The nanny chuckled softly, as if she’d just heard an adorable quip from a child.
“My little miss wants to become popular, I see.”
“That’s not it.”
It’s not that I want to be popular—I’m worried that I might end up being too popular.
“To become popular, you’ll have to put in constant effort.”
She kept missing the deeper meaning behind my words.
“Oh, come on. I said that’s not it. Having too much popularity would be exhausting.”
With three husbands, how tiresome it would be to divide my affections evenly among them.
“Ah, miss… Pfft…”
The nanny, who had been trembling with suppressed laughter, finally burst into a hearty guffaw.
Not content with that, she clutched her belly and laughed even harder.
Seeing tears welling up in her eyes, it seemed she was genuinely amused.
All I’d done was speak the truth, thinking about my future.
And yet, the nanny was mocking me.
‘Tch, when I actually become popular later, she’d better not faint from shock.’
When I turned my head away with a huff, sulking, the nanny barely managed to swallow her laughter.
“So, you’re already worried about becoming too popular? Is that, ahem, the reason you’re feeling down?”
She spoke in a soothing, coaxing tone to placate me, but I noticed how she was holding back another burst of giggles at the end.
When I shot her a glare, she reached out again and cupped my cheek in her hand.
Then, as if to cheer me up, she gently rolled her palm in circles.
Once more, my cheek squished like soft, chewy rice cake.
I was always so weak to this gesture from her.
Strangely, it melted my heart every time.
After all, her laughter like that was just because she found me endearing.
‘I suppose I have to be the gracious one and let it slide.’
“That’s not the reason. It’s more like… I’m feeling unsettled because I didn’t achieve the purpose of today’s visit.”
“Come to think of it, you said you were determined to find out what harm the prince caused you. You didn’t hear about it?”
“Yeah. Somehow, the conversation shifted, and I never got around to it.”
That had been the whole point of accepting today’s invitation, but in the midst of talking, I got so startled by his friend declaration that I fumbled right past it.
I couldn’t tell if I was the fool or if Prince Luciano was the sly one.
“So, that’s why you’re feeling low?”
Noticing that my mood seemed to have lifted, the nanny withdrew her hand.
My cheek felt warm and tingly, and the sharp edge of my nerves had softened just as much.
“It’s not entirely because of that, I think.”
‘It just… bothers me in a weird way.’
I burrowed lazily into the nanny’s waist.
She familiarly opened her arms to me, stroking my hair.
Her touch truly had a soothing magic; my heart grew languid and at ease.
“But, miss…”
“Hm?”
“I’ve been thinking about it. Do you really need to know?”
The nanny echoed something similar to what Prince Luciano had said.
I, who had been clinging to her, pulled away in surprise.
“Why would you say that? It’s my business—how can I just let it go without knowing?”
At my petulant tone, she grabbed my hand as if to calm me down.
“As the prince said, whatever the issue was, it happened, and you moved past it without knowing.”
“That’s true. But it happened to me.”
“If it’s that kind of problem, then not knowing makes it nothing at all, but knowing could hurt you. I just don’t want you to get hurt, miss.”
Her bittersweet expression hit me like a slap to the back of the head.
I’d never thought of it that way before.
But hearing her words, I realized it could be seen from that angle too.
There was no need for me to dig up something unpleasant with my own hands.
‘Could it be that Prince Luciano knew this and kept steering the conversation away?’
The nanny stroked my hair with firm, sweeping motions.
Her touch carried a genuine depth of affection, laced with concern.
“Okay. I won’t be curious about it anymore.”
I decided to readily follow her advice.
“Really?”
Ever since I possessed this body and acted awkwardly at first, it was the nanny who had cared for me so attentively.
My parents looked after me too, but not to the extent of the nanny, who was with me every day.
Over the past year, I’d felt with my whole being that she was someone who truly cared about me.
I didn’t want to worry someone who was on my side.
“Yeah. Listening to you, I realize I don’t necessarily need to know.”
The worry that had creased her face eased away.
Just as I started to feel a touch of awkwardness and embarrassment under her fond gaze…
“And it’s really a relief.”
“What is?”
“That you’ve finally made a friend, miss. You didn’t have even one, and this nanny was so worried…”
“Nanny!”
I take back what I said about her being on my side!
“And yet you’re worried about becoming too popular.”
“But that could really happen!”
At my firm assertion, the nanny laughed and pulled me into a hug.
“Oh, what am I to do if my little miss gets angry? This nanny might get scared.”
“I’m going to sulk!”
“Oh dear, how frightening.”
She exclaimed in a voice that sounded not the least bit frightened, and then her hands began tickling my sides.
“Eek!”
The surprise attack drew an uncontrollable burst of laughter from me.
I twisted my body, trying to escape, but her touch was persistent.
We went on like that for a while, laughing and playing, attacking and defending.
“Hah, I surrender! Stop, stop!”
“My victory, then.”
Only when I was laughing so hard I could barely breathe did I declare surrender, and the nanny pulled back her hands with a triumphant expression.
