* * *
There were already only a few days left until the Empress’s birthday party.
I held on day by day, repeating to myself what the Crown Prince had said a few days ago.
Even the hellish training that no one helped me with—I somehow found the will to push through.
“Ohohoho! You really are improving day by day.”
“Really?”
“Of course, you still have a long way to go! Try smiling more mysteriously!”
Insisting that practice should be like the real thing, Madam Lucy had draped a veil over my face.
“Should I smile like this?”
“Not enough. More mysteriously!”
How on earth was I supposed to smile to make it mysterious?
“Now, try smiling like this!”
When I couldn’t get the hang of it and kept fumbling, Madam Lucy demonstrated it herself. An elegant, mysterious smile that was unthinkable as the usual Madam Lucy appeared before my eyes.
The difficulty is high!
“Ohohoho, did you see that? Now, it’s Lady Artie’s turn.”
“L-like this?”
I had smiled so much that my facial muscles were trembling, and I couldn’t even tell if I was properly forming a smile.
“Lower your eyes just a bit more, good. Just like that……. Yes, yes. That’s the spirit. Now, a little more gracefully~!”
I was smiling somehow, but the signal that it was good enough simply wouldn’t come.
In the end, I failed again this time without even getting close to the mysterious smile.
“Oh dear, what a shame. I thought you might succeed today.”
“……Do all the people in high society really smile like this?”
“Ohohoho, of course!”
Madam Lucy answered with full confidence.
“A smile is the most versatile means of communication. A skilled lady must be able to convey her intentions with a single smile, without a word.”
“Everyone is truly amazing.”
“Of course, you must also develop the eye to see through such smiles. High society is a battlefield where hearts are easily deceived!”
A war of reputation and renown.
A war over who has the higher reputation and standing, who marries their children off well, and who becomes the idol or exemplar of others!
I grew less and less confident that I could go out onto that battlefield and survive.
I had barely found hope of surviving—so why did it feel like I was headed back to hell?
Knock, knock.
“It’s Diano.”
In the middle of the lesson, a knock came from outside.
“Hm. Then shall we take a thirty-minute break?”
At Madam Lucy’s words, I nodded and sprawled onto the sofa. When Madam Lucy opened the door, Diano appeared beyond it.
“Is the lesson going well?”
“Of course! Perfectly!”
It was the same exchange as always.
I hadn’t mastered the mysterious smile yet. I don’t know either. I suppose it was perfect.
Diano, having finished his business, showed no sign of leaving. It seemed he had more to say. When I rose, Diano cleared his throat.
“Acacia…… wishes to see Lady Artie.”
Acacia!
Perhaps because her older brother was Diano, Acacia came in and out of the imperial palace almost every day.
I looked at Madam Lucy, and she smiled and gave permission.
“Where is Acacia?”
“She’s in the rear garden.”
“Please tell her I’ll be there in a moment!”
“Yes.”
I had never spoken separately with Diano, a knight in the Crown Prince’s service, but after getting to know Acacia, we talked often.
Of course, it was all about Acacia!
As I hurried to go to the rear garden, Madam Lucy straightened my appearance and spoke.
“You seem to like children very much.”
“Yes. I do! And Acacia is cute.”
“Liking children is a good thing. But you’d best be careful.”
“What? Careful? Of what?”
Madam Lucy smiled a mysterious smile with a somewhat serious expression.
“Children are very sharp.”
I couldn’t understand what that meant, but for some reason, goosebumps rose on my arms.
* * *
“Sister!”
“Acacia!”
The moment I stepped into the rear garden, Acacia welcomed me. Diano gave me a silent bow beside Acacia.
So cute, Acacia!
“Sister, I missed you.”
“Really? I missed you too.”
I was enjoying Acacia’s cuteness when, the moment I finished speaking, another voice jumped in from somewhere.
“What about me?!”
Ronen burst out of the bushes and wedged himself between the two of us. Where on earth does this kid keep appearing from?
“Ronen, where on earth do you keep coming from?”
“Artie, I still haven’t heard your answer!”
“You should call me sister, Ronen.”
“So, Artie, didn’t you miss me?”
At Ronen’s words, Acacia’s eyes went wide.
