Chapter 258
Side Story – Memories of a Certain Princess (33)
Recently, Ast has been acting strange.
“Oh beautiful and delicate Princess, these beautiful flower beds suit you.”
As we were passing by the flower beds, he would make exaggerated gestures and say things like that, which made me more embarrassed than him.
“Ast… Did you catch something weird from that flower elf?”
“Sir Ast, why don’t you go in early today?”
“I’ll even give you a day off tomorrow, so go get some treatment.”
It wasn’t just my thoughts, Renia also looked genuinely worried.
“Why is everyone like this?”
Ast could only make a flustered expression at our worries.
The royal doctors had told me before. People often mistakenly believe they know their own bodies best, but there are times when they actually know the least.
Especially when it comes to mental illness, many who are abnormal believe they are normal.
“Even if Ast wasn’t normal, he was still more normal than that flower elf. But now his condition has gotten much worse.”
“….”
“So rest well today.”
I look at Ast compassionately.
“Your Highness…. you have grown….”
Even Renia acknowledged my compassionate expression.
“Your Highness….”
And looking at me like that, Ast says,
“Have you gone mad?”
He blurts out words insulting the imperial family without hesitation.
“Are you looking to be executed? Catching depression lately and trying to commit suicide? Is that it, Ast?”
“I heard that if you start doing things you didn’t normally do, it means you’re about to die or have gone crazy. Your Highness surely won’t be dying anytime soon… So….”
I will act the same as always even when I’m about to die. I’m certain of it, having lived normally even when death crept up to me recently.
“So you mean I’ve gone crazy?”
“Yes.”
He nods as if convinced in the most perfect posture for insulting royalty.
Not even nations or organizations hostile to the empire would insult imperials so blatantly.
“You must be very sick.”
Seeing him spout words that no sane person could, his condition seems very serious.
“Your Highness, did Sir Ast not give you this kind of feeling normally too?”
“Ah, that’s true.”
Renia had a point. Ast hadn’t been sane to begin with.
“I seem to know well what Your Highness and Lady Renia normally think of me. So with your kind permission, I shall take my leave…”
“But you have to attend the meeting. It’s important.”
He bows his head slightly and tries to withdraw. I grab his collar.
“It’s a meeting to prepare for the upcoming war. Shouldn’t you attend when you’ll be participating?”
“Can I not attend the meeting and not attend the war too?”
“No”
His expression sours immediately upon hearing the word war. It was quite delightful.
“I have had trauma from losing my hometown and getting hurt in wars since I was little…”
“You went to the Kingdom of Pelleos with that trauma and acted like that there?”
“I was just doing my best at work.”
“And our upcoming war is the result of your best efforts? Shouldn’t you take responsibility?”
“Oh… Um….”
Ast avoids my gaze for a moment and tries to take out something snowy white from his pocket.
“I won’t accept your letter of resignation.”
“I see.”
Ast heaves a deep sigh and puts his resignation letter back into his clothes.
“Will you be on your way then?”
“Yes.”
Seeing Ast trudge away dejectedly brought an unbidden smile to my lips.
“Your Highness?”
“Ah, it’s nothing.”
She looks at me like I’m being strange.
“Anyway, the people around me are….”
Renia didn’t say it aloud, but she often acted in ways unsuitable when dealing with royalty.
Chief among them was that kind of expression.
Any other royal could pick on that alone as an excuse to pin crimes on her.
In a way, Renia poses more problems than Ast.
Ast intentionally tries to provoke me often.
He started acting that way after realizing I don’t retaliate against him, so he would act differently in front of other royals.
On the other hand, Renia simply shows her true personality.
She would act the same way in front of other royals, which could lead to very unfavorable consequences.
“Renia.”
“Yes, Your Highness?”
Up until now we’ve moved within the imperial household, and limited areas at that, so it didn’t matter. But from here on, the reasons to strictly protect me from the imperial family have faded.
“Let’s receive some etiquette lessons from here on.”
“Pardon?”
That’s because the reasons to protect me fading means I’ve also been granted freedom.
My participation in this upcoming war was also made possible because I was granted freedom.
Of course His Majesty rejected it, but when I threatened to make good on the covenant with the dragons, he had no choice but to consent.
The covenant with the dragons.
The promise that the dragons would grant the wishes of those who hold the Fragments of Evil, as long as the balance of the world remains intact.
I held the authority over that promise, and if I put my mind to it, I could conjure up a calamity that not even the empire could stop.
Even if he is the Emperor, my father, I could push this through and he wouldn’t be able to stop me!
In other words, from now on I’ll be able to act however I want.
And I’ll be going to more places, so Renia will get to meet all sorts of people too.
If Renia is to accompany me, she should learn proper imperial etiquette in depth.
“It’s an order.”
I give Renia, whose face hardened at the mention of etiquette lessons, a beaming smile.
“Yes….”
Renia mimics the same dejected gait that Ast displayed earlier.
She really dislikes studying, it seems.
Seeing Renia trudge away elicits another bout of laughter from me.
“You dislike it that much?”
“Yes…. At home, I used to get scolded a lot by my etiquette tutor. Having to go through that again….”
“So you did learn.”
“Your Highness, I am from the reputable Areis noble family as well. I did receive all the basic education before becoming your guard.”
“Huh? I thought it was based purely on your swordsmanship.”
“Your Highness….”
“My bad, just joking. Maybe 20 percent.”
“Isn’t that percentage quite off?!”
“Ah, Ast’s already that far ahead? Better hurry and catch up.”
I swiftly make my way towards Ast to avoid the slightly upset-looking Renia.
“Sigh… Your Highness, it should be Sir Ast who moves to match Your Highness’s actions, not the other way around…”
That was Renia still trudging after me dejectedly.
