Episode 7
“Anyway, please… um… I’m embarrassed to say this, but please think of me as His Majesty the King. You practiced so hard; don’t freeze up again in front of His Majesty.”
But no matter how hard I tried, there was no way I could think of Beatrice as Father.
Just look at those wheat-colored twin pigtails…
*They’re way too different.*
Still, Beatrice insisted firmly.
“Try again, Your Highness.”
“Hi, Dad.”
I mustered all my strength to blink one eye, and Beatrice thumped her chest again.
“Oh my goodness, this is killing me.”
If something’s wrong, say it!
But Beatrice only shook her head.
“It’s time to go now, Your Highness.”
“’Kay, then let’s gooo…”
I answered weakly and climbed down from the chair. Beatrice burst out laughing.
“These last few days, you’ve been talking like a tiny grown-up. Whose way of speaking did you learn that from?”
Uh… from my twenty-two-year-old self…
I only answered inwardly and took Beatrice’s hand.
All that practice for nothing—when we reached the banquet hall, Father’s seat was empty.
“Daddy…?”
I asked cautiously, and Mother answered,
“He hasn’t returned from the Temple of Ea yet. There must be much to discuss for the Thanksgiving Festival.”
Did Mother hide him away again?
*He went to the temple early this morning… huh.*
I looked up at her with suspicion, but Mother changed the topic swiftly.
“Anyway, I heard you were kind to the children of the Marquis of Hestia. How admirable, my daughter.”
Well, I *was* pretty great.
I puffed out my shoulders unnecessarily and stared at Father’s empty seat.
*Next time, I’ll definitely succeed.*
Dad recruitment—*complete!*
—
After dinner, a bath had been prepared in my room.
While Beatrice helped me wash, a brilliant idea struck.
“Twitzie, can I keep this bottle?”
“The perfume bottle? It’s empty now.”
“Still, still wanna keep it.”
I pleaded, holding up the glass bottle—just a bit bigger than my palm. Beatrice sighed with a smile.
“Can you be careful not to break it?”
“Mhm.”
In the end, I succeeded in obtaining the perfume bottle.
And while Beatrice was busy washing my hair, I filled it with water.
Drying me and brushing my hair takes time.
While she hurried around, I held the now-heavy bottle and smiled in satisfaction.
*A new method—easier, more fun, and much more successful than spitting.*
Once Beatrice tucked me into bed, she chuckled.
“You really like that bottle, don’t you? Want to hold it even while sleeping?”
“Mhm. I wuv it.”
“My, then I’ll try to find an even prettier bottle next time. Sleep well, Your Highness.”
“See you in two nights, Twitzie.”
Beatrice gently stroked my cheek as if admiring it, then curtsied and left.
Silence fell over the princess’s dim room.
*Of course—at this hour, the only one guarding the palace proper is Icarus.*
Icarus never even makes a breathing sound, so everything felt unchanged.
*Loyal hound Icarus…*
Calling him merely a knight is insulting. He’s the shadow of King Oblin.
*A man who would do anything to hide the twins’ existence if ordered to.*
He would gladly give his life for me, but if I tried to harm Rosa, he would block me just as willingly.
*But that won’t happen tonight.*
I kept waking throughout the night, waiting to cause trouble.
When dawn finally crept in, I quietly sat up.
*Gabriella should be bringing Rosa into the palace by now.*
I rolled to the spot where Gabriella would lay Rosa down.
Then I opened the lid of the precious perfume bottle I had held all night—
Or tried to.
“Uuugh…”
It wouldn’t open.
I grabbed the bottle and bit the cap with my front teeth.
“Hiik—!”
Sweat trickled down as I wrestled with that tiny bottle. Finally, the cap turned.
“Haaaa….”
Nothing in life is easy.
I tilted the bottle and poured it over just the right area.
A perfect *map* was created.
*Heh…*
Rosa sleeps like the dead. Even if carried away, she wouldn’t notice. That means her nightgown will get wet too, and of course—
People will think she wet the bed.
