Chapter 42
With only one day left until the ball, the Crown Princess—who had been away—had finally returned to the Imperial Palace.
Apparently, she had briefly gone to the Dern Empire because there was “some sword to swing.”
Lou said it casually, as if it were nothing, perhaps out of consideration for me. But no matter how I thought about it, it didn’t seem like a light reason.
If it had really been something trivial, she wouldn’t have invited the Leofrum siblings and then suddenly left for a neighboring empire, leaving them behind.
I knew the Crown Princess, like Lou, had majored in swordsmanship at the Academy. But to lead knights on a journey the day before her own wedding?
She was definitely no ordinary person.
The Leofrum siblings, who had been wasting time with nothing to do, were finally summoned by the Crown Princess. Thanks to that, the personal maids suddenly had free time, so we ended up playing Jenga in our room.
Deriksha and I were the same. We placed the Jenga tower on the table in the middle of the room and reached out toward it with serious expressions.
“If you pull that one, it’ll collapse.”
At my words, Deriksha’s hand paused. Not wanting to lose, Chris—who had slipped in at some point—pointed at a slightly sticking-out wooden block.
“Deriksha, this one’s loose. Take this one.”
“Oh, it’s shaking. You know using both hands is disqualified, right?”
“It’s going to fall any second!”
Deriksha tried to ignore our backseat advice, but it looked like her patience had reached its limit.
She bit her lip tightly and slammed the table.
“Both of you! I can’t concentrate!”
At the same time she shouted, the Jenga tower collapsed.
Deriksha stared blankly at the fallen blocks. Chris and I grinned and clapped hands.
She looked at us as if we were ridiculous, then turned to Chris.
“…Your Highness, aren’t you leaving?”
Before, I had been the one desperate to chase Chris out. Now it seemed to be Deriksha’s turn. Chris simply answered with a smile.
Odin had been called by the Crown Princess, and Damian hadn’t arrived yet, so we were probably the only ones left to play with him.
Instead of answering, Chris quietly began stacking the fallen blocks again.
While we were rebuilding the tower, someone suddenly opened the door.
The door burst open louder than when the Jenga had fallen. Abel was standing there.
“Lily, Deriksha! Hide me—ah!”
She ran inside in a hurry, but the moment her eyes met Chris’s, she frowned deeply.
She really hated him openly. Even if she saw a bug, she probably wouldn’t look that disgusted. Thinking that I had once looked at Chris like that too made me laugh a little.
“What’s wrong?” Chris asked brightly.
Was he shameless, or just mentally strong? Even when someone showed such obvious dislike, he still spoke so casually.
Abel seemed to remember her original purpose and spoke urgently.
“Is there somewhere to hide?”
“…Excuse me?”
“I ran away while going to the reception room. I have to hide before I get caught!”
She stomped her feet anxiously, then suddenly ran somewhere as if she had found something. In an instant, she climbed into my bed and pulled the blanket over herself.
I stared at her, dumbfounded.
“…What are you doing?”
“If anyone comes, tell them I’m not here!”
Her voice came out muffled under the blanket.
No matter how I looked at it, it was obvious someone was under there. Was that really hiding?
I turned to Chris.
“What’s wrong with her?”
“Probably… she doesn’t want to go see our sister.”
Chris seemed to understand the situation quickly.
After hearing him, Abel’s behavior made sense. So that’s why she ran away on the way to the reception room.
Unlike me, who already knew Abel disliked the Crown Princess, Deriksha looked quite shocked.
“Is Her Highness that scary?”
“No, she’s nice!” Chris said quickly, waving his hands.
Deriksha nodded awkwardly and moved toward the door.
“…I’ll at least inform Young Master Odin that Lady Abel is here. He might be worried.”
She whispered quietly so Abel wouldn’t hear.
After confirming Deriksha had left, I asked Chris again.
“Her Highness really is nice… right?”
Even though he said she was nice, it sounded like he was trying hard to make it sound better than it was.
Chris scratched his cheek before speaking.
“She is… but her mouth is a bit rough.”
How rough could the Crown Princess’s language be? She had grown up receiving royal education. I couldn’t imagine her speaking that harshly.
Even in the Sharonde Empire, as the future ruler, she would have limits.
Maybe Chris, being a prince, just wasn’t used to hearing bad words.
