“Is there have any problem?”
Delight’s low, threatening voice resonated dangerously.
“W-Well…”
“Actually, Monia has been overly fixated on the princess.”
Sonia, flustered, stumbled in her words, and Dela stepped forward to speak.
“Just because being a maid who served the princess… and when Your Majesty returned, Monia’s obsession for that became worse.”
“I’m not fixated! It’s not like that!”
Monia denied vehemently, startled.
“The truth is, whenever we tried to take care of the princess a bit, Monia would jump in eagerly…”
Dela trailed off with an awkward expression.
Sensing the situation, Sonia regained composure and intervened, supporting Dela.
“That’s right. We couldn’t do anything for the princess.”
” I never pushed Dela and Sonia aside! I just wanted to take good care of the princess, ensuring she grows up without any shortcomings. That’s all I cared about…”
Monia expressed her frustration.
However, the subtle atmosphere already harbored suspicions about Monia.
“It’s true. Please believe me…!”
Monia pleaded earnestly.
“Then why are these maids saying such things?”
Monia looked at Dela and Sonia with embarrassment.
It was a gaze asking them to be honest about why they were doing this to her.
However, Dela and Sonia shamelessly kept their mouths shut.
“W-Well…”
Monia, confused, turned to Dela and Sonia but ended up closing her mouth.
‘Of course, they’re trying to drive Monia away.’
Well, such scheming is quite common.
When a child, thought to be unpopular, starts receiving love, the attitudes of those around them change dramatically.
However, genuine attitude shifts are rare.
Usually, people turn a blind eye to past mistreatments.
The two had probably conspired to drive Monia away, fearing their actions might be exposed.
That’s troublesome.
Dela and Sonia could pull off such a scheme because there was no one in the room to believe and support Monia.
No matter what Monia said, the arguments of Dela and Sonia gained more strength.
However, there was one more person in the room.
That’s Me!
I was wide awake, watching everything unfold.
However, in Dela and Sonia’s eyes, I was just a child who couldn’t move according to my will, so they paid no attention.
Certainly, as it stood, there wasn’t much I could do.
I couldn’t simply raise my hand and say, ‘Those two are lying!’
“If we can prove our innocence, we don’t mind not serving the Princess anymore!”
Watching Dela strongly claim her innocence, I took a deep breath.
If Delight hadn’t forgotten, it would surely reach him.
Phew, hoo.
Gathering all my strength, I let out the loudest scream I could muster.
“Uheeong!”
“Wh-Why is the Princess suddenly acting like this? Princess, it’s okay. Thud. Please stop crying.”
Dela, looking flustered, held me in her arms and glanced at Delight, trying to comfort me.
“Shh. It’s okay. Thud. You need to stop crying for His Majesty to like it.”
Hmph, who cares.
The more Dela tried to console me by looking up at my face, the more I exerted pressure on my throat.
“Aaahhh!!!”
I continued to cry as if I would collapse from exhaustion.
“Oh dear. Why is the Princess acting like this? Are you hungry, perhaps?”
“I’ll bring some baby food right away…!”
At Dela’s gesture, Sonia quickly moved to fetch something to eat.
She came back with the baby food, but I continued to cry even louder, not taking a single bite.
Though my strength was already draining and my voice trembling, I had to endure for now.
It was when I squeezed out my cries with all my might.
“Dela, let me comfort the Princess…”
Unable to bear it any longer, Monia stepped forward.
“No, I can comfort the Princess.”
Dela turned her body, pushing Monia away.
“Wait.”
Delight, closely observing the scene, stopped Dela.
“There must be a reason for the child to cry.”
He looked at me meaningfully before muttering.
Just as I suspected! He remembers!
“There is always a reason for a child to cry.”
It was a phrase I used when Delight cried in the past.
And Delight remembered that phrase.
He seemed pleased that his efforts to cry had paid off.
“Normally, babies cry for various reasons at this time. Whether they’re hungry, sleepy, or just want to be held.”
Dela forced a smile, reassuring that it was nothing serious.
