IBYSRHML | Chapter 26

#.26

To be honest, I had thought that after coming to the Empire, I might need permission every time I met my sisters. But that was all just my imagination.

The only thing that had changed was that our home was now the Imperial Palace. Every morning, we still gathered in the dining room to eat together. Except for the fact that our youngest unnie rarely showed up and that the menu included unfamiliar dishes I had never seen in Trovancha, nothing else was particularly different.

“Little one, you have to eat your carrots too.”

“Lilliana doesn’t want to eat carrots today. That’s just how I feel.”

When I shook my head from side to side, my eldest unnie burst into laughter.

“You don’t feel like eating carrots?”

“Yeah. Today’s just one of those days.”

After breakfast, it was hard to see my eldest unnie because she was busy learning imperial etiquette, taking various lessons, and inheriting the duties of the future empress. She seemed even more exhausted than she had been in Trovancia, probably because she was so busy.

Still, my eldest unnie always had breakfast with us, and just like she did in Trovancha, she never forgot to read me a fairy tale before I fell asleep.

“Still, just try eating one. You need a balanced diet to stay healthy.”

Because I was weak, I even drank the magic potions that François made. The word healthy made me waver.

As I hesitated, glancing at the carrot, my eldest unnie struck my final weak spot.

“And if you eat carrots, you’ll grow taller.”

My eyes widened as I turned to look at my second unnie. She nodded seriously with a firm expression.

All three of my sisters were quite tall. On the other hand, I was particularly small, even compared to kids my age.

“Hiyuu… I guess I have no choice, then.”

My eldest unnie stabbed a piece of carrot with her fork and held it up to my pouting lips.

Squeezing my eyes shut and holding my breath, I crunched down on the carrot and swallowed it. Then, I quickly shoved another food into my mouth to wash away the taste.

“Phew! I did it!”

As I sighed in relief, freed from eating any more carrots, I noticed Edgar through the glass window of the dining room door.

He was darting his large eyes around, searching for someone.

The moment our eyes met, Edgar flinched in surprise and quickly hid himself. My eyes narrowed.

What kind of prank is he trying to pull today?

“Hmmm.”

As I kept staring at the door, Edgar slowly peeked up again, pressing himself against the window to spy on us.

But when he met my gaze again, he hurriedly backed away.

Noticing Edgar, my eldest unnie smiled and whispered to me.

“It looks like Edgar wants to get close to you.”

“If he doesn’t become my subordinate, I won’t be friends with him.”

“Wouldn’t it be nice to be friends?”

“No. Edgar has too many sins to atone for. If he won’t be my subordinate, then that’s that. I’m going first. Today, I’m going to teach Edgar exactly who’s in charge.”

I slipped down under the dining table.

Since we had finished eating, my sisters didn’t stop me.

I crawled on my knees across the long dining table toward the door.

This way, Edgar won’t be able to find me.

Pressing myself against the door, I peeked through the window.

Edgar, unable to see me, turned his head left and right in confusion.

Smirking, I suddenly popped my face right up against the window.

“Wak!”

I even let out a loud shout.

Edgar shrieked, “Aahhh!” and fell flat on his butt.

Laughing mischievously, I threw open the door and ran outside.

Edgar, his face now bright red, glared at me as he clumsily scrambled to his feet.

“Why are you here? Are you hungry?”

“H-hungry? No! I came here today to… with you…”

“What? Edgar, speak up. I can’t hear you at all.”

“I-I came here to… play with you.”

“You came here to play with me?”

My eyes widened.

Edgar’s face turned an even deeper shade of red than before.

“Yeah! You don’t have any friends here in the Imperial Palace, right? So I’ll play with you.”

“No.”

I firmly rejected him.

Edgar froze, his mouth opening and closing in disbelief.

It seemed he hadn’t expected to be turned down.

“If you become my subordinate, then I’ll play with you.”

“What nonsense are you talking about?! Why should I be your subordinate?!”

Edgar shouted, and I scrunched my face while covering my ears with both hands.

I decided to ignore him.

I was going to head to my room and play with cookie, jelly, and toy soldiers.

As I walked out into the hallway, Edgar followed close behind me.

“I said I’ll play with you.”

“Does that mean you’re willing to be my subordinate?”

“What does playing together have to do with being a subordinate?”

“A leader must cherish their subordinates, and a subordinate must be loyal to their leader. So you have to be my subordinate if we’re going to play together.”

Edgar frowned as if he couldn’t understand my logic.

With his baby fat, his chubby cheeks made it even harder for him to pull off an adult-like expression of deep thought.

“Edgar, do you not have any friends to play with?”

“W-what? Of course I do!”

Edgar flailed his arms and jumped up in protest.

He doesn’t. He totally doesn’t.

Strong denial is strong affirmation.

Just ten minutes ago, I had firmly declared that I wouldn’t play with Edgar unless he became my subordinate.

But now that I saw how pitiful he was, I had to reconsider.

“Haa… I guess I have no choice. I won’t play with you, but there is something you can do for me.”

“What is it?”

“I want to explore the Imperial Palace.”

At my request, Edgar stared at me for a moment before grinning.

Puffing out his chest, he nodded confidently.

“That’s as easy as eating soup. Just follow me.”

Then, he strode ahead as if to show off.

I quickly chased after him and made a suggestion.

“Let’s start with the garden.”

“The garden?”

“Isn’t there a garden in the Imperial Palace?”

“What are you talking about? The Imperial Palace garden is huge and amazing!”

At my question, Edgar suddenly got defensive.

