Chapter 8

“Of course, I’ve been well. His Majesty has been so kind to me,” the empress said, smiling shyly like a girl.

“And Aisha is growing very well.”

Then, without missing a beat, she started bragging about me. She told them I had taken five steps already.

She told them about how I almost never cried, and how gentle I was. How I never gave her any trouble at all.

People kept praising me for being so cute and lovely, and I felt embarrassed sometimes. Others chimed in saying how true that was, etc.

The conversation made me realize that the empress had so much love for her daughter.

The Lucells nodded their heads.

“Yes, yes. Let me look at our princess.”

“Have you grown this much already?

I looked up at them blankly from the small sofa the empress had placed me upon. The marchioness wrapped her arms around me and smoothly lifted me up.

“Oh, how cute you are. You’re like a winter snow fairy. I just want to eat you up,” she said, beaming at me.

She probably looked like that when I was born. Her face was saying that I was so adorable, she couldn’t stand it.

A table was set up for us in the parlor. The marchioness said to the empress, “I brought some toys for Aisha. Would you like to see them?”

“Oh, you shouldn’t have...”

When the marchioness rang her bell, several of her servants filed in. Each person was holding a beautiful, colorful box tied with a pretty ribbon.

Inside the boxes were pretty balls, gold jewelry, sturdy leather shoes, baby snacks, and a children’s book of northern folk tales.

A fairy tale book? I thought that was strange.

Thanks to my memories of my past life, I could still read Elmiren. But that was a secret that I kept to myself.

No one had ever seen me speak, let alone read. So why did she bring me a children’s book that I couldn’t even read yet?

“I brought her a children’s book because I thought it would be nice if Aisha developed an interest in the north as she grows up,” the marchioness explained, as if to answer my question.

She must have been proud of her territory and the north. I could see a sense of pride on her face.

“And who knows when I will be in the capital again. So I brought the gifts in advance.”

For a moment, the atmosphere became somber. Because House Lucell guarded the border, they naturally didn’t have many opportunities to come to the capital.

The empress appeared a little sad, but she quickly nodded, and they let me play with the toys.

Although I was a little curious about northern folklore, since my reading ability was a secret, I grabbed a pretty ball.

The ball was neither too heavy nor too light and fit perfectly in my hand.

“Do you like that?” the marchioness asked with a chuckle. “I picked that one myself. I’m so happy she likes it.”

I rolled the ball, hugged it, and even bounced it. These days, my grip was getting stronger, so playing with a toy like this was quite fun.

The three people observed me with their eyes full of affection. It was a while later that they had their tea.

After playing with me for a while, the empress and the marchioness finally grabbed their tea cups.

“By the way, how are you? What’s the state of the north...?” the empress asked cautiously.

Pretending like I was playing with the ball, I listened intently to what they were saying.

I thought it would be nice to hear what was going on in the empire. Having information was very important.

I heard Marquess Lucell say in a mocking tone, “You mean those Edenverre guys? They’ve been quiet after the peace agreement. However...”

As I mentioned earlier, House Lucell was located at the border. And that border touched the Edenverre Empire.

Edenverre and Elmire had been rivals for hundreds of years. I bit my lip slightly.

One thing I learned while listening to the conversation was that Marquess Lucell hated the Edenverre Empire.

It was probably because he’d lost countless men every time he had skirmishes with Edenverre while protecting the border.

In that respect, I quite liked Marquess Lucell. The more he cursed the Edenverre Empire, the more relieved I felt.

The marquess not only criticized Edenverre, but also talked about various affairs. I found myself becoming enticed by the stories he was telling.

I desperately hoped he would continue to tell me about Edenverre. To be more exact, I wanted to hear about the royal family of Edenverre.

It was a horribly bittersweet feeling.

I wonder how they’re doing.

With my back turned to the others, I let out an empty chuckle. It had already been a year since I had died.

How was the royal family of the Edenverre Empire doing? Were they living well? Every time those thoughts came to my mind, a cold, blue fire burned in my heart.

But at the same time, I couldn’t help but feel curious about them.

I clenched my jaw. However, just then…

“Come to think of it, I heard a rumor while I was on my way here.”

“What rumor?”

