Chapter 44
“……What?”
“I’m a princess of the Dern Empire, and I’m hiding as a maid because I was falsely accused of treason. Of course, I’ve lost all my memories, so I don’t remember anything from when I was a princess. Both His Highness the Crown Prince and Young Master Odin know that I’m a princess.”
I spoke quickly, trying to explain the situation at once. Lou stared at me, completely stunned.
Chris stepped beside me, probably wanting to help.
“You might not believe it, but Lily is telling the truth. If anyone finds out, she’d be thrown in prison right away, so Odin and I are doing our best to keep it secret.”
“Wait… wasn’t the person my brother was engaged to before a princess of the Dern Empire?”
Lou had never really cared about anyone around him, but he seemed to know this. Chris smiled and answered Lou’s question.
“Yeah, that’s right!”
“So then…”
“Lily and I were engaged.”
Chris hugged my shoulder gently as he said it. I pushed his face away with my hand and said firmly,
“We broke off the engagement, though.”
“But you were still engaged, weren’t you?”
I didn’t understand why he kept bringing up the engagement, which we had never mentioned before. His words weren’t wrong, so I just nodded, looking displeased.
Lou looked even more shocked. Seeing Lou like that, Chris lowered his head and burst out laughing. I stared at him like he was some strange guy, suddenly giggling at his reaction.
“……What kind of joke is this?”
As expected, Lou didn’t believe it. Honestly, I probably wouldn’t have either. A personal maid who quietly worked for years suddenly turns out to be a princess accused of treason?
“I’m not joking, Lou.”
Odin spoke from behind, supporting me. Only then did Lou seem to accept the situation. After all, Odin wasn’t the type to joke about something like this.
Lou still looked confused. Then, as if he had suddenly realized something, he lifted his head sharply.
“So this whole situation just now……”
“Yeah, you damn fool.”
Before Lou could say anything, Odin cut him off with a curse. His expression was unusually serious.
“What do you mean?”
“The one who dragged my sister here was him.”
Chris asked, and Odin answered. That explained why he had suddenly appeared in the room earlier.
When I looked at Lou with a frustrated expression, he was already frowning. As soon as our eyes met, he looked down.
“……I’m sorry, Lily.”
His voice was full of guilt. Usually, Lou would have brushed this off shamelessly, but seeing him apologize like this made my irritation vanish immediately.
“……No, it’s partly my fault for not telling you earlier.”
It was mostly my fault for delaying the truth from Lou. He already knew that even if I was a princess, I wouldn’t report it to the palace. Instead, he was someone willing to help, like Odin and Chris.
I had just been lazy about explaining because there was so much to tell.
Seeing Lou sulk made my conscience sting.
Even after I said that, Lou still looked gloomy. To lighten the mood, I made a silly joke, as usual.
“It’s okay, Young Master. I hear the palace prison even serves good food.”
Lou’s expression darkened further. Chris and Odin both looked slightly tense too.
Blinking at the sudden awkwardness in the room, I laughed quietly. Ah, I should’ve just kept quiet. I always forget that staying silent often makes things easier.
After revealing that I was a princess, Lou became overly protective of me.
I was lazing around in Lou’s room as usual when it was time to prepare for the meal, so I got out of bed.
“Where are you going?”
Lou, sitting at the tea table reading, put down his book and asked. I answered as I climbed down from the bed.
“To the dining hall. It’s time to help with the meal.”
“There are so many people outside, and you want to go out?”
Of course, it was a reasonable question. Ever since arriving at the palace, I’d gone out every day, but I had only met maids from the Sharonde Empire.
When I nodded, Lou gave me a dissatisfied look.
“Don’t work while you’re in the palace.”
“……Then what am I supposed to do?”
Lou answered confidently.
“Play with me.”
What kind of guy is he?
I looked at Lou coldly in disbelief. Now he’s openly telling me not to work at all. I finally understood why Deriksha used to get annoyed at me for “slacking”—it wasn’t that I wasn’t working, it was that Lou didn’t want me to.
“Don’t you have friends, Young Master?”
“Yes.”
I hinted that he should go play with them instead of me, but Lou either ignored me or didn’t notice and answered immediately.