I nodded and continued stacking the Jenga blocks.
* * *
The reception room of the Imperial Palace was full of people.
Ria was sitting on a sofa, knights standing beside her.
With her legs crossed, she glared at the closed door.
Her refreshing green eyes seemed to burn fiercely. Perhaps because of her sharp eyes, similar to Chris’s, her expression looked even more dangerous.
Since she had summoned the Leofrum siblings as soon as she arrived at the palace, she was still wearing her knight commander uniform.
As the wait grew longer than expected, Ria ran her fingers irritably through her short silver hair.
She was dying of impatience. No matter how long she waited, they didn’t come. She almost wanted to go find them herself.
After about ten more minutes, the reception room door finally opened.
“I greet Her Highness, the future sun of the Empire.”
“Hi, noona.”
Odin entered first.
The moment their eyes met, he greeted her politely.
Lou followed behind, lifting a hand lazily in what could barely be called a greeting.
Seeing the completely different attitudes of the two brothers, Ria let out a dry laugh.
Odin shot Lou a warning glance, but Ria accepted both greetings without caring.
“Odin’s still boring, and Lou’s still rude. I’m not interested in either of you. Just tell me where Abel is.”
Abel was nowhere to be seen.
Ria grew more anxious. She had prepared dresses and snacks especially for Abel.
She wanted to see her as soon as possible, but instead, only these two brothers—whom she didn’t particularly care about—were standing there.
At her question, Lou replied casually.
“She ran away.”
“What? Where?”
“Probably in the maids’ quarters.”
“Why there?”
Abel running away wasn’t unusual. But Ria had never imagined she would hide in the maids’ room.
Before, she would at most hide in her own room or the garden. Why go all the way to the maids’ quarters?
“She’s close with my personal maid—”
Lou’s mouth was suddenly covered by Odin’s hand.
Lou looked shocked—not because his mouth was covered, but because Odin dared to do that in front of the Crown Princess.
Odin was someone who strictly followed etiquette. He would never normally act like this in front of her.
Ria widened her eyes.
“Did you quit playing noble?”
“Quit? My younger brother seemed about to speak carelessly before Your Highness, so I stopped him,” Odin said with a gentle smile, still covering Lou’s mouth.
Lou tried to speak, but only muffled sounds came out.
No matter how hard Lou tried to remove his hand, Odin’s grip did not budge.
Ria looked at them in disbelief and stood up.
“…Fine. You two play by yourselves. I’m going to see Abel.”
She strode toward the door.
Odin quickly removed his hand from Lou’s mouth and blocked her path.
Ria glared at him.
With a forced smile, Odin tried to persuade her calmly.
“There’s no need for Your Highness to go personally. You could send a servant to—”
“No. It’s faster if I go myself.”
That didn’t work.
Odin steadied the corner of his trembling lips and spoke again.
“If you suddenly barge in, the maids might be startled—”
“Who cares if they’re startled? I’m going to see Abel.”
“Then I will bring her here—”
“No. I’m going.”
“Ah, can’t you just not go?”
Odin finally gave up on etiquette. His face was full of frustration.
Ria narrowed her eyes.
“What, do you have something to hide?”
“Odin hyung’s girlfriend is in that maids’ room,” Lou revealed simply.
Odin glared at Lou as if he wanted to kill him, but Lou only smiled shamelessly.
Ria’s curiosity deepened.
“That’s one more reason to go. Move.”
“Noona, calm down first—”
“Not moving? Hey, execute him. Charge: disobeying an imperial order.”
When Odin stubbornly blocked her path, Ria shouted to the knights lined up beside her.
Of course, no one obeyed.
When Ria spoke like that in private situations, it was usually nonsense. The knights simply watched the scene with interest.
Odin, who had suddenly become a death-row prisoner, let out a deep sigh.
“I’ll tell the Crown Prince of the Dern Empire.”
Odin finally used his last childish method.
Ria flinched, then glared at him fiercely.
“Do you want to die?”
With the same polite smile as before, Odin replied,
“Your Highness, please conduct yourself as the future Emperor.”
“Future Emperor, my foot. Drop the titles and fight me, you bastard.”
Ria grabbed Odin by the collar.
As always, it was complete chaos in the Imperial Palace.