*Bedwetter!*
I giggled silently and set the bottle neatly in a corner.
Then I rolled back to my place and closed my eyes.
*There’s no way my revenge on the sister who deceived me for 15 years ends with just making her a bedwetter.*
Rosa Rostell La Farka, our lives have only just restarted.
You may look forward to it.
—
Gabriella laid Rosa down without waking her, which made me nervous at first—but she really didn’t open her eyes.
*Wow…*
Maybe she was possessed by sleep. Amazing.
I obediently returned to the annex, dressed up, and ate breakfast.
*Around this time… what was Rosa’s maid’s name again?*
Ah—Chelsea. Chelsea Morello.
Chelsea thinks every achievement of Rosa’s is her own, so this incident won’t reach Mother’s ears.
Only Rosa will be embarrassed.
*If she even knows what shame is.*
While cutting my food into pieces, Gabriella smiled.
“You seem to be, cough— in very good spirits this morning, Your Highness.”
I looked at my nanny with serious eyes.
“Mhm. ‘Til Gabi coughed.”
“I’m almost— cough!— completely better.”
She pounded her chest, pretending to be fine.
Right. If she were going to recover that quickly, she wouldn’t have gotten pneumonia.
“When does doctor come back?”
“He said he might return today or tomorrow, but I feel so bad….”
“Mom said you important like her.”
I altered the truth slightly. Gabriella laughed softly.
“No way. I think you misheard, Your Highness.”
I know she gets compensated for raising us.
*Mother is generous with rewards.*
But whether those rewards come with heartfelt gratitude?
No.
*Everyone in the kingdom knows Mother is only kind to the twins.*
Gabriella has worked so hard.
Taking turns raising us each day means *she never gets a day off*.
That’s how she got pneumonia.
“It’s true. I told Icarus. Yup.”
Her expression changed a little.
I pressed the advantage.
“That’s why doctor come too.”
A faint smile spread on her tired face.
“…I see. His Majesty is busy, but he does care for me.”
Care, my foot.
*I know the truth, Gabi.*
So rest whenever you’re with me.
I placed a plump shrimp on a piece of bread and held it out.
“Here. Eat and get better fast.”
Gabriella giggled and took it.
“Raising you for four years was worth it.”
“Not yet. Wait till it really feels worth it.”
I meant it sincerely, but Gabriella doubled over laughing.
*…You don’t have to believe me. Just get well, Gabi.*
You’d better.
—
After breakfast, as Gabriella said, the royal physician arrived.
*Crying in front of Mother really paid off.*
Good—except there was one problem.
The physician knows my face well.
So while Gabriella was examined, I spent time in the next room with Icarus.
Mother’s knight knelt on one knee before me in jet-black formal uniform.
“I greet Princess Lirin, the Little Star of Leella.”
It was the first time speaking with him since I died and returned to life, but it wasn’t difficult.
“Where Mommy?”
Instead of greeting him, I just asked. He hesitated a moment.
“…In the audience chamber. Receiving guests from Vickrine with Grand Duke Nigel.”
“What color dress she wear?”
“…What?”
“Mommy pretty?”
He answered, keeping a respectful distance.
“…A violet satin gown, accented with black lace and onyx.”
“Pretty?”
“…Pardon?”
“Mommy pretty.”
He continued, helpless.
“…I wouldn’t dare look directly, so I’m unsure.”
“What necklace she wear?”
“…The black diamond gifted by the Duchy of Ican.”
“And crown?”
“…A circlet with three sapphires at the center and diamonds around…”
For someone who *didn’t dare look*, he knows a lot.
“Pretty?”
“…Pardon?”
“Crown pretty.”
“…Yes. It was beautiful.”
I pulled out my final question.
“But Mommy is still the prettiest, right?”
My mother, King Oblin, is this man’s religion.
And people who worship the same god connect easily.
I looked up at the silent Icarus and smiled brightly.
“I think so too.”
