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Chapter 5
Siervian knew something was wrong the moment she opened her eyes. It was because nobody woke her up.
Sarah always woke her up at dawn, saying that she needed to learn Imperial etiquette.
‘Where’s everyone?’
Her body felt so heavy. It seemed like her excuse about being sick came true.
Still, Siervian rose from her bed, quelling the desire to go back to sleep. She was nervous because it was too quiet outside.
‘Huh? My clothes?’
Her nightgown had been changed while she was asleep into a thinner, more comfortable nightgown.
She couldn’t believe that she slept through all that, even with someone changing her clothes. As soon as she realized this, Siervian’s face turned pale.
‘It wouldn’t be good if I keep getting sick.’
Siervian struggled to get on her feet, groaning as she reached out to pull the bedside rope. The five-year-old Siervian didn’t have an official schedule yet, but she shouldn’t be too lax. She didn’t want to be called a lazy and incompetent princess.
After a while, Ellie carefully opened the door.
“You’re awake now, Princess.”
“I’m fwine. Where’s Sarah?”
“. . . His Majesty will be here shortly to say something.”
At the mention of her father coming here again, Siervian felt her heart pounding out of her ribcage. Should she not have pretended to sleep last night?
But something strange happened again. A flock of maids with the same uniform as Ellie came one after another into her room, and some of their faces were familiar. They were court ladies in the Princess’s Palace.
“Princess, I have committed a terrible sin!”
“Please forgive us, Your Highness!”
All the maids around Siervian shouted and bowed their heads in unison. Everyone had remorseful expressions.
Faced with an unprecedented situation, Siervian was somehow embarrassed. She held onto her blanket tightly.
What’s going on here?
“Please speak well of us to His Majesty.”
“We didn’t do it on purpose. It was all because of Sarah . . .”
It was the first time in her life that the maids had spoken to Siervian in such a gentle tone. This was also the first time she came to know that there were this many maids in the palace.
Siervian kept quiet until now because she didn’t know what to say to them.
It wasn’t long until her body began to tremble, perhaps because of the dissonance between her body and soul. The many adults that towered over her was too overbearing for a five-year-old child.
‘I can’t breathe.’
What was scarier were their innermost thoughts.
[ Adele ]
Favorability: -100
Thoughts: This is so damn annoying. Is it my fault that she’s sick?
[ Jessie ]
Favorability: -100
Thoughts: Why am I needlessly involved in this.
Siervian was afraid that these people, who never once gave her a smile, were suddenly acting like they cared for her. But what was worse was their inconsistent hearts.
The floating windows surrounded Siervian. These words pierced her exactly the same way as the words that condemned her in her previous life.
It was like an unavoidable fate.
‘I tried not to be hated, but why all of a sudden . . . !’
She wanted to hide beneath her blanket, but she resisted the urge to do so. She realized that such behavior would only grant them even more of a chance to attack her.
That’s what she thought, but her body wouldn’t listen. Her young body was absolutely terrified. She didn’t want to look weak, but she kept crying.
Then, Ellie approached her bed and broke the maids’ formation.
“The Princess needs to take her medicine now. Please step aside.”
[ Ellie ]
Mood: Sorrowful
Thoughts: Her fever needs to go down quickly. Just what are you all doing to the sick Princess, really!
Ellie was the only one who brought medicine to alleviate Siervian’s fever. And she was the only one who truly cared about her.
“. . . Ah.”
Only then did those maids snap back to attention. As if they just remembered that the princess was sick.
Siervian should feel more at ease now because they finally backed off, but somehow, she wanted to cry even more. She bit her lips tightly. She tried to control herself, but it really wasn’t easy. The synchronization still wasn’t good.
By the time her tears fell, several heavy footsteps could be heard from outside the door.
“His Majesty the Emperor is entering.”
The disoriented maids backed away to the walls and bowed their heads.
Ellie, who was in the middle of feeding strawberry-flavored medicine to Siervian, stepped away as well, her lips in a tight line as if she were expecting the worse. She didn’t forget to give the rest of the medicine to Siervian.
‘Just what the hell is going on?’
At that moment, the door burst open.
Siervian’s father walked into the room and towards the bed without any hesitation in his gait, then looked directly at her.
From then on, silent steps continued to pour in after the door had been opened roughly. The guards who followed her father quieted their steps awkwardly and came in slowly.
“I put you under probation, but what exactly are you doing?”
At the mention of ‘probation’, Siervian eyes glistened with tears. Something definitely happened while she was sleeping. She really did something wrong, then.
“How dare you make a fuss when my daughter’s sick?”
Huh?
Siervian, who was clasping her blanket with her tiny fists, barely raised her head.
Her father’s status window soon entered her vision.
[ Alderuan Erveldotte ]
Mood: Enraged
Thoughts: That child is in so much pain that she started crying. Those snowy cheeks are filled with tears. How sad it must’ve been for her to have suffered all alone. I’m so angry that everything’s tainted red.
“Capture all of them now!”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
His cold voice brought more tears to her eyes. She flinched reflexively, on the verge of hiding under her blanket.
Then, her father’s thoughts suddenly appeared.
[Alderuan Erveldotte ]
Thoughts: You all weren’t even thinking about taking this child’s pain away, and now you surround her like vultures just to escape punishment. Disgraceful things. I’ll make everyone here pay for their crimes.
By the way, Siervian’s pallor isn’t looking good. Should I change the Imperial doctor? Should I scour the entire Empire to bring every medicinal herb so that her suffering will end? There should also be a thorough research on her illness so that generations to come may study it.
The status window expressing his concerns was too long to read.
“P-please spare us, Your Majesty!”
