Chapter 33
As soon as she saw my face, she called my title without honorifics.
How much had she been chewing me up in her mind that she automatically called me that way? Even if I cursed at the Crown Prince in my head a lot, it wasn’t something I would say to his face.
“Ah, ah no, Princess*? It’s not time for us to meet yet…”
{ t/n: It can’t be translated in English well, but this time, Shabelle calls Ina ‘Princess’ with honorifics. }
“Ohoho.”
Have you never read a novel?
The female protagonist’s friend would usually make an appearance to advice**—no, to set the stage for the female protagonist.
{ t/n: The word advise could also be translated as ‘torture’ }
“I’ll make sure this will be a fantastic day for you, Young Lady!”
“Pardon? No, it’s fine… uwahh!”
“Lady Float, let’s start with a massage.”
“Huh? Why, why are you doing this? Kyaah!”
The maids dragged Shabelle away into her room, peeled off her clothes and covered her in towels. Then, they brought out a jar enchanted by magic to start the steam massage.
I watched contentedly as Shabelle was being massaged.
“Kyaak! Where are you touching…! Ack!”
“Fufu.”
You’ve never experienced this before, right? This is nothing once you get used to it.
“Sa… save me…!”
I popped into Shabelle’s mouth a piece of pave chocolate.
At that, she closed her mouth with a delighted look on her face, savoring the chocolate as it melted on her tongue.
“Is it good?”
“Yes…”
“One more?”
Shabelle nodded, and I popped one more into her mouth.
“May I call you Shabelle?”
Shabelle hesitated, but I just smiled and added.
“You mentioned last time that the tarts were delicious, so I brought some apple tarts, green grape tarts, and chocolate banana tarts today.”
“Chocolate banana?”
“Shabelle?”
“Yeah?”
“Is it fine if I call you that way?”
“Yeah…”
Why are you talking informally?
I was startled by her casualness, but I kept my smile up and offered another chocolate.
“You look happy, Shabelle. Eat one more.”
She ate well like a baby bird.
While Shabelle was being prettied up, I kept feeding her snacks.
Shabelle’s transformation was finished just in time for the promised time.
She was already cute, but now her hair was in an adorable braided half-up hairstyle tied with green ribbons, and the rest of her hair cascaded down in curls.
I told the maids not to tighten the corset because we were going to eat snacks while watching the play, and we’ll also eat dinner.
Why should a twelve-year-old wear a corset anyway?
Now, with her in the yellow dress I chose for her, she had a cute, fluffy chick-like impression.
Shabelle looked at her reflection in the mirror with astonishment.
“Wow…”
Whenever she grabbed the hem of her yellow dress and twirled around, the fabric fluttered gracefully.
She was so cute. I almost understood the Crown Prince for a second.
Ah, no. I was thinking like a mom, but the Crown Prince wasn’t thinking like a dad. I don’t understand him!
The shoes fit perfectly on her as well. The luxurious shoes made of soft leather looked comfortable as she walked.
“Shabelle, you’re so pretty.”
But when I praised her, Shabelle’s expression hardened.
And then as soon as she turned away from the mirror and looked at me, her lips curled up into a smile.
“Isn’t the Princess prettier?”
That’s because I was still the villain who had everything except for a good personality.
But was I the only one who had a terrible personality?
Why aren’t your eyes smiling? I can tell your smile is fake. You have to curl up your eyes, too.
Then, I smiled broadly as if to demonstrate.
“Thank you for the compliment. I’m glad to see that you’ve become prettier. Shall we go now? Let’s go to the theater hall and drink tea while eating the tarts.”
Shabelle lost her hold on the fake smile and looked back at me blankly, then she calmly replied.
“Yes, yes…”
“Fufu, you can speak comfortably.”
“Then I’ll do that.”
At her fast answer as though she’d just been waiting for me to say that, I was speechless.
But she seemed to be waiting for my reaction.
There was a look of anticipation on her face like she’s waiting for me to slap her on the cheek at least.
I don’t even understand why she’s expecting it.
Is she a perv who likes to get hit?
It’s been like this since the last time we met.
With a natural smile on my face, I held Shabelle’s hand.
“Then, shall we go?”
“Yeah!”
I led her outside, said goodbye to Baron Float, then got on the carriage.
Shabelle kept looking closely at the cushions and windows inside the carriage, perhaps fascinated by the luxurious decorations.
“Princess, is this also real?”
Shabelle tapped the metal ring affixed on the curtain.
She said ‘Princess’ with honorifics, but her speech pattern was casual. It was giving me a headache.
She was cute because she was like a little chick poking her beak here and there, but others would probably think she’s out of her mind.
Radiev was also one insane guy, so he might think that Shabelle acting this way was cute. Even so, it was making me nervous.
