“That’s very… dependable. I can’t believe you’ll protect my back. Do you know how much you need to practice to reach that level?”
Cardin, who had been taken aback for a while from my cry for protection, soon smiled lightly and told me to practice with the wooden doll first.
“You don’t believe me now! You’ll see. I’ll be stronger than Papa later and let you dance with the wooden doll.”
To be stronger than Cardin, a magic swordsman, it was not enough to practice mana without eating and sleeping all day, but my confidence hit the sky.
Whose daughter am I? Of course, I can be strong!
“I look forward to it.”
His reluctant answer made me feel motivated
“Oh, right.”
“Why?”
“This. I picked it up on the way here. Take it papa.”
The scented candle from Jacques’s store continued to show off its heavy weight in my arms, so I handed it over to Cardin.
“You picked it up? Why would you go if you picked it …?”
“Ah. That’s what you’re saying.”
Thanks to Cardin, who tries to take jokes seriously, I corrected the words and said it was a gift.
Cardin looked down at the scented candles that were lightly placed on his both hands, he looked awkward.
I wondered why his expression looked familiar, I then remembered that he looked like that when I first picked up the Eldora flower and gave it to him.
“Thank you. Did you buy it on purpose?”
“Yes, of course! I heard it’s good for mental and physical stability.”
I didn’t have to say that I got it for free, so I didn’t say much.
Looking at Cardin, whose expression became milder after receiving the gift, I became excited.
Originally, my plan was to give the gift carelessly and indifferently but it disappeared in an instant.
“Hmmm. And when I came out of the scented candle shop, the streets turned really pretty.”
As I talked about scented candles, I naturally brought up the story of the streets of the square being ready for the harvest festival.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun, right?”
I looked up at Cardin with more glittering eyes than ever before.
“Well, I’m sure you said you’d come with me last time if I were obedient.”
Cardin, who tilted his head slightly, pretended to be worried.
Perhaps if Elvin hadn’t told her, I would have hung on Cardin’s forearm and begged him to go out with me for a day.
No way.
“But Papa is always busy…… I don’t mind going with Elvin or my nanny!”
“What? No…”
“Papa is busy. How can I ask you to come with me? I promised Papa that I’d be a good girl.… I’m really fine!”
“……”
With my innocent smile, Cardin shut up as if he was at a loss for words when I said that I was really okay and he could go to work.
He opened his mouth with a frown, but he repeatedly bit his lips as if he had not decided what to say.
“I should go ask my nanny. It’s too much.”
As soon as I got down from Cardin’s lap and tried to walk toward the door without hesitation.
An urgent voice resounded in the office.
“I can go.”
“Huh? What did you say? I couldn’t hear you very well.”
I put my hands together in one ear and asked again.
Cardin, who was looking at me, noticed that I had done it on purpose only then.
“We can go together.”
Cardin uttered each syllable clearly.
That’s how it’s supposed to be.
After hearing Cardin’s answer, I patted his knee a couple of times and said he made a good decision.
* * *
Finally, it was the day of the long-awaited harvest festival.
Today, I planned to have a good breakfast and go out to the square around lunch.
At the end of the peaceful breakfast, the butler came into the dining room with a quick step.
“Well… Duke, princess. There is a child in front of the duchy who came to see the princess, saying he is her friend.”
“What?”
Who is impersonating my friend when I only have Fay as my friend?
I told the butler to send him back since I don’t have friends.
“He said you would know if I said Fay.”
“Cough.”
A name that I knew so well came out and that made me choke.
“Who is it?”
I asked the butler again because I thought I heard it wrong, but my ears were faithfully doing their part.
“He said he is called Fay.”
I couldn’t sit still and ask any more questions at the stern answer of the butler.
“I think that’s my friend.”
I rose from my seat with the intention of checking it myself.
“What do you mean ‘friend’?”
At Cardin’s voice I turned my head.
He frowned softly, asking what I was talking about, he rose from his seat and approached me.
“When did you make a friend who would come all the way here?”
Cardin’s eyes widened as if to explain quickly.
Certainly, it was not easy for me to make friends because of my position.
“I’ll go with you. Go ahead.”
Cardin stood next to me as I was about to go out.
“Yes…”
It was hard to say anything about his stubborn attitude, so I let him follow me.
I came out and ran to the entrance of the duchy at a quick pace.
When I arrived at the entrance, I could see two knights standing in front of the door and a silhouette of a child, standing between the knights.
