Chapter 12

The party started.

There is a law of parties that does not change even after 500 years. People flock around people who are beautiful, powerful, or luxurious.

What does it mean?

“Princess, would you like to join our reading meeting?”

“Can the duke invest in the project that my family starts…”

“There has never been a precedent for having a party before the ceremony. Did you hear anything about the reason?”

“The last gladitorial competition was exciting. My lord, if you’re interested in knights…”

In other words, people are naturally flocking around me and Leonard, who are beautiful and powerful.

Oh, man.

I’m bored to death.

“I am very happy to have met such nice people.”

But politics is politics. I can’t just ignore them.

I dealt with those people with a smile bright enough to cause facial cramps.

‘Leonard is doing pretty well. Is he born with it?’

I glanced at Leonard, who was standing a few steps away.

He was surrounded by young children his age. Although he was smiling awkwardly, he was quite good at conversing with women.

‘Anyway, I’ve done enough as long as I can, so I can slowly get out of it.’

It seems like I’ve met almost everyone who wants to impress and greet us.

I smiled at those who were still around me and asked for understanding.

“Excuse me, but may I leave you for a moment?”

“What’s wrong, my lady?”

“Unfortunately, this is the first time I’ve been to a place like this, so I’m nervous. I want to rest for a while.”

So go away now. Shoo, shoo.

But at my words, the eyes of the young masters began to twinkle.

“Oh no, that’s a problem. I shall take you to the lounge.”

“May I bring you something to drink?”

“What? Oh no, wait a minute.”

Rather than disperse, the youths flocked to me as if they had waited.

‘What do I do? I’m at a loss.’

There is no justification to refuse. At this rate, I don’t think I’ll be able to rest properly.

The moment I thought so.

“Thank you, but I will escort her.”

“Brother…!”

Leonard approached me and lightly defeated the spirit of the young masters that were running towards me.

Leonard’s voice was as soft as usual, but the surrounding spirits shrank back like animals that met their natural enemies.

“Shall we get going?”

“Mm, to a place without people.”

We defeated the regretful young masters and misses and moved to another room.

It is a place for rest a little away from the hall, and the room was equipped with a couch and simple refreshments.

“Uwaah, I’m alive.”

I slumped down on the couch where there was no one else.

“Thank you, Brother. I just wanted to run away.”

“Yeah, you sure looked like it.”

Leonard said with a smile. Sigh, such a face that relieves fatigue. As expected, my brother is the best.

“Did any jerk flirt with you?”

“Not really…”

I was rather surprised at the word ‘jerk’ coming out from Leonard.

Who did you learn from? Whoever uses such a word in the duchy…

…Oops. Was it me?

“Tell me if there’s anyone flirting with you. I’ll take care of everything.”

Leonard said, smiling like an angel.

Take care of? I must be mistaken for feeling that he must’ve gracefully rephrased the words ‘I’m going to kill them’.

“I’ll go get something to drink.”

Saying that, Leonard stood up.

I knew that if I went out to the hall, I would be caught again and never come back, I smiled and waved my hand.

***

How many minutes did it take?

“Excuse me. May I sit next to you, young lady?”

A few girls approached me. Among them, the one who spoke to me was a blonde young girl.

I’m anxious. Kids who flock around like this are generally of poor quality.

I tilted my head and said.

“If you are looking for my brother, he’s out in the hall.”

“No, I wanted to talk with Young Lady.”

So persistent. Please give me some rest.

“Are you Princess Peresca? My name is Yulika Brande.”

Brande is an extended family of Duke Valer, the family of the 1st Consort.

It’s a family that won’t get along well with Caesar, but she managed to get here.

“What is your business?”

“I heard you are close with His Highness the Prince.”

“That’s right.”

At my answer, the young girls looked at each other and smiled once. I was a little perplexed because the atmosphere seemed like they thought I was ridiculous.

“Oh, my, pardon me. I wondered if someone had come up with such a rumor, and didn’t expect I’d hear it from the person concerned.”

Yulika smiled, shaking the glass of the drink lightly.

“Sometimes, there are nobles who show off their friendship after just seeing His Highness’ a few times and mixing words a few times.”

… Oh, my.

You guys are here to screw me, aren’t you?

“There must be people like that.”