I was trying to get the future Crown Princess on the Duchy’s side, but if the Crown Prince turns a blind eye to her, then it’ll be all for nothing.
“If you’re asking if it’s gold, I don’t know either. Shabelle, don’t you think ‘Princess’ is too stiff? How about calling me ‘Sister’?”
In terms of mental age, I’d be more comfortable if she called me ‘Aunt’, but since my body was only thirteen years old, ‘Sister’ would be more apt.
I’m a year older.
While she was briefly lost in thought, she smiled and nodded.
I wonder what she’s thinking to have smiled comfortably this time.
“Okay, Sister. I wanted to call you that, too, so I’m glad you allowed me.”
“I’m happy I gained a cute younger sister, too. I heard you really wanted to see the play today, Shabelle.”
“Yes, I really want to see it!”
“Why didn’t Baron Float let you?”
“Because I’m still young.”
As she said this, she sighed in agony.
“I’ve lived this long, but I can’t even say anything about it…”
“That’s true… I guess.”
Hasn’t she only lived twelve years?
“Come to think of it, how do you know the holy language so well?”
I recalled the crooked handwriting in the letter Shabelle sent to me.
I almost slipped and broke the pleasant smile on my face, but I succeeded in keeping it on my lips.
“You’re good at it too, Shabelle.”
“Hehe, I learned a bit from my grandfather. I think I wrote this reply really well, too.”
Well… I’m a bit worried about the fate of this country. What should we do here…?
“Have you seen ‘The Young Master’s Hidden Flower’ before, Sister?”
“Yes. I watched it once last year.”
“Did you see that scene? Where the Young Master kissed the knight Bell when he got hurt, and this healed him?”
“Yeah, it’s the highlight of the play.”
I was so enraptured by it last year, hoping to achieve such a passionate love with Karpel. But when I think about it now, it was so ridiculously cheesy.
Shabelle became more excited, and she babbled more as she thought about the male and female leads of the play during that scene.
I only roughly responded to her, then we finally arrived at the theater hall.
Stein opened the carriage door, and I reached out to the hand he offered to help me down. As I stepped onto the ground, I heard a lot of young people my age cheer and come closer to us.
“Princess Krenberia!”
“Looks like you came alone!”
It wasn’t Karpel who helped me down the carriage, so everyone assumed I was here alone.
But when Shabelle got off the carriage, the cheerful mood halted.
It seemed like there’s really a female lead atmosphere around her to make this happen.
‘As expected, when the female lead gets dressed up, the natural beauty of the villainess can’t measure up.’
I was convinced of this as I rearranged the cute bonnet on Shabelle’s head.
But the buzzing sound from the people around us took a different turn.
They were likely whispering, ‘Who’s this? For her to be doting upon Shabelle, is she really the same Ducal Princess?’
Well, I’d never been to this place alone with someone who wasn’t Karpel.
I reached out to Shabelle.
“Let’s go in.”
“Yes, Sister.”
Even as so many people were watching, Shabelle answered bravely with a casual manner of speech. It looked like her confidence was soaring.
Through a separate entrance and not the general entrance, we went to a private balcony seating on the third floor leading to the VIP seats.
When we sat on the sofa, Stein prepared some tea at the side and placed the tarts we brought from home on the table.
“Wow! Krenberia’s tarts! Thank you so much, Sister! It’s really so much better than the tarts from the Montblanc bakery where my grandfather once bought tarts from!”
“Go ahead, you can eat them all.”
“Wow! Really?”
Shabelle was so excited that she just went ahead and took a big bite of the green grape tart.
While dressing her up earlier, I had already fed her a lot of chocolates and macarons, so I was surprised that another tart went in so quickly.
I looked down at the stage where the performance would happen.
Even if our seats were on the third floor, the balcony seat was in a semi-circular shape right in front of the stage, so we had a clear view of the entire stage.
“I thought we wouldn’t be able to see other balconies here, but we can see everything. I can even see the expressions of the people in the other balconies.”
“That’s right.”
“Isn’t it a bit nerve-wracking?”
“Who knows…”
What did she mean by that?
The brightest place in the theater right now was the stage, but because of that, there’s no problem drinking tea or talking to each other here.
But at the same time, Shabelle and I were also seen by other people everywhere else.
My eyes felt a bit prickly.
I used to enjoy this, but it was a little cumbersome now.
Whenever I was here with Karpel, people were too afraid to look at me. Now that I wasn’t with him here, it’s awkward to have so many gazes pointed at me.
Shabelle continued to chatter, I answered here and there as a good conversation partner.
When tart crumbs were left on the corner of her lips, I wiped them off with a handkerchief—then I suddenly felt a strong gaze as if someone was glaring in my direction.
I turned around to see just who it was.
‘What the?’
It felt like it came from the balcony seats three spaces to the right on the second floor, but there was no one there.
‘Maybe it’s not from there?’