RLPE Chapter 103

When morning came, our family waited for Princess Florin. But no matter how much time passed, she still hadn’t arrived. With work piling up and no more time to waste, Sasha eventually left for the House of Nobles.

Though she was supposed to move into the Roha estate early in the morning, Princess Florin didn’t arrive until shortly after noon. At that point, I was the only one at home. As luck would have it, both of my parents had stepped out to check on her delayed arrival, and had simply missed each other on the road.

“P… pardon my intrusion.”

“Welcome, Princess Florin.”

I greeted her with a bright smile. Perhaps due to her shy personality, she was still veiled even on her way to our home.

“I’m sorry.”

“…Sorry?”

She mumbled her apology so timidly that I wasn’t sure what she was apologizing for, and I had to ask her to clarify.

“Um… I meant to come earlier, but my brother’s farewell took longer than expected…”

Ah. I nodded in understanding.

“Did Prince Garbo return safely?”

The princess gave the slightest of nods—barely perceptible. But when someone as beautiful as her, with a delicately ethereal presence, made even such a timid gesture, it only added to her fragile charm.

“My parents stepped out for a moment. They were worried something might have happened to you and went to check. I’m glad to hear everything went smoothly.”

I’d never acted as the host before, but I knew it wasn’t proper to keep a guest standing in the entryway.

I led her up to the second floor.

“We cleaned the house top to bottom before your arrival.”

“Y-you did? A… a full cleaning?”

The princess trembled as she spoke, clearly flustered.

“To think you went through such trouble because of me… I’ve caused such a burden…”

“What? Oh, no! Not at all!”

Flustered by this unfamiliar type of guest, I quickly waved my hands.

“We just didn’t know which room you’d like, that’s all. Don’t feel pressured. It had been a while since the last deep clean, so it was about time anyway.”

“Um… As long as the room has a window facing west, I’ll be happy.”

“A window facing west?”

I stopped in my tracks. That was quite a peculiar preference for choosing a room.

“I was hoping… the window might face the direction of Gellang. But if not, that’s okay! Really!”

It seemed she truly loved her homeland. Wanting to look toward her home country—this kind of sentiment definitely didn’t exist among the people I knew.

“No, it’s fine. There is one. A room with a west-facing window.”

The problem was, in this huge mansion, there was only one room with a window that faced west.

And that… was my room.

 

* * *

 

When Mom and Dad returned home, I was in the middle of helping the maids move things.

Hearing the commotion from the second floor, my mom rushed up in a panic, certain I was up to something again.

“Vivi, really! You promised to behave yourself!”

She stormed up the stairs yelling, only to be confronted with the sight of Princess Florin standing awkwardly in the middle of the room. Mom’s face turned beet red—like she’d downed five glasses of sherry in one go, no breaks.

“Oh my! Oh… I mean…”

“Ah. Hello, Lady Roha.”

“Mom? We’re just in the middle of moving rooms.”

Since I’d been using my room until that very morning, it hadn’t been fully cleaned yet. The bedsheets were still rumpled from sleep, my pajamas were tossed around carelessly, and the books I’d been reading the night before were still scattered beneath the bed. The maids were working quickly to tidy the raw mess into something presentable.

“Why… why are you moving rooms…?”

Mom looked like she was about to cry. She had painstakingly arranged one of the guest rooms with all her favorite decorations just for the princess, only for her to walk into the one chaotic disaster zone in the whole house. The humiliation was clearly too much.

“Well, when I thought about it, this is the biggest room on the second floor, right? I just thought it was only proper to give the best room to our guest.”

I didn’t explain the real reason to my mother. Given Princess Florin’s timid nature, I figured she’d just feel guilty again.

“Still, this is too much!”

What she really meant was: isn’t a slightly smaller but perfectly clean and well-prepared room better than a big one that looks like a hurricane just passed through?

I just shrugged.

“It’s too late. We already moved rooms, and now the other one’s dirty anyway.”

“Vivi!”

At last, Mom couldn’t hold it in anymore and shrieked my name, her voice hitting a pitch that could shatter glass. At that, a small laugh escaped Princess Florin’s lips.

“Aha…”

“Huh?”

She was beautiful even when still—but smiling, she looked even lovelier. Realizing that the whole family had turned to look at her, the princess quickly lowered her head in embarrassment, but no one missed the fact that she’d laughed.