“Yes. But of course Princess won’t be like that.”

“Thank you for having so much faith in me.”

“Of course. People in the countryside are all simple. Right, everyone?”

“Of course, my lady. Princess seems to be a very naive person.”

“I know, right? She doesn’t know anything. She’s as white as snow.”

Once again, the roaring laughter broke out.

Duke Peresca is currently stepping back from the center of power. It’s not unreasonable for these guys to think of me as a country girl.

I, for now, laugh.

It doesn’t matter. Compared to poisoning the beverage, this can be considered cute.

Yulika, who had become more arrogant, came a little closer to me.

“By the way, Princess, these are the words of concern for you.”

“What is it? I will be happy to listen.”

Yulika whispered in my ear.

“Know your place. You’re spreading the rumor, but you’re wearing such a tacky dress. Who would believe it?”

Then she smiles.

She smiles as if she is confident that her words have sharply hit the nail.

It didn’t even end up there.

“Oh my god, how rude of me!”

Yulika got up and spilled a drink on my dress. It was on purpose no matter who looked at it.

However, Yulika exaggeratedly made a big fuss as if it was a mistake.

“What should I do?! My hand slipped! Oh my god, you need to change clothes!”

The red water was clearly visible over the hem of my blue skirt.

“Just in time, I brought an extra dress. I’ll lend you my dress, so come with me, Princess.”

“Yes. Take the Brande’s favor, Princess.”

‘What favor.’

Do you think I’m new to this?

Surely that extra dress would be lousy. But if I get mad at her now, I will become a narrow-minded person.

‘I can hear her head working.’

I smiled and looked at Yulika.

“It’s okay, my lady. Rather, young lady’s are wet. Hurry up and wipe it.”

With that said, I took the cup from Yulika’s hand that still had a drink.

Then, I openly poured the drink on Yulika’s face.

“Kyaa!”

Yulika shouted in surprise. The red drink dripped from her face.

“Young Lady Brande!”

“What are you doing, Princess?!”

The other youngsters screamed.

I looked back at the youngsters, holding the glass upside down and shaking it. The young girls flinched at my gaze and trembled.

“Oh my, such an example. My hand slipped. Of course, you will understand it with broad generosity, right? You guys are tolerant of mistakes.”

“That’s… That’s…!”

“You’d better wear that extra dress, Young Lady Brande. It’s a relief that you have extra.”

I smiled at Yulika. Yulika stood up with her face redder than the drink and trembled.

“Oh, I almost forgot. Thank you for your advice on my dress. I will definitely convey the opinion of young ladies here to His Highness. He chose this dress for me.”

To be precise, Rowena, Caesar’s subordinate, had chosen it.

“… What?”

“Thank you for your advice and I’d like to say something too, Young Lady Brande.”

I whispered into Yulika’s ear, whose pupils were trembling like an earthquake.

“Know your place. You have to be smart to do bad things.”

“Ugh, h-how rude…!”

“Then, Young Lady Bebinca, Hector, and Rumbia.”

I looked at the young girls who had followed Yulika one by one and said.

They hadn’t even introduced themselves, so when I called their surnames without hesitation, the girls’ eyes fluttered mercilessly.

“I will remember the consideration you have given to Peresca Duchy here today to repay your family someday.”

The young girls’ faces turned white at my words.

For the time being, they will be trembling in fear that their family may be harmed by their immature actions. It’s cute just thinking about it. Umm… Am I too perverted?

“Then I will excuse myself. I hope to see you again, Young Lady Yulika Brande.”

I greeted her with a smile like spring.

The smiles were wiped out from the faces of the young girls.

***

“Ugh, how annoying. It won’t go away.”

After moving to another empty room, I tried to wipe the stains off the dress with a handkerchief soaked in water. However, the stain showed no sign of being erased at all.

“Eh, whatever. It’s fine. I don’t have to go out into the hall with this excuse.”

I gave up and threw the handkerchief on the table.

“By the way, Young Lady Brande… What was she up to?”

Brande has considerable authority as they are closely connected to Duke Valer. Moreover, they are immersed in politics quite deeply even though they’re located on the frontier.

Unlike Peresca, who rarely gets involved in politics, they are in power.

But that wouldn’t be a reason to quarrel with the duke for nothing.

