SUPER SIDE STORY 17………………………….
Flustered, Roselia stammered as she answered.
“W-we just read a storybook with Lu! Oh, and we also rode the swing…”
“And we had tea with Mom and Dad,” Luamin added.
“That’s right!”
When Evelina subtly helped them out, Roselia nodded brightly with a wide smile.
Selene felt that something was a little strange, but she simply nodded without thinking too much about it.
“I see. But it looks like there’s something on Luamin’s clothes. Did you spill something while eating a snack?”
This time Luamin flinched in surprise and quickly jumped out of Selene’s arms.
His movement was so sudden that Selene stared blankly at the now empty space in her arms.
Luamin hurriedly replied,
“Ah, I think some cream got on it when I was eating cake earlier.”
“…I see.”
Selene’s eyes narrowed for a brief moment before returning to normal.
Evelina instinctively felt that Selene had realized that Roselia and Luamin were hiding something.
The children glanced nervously at each other, then suddenly claimed they had something urgent to do and rushed upstairs to their room.
Selene immediately turned her head and looked at Evelina.
“Evelina, tell me.”
“Tell you what?”
“What are the twins plotting?”
“I have no idea what you mean.”
Evelina shrugged casually and moved away.
Selene quickly followed behind her and pressed further.
“You know, don’t you?”
“Know what?”
“What the twins are hiding.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Rosel and Lu are acting just like usual.”
Evelina smiled calmly, maintaining a perfectly straight face.
She had always been good at controlling her expressions, so Selene began to doubt herself.
Since Evelina insisted nothing was going on, Selene wondered if she had simply imagined it.
But her intuition told her otherwise.
Even though Selene was extremely curious about what secret the twins were hiding, she didn’t interrogate them or suddenly barge into their room.
In truth, Roselia and Luamin were terribly bad at lying, so if Selene had kept asking, they definitely would have been caught.
When Selene let the matter go without questioning them, Roselia and Luamin happily believed they had successfully fooled her.
A few days later, about half of the large sheet of paper had been beautifully colored.
Luamin looked at the drawing with a proud expression.
It already looked pretty, so he was excited to see how beautiful it would be once everything was colored.
Luamin spoke to Roselia, who was still diligently coloring.
“Rosel, let’s stop coloring and go ride the swing.”
“Okay, sure!”
Her fingers were already starting to hurt, so she had wanted to take a break anyway.
Roselia immediately jumped up and grabbed Luamin’s hand as they ran outside.
Since riding the swing with Selene was the most fun, they immediately began looking for her.
The first place they headed was Arsen’s office.
They knocked lightly with their tiny hands, and the door opened right away.
“Rosel, Lu.”
“Dad, do you know where Her Majesty is?”
“Hm… I’m not sure. Maybe she’s with Mom? But why?”
“We want to ride the swing with Her Majesty!”
Arsen thought for a moment and said,
“How about riding it with Dad instead?”
Arsen expected the children to say yes right away.
But as if they had planned it beforehand, both of them tightly shut their mouths and avoided his gaze.
“…Rosel? Lu?”
“Uh, um… Dad, you’re busy! We’ll go first!”
Roselia grabbed Luamin’s hand and quickly ran away.
Left behind in the suddenly empty room, Arsen stared blankly at where the children had been standing.
While running after Roselia, Luamin glanced back with a guilty expression.
“What if Dad got mad?”
“No, he didn’t get mad. I know.”
Of course, he might feel a little disappointed, but he wouldn’t get angry.
After wandering around for a while, they heard from Noah that Selene was in the training grounds, so they ran there immediately.
In the training grounds, Selene was practicing sword swings by herself.
Even Roselia, who knew nothing about swords, could see that her movements were powerful and beautiful.
Luamin, who was learning swordsmanship himself, stared with sparkling eyes as if stars might fall out of them.
Selene let out a low breath and slowly lowered her sword.
As soon as she did, Luamin let go of Roselia’s hand and ran over.
“Your Majesty!”
“Hm?”
Selene quickly turned her head.
She had been so focused on her sword practice that she hadn’t even noticed Roselia and Luamin arriving.
Luamin stood next to her and asked with shining eyes,
“Your Majesty, are you good with a sword too?”
“Well… I wouldn’t say I’m bad.”
Selene shrugged.
Roselia said proudly,
“Lu can use a sword too! He’s learning from Dad.”
“What? Really?”
“Uh… a little…”
Luamin twisted shyly with embarrassment.
Selene grinned.
“Then can you show me a little?”
“Uh, um…”
“I’m curious. I saw a very small sword here earlier—so that was yours.”
After hesitating, Luamin carefully nodded.
At first, Luamin was shy and couldn’t perform very well.
But as time passed, his expression became serious as he swung the sword.
Selene watched him with admiration.
He was still young, but his fundamentals were solid.
Even though he hadn’t practiced recently, his consistent training showed, and he didn’t make any major mistakes.
When Luamin lowered the sword, Selene clapped.
