Chapter 47
I had no idea what was going on. Even in my flustered state, Clara’s heart was beating honestly fast. It was nothing like the excitement she felt when eating cake—this was on a completely different level.
Daniel, who had been meeting her gaze for a moment, spoke seriously.
“Princess, please let me—”
“Yes.”
Clara answered blankly. But the next moment, her mind snapped back to clarity.
“—accept me as a cleaning fairy of the Canario Palace.”
“…Pardon?”
A cleaning fairy?! Leaving aside the fact that he’d called himself a fairy, he wanted to clean in the royal palace? Clara hurriedly waved her hands.
“No, Your Highness! It’s fine!”
It was supposed to mean that he wanted to stay by her side. But Daniel’s attitude didn’t feel like that at all.
He looked like someone who desperately wanted to clean. Like he’d come for a job interview.
“I can do it well. I won’t return to the Empire—I’ll stay here!”
At this rate, it sounded like he was ready to be buried at the Canario Palace. Clara was horrified.
“This is difficult if you act like this! Your Highness must return to Nerha!”
If he just keeps cleaning here, what are we supposed to do?!
This was all Bastian’s fault. Because Bastian had made Daniel clean! Clara shifted the blame squarely onto Bastian.
At that very moment, in the Aguila Palace office, Bastian—who had been reviewing documents—suddenly lifted his head. His aide flinched at the sharp look in his eyes.
Bastian asked,
“Someone just badmouthed me, didn’t they?”
“…What?”
What was this all of a sudden…? When the aide insisted it wasn’t so, Bastian narrowed his eyes.
“I feel like someone’s talking trash about me.”
He could sense insults aimed at him with uncanny accuracy—yet it never occurred to him that the culprit might be Clara.
Thanks to Daniel declaring himself a fairy, something I’d briefly forgotten came back to mind: the Forest of Fairies.
Three hours after dessert time with Daniel, I headed toward the conference hall with Sara, thinking about it as we walked.
How is that forest connected to the Empire?
Is it because it’s a fairy forest? Some kind of magic?
I was lost in thought when—
“Princess.”
Someone called me. I turned around to see Mario. It looked like he was also heading toward the Aguila Palace.
“The prince had something to discuss with Sir Silvestre, so he went ahead.”
He must have thought I was wondering where Daniel was, but that didn’t seem to be the case. He asked me instead,
“There’s still some time before the conference… would you care to walk through the garden and talk together?”
“No. I’m sorry, but I have some things I’d like to think about alone.”
I smiled gently and shook my head. There was no reason to take a walk with someone on Daniel’s opposite side—someone who even seemed a bit rude.
And I really wanted to be alone right now.
Mario’s expression turned dissatisfied. He probably hadn’t expected to be refused so directly.
“Is it possible that Your Highness is still holding onto what happened yesterday?”
No. If anything, Mario was the one still dwelling on it. I smiled and shook my head.
“I’m sorry about that incident. His Highness is a bit sensitive when it comes to matters involving me.”
In other words: don’t touch it again.
But he seemed to ignore my words and stepped even closer.
“Stop.”
My escort knight stepped forward protectively. Mario was also a knight, though. He stopped, but didn’t look intimidated.
“It seems you’re being overly wary of me. I only wished to have a brief conversation with the princess as an envoy of Nerha.”
Then suddenly, he seemed aggrieved and grew heated.
“And what happened yesterday—no matter that I lack a title, I am still an envoy from the Empire! To expel me like that—an imperial envoy—from a kingdom!”
He emphasized Empire and Kingdom heavily. His pride in the Empire was obvious.
Meanwhile, Bastian treated it like a toothless tiger…
Daniel’s face from earlier flashed through my mind.
Does he know the imperial prince is calling himself a cleaning fairy?
Mario had no way of knowing what I was thinking. He stared at me blankly.
“Princess?”
He was asking for an answer. Fine—let’s end this conversation.
I smiled lightly.
“I don’t think that will do. If you have something to say, please speak with Prince Daniel.”
Since he was on the imperial side, this was the best solution for me. I tried to pass by him—
“What’s going on?”
Daniel appeared. Seeing his familiar face, I called out brightly.
“Your Highness!”
“I thought I heard raised voices….”
Mario flinched and hurriedly said,
“It’s nothing important enough to trouble Your Highness.”
“Really? It didn’t seem that way.”
Of course it wasn’t. I spoke honestly.
“He kept asking for a conversation even after I said it was inconvenient.”
Mario’s eyes wavered. The man who had been shouting How dare you treat an imperial envoy! was now speechless—because someone of much higher imperial rank had arrived.
Daniel frowned and asked him,
“Did Marquis Garcia order you to do this?”
“…What?”
“Did he tell you to behave like this in Verona? Or did he give you a special order to worsen relations between our two countries?”
“……”
Mario went silent, like he’d swallowed honey. This Daniel was no cleaning fairy—he truly looked like a prince.
Well… he is a prince, after all.
