Chapter 71

Rieta read the entire letter quickly and smiled.

“It was nothing.”

Rieta spoke in the kingdom language, which he thought was probably the influence of her reading the letter in said language.

To this, the Duke naturally answered in the same language.

“It’s nothing?”

“It seems that my father has at least a bit of conscience.”

A letter worthy of such a good evaluation had come?

The Duke looked at the cash and letter that Rieta had put down, and attempted to guess the contents.

Did he send pocket money?

It would be Rieta’s birthday in a little while . . .

No, it can’t be. Not the man who didn’t arrange for the little Princess to learn a single word before she crossed the border.

There was no way he could have such a normal thought.

Maybe he was sending the money to tell her, I’m sending you a budget for your birthday, so do whatever you want.

That was the ‘bit of conscience’ that the Duke came up with.

However, Rieta’s answer was not what he had assumed.

“Since I was taken care of by the Empire, I have to buy a present for the Princess on her birthday. He entrusted it to me.”

“. . . ?”

The Duke looked at Rieta with his eyes narrowed.

He didn’t think that was all.

“Really. Would you like to see?”

Rieta handed the Duke her father’s letter.

The Duke read the full text of the letter, which had been written by the King of Liz on the spot in about thirty seconds.

After all, it was only one sentence.

Buy the Princess’ birthday present.

So the King of Liz sent the money to Rieta to celebrate the Princess’s birthday.

That was because Liz was greatly indebted to the Empire.

Of course, his orders were not wrong.

But if he knew the Princess’s birth date . . .

Wasn’t it also natural to notice that the date was the same date as Rieta’s birthday?

Even the Emperor, who has no relationship to Rieta whatsoever, knew and cared about it!

“What a relief.”

Still, Rieta hugged the letter that the Duke returned and smiled quite pleasantly.

It wasn’t as though it were a good letter.

. . .What a relief?

What was so relieving about it?

The Duke was very curious, but Rieta did not tell him.

* * *

That afternoon, it was snack time.

Rieta told Noel that she would represent the Kingdom of Liz and attend the Princess’s birthday party.

“What?”

Noel was startled and spilled apple juice on his clothes.

“By what qualification do you represent the kingdom?!”

He became angry, rubbing his clothes with a napkin.

Of course, that was a very stupid question.

“Noel, I am a Princess. The Princess who has the first right of succession.”

“Yeah, that’s right, but!”

“The Kingdom of Liz is indebted to the Empire. Of course, I will celebrate the birthday of the Princess whom the Empire loves with ‘simplicity’.”

“Huh.”

Noel shook his head with a pout.

“She won’t like to celebrate with your flat kingdom pronunciation at all!”

He said, “What is simplicity? It’s sincerity.”

He pointed out the problem with Rieta’s pronunciation.

“Don’t make fun of me. The teacher said that I’ve improved a lot.”

“What improvements? Wouldn’t it be better not to go there? In the first place . . .”

. . . It’s your birthday.

Noel had the words on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn’t say it.

“Besides, you don’t know any Imperial etiquette in the first place. If you go, you’ll only be embarrassed.”

“It’s okay. The Duke will come with me.”

“Uh . . .”

By then, Noel had no reason to stop Rieta from going to the party.

What to do?

He had two concerns.

One, he had already decided what to do on Rieta’s birthday.

If she went to the Princess’s party, she would only return to the house at night, and all his plans to entertain Rieta would be thwarted.

And the second problem was a little more serious.

“Lord, is Princess Liz going to the Princess’s party too? If so, I also want to say hello to Princess Liz on that day. Is that okay?”

The point was that the County’s little Lord, who always wanted to see Rieta in such an annoying manner, had sent that said letter.

Of course, Noel had sent a letter of refusal.

“I’m sorry, but that day is also the birthday of Princess Liz. We’ll have a good time in the mansion, we won’t see you. See you later at the New Year’s party.”

A letter with a lot of condescending words, too.

But when Rieta attended the party, it’s clear that the condescending words would be thrown back in his face.

“Noel?”

Maybe it was because his expression wasn’t good.

Rieta was looking at him worriedly.

Ugh, what to do with this gentle Princess? The Empire was also infested with fearsome people.

“You, you shouldn’t go to the party and just become friends with anyone.”

“Uh . . . why not?”

“Because!”

Noel screamed the word as though it were obvious.