In a displeased tone, the marquess said, “That Edenverre Empire is going to send an envoy to Aisha’s birthday banquet and present her with a gift. Is it true?”

Hearing those words, I reflexively dropped the ball.

An envoy?

My heart started to pound. Rivals recognized each other as rivals. And if they were sending an envoy to their rival empire, they would put special care into choosing the right envoy.

They would send at least a high-ranking noble, or…

“Surely they’re not going to send a member of their royal family, are they? It’s nice that someone will come all the way here to congratulate Aisha on her birthday, but I don’t want to see their faces,” the marquess scoffed.

Oh.

I prayed to God.

Please, not that.

The royal family?

I might see them again.

Of course, I was curious to know how they were doing. That was why I had been listening so carefully to what the marquess was saying.

But if I were to meet the royal family again…

Would I be able to stay sane?

My heart beat so fast, I started to feel nauseous.

The marquess continued, “Surely they wouldn’t dare set foot here? I heard that the situation within their family is quite disturbing. Who was it? It was someone in the royal family...”

At that point, I couldn’t hold back my anxiety any longer. And my baby body chose the only outlet it had to relieve its anxiety.

“Waaahh!”

Unable to hold back, I burst into tears. Bead-like tears quickly formed in my eyes and began to drip.

The empress hurriedly got up from her seat.

“Wh-what’s wrong, Aisha?! Are you okay?”

Unable to answer, I just kept crying. The empress hugged me and began to comfort me.

In her arms, the warm, familiar scent enveloped me. It was a soothing scent that I had been smelling since I was born.

When I continued to wail sadly, the Lucells also became very flustered.

“I-is she not feeling well?”

Puzzled, the marquess examined me.

And then, with force, the marchioness slapped the marquess’s back. The strike was so strong that the sound of the wind splitting was heard in the air.

The marquess flinched at the unexpected slap.

“Wh-what? Why are you hitting me suddenly...?”

“It’s because you were griping.”

Her violet eyes took on a dazzling blue glow as she glared at the marquess.

“Do you know how sensitive babies are? She probably got anxious when you raised your voice.”

Upon hearing her words, the empress chimed in. “Yes. She’s usually such a quiet child. You should comfort her.”

“Oh, is that so? Uh...” He became even more flustered. “I guess I didn’t think about that. Aisha, I’m sorry… “

He made funny faces, peeked at me from here and there, and did everything he could to make me laugh. Hiccuping, I looked at him with tearful eyes.

“Come on, Aisha. You’re okay. Your mommy is right here for you. Mommy will scold your grandfather.”

The empress carefully rocked me back and forth. Only then did I manage to stop crying.

The marquess wiped off his sweat. He had suffered quite a bit during that brief moment.

“Oh dear, I made Aisha cry for no reason. Anyway, this is all because of those Edenverre guys. Isn’t that right?” he said sheepishly to me.

He probably wasn’t expecting an answer from me. It seemed like he was just saying it to ease his embarrassment.

But I nodded my head without hesitation.

You’re right.

The marquess opened his eyes wide.

The people of Edenverre are all terrible.

I tried to convey my feelings by clenching and opening my hands.

Seeing me like that, the marquess became bewildered and glanced at my mother.

“It seems Aisha also doesn’t like the Edenverre family.”

“Yes, you’re right.”

The empress seemed slightly confused. Usually I didn’t react much, but I cried when they were talking about Edenverre and now I was even nodding, so I could understand her confusion.

After confirming that I had completely stopped crying, the three of them sat down and continued having tea. But this time, I ended up in the arms of the empress.

I wanted to escape from her arms, but the empress didn’t relax her hold. It seemed like she was worried about me. In the end, I had no choice but to stop my pointless resistance.

The empress occasionally stroked my hair and continued to talk about my birthday banquet. To keep me from getting bored, she put the ball that I had dropped earlier back in my hand.

Trying to relieve my anger, I clenched the ball with all my might. But perhaps because I held it too tightly, the ball slipped out of my hand and rolled under a chair.

“Oh my, Aisha. Would you like me to pick it up for you?” the empress asked me.

The colorful ball had rolled off into the distance.

I just closed my eyes. I didn’t even have the energy to play with it anymore. I ended up going limp.

I hate everything, I thought sullenly.