Preparations for the Founding Festival (4)
“Hmm.”
The woman seated at the very end of the table had kept her shoulders hunched and her gaze lowered from the moment the meeting began, doing everything possible to avoid notice.
“Speaking of which, the Third Prince’s Palace has never hosted guests before, has it?”
“That is correct, Your Majesty the Empress.”
“Then how about taking this opportunity to entertain some of the empire’s important visitors? It would be valuable experience for the master of the Third Prince’s Palace as well.”
Catherine looked visibly flustered, as though she had never expected the Empress to single her out.
“B-but, Your Majesty. This is the Adamanth Kingdom’s first official visit to the empire, is it not? Shouldn’t the first impression for such distinguished guests be made at the Imperial Palace? There is the matter of first impressions…”
“Your point is reasonable. However, the delegation this time is exceptionally large, and the Kan Empire’s envoys have already been assigned to the Imperial Palace. We would exceed capacity.”
At the Empress’s reply, Catherine’s eyes flickered with panic.
What do I do? No matter how handsome he is…
The young king of Adamanth was notorious for possessing an unpredictable personality that clashed with his excessively handsome features.
Having led a rebellion at a young age to found a nation and expand its borders, rumors painted him as a bloodthirsty warmonger.
The adjutant who visited the palace last time seemed perfectly ordinary, though.
Catherine racked her brain before cautiously lifting her head.
I shouldn’t have done that.
By now every person in the conference room was staring at her with pointed expectation.
They all clearly hoped the Third Prince’s Palace would shoulder the burden of these troublesome guests.
“…If the Adamanth side agrees to it.”
Unable to withstand the pressure any longer, Catherine lowered her head in defeat.
“The Third Prince’s Palace will host the Adamanth Kingdom’s delegation.”
Upon returning from the Empress’s palace, Catherine clung to Emilia and sniffled.
It had already been three hours.
“How did I end up accepting a suggestion like that!”
“Weren’t you the one gushing about how handsome the King of Adamanth was? Why the sudden change in attitude?”
“Admiring his face from a distance is one thing! Actually having to serve him is an entirely different problem!”
“Then why didn’t you refuse?”
I answered while folding Edwin’s clothes.
“Was it because the request came from Her Majesty the Empress that you couldn’t turn it down?”
“Obviously!”
Catherine rubbed her face against Emilia’s hair and sobbed.
“And everyone was glaring at me like it was obviously going to be my job. How could I possibly refuse in that moment?”
The head maid’s tears and snot dampened the princess’s hair.
Emilia gave me an awkward look.
“Nanny, Catherine keeps crying. What should we do?”
“Just leave her alone. Adults eventually stop on their own.”
Hearing my words, Catherine burst out.
“Nanny, that’s too much! So cold-hearted!”
“Ung, adults are pitiful.”
“That’s right, Your Highness. You’re the only one who feels sorry for this Catherine!”
“But Catherine is an adult, so stop crying now.”
“Hic! I don’t want to cry, but the tears won’t stop! We’re already short on hands, and instead of sending more help they tell us to welcome the entire Adamanth delegation. What exactly are we supposed to—”
It would be far more efficient to prepare for the guests instead of wasting time crying.
Well, she would figure it out eventually.
I finished organizing the clothes and opened the door.
“There’s only a week left. If you don’t want to be criticized, you’d better work hard, Head Maid.”
At my words, Catherine suddenly stopped crying and reached out toward me.
“Nanny! You’ll help too, won’t you? Right?”
“I must attend to His Highness the Prince, so I’ll take my leave.”
I stepped out of the room, leaving Catherine’s wail behind me.
The Founding Festival. Has it already come to this?
It felt as though I had only just opened my eyes inside the imperial palace.
I wanted to find clues about the organization before the Founding Festival.
Some time ago I had paid five nomas to a back-alley information broker and commissioned an investigation into “Ian Angel.” Sadly, the effort had yielded nothing.
To say he vanished without a trace after the day I died—how is that even possible?
After the day “Kyla Angel” died, every trace of Ian Angel had been severed.
Even the information broker claimed it was the first time he had encountered such a case and sent a letter stating he could investigate no further.
But I can’t give up.
If he was alive, I would find him.
If he was dead, I would at least locate his remains.
I adjusted my grip on the bundle of Edwin’s clothes.
…Time really does pass quickly.
Beyond the window, the fresh green leaves were so vivid they almost hurt the eyes.
