He stamped his feet in excitement.
Then he suddenly remembered the maids’ conversation.
‘I wish my father could come to see her. Once father saw Dorothy, his frozen heart would melt.’
‘I can’t believe there’s no escort for such a cute baby.’
“I’ll take care of her.”
Raymond carefully touched Dorothea’s cheeks.
Her soft, flushed cheeks were like peaches.
He was tempted to suck one with his lips.
“It’s so soft and fluffy.”
‘How can you be so beautiful!’
Dorothea looked up at him as he touched her cheek.
Her round, blue eyes were like clear beads of light.
“Cute!”
He can’t stand the cuteness, he pinches Dorothea’s cheeks.
“Wahhh!”
Dorothea finally burst out crying and squeezed his hand.
Raymond pulled his hand away with a gasp and stepped back to find the nanny.
“Baby! Cry!”
Startled by Ray’s call, the nanny held Dorothea into her arms.
“Prince Ray!”
“I didn’t touch her hard….”
“The princess’s cheeks are red.”
At the nanny’s anger, he made a walnut chin and pouted his lips.
“But she’s so cute.”
‘She’s so cute, I can’t help but want to touch her.’
‘I can’t stop touching her! I want to snuggle up next to her when she sleeps!’
Raymond clung to the nanny’s arm to see Dorothea.
Dorothea’s crying soon stopped when she was in her nanny’s arms.
Dorothea smelled like soft milk.
Dorothea had a runny nose, chubby cheeks and chubby hands.
“I want to Kiss baby!”
Raymond kissed Dorothea’s soft cheeks.
Then.
“Wahhh! Wahhh!”
Dorothea must have been surprised. She cried.
Raymond jumped back in surprise again, and the nanny calmed the baby again.
“Your Highness, the baby needs to be touched carefully.”
“Hmph…I did it gently.”
‘I wish I could hug Dorothea so tightly.’
For some reason, Dorothea seemed to hate him.
* * *
Every time Minerva studied Raymond, she said that he was smart.
So he just had to try harder.
But when Raymond saw Dorothea, he thought Minerva was lying.
“Humanitarianism? What’s that?”
“Putting people above all else.”
Dorothea is three years old.
When he says things like, “Baby, you’re so cute!”
Dorothea says “Humanitarian”.
Raymond sometimes thought Dorothea was smarter than his tutor, Minerva.
“How does Dorothy know such a thing? She must be a genius!”
Raymond pulled Dorothea into a tight hug.
“Let go of me,” she said.
“Dorothy is so small and cute. How can you know all those words?”
Dorothea was like a jewel. A sparkling, shimmering jewel.
‘Maybe mother had known in advance that Dorothea would shine like this. Maybe that’s why she’d risked her life to bring her into the world.’
For him, Dorothea was his mother’s last legacy.
“I told you to let go of me.”
‘There will never be another child in the world as cute and smart as Dorothy!’
He was so proud of Dorothea that he lifted her up and hugged her.
Dorothea, light as a feather, fell into his arms.
His sister was warm, soft, and small.
He couldn’t resist again, and kissed her cheek.
Like a bird pecking at food, one side!
“Dirty!”
Dorothea rubbed away the cheek where he had kissed her.
‘I’m not dirty… I always wash up when I come here to see Dorothea.’
Raymond frowned.
‘What if Dorothea doesn’t like me?’
But then he saw Dorothea sitting on her chair.
He smiled when he saw it.
‘It’s impossible she hates me.’
“Dorothy, you’re so pretty. My baby is Dorothy. I’m glad.”
‘I’m glad it’s Dorothy, not another baby.’
“I’m not pretty.”
“Not pretty? Who says my Dorothy isn’t pretty?”
‘That person must have dirt in their eyes to say she’s not pretty!’
“I am.” Dorothea said bluntly.
Raymond froze, trying to interpret her answer.
‘Why do you think you’re not pretty…, is it because our father hasn’t come to visit you?’
With a thud, his heart dropped to the floor.
“No, Dorothy, you’re really pretty!”
Raymond grabbed Dorothea by the shoulders.
He led her to a full-length mirror off to one side.