“Hmm, maybe because she likes Caesar, she is jealous of me?”

If that’s the case, it’s kinda cute. Although the way to express jealousy was not cute.

At that moment, the voice of the doorkeeper was heard from the banquet hall.

“His Highness, Prince Caesar Winter Gray, is entering!”

Ah… Is it finally the main character’s entry?

“I came all the way to the capital and couldn’t meet him… Well, it would have been difficult to meet him even if I wasn’t dressed like this.”

I muttered out of frustration.

Since I’ve come all the way here, I wanted to see his face once.

Too bad.

“Is this dress… tacky?”

I patted the skirt with both hands and murmured.

“One needs to have an eye to know this.”

Even in my previous life, I had no interest in clothes or accessories.

Before becoming emperor, I rolled around in the streets or battlefields, and after becoming emperor, I wore armor more often.

“…I want to go home and sleep.”

After sitting blankly for a while, I got up from my seat and walked towards the window. I opened the window and a cold winter night breeze blew in.

Through the window, the silhouette of the imperial capital looked black.

“I miss it somehow.”

After muttering like that, I smirked at myself.

I didn’t know that I would miss the imperial capital, because I don’t have any good memories.

“Ahaha. What am I saying? How could I miss it? I’m being weird.”

Feeling embarrassed for no reason, I closed the window muttering to myself.

No, I tried to close it.

However, a hand that stretched out from behind closed the window before me.

“…?”

Who is it?

I looked back in surprise.

Behind me, I heard the sound of a window closing.

“I found you.”

Standing behind my back was a man with infinitely warm red eyes.

“Caesar? How can you be here…?”

Shouldn’t he be in the hall right now?

No, I wish you were a little more out of the way. Being trapped in Caesar’s arms with my back to the window is narrow and uncomfortable.

“I couldn’t see Master, so I asked, and someone said you were here.”

“Oh, my clothes got dirty.”

“Is that so? I thought you were avoiding me because it would be annoying.”

“There’s that, too.”

“Ahaha, that’s so Helena.”

Caesar laughed. The body’s all grown up, but the way he smiles is still like a boy.

“Why is the main character of the party here right now?”

“It’s okay. I came to say hello.”

“But everyone will find you.”

“Yes, I should go out soon.”

Caesar said with a bitter smile.

‘He looks tired.’

I looked up at Caesar, who had grown taller than me. He must have been busy preparing for the coronation ceremony, parties, and other things.

“…You’re so cheeky that you’re taller than me.”

I grumbled for no reason, and Caesar laughed out loud.

“I was originally taller than you.”

“It wasn’t enough to look up like this.”

“Oh, yeah. It must be unpleasant to look up at the disciple.”

Then Caesar bowed down. In an instant, our eye level became the same.

“Is this okay?”

“T-this is too close.”

“What do you want me to do then? Get down on my knees?”

“Oh, that will be good.”

“What?”

“Kneel down. I prefer to look down.”

“You’re so hard to please, seriously.”

While saying that, Caesar meekly knelt before me on one knee.

He didn’t mind getting his fancy clothes dirty.

“Are you satisfied, Master?”

Caesar tilted his head and smiled. If anyone sees this scene, they will be terrified.

“It’s perfect.”

Satisfied, I smiled and covered Caesar’s eyes with one hand.

I felt like I wouldn’t be able to speak at all because of my embarrassment while making eye contact with him.

“Happy eighteenth birthday, Caesar.”

I said in a small voice in embarrassment.

“Thank you for being born.”

Caesar didn’t answer.

As if he was broken, there was no movement.

“Well, say something. I’m going to die of embarrassment.”

My face was burning. At my prompt, Caesar rose from his seat again.

Caesar laughed.

Thank God. I don’t know why, but I was relieved by his smile.

“Thank you. Actually, I was looking for you because I wanted to hear those words.”

“If you go out to the hall, you would be able to hear more from more people.”

“It is enough to hear from you.”

Caesar buried his head on my shoulder.

“Because I was born for Helena.”

Somehow I felt the moisture in that trembling voice, and I gently hugged him.

My disciple who was born for me, who is stubborn and very lonely.

Thank you for being born into this world I am in, Caesar.

I sincerely thought so.