CH 462

Mia’s Mind Spins

“I-It’s a pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty.”

Esmeralda’s dropped from her shoulders to her hips. Then she put them down even more. She finally pinched. She curtsied so nervously that her fingers shook and her movements were all over the place, like an old doll. Her skirt also shook.

“I’m the oldest daughter of House Greenmoon. M-my name is Esmedal –”

This led to a spectacular fail in which she messed up her own name. After a short moment of silence, she turned her head toward Mia. Her eyes filled with tears.

Esmeralda, oh…

Mia shook her head and let out a sigh of disappointment.

How embarrassing to mess up on the big stage! Getting your own name wrong? Unvelievable. I’ll show her how to do it.

She opened her mouth with great ease.

“Allow me, Your Majesty. She is my relative. An Etoiline who was born to one of the Four Dukes of our kingdom. She goes by the name Esmeralalda – ”

And fumbled too!

“—Etoile Greenmoon!”

But she pushed through to the end of her sentence and smiled like nothing had happened. It was, to be honest, pretty cool. After all, Mia wasn’t a newbie when it came to messing up her lines. She had been a botcher for a long time. She was a stout old bird who had seen some droppings. She wouldn’t be upset by a simple slip of the tongue.

“On my friend’s behalf, I’d like to say sorry for how she acted. She is still shocked by the sudden news of her marriage proposal. So please understand.”

He had a good laugh.

“Be at ease. Today, we are all here for a special event.” He gave Esmeralda a nod. “Lady Esmeralda, there’s no need to be too proper. This is just a simple get-together to get to know each other. I’d like you to take it easy and have a good meal.”

When King Abram smiled, the strongly righteous air around him grew less strong. Mia took a deep breath almost out of habit. It was as if he had taken off a piece of the thick shell that was his royal image to show a glimpse of the human inside.

I really didn’t think he could smile like that.

Mia felt some of the tightness in her muscles go away when she saw that he had a less scary side.

Esmeralda was not like that at all. “A – As you command, Your Majesty. Yes, I will do that.”

She was as nervous as ever, to the point where it made Mia feel bad.

Esmeralda, moons. How could you be such a wimp? Come on! Show some backbone!

The king laughed. “Whatever the case, let’s start eating. We can talk while we eat.”

With a look, he told the middle-aged butler next to him to step forward. He did, and the girls quickly followed his lead. “Please follow me.”

They moved from the room where people were sitting to a room nearby. It was about half as big as a classroom at Saint-Noel and could fit at most a dozen people. The table in the middle of the room was round, which was interesting. During formal dinners, it was common for people to sit where their social status told them to. A round table made it impossible to do this. Just as the group stopped because they didn’t know where to sit, they heard a new voice.

“Welcome everyone, please come in.”

It was calm and gentle, like the sun in the fall. The voice belonged to a plump woman with gray hair who was smiling and had lines on her face that showed she usually had a kind face. Mia felt the last of her stress leave her body as she was soothed even more.

“Hello. It’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Mia Luna Tearmoon, Princess of the Tearmoon Empire.”

Next, Esmeralda and Tiona each greeted the woman, who looked at them, listened, and smiled before saying she was the queen consort.

“Thank you all for taking such good care of Sion,” she said, her voice now full of the warmth of spring.

Then Sion and his brother, who were with King Abram, stepped in. The younger prince had the same gray hair, which was well-kept and looked beautiful. His long forelocks fell over his eyes, which cautiously peered through the strands.

“I think everyone here knows Sion well enough,” the king said as he looked at Echard. “Okay, then. Go ahead and introduce yourself.”

The young boy stepped forward and bowed gracefully when he was told to. “Hello. My name is Echard Sol Sunkland.”

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He fidgeted a bit before he managed a endearing, forced smile. It almost made Mia like him right away.

He’s so adorable… No, wait! She stopped herself just in time. He is the one behind Sion’s assassination. I can’t let down my guard.

She couldn’t help but look at him with suspicion. She looked at his cute haircut, then his cute eyes, then the cute way he tilted his head when he was confused…

Nope! He was way too cute for wariness.

I mean, now that I think about it, a cute kid like him couldn’t possibly be planning to kill someone. Most likely, that Lampron guy is using him to get what he wants…

“Ah, by the way, Princess Mia,” the king added. “Count Lampron told me that you like mushroom dishes, so I had one made for you today. Even though there is only one dish, I hope you will like it.”

“Have you! My, I can’t wait!”

What do you know? It sounds like Count Lampron is a nice guy. Most likely, he has nothing to do with what happened. It would be a huge mistake to think of him as a bad guy.

Mia changed her mind right away. Since she changed her mind so often, she should really think about becoming a head surgeon.