As Ellie’s head began to cool and think clearly, the tears that had been rising suddenly disappeared.
“Your Highness, it is time to give your final farewell.”
Since Ellie had been staring silently at the king and queen’s bodies for a long time, Madam Laval approached and gently reminded her.
“…Okay.”
She couldn’t just shout, “This is a crime!” as things were.
She didn’t know yet how the palace worked or what she should do next. If she shouted recklessly, the culprit might attack her instead.
I need to find out slowly.
The culprit could be somewhere here—hidden among these people.
What Princess Ellia didn’t know, Ellie didn’t know either.
There would be people who looked like the princess’s allies on the outside but were actually enemies.
Instead of exposing anything now, Ellie carefully engraved the details of the wounds into her memory and left her final farewell.
“I’ll live really hard in your place and make sure to turn this into a good country.”
In Princess Ellia’s place.
“I’ll become a truly great leader. I’ll make this a country where everyone can be happy. I won’t cry for no reason, I won’t throw tantrums, I won’t be picky with food, and I’ll study hard.”
Her goal was to survive until her brother came to get her, but beyond that, she would try to make the kingdom a better place.
Until the real Princess Ellia returned.
Finishing her vow as if in prayer, Ellie stepped away from the coffins.
The knights surrounded the coffins and saluted. A crisp tap echoed through the hall.
The choir began to sing.
The solemn lyrics in the ancient tongue filled the funeral hall.
Ellie stepped back a few paces to wait for the ceremony to end.
“Huk…”
“Your Majesties…!”
A few people broke into tears.
But Ellie was too overwhelmed with thoughts to even remember to cry.
Who among these people could it be?
Ellie looked again at each face, one by one.
Her eyes stopped at one spot.
Huh?
The boy she had briefly locked eyes with earlier was looking at her again.
But right before their eyes could meet again, his gaze snapped away to the side.
He avoided me?!
A harsh stare earlier—and now he was ignoring her.
Why?!
There had been no such moment in Princess Ellia’s memories.
Actually, there hadn’t been anyone who disliked the princess at all.
Everyone had just followed her, calling “Princess, princess.”
But the boy’s cold attitude didn’t look friendly no matter how she interpreted it.
This was clearly built-up resentment.
Princess, what did you DO to him?!
And Princess Ellia hadn’t even been aware of any of this. She hadn’t noticed at all.
For someone to have such strong resentment, yet the princess didn’t even notice…
Princess… you really didn’t care about other people at all, did you.
It was a huge flaw.
Ellie felt that painfully.
But there was still time to fix it.
Even if you make a mistake, you can apologize, reflect, and do better from now on.
Besides, everyone here was an adult—except for that boy. He was the only one her age. She wanted to be friends with him if possible.
If our eyes meet again, maybe we can get a little closer?
However, from that moment on, the boy didn’t look at Ellie even once.
Hing…
She’d been completely shut out.
Almost as if he was warning her not to show any interest.
But that didn’t stop her. Her eyes kept drifting back to him.
Being ignored gave her the chance to study his face carefully.
The boy had delicate features unusual for a child. In short, he was pretty.
He was smaller than the adults, but taller than most kids his age.
His skin was pale, and his hair was as bright a blonde as his skin.
His eyes were almost always tightly shut or lowered, so she still couldn’t see them clearly.
What color are they?
She suddenly wanted to know.
She hadn’t gotten a proper look the few times their eyes had met. And he was standing far away, so no matter how hard she looked, she couldn’t make it out.
*****
While Ellie was busy examining the boy’s face, the funeral ended.
The king and queen’s bodies would be placed in the underground tomb beneath the temple where the royal family had been laid to rest for generations.
Ellie didn’t need to follow them there.
Everything ended once she watched the knights close the glass lids, lift the coffins, and carry them down into the underground passage.
“You’ve done well, Your Highness.”
“You behaved so maturely.”
“It must have been hard. You were very brave.”
Before the funeral even fully ended, people rushed toward Ellie like bees.
Among them were people she had seen in her bedroom before, as well as completely new faces.
