(Emiliette’s POV)
We returned to the mansion after a hard tour of the village. The sun was setting, but Cardin and Elvin hadn’t returned yet.
I was exhausted from walking around the village, so I went to the room with Fay and Ad to rest.
“Wait a minute!”
At that time, I heard an urgent voice behind my back, so I turned my head.
“Hello, Princess Bardion. Did you go sightseeing?”
The main character of the voice was Baron Medgel’s son, Eight. He was catching his breath as if he had rushed.
“Oh, yes. There were many things to see.”
The way he looked at me was burdensome, but I answered with proper courtesy to quickly get out of the situation.
Eight, who was happy with my reply, continued the conversation.
“Where have you been? I’ll guide you the next time you go out. I know the best places in Pardo better than anyone else.”
I took a step back without realizing it at his aggressive attitude.
Does he want to be close to me?
His eyes that looked at me on the first day became more and more persistent as time went by.
Also, whenever we happened to make eye contact, he would use his strengths as much as possible to smile beautifully.
However, Eight is just an ordinary child for me, as there were already a lot of people with the beauty of the century around me.
“Thanks for the offer, but I’ve already been to a lot of places with my friends.”
I expressed my refusal because I felt uncomfortable with his burdensome attitude.
“With these servants?”
Eight’s eyes turned sour.
He looked at Fay and Ad up and down.
Obviously, his smiling face was the same, but the way he looked at me and the way he looked at them were completely different.
“You have a very kind heart. I can’t believe you’re so intimate with your servants.”
“What?”
The words that had just come out of Eight’s mouth leaked out of my head.
I wondered if I understood correctly.
“No, isn’t it? If you’re in a high position, you have to hang out with the right people.”
“So what you are saying right now is that I have to go with you?”
“What do you say? Will you give me the honor to be with you tomorrow?”
I was too stunned to speak.
Now he was treating Fay and Ad disrespectfully.
Don’t tell me you don’t know how to treat noble children?
If I had lived in a remote territory all my life, I would not know either.
There were only three places in the Empire that could start the nobility’s self-discipline.
[T/N: This part is kinda hard to translate. I’m not sure if that’s right.]
The royal family, the duke of Bardion, and the Marquis of Beltine.
However, only the royal family and the Duke of Bardion were able to start the self-discipline child of the nobility because there were no young children in the Marquis of Beltine.
Still, Baron Medgel seemed to know to some extent, but he did not tell his son.
“What do you think?”
Eight asked me again as if he didn’t see me frowning.
I said with a small sigh.
“Then I shouldn’t hang out with you either.”
“What? What do you mean…….”
“Isn’t that right? You must know who the Duke of Bardion is.… Do I look like I’m standing in the same position as you?”
I continued, staring at the embarrassed face of Eight.
“Do you think that the Duke of Bardion and the Baron of Medgel are equal?”
“Oh, no, I…….”
Eight closed his lips as if he realized he had made a mistake only then.
No matter how much he knew Fay and Ad, his current remarks were frivolous.
“And my friends here are not people to be ignored by you. Apologize.”
“What? No, but how can you…….”
“If you don’t know, ask the baron later. What kind of position are those whom you are dealing with now? Don’t forget to apologize after that.”
I turned away because I didn’t want to drag the conversation any longer.
Here, it was clear that things would get bigger if the identities of Ad, the crown prince, and Fay, the wizard, were revealed, so I wanted him to enlighten himself and come to apologize.
We returned to the room, leaving the bewildered Eight behind.
I wanted to stay here without much trouble, but I felt like I made a mess.
“Liel, you don’t look happy.”
Fay, who glanced at my face, said.
“Yeah. I felt bad when you two were ignored. I can’t say for sure.”
When I remembered Eight, who looked like he grew up inside Pardo, I felt down again.
He was a little burdensome, but I thought he was just a child who wanted to have a friend of his age, but he seems to be accustomed to dividing people up and down.
He probably grew up listening to that kind of thing to have that mindset.
I remembered the baron and his wife who looked nice.
“As expected, you can’t judge a person from the outside.”
I sighed quietly and buried myself in the sofa.
“Do you want me to scold him?”
Fay, sneaked up next to me and said.
“What?”
“Because he made you feel bad. Should I scold him a little bit?”
I guess I heard it right.