I knew he was lying. Lou had so many friends, surrounded by peers at every ball, that it was hard to even see his face.
Why did he want to stick with me alone, instead of going to his friends during the palace ball?
At a duke’s mansion, maybe I would have gone along with it, but during the palace ball, I was scheduled to get paid for staying in the palace.
I couldn’t just skip for a few days without royal permission.
Just as I was about to ignore Lou and open the door, someone flung it open from outside.
“Lily! Let’s go play!”
Chris’s cheerful voice made me sigh. The royals had no intention of making me work at all…
“Today, I’ll show you the art gallery! Oh, Lou’s here too?”
Chris noticed Lou late and waved. Lou narrowed his eyes at Chris’s words.
“Of course. This is my room.”
Since I was spending a lot of time in Lou’s room, Chris would come there to fetch me.
Lou rarely went out since arriving at the palace, so normally I’d be alone, but today Lou stubbornly stayed inside.
Chris seemed to suddenly realize this was Lou’s room.
“But the art gallery? You want to take me outside near the ball venue?”
“Don’t worry, all the people are cleared out!”
Chris laughed shamelessly at Lou’s words. He was faithfully keeping his promise to show me around the palace.
I thought the first day would just be a garden tour, but lately, despite working every day, he had been taking me around to see every corner of the palace. The royal palace tours were fun, so I happily followed.
“Did you two go around like this every day? What if we run into Lady Lia like yesterday?”
“You brought her yesterday.”
“No, anyway…”
Lou dodged Chris’s blunt words. Since yesterday, Lou had been talking to Chris in a slightly annoyed tone. There was a faint sense of caution, as if he was worried.
Chris tilted his head like he was thinking the same thing as me, then suddenly laughed.
“Don’t worry, Lou! I have no bad intentions toward Lily!”
“Go away.”
Lou shut the door himself, cutting off Chris. Normally, he would have only said that, but now he actually chased him out.
Poor Chris… every day there’s one more person kicking him out…
I might have applauded Lou’s behavior in the past, but now that Chris was my friend, I didn’t like seeing him treated like that.
He’s a bit shameless, but he’s a good kid. I glared at Lou in frustration.
“Don’t take your anger out on the Crown Prince. Why are you sulking again?”
By now, I could tell Lou’s mood just by looking at his face. He had been pouting ever since Chris arrived.
Lou pressed his lips together stubbornly. I sighed.
“When will you grow up…”
Being taller doesn’t help. He still acts like a child. Lou glared at me as if my words had hit him.
“How long are you going to treat me like a kid?”
“Why, you have a problem with that?”
“Are you seriously leaving now?”
Ah, I slipped. I said exactly what I was thinking out loud. I quickly avoided his gaze.
Lou messed with his hair in frustration and opened the door.
“Be back before sunset. We need to prepare for the ball.”
I waved vaguely and left the room.
Before sunset meant I had about an hour. He let me go but only for an hour. Why is he so stingy?
“Did you get permission?”
“Yes.”
Chris was sitting on the windowsill outside, waiting. I glared at Lou’s room irritably.
“We’ll need extra pay for calming him down.”
“He’s a teenager~”
Chris took Lou’s side. I always noticed that Chris was kind in strange ways. Even if he got treated badly, he never seemed to get angry.
Even I, a commoner, would be annoyed if treated like that, but Chris never lost his temper.
He’d get walked all over. Seeing Chris grin made me sigh.
“Let’s go have fun before he gets mad again.”
I nodded and followed Chris.
The art gallery we arrived at was luxurious, fit for a palace.
Seeing all the paintings, I felt less impressed than during the garden tour.
Still, I decided to look at each painting carefully, thinking I might not get another chance.
As I glanced at the paintings one by one, I stopped in front of a large painting.
I stared at it intently. Chris came closer and looked at the painting too.
Seeing me interested for the first time, he seemed curious.
Chris chuckled quietly and asked,
“I didn’t expect you to like this kind of painting.”
“It’s not really that good……”
I scratched my cheek awkwardly. Chris kept smiling at me, and I avoided his gaze, focusing only on the painting.
