Chapter 9

It seemed like my behavior concerned the empress. After Marquess Lucell and his wife returned to the guest palace, she patted me gently and spoke to me.

“Aisha, are you in a bad mood?”

I turned away from her. The empress frowned with worry, seeming troubled.

“I wonder how I can make you feel better,” she muttered to herself.

She grabbed the ball I had been playing with earlier and waved it in front of me. But when I didn’t react much, she lowered her hand sheepishly.

“Or would you like some cookies? My little cute Aisha.”

Watching her speak kindly to me, I felt a strange sensation. The empress was trying her best to make me feel better and treating me like a treasure.

I started to feel a little bad. It wasn’t her fault in the first place. I had just become a little depressed after hearing about Edenverre.

I obediently accepted when she offered me a cookie for babies. This made her face bloom like a spring flower.

Just then, Ysis and the emperor came in.

“Iris.”

“Aisha!”

As soon as the two entered the parlor, they eagerly greeted me and the empress. They resembled each other so much, it was clear that they were father and son.

Moreover, when they called our names, they each sounded as if we were the most precious things in the world to them.

“What brings the two of you here?”

But the empress and I reacted differently. Unlike the empress who greeted them fondly, I just stared at them blankly.

“I have come to see my beloved wife and daughter.”

“Of course, I’m here to see you and Aisha!”

They both spoke at the same time, then looked at each other, startled. They must have realized that they were mirroring each other.

Seeing them like that, the empress chuckled softly. “Please have a seat first.”

New tea was brought in for the two of them. Sweet treats for Ysis were also placed on the table.

Ysis’ face brightened, but because he was in front of me, it seemed like he was trying to control his enthusiasm.

Looking at his wife lovingly, the emperor took the empress’s hand. “I’m so glad that you and Aisha are doing well.”

The empress nodded. “It’s all thanks to Your Majesty.”

I heard that the emperor had been friends with the previous empress, Thetis, since childhood. Because Thetis had been in poor health, he had cared for her both physically and mentally.

However, after she sadly passed away, he couldn’t leave the position of empress vacant. So he welcomed Iris, the daughter of a powerful family in the north, as the new empress.

Although his grief over the loss of Thetis was significant, he took great care of Iris so that she didn’t feel out of place as the new woman in his palace. As I was often by the empress’s side, I could clearly see that.

“And thanks to Ysis as well.”

Ysis, who had been eating a snack, smiled. He was a wonderful boy. Even though he easily could have found me threatening or dismissed me, he always showered me, his half-sister, with unconditional love.

The empress was clearly grateful that the two of them always treated us so warmly.

“I’m so glad I have the two of you.”

The parlor was filled with affection.

Then, Ysis started playing with me while I tried to ignore him. It was unlikely that playing with a baby as young as me was fun for a 9-year-old like him, but he always made an effort to interact.

“Aisha, can you say ahh? Come on, say, ahh.”

Seeing Ysis trying to feed me a snack, the empress smiled.

“Thank you for always being so kind to Aisha.”

Ysis, who had been trying everything to get my attention, suddenly raised his head.

“Of course. I’m her big brother,” he said, smiling brightly. “I’m going to protect Aisha. I made a promise to myself.”

“Oh, what a dependable brother you are,” the empress chuckled affectionately.

Big brother?

I looked at him blankly. That term still had a negative connotation to me.

Suddenly Ysis cleared his throat loudly as if he had something to say.

“Lady Iris and Aisha. I have something to tell you.”

The empress tilted her head.

“What is it?”

Ysis leaned in and whispered, as if he were telling us a secret. “I’m so happy to have you and Aisha in my life.”

Then he told us a story of his past.

“If it weren’t for the two of you, I would have felt lonely forever.”

“Ysis.”

“I always felt lonely after my mother died.”

“…”

I was a little surprised. I couldn’t believe Ysis, who had always seemed so happy-go-lucky, was saying something like this.

But come to think of it, it was only natural. For a young child, his mother’s death would have had a significant impact. I had just never noticed his sadness until now.

“But things are different now.”

He grinned, and his face beamed brighter than the blue sky in spring.

“I really, really like you and Aisha. When I’m with you two, the whole world sparkles.”

“…”

“To me, it’s a miracle that I have such precious people in my life.”

At last, the empress gently wiped away the tears in her eyes. “Me too. I’m so happy that I am with you, Aisha and His Majesty.”

“That goes for me too,” the emperor joined in. “I’m so happy that the four of us are together.”

