Chapter 3
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“Come here.”
The Emperor, who asked her to come, sat Elaine on his lap.
Elaine began to hiccup as she sat on the Emperor’s lap.
“Hiccup!”
“Hmm? What’s wrong with you?”
“She must be surprised by the sudden change in height.”
“It seems it was for trivial reasons.”
‘No! These people! Why would one hiccup just for that reason!’
I wonder how little he thinks of himself.
When Elaine, who relaxed a little thanks to him, stopped her hiccups, the Emperor said, “It’s a big deal too.”
“You seem to have adapted.”
“Yes! Adapted!”
This posture was still uncomfortable, but what could she do?
Elaine exclaimed, as lively as possible, without showing discomfort.
But there was still a bigger challenge left to tackle.
‘Uh, he’s even more jaw-dropping up close.’
There, sat a handsome man who looked like an ice sculpture, who said,”Oh! You might think I’m handsome but in reality, I’m different.”
His eyes were so cold that it could cause anyone to freeze if they looked into them.
He had a breathtaking atmosphere and energy surrounding him.
Paired with a violent charisma that overwhelms everything.
That’s Douglas Benedict, who’s all that.
The ice sculpture said with a cold stare.
“The thing you mentioned earlier, tell it in detail.”
“Moby’s grandfather?”
“Yes, if he were the king, he would’ve wanted to hide it.”
“Um…”
Elaine, stroking her chin with her hand, was lost in thought.
If she satisfied his curiosity now, she might be able to deem herself as a ‘little, useful child’.
‘But the weakness of the Duke of Moby Grande! There’s no way I know that…!’
“Ah! I remember!”
The Emperor and Arnold flinched with Elaine’s loud cry.
Elaine pointed to his head, ignoring the two men staring at her.
“Moby’s grandfather is actually bald!”
Political enemies.
Their expectations dropped a little after hearing Elaine’s lively voice.
“Ahahaha, bald. That would certainly make me want to hide it,” Arnold said with a smile.
“As expected, she’s a kid. I shouldn’t have expected anything more.”
The Emperor clicked his tongue, thinking pitifully of himself for having listened seriously to the child.
But the child’s words were not finished yet.
“And he said that in his room, there’s a book with a flower picture on it in his bookshelf that is actually a ledger for the secrets.”
“!”
Surprise was written all over the Emperor’s face.
Looking at Arnold, he also didn’t know such confidential information would come out of the child’s mouth.
Too much systematic information for a child to lie. Elaine smiled and waved the Emperor’s sleeve.
This information was too detailed for a child to just make up. Elaine smiled and touched the Emperor’s sleeve.
“Hehe, am I good?”
“Yes, you are.”
“Hehe, Mr Arno is good too!”
(This turned into a complicated situation.)
Did the surprise attack work?
While he was thinking about something while touching his chin, he handed the child over to Arnold and said,
“Send her to the right room.”
“Then I’ll take her to the palace…”
“Arnold, do you intend to make me say it twice?”
“Oh, that’s right. I’ll send her to a suitable location in the main palace.”
Only then did the unimpressed emperor nod.
Elaine, who was roughly promoted to a new room, cried out “Nice!” on the inside.
***
The emperor sent two maids to Elaine.
These maids only choose to serve aristocratic children. Not only was it very unusual, this decision didn’t make sense since she was just a hostage there.
Elaine, who was moved to the guest room whilst being carried by the maid, blinked her eyes quickly.
All of them seemed to be professionals, like cogs in a machine, they were moving naturally and speedily. Holding up the curtains, straightening the bedding and all.
Although there was a reemployment, he still has employed a considerably large number of talented people.
‘Although I’ve given him a weakness, he’s assigned a lot of capable people to me.’
“Well, the Chancellor’s not just one weakness, he’s as much as a weakness I can take at a time”
“Well, it would be correct to say that it’s not just one weakness, but his biggest weakness.”
A giant kingdom, with a ledger.
In other words, it is clear that it has many bad things surrounding it.
At that moment, the maid that was busy taking off Elaine’s shoes with an expressionless face said,
“I’ll help you take a bath before dinner.”
“Thank you.”
“I’ll be using a bath bomb. Is there a specific scent you’d like?”
“Um, anything is fine.”
“…”
Hesitated.
The hand that was taking off her socks paused.
The corners of the maid’s mouth moved slightly up and down.
Shaking her head at the reaction, Elaine clenched her fists, pushing everything she felt down.
‘You need to be a good girl in order to stay in the Empire.’
Before Elaine’s reincarnation, the real princess of Astor was forced out of the Empire.
If Elaine goes through such an experience as well, she would die.
‘I escaped that hell for a reason, I can’t go back there.’
Elaine sat down at the table, her mouth already salivating over the food.
By the age of four, she was not physically abused but she had had a poor diet ever since then.
‘People would usually guess my eating habit, considering how I was older yet I was still small. I would say it was after I turned 20 and had eaten terrible food did I start developing a poor diet.’
It was sad to learn how her meals were even worse than the servant’s meal at the palace.
Elaine gazed at the maids that the emperor had assigned, with a determined expression.
The most powerful weapon a four-year-old has.
Her fingers were close to shriveling up and dying as she yearned for the delicious meal…!
“Omni! Omni, come with me.”
The maid, who was gently wiping Elaine’s shivering body with a large towel, froze.