“There’s no way she’d miss you.”
“What? The answer I wanted to hear wasn’t yours.”
“I was just saying it for her. Sister is kind, so she’d say she missed you out of politeness!”
“What are you talking about. Are you saying you missed me that much?”
“What?! Absolutely not!”
Acacia and Ronen glared at each other.
How is it that even their fighting is this cute!
At first, I thought the two genuinely hated each other, but now I understood. This was simply that age-appropriate fighting that meant they were becoming friends!
Thanks to that, I had grown used to their bickering and could happily watch the cute squabbles of the children.
“You two have gotten close.”
At my words, both of them retorted.
“No, we haven’t!”
“No!”
Ronen’s face turned red.
“Who would with a kid like this…….”
Acacia likewise puffed out her cheeks.
“I’m the one who doesn’t like it?!”
Acacia and Ronen glared at each other.
“Now, now. Let’s stop there. I brought cookies—who wants some?”
“Acacia does!”
Acacia answered loudly. Ronen glanced at Acacia, then opened his mouth.
“Ronen too!”
Even after fighting like that, they eventually gathered quietly and ate cookies together, which was incredibly cute.
If my younger sibling had lived, would it have felt like this?
“Sister?”
Perhaps sensing my expression had stiffened, Acacia called out to me. I forced a bright smile and stroked Acacia’s head.
“Is it good?”
“Yes!”
Ronen cut in without being asked.
“It’s too sweet, so I wouldn’t normally eat it, but since Artie gave it to me, it’s delicious.”
“Is that so?”
When I smiled at Ronen’s words, Ronen’s cheeks turned red.
Even as he said it was a flavor he wouldn’t normally eat, Ronen snatched another cookie from my hand.
“Sister, sister.”
“Yes?”
“What do you like about Crown Prince Adrian?”
Acacia asked with sparkling eyes.
“Uh…….”
I don’t like him, though.
Acacia was looking at me with both eyes sparkling. What on earth was I supposed to say?
Perhaps because it was in front of none other than Acacia, I felt I should choose my words carefully. Ronen, too, seemed curious about the answer and glanced at me.
“His Highness is…… considerate…….”
“The Crown Prince is considerate?”
“Probably?”
I wanted to believe he was considerate.
“Acacia. You must never be swept off your feet just because someone is handsome. A man’s face isn’t everything!”
“Yes, sister!”
“From what I can see, the most important thing in a person is their character.”
“Character?”
“Or maybe humanity?”
Whatever it was, Crown Prince Adrian was not covered by any of it.
“I understand! Character! Humanity!”
“That’s right, good job. Acacia!”
Hugging Acacia, I felt a little worried. Who on earth would be the lucky man who would take our Acacia away?
Whoever he was, I decided I would never give her up easily, and nodded.
All the while failing to notice Ronen, who was chewing his cookie with a serious expression on one side.
* * *
Ronen, having chased after the angel Artie for the past few days, had discovered something very strange.
“Something’s off.”
Ronen had been suspicious all along. How could the angel Artie be engaged to the demon Adrian?
There had to be some kind of conspiracy hidden here.
Having observed the two carefully with that thought in mind, Ronen discovered a truly unexpected fact.
“They barely meet.”
Artie was mainly receiving bride lessons at Lily Palace, and Adrian rarely came to Poinsettia Palace, the Crown Prince’s palace.
The ones who mainly came and went were only Terni, Artie’s so-called older brother, and Diano.
Ronen could not understand this fact.
He fell in love at first sight? They’re passionately in love? Then how could they maintain such a clean, distant relationship?
“I want to see her so badly I could die every single day!”
Even when he slept, he wondered what Artie was doing. Artie didn’t even reciprocate, but just being beside Artie was enough for Ronen.
Compared to himself, Adrian seemed to neglect Artie.
Were the two really in love with each other?
“What kind of wicked scheme are you plotting now, Ronen.”
Veronica deliberately spoke to the unusually quiet Ronen. Lost in thought, Ronen looked at his mother.
And he confided what he had been thinking to his mother.
It was not long before Empress Ludmila, having heard of this, summoned Artie and Adrian.
