Today, a guest is coming.
And moreover, a blood relative of mine!
In the Red Room, I prepared tea and sweets, brought in the chairs we were short on, and made all necessary preparations.
"You seem happy, Prince Asha," Ikuto said.
"Well, of course. I'm going to meet my cousin. They say we met before I moved here, but I don't have any memories from when I was one or two years old, after all."
I answered Ikuto with a smile to dispel the boredom of waiting.
Today was the day Harty's daughter would come to meet me.
"The audience has been approved, it seems," Ikuto said.
"Yeah, though they refused at first. It was the right call to ask His Majesty."
"That is the official stance from the guard's perspective—that since this is an audience with royalty, we cannot easily accept simply because the other party wishes to meet."
So it's just a facade.
Well, Ikuto is the only one guarding me anyway.
Putting on airs is a tactic to maintain authority, but it doesn't really mean much.
Besides, my opponent—my cousin—is only eight years old, right?
We couldn't even use a large room like the one for meeting Father, so there's no authority or anything here.
"Come to think of it, everyone except me knew about Harty's remarriage, didn't they?"
"We held discussions before informing Your Highness. Since this isn't something we can simply refuse and be done with like our situations, we were waiting for the right opportunity."
It seems they never thought I would find out first.
I didn't think Sephira would do something like that either.
"But I wonder if her suddenly saying she wanted to meet me has something to do with the remarriage talk?"
There's a reason I'm so excited despite that.
My cousin was the one who said she wanted to meet me.
"Hehe, it's the first time someone's said they want to meet me."
"Prince Asha..."
"Ah, His Majesty is different. I mean aside from him, I'm nervous thinking about welcoming a guest for the first time."
Harty had resolved not to leave even more after the remarriage talk was exposed.
I panicked and stopped her when she tried to refuse the remarriage.
I told her it's not just about her, so she should discuss it with her daughter and the prospective partner.
So Harty continued discussions with her remarriage partner, leaving early and coming home late.
At the same time, I heard she talked more than usual with her daughter, who was staying with her parents' home.
Since this meeting is the result of that, it can't be unrelated to the remarriage talk.
It's hard to meet my younger brother because those around us interfere, but I hope I can get along with my cousin at least.
In my previous life, the existence of cousins was also distant from me.
"My apologies for the wait, Prince Asha."
Harty appeared from the stairs of the Red Room.
With her was a girl around my age.
She had cute twintails of dark blue hair and red eyes.
The only person around my age I could compare her to was Princess Diora with her orange hair, but...
Compared to Diora, she seemed more strong-willed, and somehow there was tension in the air.
I should approach this gently.
"Nice to meet you, I've been waiting. I'd like you to call me Asha, just like Harty does."
"Thank you for your kindness. Now, Hina, greet Prince Asha."
My cousin Hina kept her head down, too nervous to move, while Harty urged her with a troubled expression.
But Hina remained with her head down, gripping her skirt.
She didn't approach the prepared chairs and remained extremely tense.
Just when I wondered if something unpleasant had happened, Hina raised her face.
Those red eyes glared straight at me.
"Give Mother back!"
"Huh?"
Harty also seemed flustered by Hina's unexpected outburst.
"What are you saying! How rude to Prince Asha!"
"It's not rude! You're a prince who doesn't matter whether you're here or not, right? So why are you stealing my mother? How cruel, give her back! You're a bad child, aren't you? Don't involve my mother!"
Her words were clumsy, filled with nothing but emotion.
Yet there was malice based on my position.
"Everyone says you're a god of pestilence! I know. They say you have no mother, were abandoned by your father, are all alone and can't do anything! They say you're hated, cause nothing but problems, and trouble everyone around you! Mother just pities you, so don't act spoiled with outsiders!"
"Hina!"
Harty flushed red with anger.
I called for Ikuto reflexively.
Ikuto, who had been hesitating about what to do with Hina, moved at just that.
To stop Harty, who had raised her hand to strike.
"Let me go! This is my failure as a mother!"
"Please calm down. If you think about it, an eight-year-old child is at this level. It's too early for her to understand reason."
While Ikuto restrained Harty, I approached Hina myself.
"That's right. She knows a bit too much for a child."
Hina was tearing up in surprise at Harty's anger, and completely frightened by the sight of Ikuto struggling with her.
"Who exactly is this 'everyone' you speak of? Are there really such people?"
When I directed a cheap provocation at her, Hina—who had already marked me as an enemy—immediately retorted.
"There are! Grandfather, Grandmother, Aunt Teti! And Uncle Niftas too, and then, and then... T-the servants too say Mother is pitiful!"
"How... could..."
Harty went limp.
I wanted to go limp too.
I knew we were distant, but it seems my maternal relatives think of me as a problem child or something.
And I heard Niftas.
That's the Count Niftas family, who are supposed to be my supporters in name, right?
"It seems the bad rumors about Prince Asha in the palace have reached them. Despite being completely unfounded, the viscount family has swallowed them whole."
Ikuto's voice was cold too.
"If they're close to Duke Eurasion, it can't be helped, right? Personally, I'm already sick of calling myself a Niftas."
"Prince Asha, I am terribly sorry!"
Once freed from Ikuto, Harty immediately knelt on the floor and apologized to me.
"Due to my inadequacy, not only could I not improve your situation, but I raised such, such an ill-mannered daughter..."
"Mother? Why? Why are you angry at me? He's the bad one, right?"
Not understanding the situation, Hina pointed at me, saying I was the bad one.
But Harty prioritized apologizing to me over her daughter.
Seeing that, I felt guilty toward Hina.
Because even when called, she wouldn't answer, wouldn't look.
I know from my previous life the bottomless sadness of calling out to and expecting from such a mother, only to be betrayed.
"Harty, that's not it. All the words blaming me are the reverse of what Hina wants to tell you."
"Prince Asha?"
"Hina probably doesn't care about me at all—enough to swallow those rumors whole. She just loves you enough to want you to come back."
I laughed inadvertently at Hina's childishness as I said it myself.
"Hina is acting spoiled. She has someone she should be able to act spoiled toward while she still can. That's something so happy it's enviable. Why didn't I notice, I'm still such a child. I'm sorry, Hina."
When I called out to her, she just glared—she really doesn't care about me at all.
It seems it'll be difficult to get along with my cousin too.
I'll give up on that.
Rather, in this case, I'm also at fault.
Because I just realized that for all the time Harty spent with me, Hina spent without being cared for by her real mother.
"Harty, I don't cry at night anymore, nor do I need nursing. It was wrong of me to treat you as a wet nurse forever. I too must graduate from my wet nurse to become an adult."
This way, there will be fewer children who feel as lonely as I do.
Thinking that, from now on, I want Harty to direct the affection she had been giving me firmly toward Hina.
Daily Update
Next: Graduation from the Wet Nurse 5