Determined to show me the most incredible garden in the world, he grabbed my hand and started running.

We were both six years old, yet Edgar was incredibly fast.

“Wait! Let’s go a little slower!”

Even though I was moving my legs as fast as I could, it ended up looking like Edgar was dragging me along.

Normally, if I got too heavy, he would’ve stopped or let go.

But Edgar was so determined that he practically pulled me along as he ran.

“Huff… Haa!”

Out of breath, I finally wrenched my hand free and plopped down on the ground.

While I gasped for air, Edgar looked completely unfazed.

Instead, he stared down at me with a displeased expression.

“You’re tired already, just from that?”

“It’s hot.”

I vigorously fanned myself to cool the sweat on my face.

My curly hair clung to my neck and face, making me feel uncomfortable.

If I had known this would happen, I would have asked my second unnie to tie my hair.

If I were just a little older, I could tie my hair beautifully by myself like she does. But for now, I don’t have that skill. Hmph.

“Alright! You’re the subordinate. You’re too weak to be the leader.”

“What? Don’t try to take my spot!”

I’m the leader, so what nonsense is he talking about?

Even while catching my breath, I was so annoyed by Edgar’s remark that I jumped up from my seat.

“Let’s go quickly. This much isn’t tiring at all.”

Forcing myself to suppress my ragged breathing, I pretended to be fine and poked Edgar.

Edgar narrowed his eyes at me, snorted, and took the lead.

This time, he walked instead of running until we reached the garden.

“This is the entrance to the garden.”

At the entrance stood an arch-shaped fence.

Vines crawled up the fence, and beyond it, a lush, forest-like scenery was visible.

“Wowww!”

I covered my mouth in excitement.

I couldn’t contain my pounding heart, so I started hopping in place.

“It’s even more amazing inside.”

“It looks just like that!”

“Like what?”

“Doesn’t it look like the entrance to the secret forest in front of the tower where the evil dragon has imprisoned the princess?”

At my words, Edgar tilted his head as if I was spouting nonsense.

“It’s just the garden entrance.”

“Beyond the garden, the princess is waiting. We have to rescue her while avoiding the evil dragon watching over the tower!”

If Antonio were here, he would have immediately started playing the hero the moment I mentioned the secret forest entrance.

But Edgar still looked like he didn’t get it.

I almost felt deflated, but I quickly changed my perspective and imagined myself as a hero who tamed a foolish donkey named Edgar.

Thinking of him as a donkey made it even more fun.

“Come on, hurry!”

To stay out of the evil dragon’s sight, we had to keep low and crawl across the garden!

Just as I was thinking that and reaching for Edgar’s hand to drag him in—

“You are not allowed to enter.”

“Huh?”

Before we knew it, a servant holding pruning shears appeared, blocking our way.

“What’s going on?”

“Young Master, I apologize, but you cannot enter the garden today.”

“Why not?”

The servant glanced at me before replying.

“There is pruning work being done in the garden today, and it is dangerous. It would be best to come another day.”

Edgar turned to check on me as if to ask if I was okay.

I was a bit disappointed, but if they were pruning the trees, there was nothing we could do.

If we loitered around, we might get hit by a falling branch and get hurt.

“Oh well. Let’s do something else instead.”

And so, we stepped away from the garden entrance.

Maybe Edgar felt bad that our plan to explore the garden had been canceled, because after hesitating for a moment, he asked,

“Do you want to play something else?”

“Then let’s play kitchen over there!”

I pointed to the imperial palace flower bed.

Edgar mumbled with a reluctant expression.

“Kitchen play?”

“You don’t want to?”

“Uh… That’s a bit…”

“Then I’ll play by myself.”

“Ah, no! I’ll do it! I can do it!”

“Good! Let’s hurry and start!”

Worried that Edgar might change his mind, I quickly ran over to the flower bed.

Since it was in the shade of the building, it was pleasantly cool.

I picked up a stone and started crushing flower petals.

Edgar sat awkwardly beside me, simply watching what I was doing.

Seriously… He really doesn’t seem to know how to play kitchen.

I guess I’ll have to teach him step by step.

I plucked some leaves and handed them to Edgar.

“I’ll make a salad, so you grill the meat.”

“Grill the meat? But this isn’t meat.”

Does everyone in the empire not know how to play properly, like Edgar? Or is he just special?

I frowned at him, staring intently before shaking my head.

“Hah… There’s no helping it. I’ll be the chef today, and you be the customer.”

Oh, wait. Come to think of it, Edgar was supposed to be my subordinate for us to play together…

But he didn’t seem to remember, so I decided to pretend I forgot too.

As I was diligently preparing the flower petals, Edgar scratched his head and asked,

“Hey… Why… you?”

“Huh? What did you say?”

Edgar’s cheeks were slightly flushed.

It was cool in the shade, but maybe he was still hot from running around earlier.

More importantly, what did he just say?

“Why because of me….”

“Because of you?”

“Why did you stand up to the maids because of me?”

Oh, so that’s what he was asking.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

As I crushed the petals with a stone, red juice oozed out.

Would it stain my nails red if I applied it?

Thinking absentmindedly, I casually answered Edgar.

“Because you’re someone precious to me. You shouldn’t be spoken to badly.”

“…….”

I was too focused on applying the red petal juice to my nails to notice that Edgar wasn’t responding.

It was only after a while, when I found his silence odd, that Edgar spoke again.

“I’m… someone precious to you?”

When I looked up, Edgar was staring at me with a face as red as a tomato.