As expected, it happened a few days later.
Rellia witnessed the imperial palace servants carrying loads of dolls in their arms.
'Wait, then...'
Rellia's brows furrowed.
This was around the time when the ministers would begin holding meetings about what to do with Rellia.
It was also the time when an incident would occur that would make her repeat 'I'm sorry, Your Highness the Princess' to Uriana a full 100 times.
But Rellia had no intention of stealing Uriana's dolls, so that incident wouldn't happen.
'Even if I avoid that incident, the ministers' meeting would still be the same.'
Emperor Perseus didn't even want to hear Rellia's name, so he postponed her disposition.
Rellia chewed her lips anxiously in unease.
She was worried that Emperor Perseus might change his mind.
'He might suddenly feel displeased and tell me to marry some strange man.'
If it was marriage after becoming an adult, that would be fortunate.
But in this world, there were cases where those who would become son-in-law or daughter-in-law were brought in from childhood to learn the family's customs beforehand.
If Emperor Perseus found her repulsive and tried to quickly send her away like that...
'Should I get on my knees and beg?'
Anyway, no family would have the emperor marry Rellia to a normal man.
'He hates me without knowing I'm his own daughter...'
Moreover, if she left the imperial palace like that, surveillance would definitely be stricter than staying here.
She might end up missing these times when no one paid attention to her, thinking this period was happy.
'Argh. It's terrible!'
That afternoon, Rellia packed a bag and left the tower. She wanted to search the cottage as soon as possible to find helpful magical tools.
'...Good, no one's here.'
Rellia confirmed there was no presence around the cottage and slowly approached.
Just in case, she peeked inside through the window crack.
'Thank goodness.'
Emperor Perseus wouldn't visit this place for a while anyway.
'He's just starting to become a daughter-fool, so he'll be busy playing with Uriana. Same goes for those two brothers.'
Rellia thought it was good and opened the cottage door to enter.
And first, she opened the secret compartment door in the floor where emergency food was hidden and packed several glass bottles into her bag.
Then she began rummaging through the bedside drawers and desk drawers.
This part required maximum caution. These were spaces Emperor Perseus might have opened as well.
It was while she was examining like a thieving cat for a while.
Click.
It was instantaneous.
Suddenly, the sound of the cottage's front door opening came from behind her.
At that sound, Rellia's body froze completely. She was so surprised it felt like her heart dropped to the floor with a thud!
'There was definitely no one outside just a moment ago...'
She had checked outside the window frequently in case anyone came... it was all in vain.
Rellia squeezed her eyes shut. She could feel a piercing gaze bearing down on her from behind.
'Who is it? I need to make a good excuse somehow.'
Just as she made up her mind and was about to slowly turn her head—
"What are you?"
A low voice full of anger was heard. The killing intent emanating from behind was enough to give Rellia goosebumps all over her body.
'Could it be Emperor Perseus?'
If so, she might be executed on the spot.
Rellia couldn't even turn her head to see who it was due to the killing intent pressing down on her entire body.
When the small child's shoulders began trembling like an aspen tree, the opponent slowly suppressed his killing intent.
Only then could Rellia belatedly confirm who had entered the cottage.
However, Rellia, who had turned her head, just blinked blankly.
'...Who is this?'
First of all, thankfully, it wasn't Emperor Perseus.
But it wasn't someone from the imperial knights or a guard or servant either.
The young man who appeared to be in his late twenties was dressed in a formal uniform made of precious fabric that nobles would wear.
Seeing the sword at his waist, he seemed to be a knight as well.
The man placed his hand on the scabbard at his waist and asked with furrowed brows.
"Who are you? A maid of the imperial palace? Did you come to clean?"
"I, I am..."
He examined Rellia from head to toe with eyes full of hostility. She was wearing a robe, so she probably didn't look like a maid.
All the imperial palace maids wore maid uniforms made of fine fabric. The robe Rellia was wearing was what she wore when staying at the temple.
Unfortunately, she had grown a lot since childhood, so this was the only outfit that fit her.
"What's your name?"
The man asked, raising his chin.
'Should I lie?'
Since she didn't know who he was, she was afraid to answer honestly. However, before Rellia could even mention her name—
"No way..."
The man, who had been glaring at Rellia for a while, stared intently at her eyes and let out a hollow laugh as if he remembered something.
"...Are you the daughter of the deceased Princess Iris?"
...!
When Rellia's eyes widened in surprise, he twisted one corner of his mouth as if certain.
"How dare you come here? This is the place Elizabeth left behind! The former Crown Princess whom your mother so cruelly tormented!"
The man erupted with tremendous anger. Because of that, Rellia shrank back, hunching her shoulders and trembling.
She was afraid.
An adult man, and a knight wielding a sword at that—the killing intent he emanated was not something Rellia, still in a young body, could handle.
"How dare a mere thing like you! Get out right now!"
At those words, Rellia was startled and opened the cottage door and ran away.
She ran without looking back all the way to the small tower, as if a large beast was chasing her from behind.
After returning to the tower, she went into the bed and covered herself with the blanket.
The trembling of her body wouldn't subside, as if something had gone wrong.
Rellia wrapped herself in the blanket and tried to calm down. It was fortunate that she had memories of her past life, so she didn't have to act completely like a child.
If she had been an ordinary seven-year-old, she might have fainted right there.
Or she might have wailed or had a fit like Oscar.
Rellia wiped away the tears that had flowed from instinctive fright and tightly hugged a small rabbit doll.
"...."
Surprisingly, when she thought of the friends who shared this rabbit doll, her heart seemed to calm down quickly.
Rellia comforted herself inwardly, just as she had calmed Oscar when he had his fits. Fortunately, the trembling soon subsided.
But still feeling uneasy for some reason, she checked outside the window to see if that man had followed her.
Thankfully, the area around the tower was quiet.
'Whew, what a scare...'
Rellia sighed in relief and stroked the rabbit doll.
Suddenly, she wondered if Oscar had ever felt such great fear, and she missed that child.
'But... who on earth was that?'
Rellia recalled the scary man she had seen earlier.
Reddish hair and green eyes. Young age in his late twenties.
'There is one person I can guess...'
If she recalled the words that man had said... it was probably certain.
'He must be a brother of my mother, Elizabeth.'
Elizabeth's family was the Superion ducal family that guarded the northwestern region.
After Elizabeth died and Radios became emperor, their power weakened a bit, but it was still a prestigious noble family in name and reality.
'In the end, it fell apart, but...'
Elizabeth had several siblings. That man from earlier must be one of them.
'He probably came to meet his nephew, the twin brothers...'
The Superion family also helped in the process of Perseus reclaiming the throne. However, without claiming credit, they immediately returned to the northwest.
It meant that since Elizabeth's revenge was complete, everything was meaningless.
Emperor Perseus felt indebted to them.
'The Superion family also resented Emperor Perseus for not being able to protect Elizabeth...'
But since Cedric and Damian, who would inherit the throne in the future, were of Elizabeth's blood, it wouldn't turn into a bad relationship.
'Come to think of it, he's actually my uncle too...'
For a moment, Rellia thought about going back, revealing the truth, and asking for help.
But she quickly dismissed it.
They wouldn't believe her anyway. And if he got angry like earlier, she might really faint from fear this time.
'He'd rather try to kill me.'
Rellia shuddered and shook her head.
'He was really scary.'
He must have loved his deceased sister very much. Seeing how he got so angry as soon as he recognized Rellia as Princess Iris's daughter.
Perhaps because that person, who might resemble her mother a bit, kept coming to mind with his angry face, Rellia felt uneasy.