[Episode 45] – Three Years.
Time flew like an arrow, and before I knew it, three years had passed.
The Queen Dowager said she could no longer stand by and watch me play and loaf around with the princess while excluding her, so she threw work at me, telling me to at least learn the tasks she gave me. It was three years ago that I began learning my duties from Baengsyo.
The princess’s dark and timid personality gradually brightened, and she began calling me “Mother” two years ago. And one year ago, the princess set fire to the kitchen while trying to make me something delicious.
And now...
“-The Minister of Foreign Affairs has requested an audience this afternoon. What shall we do?”
“How many times have I told you that instead of requesting an audience, he should simply come to my office on his own? Both you, Baengsyo, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs are hopelessly incapable of listening to me.”
“Hoho, don’t I come to you on my own quite well? Please don’t lump me together with that man.”
“You’re both equally bad at listening. I can guess why he’s coming, so tell him to come whenever I have time. But make sure to add that if he comes right before the end of the workday like last time, I’ll let the dogs loose in the office—”
“Mothereeer!!!”
Thud-thud-thud-thud—
Along with the sound of footsteps pounding down the corridor and shaking the floor, the princess’s booming voice rang out from behind me. She must have been running so fast that, before I even had time to turn around, something heavy slammed into my waist.
Crash!
“Ghk!”
This weight no longer merely felt substantial. It had become downright heavy. The princess had thrown herself onto my back and wrapped her arms tightly around my waist. She had grown stronger, too, and I could even feel the pressure of her arms squeezing me.
I turned my head and looked down at the weight around my waist. The princess, hugging my hips, gazed up at me with a bright smile. Her forehead had turned bright red from how hard she had collided with me.
“Titania... I told you not to run in the corridor. It’s dangerous.”
Her black hair now fell all the way below her shoulders. Her eyes curved gently at the corners, overflowing with mischief. Even while being scolded, she seemed so happy that her face was filled with laughter.
Where had that timid little girl from her childhood disappeared to...?
I stroked the princess’s head and let out a small laugh without meaning to. The princess responded by beaming brightly at me.
“But I saw Mother from far away!”
In other words, she had no particular reason for coming to find me.
After tidying the princess’s disheveled hair, she suddenly raised both arms and looked at me. Since I had gotten into the habit of picking her up when she was little, she still tried to be held by me even now, at ten years old.
I slipped my hands beneath her raised arms, lifted her up like a baby, and settled her in my arms, using them as a chair.
Nestled against me, the princess familiarly wrapped both arms around my neck. Then she looked at Baengsyo, covered her mouth, and giggled, “Kyokyokyo.” Where in the world had she learned to laugh like that...?
Baengsyo looked at the princess and me, bowed to the princess, and gazed at her with a kindly smile. The princess, in turn, waved at Baengsyo, who had now grown old enough to become a grandfather.
“It’s been a long time, Your Highness. Have you been well with Her Majesty the Queen?”
“Mm-hmm! Have you been well too, Baengsyo?!”
“Heh-heh, of course. I’ve been doing quite well.”
Baengsyo looked at the princess he had not seen in two months and smiled fondly, like a grandfather gazing at his granddaughter. Just then, the princess, who had been staring intently at Baengsyo’s head, cried out in astonishment.
“You said you’d been well, so why have you lost even more hair?!”
At the princess’s sudden personal attack, Baengsyo looked startled and patted his own head. As if there were even anything left to feel. The sight of him groping around his head made me burst out laughing.
They said children were honest, and it seemed to be true. While I had been too sorry to say anything, the princess had noticed the change in Baengsyo over the two months since she had last seen him and simply said it outright.
“Pfft... You’re right, I suppose. Anyway, Baengsyo, tell the Minister of Foreign Affairs to come whenever he likes. I have something to discuss with the princess for a while.”
“Yes... I will do so.”
Leaving the dejected Baengsyo behind, I carried the princess toward my room. Lately, quite a few people had fallen victim to the princess, who had become so honest and mischievous.
Baengsyo was only the beginning. Once the princess discovered that the Minister of Foreign Affairs was afraid of dogs, she immediately played a prank by hiding a stuffed dog in his office.
The minister’s scream when he mistook the stuffed dog for a real one was unforgettable. It sounded almost like the shriek of a young girl.
The Minister of Education heard that scream and began imitating it to tease the Minister of Foreign Affairs whenever he got the chance. At one point, the ministers even got into a childish fight.
‘Who would have thought that a minister who’s still afraid of dogs would remain a minister of this country...! All he does is shriek like some little girl—kyahh~! You ought to be ashamed of yourself!’
‘You’ve truly gone mad if you’re trying to make me shut down the academyyy-aaaagh!’
Well... the one responsible for revealing all sorts of secrets and teaching the princess all kinds of tricks was none other than Einsel, hanging around the princess’s neck. These days, Einsel spent more time with the princess than it did outside.
I glared at Einsel, who was held in the princess’s hand and giggling away, and at the princess in my arms. I had already been meaning to scold them, and now they had come to me of their own accord...
“Einsel, you told Titania where I had hidden the snacks in my room again, didn’t you? How many times have I told you not to do that?”
At my words, the princess’s shoulders flinched. Einsel also avoided my gaze, covered its face with both hands, and began babbling an excuse.