Before I knew it, summer had arrived.
The week flew by in the blink of an eye.
During that time, Edwin focused entirely on evasion training with me.
Once the Adamanth delegation arrived, such training would become impossible.
Not bad at all.
I crossed my arms, recalling the sight of Edwin during practice.
His movements were now astonishingly fast and light compared to before.
In moments like these, his smaller frame—still child-sized—became an advantage rather than a hindrance.
His stamina has improved greatly, and so has his appetite.
The increased appetite was likely a result of the grueling training.
The person who suffered most because of it was, of course, Catherine.
“Nanny, you really have foresight.”
Catherine, seated beside me, was mending the hem of the trousers Edwin would wear at the Founding Festival.
She bit off the thread and smiled.
“You specifically asked the tailor to leave extra length in the hems. Thanks to that, we only need to adjust these. What a relief.”
Royal formal attire was normally tailored to fit the body exactly.
The reasoning was that it looked better and more dignified that way.
“Her Highness Emilia needs to grow quickly too. I thought she had grown quite a bit, but her clothing size hasn’t changed at all. It took me by surprise.”
“Everyone grows at their own pace.”
“True. His Highness Edwin barely grew at all until last year, but this year he’s sprouting up every single month. It’s been quite a shock.”
That was why we had requested extra length in both the sleeves and hems of all his garments.
As Catherine said, the boy’s growth rate was extraordinary.
“When I first met His Highness, he only reached my waist. Now his head comes all the way up to my shoulder. Can you believe it?”
“He’s in his growth phase. It’s only natural.”
“Still, he used to be so small we worried whether he would ever grow properly.”
“That was the strange part.”
“Indeed.”
Catherine unfolded the mended trousers, examined them, and smiled softly.
“I wonder if my little brother has grown this much too.”
“You have a younger brother?”
“I have six siblings. Four younger brothers and two younger sisters.”
She poured out stories about her family without prompting.
“My sisters are quite sharp, but my brothers are absolute troublemakers. They worry me to death. Do you know how much of a handful they are? Once, one of them vanished for an entire day. The whole family went searching, only to find he had crawled into someone else’s barn and fallen asleep beside a calf. Really, the strangest—”
Simply remembering it seemed to bring her joy.
Catherine’s face glowed as she spoke of her siblings.
“Then why don’t you ever go home? You even gave up your last vacation.”
“Pardon?”
“You seem to adore your siblings, so it struck me as odd that you never visit.”
Catherine let out a small “Ah” and shook her head gently.
“I’m the only one who can earn money. Father doesn’t work.”
“And your mother…”
“Mother isn’t well. She spends nearly all day in bed. Still, my siblings take good care of her, so I’m not too anxious.”
The younger ones nursed their mother; Catherine earned the money for her medicine.
That appeared to be the unspoken division of labor in her family.
“Besides, I have quite the temper myself, you know?”
Catherine tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear and smiled.
It was a smile that tried to appear casual but carried a hint of discomfort.
“If I go home, I end up fighting with Father every day, and the sparks fly onto my siblings. It’s better if I stay away.”
I watched Catherine in silence.
She clenched her fist as if to reassure me.
“Don’t worry! We exchange letters often! And once I marry, I’ll bring Mother and all my siblings to the capital. For now, I’m just grateful we’re all doing well in our own way.”
“Your siblings are lucky.”
“Pardon?”
“To have someone like you as their older sister.”
For a moment, Catherine’s eyes trembled.
Then the awkward smile that had seemed ready to fade bloomed into a radiant one.
“Goodness, hearing you say that, Nanny, makes me so happy I feel like I could fly away.”
“I didn’t say it to please you. I simply spoke what I felt.”
“Yes, of course you did.”
Catherine kept smiling brightly before tilting her head.
“Now that I think about it, are you close with your own family, Nanny?”
Family.
I lowered my gaze.
If family meant only those connected by blood, then I had never possessed any.
I did have something close to it, once.
When I was small, there had been Emma. As I grew older, there were my comrades.
And right up until the moment of my death, I had believed Ian was as good as family.
Only to be betrayed in the end.
Was it truly impossible to form a family with those who did not share your blood?
Had Ian and I been fated never to stay together?
The voice left behind in the past rang in my ears like a hallucination.
The bitterness in my mouth burned all the way to my throat.
So sharply that, for a moment, I frowned.