To be honest, it was funny to see Fay smiling gently, saying, “I’ll scold Eight.”
“Hahaha, how? Will you secretly hit him with magic?”
He, who has no hobby other than napping and reading and has a gentle personality would scold someone?
Fay’s eyebrows drooped down as I grabbed my belly and laughed.
I must have laughed too hard without realizing it.
“Well, Fay. Thanks for the word. But let’s think more about scolding him.”
I hope Eight will repent of his wrongdoing on his own, and I will only accept Fay’s heart.
Still, Fay showed signs of dissatisfaction.
Fay’s eyebrows came back to normal only after I answered, “I’m happy,” when he asked why I’m laughing so loudly.
“What’s so funny?”
“Oh, Papa.”
Just then, Cardin came into the room.
Fay’s eyebrows were about to go down again when Cardin said that my laughter had been heard outside the room.
“I was just playing. Where did Papa go?”
I swapped the conversation around and asked Cardin.
“I had something to deal with the baron.”
“What’s going on?”
Cardin considered my question for a moment and opened his mouth.
“It’s just work.”
Cardin didn’t easily tell me where and what he was doing.
“Is it hard? Are you going tomorrow too?”
I asked because I wanted him to tell me a little bit about work, but Cardin stroked my head and said;
“We can look around the territory together tomorrow. Where did you go today?”
I thought it would be difficult to get the answer I wanted from Cardin.
I told Cardin where I had been to play today and thought about how to figure out what Cardin came to deal with.
And the opportunity came faster than I thought.
That evening, I heard Cardin and Elvin talking quietly.
It was worth staying in Cardin’s room until the evening under the pretext of boredom.
“Tomorrow night…….”
“I should.”
Both of them spoke so quietly that I could not hear exactly what they were saying.
But one thing for sure was that Cardin and Elvin were going out of the mansion tomorrow night.
Good. The chance is tomorrow.
“Phew, I’m sleepy. I should go to bed now.”
My eyelids automatically closed because I was holding out until late at night.
Having achieved my purpose, I left the room without hesitation.
“Hurry up and go to bed. You’re not tall enough.”
“Good night. Princess.”
I came out waving at Cardin and Elvin’s night greetings from behind.
***
The next morning, I headed to the dining room for a meal.
The baron and his wife, who saw us, rose from their seats and greeted us with courtesy.
Among them, eight and I made eye contact with each other.
As soon as our eyes met, he avoided my gaze faster than before. Maybe he understood what I said yesterday.
The meal time ended in a peaceful atmosphere amid occasional light questions from the baroness.
After breakfast, Baron Medgel called Cardin to tell us something for a while, so we took a walk in the garden.
The baron’s garden was filled with flowers that grew mainly around the coast.
Most of the flowers growing here can withstand the strong sea breeze had thick stems and layers of petals.
“You look alike.”
Looking at the abundant petals, the voices of the playful fairies came to mind.
There were times when I suddenly wondered where they are now and what they are doing.
‘We will let our friends know what happened.’
Sudar and Johnny, who were released from the curse of Merket, told other fairies about the danger of the northern mountains.
Currently, the only thing Sudar and Johnny could do to avoid further increasing the number of Merket was to tell the news.
That’s because no fairy has been released from the curse of Merket since Sudar and Johnny.
Teacher Teto, who had been studying Merkets, tried to solve the curse of other Merket using holy water after that day, but the results were all failures.
Lastly, I tried the holy water left over from Sudar and Johnny just in case, but there was no change.
Holy water was not the key to solving Merket’s curse.
Even now, the number of fairies and other creatures cursed by the suspicious energy of the north will be increasing.
In the novel, it didn’t say why the northern part of the country changed.
But there must be a reason for everything.
The number of people who were killed by the Ballrooms was not small among the subjugation teams who were organized every time.
They were all precious family members, friends, and lovers of someone.
I wanted to end this curse that has lasted for more than 300 years on the inside line.
Therefore, I needed to know if the rumors about Pardo were true.
After stroking the petals, I soon got out of my thoughts.
Cardin must be done talking by now.
I turned around and tried to call Fay and Ad.
“What?”
For a moment, I saw another person standing next to Fay and Ad, who were a few steps away for a thoughtful day.
It was Amy, the Baron’s daughter.
T/N: Sorry for the mistranslations. There’s a lot in this chapter!!
