Chapter 15
“That’s—”
“That’s?”
Llewellyn paused, his pleasant delusion cut short.
Elonia had indeed talked about the emperor, but every word was something that could not be reported directly to the emperor’s face.
‘Uh, what did Elon say?’
That the princess does not expect His Majesty the Emperor to act as a parent?
That the princess has not the slightest expectation for His Majesty the Emperor’s character?
‘No, no way. I’ll lose my head.’
He had barely kept the head that he nearly lost to the Princess Palace’s mysterious combat maid the other day, so he could not afford to lose it.
Llewellyn wracked his brain to find good descriptors for the emperor.
“Well, that is… The princess said she is proud to be the empire’s princess…”
“And?”
“And that Your Majesty’s eye color is truly beautiful…”
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t a lie.
Elonia did occasionally say such things.
“Well, I was lucky to be born into a good family. I can read books for free, you know.”
“Purple? I do like the color. But why? My eye color is the same as His Majes… Ah, shi…”
She seemed to curse a little at the end, but let’s pretend he didn’t hear that.
Right. He had exaggerated a bit, but putting a positive spin on things wasn’t bad.
Nevertheless, Artius still looked dissatisfied.
“Didn’t she say anything else?”
“That’s… Yes. Anything else…”
As Llewellyn fidgeted anxiously and stammered, Artius seemed to think nothing more would come out and immediately turned around.
“…I see. I have dragged this on too long. I will take my leave.”
Llewellyn, barely freed from his private audience with the emperor, felt all the tension drain from his body as soon as Artius was out of sight, and he clung to the Duchess of Asta’s waist.
“Mother… Did I do something wrong to His Majesty?”
“…No. It won’t be your fault.”
The Duchess of Asta stroked the startled Llewellyn’s back and boarded the carriage.
‘I didn’t like him from the start anyway.’
She hadn’t liked it since that immature brat had lured the innocent and fragile Philemia.
Well, sure.
Honestly, the Duchess was also glad that he didn’t want to have a child out of concern for Philemia’s health.
But what kind of child was Elonia?
The child Philemia had given her life to save.
To treat that one and only precious child like that.
She herself had also ignored Elonia after fighting with Artius in a moment of emotion.
She couldn’t regret it more.
If she had known this would happen, she wouldn’t have done that.
The Duchess asked Llewellyn, “Llewellyn. What kind of person is the princess?”
She had to meet Elonia right away.
Before Artius could pretend to be a shoddy father, that is.
* * *
“An invitation?”
“Yes. It arrived from the Duchess of Asta.”
“Why the Duchess?”
Elonia quickly tore open the invitation.
Skimming through it, the content was that the duchess was grateful for Elonia playing with that immature Llewellyn, and if it was alright, she would like to invite Elonia to the Asta estate and treat her extremely well.
“It’s really out of the blue.”
Elonia pondered.
Griselda Asta was Philemia’s older sister.
Unlike the sickly Philemia, the Duchess of Asta was not only a knight but also a Sword Master.
Moreover, she was regarded as the second strongest knight in Ravanta after Artius and had also participated in the last war with Heilan.
Elonia had no memory of encountering the Duchess at that time.
Because Cheron was a mage as well as a swordsman, he was often in the sky rather than on the ground, and Cheron had only faced Artius in person.
‘It doesn’t seem like she intends to harm me though.’
Well, they were aunt and niece after all, so it was natural.
Elonia’s contemplation didn’t last long.
Since Llewellyn came, she thought the frequency of visits to the Princess Palace had decreased a bit, but recently it had begun to gradually increase again.
Elonia recalled the question that bastard had suddenly barged in and asked her one day.
“Princess. Do you have nothing to say to me?”
“…?”
Does this bastard have a hobby of going crazy from time to time? She had seriously pondered for a moment.
If she had anything to say, it would only be things like “Go drown yourself in a shallow plate of water” or “I’ll slash your throat when I grow up, so wash your neck and wait.”
When Elonia looked at Artius like that, he revised his question.
“…For example, about Prince Llewellyn, whom you recently took in as a playmate.”
When did he ever ask for her opinion before just throwing Llewellyn at her and leaving? She couldn’t understand why Llewellyn suddenly popped up, but Elonia still answered sincerely.
“Ah. I didn’t particularly need a playmate, but since we are cousins, I will try to get along with him.”
But upon hearing those words, Artius got up from his seat for some unknown reason.
With a frown on his nose, at that.
‘You immature bastard. You should say what you don’t like so I know.’
Even if he told her, she had no intention of fixing it, but it was frustratingly suffocating to watch.
‘That Artius bastard. These days he comes to the Princess Palace and only says strange things. I need to take refuge for a while.’
She had made up her mind.
Strike while the iron is hot.
Anyway, that bastard ignores her unless it’s a report concerning her life and death, so going out for a bit wouldn’t be a big problem.
There was no reason to refuse when they were sending both escorts and a carriage.
“Sarah, bring me some letter paper, please. I’m going to reply right away.”
“Yes, Princess.”
Elonia took the letter paper and took out her favorite quill pen, writing crooked letters.
Her handwriting wasn’t satisfactory to begin with, but she felt even more embarrassed because she could clearly feel Sarah trying hard to hold back her laughter behind her.
‘Ugh, I can handle a small black dagger well even with this young body…!’
Elonia barely managed to write a letter with her crooked handwriting and clumsily tried to seal the letter, but Sarah stopped her in the end.
“It’s still dangerous for you, Princess.”
“…I can do it.”
“Hehe. Shall we wait until you’re a bit older?”
Being treated like a child was infuriating, but in Sarah’s eyes, no, in anyone’s eyes, Elonia was truly a child, so she couldn’t even refute it.
The reply to the sent letter arrived quickly, and Elonia prepared to leave the palace.
