Chapter 13
“Sarah!”
Elonia hurriedly entered the Imperial Princess Palace and immediately searched for Sarah.
Sarah promptly came out to greet Elonia and said, “Oh, Princess! I was just about to go looking for you!”
“Huh? Why?”
“I just received word from the Main Palace that the prince who will be your playmate today has entered the palace.”
‘Crap, it was real.’
This was a big problem.
She had grabbed him, held a sword to his neck, and even made him fall on his bottom.
‘……Let’s pretend I don’t know.’
Elonia decided to bury the happening in her heart.
Even if Prince Asta tried to find the maid who had been rude to him, he would never be able to find her in his lifetime.
Brown hair was common, but there were no maids in the Imperial Princess Palace with brown hair and purple eyes.
Moreover, there were no witnesses, so this was the perfect crime.
“Now, Princess. Shall we go change your clothes? Oh my, your clothes are covered in grass stains.”
“Hmm…… I was sitting down.”
“Oh, now that you mention it, I don’t see the book you took out with you.”
“Ah, ah! Right. I must have left it behind.”
“Even you forget things sometimes, Princess. Hehe.”
Sarah, who had always worried about how mature Elonia was, laughed at seeing this childlike side of the princess for the first time.
Then Vivi and Lisa, the other maids standing next to her, chimed in.
“That’s right. You’re always so sharp.”
“I’ll go out and find the book right away!”
“Ah, no! It’s fine! I’ll find it later!”
Elonia was worried that Prince Asta might still be there.
She hurriedly waved her hands in refusal.
“Oh my. But that’s something we should be doing, Princess.”
“No, just leave it! I finished reading it anyway! Someone will find it and clean it up!”
“Well, if you say so……”
“Sarah, I want to change clothes quickly. Let’s go.”
Elonia awkwardly smiled and urged Sarah.
Sarah couldn’t hide her motherly smile as she took out new clothes.
“You’re being especially cute today. Shall we go, Princess?”
So Elonia changed clothes and headed to the reception room.
And naturally, the one sitting in the reception room was that brat from earlier.
“Nice to meet you, I am Llewellyn Asta.”
He had fluffy pink cotton candy hair and was, according to the family tree, Elonia’s cousin.
And so……
“Bring that maid here right now! How dare she hold a blade to my neck and injure me!”
“But the maid you speak of truly does not exist in our palace. In the first place, no one can enter the rear garden carrying a weapon. The knights are all monitoring—”
“Then what did she hold to my neck! Her nails?! It was definitely cold!”
……it had turned into this mess.
‘I thought he was an assassin transformed into a child!’
If she had known he was just a little kid who really came to be her playmate, she wouldn’t have bothered changing her appearance for no reason.
Having lived her past life a bit intensely, she had become overly vigilant, leading to this situation.
‘Now that it’s come to this, I should clarify the situation.’
Putting aside that this happened due to a misunderstanding, she couldn’t stand that pampered young master’s loud whining.
Elonia quietly picked up her teacup.
Clink
Llewellyn and the maids’ gazes focused on Elonia.
“Prince. I guarantee it. There really is no such maid in the Imperial Princess Palace.”
“……Then, couldn’t she be a maid from the Main Palace?”
Llewellyn retorted, pouting his lips.
Elonia avoided his gaze slightly so as not to be caught lying and replied, “Well. I don’t know which palace that maid belongs to, but I watched the situation. Listening carefully to what the maid said, it seems she wasn’t trying to harm me, but her body reacted first because of your identity sneaking into my rear garden.”
Llewellyn’s face turned red and blue at Elonia’s answer.
He flinched as if it was true that he had snuck in, but with his inflated pride, he instead raised his voice, “Then even though you knew I was in danger, Princess! And how do you explain the blade that maid held to my neck!”
“What blade. It was her nails.”
“Wh-what? Really?”
No, that was a lie.
Sorry, but I borrowed your words.
As Sarah said, no one could enter the rear garden of the Imperial Princess Palace carrying a weapon.
The emperor had decreed it, so who would dare disobey?
Still, Elonia began coldly rebuking the unconvinced little boy with her short tongue.
“I’m sorry, but to me, Prince, you are not a guest but an uninvi…… uninvited brat. I thought you were an assassin, and who in the world would care about the well-being of an assassin? In the first place, it was you who snuck in, wasn’t it? So why are you pressuring our maids?”
“Th-that’s……”
This immature prince seemed to hate apologizing even if it killed him, so he just clutched the hem of his pants and glared with tearful eyes as if resentful.
Even Elonia, who had a soft spot for children, was different this time.
She felt a bit sorry for threatening him first, but she was annoyed to see him pressuring her maids in front of the imperial princess, especially Sarah, her head maid.
How little did one have to know the imperial princess to yell at her maids, especially the head maid, in her presence?
Philemia was said to be so kind, so why was her nephew like this?
Elonia sighed heavily.
Meanwhile, Sarah and the maids found that little princess who shielded them so admirable, lovely, and pretty.
‘Our princess, an angel……!’
‘So cute. Look at her mispronunciation.’
‘So kind-hearted and full of dignity, adorable.’
Elonia, not noticing the maids communicating with their eyes, dismissed all of them, saying she had things to discuss with her peer.
The maids hid their pleased expressions and withdrew.
“Then please have your conversation.”
“Call us if you need anything.”
“Okay, thank you.”
Once the door closed, only the two of them remained in the reception room.
After dismissing all the maids, Elonia completely dropped the facade she had put on in front of Sarah.
“……”
“……Wh-what! You think glaring at me like that will make me scared!?”
‘This disrespectful brat.’
He had no eye for people, immediately mouthing off to the imperial princess.
‘I’ve already lived for 24 years, but I have to hear this crap from a 10-year-old?’
