The duke’s house became even busier after hearing my father’s lightning-quick words.
Especially the knights guarding me, my brother, and my sisters.
‘ We must give the youngest princess the joy of winning. ‘Do you understand?’
‘of course. Captain! I can’t lose to the other guards!’
‘Victory to the youngest princess!’
‘Glory to the lord!’
I took a peek and found out that they were doing something like this.
It was the same not only with my escort knights but also with my older sister and older brother.
‘what… … . It would be nice to win, though.’
Anyway, the festival became more lively due to my father’s sudden desire for a martial arts competition.
Some of the maids in charge of my room would often whisper about with rosy cheeks.
“It’s an opportunity to give a handkerchief before the martial arts competition happens.”
“What should I embroider?”
“I’m going to embroider the flowers and initials that the knight confessed that he liked last time.”
“Are you going to confess?”
“Confess, what …?” No. I just want to wish him victory without getting hurt.”
I guess it’s because it’s spring.
It’s really a happy time for everyone.
I sighed heavily as I struggled to climb up the sofa.
I thought it was going to be successful.
“Oh, if I use a little more strength…”
When I try to lift my thighs and stomach onto the sofa’s stall like that.
“Shasha!”
My sister suddenly barged into the room, calling my name.
I guess I’ll have to postpone it for next time.
The moment I let go of the sofa with that thought in mind, my sister hugged me from behind, speaking excitedly.
“Ichii, Ichii!”
“right?”
“Sasha and Lala are princesses this time!”
Princess?
What does this mean again?
* * *
It didn’t take long for me to understand what my sister meant.
“I’ve been swinging my sword 3,000 times every day, preparing to show my best performance during martial arts competitions.”
“If I win and then receive flowers from the youngest princess, I will cry.”
“No, princess. I will be the winner!”
Ever since that day, the knights kept asking me to support them whenever they saw me.
No, do they think that a baby who is barely 9 months old will understand what they mean?
Well, I did understand.
In short, my sister and I were in charge of giving flowers to the winner of the martial arts competition.
But what was that uneasy feeling?
I could feel it in my guts that my father was up to something.
Since they are duchesses, it is not strange for them to take on such roles.
But my father letting me and my sister mingle with the knights?
That overprotective father?
I racked my brain, trying to find some clues but my thoughts were cut short by my mother, a maid, and a designer who started discussing about the dress I’d be wearing on a faithful day.
“Since the young lady’s hair is still short, wouldn’t it be nice for her to wear a hat?”
“I think that because she is still a baby, the short hair will look cute. She can just wear a headband with a ribbon that matches the color of the dress.”
“That’s right. Even though the little lady is still young, she is quite charming, so no matter what I put on her, she’ll wear it with grace.”
I realized my mistake after hearing the maids’ happy words.
“Usually babies throw it away!”
I would have gladly done so if I had seen a sample at least once.
‘Well, it’s even weirder to do it now.’
Moreover, fortunately, or unfortunately, there was an older kid in the Duke’s family, Damian, who was even more polite than me, so they’ll think of my character as a family trait.
“Would it be a good idea to use light green fabric to match the upcoming spring?” My mother asked, seemingly worried.
“What was the first dress you wore as a child?” the designer asked.
“Me?” She replied as she seriously thought about it. “I think I often wore white, light green, or yellow dresses when I was young.”
“Then wouldn’t light green suit the youngest lady very well?”
“That’s right! “The youngest lady looks exactly like you, with her pretty face and natural elegance!”
My mother smiled at the maids’ words.
“You look exactly like your wife, both your jet-black hair and your ruby-red eyes!”
The maid was right; Unlike my older sister and brother who had cotton candy-like colors, I looked a lot like my mother.
I inherited her straight, jet-black hair.
In fact, it was always the same in every single reincarnation-I always looked like my mothers.
And although my eyes were a little lighter than my mother’s this time around, they were still red like hers.
This was something I immediately knew about after I was born since my father made a fuss about how happy he was to have a child who resembled my mother.
[Do you know how sad I was? The kids always look like me when my wife is so beautiful.]
[Oh my, I like it when my children look like you,] my mother mused.
‘Of course, I also like the kids who look like me! But… … . Our first children took after me, so it’s inevitable that I want to see one who looks like my wife, too.’
It was the first time that people were happy that I resembled my parents.
There were rare cases of resemblance, but people used to be reluctant when they were born with a strange resemblance.
