Chapter 10 · The Year-End Grand Prayer Meeting (2)

The hall went dead silent, as if a mouse had died.

Everyone was staring blankly at Marquis Orléans, unable to even breathe. He had just asked, on behalf of them all, the question that everyone was curious about but no one dared to voice. It must have felt like a blocked throat suddenly clearing after choking on dry bread.

“If, as the rumors say, the princess’s father is a Kalisa mercenary,”

When Belus gave no answer, he continued.

“Princess Anastasia’s birth may have been the result of coercion. For Princess Beatrice to have consorted with a Kalisan of her own free will… His Majesty the King and the High Priest must surely know what that would mean.”

It implied the possibility that, if it was not a coerced relationship, Princess Beatrice might have committed treason by carrying on an affair with the enemy. Either way, the princess’s honor would be tarnished.

I could not understand why my mother had written such a lie in her will in the first place. Look how badly it had twisted my life! When I first learned the truth, I couldn’t hold back the surge of anger and nearly died of a stress-induced illness.

I looked at Paeon, the root cause of all this. He was staring at the marquis with a face gone white. What the marquis had said was deeply insulting… but there was nothing he could do.

“The day before Princess Anastasia came to the royal palace,”

Belus, who had been standing silently, opened his mouth.

“An oracle was delivered.”

The people stirred greatly and murmured.

“An oracle?”

“But oracles… for a long time now…”

“It was an oracle declaring Princess Anastasia to be ‘the one who will bring light to Santra.’”

You’ve got to be kidding me—so you’re really bringing that out here!

This oracle, too, had been something the temple published later to protect me, after I had grown older and come under so much attack from those around me…

“Judging by the oracle and the princess’s blessing name, it is certain that Lord Lux has something in mind for the princess.”

Belus spoke with a gentle smile, yet with a strength that made him impossible to underestimate.

“It is true that the princess’s will states a Kalisa mercenary as the father. But the princess is currently four years old. Considering that the war with Kalisa broke out three years ago… it seems difficult to view this as an affair with the enemy.”

“Even if it was before the war, Kalisa was an enemy nation!”

“Lord Orléans,”

The king, who had been watching until now, rose and stopped the marquis in a cold voice.

“The will alone cannot tell us anything with certainty. But the royal family and the temple have decided to accept the princess.”

There was anger in his voice.

“I ask that you no longer insult my daughter, who died fighting for Santra.”

The marquis, perhaps realizing he had crossed a line, did not argue further and sat back down heavily with a frown.

“As of today, Princess Anastasia is a member of the royal family.”

At the king’s firm declaration, the hall fell silent. Noble ladies covered their faces with fans and whispered into each other’s ears. Some looked at me with curiosity, tilting their heads as if I were fascinating. But the majority wore rebellious faces, as if they could never accept me as a princess.

◇ ◆ ◇

“When on earth did you learn magic?!”

After the blood-chilling grand prayer meeting ended, I was pestered for days by Sierra, Rosa, and Yuz.

“Um, well… I saw it in the book Sierra bwought me.”

Thank goodness I had asked Sierra to bring me a basic magic book a few days before the prayer meeting—otherwise I would never have found an excuse.

“I only brought it because I thought it might interest the princess… I never dreamed you’d learn it right away and actually use it! The princess is going to become a great mage who surpasses even Princess Beatrice!”

“Was Asha’s mom weally good at magic too?”

“Of course. She was an extraordinary prodigy in many fields. She was already a genius, and on top of that, she even worked hard.”

For someone who shone so brightly to have fallen to the point where she was now barely even mentioned. It was nothing short of a tragedy.

The contents of the oracle that High Priest Belus had announced at the grand prayer meeting spread quickly through the temple and noble society. Though it was forbidden to disclose it to the common people under the pretext of protecting the oracle’s subject.

Now that the Great Temple had officially acknowledged me, the temple folk could no longer openly show hostility toward me. But whenever I appeared, they hurriedly kept their distance and avoided my eyes.

As soon as the few days of New Year holidays ended, the three priestesses became frantically busy. They had been formally assigned to duties for repairing war damage.

I could barely see even one of the three’s faces a day, and the time I spent alone increased. Lying around my room reading magic books wasn’t bad, but it soon grew stifling, so when Yuz suggested we have tea in the royal palace’s greenhouse garden, I was overjoyed.

“It’s a shame Siewwa and Wosa can’t come.”

Yuz smiled brightly as she set a basket full of desserts on the white lace tablecloth.

“Still, this is a date with me, isn’t it?”

She came close to me and whispered.

“Who does the princess like best out of the three of us?”

“Asha… wikes Yuz the best!”

I whispered back to her.

“Is it a secret fwom Siewwa and Wosa?”

“Of course. Ah, Princess… You’re the cutest in the world!”

Yuz stroked my cheek with a face flushed bright red. These days I had put on a little weight, so my cheeks were soft and squishy. I wanted to keep touching them myself, but adults seemed even more into it.

“Princess, would you like to take a look around the garden for a bit? I’ll be brewing the tea. It’ll only take a moment.”

“Okay!”

I hopped down from the chair and toddled off. Countless flowers were blooming in the greenhouse garden. Pansies, hyacinths, crocuses, irises…

This garden, maintained by magic, was kept beautiful year-round without ever withering. I had been here only about twice in my past lives, but I had been so anxious and nervous, never knowing when I might run into Aquila or Stella, that I hadn’t even been able to take a proper walk. Now, at least, I should leisurely enjoy this fragrance of flowers!