“Well, that may be so, but you saw Ast’s condition lately, right?”
“Indeed…”
“So just leave him be.”
“Don’t you know why Sir Ast is acting like that?”
“I know why. He caught some weird disease from that flower garden elf, right?”
Hearing my words, Renia heaves a small sigh.
“Do you really think that?”
She looks quite serious.
“No way.”
Then I should give her a serious answer as well.
“Don’t you know why Sir Ast is behaving that way?”
“Because he doesn’t want to go to war?”
“Correct. Must you participate in the war?”
“You’re against it too, Renia?”
“Yes.”
It’s a little unexpected.
“Didn’t you say you would wield your sword for me anytime?”
“Yes. If you so desire, Your Highness, I shall draw my sword without hesitation.”
“Yet you don’t want war?”
“No, I don’t. War does not suit you, Your Highness.”
War doesn’t suit me… It’s hard to grasp what she means.
“Why? I think I’ll be fine.”
“That’s the issue. I believe that if Your Highness puts your mind to it, you could sufficiently understand war.”
“Then isn’t that okay?”
“Yes. And that is exactly why it’s an issue. You are still young, Your Highness. As Sir Ast said, something like this flower bed would suit you better.”
Saying so, Renia points to the flower bed next to us.
“I see.”
I also turn my head slightly to look at the flower bed Renia indicated.
It was beautifully adorned with seasonal blossoms in harmony. However….
“Renia, you know about that flower bed?”
A memory pops into my mind as I look at it.
“What do you mean?”
“…That flower bed over there, it’s where that flower garden elf slept, you know?”
“Oh….”
The serious mood shatters in an instant.
“Do you think that kind of place suits me?”
“Y-Your Highness, I didn’t mean it like that!”
Renia startles greatly at my joking words.
Just how much of an impression did that flower garden elf leave in the imperial palace…
“I know, I know.”
“You knew and still jest about it.”
“It’s all because of you, Renia. You shook me by being unusually serious.”
“I do have my serious moments sometimes, Your Highness.”
She acknowledges having such moments herself occasionally. Quite a Renia-like answer.
“Yes, sometimes. Very rarely.”
“There’s no need to emphasize on rarely.”
Seeing the slightly sulky Renia, I slowly start walking.
“Nothing’s been definitively concluded yet, but there’s likely some relation between Ast and my survival.”
“You said that, didn’t you?”
I stared at Ast’s back, already tens of meters away.
Abandoning his master he’s supposed to guard and walking ahead alone.
Looking at that, who would think he’s my exclusive retainer?
“To be honest, I don’t really know either. Why I’m alive, and what Ast did.”
“Does Sir Ast know?”
“No. He seems unclear about what he did himself.”
And to add, Father the Emperor was unaware too. I saw his flustered reaction personally when I went to find him.
“The dragons probably don’t know either.”
The dragons, who were even depicted as the symbol of sloth for losing the Fragments of Evil, urgently held a meeting apparently.
“Truly?”
“Yeah.”
Having heard about the dragon visiting after the decision made at that meeting, there was no more definite information than this.
The reason we can’t march out immediately is because Ast and I are waiting for the dragon emissary, not because war preparations aren’t complete.
“To be honest, I don’t know. What Ast did, and why I’m alive.”
And there was one more thing I was even more unaware of.
“And how I should live from now on.”
“Your Highness?”
Perhaps thinking it unsuitable for others to overhear, Renia looked taken aback for a moment before relaxing her expression and nodding.
She must have noticed my soundproofing magic.
“That’s why I want to go to war.”
“There are far too many gaps in logic!”
“You should understand on your own in times like these.”
Hearing Renia’s insensitive words, I heave a small sigh.
“No, that could simply be due to a lack of consideration rather than insensitivity.”
“You say that softly, but you mean for me to hear that, don’t you, Your Highness?”
“Yeah.”
“Isn’t that too easy to admit?”
“Because it’s true.”
“Your Highness!”
Seeing Renia’s flushed face, I can’t help another laugh from bursting out.
“Please just laugh loudly instead, Your Highness. Your snickering does more damage.”
“Oh does it?”
“I said not to actually laugh loudly!”
As Renia suddenly shouts in protest and pants, I state seriously,
“I wanted to feel that I’m alive.”
“….You change the atmosphere too abruptly for me to keep up.”
“It’s because I learned it all from Ast. As expected of my exclusive retainer, much to learn.”
“I will definitely obtain Sir Ast’s letter of resignation! He does not aid Your Highness’s education!”
Even if her words didn’t match the conversation, strangely, the meaning got across perfectly.
“So war it is?”
“Yeah, war it is. Originally in war where life and death intersect, don’t people realize gratitude for the peace and life they don’t think about normally?”
“If soldiers on the battlefield heard you say that, they would resent you, Your Highness.”
“I know.”
“Even more so for the soldiers under Your Highness who have to go to war.”
“I know that too. But isn’t it good if reinforcements increase even a little for a war we have to fight anyway?”
Renia seemed about to add something more, but we had already arrived at the doors of the conference room, so she didn’t utter another word.
“So Renia, wanna bet?”
“A bet, you say?”
“Yeah. On whether I’ll realize I’m alive first in war…”
I glance slightly at the conference room doors.
A thoroughly exhausted Ast who had been waiting for us comes into view.
“Or you getting Ast’s resignation letter first.”
I didn’t know at that time.
I was so overwhelmingly victorious that I was never in danger of death, so I didn’t realize I was alive. And before Renia could obtain Ast’s resignation letter, Ast ran away, resulting in a draw for this bet.
I didn’t even remotely consider such a thing happening right now.
