Chapter 34
[Erdos’ thoughts and pov here]
When Rosiane fell asleep, Deus came. Erdos silently left the bed and came out to the balcony with Deus.
“Report.”
“Yes. They received a delivery from the flower farm affiliated with the imperial family, but the person in charge was an hour late that day, and it wasn’t the usual person, it was their first time seeing that person.”
“It was their first time seeing the person?”
“Yes. The nephew who came instead because the farmer was not feeling well, said that because there were unique flowers from a foreign country, he brought them in and that was why he was a little late. He said that, in foreign countries, it was a flower that young imperial children always put by their heads. So, when the maid of the princess’ palace came just in time, she delivered and put it in Her Highness’ room.”
“How lax. The security of the Imperial Palace being breached this way is nothing to laugh about….”
As if expressing his discomfort, his fingertips kept tapping the railing.
“I will order a reorganization immediately. In any case, I looked for the original person in charge and…..”
“And?”
“They’re dead. It seems like three days have passed.”
You’re using all sorts of dirty tricks because you can’t send an assassin. Erdos swept over his flowing hair and asked.
“The whereabouts?”
“It is only a matter of time before they are caught as three of Zion’s are chasing after the traces.”
“Good work. You can rest for today.”
At Erdos’ words, Deus said his farewells and hid himself.
A poison from a maritime country. There are indeed certain places who’d do such a disgraceful thing.
One question I have is, why of all things did they send Nadan?
Nadan has a powerful poison, but the conditions are strict before it can be released. Time, water, contact. If even one thing doesn’t match, everything will be in vain.
‘There must be a spy in the Princess’ Palace.’
He gazed at Rosiane, who was asleep, buried in the blanket and exhaling softly, with a childish assured look.
* * *
The first day of the founding festival, which seemed unlikely to come, came.
There were two days left before the march, so I wallowed on the bed for a while, and eventually I couldn’t stand it and got up from my position.
I picked up the plant encyclopedia to return it and groaned, then Sir Boyd took the book away.
“I still have time before I meet dad, right?”
“Yes, it seems that you can go right after returning the book.”
We arrived at the library while talking about this and that. I returned the book to the librarian and wandered around looking for a new book to read.
Then, I discovered a book with a red cover I had never seen before.
It was placed on the art section, but strangely, there was no title written. I immediately pulled out the book and opened it.
“Gasp.”
The book I picked out was a book that had very obscene paintings of men and women.I didn’t know there was something like this in the library.
“I see the Glory……..”
Young Master Vanitas, who suddenly appeared from behind, forgot to say his greetings when he saw the contents of the book and had a stunned expression.
At Young Master Vanitas’ reaction, Sir Boyd, who belatedly saw the opened page, snatched the painted book I was holding and threw it into the corner. Thump, the book rolled on the floor with a pitiful sound.
“What’s wrong?”
Sir Boyd didn’t answer my question, turning his head with a troubled face. Young Master Vanitas’ face were as red as the color of his eyes, and only his lips were moist.
I walked and picked up the book that fell on the floor and dusted it off. It’s funny, but I’ve never seen anything like this before. So right now, I’m very interested.
As I opened the book again and flipped through it, Young Master Vanitas opened his slightly trembling mouth and said.
“W…why are you reading such a thing?”
“What’s this?”
I asked back as if I didn’t know anything. Then Young Master’s face, which I thought couldn’t turn any redder, burned bright red.
I felt strange as if I had become a ruffian that molested some pure soul.
“…..Your Highness the Princess, please give that here.”
Sir Boyd politely reached out his hand and said. I couldn’t miss such an interesting situation after a while so I kept going through the pages.
Wow, what is this? Such a thing is possible? It was a moment when a new world opened.
“Huh? Rosi– ack!!”
Eryte, who suddenly appeared, took away the book and hid it behind his back.
“What, what, what are you looking at!?”
“I don’t know. What I saw just now was a man and a woman lying dow—umph—.”
Eryte quickly covered my mouth. His eyes were spinning. I took off his hand and asked.
“Is this Eryte’s?”
“H-huh? No-o? It’s probably not~?”
Hmm. I think I’m right though? The way he whistled and turned his head was like confessing ‘I’m the culprit’.
“A, anyway! Rosiane, this is a secret from Dad okay?”
Then, Eryte ran out of the library in a hurry…..with the painted book in his hand.
As expected, Eryte wasn’t in his right mind. I shrugged my shoulders once and looked back at Sir Boyd and Young Master Vanitas.
[tn— as in Eryte was all over the place (hectic) i guess we can say ‘panicking’ as well]
“What’s wrong with the two of you?”
When I asked pretending to be as pure as possible, at their still red face, Young Master and Sir Boyd shook their heads at the same time as if it was planned.
“Just what was that?
“It’s nothing. Please pay no mind to it.
Sir Boyd firmly said to me as I tilted my head as if I really had no idea. I nodded my head.
“Yeah? Then I should go ask Dad.”
“….!!”
“……”
Both Young Master and Sir Boyd’s face turned white at my words.
