In the end, Kaiser pushed me to live in the castle.
But when I was moving from my parents’ house to the castle, my brother, who saw me off, told me to never let anyone into my room at night! Especially to watch out for Prince Kaiser. I was repeatedly warned that he would be able to do so.
…You don’t have to worry so much! Because the heroine, Nina, is on the scene. And I don’t think Kaiser sees me as such an object of affection in the first place… Well, sometimes he’ll stick to me more closely than necessary, but that’s just to avoid the other ladies who are going after Kaiser.
With that in mind, I replied to my brother that I understood for now, and I immediately hugged my mother, who was watching me off with tears in her eyes.
“Oh, I can’t believe you’re leaving home so soon…Cecilia, you should come home from time to time.”
“Yes, Mother.”
I rubbed my mother’s back a few times, and then I got into the carriage that was waiting for me and rode to the castle.
When I arrived at the castle, I was immediately shown to a room that had been prepared for my exclusive use, and as soon as I had my belongings from home brought there, the maidservants unpacked my bags and moved me into my new room.
I was sitting on the living room couch with a cup of tea that the maidservants had made for me, and I was relieved to be able to relax.
Then the first visitor came to my room.
“…I see your room isn’t pink.”
“So that’s the first thing you say when you walk in…?”
Ghislan looked around my room and said that with an unexpected look, and I looked at Ghislan like that with my eyes fixed on him.
“I’m sure you’ll find that Cecilia’s room at Cecilia’s house is still pink, right? That’s why I thought this place would be like that, too.”
“…I’ve told you many times, that that is my mother’s hobby! Well, I certainly intended to change rooms before I grew up…but I still can’t because when I try to change it, my mother looks at me silently with very sad eyes, and I still can’t change it! So I wanted at least this room to be normal.”
“I see…”
“But they gave me a frilly nightgown that was all my mother’s taste…”
“Hey, pajamas!?”
When I thought of the large number of frilly pajamas tucked away in the wardrobe and let out a sigh, Ghislan’s face suddenly turned bright red and he became upset for some reason.
“Ghislan? How can I help you?”
“Huh! Hey, it’s nothing! I’m not even imagining you in your pajamas, you know!”
“Hmm? Well, if you imagine me in my nightie, I’m sure I wouldn’t be sexy at all.”
“…aren’t you sad to hear yourself say that?”
“Shut up!”
“Damn, that’s just like you. Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. Isn’t this what Cecilia has been wanting to read for a while?”
“What? Wow! That’s right! Huh? But why? Didn’t you say you couldn’t borrow this book because you couldn’t take it out, as I recall?”
“I couldn’t rent it out, exactly, because I’m not allowed to take it out of the castle. But I can take it within the castle. So I got permission from father as long as I just bring it back later.”
“I’m happy Ghislan! Thank you for going out of your way!”
I received the book from Ghislan and hugged it to my chest, thanking him profusely and giving him a smile.
Then Ghislan blushed again and turned away.
“… if there is a book you want to read again, you can always tell me. I’ll bring it to you.”
When he said that, Ghislan just walked out of the room.
As soon as I saw Ghislan off for a while, the next visitor arrived.
”Sister Cecilia! Welcome!”
“Prince Leon, thank you for the time being.”
“Not for the time being, but for a lifetime! I’ll take care of you all the way.”
“No, not for the rest of my life…I mean, I didn’t quite catch the last part, but what did you say?”
“Mmm, never mind!”
It looked like he was laughing with a very scary face when he was saying some words I couldn’t catch, but now he gave me his usual devilish smile.
“But more importantly, I brought my present for Sister Cecilia as a housewarming gift!”
“A present?”
“Yes! Here you go!”
“It’s… rose quartz, right? It’s also… it’s rare to see a cluster of this size!”
I stared in amazement at the pale, transparent, pink crystal that Prince Leon had given me.
The reason being that rose quartz is rarely found in a crystalline form called a cluster, and those over 1 cm in length are extremely rare.
And yet, the one in my palm was an amazing 5 cm or more in length.
I blinked my eyes as I looked at Prince Leon, and he had a very proud look on his face.
“Hmph~! Isn’t it great? My favorite peddler brought it to me!”
“…isn’t this really expensive?”
“Don’t ask me how much! But from the moment I saw that, I definitely wanted to give it to my Sister Cecilia. So take it!”
“…Thank you. I’ll take good care of it.”
I thanked Prince Leon, happy for his feelings, and smiled enthralled as I looked at the rose quartz I received.
“Yes, after all, sister Cecilia and the mineral go well together.”
“What?”
“No, it’s nothing! Well, I’m going to go run some errands right now!”
With these words, Prince Leon smiled and waved to me as he left the room.
