/
Better for me, though.’
If I couldn’t run away anyways, then getting to see the sisters of that house one less time was the best I could expect.
Anyhow, they really were childish.
Since they couldn’t do anything at the Winter Palace, they were rampaging like this in their own little house.
“Leave them be. Once they feel frustrated again, they’ll just fill in the ground and crawl back in anyways.”
[Madam, why are you so calm? You were acting like you were being dragged to the slaughterhouse just a moment ago. What did His Majesty do this time? Did he, like, tell you off or something?]
“He didn’t go as far as to tell me off, but
..”
“You said you’re confident. So show me your abilities.”
“
.h-how, in this place?”
“Cry.”
“Mmmm
. I don’t know. I’m not even surprised anymore.”
Remembering what Rashid had murmured between his teeth to me a little while before, I shook my hand.
Cry, immediately.
The glint of his eyes as he calmly stood there with his back to his brothers had been so imposing, I couldn’t imagine taking it as a joke.
“
..I knew he was a strange man from the beginning anyways. A tyrant is a tyrant for a reason.”
[But Madam, you look like you’re feeling fine? Did something else happen too?]
“About that.”
I gave a rough summary of what happened with Rashid to Selene, who was as perceptive as usual. That if I helped him out, he would also give compensation.
Once Selene heard that, the way she looked at me changed slightly, like she was finding me a little pathetic.
[Then Madam, are you this excited just because His Majesty said something that small to you?]
“As someone who was employed as a nanny over twenty fish jerkies, is that what you should be saying?”
[Sigh
.. What great thing are you planning to ask for?]
“

.That’s a secret.”
In case she found it heavy, I lifted one finger and ran it down Haniel’s fluffy head.
Haniel was playing, going in and out of my dress skirts like she was riding a wave, oblivious to what we were talking about, and she looked as innocent as a three-year-old child should be.
“By the way, I can’t believe our Haniel is three years old.”
Since not three years had gone by since the former Empress had passed, I had suspected as much, but it really felt different from knowing precisely.
Poor thing.
Did she even remember her birth mother’s face?
***
I knew it was probably something ridiculous to hope for, but even for a short while I wished that she could. No matter how much I became a mother to her, to have another face to remember whenever you looked up at the sky must be a splendid thing to have.
“

”
Though I wouldn’t know that feeling, of course.
“But Selene, what happened to her face?”
[What do you mean, what happened?]
“Now that I look at her, doesn’t she look a bit sad? She wasn’t like this in the morning.”
I lifted the child up to near my face again from where she was scrambling in my skirt, having fun.
Hmmm?
On the outside, she was wearing her bright red ribbon and tilting her head as per usual, but to a mother’s eye, the change was clear.
“Look. The tilt of her head is five degrees lower.”
[Madam, why would you go that far to
.]
“You see that, right? She usually shakes her beak three times, but she only shook it once right now.”
Something definitely happened, definitely.
A mother’s heart was seeing the small thorn wedged in their child’s hand, even if they couldn’t see the bullet in theirs.
And I told you to look over her well!
When I glared down at her with blame in my eyes, Selene flapped her wings helplessly.
[I wasn’t going to tell you in case you were worried, but when we were returning from school, Lady Melleo said something to her again.]
“What? No, why would that granny again!”
[She went on and on about not being ladylike or whatever in front of all the new students, but when she did that she stood right in front of the princess. Looking at that, this is all just her taking out her anger about being kicked by His Majesty, probably.]