Chapter 11
I quickly scanned the contents of the invitation with my eyes.
Even a private meeting, just the two of us?
Ah… I don’t like that.
My mother must have assumed my silence meant I couldn’t read the difficult words in the invitation.
“Should Mother read it for you?”
“No, I can do it!”
Keeping in mind the vocabulary of a six-year-old, I slowly and haltingly read the contents of the invitation aloud.
I stumbled over some of the harder words but managed to finish the whole thing. When I did, Mother clapped her hands brightly.
“Our Miela is so smart!”
I felt embarrassed to be applauded for merely reading a single letter, so I gave a bashful smile and changed the subject.
“Mother, then why does the Crown Prince want to meet me?”
Crack.
I thought it was just a casual question, but suddenly I heard the sound of teeth grinding above my head.
Mother?
Startled, I looked up. Mother belatedly forced a smile.
Her eyes, however, were not smiling at all.
“That’s what I’d like to know too.”
Speaking in a displeased tone, she leaned closer and whispered seductively into my ear.
“Shall we just not go?”
Even for the House of Rodrick, refusing an invitation from the Crown Prince would be difficult.
And yet, from Mother’s voice I could clearly feel that if I simply nodded once, she would somehow make it happen.
But I can’t miss the chance to enter the Imperial Palace legally.
I also needed to check the Crown Prince’s rotten personality for myself.
“No.”
As if it tickled, I covered my ears with both hands and shook my head.
When I smiled innocently, Mother sighed deeply as if she had no choice.
Then she looked straight into my eyes with a serious expression and said,
“Miela, a man isn’t defined only by his looks. My daughter is smart, so you know that much, right?”
“Mm-hmm. But last time you said that a man must at least be handsome first. You said people who talk about personality over looks are usually those who don’t have a face worth looking at. And that a beautiful boy becomes a handsome man, a handsome man becomes a handsome middle-aged man, and a handsome middle-aged man becomes a handsome old man!”
Tilting my head at Mother’s sudden change in romantic philosophy, she laughed awkwardly.
“Miela, you really do have a good memory. How do you remember every word without missing a single one?”
Well, you say that every time you look at Father.
However, Mother didn’t develop that habit until a little later than now.
I smiled sweetly and steered the conversation away again.
“Mm. But why all of a sudden?”
Wait.
If it was just something she said casually, the timing was far too perfect.
“Is the Crown Prince handsome?”
I asked while tilting my head innocently as if I truly didn’t know anything. Mother flinched.
“He is handsome, but…”
The answer seemed to slip out reflexively as she awkwardly trailed off.
“Anyway! A man isn’t all about looks. Especially someone you might marry—you must carefully examine his personality too.”
What is this? Is this really what I think it is?
If the timeline of my first life was the same, the Crown Prince—who was eleven this year—would soon be getting engaged.
But the Crown Prince’s fiancée should be the daughter of the Perington Marquis family, the Empress’s maternal relatives.
Then why me all of a sudden?
While I stood there stunned, Mother cupped my cheeks in both hands and repeated firmly,
“Miela, you’ll remember what Mother said, right?”
The look in her eyes was unusually resolute.
Despite his angelic appearance, the Crown Prince had no sense of morality and possessed a cruel nature.
It was still the time when he maintained a proper façade, but Mother must have sensed something.
“Yes!”
To reassure her, I nodded vigorously.
Ptooey. I don’t like the Crown Prince either, Mother.
* * *
“Sweet dreams, Miss Miela.”
The nanny, who had been reading me a fairy tale, must have thought I had fallen into a deep sleep. She placed a goodnight kiss on my cheek and left the room.
A few minutes later, I slowly opened my eyes to make sure no one was really around before suddenly sitting up.
“Yaaawn… I almost actually fell asleep.”
A child’s body recharges quickly—but it also runs out of energy quickly.
Staying awake late at night wasn’t easy.
To chase away the drowsiness creeping over me, I stretched my body a few times like I was doing gymnastics, then pulled out the communication device I had hidden away.
As if he had been waiting, a message had already arrived from Leonhardt.
I returned to the bed and wriggled under the blanket.
It was my attempt to block even a little of the light from the device and prevent my voice from leaking outside.
While I rustled under the blanket for a while, Leonhardt—who had been patiently waiting—finally called my name cautiously.
— Miela?
“Mm.”
When I replied in a hushed voice, I heard a small chuckle.
— I thought you fell asleep.
I yawned and answered.
“I almost did.”
— Then should we stop here for today?
Perhaps I looked very tired, because Leonhardt asked with concern.
“No.”
Even though it was only a toy communication device that transmitted voices, I shook my head as I answered.
“I have something to tell you.”
Perhaps sensing the seriousness in my tone, I heard him sharply inhale.
“It’s nothing serious.”
I reassured him with a laugh.
Still unable to relax, Leonhardt asked carefully,
— What is it?
At times like this, Leonhardt really resembled a cautious rabbit.
That’s why I didn’t call him a baby rabbit only because of his eyes and hair color.
“Curious?”
Remembering our childhood, I teased him playfully.
— If it’s something I need to know, you’ll tell me.
But the answer that came back was incredibly dry.
“You really grew into such a boring adult. I forgot for a moment.”
I complained sulkily.
A brief silence followed.
We had known each other for a long time, but we had never been a couple who communicated well.
Leonhardt had a talent for making even ordinary words sound stiff, and I had been raised far too comfortably to always understand and tolerate that.
As a result, after we became husband and wife, most of our conversations ended like this—in silence.
By now Leonhardt was probably sighing awkwardly while running a hand through his bangs.
And I would be trying not to show my hurt feelings before storming out.
Normally.
But Leonhardt wasn’t in front of me right now, this wasn’t the Imperial Palace, and most importantly—he was just a child.
If it were the grown Leonhardt, tall as a door, that would be one thing. But even I could be more generous to a four-year-old.
After checking the remaining time on the communication device, I continued speaking.
“You need to know this. I’m going to the Imperial Palace next Thursday.”
Fortunately, Leonhardt didn’t respond cluelessly this time.
— Are you coming to the annex palace?
His cautious tone was obvious.
“No. I probably won’t have time for that.”
My mood improving slightly, I answered in a softer voice.
Just then, the light from the communication device began flickering, indicating that its operating time was almost over.
Growing anxious, I interrupted whatever Leonhardt was about to say and hurriedly blurted out,
“I’ll leave the rabbit bag we saw last time by the pergola in the winter garden. Pick it up after noon.”
Leonhardt murmured “Thursday” and “winter garden,” then suddenly asked as if something had just occurred to him.
— Then why are you coming?
“To meet the Crown Prince.”
After hearing my answer, Leonhardt fell silent for a moment. Then, suppressing the chill creeping into his voice as much as possible, he asked,
— Why are you meeting Jeffreysian?
Though his voice tried to sound intimidating, it was still the voice of a child, lacking any real authority.
“Do you think I want to meet him?”
I replied indifferently before grumbling,
“What else could I do when the Crown Prince sent an invitation?”
— Hah.
Leonhardt sighed and muttered quietly,
— If I was going to return to the past, I should have come back at nineteen.
“Wouldn’t eighteen be better? Before we got married.”
I said it half jokingly, but Leonhardt didn’t answer right away.
At that moment, the communication device’s time finally ran out.
As if cutting Leonhardt off mid-sentence.