After laughing my fill, I felt utterly drained.
We played like this every day, and the nanny felt more like a friend to me than anyone.
I couldn’t imagine fooling around like this with Prince Luciano.
“But even if he calls us friends, can the prince really be considered one?”
“Why not?”
“He’s royalty. It’s bound to be awkward.”
At my murmur, the nanny replied nonchalantly.
“What’s awkward about it? You’ve already shown him your worst side. There’s nothing more to hide, so just relax around him.”
Oh? Come to think of it, that’s true.
Since he’d seen me at my absolute worst, there couldn’t be anything more embarrassing, right?
That thought sparked a sudden realization.
‘Ah! That’s why!’
He couldn’t pour out his full affection because I’d shown him such a shocking spectacle!
‘Even with the protagonist’s buff on my side, it couldn’t overcome that traumatic situation.’
His affection had risen just enough to a moderate level, not quite reaching romantic territory.
Now I understood why Prince Luciano’s attitude felt so lukewarm.
Reaching that conclusion made my mind feel strangely at peace.
Romance was out of the question, but maybe we could become real friends instead?
That blunder would be mortifying between lovers, after all.
But childhood friends see each other at their best and worst, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
The embarrassment might even fade a bit.
As my thoughts connected like that, the idea of becoming friends with Prince Luciano didn’t seem so bad.
But…
“No, I still don’t like it!”
Just as I seemed to be warming up to the idea, I firmly rejected it, leaving the nanny puzzled.
“What is it that my little miss keeps disliking so much?”
“He made me suffer for a whole year. I don’t want to become friends with him just like that!”
The nanny looked utterly incredulous, but there was nothing for it.
I have my pride, you know.
* * *
It seemed like serving tea had become the standard now.
Every time I visited, Prince Luciano would personally appear with a tea set in hand.
I no longer reacted with the shock I once did, accepting and sipping the tea naturally.
He, too, sat across from me, quietly drinking his own.
He maintained a perfectly upright posture, as if his sole purpose was to spend the time sipping tea.
…We stayed like that for quite a while.
A really long while.
‘What on earth is the point of this?’
Ever since Prince Luciano’s friend declaration.
I’d considered trying to be genuine friends with him, but I no longer felt as motivated to make an effort as before.
So, on days I didn’t go to the palace, I’d laze around at home, rolling about.
Playing pranks with the nanny, eating delicious treats—I’d spent about two peaceful weeks like that when another invitation arrived from Prince Luciano.
I’d come because he summoned me, only to end up in this punitive silence of a tea time.
I knew he was naturally taciturn, but he truly didn’t initiate a single word.
‘Is there even a point to meeting like this?’
“What should we do for fun?”
In the end, I broke the silence first.
“What should we do?”
“…Why did you invite me here?”
“Is there something you want to do?”
Ah, so he answers tricky questions with questions of his own.
I’d learned one more thing about Prince Luciano’s personality.
“I don’t have anything in particular.”
His gaze seemed to say, ‘Then why ask?’
“But you don’t mean for us to just keep sitting in silence, drinking tea like this, do you?”
Is this a normal situation?
“If this time is uncomfortable for you, decide what you want to do.”
His words came out like he was granting a favor, which irritated me.
“And you’ll go along with whatever I decide?”
“As long as it’s possible.”
Prince Luciano readily agreed.
“Even if I suggest playing with dolls?”
I didn’t actually intend to play with dolls.
I’d just picked something that felt burdensome.
He paused, seeming to mull it over, then wore a slightly troubled expression.
“I don’t have any dolls. How about choosing something else?”
He’s actually considering it?
As I’d sensed in our last meeting, Prince Luciano’s attitude had become surprisingly accommodating.
‘Then, maybe I should take advantage of this opportunity?’
“Let’s change how we address each other.”
First, I’d tackle what was bothering me most.
But what was a clear topic to me seemed utterly out of the blue to him.
“What’s wrong with our addresses?”
“That ‘you’ you use. I don’t like it.”
“Why don’t you like it?”
It’s weirder that you’re asking why.
“It feels too distant.”
Prince Luciano, who had been responding quickly until now, closed his mouth.
His face stiffened, as if he’d been caught off guard.
Then, his red eyes fixed on me with an odd glint.
Is this too much? Does he not want to agree, and that’s why he’s hesitating?
With his stoic face, I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
Truth be told, when Prince Luciano first changed his address, I’d been surprised just by the shift itself, but the overly intimate term had also made me flustered.
For a ten-year-old to keep saying ‘you, you’—wouldn’t anyone’s toes curl?
Even if it was the custom here, with my modern memories, it felt burdensome to me.
This was something I absolutely wanted to change.
“And every time I hear it, it gives me the creeps.”
When I added that softly, Prince Luciano’s eyes widened.
He blinked slowly, as if he’d never heard such a thing in his life.
“Creeps… creepy…”
In the end, he muttered to himself, revealing just how shocked he was.