I carefully displayed the rose quartz that he had given me on a side table in my bedroom and returned to the living room to find that a new visitor had already arrived.
“Hello, Cecilia. You look beautiful again today.”
“…Prince Alfeld, I don’t need to be flattered every time.”
“It’s not flattery. I mean it from the bottom of my heart?”
“Yes, yes, that’s what everyone says, too, isn’t it?”
“…As usual, Cecilia doesn’t seem to be flattered by my words.”
“I remember Prince Alfeld’s old behavior. And… you were hitting on my handmaiden when I returned to this room, weren’t you?”
“I wasn’t hitting on her, I was just thanking her for telling me that Cecilia was in the other room right now.”
“…Would you like to hold the hand of a handmaiden just to say thank you?”
I said that and turned my scowling gaze to Prince Alfeld.
As I recall… Didn’t he say something about taking care of only one person?
Even though I remembered the words of Prince Alfeld from so long ago, I was still dismayed that he hadn’t been cured of his love of women.
“Cecilia, don’t look at me like that. I like the look on your face when you’re smiling.”
“If that’s what you’re asking, then please think about your actions a little more.
“…I’m actually acting like that, hoping you’ll be jealous.”
“What?”
Prince Alfeld looked at me and murmured something in a blur, but I didn’t quite hear what it said.
“Oh yes, I brought a gift for Cecilia.”
“Me?”
“I had one of my artisans custom-build this for me. Can I give it to you?”
“Wow, that’s a beautiful hairpiece!”
“I had it made to look like something that would match your beautiful hair.”
With that, Prince Alfeld laughed bewitchingly and took out a finely gilded moon-shaped hair ornament that was in a jewelry box in his hand.
He handed the empty jewelry box to a nearby attendant and touched it to my hair.
“Ah, Prince Alfeld!”
“Hold still. Let me just put it on for you.”
As Prince Alfeld said this, he gently touched my hair and put on the hair ornament he was holding.
“Yes, it looks good on you. I’m glad I chose that design after all.”
“Oh, thank you…”
“I’ve always thought of Cecilia as being like a moon goddess, the guardian deity of my country.”
“I am like the goddess of the moon? That’s a bit of an exaggeration, indeed!”
“No, not only is she beautiful, but she’s strong and graceful, and she’s even kinder.”
“Huh…”
“Well, maybe someday I’ll show you the statue in my country.”
“…if you get a chance, please do.”
“Yes, I’m sure I’ll get it…”
With these words, Prince Alfeld’s bewitching smile deepened.
With that, Prince Alfeld left the room, and just when he thought he could finally rest, the next visitor arrived.
“Lady Cecilia!”
“Hey, Nina.”
“Princess, I’m sorry to disturb you.”
“Is Viktor Nina’s bodyguard?”
“Yes. I heard that Lady Nina was going to the Princess’s room and I followed her.”
“Thank you very much.”
“No, if I could meet the princess, I wouldn’t say this much.”
I was dismayed that Viktor was still the same as ever as he stared at me with a serious face as he said that~.
“Cecilia-sama! I made Cecilia-sama some sweets to thank her for the last time! Please eat!”
“Well, thank you! Well then, since you’re here, why don’t we serve tea and eat together?”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, that’s fine.”
“Okay, so…”
“So Viktor will eat with us.”
“No, I’m on duty. I’m afraid not.”
“But…”
“Don’t mind me, I hope you two enjoy yourselves.”
In the end, after repeated invitations, he didn’t approve, so I gave up and sat down in a chair opposite Nina and asked the maid to prepare a new cup of tea for me.
“It doesn’t look very pretty, but please enjoy it.’”
“Wow! It looks so good!”
I put the basket Nina had on the table and took the cloth from it, and it was filled with cookies of all shapes and sizes.
The cookies include squeezed cookies, die-cut cookies, chocolate cookies, cookies with dried fruits, tea cookies and many others.
It’s true that the game describes giving away cookies to the target of the game as a gift, but there was no picture of the game, just the text. I didn’t expect it to be this great…
Actually, I used to make cookies in a past life, but they were always ugly and even more partly burnt.
But for some reason, they tasted good, so I made them from time to time when I felt like it.
“Then let’s have some…”
“…how do you like it?”
“Oh, delicious!”
“Really?”
“Yes, it’s true! This is the first time I’ve ever had such a good cookie in my life (including in my previous life)!”
“You don’t have to be so dramatic…”
“It’s really good!”
“I’m so glad to hear that!”
The cookies that Nina made for me were really good, they were crispy and moist cookies, and the sweetness was not too sweet, but just right.
When I praised the cookies so highly, Nina looked embarrassed but was happy with a bashful smile.
Even her embarrassed appearance is so cute!!!!