Well, most of the time I didn’t see my parents’ faces.
Anyway, they ended up choosing white, green, and yellow fabrics from the samples and started putting them on my body.
My mother gestured with her hands a few times to select the fabrics that brushed over me and finally made a decision with a satisfied look on her face.
“Let’s make it yellow for the martial arts competition. A bright yellow color like this is cuter on young kids.”
“As expected of you, madam. I’m sure she will look like a cute chick.”
“Oh my, I thought she would look like a forsythia flower?”
My mother, who was listening closely to the maids’ compliments, pondered carefully on the chick-looking subject before speaking to the designer again.
“Please prepare two dresses; one that looks like forsythia flowers and another one that will make her the cutest chick.”
“Of course, my Lady.”
“Um, and….”
Mother contemplated for a moment, and then pointed at all the other fabrics the maids had previously touched.
“Our youngest doesn’t have many dresses yet, so make her some out of those too. Make sure they are pretty. You can do it, right?”
‘Wait, what?”
For a moment, I couldn’t believe my ears.
For some reason, my mother’s eyes looking at the designer seemed to say, ‘If you can’t do it right, prepare yourself.’
‘No way.”
My sweet and kind mother wouldn’t do that.
I decided to ignore what I saw as the designer bowed, promising to do his best.
* * *
And just like that, it was already mid-April.
The knights had trained hard in order to achieve the best results during the martial arts competition.
Among the people who guarded my room, a few of them often came with a bruise or two, either on their forearms or their hands.
‘How dare you appear in front of the youngest princess with such a grim face!’
‘No matter how bold you are, are you planning to show her such terrible behavior?’
‘Even during the martial arts competitions, anyone who gets disfigured has to wear a mask. Do you understand?’
‘It’s not enough to show only pretty and good things to the youngest princess!’
They argued about such useless things behind my back without knowing that their youngest princess had already lived hardships a hundred times worse than what they would ever experience.
Well, I had no intention of stopping their consideration towards me.
After all, even if one has already seen a lot, it’s indeed better to only see pretty and good things.
Before the festival began in earnest, the designer had masterfully completed the dress I needed to wear for the martial arts competition.
The bright yellow dress looked cute even for me, so it was a design I really wanted to wear on my little babies.
Of course, I was a bit embarrassed that the little baby in question was me.
“It’s so cute, I think it’ll start making noises right away.”
“Miss, would you like to try following me? Chick, bleep, bleep, bleep.”
“How dare you ask the young lady to do something like that.”
The maids were busy, arguing and watching me dressed up in my chick-like dress.
I would have rather liked a dress that looked like a forsythia flower.
Because that one looked more modest… ….
Of course, the dress I was wearing right now was pretty too.
The hem of the skirt was bulging like an upside-down tulip and was decorated with extravagant and rich frills.
It had cute puffy sleeves with flower-shaped decorations placed on the shoulders.
Since it was a baby’s garment, the neck and shoulders were made of white fabric that would keep the baby from getting cold, but soft fabric was layered over it to prevent skin irritation.
Additionally, the cloak that came with the dress had a somewhat cute hood.
It was bright yellow and could cover the entire head. I thought it was cute that it was shaped so skillfully that it looked like a bonnet at first glance.
A ribbon made of white satin was even attached to the inside of the brim above the head to add some highlight.
Although the dress was made with great care and the maids were praising it, the designer, who still looked young, stood with a nervous look on her face because my mother was carefully looking at me.
As if she didn’t want to miss even a second of this moment.
“This looks fantastic. She’s definitely my daughter, isn’t she?”
When the designer heard my mother’s words, he didn’t realize she was speaking to him.
But after a moment of shock, he quickly opened his mouth.
“Well, of course, my Lady! The young lady was so lovely the first time I met her, ideas came rushing.”
It must be difficult to live a social life… … .
As I was looking at the designer with pity, my mother hugged me carefully so as not to wrinkle my dress, giving me a kiss on the cheek.
“Of course, our youngest is cute no matter what she wears, but this outfit is so adorable that I can’t help but kiss her.”
Then satisfied, she turned towards the designer with an overjoyed face, saying, “Alright, Madam. I’ll double the pay for this dress.”
And after hearing what my mother blurted out, the pity I was feeling for the designer seconds ago vanished.
She has a decent social life.
If you like my work please support me on coffee and leave some comments.
