CH 25

Fwoooosh!

The cabinet slammed open, and white powder poured out like a waterfall. The culprit was obvious even without Sera looking. It’s Her Highness Rosé!

Cough, cough!

Sera coughed loudly because of the fluttering powder. And she couldn’t see anything in front of her because of the flour covering her eyes. Apart from that, white smoke permeated the air.

‘Okay, you got me!’

Sera rubbed her eyes and cheeks roughly. But contrary to her intention, the flour stuck more to her face because of the water that Ferre had sprayed on her.

“Heheheheh.”

“You’re a mess~!”

Their giggles filled the room.

Even as it was difficult to see through her flour-laden eyelids, Sera squinted and found Rosé sitting inside the cabinet. Holding an empty flour sack with a bright face, Rosé looked immaculate with not one speck of flour on her. Or maybe she got some on her sleeves?

“How did you get there?”

Sera asked as she looked up at Rosé, who was sitting at the top shelf of the cabinet, far higher than she could reach.

“I came up using magic!”

With a delighted, devilish smile, Rosé declared this proudly.

“Ah. Magic… Yes, there’s that method.”

The default for Sera was still that other people wouldn’t be able to use magic, just as she couldn’t as well. She had lived in Adelio for 23 years already, but the long-standing notion of the mundane still couldn’t be changed easily. Here, even children could do magic, albeit only small and simple spells due to their unstable mana.

“Yup yup!”

Rosé covered her lips with both hands and laughed, as if she was truly satisfied with the mess Sera was in right now. If it weren’t for that, she looked just like the previous Empress, Charlotte Adelio, when she was a child. She had been known as the ‘Holy Mother.’

“Your Highness Rosé, I would like to carry you so you can come down, but I can’t do that because of my current appearance. Would it be alright if you come down using your magic?”

Sera, who once again confirmed that her entire body was covered in flour, gestured towards Rosé.

“Nuh-uh!”

She shook her small head, and her silver hair fluttered along. She almost looked like a fairy from a legend.

“Then would you like me to catch you instead?”

“Okay.”

Sera carefully lifted Rosé in a way that wouldn’t get any flour on her, then set her down on the floor gently. As soon as Rosé’s feet touched the ground, she quickly stomped towards Ferre and stood in front of him.

“Hey, Ferre!”

Then she hit Ferre on his head with her small hand.

Just what was she doing now? Shocked, Sera rushed to his side and blocked Rosé.

“Your Highness Rosé! How can you hit His Highness Ferre!”

However, Rosé didn’t care about Sera’s scolding and continued to yell at Ferre.

“Ferre! You sold me out! What are you doing here?! This is different from what you told me. I heard it all from the cleaning maids. They said you went to play carriage with the tutor!”

‘Ah… That’s why.’

Sera glanced at Ferre and observed his reaction. It must have hurt considering the sound she heard as he was hit.

And just as she expected, Ferre’s lips trembled as his eyes pooled with tears. He closed his lips tightly and held back the tears that were about to burst soon.

“Your Highness Rosé, His Highness Ferre was only trying to keep his promise with His Majesty Helios. This evening, His Majesty and I are scheduled to talk about what the three of us have done today, but can I tell him that Your Highness Rosé hit His Highness Ferre?”

Right then, Rosé glared at Sera. She seemed to be glaring at the tutor as ferociously as she could, but her pursed lips made her look like a cute duckling. It was an adorable rather than frightening sight.

“What are you going to say to Heli Oppa?”

“I will tell him the truth. That Her Highness Rosé smacked His Highness Ferre on the head.”

Sera, who was smiling affectionately earlier, was now staring at Rosé with a stern look. Rosé flinched, scared by both the tutor’s words and her stare. But it wasn’t Rosé who backed down here.

“If you could do two things for me, I could instead say that Your Highnesses Rosé and Ferre were perfect students today.”

Sera leaned down towards Rosé, who looked up. A smile then dawned upon Sera’s lips, her blue eyes glinting.

“Will you do that?”

“I’ll… I’ll hear you out!”

Candies as bribes were necessary when dealing with children. It wouldn’t be wise to fight the twins during the first day. From the beginning, Sera had already planned to compromise with Rosé and offer her certain conditions.

“What is it? Hur… Hurry up and say it!”

Rosé urged Sera, her eyes revealing her nervousness. Sera smiled at the child’s obvious expressions, then raised two fingers.

“First, please apologize to His Highness Ferre. And second, please ride the carriage that I’ll be driving.”

Rosé glanced sideways at the wagon that Ferre was still in. A while ago, some maids came into this room to clean, and she heard them saying that Ferre was doing something fun with the tutor.

“Now, look over here. This wagon will run fast, and it’ll be a lot of fun. If I don’t give you a ride now, when will you ever be able to ride a carriage down the hall?”

Rosé couldn’t say anything, closing her lips as she agonized over the tempting offer. She wanted to ride the wagon, but apologizing would hurt her pride…!

Sera grabbed the handle of the wagon and pushed it slightly as though she wouldn’t wait for Rosé’s answer.

Rosé’s expression changed significantly.

“Ah… Wa… Wait a sec!”

Rosé hurriedly clung onto Sera’s arm.

“Yes?”

“Um… S-So…”

Rosé’s unwillingness was apparent as she looked at Sera, but then she shifted her gaze towards the wagon. She didn’t want to admit it, but she really wanted to ride that wagon even just once.

”Hiinng… I’ll… I’ll say sorry.”

Rosé murmured in a small voice that could barely be heard.

“Pardon? What did you say? Your Highness’ voice was so quiet that I couldn’t hear you well.”

“I said I’ll say sorry!”

Rosé yelled. Then, she tapped Ferre, who was still crouching, on the shoulder.

“Hey. Ferre. Sorry.”

As Sera watched, she shook a finger, expressing that this wasn’t enough.

“Now, now. From this moment on, we’ll be apologizing to the other person in this way.”

Sera gently lifted the droopy Ferre from the wagon and set him down on his feet.

“Your Highness Rosé did something wrong, so please hug His Highness Ferre.”