Daniel continued coldly,
“If relations between our nations sour, I suppose we can hold Marquis Garcia responsible.”
“N-no! My brother said nothing of the sort!”
Mario, who had seemed so tempestuous earlier, suddenly became polite. The marquis must truly be frightening.
Daniel asked again, without changing his expression,
“Then are these repeated acts of rudeness entirely your own decision?”
“Yes… they are.”
After extracting the answer, Daniel smiled faintly. Seeing that, Mario hurried to speak.
“I believe the princess may have misunderstood my intentions—”
“Sir Mario.”
Daniel cut him off.
“Yes?”
“Instead of making excuses, how about apologizing to the princess? If this reaches Prince Bastian’s ears, it’ll be a serious problem—so it would be best to kneel politely and beg her forgiveness.”
“…What?!”
At the word kneel, Mario’s eyes bulged. Daniel chuckled softly and strode toward him, grabbing his shoulder.
“Is that unpleasant?”
“Gah!”
Mario suddenly screamed. From where I stood, Daniel had merely grabbed him.
Either Daniel’s grip was incredibly strong—or Mario was exaggerating.
Probably the former.
Smiling, I remembered Daniel fighting monsters. He didn’t stop there—he tightened his grip again.
“Oh dear. Your shoulder seems rather stiff.”
“Urgh!”
I had a vision—of Mario’s soul halfway leaving his body. I stared at Daniel in shock as he continued smiling.
Daniel is… scarier than I thought.
Not subtly scary—he might even be more threatening than Bastian, who was openly terrifying.
Daniel reached for Mario’s other shoulder.
“Are your knees in such poor condition?”
“I-I’m sorry, Princess!”
Mario panicked and dropped to his knees, bowing so deeply his head nearly hit the ground.
“I’m sorry! Please spare me!”
“Yes, that’s how you should apologize.”
Daniel nodded in satisfaction. Mario apologized to me frantically, over and over, until all he could say was,
“Please spare me, Princess!”
Looking at his desperate face, I realized anew:
Pain makes a person. Mario had suddenly learned manners.
When the conference entered its break, Alex was speaking seriously with Countess Cervantes.
“Something about His Highness seems… off.”
Honestly, he seemed a bit unhinged. Alex couldn’t imagine what had happened during the past six months—this Daniel was nothing like the one he knew.
“Wasn’t I His Highness’s friend even before becoming his guard? He’s definitely changed.”
“Changed…?”
The countess furrowed her brow.
Alex felt this way because of how Daniel treated Clara.
Back in Nerha, Daniel had been popular—he was handsome, after all.
Unlike the gloomy Matthias, Daniel smiled often.
The prince smiled at me!
Young noble ladies would whisper among themselves, even fight over who he’d smiled at. But Alex knew the truth.
Daniel was just smiling. His looks alone made people misunderstand.
But the Daniel in Verona? He wore an entirely different expression toward Princess Clara. It was strange from the moment he demanded money like it was owed to him.
“He borrows my money and spends it exclusively on Princess Clara. This seems very much like—”
“Sir Silvestre.”
Countess Cervantes stopped him, shaking her head sternly.
“It would be best to keep such thoughts to yourself.”
“…Understood.”
Alex fell silent. The countess softened slightly.
“Still, it’s a relief. It seems His Highness didn’t suffer too terribly during his time as a hostage.”
“Let’s end things early today.”
Bastian returned to the conference hall after the break, visibly irritated.
Why was he angry again? He got angry so often it was hard to tell.
Only when I noticed Mario’s absence did I understand.
Did he hear about it from a knight?
Mario had been here earlier, but now he was gone. When he had been present, he’d been unusually quiet—like he’d left his soul behind in that garden.
Staring at the empty seat, Bastian muttered,
“How dare he speak to Clara?”
His voice rang clearly through the quiet hall.
Was he angry because Verona had been disrespected?
I blinked. Bastian’s anger seemed… oddly specific.
As he delayed starting the conference, the hall grew awkwardly silent.
Then Daniel spoke up cheerfully,
“Please don’t worry. It won’t happen again.”
I expected Bastian to snap at him—but instead, he scoffed.
“For once, the prince did something I like.”
The shoulder-destroying technique…? That, he liked?
Receiving Bastian’s praise, Daniel smiled happily.
They only ever got along over the strangest things. Watching them, I shook my head.
The next day, Daniel prepared a special gift for Clara.
I need to show her how I feel!
Though it felt like he kept failing, Daniel was persistent. This time, he brought a bouquet of flowers.
When he visited Clara, she looked surprised.
“Why flowers all of a sudden?”
“I came across some with a lovely fragrance.”
Daniel grinned. Clara stared at them blankly, then said,
“You must have gone to a flower shop this time.”
These weren’t secretly-picked-from-the-garden flowers. Seeing the lush, beautiful blooms, a smile spread across her face.
Was a bouquet really the best choice after all? Daniel felt proud as he watched her.
Encouraged, he said to Clara, bouquet in hand,
“This is how I feel about you, Princess.”
