Episode 19
It seemed she had heard something from my mother.
— Peep.
I felt like I knew what Yan’s short cry meant.
“No!”
Well, probably something like that.
Beatrice continued speaking as she fed him a spoonful of soup.
“How about putting an egg yolk by the window? So little Peepy can come visit sometimes……”
— Peep!
Yan cried even more indignantly this time.
This time, it was clearly a protest against being called “Peepy.”
I wanted to go meet Father first, but there was nothing I could do except open my mouth.
“Hey, Tritze. Isn’t ‘Peepy’ kind of a weird name?”
“Huh?”
Beatrice blinked at the sudden comment.
“No? He goes ‘peep peep,’ so Your Highness named him Peepy, didn’t you?”
— Peeeeep!
Yan flapped his wings furiously with a terrifying cry.
I shot him a subtle glare no one would notice.
“Well… it’s kinda… not good. How about calling him ‘Yan’ from now on?”
“‘Yan’? All of a sudden?”
Of course Beatrice was baffled.
Right when the bird might have to be released, she wants to suddenly rename him.
But I couldn’t think of any proper excuse, so I just muttered irresponsibly:
“Just cuz… he kinda looks like a ‘Yan.’”
“…What?”
Her face wrinkled, but thankfully, I was four years old.
A four-year-old princess can change a bird’s name to Yan or Yak or anything she wants.
Beatrice quickly hid her expression and forced a smile.
“Well… ‘Yan’ is nice too.”
Then she returned to the original topic.
“Pe—… I mean, Yan can live well in the garden too. He’s gotten much better, so soon he’ll fly just fine. Then he might even come visit you here.”
— Peep.
Don’t be ridiculous.
That’s probably what Yan meant.
After finishing a bowl of pumpkin soup, I made a request to Beatrice.
“Tritze, can you go to my teacher and borrow a book?”
“A book?”
I drew a big rectangle with both hands.
“This big, with a red bird picture.”
Soon after, Beatrice returned hugging a heavy book.
“Is this the right one, Your Highness? I told the teacher you wanted to see a picture of a red bird.”
“Yep, that one.”
I recognized it right away.
Beatrice opened the book.
“You’re looking for the red bird picture, right?”
The book was thick, but it didn’t have many illustrations.
“Oh, here it is!”
She quickly found the picture of the red bird, and then the one of the red bird as a baby.
Her eyes widened round.
“Wow, it really looks like Peepy!”
Was it that obvious to anyone?
“Not Peepy. Yan.”
I corrected her and closed the book.
“Where’s Dad?”
The sudden question made Beatrice blink.
“His Majesty? I believe he’s still interviewing the servants with the investigator……”
Then it was fine to wait a bit.
He’ll definitely come question me before finishing the investigation.
I wasn’t a baby who couldn’t speak; he wouldn’t question everyone except the actual victim.
So I simply nodded.
My guess was right.
When the sun tilted slightly westward, a knock sounded and Father entered.
“My dear, are you feeling better…?”
Yes, Father, I would’ve felt much better if you hadn’t dragged innocent servants around interrogating them all day.
I grumbled internally and nodded.
“Yesh, Daddy……”
I reached out pitifully.
He approached with his usual emotional expression and grabbed my hand.
He fiddled with my tiny hand for a long time before asking carefully:
“Rostell, recently… I mean, yesterday or today—did you eat anything that tasted strange or smelled odd?”
I stared at him, and he quickly added:
“Others have asked you this too, I’m sure, but I wanted to check if you remembered anything new.”
“Nope……”
I rolled my eyes.
Father pulled a chair closer and sat.
“Then did you see anyone unfamiliar in the palace? Or receive anything new as a gift?”
I shook my head slowly, and then the official interrogation began.
“Sweetheart, you remember greeting your mother this morning, right?”
“Yes……”
“Who was there then?”
I nearly sighed but answered truthfully.
“Marquis Hestia.”
“You remember well.”
He smiled proudly, but the smile vanished almost instantly.
He asked again:
“He brought gifts, didn’t he? Did you see them too?”
The reason for his question was obvious.
Father suspects the marquis.
It was true that Father and Marquis Hestia were not close.
Before Father married Mother, the marquis had been the strongest candidate for consort.
But I know the marquis’s future.
Just because Father never fully trusted him didn’t mean the marquis wasn’t loyal. He would remain faithful to this country until death.
His successor, Gray, would later strip the entire estate bare to donate it to Rosa.
Still, I couldn’t exactly deny everything—so I nodded.
At once, Father continued:
“Did they smell strange? Or did they make you feel uneasy?”
From his perspective, it was suspicious and unpleasant for the marquis to show a child sealed vials of poison.
But the poisons were sealed; they couldn’t harm me.
If Father gets rid of them now, Rosa won’t get her hands on poison later—so it’s actually good for me.
The conflict between Father and the Hestias had never benefited anyone in my previous life.
So I couldn’t create a new problem that didn’t exist last time.
I didn’t reincarnate—I returned to the past.
A war might break out again in this life.
All the more reason the kingdom would need Hestia.
I steeled myself and squeezed Father’s hand, looking up at him.
“D-Daddy.”
My pronunciation worsened from tension.
Father flinched.
“Yes? You have something to tell Daddy?”
“Yes… I dunno… I didn’t really shee it. I jusht… when I shaw the marquis… I thought I misshed Gray.”
“…Gray? The young lord of Hestia?”
I blinked innocently and nodded.
“Gray shaid he’d be my knight. He wash worried about me. Even when the kitty shcratched me, he wash worried……”
“…Really?”
I squeezed my eyes shut to try squeezing out even one tear, then opened them wide.
“But now I’m shick, so he won’t come play with me anymore?”
No tears came, sadly, but it was enough to rattle Father.
He sighed quietly.
“He worried about you? He said he’d serve you?”
“Yes. He looked at me for a long, long time to make shure I wash okay. He even brought a gift.”
I exaggerated praise for Gray.
Maybe my desire to defend the Hestias got through, because Father asked again:
“…So you didn’t see the marquis’s gifts very well?”
“Well…”
I responded hesitantly.
“They were kinda boring… I’ll look more next time.”
My repentant tone made Father finally smile.
“I’m not scolding you, Rostell. I was only thinking if any of them had harmed you.”
“…But isn’t the marquis Mommy’s vassal?”
I looked up at him with wide eyes.
“Yes, he is. A good vassal. I’m just… worried. Perhaps I’m being oversensitive.”
I seized the chance and grabbed his other hand too.
“Gray an’ Vittori… they can shtill come? I can shtill play with them?”
Father finally shook his head.
“You can play with them. They will be your good friends—and your loyal knights. Right?”
“Yesh!”
I shook his hands cheerfully.
Of course, with my small strength, I wasn’t actually moving his hands—but he let them sway in the direction I wanted.
“My dear, are you truly not in pain anymore?”
“Nope! Not at all!”
“I’m glad.”
He smiled gently.
At that moment, I remembered my grand objective—momentarily forgotten due to all the chaos.
Recruit Dad!
So I released his hands and raised both arms.
“Pick me up!”