Elonia furrowed her brows and rested her chin on her hand.
They wanted her to make a playmate out of this?
‘Artius played me again.’
That son of a bitch, I won’t let him off easy.
He won’t die peacefully, that’s for sure.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
Elonia also lost her temper.
“Hey.”
“……Did you just call me ‘hey’?”
Llewellyn’s eyes went wide in disbelief.
He clearly hadn’t expected to be addressed like that.
“Yeah. Hey. Who’s hurting that you’re being so loud? And you dare mouth off to the imperial princess? You little ill-mannered brat, where are you from.”
“I-I’m older than you! And you’re the little one! You can’t even pronounce properly! I’m your older cousin!”
“Being my older cousin means you can mouth off to the imperial princess? Also, I hate the word “oppa” and your very existence.”
“Y-you……!”
Elonia never yielded to Llewellyn.
Even though the child was innocent, the term “oppa” reminded her of the two bastards in Heilan (well, one of them was in Ravanta now).
‘Ugh, remembering them again makes me sick.’
Elonia hurriedly cursed the two bastards in her mind, erased them, and got straight to the point, thinking there was no point in arguing with this kid who was a gentleman compared to them.
“You, Prince Asta, you snuck into the rear garden, right? Even if you don’t know, the Duke of Asta is so worried about how immature his second son is.”
“I-I know that too!”
Llewellyn stuttered.
But he seemed to hate being scolded by his mother, judging by his very amusing expression.
The Duke of Asta was Elonia’s only aunt.
She had never met the Duke of Asta, but she had heard about her from Sarah and the maids.
From what she had briefly learned earlier, the Duke of Asta was feeling disillusioned with education because of her immature second son who thought he was the only one in the world who was great.
Elonia sneered.
“You know but you act like that? Not only did you secretly enter the rear garden of the Imperial Princess Palace, but you’re also trying to find and retaliate against the maid who tried to stop you out of concern for the princess’s safety. Would it be okay if this directly reaches the ears of the Duke of Asta? Oh right, you even mouthed off to the imperial princess.”
“Th-that’s……!”
“Anyway, only you and I directly witnessed that incident. Let’s just cover it up.”
“Ugh……!”
When threatened with the Duke of Asta, the arrogant cotton candy brat couldn’t move an inch as expected.
‘Scary things work well as threats for little kids.’
It was a method that worked well when Olivia occasionally threw tantrums.
Right now, at the age of four, her dignity was a bit lacking due to her poor pronunciation, but still.
Llewellyn seemed restless, probably worried that Elonia might really tell the adults.
‘Come to think of it, he seems to be around the same age as Olivia.’
Thinking that way, she felt a bit sorry for him.
‘Should I show some goodwill? We’ll have to get along anyway since Artius sent him.’
Come to think of it, Llewellyn Asta was a genius who had entered Lucid Academy early at the age of 10.
‘I could extract some stories about the Academy from him?’
She wanted to go, but she was still too young, and she was tired of reading about Lucid Academy in books.
She wanted to hear vivid stories about the Academy.
‘But it’s too noisy in the current state.’
She decided to be lenient.
She had to shape him up a bit.
Who knows?
If she treats him well when he’s young, maybe he won’t forget the favor and repay her later when she kills the emperor and escapes the palace.
Elonia held out her hand.
“Wh-what!”
“The book, please. Actually, I couldn’t finish reading it earlier.”
“……Here. You go.”
“Stay quiet while I finish reading this.”
“……”
Llewellyn nodded, his lips pressed tightly shut, looking resentful.
Elonia took the book and read the last few remaining pages to the end.
‘Knowing how it ends makes me feel a bit refreshed.’
Actually, she couldn’t read the important part earlier because of that brat.
Thinking that way, she was angry that her peaceful time had been disturbed, but Elonia wasn’t a petty adult who would get mad at a little kid.
Elonia praised Llewellyn, who had kept his mouth shut for about 10 minutes.
“You stayed quiet well. Anyway, since His Majesty sent you as a playmate, I’ll play with you, but you’re too noisy.”
“You think I’m a dog? ……Huh?”
“You really can’t speak politely, can you? If you listen well, I’ll let you speak casually to me from now on.”
“……Listen well? What’s the criteria for that?”
“That’s for you to figure out and judge. Anyway, let’s forget the previous incident and get along well.”
Elonia held out her hand.
The ratio of carrot and stick was important in everything.
Llewellyn, looking resentful at being teased so much, reluctantly took Elonia’s hand.
* * *
One month later.
It was a weekend when Llewellyn came to play.
Llewellyn vigorously flung open the door to Elonia’s study and cheerfully called out, “Elon! Let’s play!”
“……I’m studying right now, Lwe. ……Llewellyn.”
Ah, how annoying.
Because Llewellyn had barged in again while she was studying, Elonia almost inadvertently made a short-tongued sound.
Knowing that Elonia disliked her short tongue, Llewellyn thought this was his chance and started teasing her.
“You almost made a short-tongued sound again! See, this is proof that you’re still young. Come on, say it with respect and affection, Llewellyn oppa.”
“Shaddap. I’ll bit your tongue off.”
“Shyaddup. Ayl bit your tong op.”
“……”
Elonia felt around on the desk for a weapon.
Luckily, there was a book of suitable thickness today.
As Elonia quietly picked up the intellectual blunt weapon, Llewellyn stopped his antics and quickly became docile.
“……Sorry, my bad. Please put that down.”
The books Elonia picked up were always hardcover.
Llewellyn knew very well from his experience over the past month how much it hurt to be hit by that.
“Apologize properly.”
“Yes……”
Llewellyn shrank meekly into a corner of the sofa, looking crestfallen.