h.e.l.lo! Here I bring you the chapter of the week! I hope you enjoy it! Thank you for all your comments and support, I really appreciate them. Enjoy! “What? The Prince summoned you?”
“Yes…”
On a quiet afternoon, I finished martial arts training in the courtyard and now I"m drinking tea. Across the table is Zach, who also has a cup of tea in his hand.
(I can"t believe I got used to this guy"s presence in just a few days…)
After that day, Zach showed up at my house every day at training time, and every time he was knocked down by me. In the first few days, he was a bit hostile, then he accepted me as a training partner and finally recognized me as his rival.
(Is it really okay to declare a girl as your rival)
In the last few days, I"ve understood a little about his character. He is a person who is faithful to his nature and who doesn"t think much about things before saying them, in short, he is a fool. Besides, he"s only interested in combat, the rest doesn"t seem to matter much to him.
“In two days time… and I also have to prepare a proper dress.” I said while Tytte was pouring me another cup of tea.
“Lady Mary, did you do something to the prince?”
“Zach… I have mentioned it before, but please choose whether you are going to use polite speech or casual speech. It feels strange when you combine them.
“What"s "casual speech"?”
“It"s when you speak in a natural way. As you are doing now with me…”
“But my dad said I had to call you Lady Mary… that"s why I call you that.” Zach says as he tilts his head a little, as if he were seriously thinking about what he had just said.
“Forget it… Just do what you want.” I sighed deeply and put my hand on my forehead.
When a child of my own age speaks politely to me, I feel some kind of wall between us, but when I talk to this boy, it"s like we"re speaking in completely different languages. And even though his heart knows there is something wrong, he still doesn"t think much of his words, because he doesn"t know the difference between polite and casual speech.
(Let"s stop thinking about that. It"s best to leave fighting freaks like him alone.)
“Well? Do you have any idea why they called you? It must be very important if you were summoned to the Royal Palace.” Zach"s speech returned to normal, and for some reason it made me feel a little tired.
But he"s right, in this country it"s strange that low-ranking n.o.bles are called directly to the Royal Palace. If this were to happen, it is normal to a.s.sume that something bad had happened. It"s as if I had to report to the police station for a detective to question me about a serious crime, and I was extremely nervous about that.
“I don"t know, maybe it"s about the Oracle ceremony?” I had only had contact with the Prince on that occasion, so it"s hard to know exactly.
“Hmm, I remember that when my turn ended I went out of the temple and fell asleep a little. The Prince came later and something happened, right?”
(So you were there too? Well, that"s to be expected because we"re the same age.)
“Did you say something rude at the time?”
“Excuse me, who do you think you"re…? Muguh!” That"s when I realized that was the problem. I hadn"t said anything. I didn"t apologize nor thank the Prince that day.
(This is bad! This is really bad! I didn"t apologize when I got in the way of the Crown Prince, nor did I thank him when he helped me! Aaaaah! I"m an idiot, a real idiooooot!)
I put my head in my hands and almost fainted from the agony.
“O-Ojousama, are you all right?”
“Oh~, Then something did happen ♪.”
There are those who are concerned about my expression of anguish and those who laugh at it. The latter will surely fly away in the next training session.
“Anyway, I have to apologize… Should I prostrate myself at his feet? Maybe I should practice a little…”
“What"s "prostrate"?”
According to Tytte, prostration is not something that is customary in this place. Even though I thought it was the most sincere act of apology.
“If that"s the case, I have no choice but to bring some sweets.”
“Do you want to take sweets with you? You are not going to a tea party, so it doesn"t make sense.”
“It"s not about the sweets themselves, but about the money spent on them. How many sweets should I prepare? I don"t think my pocket money is going to be enough.”
“O-Ojousama!”
“…You…”
As I thought seriously about my options, the two people around me became quite tense.
(Doesn"t this concept exist in this country either? For some reason I thought it did.)
I let out a dry cough and corrected my posture.