As he said that, he ruffled Ysis’ hair. Ysis beamed.

I clenched my hands.

“Would you like to hold Aisha?” the empress suggested to Ysis.

Somehow, I recalled how my father was during the last tea time we had together.

However, unlike my father, Ysis didn’t decline.

With a twinkle in his eyes, he looked up at the empress. “May I?”

Will I be okay? I was secretly worried. I was quite anxious about entrusting my body to a 9 year old.

However, since there was no way for others to know how I felt, I ended up being carefully placed in Ysis’ arms.

“You have to hold her like this, supporting her hip with your arm. Otherwise, her body will bend and she’ll feel uncomfortable.”

“Wow...”

Following the empress’s instruction, Ysis supported me in his arms. His arms were much stronger than I thought, so there was no need to worry about being dropped.

Ysis’ face, seen up close, shined brightly with pure excitement and joy.

“She’s so warm.”

As if he didn’t find me heavy, he held me for a long time. In his arms, I listened to the beating of his heart.

After being born again, I had a new family.

They were really lovely people.

Ysis, the emperor, the empress, and me.

In my past life, I thought all royal family members were cold and self-centered people. But what I felt right now was like the cozy warmth of a burning hearth.

Before I knew it, I was leaning into the small arms that held me.

After my father and brother left, it was dinnertime. The empress personally prepared dinner for me, and after I ate, I played a little.

Soon, it was dark outside.

Do we have to go back in now?

According to the rules of the imperial palace, even though I was the youngest family member, I had to sleep separately from my mother. There was a special set of rules the royal family had to follow.

But today, for some reason, that rule made me a bit sad. I was absently observing my surroundings enveloped in darkness when the empress called my name.

“Aisha.”

I felt the soft hands of the empress. She wrapped her arms around me, held me close, and rubbed her cheeks against mine.

“Would you like to sleep with your mommy today?”

The head maid who heard that looked a little surprised. “But, the palace rule says…”

“Please turn a blind eye just this once, Emily,” the empress said with a gentle smile. “For some reason, I don’t want to be away from Aisha tonight.”

I gazed into her eyes.

The head maid made a face like there was nothing she could do. “Then, as you wish, Lady Iris...”

“Thank you.”

The maids brought the dolls, cushions, and other baby items that I always slept with in my room.

After letting her silver hair down and changing into thin silk pajamas, the empress carefully laid me down on the bed.

“Alright, have sweet dreams, Aisha,” she murmured, and then started to sing me a lullaby.

My eyelids began to get heavy.

It was a sweet lullaby that I had heard many times since I was born. Its sweet tune seeped into my heart little by little, like the love the empress had for me.

“I’m so happy to have you and Aisha in my life.”

Ysis’ voice rang in my head.

“I’m so happy that the four of us are together.”

The emperor’s voice, too.

With my drowsy eyes half-closed, I looked up at her face.

And for the first time, I smiled at her.

I closed my eyes.

Mother.

It was still a title that felt very distant to me. The old shadow of the past still clung to that word.

And I couldn’t ignore how it made my heart pound faster.

* * *

Time passed and the day of my birthday banquet finally arrived. Everyone in the capital knew that the emperor had declared a month-long banquet.

The length of the celebration was surprising in itself, but it was also advertised on such a large scale that I felt embarrassed.

Not only was the banquet being held at the imperial palace, but also all throughout the capital and various cities around the country.

There would be plays, art festivals, relief projects for the poor, etc... all happening in my name. There were so many events that I wouldn’t have been able to list them all.

I thought it was excessive, but when I thought about all the efforts people were putting in to prepare those events, I also felt grateful.

Today was the first day of the banquet. For safety reasons, and because I was shy, I was only scheduled to show my face on the first day. As a result, various events and gift-opening ceremonies were concentrated on this day.

On my birthday, the maids who dressed me before I was presented to the public for the first time were more energetic than ever.

“Got it, everyone? Today we have to make Her Highness the most beautiful person in the world!”

“But she’s already the most beautiful person in the world!”

“Still! Today, we have to pursue perfection beyond perfection!”

“Yes!”

They were so excited to make me look good. They went back and forth, dressing me in this and that. In the end, I wore a light pink dress with lots of frills and a cute silver tiara.

When I looked in the mirror, I realized that I was no longer a wingless angel. I saw the illusion of wings fluttering behind me.

That was how much I sparkled today.

The tiara, which even had a lightweight magic spell put on it so as to not strain the baby’s neck, was encrusted with a sapphire the size of my fist.