She seemed anxious to end this situation somehow.
It’s understandable. Monia has always been the one to comfort me when I cried.
“Moreover, with so many people around now, she might be even more startled and upset.”
“Is that so?”
Delight said thoughtfully.
At the same time, I almost made a snorting sound.
Are you really going along with that? Are you this easily swayed?!
As I felt frustrated, Delight spoke up again.
“But the child never just cries.”
Delight asserted firmly and with conviction.
He said firmly.
He remembered after all.
As I continued to cry harder, Delight looked at me and continued.
“Then we should check each possibility one by one.”
“… What?”
“First, it’s not hunger, so the rest of you can leave.”
Delight dismissed all the attendants and knights who had accompanied him.
In no time, the room was left with Delight, me, Monia, Dela, and Sonya.
“It seems it’s not that.”
As I continued to cry, Delight remarked.
“Try soothing the child yourselves by holding her.”
Delight addressed Sonia and Monia.
“You, start.”
The first one named was Sonia.
However, Sonia’s arms were already trembling.
Delight didn’t need to give further instructions.
Sonia couldn’t even properly hold me.
Monia promptly took me into her arms.
“Uhh… *sniff*.”
Naturally, I thought my crying would stop as soon as Monia held me.
However, the moment I was embraced, I felt the warmth and comforting touch, and my heart naturally eased. Over time, I had become accustomed to Monia holding and soothing me.
“Huh.”
“The child seems to prefer Monia.”
As I chuckled slightly, Delight made a meaningful comment.
“But, this, this is… Monia monopolizing the princess, not letting us touch her, so you’re acting like this. We are still strangers to her.”
Dela said indignantly.
“What does that have to do with anything? The important thing is who the princess follows.”
In fact, from the beginning, I seemed indifferent to Dela and Sonia’s arguments.
“What? But…!”
“And if you had genuine affection, even if you couldn’t personally care for her…”
Delight extended his remarks, piercing Dela and Sonya with his intense gaze.
“The child wouldn’t have rejected you if you had touched her.”
“!”
Dela and Sonia shivered with a stab of realization.
“I can see how things went while I was away.”
Delight swept the room with a gaze that felt like daggers.
“The child instinctively knows.”
“…”
“Who is the one that cherishes and protects them.”
Delight asserted.
But why does that phrase sound so familiar?
“Are you crying? Why are you secretly crying here?”
“Sniff. I’m just crying.”
“What do you mean ‘just crying’? Is something hurting? Or did someone bother you?”
“Sniff, it’s not that. It’s just that the meat I had for breakfast today… the rabbit I was raising?”
“Is that the one you were raising?”
“Sniff… Uhhuhuh.”
Oh, that incident, right.
On that day, I genuinely didn’t know if the rabbit that kept appearing behind the cabin belonged to the young apprentice.
They never told me!
“Seems like you were a very good owner. That’s why it didn’t run away when it saw me.”
“Sniff. It was a really cute and kind rabbit… I really liked it… Huhuhu!”
“Is that rabbit the one?”
“Huh?”
From under the fallen blanket on the floor, a rabbit with perked-up ears emerged, having fallen from the clothesline.
Delight, who discovered the rabbit, blinked his teary eyes slowly as he looked at it.
“For some reason, that rabbit seemed to find it amusing when it saw me, so I didn’t catch it.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. It seems like, instinctively, it thought I was a good person because you treated it well. Anyway, it’s an animal’s instinct.”
It probably wasn’t because of Delight that the rabbit liked me.
Rather, the rabbit probably instinctively sensed that I was stronger and wanted to survive by flattening itself under me.
Ironically, it was my instinct that told me it would be troublesome if I caught that rabbit.
…It would have been a big problem if I had caught it.
Looking at Delight’s smiling face, cold sweat ran down, and my spine tingled.
It’s so vivid now, but it was an incident I had erased from my memory.
But you remember, huh?
It’s quite impressive that you recall something useful like this.
“The child instinctively follows Monia.”
Delight opened his mouth as if he had finished confirming.
