Chapter 5

She thought she would be able to hear the words ‘wash up’ from the native speaker.

“…..”

However, in contrast to her expectations, the native speaker remained silent.

Oh, she remembered.

Rieta recalled another fact.

There was something like this in the description of the novel.

In the Empire, people of low societal status rarely spoke first.

Thus, Rieta had to talk to them first.

She smiled and said, ‘Thank you.’

Then, the maid looked around in surprise, bowing deeply.

“T-thank you, Princess. You’re really sweet.”

Rieta didn’t understand the word ‘sweet’, but she could tell it was a kind of compliment.

All right, she’ll use it right away.

She said to another servant who had brought her breakfast after a while.

“Thank you. You’re so sweet.”

Her pronunciation was a little awkward, but her message seemed to have been clearly conveyed to the servant.

She was very happy to see that.

“It’s an honor, Princess.”

Um, this must have been some kind of modesty.

“If you have anything you would like to eat, feel free to ask. I’ll tell the chef.”

And suddenly, difficult words poured out.

Rieta, not panicking, just answered with a smile.

This morning, she only ate one egg on the plate, two pieces of broccoli, and five carrots.

“A-are you finished?”

This time, the maid who came to pick up the plate asked.

Rieta understood the meaning immediately and nodded slightly as she looked at the leftovers.

When the maid left, Rieta stretched over the cozy chair.

Whoa, this was tiring.

It was difficult to pretend to understand everything.

‘Why didn’t you tell me you didn’t know?’

She thought so for a moment, but she didn’t think she would receive a good response even if she said it.

She didn’t want to be lazy or pathetic in someone else’s house.

Rieta took out the paper she had left in her pocket.

It was the Imperial language that her father wrote for her when she left the kingdom.

‘If you panic, you might make mistakes, so you must repeat this several times to perfect it.’

Her father’s ugly handwriting exuded the feeling of ‘I will die because I am too lazy to write it down,’ so she hated to see it for some reason.

Even so, she couldn’t throw it away.

This was all she had.

*****

It was bothersome to spend the morning because Rietta was stuck in her room alone.

In the afternoon, the butler who showed her around the house yesterday came and began to take Rieta somewhere.

Did the Duke call her?

When she followed him due to curiosity, she found a bookshelf.

There were also quite a few books that children could read.

The problem was that it was all in the Imperial Language.

However, it was good to come to a place with many books.

Maybe she can find a book that will help her.

She practiced what she learned today from the butler.

“Thank you, you’re truly sweet.”

She must tell the butler that she liked this place.

He bent his knees slightly and issued another kind word.

Maybe it meant call me if you need help.

Rieta nodded bravely.

After the butler left, she looked around the children’s bookshelf.

It was fortunate that the letters here were based upon a phonetic system.

Based on what King Liz wrote, she could stutter some of the letters.

…But she didn’t know their meanings yet.

Then, Rieta suddenly found a familiar book.

A children’s book with a smile on its cover.

Oh, by God, she knew this book!

It’s “A Sweet Squirrel.”

Rietta was greatly enlightened after managing to read the letters on the cover.

“That meant being sweet!”

After yelling in the language of the Kingdom unconsciously, she quickly covered her mouth with her hands.

Anyways, she was glad to learn the meaning of the new words for herself.

Besides, since she had a book that had the content, she could learn more from here on out!

Once she identified a certain path, she felt better for some reason.

“Next time I come, I will ask for paper and ink and bring it back.”

She just mumbled and liked it for a while.

“…But what’s paper in the Imperial Language?”

As time went by, she found herself deep in the heart of the mountain. (첩첩산중/Heart of mountain meaning

like other obstacles or hardships.)

She looked around with a troubled expression and the only book she knew in her arms.

In the meantime, she tried to not be bothered about it.

Because standing in a place filled with all kinds of strange things.

…It was a little bit scary.

*****

“The children’s books are here. The young master is reading over there near that bookshelf.”

“Thank you. You’re really sweet.”

Noel frowned at Rieta, whom he heard from behind the bookshelves, and her messy Imperial language.

‘Uh….’

No matter how difficult a foreign language was, she was still so bad at it.

Noel also learned little bits of other languages, but his pronunciation was not that bad.