I happily hopped all around the garden, looking at the flowers. There was a tree shaped like a rabbit! I could see rose trees that the gardener had trimmed into all sorts of shapes. Suppressing the urge to pluck a single blossom, I walked for a long while, and before I knew it, I had reached the end of the garden. But through the gap of an open back gate, I felt a faint wave of mana.

‘What’s that? It’s not the magic cast on the garden.’

As if entranced, I followed the energy out of the garden. It was an energy I had never felt before. I kept walking down an unfamiliar path, and before I knew it, I had come so far that the garden was no longer in sight.

‘What is that?’

The moment I came to my senses and raised my head, there was a small tower before my eyes. It was a tower I had never seen before. The energy of the mana that had drawn me in began to feel strong.

“Ugh…!”

Suddenly my head split with pain. My vision spun and afterimages appeared. People running in all directions, screams, collapsing buildings and outdoor ornaments, and, and…

Black hair…

“Princess!”

Someone caught me as I collapsed. As that person held me in their arms, a white light flashed, and the headache vanished in an instant. I barely managed to open my eyes and look at the other person.

“Papa!”

“What on earth were you doing here?”

Paeon was angry.

“I came to have tea… and I got wost while wooking awound the garden…”

I stammered out an excuse. Somehow, I felt that honestly answering that I had come to my senses and found myself here would sound absurd.

He let out a sigh and set me down on the ground.

“You must never come near this side carelessly.”

He said, glaring at the tower with sharp eyes.

“…I will escort you back to where you were. Follow me.”

What was this place, for him to say that? I followed him, my curiosity brimming, as he walked on.

That tower, where some kind of powerful magic energy could be felt… Could it be the tower of mages? But I’d heard that was somewhere else… And it couldn’t be such a tiny tower, could it?

And… what was that earlier? Was I seeing hallucinations in this life? A new worry had cropped up.

Yuz was frantically searching for me, on the verge of tears. When Paeon brought me to her, she sank down on the spot and let out a sigh of relief.

“Sir Parsiel, thank you so much. It’s a place the royal family gave us, but please at least have a cup of tea as thanks before you go.”

“It’s all right. I need to get to the training grounds.”

“You can spare enough time for a cup of tea, surely. If I send you off just like this, I’ll feel too uncomfortable about it. I’ll prepare it quickly.”

He reluctantly plopped down at the table. Yuz smiled happily, as if relieved, and reheated the cooled tea.

“Actually, I really wanted to offer you a cup at least once. I heard that the one thing Sir Parsiel, who avoids every luxury, allows himself is this Risus tea.”

When his face stiffened, Yuz flinched and added timidly.

“W-was I too forward?”

“No. It’s true that I drink that tea from time to time.”

Risus tea was a very rare tea in Santra, brewed from Risus petals that grew only in certain northern regions of Santra, leaving a deep fragrance and a unique lingering aftertaste. It was also called the laughter tea, because drinking it made one smile.

‘So he has expensive taste—how unexpected.’

I watched him take the teacup from Yuz and drink. He swallowed a sip, then stared blankly at the teacup as if lost in thought. His gaze seemed to be looking not at the cup but somewhere far away.

To bring him back to his senses, I asked in a loud voice,

“Papa! Can’t Asha go look awound the twaining gwounds?”

He snapped to attention and answered like a blade.

“It is not a place for the princess to visit. There’s nothing there you’d find particularly interesting, either.”

“But… I want to see the knights… It’s my wish…”

“Sir Parsiel, I’m sorry, but couldn’t you grant the princess’s wish? I have to go out on duty soon as well, so the princess will have to stay alone in her room.”

Yuz chimed in as if she had been waiting for this.

“How lonely and bored must she be, all alone?”

“No, Asha… is fine awone too… When I lived in the cabin, I was always awone. The famiwy aww went to the viwwage togethew…”

I said gloomily, poking at the cake with my fork. After a moment of dead silence, he let out a sigh and pressed his forehead.

“…Hah. Understood. Just half a day. Only half a day.”

The attack of making him feel guilty doubled in effect when the two of us did it together.

“It’s quite a distance to the training grounds.”

He looked at me as if hoping I would give up because of the distance.

“If Papa cawwies me, it’s fine.”

I hopped down from my seat and spread my arms wide toward him. He furrowed his brow slightly but carefully lifted me up. Heh heh, I think his form has gotten a little more practiced?

◇ ◆ ◇

Clang, clang, clang!

The vast training grounds were filled with the sharp metallic sounds of blades and the dull thuds of wooden swords being swung. The temple’s holy knight order and the royal family’s royal knight order frequently held joint training, so the training grounds were so large that the far end was out of sight.

The moment Paeon and I reached the entrance, a loud commotion came from one side of the training grounds.

Crash!

A boy fell hard. He looked about twelve years old. A knight who appeared to be his instructor shouted at him.

“Rizen! Even your parrying is this pathetic? How do you expect to manage a thrust like this?!”

The fallen boy raised his head weakly. He had soft-looking light brown curly hair and large blue eyes that drooped slightly at the corners. He looked like a baby angel from a religious painting.

Goodness, I’ve never seen such a pretty boy before.

But Rizen? That name sounds familiar somehow.