What I Could Not Protect (1)
“Yeah, I’ll let it slide this time. Even though you turned down Lia’s request for a princess story and went to bed early, I have no idea what kept you up so late.”
Edwin stuck out his lower lip and waved his hand dismissively.
“I can manage just fine without you, you know.”
That little rascal. He must have taken my words from yesterday to heart.
He’s more narrow-minded than he looks.
“Then I’ll just catch a quick nap and return to duty.”
I bowed obediently to Edwin and stepped back.
“Catherine! Lia, more of this please!”
“Aww, our Princess Emilia eats so well! She’s going to grow up big and strong!”
“Me too. More.”
“Oh my, it seems it suits Prince Edwin’s taste as well. What a relief!”
Catherine watched the children devour their food with genuine delight.
As expected, she’s much better suited to be their nanny than I am.
I let out a soft chuckle and quietly slipped out of the dining hall.
At the time, I had no idea.
I had no idea I would come to regret leaving my post for so long today.
3rd Prince’s Palace Chief Maid, Catherine Veil.
She was the eldest daughter of Viscount Veil’s household, which had four sons and three daughters.
With a large age gap between her and her younger siblings, she was confident in her ability to care for children.
After all, she had looked after her brothers and sisters in place of their always-busy parents.
But there was one crucial fact she had overlooked.
“Huff, hah… Your Highness Princess Emilia, perhaps it’s time to return to your room?”
“No! No! Why is the horse talking?!”
“H-hiiiiing!”
Princess Emilia was far more eccentric than any of Catherine’s own siblings.
Catherine crawled desperately across the lawn on all fours.
With the young princess riding on her back, no less.
She had never dreamed that she would end up as the partner in the princess’s beloved “horseback riding game.”
“Giddyup—! You have to go faster!”
Emilia yanked on two strands of Catherine’s hair as if they were reins.
“H-hiiiiiiing!”
Catherine panted harshly, nearly in tears.
“Y-Your Highness, couldn’t we play something else?”
No matter how young the princess was, carrying her on her back and crawling around like this was simply too heavy.
Just how on earth does Miss Rachel manage to do this for hours?
“Something else?”
“Yes! Prince Edwin seems quite bored playing by himself over there!”
“Hmm? Big brother?”
Emilia turned her head toward her older brother.
Just as she said, Edwin was sitting on the lawn, idly plucking blades of grass.
To anyone looking, he appeared extremely bored.
Emilia tilted her head at the sight.
“Does he? Then what game do you want to play?”
“Well, you see…”
Seeing her chance, Catherine quickly set Emilia down on the ground and stood up.
At that exact moment, Edwin sprang to his feet.
“I’m thirsty.”
“Oh dear, is it already snack time? Shall we head to the annex? I’ll bake you a delicious apple pie.”
“I want to eat it here. Make it and bring it over.”
“Pardon? Um…”
Catherine hesitated at the young prince’s firm command.
It felt wrong to leave the two young royals alone.
Especially since Rachel was currently absent as well.
Edwin seemed to notice her reluctance and added,
“Lia and I will wait right here, so hurry back.”
“Umm, Your Highness, if you would just wait inside…”
“Are you planning to defy a prince’s order?”
“N-no, of course not! I’ll bring it right away! Please wait just a moment!”
Startled by the prince’s sharp tone, Catherine finally gave in. She dashed toward the annex so quickly her eyebrows seemed to flutter in the wind.
Watching her retreating figure, Edwin lifted one corner of his mouth in a smirk.
Unlike that woman who didn’t even bat an eye when he pulled the prince card, the chief maid was remarkably obedient.
Which made her so much easier to deceive.
With a face far more animated than before, Edwin turned back to his little sister.
“Lia, let’s go outside.”
“Hmm? Is that okay?”
“Yeah. You said you wanted to visit the central garden again last time, right?”
“Yes! Lia wants to go!”
The young prince and princess clasped hands and ran off together.
The place they headed toward was the wall behind the annex.
“N-Nanny—!”
What jolted me out of my nap was Catherine’s shrill scream.
She burst into the room without even knocking, her face streaked with tears.
A terrible sense of foreboding hit me. I shot up from my bed.
“What happened?”
“Their Highnesses… Their Highnesses have disappeared!”
“What?”
It was like a bolt from the blue.
“Big brother, the butterfly can’t fly.”
“Butterfly?”
Edwin looked down at his sister’s words.
What Emilia was crouching over and staring at wasn’t a butterfly at all—it was a flower.
“Is it hurt?”
Emilia gazed at the flower with worried eyes.
Seeing her like that, Edwin couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
“Lia, that’s not a butterfly. It’s a flower.”