“Hehehehe, I was just kidding~.” I said as I drank a sip of tea. The tense expressions of Zach and Tytte relaxed almost immediately.
(Anyway, if I go to the Royal Palace, I"ll have to apologize and say thank you… So, at the slightest chance I"ll have to sneak out and run. Yes, that"s my best option)
While I was drinking tea, I devised a plan that I would use in that situation.
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And so the day came when I had to go to the Royal Palace.
On that day, the servants seemed to be busy. All the maids, including Tytte, were busy looking for the clothes I was supposed to wear. As for me, I had no idea what clothes were appropriate to wear in the presence of Royalty.
So I ended up with a white dress, which seems to have become my characteristic color every time I went out, with fine gold embroidery, and I went to the entrance to the mansion, where a carriage was waiting for me. Inside the carriage there was only Tytte and me, so when the carriage began to move, I pulled out a piece of paper that I had prepared in advance and read the contents.
“Ojousama, what"s that?”
“I wrote an apology on this paper. I want to practice it before I say it in front of the Prince, I"m a little nervous and I don"t want to make any mistakes.
“I don"t think you"ve been summoned to apologize, though…” Unfortunately, due to my nerves, I couldn"t hear Tytte"s words.
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The Royal Palace was located in the center of the Royal Capital and was surrounded by robust walls.
After crossing the moat through the great bridge, the carriage in which I was traveling finally arrived at the Royal Palace. The Palace guards had a little chat with the carriage driver and, after granting us entry, we arrived at the castle, where the carriage came to a complete stop.
“We"ve arrived, from here we"ll have to walk.”
As always, Tytte goes out first and stands to one side of the door. That"s when I go out.
For some reason, several perfectly aligned servants greeted me at the entrance to the Palace. Then Tytte and I followed one of the servants from the Palace into a room.
“Please wait here.” said the maid as she opened the door for me. Despite my nerves, I managed to enter the room quietly.
Splash!
From the ceiling near the entrance, where there should be nothing, a small amount of water is spilled. The timing was perfect, and I was wrapped in a curtain of water everywhere.
(What is this? It"s like I walked into a room and an eraser fell on my head…)
After the water curtain disappeared, I was completely drenched. Even that small amount of water is enough to soak me completely.
The event took us by surprise and everyone around me immediately tensed up.
(Huh? If I take advantage of this situation, I may not have to meet with the Prince.)
It"s amazing that that was the first thing that came to mind after what had just happened.
(Okay, first, calm down… From everyone"s reaction, I can deduce that no one knew about this. That means the criminal acted alone. Could it have been the Prince? No, from what I could see, the water appeared out of nowhere, so it was magic. At our age, we are not allowed to use magic… An adult, then? But who would be so childish as to do this?)
Because someone literally poured water on my head, I was able to calm down and a.n.a.lyze the situation.
(Now that I think about it, aren"t I supposed to be able to neutralize ‘attack magic"? That means this is ‘life magic". But even if it were, because of the amount of water it created, it must be a pretty skillful user…)
The more I thought about it, the less I understood it.
“Ojousama! Are you all right?” Tytte was the first to react. She approached me, and seeing that she couldn"t dry me by herself, she asked the other servants for a towel.
(Thank you so much for worrying about me, Tytte)
After thanking her I decided to stop thinking about the perpetrators and seize this opportunity.
“Tytte… let"s go home. I can"t see the prince like this…” I said quietly as I looked down and then turned around.
(I may be rude to the Prince, but I don"t have any extra clothes, so this is the best option.)
Tytte and I walked away from the place just before the servants returned to normal and tried to stop us.
(It doesn"t matter anymore… I don"t know who"s responsible but I thank you for giving me this chance to escape~!)
As I gave a ‘‘ to the perpetrator in my mind, I left the Royal Palace with an expression of sadness and desolation.
That same night, when my Father heard the details of what happened, his face was distorted with an expression of pure anger. He almost ran to the Royal Palace in search of the criminal who had attacked me… My Father is indeed very peculiar.