of the long-awaited spring picnic had come.
“As expected, bright clothes to match spring would be nice, yes?”
“That’s right, that’s right. How about a bonnet like this since the sun might be too strong?”
“Yes, it’ll look great on Her Highness.”
The ladies-in-waiting had just turned Siervian’s closet upside down and busily went around to dress her up.
Soon enough, she looked as though she’d been transformed into a spring fairy who would flutter about in a meadow in no time.
‘I don’t have to dress up like this though.’
Even when she had a thought like this, she just decided to keep her mouth shut.
Because she could see Ellie and Jane’s pleasantly excited thoughts.
Anyway, Siervian could see why her father was more willing to agree to the picnic today, compared to what she expected before.
“Now then, shall we go? His Majesty’s carriage has come to fetch you.”
“Okay!”
It’s because she was going to the spring picnic with her father himself.
It was unbelievable enough that he allowed her to go on a picnic, but he was even going with her too.
What’s more surprising was that only Siervian was the one who was wondering why her father had decided to do so. The ladies-in-waiting all took it in stride as if it was something he’d naturally do, and this made Siervian even more flustered.
‘Is it because I’m still young, that’s why?’
With great excitement, but with a bit of melancholy, Siervian arrived at the millenary garden.
“Wooow…!”
She suddenly recalled the memories of her previous life a little.
This was because, from a distance away, she clearly saw the sephinel flowers that were in full bloom.
Their purple petals fluttered like waves in the spring breeze, and the white leaves gave off the impression that they were blooming amidst a bed of snow.
“It was prepared well. You’ve done a good job, Grand Chamberlain.”
“Thank you for the kind praise, Your Majesty.”
The small hill with a panoramic view of the sephinel flower garden was perfectly prepared for a picnic of the imperial family.
Sitting there carefully, Siervian looked around at the other people who she would be sitting with.
‘Older Brother is here… but I didn’t know that the Empress would also come.’
She definitely came here alone with her father, but when they arrived, she met the empress.
With a carefully crafted outer mask, the empress smiled.
Just as she avoided looking at the duke not too long ago, Siervian averted her gaze from her.
“Here. These were part of the special arrangements I ordered them to do.”
Then, the emperor offered her a small basket.
“Snacks!”
Refreshments were not normally allowed during the spring picnic.
This was because they had to keep the magically pristine millenary garden as beautiful as possible.
“Can Sebi eat this?”
“Of course.”
Alderuan faced some opposition from the ministers when he ordered this, but he remained steadfast. In the first place, the millenary garden belonged to the imperial family.
Instead, he told them to prepare only the kind of snacks that wouldn’t leave any crumbs.
Of course, it was for his daughter who loved snacks very much.
[ Damian Erveldote ]
Thoughts: I also wanted to give some snacks to Siervian though!
Next to the emperor, the crown prince was as expressionless as ever. It was impossible to read whatever he was thinking on that face.
It seemed to be just like the mask that the empress next to him was wearing.
However, his face wasn’t as scary as the empress’.
‘I don’t know why yet, but my brother said that he’s doing that to protect me…’
Siervian gave a very subtle wink so that only her older brother would see, and then she held out both hands in excitement.
However, her father suddenly took back the box and spoke in a serious tone.
“It’s time for you to do what you promised, Siervy.”
“Um…”
[ Alderuan Erveldote ]
Thoughts: It’s a cheap move on my part, but it couldn’t be helped.
Siervian didn’t think that it’s a cheap move, but it’s true that he was being unfair.
Because his father’s request wasn’t something so easy to do as she thought.
‘You asked me to call you Father!’
Her father gave her this one condition, but it was surprisingly quite difficult to do.
In her previous life, she often called him ‘Father’ when she was young, but she couldn’t remember that time clearly.
“Umm…”
“What kind of promise, Father?” Damian asked.
Her brother was also calling him naturally, too.
When she heard this, Siervian clasped her hands together.
This was so she could muster her courage.
“Fa…”
“Fa?”
[ Alderuan Erveldote ]
Mood: Excited
Her father, who looked exactly like the deadpan crown prince, was apparently very excited.
At that moment, Siervian tried to call him ‘Father’ just like how her older brother did it. But then because she was pushing herself too hard, she slipped up with her pronunciation.
“P… Papa!”
“……”
Wait, that’s not it.
She was going to correct herself and try to say it properly, but then a ton of status windows suddenly flooded her vision.
[ Favorability: +100 ] [ Favorability: +100 ] [ Favorability: +100 ] [ Favorability: +100 ] [ Favorability: +100 ] [ Favorability: +100 ]
[ Alderuan Erveldote ]
Thoughts: I didn’t expect you to call me Papa at all! What a delightful occasion! I should pronounce this day to be a national holiday! The ‘I Was Called Papa’ holiday!
“Fa…”
“Yes, you can call me Papa, Siervy.”
“Fa, Fa…”
“Yes, yes. Now then, eat these.”
She was trying to pronounce it properly this time, but her father wouldn’t listen.
Feeling a little embarrassed because of this, Siervian took the macaron from him without realizing it and then covered her face.
[ Damian Erveldote ]
Thoughts: Papa?! That’s unfair!
[ Cybelle Erveldote ]
Favorability: -100
At that moment, she looked sideways to glance at her older brother’s status window because she was feeling nervous.
Because in front of her brother’s status window, the only thing she could see was the negative of it—that the empress’ favorability points had gone down.
Even so, when she finally saw it, the contents of her brother’s status window was completely unexpected.
[ Damian Erveldote ]
Thoughts: I wish you’d call me Brother, too! ㅠㅁㅠ
Right now, her older brother was just expressionless as he stared at the macaron in front of him in silence.
It’s only natural that she wouldn’t know what he was thinking in her previous life when he usually looked like that despite his thoughts.
Nyam, nyam.
Whenever there’s trouble, the best comfort food was sweet desserts. Siervian carefully took a macaron and chomped down.
She sometimes felt the empress’ gaze, but every time that happened, she moved her little butt closer to her father’s side. She gradually felt a lot better because of that.
“It would have been better if we brought more.”
But it’s not good to eat a lot in this place.
Thanks to this, Siervian’s share of the macarons quickly ran out.
[ Damian Erveldote ]
Thoughts: Now!
The crown prince, who had been waiting for this very chance, spoke up at that moment.
“You can have mine.”
“You can’t do that. You must enjoy your share, too, Crown Prince.”
However, he couldn’t give his share of macarons to his younger sister because the emperor shrewdly intercepted.
[ Alderuan Erveldote ]
Thoughts: Not a chance. I’m the only one who can give Siervy macarons here at the millenary garden.
“…Yes, Father.”
Curiously watching the war of nerves between the father and son duo, Siervian looked away for a moment and then saw the empress right then.
‘Huh?’
——
[ t/n: the version of ‘Father’ that Siervy was asked to use at first (아버지/Aboji) is formal, but it’s different from the even more formal version that Damian uses (아바마마/Abamama) since it’s what royal children use to refer to their father who’s a monarch.
She was trying to say Abamama, but she slipped up and just said only the Aba—>Appa (아빠) part, and this is the least formal version of saying ‘Father’, so it could be translated to ‘Papa’ or ‘Daddy’.
Meanwhile, when Damian said that he wishes that Siervy would call him ‘Brother’, he meant that he wants her to call him informally (오빠/Oppa) rather than formally (오라버니/Oraboni). ]