-I-it couldn’t be helped, could it? You keep reducing the princess’s snacks... She’s at the age when she’s supposed to be growing big and strong, you know...? So just one more...
“Why do you think I reduced her snacks? Lately, the maids keep sneaking her treats behind my back while saying, ‘Titania is so cute~ So cute~,’ don’t they? Titania? What do you think?”
“B-but...”
“But this and but that—if something isn’t allowed, it isn’t allowed. If you keep eating snacks behind my back, I’ll have to tell the chef not to make them anymore. I’ll punish the maids who give them to you, too.”
“M-Mother...! Please don’t!”
The princess now called me Mother as she tightly hugged my neck.
In the past, I had given in to this adorable display of affection and listened to her a few times. It seemed to have spoiled her. I firmly shook my head and turned away from the princess.
“Calling me Mother won’t help. From now on, you must eat snacks in moderation. If you keep eating them behind my back, you’ll grow plump and turn into a pig. Then I won’t be able to hold you like this anymore, will I?”
When I tried to set the princess down, she clung tightly to my neck and struggled, refusing to go down. As she dangled from my neck, I let out a sigh without realizing it.
“So, you are to restrain yourself from snacks. If you touch the jar of snacks in my room on your own again, I really will punish you. Especially you, Einsel. You’re going to get it. I’m not joking.”
-I-I’m sorry...
“Titania, what about you?”
“Okay... I’m sorry...”
I took the princess, who had been dangling from my neck, back into my arms and began walking down the corridor again. She looked dejected, her lips pushed into a pout, as if being denied snacks was unbearable.
My heart wavered whenever I saw her make that face, too, but it couldn’t be helped. If she ended up with rotten teeth, it would be a serious problem. She had begun losing her baby teeth lately, so I had to be even more careful.
I glanced at the princess again, and she began to tear up as though she might burst into tears at any moment. Was limiting her snacks really something worth crying over...? I sighed once more and patted her back.
“...All right. Just this once. I suppose I’ll have to go ask Elli to bring some snacks from the kitchen.”
“Hehehe, I love Mother the most!”
With those words, she beamed and hugged my neck tightly. Honestly... even when I steeled my heart, the moment I faced the princess’s tearful expression, I collapsed like a sandcastle before a wave.
Was this what it meant to be a parent...?
*
After enjoying a small tea time with the princess, I returned to my office and locked eyes with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who was sitting on the sofa eating cookies. He sprang to his feet, swallowed the cookie in his mouth, and bowed to me.
“It’s been a long time, Your Majesty.”
“...So, was the foreign country you visited for your trip a good place to eat and idle away the time?”
“Heh-heh, it wasn’t all that wonderful. There’s no place like home, after all.”
The minister reached for the refreshments prepared for guests again. Baengsyo, who had somehow entered the office without my noticing, slapped his hand away, and the cookie he had been holding fell onto the desk.
“Have you no shame? Those snacks were prepared for the princess, who visits here so often. They weren’t prepared for the likes of you to eat.”
At those words, the Minister of Foreign Affairs chuckled and pointed at Baengsyo’s head.
“I may have no shame, but you don’t have any hair left to grow there.”
“You little...!”
“That’s enough, enough! What are you doing, bickering like children?”
Was this truly an argument between the ministers of this country? It was so childish that I could hardly stand to watch. I sat down in my chair, let out a small sigh, and beckoned for the Minister of Foreign Affairs to come closer.
“Honestly... Please stop teasing Baengsyo. He was just attacked by the princess a moment ago. In any case... the fact that you’ve returned means that all the delegations have returned as well, I assume.”
“Heh-heh, by the princess, you say? Anyway... yes, that is correct. All the delegations dispatched to neighboring countries completed their return yesterday. And...”
The Minister of Foreign Affairs held out the documents he had brought. I accepted them, carefully opened the file, and began reading through the papers inside one by one. Before I knew it, my brow had furrowed.
‘As expected... Are we unable to avoid the game’s major storyline after all?’
It was the time when the princess’s spring had ended and “summer” was beginning. At the start of summer, there was an important “sub-event” nearly as significant as the “main event.”
This event was one of the crossroads leading toward the ending.
I read through the documents once again and let out another sigh. Whether or not he knew how I felt, the Minister of Foreign Affairs began calmly explaining the documents he had prepared.
“As written in the documents, roughly three months after our delegation returned, that kingdom promised to dispatch a ‘delegation’ to our country.”
“......Yes, thanks to this ‘person’ included in the delegation, we’ll have to prepare for it on a grand scale.”
“Yes. We certainly can’t make ordinary preparations. We may have to draw rather heavily on the nation’s finances. Still, Baengsyo will take care of the financial matters, I suppose.”
“...Yes.”
In the game, there was a “sub-event” that opened first as summer began. It was very important even within the game—and if there was one person who could be called the most important character in “Snow White,” it was the event in which that person came to meet the princess.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs let out a small sigh, shook his head, and continued.
“...It will be a grand occasion. It is, after all, a meeting between the ‘third prince’ of a neighboring country and our princess. If all goes well, the neighboring kingdom’s prince may even become the princess’s ‘fiancé.’”