“That’s impressive! When you grow up, you’ll become a great swordsman.”
“Really?”
“Of course.”
Selene praised him generously.
Roselia, who had been standing quietly, grabbed Selene’s hand.
“Can we go ride the swing now?”
“Oh, right. Let’s go.”
Selene smiled and returned the sword to its place.
As they left the training grounds, she said,
“But I’ve worked up a bit of a sweat. Why don’t you go to the garden first? I’ll be there soon.”
“Okay!”
Roselia and Luamin laughed and ran to the garden.
Selene chuckled and quickly went inside the mansion.
After quickly washing up and changing clothes, she left her room to go to the garden.
But the twins’ bedroom door was slightly open.
Selene stopped in her tracks.
It feels like the twins are hiding something in there.
Her hand twitched.
After hesitating, Selene slowly reached out and grabbed the doorknob.
Then she simply pushed the door shut.
“Sigh… good job resisting, me.”
Selene muttered quietly and hurried down the stairs.
When she arrived at the garden, Roselia and Luamin were happily riding the swing together.
“Roselia! Luamin!”
At Selene’s voice, their faces lit up.
Seeing those expressions made her glad she hadn’t peeked into their room.
She believed she was good at controlling her expressions, but the children might have noticed and felt disappointed.
“Please push us as hard as you can!”
“Alright.”
Soon the garden filled with Roselia and Luamin’s cheerful laughter.
During dinner that evening, Arsen seemed unusually unhappy.
Noticing the different mood compared to earlier, Selene tilted her head and asked Evelina, who was sitting beside her,
“Why does the Grand Duke look like that?”
“Well… apparently Arsen asked Rosel and Lu to ride the swing with him, but they refused.”
“What?”
Selene’s eyes widened.
That meant Roselia and Luamin had chosen her over Arsen.
The corner of Selene’s lips twitched uncontrollably.
The moment Arsen noticed Selene smiling, he shot her a sharp glare.
So Selene deliberately lifted one corner of her mouth and smirked.
A spark immediately flared in his eyes.
Evelina sighed inwardly and smiled awkwardly.
Meanwhile, the true culprits—Roselia and Luamin—knew nothing and were simply enjoying their meal happily.
After the stormy dinner ended, Roselia and Luamin quickly went back to their room.
When they had gone out earlier to ride the swing, they thought they hadn’t closed the door properly—but now it was firmly shut, so they assumed they had been mistaken.
“Her Majesty leaves in two days, so we have to hurry.”
“Okay!”
Luamin nodded with determination.
They colored the drawing diligently until everyone in the mansion had gone to bed.
Another day passed.
Finally, two days later, the day Selene was leaving arrived.
Because they had gone to bed early from sleepiness the night before, Roselia and Luamin woke up early to finish coloring.
“All done!”
“Finished!”
The two of them high-fived.
On the large sheet of paper, Roselia, Selene, and Luamin were drawn smiling brightly while wearing flower crowns.
At first glance it was hard to tell who was who, but their eye colors made it clear.
Working together, they carefully rolled up the large paper and tied it with a ribbon.
From outside, Evelina’s voice could be heard.
“Rosel! Lu! Her Majesty is leaving!”
Hearing that, they rushed out of the room and hurried down the stairs.
The drawing was so large they had to carry it together.
Evelina, who was waiting downstairs, quickly cast a preservation spell on it before going outside with them.
Selene, standing at the mansion entrance, widened her eyes when she saw them.
More precisely, she was surprised by the large rolled paper they were holding.
Roselia and Luamin, panting, held out the drawing.
“It’s a present!”
“You have to look at it after you get back to the kingdom!”
“Oh… okay.”
Selene accepted the drawing with a slightly bewildered expression.
Roselia stared at her for a moment, then suddenly began to tear up.
When she started crying, Luamin also began sniffling.
Seeing the children suddenly cry, Selene panicked and tried to comfort them.
“I’ll come visit again later, so don’t cry, alright?”
“B-but…”
“You’re a queen… so you’re busy…”
Roselia and Luamin sniffled.
“Then come visit the kingdom together next time! I’ll be waiting.”
At those words, Roselia’s eyes widened.
She immediately looked at Evelina, who smiled softly and nodded.
Luamin beamed.
“Yes! We’ll definitely come!”
With those farewells, Selene boarded the carriage and left the mansion.
Selene kept glancing at the large rolled drawing beside her.
The children had told her to look at it after returning to the kingdom—but this time, she didn’t think she could keep that promise.
Unable to resist her curiosity, Selene finally unrolled the drawing.
“…Oh my.”
Selene’s mouth fell open.
Thinking about the small hands that had worked so hard to draw it made her chest tighten.
“How could anyone not love this?”
Selene let out a soft laugh.
The drawing Roselia and Luamin had given her proudly occupied an entire wall in her office.
Later, when Roselia and Luamin visited the royal palace and discovered that fact, they were so happy they nearly jumped with joy.
SUPER SIDE STOEY END………………………..
