Chapter 4
Responsibility
Once the king made his decision, everything moved swiftly.
It was time to hand me over to the imperial princess.
The royal family sent word to Princess Rachel that we would give her what she had “requested.”
Damon told me several confidential letters had gone back and forth between the princess and the royal household.
In the audience chamber of the Central Leila Palace, our royal family met Rachel again.
Only the king and queen of Lundra, the two princes, the princess—and Rachel of Owen.
A secret meeting.
“I greet His Majesty, ruler of Lundra, the fairest of all lands.”
Rachel bowed with the formal Owen imperial courtesy.
“Thank you for saving the life of our second prince, Damon. We shall remember the Empire’s goodwill in keeping all matters related to that incident strictly confidential.”
“I merely did what I ought to do.”
Rachel lifted her skirt hem ever so slightly, giving a simplified Owen-style bow.
“As this concerns promises between nations, we have prepared a treaty. Please review it.”
I had seen the contents as well.
It was drafted so it would make sense even if, instead of the Dragon’s Tear, they inserted my name—Daisy Leatria Lund.
At the top it read:
“By request of the Owen Empire, the treasure of the Kingdom of Lundra shall move to Owen for three years.”
“I have reviewed it. It is as discussed.”
“Our treasure is of great importance to Lundra. We ask that you treat our treasure with care.”
“I will, Your Majesty.”
Rachel raised her hand gracefully and signed the treaty.
Shade accepted the signed document, handed it to Father, and Father added his signature.
“How do you intend to take our treasure to Owen?”
“Duke Cedric Deairtun of the Empire will come. He commands one of the finest knightly orders in the Empire, and he himself is an exceptional knight. The journey will be safe under his escort.”
“You mean the duke is coming in person?”
Father asked sharply.
“Yes. He is someone we can trust.”
“Does the duke know that the treasure is being sent by the request of Owen?”
“Not yet. I simply asked him to escort me on my return.”
Father’s eyes fell upon me.
Sitting on the throne, facing a foreign princess, he wore only the solemn expression of King Yones II.
“We now deliver to you the treasure of our kingdom.”
Father extended his hand. At his words, I stepped forward toward the princess.
I greeted her with the most traditional form of Lundran etiquette.
“Princess Rachel Widniss of the land of greatest strength—I am Daisy Leatria Lund.”
When our eyes met after the greeting, Rachel’s eyes gleamed with emotion.
She tilted her head slightly—almost forgetting her imperial dignity.
“In Lundra, you introduce yourselves with only two words: name and surname. Are you declaring that Leatria is your true name, Princess Daisy?”
“Yes. Since you, too, are of Owen—the people of the founding legends—you must know the ancient language the dragons once used.”
“Ahahaha! Leatria? Treasure?”
Rachel suddenly burst into loud laughter, completely unlike her composed earlier self.
“The treasure is the princess’s true name. So you calculated that, now that I’ve heard it, I can no longer pretend ignorance.”
She circled around me once and stopped in front of me again.
“But how am I to believe that your true name is truly ‘Treasure’? You could have fabricated it for this very occasion.”
“Rachel!”
Damon shot to his feet, his cheeks flushed.
“The royal family of Lundra never lies with a true name! What is wrong with you?”
“Damon! Sit.”
At Father’s command, Damon sat again, though he continued to breathe angrily.
“Revealing one’s true name is an act of utmost nobility for a Lundran royal,” Shade added.
“It signifies trusting the other with one’s very life. No one of Lundra would disgrace such a sacred act with deceit.”
I stepped one more pace toward Rachel.
“You can now harm me, Your Highness. Would you like to try?”
I extended my arm toward her, pulling up my sleeve to show my wrist.
I no longer stood before her protected by the ancient dragons’ blessing.
“Daisy!”
Damon cried out again.
Rachel didn’t even glance at him.
She murmured, so softly only I—standing right in front of her—could hear:
“I agreed to temporarily take custody of the kingdom’s treasure, so I will comply. It was my oversight not to speak precisely.”
Before Shade, who spoke of nobility, and Damon, who had shared school days with her, she spoke only of a transaction.
I recalled again the brown-haired Rachel Rich I once knew.
The one now before me, with crimson hair, was Rachel Widniss.
Damon had said she altered her appearance with magic during her academy days.
In this moment, I suddenly wondered—
Had the spell gone wrong?
Had it changed not only her looks but something deeper?
“Daisy, baby princess.”
“Princess Daisy Leatria Lund.”
“Your snow-white hair is so pretty. But your eyes draw me even more. Why is that? It’s incredible.”
“By our agreement, I will keep Lundra’s treasure in the Empire for three years.
However, the world must not know that Owen holds Lundra’s treasure.”
A faint smirk curved her lips.
“How about this? Let it be said that the imperial family requested that I return to the Empire. There are people who travel to learn foreign cultures, aren’t there? It’s called studying abroad.”
“Ah… yes. We shall do that. Let it be said that I requested Princess Daisy Lund.”
Rachel’s voice was cold.
As the days drew closer to my departure for the Empire, one evening I had dinner with Father and Mother.
Just the three of us.
For the first time in a long while, we sat side by side along one side of the table.
I sat between them, eating a delicious meal made of all my favorite dishes.
“Daisy, do you know why your name is Daisy?”
“Because my hair is white and my eyes yellow, like a daisy flower?”
“Hoh-hoh. You are lovely like a flower.”
Mother gently stroked my hair.
“Your father and I met by chance at a café. At first, I didn’t know he was the crown prince. A count’s daughter rarely encounters a crown prince outside palace banquets. I hadn’t seen him much, and I hadn’t dared stare long enough to remember his face.”
Ahem. Father cleared his throat.
“But he remembered me from a banquet long before. He had slipped out pretending to be a noble on official duty, saw me sitting in the café, and spoke to me.”
It was hard to imagine such a thing with Father’s personality.
“He approached me impulsively, but when I didn’t recognize him, he panicked. Before he knew it, he kept acting like a refined young nobleman. That led to more meetings, more dates… and the lies kept snowballing until he couldn’t manage them anymore.”
Mother chuckled softly at the memory.
“And each time we met, he brought me daisy flowers.
Do you think someone raised solely in the palace would know the spending habits of nobles? He had always learned that privilege came with responsibility, and that one must give as much as one receives.
So he assumed nobles lived very frugally.
Daisies are quite common and inexpensive in the capital, you see.”
I glanced at Father. Embarrassed, he looked away.
“He bought them in big bundles, thinking it was a modest way to show affection.
But that’s how I found out he was the crown prince. Daisies are so common that florists usually mix them with other flowers—they’re rarely bought in large quantities.
But suddenly rumors spread that the crown prince was buying up every daisy in the capital.
Really, if he insisted on buying them, he could’ve done it quietly. Your father has never had any… subtlety.”
“My love, must you say all of that?”
Father protested. I laughed aloud—
It was so very like him.
“To us, daisies became a flower of memories. And you… you were conceived around one of our wedding anniversaries. When you were born with hair shining like daisies, we felt as if you were another form of our love.”
At some point, I had taken Mother’s hand.
Tears glimmered in her eyes, then vanished.
“You grew up pure and sweet, just like your name. I hope you’ll never forget that you are our love.”
Father and Mother would never speak aloud the rest—that before being my parents, they were the king and queen of the nation.
But I knew.
They wanted to tell me that sending me away was not because they did not love me.
Even in their love story, the word responsibility appeared again and again—something they could never remove.
I, too, had grown up under parents who lived their responsibilities.
And because of that—
I became a princess who understood responsibility.
That was why I could choose to go to the Empire.
