The Villainess Is Being Doted on by the Crown Prince of the Neighboring Country 67
The Forgotten Tomb
Liliarge awoke early the next morning.
She pa.s.sed the others as they slept peacefully and moved to the window in order to look outside. The sun was starting to come up, and the tree leaves were wet with morning dew and shone beautifully.
"So this is the land that Pheles was born and raised in."
She squinted at the brightness, all the while, seeming to look at something far away. But she became excited when her thoughts turned to the grave of his parents.
–I want to go as soon as possible.
However, there was little that she could do alone. She could not even find its location without the help of Tiararose and the others. And it would take days to reach it without a carriage.
"Still…they are all sleeping so comfortably."
It was a good thing to be able to sleep like this.
Tiararose was a little curled up, Akari was boldly stretched out, and Olivia slept daintily with her arms crossed in front of her. They had all fallen asleep while talking. Seeing them now, she saw that their personalities showed even as they slept.
In fact, Liliarge herself was still quite sleepy, but she did not feel like resting now.
As soon as Tiararose woke up, they started to organize their schedule. Elliot made adjustments so that the important public work could be finished during the morning, so they would have the rest of the day off.
"Prince Aqua, we have finished the preparations."
"Good. Elliot has called the carriage, so we should go now."
"Yes!"
Liliarge now sat in Tiararose"s arms, and said "let us hurry," in an excited voice.
The party would consist of Tiararose, Aquasteed, Lilarge, Akari and Olivia. And then there was Elliot and Olicvia"s butler, Levy.
When they first sat in the carriage, a voice called out to them from behind. "Where are you going?" it asked.
Tiararose turned around to see Hartknights walking towards them. Aquasteed moved to address him instead of Tiararose.
"Tiara had made a promise to go out with Lady Akari. They"ve been planning this for a while through their letter."
"Ah. Yes, she did seem to be writing quite a lot…"
When Hartknights looked at Akari, he could tell that she intended to go out. They had a girls party the previous night and must have had a great time together.
But the wedding ceremony was just around the corner. Akari always did what she wanted. Hartknights chuckled to himself.
"I"m sorry. Please take good care of her. …Though, perhaps I am the last person who should be asking you to do anything for me."
"No, it is fine. And Tiara is happy to have a friend accompany her."
Nothing would change the fact that Hartknights had hurt Tiararose, but he at least knew that Hartknights was sorry.
And the rumors of Hartknights"s hard work could be heard as far as Marineforest.
As they talked like this, a cheerful voice rang behind them.
"Prince Hartknights! Prince Aqua!"
"Akari. Don"t cause too much trouble, alright?"
"Of course!"
Hartknights saw how excited she looked and sighed.
"Things have been really busy because of the preparations and everything… So you should go and have fun today."
"Thank you."
And then Hartknights patted Akari gently on the head. Tiararose sighed with relief after seeing this, and then got into the carriage.
–I was worried that things would not go smoothly, but it seems to be alright now.
She was happy two see that the two got along very well, and the thought of it eased the tension within her a little.
They arrived in a place that was two hours from the castle by carriage.
There was an open gra.s.s field with no buildings at all. At a glance, there didn"t seem to be any tombs either. Where was it? Tiararose wondered as she looked.
"It"s over here! Come on!"
Akari hurried them along as she happily dashed into the field.
"Lady Akari! Please be more graceful…"
"Oh, that doesn"t matter! Tiara, you should run too!"
"Oh…"
Akari was so excited that you might mistake her for being on an adventure. …Well, maybe they really were on an adventure. Still, Tiara wished that she considered her position a little more.
"Let"s go, Tiara."
"Yes, Queen Lilia…"
Even Liliarge had jumped out of Tiara"s arms and was now running through the gra.s.s. Her eyes moved from left to right, searching for the tomb.
Tiararose watched as Akari called after them. And then she followed.
"It will probably be very difficult once we reach it."
"Yes…"
"Tiara, don"t do anything by yourself."
Aquasteed warned her and said that she must stay close to him.
"Yes, of course. Prince Aqua."
Aquasteed sounded a little exasperated as Tiararose agreed. Olivia was also laughing happily and saying, "This is an important place to check."
Tiararose guessed that she would probably come back the next day as well.
As they walked in the field, Akari suddenly disappeared.
"Huh?"
"Levy?"
"Yes, Olivia."
While Tiararose was surprised, Olivia called for her butler. Elliot also stepped out in front of them and was on the alert.
Aquasteed scanned their surroundings before taking Tiararose"s hand.
"Tiara, stay behind me."
"Prince Aqua…"
"What happened?"
Maybe they should have prepared more thoroughly… As she thought this, a cheery voice rang. "Princess Tiara!"
"Is that Lady Akari"s voice?"
"I"m over here!"
"Ah, I can hear Queen Lilia as well."
As they stood and wondered what had happened, Levy returned to Olivia after having gone and checked.
"They had only gone down some stairs that led underground."
"Oh… I see. Thank you, Levy."
"Anything for you, Olivia."
While this was happening, Akari and Liliarge stuck their heads out from the gra.s.s.
They laughed and said, "over here," in a carefree way.
She sighed. They had been very worried. If the tomb was underground, then Akari should have told them this in the beginning.
As Tiararose and the others walked over to Akari, they found a small entrance that was surrounded by wildflowers. As there was gra.s.s all around, you couldn"t tell that there was a path leading underground, at least not at a glance.
"Lady Akari… It"s impressive that you were able to find this."
"Indeed. This is not something that would be easy to discover. And it is not on any official player guides…"
Olivia was impressed and said that Akari could probably write one herself.
Tiararose agreed as she looked into the entrance. There was a staircase made of some kind of special stone. And it was dimly lit.
The path was just wide enough for one person.
"We don"t know what"s down there, so be careful… Hey, Lady Akari. Please don"t do anything."
"I"m fine, Prince Aqua! I doubt it"s dangerous down there."
Everyone sighed as they saw Akari be the first to go in. It wasn"t quite proper for a young n.o.blewoman to lead, so it was no surprise.
Elliot quickly followed after her and Aquasteed and Tiararose were the next to go down.
"Lady Akari is very strong… She wants to do everything herself."
"I understand that, but there are many issues with the way she acts. Tiara, I hope that you will never become like that…"
"Me? Like Lady Akari… I doubt that very much."
"That"s good."