CH 266

Princess Mia, The Embodiment of Truth

“…Eh?”

Mia was stunned by the girl. Her hair was golden and soft and wavy. Every time a breeze moved it, a pleasant floral scent spread through the air.

She looked at Mia with a slight blush on her cheeks and a bright smile. But over time, her grey eyes began to show a bit of confusion. Which made sense, since Mia had been staring at her for a while without saying anything.

Oh no, that was a bad idea.

Mia suddenly came back to herself and quickly smiled back.

“I’m glad to meet you. I’m Mia Luna Tearmoon.”

She said this with a polite tilt of her head.

“I have to say, though, that it feels strange to meet you for the first time now, since the Yellowmoons are our relatives.”

“Yes, and I’m sorry. Even for Rina, this is a very sad thing. I wasn’t healthy when I was born, and I’ve been weak ever since… I couldn’t even go to a birthday party for Your Highness.”

“My, I see. I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to be nosy.”

Citrina laughed in a delicate way.

“Oh, you’re being too nice. All of that is old history now.”

She was happy. It was sweet, like a flower swaying in the wind or a bird singing in the trees.

It was a perfect look from a perfect girl, who seemed to be the perfect daughter of a powerful noble in every way.

She was sweet and friendly, and she smiled a lot. She had smooth edges and rounded corners, and nothing about her was sharp or rough. She was so nice that it was almost impossible to think badly of her.

That’s why Mia’s alarms were going off in her head.

Vring! Vring! After all this time, Duke Yellowmoon’s daughter wants to talk to me? This smells very fishy! In fact, everything about them seems fishy! Why don’t I even know this girl? What on earth is going on?

In both times, she didn’t remember Citrina. Don’t worry about Citrina; she couldn’t remember much about anyone in the Yellowmoon family. That was very different from the other three Houses, which all left a strong impression on her.

“After all, we’re only known for how old our family is, and we’re the weakest of the Four Dukes…”

She had heard someone say something like that at some point, but she couldn’t remember much else. There was almost no information about the Yellowmoons.

Bel kept talking while Mia, who was worried, tried to figure out how she got to be in this situation.

“Rina—um, I mean, Miss Citrina and I met in the library, and we’ve been studying together ever since.”

“Ah, uh… W-Well, I see. How…kind of you, Citrina, to do that. Thank you. I hope this hasn’t been too hard.”

Mia looked at the young Yellowmoon, who bowed her head in a straightforward way.

“No, Your Majesty, not at all. Both of you are very welcome. I only wish I had told you about myself sooner. Please let me know how sorry I am.”

“Oh, don’t be. It didn’t bother me much.”

She kept reading about Citrina.

It’s true that she hasn’t come to see me once since she started school here. So why come at this time? There must be a reason for this!

The reasons why the first emperor did what he did were shown, the Princess Mia Chronicles were cut down, and now someone from the House of Yellowmoon showed up out of the blue.

Something told her that all of this was linked. She could almost feel how they were connected…

This definitely looks fishy! Right now, this place smells like a fish market.

Great Detective Mia had a feeling that the girl standing in front of her was the one who did it.

Mia thought, “Maybe I should stand my ground and tell her to stay away.” She thought that being close to the girl was too dangerous.

She thought about it for a while and decided…

No, if I push her away, she might do things behind my back, which is even scarier. I might as well keep her close to me. And right now, she’s giving me a chance to do that. Whenever the enemy gives me a chance, I should take it. I’ll get to know her better so I can keep an eye on her more easily.

She had used the same reasoning to get Sapphias to join the student council.

Also, she looked over at Bel, who was smiling in a very innocent way. Mia didn’t want to take away her granddaughter’s joy as she introduced her new friend. Of course, she would probably still say something to Lynsha to make her be careful.

“Well, Citrina, I hope you’ll keep being good friends with Bel.”

“Of course, yes. I’m glad to have met such a great person.”

It was there again. The perfect smile of a flower in full bloom. It made Mia even more afraid.

Hmph, go ahead. Try to trick someone. I’ll catch you in the act if you do —

“Oh, by the way, I heard that Your Highness is interested in herbs. Is that true?”

Mia was surprised by Citrina’s sudden question.

“Hm? My, I’m shocked that you knew. Did Bel tell you?”

“No, she didn’t. Rina is also interested in wild grasses and flowers. I used to go on hunting trips in the Yellowmoon domain, and I read books to learn more.”

“…Really!”

Mia took another look at Citrina. She was sure that the girl was the kind of creepy person who stayed in her room all day and planned all kinds of bad things.

I didn’t think she was also interested in learning how to stay alive. That’s too bad. If we weren’t enemies, we might talk about how to stay alive during a revolution. That also sounds like a lot of fun…

She was a little bit sad when she realised this.

“Oh, and mushrooms, too,” the girl said. “They’re a lot of fun, right?”

With those words…

“My! Citrina, you like mushrooms?!”

…Citrina completely caught her bait.

“Yes. I’ve also been looking into mushroom stews, and I sometimes try new things with the mushrooms I pick. Stews are so great!”

“My! …My! I’ve always wanted to try making stewed mushrooms on my own. Could you tell me when?”

Citrina flicked her rod up, and Mia came flopping out of the water on the end of the line.

“Of course. Then, let’s go pick mushrooms together.”

Mia’s spine tingled with pure excitement. She had never heard of such an idea before. Picking mushrooms in the wild was always dangerous, so no one had ever been brave enough to invite her to do it.

She almost smiled, and her level of friendship with Citrina went up to eleven.

What do you know? Maybe Citrina is just a nice girl at heart. Duke Yellowmoon, her dad, might be a useless conspirator, but she might not be a part of any of it…

Within seconds, her guard was lowered so far that it would take shovels to go any lower.

—

People see what they want to see and don’t see what they don’t want to see. Mia was a living embodiment of this truth.