Dazed, Siervian blinked, and the tears that were at the corners of her eyes dropped down. With this child’s body, it was hard for her to control it even if she did her best.
Siervian quickly wiped away her tears, but the Emperor’s expression twisted even further. And once again, the status window popped up, telling her how furious he was.
“Hiccup!”
Even while knowing that her father’s wrath wasn’t directed at her, her young body still felt afraid.
The Emperor, realizing that he surprised his daughter, hastily added.
“I’ll replace all your maids.”
Right then, her eyes zeroed in on Ellie, who was also being taken away by a knight.
‘You can’t!’
She quickly jumped up and rolled down her bed. She didn’t care about replacing all the maids, but Ellie shouldn’t leave.
Today, when everyone came here to plead for their own lives, Ellie was the only good person who brought her medicine.
“Siervian?”
“N-no, you can’t . . .”
Ellie shouldn’t be treated the same way as the others.
Siervian hurried over to Ellie, grabbed the hem of her skirt, and clung on as if her life depended on it. The knight who was dragging the maid away got startled and ended up relinquishing his hold.
“Princess!”
“You can’t get Eri!”
She quickly wracked her head.
Siervian didn’t know why this was happening. Her father never replaced all her maids in her previous life.
And of course, he was never meant to visit last night.
‘I need to organize my thoughts.’
Everything happened so fast that she desperately squeezed out anything at all to defend Ellie.
That’s definitely what she needed to do.
“Siervian.”
“But I dwon’t want Eri to go . . .”
“All the maids need to undergo an investigation.”
Her father’s tone was stern, as if he wouldn’t heed her request. She could feel the dread pouring down on her.
It was like she was back in that cold prison cell. Nobody listened no matter how many times she told them she never did anything like black magic.
No one believed her.
“Y-you cwan’t, huu . . . uwaaaah—”
Obviously, she had formed proper sentences in her head to defend Ellie.
‘Ellie has always been nice to me.’
‘Unlike the other maids, Ellie brought me medicine because I’m sick.’
However, she couldn’t use these words properly because her body still hadn’t synchronized with her mind. Even if she managed to pluck the courage to speak up, nothing was ever expressed properly to her father. Everything was swept away by her tears.
‘I’ll be hated for this, too. No adult likes crying children.’
Did she ruin everything again? She couldn’t believe she just spoke against her father’s orders.
“Siervian.”
The Emperor felt his mouth go dry when Siervian suddenly started wailing. If her tears would keep flowing, then he’d definitely want to destroy this whole palace.
When Siervian heard her name being called, she raised her head.
“Is it Ellie?”
“Hiccup!”
[ Alderuan Erveldotte ]
Thoughts: Even her crying face is lovely. I’ll have to find out later if it’s possible that the Mana’s Spirit could be born as a human.
Anyway, there must be a reason why Siervian is holding on to a maid named Ellie.
Siervian nervously saw Ellie’s name in the Emperor’s thoughts. Her eyes were full of tears, so she couldn’t read the status window properly.
The Emperor spoke briefly to the trembling Ellie and pointed a finger.
“You. You’re the new head maid.”
“W-what? But, Your Majesty, I’m hardly qualified . . .”
“Hiccup!”
She could feel Ellie’s surprise. Siervian didn’t expect this either.
“Do it.”
“. . . Yes, Your Majesty.”
The Emperor had no intention of rescinding his order. That’s because Siervian continued to cry while siding with that maid.
In the end, Ellie had no choice but to hug and pat the little princess who was still clinging onto her.
[ Ellie ]
Occupation: Head maid (new!)
Thoughts: I have to take good care of the Princess!
And just like that, Ellie became the head maid of the Imperial Princess’s Palace.
* * *
A few days later, Siervian was sitting at a table in the middle of a lush green expanse. She was at the Emperor’s private garden, which was completely managed by magic.
“. . .”
“. . .”
On the other side of the table was the owner of the garden, whose gaze was trained intently on her.
The Erveldotte Empire was located at the northernmost part of the continent. During the First Continental War, the First Emperor Erveldotte, who had an excellent control over magic, tanked through the defenses of other countries.
Originally, the northernmost part of the continent was barren and frigid, but this changed when the First Emperor had cast a powerful spell to control the climate.
‘The First Emperor was a great mage.’
In her previous life, Siervian fervently studied history.
The First Emperor’s achievements were countless, but his finest accomplishment was the climate control barrier that covered the entire Empire.
If she looked far away, snow-covered mountains could still be seen. However, flowers bloomed and butterflies flew around her in this garden, even though that mountain wasn’t that far from the Imperial Palace.
It was amazing how the temperature was being controlled in such a wide area.
“Are you feeling better now?”
Her father, who had been silent until now, finally spoke.
His eyes were like two lakes on the highest mountain of the cold north.
[ Alderuan Erveldotte ]
Thoughts: You’re looking especially pretty today. The garden pales in comparison. The gardener should feel ashamed.
As always, his thoughts were the opposite of his chilly exterior.
Today, Siervian was wearing a frilly, pastel pink dress. It was nice and light, and it went well with her dark-colored hair.
The first thing Ellie did as the new head maid was to change all the contents of the palace’s gloomy closet.
‘But why did you call me all of a sudden?’
Siervian still felt very nervous in front of her father.
Even so, she was in a good mood today. It had been a long time since she wore pretty clothes, and she finally got a chance to see the Emperor’s beautiful private garden.
She didn’t know when else she’d be able to come here.
“Yes, Your Hwighness.”
So, with a relaxed mind, she answered politely.
[ Alderuan Erveldotte ]
Favorability: +100
Mood: ♡ My daughter ♡ I’m – so – disappointed
But then he suddenly said he was upset.
The peaceful tea time had been going well until now, but the tension was once again renewed.