Wearing a refreshing light green dress that matched well with her cool peppermint-colored hair, Elonia left the palace for the first time.
Thanks to Artius’s order issued when Elonia was a newborn, “Do not make any private reports unless it is a matter of life and death for the princess,” still being well observed, Artius did not notice the princess’s absence until he entered her room.
* * *
Elonia rode a luxurious palace carriage and set foot in the Asta estate.
The Duchessof Asta warmly welcomed Elonia.
“Welcome, Princess. It’s a pleasure to meet you for the first time. I am Griselda Asta. I have been waiting for you.”
“Hello, Duchess Asta. It’s a pleasure to meet you for the first time as well. I am Elonia Ainar Ravanta.”
The Duchess of Asta’s lips curved into a satisfied smile at the polite and cute greeting.
Even Elonia, who sometimes hit Llewellyn with books and called Artius “this bastard,” “that bastard,” and “son of a bitch,” could be polite at times.
Wasn’t the Duchess of Asta Elonia’s aunt?
Moreover, Griselda Asta was the second strongest swordswoman in Ravanta after Artius.
However, as mentioned before, Elonia had never seen her in person.
‘That makes me even more curious.’
The Duchess of Asta’s swordsmanship was said to be so beautiful that rumors about it reached neighboring countries.
She wanted to see her swordsmanship up close right away.
Of course, it was impossible now that she was in the body of a 4-year-old little thing, so Elonia temporarily put aside her desire and acted like the child the Duchess of Asta wanted.
“Thank you for inviting me. I heard you are my late mother’s older sister. May I call you Auntie?”
Elonia, who called Artius things like “idiot,” “that bastard’s son,” “this bastard,” “bastard whose family will be ruined for three generations” instead of Dad, and would never call Llewellyn Oppa even if it killed her, readily called the duchess, whom she was meeting for the first time today, Auntie.
There were reasons for everything.
‘It seems like she invited me secretly from Artius. It looks like she’s not fond of Artius, just like me.’
She had a feeling the duchess would be of great help later when she left home.
Maybe she would even turn a blind eye if Elonia killed Artius.
Thinking that way, she felt a sense of affection and sociability that she didn’t actually have.
As expected, unlike a certain someone, the Duchess of Asta smiled brightly without a single wrinkle on her face.
“Of course. The blood of the Asta family also flows in you, Princess, so we are family.”
“I’m so happy, Auntie! Thank you!”
“Don’t mention it. Now, shall we go inside?”
“Yes!”
Elonia toddled alongside the Duchess of Asta.
The Duchess of Asta matched her stride to Elonia’s.
‘That Artius bastard would never do this.’
It was moving, come to think of it.
Ah, she wanted to secretly come and settle down at the Asta estate after leaving home.
She was already worried about how to make a living after leaving the palace, so it might be helpful to make a good impression on the Duchess.
Then, her gaze suddenly fell on the Duchess’s hair color.
‘Dark peppermint.’
Elonia fiddled with her own light peppermint-colored hair.
The Duchess of Asta’s hair color was much darker, but it was the same peppermint color family.
“Are you curious about my hair color?”
As she fiddled with her hair, the Duchess of Asta asked Elonia with a gentle smile.
Elonia flinched and stammered a reply.
“Well, it’s similar to mine. This is the first time I’ve seen this color other than my own.”
“It’s certainly not a common color. It’s a symbol passed down from the ancestors of the Asta family.”
“I see.”
“Especially the light peppermint color is very rare even within the Asta family. Our ancestor had that hair color. By the way, Philemia, your mother, also had the same light peppermint-colored hair as you, Princess.”
‘Philemia also had the same as me…’
Since peppermint-colored hair itself was uncommon, it really hit home that she and the Duchess of Asta were blood relatives, and furthermore, that her mother was truly that person now.
“…I’ve never met my late mother, not even once.”
All the portraits of Empress Philemia were left only in the Empress Palace or inside Artius’s office and bedroom.
Naturally, Elonia did not know what Philemia looked like.
At those words, the Duchess of Asta’s expression hardened.
“I…see. …We still have that child’s portrait remaining in our residence. Would you like to see it first before you leave?”
“No, it’s alright. If I want to see what my late mother looked like, I can just look in the mirror. Sarah told me that my late mother and I look alike.”
“……”
The more Elonia responded, the worse the Duchess of Asta’s expression became.
The Duchess of Asta glanced back and saw that Sarah, who had accompanied Elonia, also had an equally unpleasant expression.
The two exchanged complicated looks and led the young princess to the reception room.
* * *
The two sipped tea upon arriving at the reception room.
No, the duchess only pretended to drink tea while closely observing Elonia drinking tea.
At an age when one’s eyes would be drawn to sweets, she was drinking black tea straight without adding any sugar or milk.
Moreover, there was no typical restlessness of a young child.
‘Is this how she was educated?’
The Duchess of Asta swallowed her doubts and asked, “This must be your first visit to the Asta estate, right?”
“Yes. But I’ve heard a lot about it from Llewellyn oppa.”
Llewellyn had said the princess absolutely never called him oppa, but it seemed she was saving face for him in front of the duchess.
“I’m always worried that you might be having a hard time because of that immature boy.”
“Not at all. It’s always fun.”
Fun, she said.
Not even happy.
It seemed Elonia was the one entertaining Llewellyn after all.
‘I heard the princess was excessively precocious and mature.’
This wasn’t on the level of being mature.
She was pretending to be calm because she wasn’t even treated as a child by the only remaining parent during a time when she should be growing up receiving love.
Sarah was diligently caring for and loving Elonia as per Philemia’s will, but there was no way that alone could solve it.
Guilt rushed in like waves.
‘I shouldn’t have ignored the princess back then, swayed by my emotions.’