Dorothea, who was only three years old, was so small that she barely filled half the mirror.
“Look! You are so pretty! There’s no baby in the world as pretty as Dorothy!”
The proof was in the mirror.
“Look carefully, Dorothy.”
Raymond smiled broadly at the pretty Dorothea.
But Dorothea didn’t smile, she just looked at herself in the mirror, expressionless.
Then she turned her head away.
“Not pretty…”
Dorothea removed Raymond’s hand away from her body, went back to where she had been, and picked up her book.
Raymond stood in front of the mirror and watched her.
His heart pounding uneasily in his chest.
‘Dorothea was beautiful, but why would she say she wasn’t? Was it really because of our father?’
* * *
“Your Highness, you’ve been studying hard lately.”
Minerva smiled broadly at the sight of Raymond, who had been sitting at his desk in silence lately.
Raymond, however, was not aware that Minerva had come, and was eagerly writing something down in the book.
Minerva approached him, muffling her voice so as not to disturb him.
She stuck her head out quietly.
The words ‘humanitarian’ were scrawled across the book.
“Prince, do you already know the word humanitarian?”
Minerva asked in surprise.
Raymond looked up in surprise too.
“Humanitarianism, It’s said that people are important.”
“That’s a difficult word, and who taught you that word?”
“Dorothy.”
“Dorothy….? You mean, the little Princess?”
Minerva asked with wide-eyed.
‘A three-year-old princess knows about humanitarianism?’
“Yeah. The book Dorothy was reading said, ‘Humanitarian aid.”
“What book is it?”
“<All together at the animal farm!>”
“That book says ‘humanitarian aid’?”
‘Isn’t that a lighthearted fable book for kids? No, I mean, isn’t it weird that someone who is three years old is reading fables?’
Raymond, who’s six, is just now getting to the point where he’s able to write simple sentences.
He’s pretty fast, too.
At three years old, he’s at the point where he’s just starting to talk.
Raymond looked at Minerva, whose eyes widened in surprise.
Minerva’s reaction confirmed his suspicions.
He got hit.
“I must be an idiot. I don’t even know Dorothy knows.”
“Don’t say that, Prince Ray. You are very smart. Everyone else is admire you!”
“But Dorothy’s smarter than me!”
Raymond said, banging his forehead against the book.
Minerva was somewhat surprised.
She hadn’t expected the usually cheerful Raymond to be like that.
Dorothea’s intelligence.
‘Princess is still young, so she couldn’t possibly know that?’
‘Princess is also an unbelievable genius….’
‘I see he has been studying so hard these days, was it because of jealousy?’
“Don’t worry, prince. You’re doing very well.”
“Lie! I am the stupid older brother of the wonderful Dorothy.”
‘I want to be a cool big brother…’
And then Raymond burst into tears.
Minerva panicked and hugged Raymond.
“Hmph… I-I tried to teach Dorothy to read.”
Raymond buried his head in Minerva’s shoulder and sobbed.
No more compliments from Minerva or the nanny.
Even if he used the word ‘humanitarian’ a hundred times, he couldn’t keep up with Dorothea.
And there’s no way he’s going to teach her anything new or help her.
‘I’m not smart.’ That word naturally seeped into his subconscious.
* * *
Not every day, but occasionally Raymond had the chance to have dinner with Carnan.
Usually to check his studies.
Because of that, he found eating with Carnan uncomfortable, but Raymond still looked forward to eating with his father.
It was the only time he could see his father’s face.
Since his mother’s death, it had become harder to see his father.
‘I’m going to make sure we talk about Dorothy today.’
Raymond thought to himself as he waited for the nanny to pick him up every week.
‘Maybe seeing Dorothea would make father feel better…’
‘And after that Dorothea can eat with me. The nanny said that Dorothy ate well.’
‘Next time, Dorothy will be able to eat with me.’
“That’s it, Prince. Enjoy your meal.”
“Yeah.”
He doesn’t know if it’ll be good, but he will do it anyway.
Raymond walked into the imperial dining room.
As he had been taught in etiquette class, he stood in front of his chair until Emperor Carnan arrived.
But as time went by, Carnan did not come.
* * *
I cried.