In this early morning room with no one else present, these two beautiful boys were getting up close and personal. They were even wearing the same navy blue uniform. What an amazing sight. I clenched my fists to resist the part of me that wanted to simply drink the view in.
I’m supposed to enter this room? No way. I’d just taint the purity of it. I’d have to apologize to every girl in the world.
“What are you standing around for?”
Hey, don’t push me. I’d have to take back what I’d said. Alan wasn’t the last true innocent of the Belisarios anymore—he was just the straight man.
“Thank you for making time for me so early in the morning.” When the prince stood, I noticed he was a bit taller than the last time I’d met him. In just a few more years, everyone would be all grown-up.
“Good morning, Your Imperial Highness,” Alan said.
“Good morning,” I echoed, making sure to do my proper greetings alongside Alan.
“Sorry for rushing you, but we don’t have a lot of time. Please sit.”
Alan and I sat side by side across from Prince Andrew. Chris moved to stand behind me. It was now three versus one.
“I came to confirm both how you view the imperial family and what exactly your desires are.”
Now that we were sitting face-to-face, I realized how nervous I was. The last time we’d met, I had only given a simple greeting and watched him from afar. This was the crown prince of a whole country. He was, like, a super VIP. And I was sitting right across from him.
Since he was already attending official functions and diplomatic meetings, he had a mature calm that withstood comparison even to my prodigy of a brother, and an inoffensive haughtiness typical of those in power. They had a kid this mature around and they still noticed that I was unnatural? Kind of impressive. Maybe they’d been comparing me to the younger prince’s retainers.
“There’s no need to hold back. You needn’t take care with your words either. I want to hear exactly how you feel.”
“Okay,” I said with some hesitation.
“I hear you’ve been refusing invitations to Her Majesty’s tea parties.”
“I’ve been refusing all invitations,” I corrected him.
“May I ask why?”
“Because I hate tea parties.”
“Then what do you like?” he pressed.
“Exercising in the training field, riding the carriages at the company, and making sweets.”
Many people had approached my parents and Chris asking to meet me. The only reason we’d been able to refuse them all was that my father had made it clear that I wouldn’t attend tea parties until I was six. Nobles from all across the country had been itching to get their hands on me, a young girl. There was no way I could just mindlessly wander out into that minefield.
We were waiting for the people to get used to the presence of spirit beasts and the Royal Spirits, though that didn’t mean anyone thought I should stay locked up forever. That was why father had set the deadline for when I turned six.
Chris’s line of thinking was that it would be a good idea for me to make friends with members of the imperial family who might support me once I started attending social functions. I could understand that, and I could also understand the necessity of ensuring that the Belisarios and the imperial family got along. That was why, given that I was technically the oldest person here, I was trying to think of a good compromise. I was squeezing my brain cells for knowledge I didn’t have.
Unfortunately, there was a big problem: In my previous life, I’d been an otaku. As you could guess from how I’d died, I’d spent more time sitting in front of my computer than going outside. I’d had friends, yes—friends whom I’d asked to help man booths every Comiket, and whom I’d spent nights raving about our current obsessions over drinks with.
But the only reason we’d been able to hold those conversations was because we’d had interests in common. How on earth did I talk to a royal VIP in a way that wasn’t rude but also not unnatural for a child? Did I set the difficulty level to extreme without realizing?
“I see. So you don’t hate Her Majesty?”
Who could say yes when asked something like that? I didn’t hate her...but I hadn’t quite gotten rid of the doubts I’d harbored following the spirit fiasco, so I couldn’t say I liked her either. Instead, I merely tilted my head at him with a look of surprise on my face.
“Her Majesty forgot to feed her spirits, right?” Andrew elaborated. “I was worried that you were angry about that, and that was why you didn’t want to talk with our family.”
He had to ask? He didn’t already know?
Right, the imperial palace was huge—the distance between the ruling couple and their children was much larger than within my family. During that meeting, Lord Jean had been there, but not the crown prince. What had Andrew been told about the way that meeting had gone? I imagined Chris had talked to him about it if no one else had, so maybe he at least had a rough idea.
“Deir? What’s wrong? We don’t have much time to talk.”
When I didn’t answer right away, Chris moved to the side of my chair and leaned on the armrest to peer into my face.
“Is Her Imperial Majesty forgetting to feed them even now?” I asked the prince.
“No, she should be making sure to give them mana now.”
“That’s good.”
I couldn’t say to his face that I was angry and didn’t trust them. I still wasn’t sure about how close the crown prince and Empress Ephenia were either.
“Do you think we can get along?” he asked me.
“Mother and Her Majesty are friends, aren’t they?”
“They are. I was wondering if we could become friendly as well.”
“Friendly?”
There were all kinds of ways that one could pursue friendship. Just what kind of relationship was he looking for from me? Even if I wanted to make him my ally, I wasn’t even sure how to begin bringing that up to him.
Ugh, I’ll just toss the ball back into his court!
“What should I do, then?” I asked. “I’d rather you speak plainly.”
Upon hearing my words, the prince blinked several times and then sighed while roughly running his fingers through his hair.
Then he asked, “Would you be willing to marry me?”
“Andrew?!”
“Huh?!”
My brothers were shouting before I even had the chance to respond.
And here the truth of the matter comes out. That’s more like it.