“A flower?”
“Yeah, a pansy. But you’re right—it does look like a butterfly.”
“So it was a flower! It’s so pretty!”
Emilia reached out in admiration.
It was Edwin who stopped the princess’s hand as she tried to pluck the flower without hesitation.
“You can’t pick it, Emilia. The flower will hurt.”
“Huh? Why would the flower hurt? Did you say the flower would hurt?”
The young prince was rendered speechless by his sister’s innocent yet piercing question.
He had only heard Emma say that flowers shouldn’t be picked when he was little.
“W-well, it’s not exactly like that.”
“Then Lia wants to take it with her. Lia wants to be friends with it.”
“Wait!”
“Hmm?”
Edwin grabbed his sister’s tiny hand and said,
“Emilia, don’t you like the palace where we live now?”
“Yes! Because big brother, Rachel, and Catherine are all there!”
“Wouldn’t it be the same for this flower? All its friends are here, and it likes living here. If you take it away without asking, it’ll be sad.”
“Hmm, is that so?”
“And Lia, if you pick a flower, it wilts. Wouldn’t it be sad if something this pretty wilted?”
After Edwin’s persistent persuasion, Emilia’s face fell.
“Later, I’ll ask to have some planted in our garden too. So let’s let these ones stay here and live, okay?”
When her brother spoke to her so gently, Emilia finally nodded.
“Okay. I understand.”
“Good girl.”
Edwin smiled brightly and stroked his sister’s hair.
Emilia, who had been beaming while mimicking her brother, let out a big yawn.
“Hwaaam.”
“Lia, are you sleepy?”
“Mmm. When you pat my head, it makes me sleepy.”
Now that he thought about it, this was usually the time when Emilia took her afternoon nap.
“Shall we take a short nap before we go back?”
“Yeah.”
“Come here.”
Edwin took off his jacket and gently laid it over his sister, who had curled up beside him.
Watching her, he suddenly felt drowsiness creeping over him as well.
“Hwaaam.”
Edwin stretched and lay down next to Emilia.
By now, Catherine must have realized they were missing and was probably panicking.
Just imagining it was hilarious.
With a soft chuckle, Edwin laced his fingers behind his head and gazed up at the sky.
This place, which he used to visit often with Emma when she was alive, was the prince’s only sanctuary.
It was the most secluded corner of the central garden, a spot no one but the royal guards ever visited.
Whenever he missed Emma, he would sneak away and come here.
Though lately, the strange new nanny had kept him too busy to visit.
Perhaps because his heart felt at ease, the prince’s eyes slowly drifted shut.
And so, a sweet nap time passed by.
The first to wake was Emilia.
“Mmm.”
Rubbing her eyes, Emilia sat up. She glanced at her still-sleeping brother, then looked around.
That was when something caught the young princess’s eye.
A cat with snowy white fur and proud yellow stripes.
It swished its tail as if calling to her, then disappeared into the bushes.
“Kitty!”
Emilia’s eyes sparkled with joy.
To a princess who adored cats more than anything, this was an opportunity she couldn’t miss.
“Kitty! Kitty—!”
Emilia jumped to her feet and dashed into the bushes.
It all happened in the blink of an eye.
When Edwin stirred in his sleep, noticed the empty spot beside him, and opened his eyes, the princess had already vanished.
“…Emilia?”
The young prince called his sister’s name with a dazed expression.
But there was no answer.
“Lia? Emilia!”
Seized by a terrible premonition, Edwin shot to his feet.
“Emilia—! Where are you—!”
The young prince’s voice rang out with desperate urgency.
“Kitty, where are you?”
Emilia was crawling across the ground on all fours.
Cats were such incredible creatures that they could bring an imperial princess to her knees.
“Kitty, come out. Let’s play with Lia.”
Emilia called out in a hushed voice, but no answer came.
“I’m sure it went this way…”
The princess stood up with a disappointed look.
That was when it happened.
Kyaaaat—!
A sharp feline cry echoed from somewhere.
“It’s the kitty!”
Bursting with excitement at the thought of finally catching the cat, Emilia ran toward the sound.
But when the young princess pushed through the dense bushes and arrived, it wasn’t just the cat waiting there.
“Kitty…!”
The smile on Emilia’s bright face slowly faded.
A group of well-dressed boys were gathered there.
“Hahahaha—! You idiot, you can’t even hit that?”
“Shut up! It kept thrashing around, that’s why!”
A boy with orange hair snapped irritably and picked up a stone from the ground.
His gaze was fixed on a cat hanging upside down from a tree branch.
It was the very same cat Emilia had been chasing.