I was squealing on the inside, being careful not to show my face when I saw Nina.
Then I felt a look and glanced up to see Viktor looking at me intently.
“Oh, do you want some, Viktor?’”
“No, as I said before, I’m on duty, so I’m not allowed to do that.”
“Don’t say that, eat one. It’s so good!”
“No, I don’t…”
When I saw Viktor’s troubled expression at my suggestion, I felt an irresistible urge to feed him, so I smiled at him and took a cookie in my hand and stood up and held it out to him.
“Ah! Princess!”
“Yes, Viktor. You need to eat.”
“No! It is—!”
Then Viktor got upset and took a step back, blushing even more, so I took a step forward and didn’t let go of the cookie from Viktor’s mouth.
Then Viktor took a few more steps back and I followed him.
“Fufu Viktor, I’ll keep going until you give up and eat it, okay?”
“Huh! …Okay. Then just one piece.”
With a red face, Viktor finally came to his senses and opened his mouth to bite into the cookie I was holding.
“Cecilia, sorry for coming late…”
Suddenly the door opened and a smiling Kaiser entered the room from there, but he froze as it was when he saw us.
Huh? I don’t know…this feeling of having been caught at the scene of an affair…
When Kaiser appeared, the room became quiet all at once, and for some reason this heavy air made a cold sweat run down my back.
Then, as Kaiser approached us with a different black smile, I began to feel an extraordinary coldness in the air.
“Cecilia and Viktor… what the hell are you guys doing?”
“What? No, this is…”
“Prince Kaiser! The princess did nothing wrong…”
“I don’t need to hear excuses. Tell the truth!”
“Huh! I was feeding Nina’s cookies to Viktor!”
“I was letting the princess eat those cookies!”
“…how did you get into that situation?”
“Nina’s cookies were so delicious and I really wanted Viktor to have them!”
“Then shouldn’t Viktor have eaten it himself? How could that be why Cecilia was feeding it to you?”
“I’m sorry! I was so amused to see Viktor not eating, I was feeding him!”
“…Haha, well, I guess you didn’t feed him with the feeling I was expecting, so I’ll forgive you this time.”
“Hmm? How does that make you feel…”
I didn’t understand the meaning of Kaiser’s words and tried to ask him back, but he removed his gaze from me and looked at Nina, who was sitting quietly with a deflated look on her face.
“It’s time for you to leave,” he said, “Nina, I’m sorry about this, but would you mind leaving now? I need to talk to Cecilia for a moment.”
“Oh, yes! Cecilia, we’ll be back! Now if you’ll excuse me!”
“Nina, I’m sorry! I can’t wait for you to come back!”
I shouted at Nina’s back as she bowed to us and then headed for the door like a de-rabbit.
“…What are you doing? Viktor, you’re Nina’s bodyguard, right? Follow Nina.”
“…if you can promise me that no harm will come to the princess.”
“What’s the matter with you, of course. I would never hurt Cecilia.”
“…Okay. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”
Viktor stared at Kaiser and bowed his head, then followed Nina out of the room.
The next thing I know, the maidservants in the room have also escaped, leaving me alone with Kaiser.
“Well, Kaiser…”
“Cecilia…do to me what you did to Viktor.”
“What?”
“I need to get those cookies from Cecilia, too.”
“Um…”
“Is it no good?”
I nodded awkwardly in confusion to Kaiser who stared at me with a serious expression.
Then Kaiser and I sat down on the couch together and I took one of the cookies that Nina had made for us and put it in front of Kaiser’s mouth.
“Here you go.”
“You’re not going to feed me?”
“What? Am I going to feed me?”
“Of course. You fed Leon a long time ago, didn’t you?”
“Oh, well… I was…”
“Then please.”
“…well then…”
“Ahhhh.”
With that, Kaiser opened his mouth and took a bite of the cookie I was holding, and then chewed it slowly before swallowing it and smiling with a very happy face.
Then he chewed slowly and swallowed it, and smiled at me with a very happy look on his face.
“They’re so good,”
“Isn’t that right? Nina’s cookies are awesome!”
“That’s true, of course, but it’s made it even better by the fact that Cecilia fed me.”
“Is that right?”
“Then I’ll give Cecilia a try this time.”
“What? No, I’m not—”
“Now, yes!”
“Ugh…uhh…”
I was forced to open my mouth and eat the cookie from Kaiser’s hand when Kaiser’s presence forced me to do so.
“How do you like it?”
“Mmm, it’s good, but… It doesn’t really taste any different than it did before.”
“Well… Huh, I’ll have to try this one a few times then.”
“What? …What?”
And so, afterwards, a blissful-faced Kaiser made us feed each other cookies over and over again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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