I elbowed Mom playfully.

“Come on, just let it go. I really do want the princess to have my room.”

“Oh, honestly!”

I could almost hear her muttering “I can’t live like this…” under her breath.

In the end, instead of continuing her scolding, Mom called for the maids to bring all the decorations she’d carefully arranged in the guest room and move them into my room.

 

* * *

 

Knock knock.

At the sound of the knock, I hurriedly sat up from where I’d been lying down. The person who opened the door and entered was Princess Florin. She must’ve just finished unpacking, as she was no longer in her formal wear but dressed in comfortable loungewear.

“Hm?”

I couldn’t help but let out an exclamation of surprise and admiration when I saw what she was wearing.

“Wow, Princess!”

“Y-Yes?”

I strode toward her in excitement. Startled by my sudden movement, she recoiled slightly like a small animal, but I couldn’t help myself.

“T-These pants…!”

Her outfit didn’t look that different from mine overall, but what caught my eye was the glimpse of her ankles beneath the dress. That was what had me so excited.

Yes. What she was wearing under her dress was the legendary pair of pants I’d been dreaming of finding.

Loose-fitting, Arabian-Nights-style pants. I never thought I’d see the very type I used to wear like a second skin back in my past life again.

“These! Where did you get them?!”

Eager to buy them on the spot if I could, I stared at her with desperate enthusiasm. Princess Florin, flustered by my intensity, stammered out an answer.

“U-Um… t-these are traditional garments from Gellang…”

“Oh my goodness!”

“D-Do they look strange?”

She began to hurriedly take off the pants she wore under the dress, as if embarrassed, but I quickly waved my hands.

“What? No! The opposite. They’re absolutely amazing!”

Compared to these, even Sasha’s trousers were nothing more than potato sacks. The drawstrings at the ankles that tightened perfectly—these were exactly the pants I’d been dreaming of.

As I examined her pants with shining eyes, Princess Florin looked as if she’d made up her mind and spoke hesitantly.

“Um… Lady Roha?”

“Yes? Oh—sorry! Did I make you uncomfortable?”

“It’s not that… I brought some extra pairs of these pants. Would you like one as a gift?”

I grabbed her hands in both of mine. It was probably the best gift I’d ever received.

“Really? You really mean it?”

“It’s not that big a deal… no need to be that excited…”

“Wow! Wow! Wow! What colors do you have? Do they all have ankle drawstrings too?”

Seeing me this worked up, she looked a little bewildered.

“W-Well… I brought several colors, so maybe you can pick the one you like.”

“Yes! I’d love that!”

Honestly, I didn’t care what color they were. Watching me clap in delight, Princess Florin eventually let out a small laugh.

Even though it was technically still my room, it would be the princess’s guest room for the time being. There, I began pulling out pants from her luggage and laying them out to choose a color.

The room had been tidy at first, but with pants coming out of this bag and that, it quickly began to look like the pigsty my room normally was.

“Hmm… I think I’ll go with this one.”

In the end, I chose a pair of violet pants. They reminded me of Armin’s eyes—those strange, mysterious violet irises. I must’ve really fallen for him if I was now matching pants to his eye color.

“Um, excuse me.”

“Yes?”

Still overwhelmed with gratitude as I held the pants, Princess Florin cautiously spoke.

“Your room… had a lot of books…”

“Books?”

She nodded. It looked like she’d summoned quite a bit of courage to bring it up.

That’s when my inner detective’s instincts flared.

At the Crown Princess appointment ceremony yesterday, Prince Garbo and Princess Florin’s attire—apart from her veil—hadn’t looked all that different from our country’s. And yet she brought an unusually large number of pants for just indoor wear. And even though she’s shy, she made the effort to ask about the books…

“Do you like books, by any chance?”

Florin slowly nodded in response to my cautious question.

“You also… enjoy staying at home, or well, in the palace? Not really fond of going outside?”

She blinked, surprised, as if I’d hit the mark dead on. She didn’t answer, but her wide eyes asked, How did you know?

“Did you… by any chance… spend most of your time in your room back in Gellang?”

“Wait… do you have the gift of prophecy or something?”

Princess Florin looked genuinely alarmed.

“Nope.”

I gave her a wide grin.

“It’s because I’m the same way.”