“You’re really not lying, are you, little boy? If it’s a lie, it can cause serious trouble.”
Lecturing him in a stern voice, the knights threatened him to tell the truth if he had lied.
“I did come to see my friend. I’m here to hang out with her today.….”
“Oh, boy. Even now, honestly…….”
The image of the child, which was hidden by the knights, was revealed. I shouted his name with a familiar face and voice.
“Fay!”
The knights and Fay’s eyes turned to my side in an instant.
Fay, standing between the knights at the door, bent his pretty eyes like a half-moon and waved loudly when he found me.
“It’s really Fay. How did you get here?”
After confirming that it was really Fay, I ran to the door and laughed as I held Fay’s hand.
“Liel, I missed you.”
Fay smiled brightly and took his face close to my hand.
I could feel his soft and white skin on the back of my hand.
“Oh my.”
The way he took mt hands and rubbed his face was like a gentle kitten. It was fatally cute.
“Oh!”
As I was mesmerized as if possessed by Fay’s appearance.
In an instant, my body was pulled up and trapped in a large arm. Cardin’s fierce eyes fell on Fay.
Cardin, who had been looking at Fay without saying a word for a long time, spat out a word.
“Follow me.”
At the end of the sentence, Cardin strode straight into the duchy.
Fay was following us when I peeped back in the arms of Cardin.
By the way, how did he suddenly come into the front door?
As soon as I looked at him, I began to wonder what I hadn’t thought of before.
He could have magically moved through space and appeared like what he did at Teto’s lab last time.
My eyes met Fay’s, who followed us eagerly. Fay’s eyes folded gently.
Are you in a good mood today? You smile a lot.
We arrived at the office before I knew it.
“Sit down.”
Cardin, who sat next to me, pointed at the opposite seat with his chin.
Fay, who sat down gently, opened his mouth, staring at Cardin in the right position.
“Hello, I’m Fay. I came here to play with Liel today. Can you give me permission?”
Cardin exhaled briefly, as if exasperated, as Fay asked for permission to play with me with impeccable manners
“How dare you come to the duchy without revealing your identity? If you weren’t really Emeliette’s friend, you’d be punished.”
Cardin told Fay, keeping a ferocious look.
“Who are you, when, where, and how you became friends with my daughter?”
Cardin pushed Fay with more momentum than a pressure interview.
“Papa. He’s my friend. He’s not a weird kid.”
I felt embarrassed at Cardin’s attitude.
Suddenly, a child who he didn’t know came saying he’s his daughter’s friend, so I understood he was worried, but his reaction is making me embarrassed.
“It’s fine. Well, Liel and I first met at the Imperial Palace Library, and we decided to be friends since then.”
Fay’s brief reply made Cardin’s brows frown even more. It was an expression that he didn’t like very much.
Fay, who was looking at Cardin, thought about something for a moment and quietly added.
“I’m staying at the tower right now.”
“Magic tower? I’ve never heard of a trainee who has the same as you.”
There was distrust in Cardin’s eyes.
Until now, the age of trainees entering the magic tower was at least in their late teens.
Well, that was a thing of the past.
I took the title of the youngest trainee of the current Magic tower at the age of six.
“If you don’t believe it, ask the grandpa at the magic tower. He’s, my guardian.”
Cardin, who was irritated by Fay’s confident attitude, got up straight and brought a magic ball.
Fay seemed determined to clearly identify himself.
Cardin reached out to the magic ball.
Before long, black gases began to appear in the air.
The gas, which had been floating in the air for a certain period of time, suddenly wriggled and shone in the shape of a person.
“What, what? Grandpa Mejihos?”
The figure of a person soon became distinct and a figure of a person I knew very well appeared.
Grandfather Mejihos, who was drinking tea leisurely, said hello to Cardin with a soft smile.
“What’s the occasion? I can’t believe you’re talking to me first.”
Even the voice of Grandpa Mejihos resonated clearly in the office. My mouth widened at the amazing sight I had never seen before.
“It’s a wide-area modification magic that only works when the people who want to communicate have a strong magic power at the same time.”
Fay, who had moved to my side, whispered in my ear and kindly explained.
He said that it is a high-level magic that cannot be activated if either side lacks magic power or does not know the formula properly.
It’s a magical video call.
I calmed down my surprise little by little when I saw Grandpa Mejihos over the magic ball.