When Ellie gave them a wary look, they only became even kinder.
“Would you like to have some sweet cake and cocoa?”
“Some fruit tart will help you feel better.”
Honestly, it was impossible not to be tempted by sweet cake, cocoa, and fruit tarts.
Just hearing the names was sweet—imagining the taste made her mouth water. How delicious they must be.
For a moment, Ellie imagined the sweetness melting on her tongue… and then her brother’s strict voice boomed through her head.
“If you eat sweets, your teeth will rot!”
The only sweet things her brother allowed were a single dessert after meals.
And this wasn’t after a meal.
“Ah—no….”
The refusal popped out instinctively.
Her brother’s lessons were very effective!
“Then how about some chocolate?”
“What about fruit soaked in honey?”
It wasn’t a matter of which dessert!
The people clung to her persistently.
It was almost too difficult for young Ellie to resist.
But she always listened to her brother.
If your teeth rot, you won’t be able to eat anything, and then you might starve to death.
No. That must not happen.
She wanted the sweets so badly her stomach hurt—but she couldn’t risk starving.
She had to survive until her brother came to get her.
“No! I don’t want to die!”
“…Pardon?”
The princess’s scream—“I don’t want to die!”—echoed through the funeral hall.
A deadly silence fell.
Even the people who had been leaving stopped in their tracks.
“Your Highness! What is happening?!”
“Her Highness screamed that she doesn’t want to die!”
“Protect the princess!”
The guards came running with fire in their eyes.
“Stay away from Her Highness!”
One guard with the sharpest presence stepped in front of Ellie, shielding her with her body.
It was an older girl with short brown hair.
“Are you all right, Your Highness?”
Kneeling, the guard inspected Ellie anxiously.
“Uh, y-yes.”
Startled by the chaos she had accidentally caused, Ellie couldn’t answer properly.
Then the guard captain suddenly lifted Ellie into her arms.
“For now, I will escort you to a safe location.”
“Uh…? Uh?”
It happened so suddenly that Ellie could only hang limply like a doll.
Was this… a kidnapping?
But when she saw everyone else running after them, she realized it probably wasn’t.
The funeral hall was far from Ellie’s bedroom.
The guard captain didn’t go that far. Instead, she brought Ellie into a nearby room.
“Increase the security around this area. Temporarily close all palace entrances. And gather everyone who was present for questioning.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
The guards moved swiftly at her command.
With a completely stern face and not a hint of a smile, she looked incredibly cool.
Hoohhh…
Ellie felt like she might fall in love.
But then—guard captain… guard…
Wait?
She remembered.
Even without an introduction, Ellie knew exactly who this was.
The guard captain who died protecting Princess Ellia from an assassin.
My real ally!
Someone who had worried about Princess Ellia until her last breath—someone who absolutely needed to stay by Ellie’s side.
She had short hair, wore no makeup, and didn’t wear dresses. Because of that, Princess Ellia disliked her.
She wouldn’t listen to the captain’s words even though she was the guard commander. She even avoided her just to go play around.
Because of that, the captain ended up sacrificing her life for Ellia for real. And afterward, there was no one who would protect Ellia with such fierce loyalty.
Princess Ellia regretted it terribly later.
She regretted ignoring her and was terrified of having no one to protect her.
Whenever she struggled wandering the wilderness, she always thought of that lost protector and whispered her name.
Her name was…
Rilkea.
“Captain, after the recent accident, our princess’s body and mind are still unstable. You can’t just act so rashly like this!”
Madam Laval burst into the room shouting angrily as soon as she arrived, having walked slower than the others.
But Captain Rilkea didn’t even blink.
“It was for her safety.”
“How could offering her dessert possibly be dangerous?”
“Her Highness felt her life was in danger.”
“Your sudden actions are more dangerous!”
Ahhh! The adults are fighting!
Ellie panicked between the two arguing grown-ups.
They shouldn’t fight when both of them were trying to take care of her.
“Um—!”
Ellie hurriedly spoke up.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Yes, our princess.”
The adults stopped their fierce argument instantly and turned toward Ellie.
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