“‘How?’ What an odd question. The answer is obvious.” Now that she had hopped on board with Rafina’s suggestion, the momentum carried her straight into an answer. But then, she hesitated, instead looking into Orania’s eyes as she pondered.
Of course, Mia could have offered any random answer. She could have said it was natural for a princess to care for her people, or any other sort of comforting and convincing words. The exaggerations she recorded in her daily diary had left Mia with the vocabulary for any lip service she might think up.
But she couldn’t do that, as Orania’s questions seemed to be coming from her past self. I, too, was once mad at Sion for something similar.
Mia was brought back to her early days at the academy, when they had infiltrated Remno. She had once grown angry at Sion, questioning why he couldn’t have warned them when there was still time to avoid this outcome, pointing out that it was underhanded to take justice’s side only once it was already too late.
Orania as she is now and my past self are one and the same. If she continues down this selfish path, it’ll lead her straight to the guillotine! It’s a wide, smooth path that’s easy to walk, which means I can’t just give her any old answer. I need to speak from the heart!
But that wasn’t so easy in practice. For one, Rafina’s and Chloe’s eyes were locked on her, looking terribly curious as to what Mia was about to say. She couldn’t just tell the truth and say she was doing everything she could to avoid the guillotine! Instead, she had to wring out every last bit of wisdom she had and think back on the big picture that defined her actions.
“How, you ask? Well, it’s for myself, of course!” Mia was a subscriber to the policy of Mia First, and with that as her guiding light, it was impossible to hide.
“For...yourself?” Overwhelmed by the passion in Mia’s words, Orania gulped down her bated breath.
“Exactly! For myself!” she said, nodding vigorously. “I want to make sure I can continue walking down this path.” Yup, she didn’t want to reach any sudden endings. She’d escape her fate at the guillotine and live a long, happy life! This was her motivation, and she raised her fist in the air and spoke with every passionate bone in her body! “I’d like to continue to live as Tearmoon’s princess, and thus live as a princess of Tearmoon should.”
Well, if things really came down to it, she’d happily flee the country and live as a peasant somewhere, but if possible, she wanted to live as a princess and eat all the tasty foods a princess should. Ideally, she’d be able to take plenty of naps and live a reasonably lazy life.
“That is what guides me,” she said, smiling at Orania. “I hope you’re satisfied with that answer.”
“‘Live...as a princess should’...”
“Exactly. I was given the privilege of being born as a princess. It would be a waste to live my life ignorant of what a princess can do.”
There were plenty of luxuries afforded to princesses alone. If you needed to split a cake, Mia had the right to the tasty strawberry on top, and if you were making mushroom stew, it was her right to first take a mushroom up on her fork and be blessed with its mushroomy goodness. Mia wanted to keep those rights! Having been born as a princess, it would be a shame to put them to waste.
“For myself...”
“Yup, for myself, or yourself. I’m not looking for praise—just to live the life I want to lead.”
It’s important to clarify the order of things. Mia put so much effort into things not as a princess, but to avoid her guillotine-bound fate as a princess. Praise and glory certainly felt good, and they may help her escape her fate, but that was just a bonus, not the focus. What she viewed as most important was keeping herself out of guillotine’s way. And with all that on her mind, she beamed at Orania.
“Not for the praise of another, but for myself... I get it now...” Orania let out a long, deep sigh. Her expression was flooded with relief, as if what had once haunted her had suddenly been exorcised. Then, she sat up straight and turned to Mia, who found her a bit intimidating considering how much taller she was.
“Princess Mia... No...” Orania cut off her words and took another deep breath. “Master Mia! Please teach me how to live as a princess!”
“Huh?” This unpredictable turn of events left Mia reeling.