At this point, Elaine was drooling over the food in front of her.
Would it not melt everyone’s heart if they see a child tightly holding onto their hand with bright shining eyes?
“… Ah.”
Eventually, the maid’s face, as stern as an iron fortress, collapsed.
The maid sighed, annoyed and said,
“I can’t stand it anymore.”
“Bailey!”
“Stop her!”
“What?!”
A maid called Bailey quickly rushed in with a towel soaked in warm water, in which she used to lightly hug Elaine as she rubbed her soft cheeks.
“But she’s so cute!”
“Stop it! She is the princess of Astor Kingdom.”
“But she’s only four!”
“…I think doing that is dangerous.”
“Get that pervert out of here right now!”
“No, I just like looking at cute stuff!”
“Shut up!”
So noisy.
The little disturbance passed as a dwarf sized maid came and dragged the maid in question away.
Sighing at the sight of the maid being dragged away, the maid that was attending to her shook her head before approaching Elaine.
She then proceeded to carefully and gently dress her in comfortable clothes that were easy to move in.
“You were very surprised, weren’t you? I hope you won’t be too afraid of me. I’m a kind-hearted person, after all.”
“Oh, uh yeah, she was acting pretty gangster-like.”
“Oh my, you’re so mature. I thought you were so brave as well! My name is Alice, I look forward to working with you.”
“I look forward to your kind cooperation as well.”
Elaine lowered her head, trying to relax her frozen body as much as possible.
“I thought you were being hard on me for being a hostage…”
Looking at Alice’s face which seemed more comfortable now, it seemed that she was simply nervous over Bailey’s sudden and unexpected actions.
***
Throughout her whole life before the regression, she had never experienced such a luxurious meal.
Alice wiped Elaine’s mouth before asking softly.
“Is it good?”
“Yes! Drink!”
Elaine shouted with sincerity, not knowing that she had more strength in her neck than usual.
That’s because, even until now, she couldn’t come to her senses after trying such exciting food that easily melted in her mouth.
After she finished eating a lot of custard pudding for a long time, Bailey returned with a gloomy face.
Somehow, now she was no longer allowed to be closer than one metre to Elaine. She had stomped her feet, sighed and cried as if she just got dumped.
As she looked up in astonishment, Bailey clutched her chest and slumped to the ground.
“It’s annoying!”
“Ugh!”
The maid who had dragged Bailey away appeared next to Elaine.
“Princess, that’s Cathy.”
“Yes! Cathy, welcome!”
“…”
Elaine had no idea what Cathy’s eyes looked like since her bangs were covering her eyes, she thought that Cathy must be the taciturn type.
Her voice drawled, “The Emperor would like to see you.”
Elaine nodded as she put down her remaining custard pudding and the teaspoon with a grim face.
‘I guess they’ve figured out what I said was true, unless the location of the ledger had changed, right? If so, then that won’t be good.’
After all, this information was from 10 years ago.
Originally, 10 years from now, all the ledgers would suddenly be burnt by a fire.
Not only was it known where all the ledgers were, it was also a famous anecdote at that time that King Astor had an insider among aristocrats.
As Elaine’s face hardened with worry, Alice said, hugging her.
“Don’t worry too much. His Majesty is a little scary but he’s very gentle as long as you don’t do anything wrong.”
‘That’s the problem. Maybe I did do something wrong.’
Alice’s sweet face tried to comfort her but Elaine’s face continued to harden.
This is because she suddenly remembered the rumours of the Emperor having wandered around the world before her return.
‘If a gentle man blows off someone’s head because they destroyed the palace flowers, then everyone would be considered as an angel.’
Elaine repressed her sigh and tried to smile.
Anyway, the Emperor had called for her, so she would have to go.
If she were to go, she would be able to find out if the ledgers were truly at the same location as she remembers or if they were stored somewhere else.
“Everyone! I’ll be right back!”
Despite all the confusion, Elaine did not forget to greet the two maids.
‘I will need to strengthen my relationship with them, eat quietly, and grow up.
And when time comes, I will escape the Empire.’
This really sounds like the perfect scenario, right?
Elaine, who’s mood was once again bright, laughed inwardly before hugging Alice. Alice gave Elaine a gentle hug as well before Elaine headed towards the office.
In the office was Arnold, who was speaking in a serious tone to a couple of officials nearby.
“What? You have yet to keep the ledgers in that place?”
Elaine’s wide smile immediately evaporated.
The Emperor’s gaze, who stopped the conversation, landed on the child as he walked up to stand in front of her.
“Elaine!”
“Ah, Your Majesty!”
Surprised by Arnold’s sudden outburst when he shouted, Alice’s body, which was holding Elaine, trembled.
Likewise, the Emperor, who was so shocked that he started hiccuping, raised his large hand.
Likewise, Elaine, who was also shocked by the Emperor’s behavior, started hiccuping as the Emperor raised his large hand.
“Are you sure it’s accurate?!”
It was as if Elaine was brought back to her past life.
Elaine unconsciously closed her eyes as she recalled memories of the constant abuse she had experienced.
But why?
Over time, she could not feel the pain.
Rather…
“Astor’s blood.”
Pat.
“?!”
“Good job.”
The Emperor’s sudden and unexpected compliment and patting of her head surprised not only Elaine but all the officials around them.
Elaine opened her mouth, feeling that it was much heavier than anything. She felt as if it were heavier than raindrops.