[Chapter 54] - The Runaway That Wasn’t a Runaway (4)
“Mmngh?”
Titania opened her eyes and stared blankly at the ceiling. A place where cobwebs filled every corner of the ceiling and dust was piled up thickly. Titania groped through her hazy memories, trying to recall why she was here.
“Mmngh?”
No matter how much she delved through her memories, she couldn’t remember why she was in this place. Rubbing her sleepy eyes and looking around, this place appeared to be a warehouse-like room inside the royal palace.
Thinking it strange, she smacked the Einsel hanging around her neck to wake it up, but Einsel only let out groaning sounds as if it were asleep and didn’t wake up. Just why had she been sleeping here?
‘I’m sure I was sleeping in my room…’
Titania tilted her head, dusted off the dust on her bottom, stood up, opened the warehouse door, and headed outside. It had definitely been afternoon when she fell asleep, but before she knew it, the world beyond the window was pitch black.
Unable to tell if it was night or dawn, Titania thought she should hurry back to her room and started running down the hallway with quick steps. As she walked toward the crowded hallway.
From inside the hallway, she heard maids murmuring. It was the first time the hallway was so noisy at such a dark hour, so Titania naturally headed toward the sound.
“What are you all doing he—”
The moment Titania, who had moved toward the sound without any suspicion, and the maids made eye contact, silence fell over the hallway. No, should this even be called silence? Surprise, bewilderment, confusion, and so on—
The maids’ words were merely blocked by various emotions, and only when one maid who had been gaping burst into tears did the silence break, and the maids shouted out. Voices mixed with confusion.
“Your Highness! Where on earth have you been…!”
“Uh, huh…? Um, the warehouse…?”
“What in the world were you thinking leaving that kind of note?! Her Majesty the Queen is so…!”
“N-note…?”
Titania couldn’t give a proper answer to the storm of questions pouring down on her. While somehow surrounded by maids telling them where she had been until now, she heard the sound of someone running from the end of the hallway.
“Your Majesty, over here…!”
A maid must have gone to call Vivian at some point; the maid who had run here with Vivian was busy catching her rough breath. All the maids who had been firing questions at Titania like a machine gun couldn’t help but close their mouths at Vivian’s appearance.
That was because they had seen Vivian’s face. Eye corners red from crying, sharp eyes that looked like they could tear a person apart at any moment. An expression furrowed with anger, huffing and puffing.
“Hic.”
At the gaze that looked like it would shout at her at any moment, Titania swallowed a hiccup with a “hic.” She had never once seen her mother with such a scary face until now.
She didn’t know what the maids were talking about with the note, nor did she know why she had been sleeping in that warehouse, but Titania could instinctively tell.
“You…!!!”
“U-um, Mom…?”
That she had done something wrong, for now.
Otherwise, there was no way her mother would be that angry. Thud. Thud. Vivian’s footsteps grew faster. The footsteps grew louder until anyone could tell they said, “I’m angry.”
At the sight of Vivian approaching right before her eyes, Titania squeezed her eyes shut. She hunched her body tightly, thinking a thunderous voice would come at any moment, but—
“…Are you a little less angry now? Finally showing your face to me.”
What came was a tearful voice.
The damply soaked voice was so full of moisture that it felt like crying even though she wasn’t shedding tears. That emotion was conveyed directly to Titania as she looked at Vivian’s bitterly smiling expression.
Vivian smiled faintly and caressed Titania’s cheek. Titania felt the hot heat from Vivian’s hand touching her face and flinched, her shoulders trembling.
“Did you hate me that much… to the point of leaving that kind of letter and going away…?”
Vivian crouched down to meet her gaze and pulled Titania into a hug. Then she let out a hot sigh and swallowed back tears that felt like they would burst out.
Through their touching skin, Vivian’s emotions were conveyed fully, and Titania couldn’t say anything. She just felt sorry and apologetic for avoiding her mother all this time.
“I-I’m sorry…”
She buried her face in Vivian’s shoulder and shed tears. She tried to calm down and hold it in, but once the tears started, they didn’t stop easily. No matter how much she wiped, new teardrops overflowed and soaked both her cheeks.
Titania clutched Vivian’s clothes tightly, at a loss, unable to control her surging emotions as she cried. At that sight, Vivian sighed softly, slowly lifted Titania, and held her in her arms.
With her arms wrapped tightly around her neck, and thanks to Titania burying her face in her shoulder, she could feel her nape getting damp with tears. Vivian patted Titania’s back like that, looked at the maids standing nearby, and smiled faintly.
“Inform everyone that the princess has been found. Tell them everyone has worked hard and should rest well.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Holding Titania in her arms, Vivian quietly headed to her room. Looking at Titania, who was still sobbing, Vivian smiled faintly.
When Titania was found, Vivian was engulfed in emotions that made her want to get angry right away. She was furious that Titania had disappeared after leaving a note telling them not to look for her on their own, only to appear now, but—
Looking at Titania, who had fortunately been found without a single injury, those feelings subsided and even disappeared. The only emotions left were relief and a surge of tears for no reason.
‘Really, they say parents can never win against their children… How true.’