“That, that’s I mean…”
“It, it’s a genre painting. Your Highness the Princess.”
[tn— genre painting: is a style of painting depicting scenes from an ordinary life.]
Unlike Sir Boyd who was hesitating and failed at it, Young Master Vanitas finally came to his senses and took action to handle it.
“Really?”
When I nodded because I thought that I should stop playing around at this point, Young Master, who now regained his skin color, smiled with relief. I turned my insinuation.
[tn— turned* as in stopped/took back]
“Oh, come to think of it, I wanted to meet with Young Master.”
Dad told me not to meet Young Master Vanitas, saying he would take care of it, but the person involved is me.
Young Master Vanitas’ eyes slightly grew, perhaps because they were unexpected words. But his wavering was short-lived. Because soon, his original disguise-like smile returned.
“I also wanted to see you, your Highness.”
“How is your face?”
“I am completely healed thanks to Your Highness’ merciful kindness.”
Perhaps having received good treatment from the doctor, he gently folded his eyes and smiled.
“First of all, I want to say thank you.”
Young Master Vanitas had a puzzled expression at the sudden gratitude.
So I added a brief explanation.
“I’m talking about the plant encyclopedia.”
Ah. Only then did the Young Master slightly nod.
“I’m glad to have been of help.”
“It was indeed a very big help.”
Since the details of the assassination are related to the imperial palace, and we haven’t been able to reveal the person behind it, I can’t tell him in detail right now, so I decided to tell him this much.
“My dad will probably want to meet Young Master soon. If you need anything, you can think about it in advance.”
“Perhaps.….”
“Your Highness, you have to get going.”
What Young Master Vanitas was trying to say was cut off by Sir Boyd’s urging. Oh, my, the time is already like that.
“I have to go now, Young Master Vanitas. I hope you think about it well.”
I quickly said my farewell and went out of the library.
* * *
Contrary to my wishes, the day of the march that the people of the Empire had been waiting for finally dawned. The maids, who did not know my inner feelings, began to diligently dress me up.
“Today, I’m going to pull up your hair so that you can be seen even from afar, Princess.”
“Yeah. Do as you want.”
Melissa braided my hair long and after rounding it up, she put a tiara with a luxurious diamond in the middle.
[tn— im guessing it’s some kind of bun or sth]
Next, the clothes Jean brought were a white silk dress and a thin cape. The imperial family wore green robes, the color of immortality, on important occasions, so the cape was a beautiful green color.
“This…I have to wear it, right?”
“Of course, princess! Do you know the meaning of the embroideries on the cape?”
When I frowned at the very splendid appearance, Melissa, who smiled quietly, asked. I nodded as I quietly stared at the colorful embroidery on the cape.
“It’s the symbols of the God Esteria.”
“That’s right. The sun, which symbolizes the immortal god, the immortal animal Terriat created by the gods, the national flower Rosiane, blue roses, butterflies, cornus fruit, and the flower of paradise.”
“I see. It’s very colorful.”
When I responded in a tone that I wasn’t a little bit interested, Randy, who was next to Melissa stepped in.
“Goodness, really. Princess, take a closer look. Most nobles have hard-to-find colored threads, diamonds, opals, pearls, and even a mother-of-pearl……! Of course you have to wear it.”
What kind of materials went in that much….
It wasn’t until I prepared for a long time that I could stand in front of the full-body mirror.
“….It’s splendid.”
It was too splendid. I was careless because it was a dress with a simple design, but the synergy between the cape, ornaments, and the face was fair.
“Goodness, but still, all this beauty is darkly buried under the brilliance of the princess.”
“That’s right! I think we should add a hair ornament!”
Randy inserted the pearl pins that was taken out of the jewelry box in various parts of my hair that was pulled up.
“A necklace too!”
Melissa shouted as she fixed my cape. Jean searched through the jewelry boxes piled up on one side of the table.
“How about this?”
“His Majesty sent something yesterday, Don’t you think this would suit her better?”
They each said different necklaces that would be better to wear, so I listened to this and that, and then the topic moved on to earrings, and finally the discussion began.
“Wait, wait. I hate both. What about this? The diamond is small, but I think the emerald connected below it would go very well with the princess’ hair color.”
I called out to Sir Boyd, who was standing and looking at the door out of boredom. The maids insisted that he should *once feel my change, so he was turning his back the whole time I dressed up.
[tn— *this is probably because they always see each other or they are always together; the maids just wants the princess’ change have a big impact or sth]
“Sir Boyd.”
“Yes.”
He approached my side. If I didn’t see it wrong, he also seemed to have paused for a moment.
“How do I look?”
“……..”
Sir Boyd, who was silent for a moment, slightly bowed down and pulled out a diamond earring slightly smaller than the current one from the jewelry box.
“I think this would suit you better.”
At that moment, there was a terrible silence in the room. Sir Boyd, who put the earrings on my hand, silently stepped back and returned to his original position.
“I’ll go with this.”
At my words, the maids became solemn, as if they were at a loss for words.
“Sister.”