Vivian, who had been patting the sobbing Titania’s back, let out a small sigh. Simply grateful that Titania had been found without incident, Vivian held the Titania nestled in her embrace with a gentle but firm strength.
“Let’s sleep together today. There will be much to say after two months.”
*
The princess, her eyelids red from crying, looked at me and shouted, then puffed out her cheeks roundly. Saying she absolutely couldn’t believe me, she even tapped my chest with both her fists.
“I told you, I really didn’t write that note!”
“Yes, yes. Let’s leave it at that.”
“Eek!!”
I chuckled at the sight of the princess squirming in my arms again. Yes, she must be embarrassed. Writing that kind of note and then getting found in less than a day—there’s no way she wouldn’t be embarrassed.
“Yes, this mom knows everything~ So let’s sleep now. Dawn has long since passed.”
“But it’s true… I didn’t write it…”
I poked the sulking princess’s puffed cheeks, urging her to sleep, and the princess puffed them out even more. At that, when I extended my arm, the princess naturally laid down using my arm as a pillow.
And she hugged me with both hands and buried her face in my chest. It meant she didn’t want to see my face. As I patted the princess’s back, she peeked up and looked at me.
With very bright and clear eyes.
“…Can’t sleep?”
The princess smiled bashfully and nodded. I was so tired I felt like I could fall asleep the moment I closed my eyes… but this tomboy princess looked at me saying she couldn’t sleep, perhaps because she’d slept in the hidden warehouse.
I glanced at Einsel hanging on the wall with tired eyes. I had been thinking of palming this energetic princess off on Einsel… but seeing Einsel sleeping deeply, even letting out snoring sounds, I suddenly felt anger rising.
That damn mirror.
One of these days, I really need to teach it a lesson.
I patted the princess’s back, pleading with her to sleep, and looked down at her. The princess looked at me with sparkling eyes, as if she had no intention of sleeping, looking like she wanted something from me.
“You’re past the age for fairy tales now…”
“Fairy tales made up by Mom are fun no matter when I hear them.”
Had it been a mistake to tell her various fairy tales I knew since she was little? Since I started sleeping with the princess, I had told her various fairy tales I remembered.
From Cinderella to folk tales when I ran out of things to read. Since there were no such fairy tales here, I lied saying I made them up, but…
Now I had told her all the fairy tales I remembered and had no more to tell. I let out a small sigh and lowered my head to look at the princess.
I lightly kissed the princess’s forehead and slowly began to tell the fairy tale that came to mind. Although it was Cinderella, a tale she had heard countless times by now, the princess focused on my story with her ears perked.
“Once upon a time, in a certain country—”
Seeing the princess listening to my story, a smile came to my face unbidden. Thankful that things had returned to how they were before, I gently patted the princess’s back and continued the story.
*
In the end, the morning of the day the Silverwood Kingdom’s delegation departed dawned. What had Princess Fiona been back then? What had happened between her and the previous Vivian?
…No matter how much I thought about it, there was nothing I could know. It was just that there wasn’t any special reason I had slapped Princess Fiona’s cheek and moved on there.
The way she insulted me looked somehow like she was desperately appealing for something. Because she cursed me so desperately, I didn’t blame her any further.
I thought that she must have had some issue with Vivian too… and no longer felt like getting angry.
A ceremony to send off the delegation. While the ministers were talking with the delegates, Princess Fiona looked at me and smiled with her eyes.
I had told her not to show herself before my eyes again, but the last moment of departure should be fine. I too smiled faintly and saw Princess Fiona off.
There were no farewell greetings between us.
Princess Fiona simply boarded the carriage heading to the Silverwood Kingdom silently and quietly and left just like that. As if keeping her word to never appear before my eyes again.
The princess, holding my hand and staring blankly at that sight, asked the Minister of Foreign Affairs standing beside her.
“What kind of person is the Second Queen of the Silverwood Kingdom?”
At the princess’s sudden question, the Minister of Foreign Affairs opened his eyes wide, then let out a small grunt and laughed heartily.
“Hehe, it seems Your Highness is mistaken. There is no such person as the Second Queen in the Silverwood Kingdom.”
“Huh? But Princess Fiona definitely said…”
“The king and queen there are on such good terms that they have about five heirs. Even their subjects cannot bring up the topic of a second wife to the king.”
“Mmngh?”
As if she couldn’t understand, the princess tilted her head and put a question mark over it. I also wondered what he was suddenly talking about, let out a snicker, lifted the princess, and headed toward the palace.
“Let’s go in now. The big matter is finished… Now we need to prepare for what will happen in autumn.”
“Autumn?”
“Indeed. It’s about time for the princess to make her debut as well.”
The princess tilted her head at the word autumn. The Minister of Foreign Affairs laughed heartily saying the time had finally come, looking at the princess, but the princess still seemed not to know what he meant.
I looked at such a princess, smiled faintly, and answered. The princess had turned ten before we knew it, so it was time for her to meet other young noble ladies.
Invitations were already pouring in wanting to invite the princess to parties they were holding. It seemed the time had finally come.
“I’m talking about your debut in the children’s social circle this autumn.”