Chapter 3

The unfamiliarity underlying Padel’s eyes was revealed momentarily.

At first, I was asleep for a long time. I had memories of Alicia’s childhood, so I wondered if I should act like her. However, I thought it would be difficult for me to handle the personality of being reckless, so I was pushing ahead with the concept of being spiteful and mature as I died and woke up.

Originally, I became a different person in the eyes of my family overnight, so I understand why they are looking at me like that, but my smile toward him became increasingly awkward because I couldn’t hide what was burdensome.

“What’s on my face?”

I rubbed my cheek and asked.

“Sorry. I just feel a sense of distance because you speak so politely.”

“Right. While lying down, you received etiquette education in your dream and became a completely different person.”

The second prince, Harrison, who was sitting next to him, smiled and added a word.

Unlike the calm first child, the second child, who has a similar appearance but is free-spirited, was different from others who treated me like a glass doll that would break when touched.

“Yeah. I realized something…I can’t act like a child forever. Oh, I’ve gotten a lot older, right? I want to be comfortable.”

“I’m not forcing you. I just want you to talk as comfortably as before.”

“You look uncomfortable now that I see it. Haha, why are you so awkward talking informally?”

“Haha- What book are you reading? But honestly, I think you look better now. It’s just that I can’t get used to it, but it’s nothing weird.”

“I rather like it a lot. Before, I thought it’d be better to talk to the wall than to you, but now we can talk very well.”

It was a very acrimonious evaluation.

Harrison revealed his expressions and thoughts without hiding them like that. For me, Harrison’s honesty was pleasant because it was more comfortable for me.

However, the problem was my parents.

“Harrison, watch what you say.”

“Alicia is just Alicia. What are you doing comparing the past and the present?”

As expected, my father and mother, who were still listening, opened their mouths with a determined look. They were worried if I was hurt.

It was an uncomfortable topic, but I laughed as if nothing had happened.

“Harrison’s conclusion is that he likes me like this. Right?”

“What? What do you mean? It’s a good thing, but it doesn’t mean anything grandiose.”

“What do you mean no? Like Alicia said, I think I like you it very much.”

Padel responded and laughed skillfully, perhaps because he read my mind to ease the atmosphere.

“What’s wrong with you?”

Harrison looked at the two of us alternately and rubbed his arms as if he was getting goosebumps, and then frowned as if he was dumbfounded. He looked fierce, but he didn’t seem to be offended sincerely.

“Ha, yeah. Let’s say that’s it.”

Harrison was a person who played with his words.

‘Phew, that’s a relief.’

I breathed out relief inside and welcomed the topic of naturally moving on with the dessert being set.

As it was time to slowly break up, the men talked about state affairs as usual. Most of the time, it was their route to go to the office after meal time.

“We have strengthened surveillance near the border.”

“Any suspicious moves?”

“Yes. There was a report that they saw a suspicious person a few days ago, but it was not related to the Podia Empire.”

Podia? My eyes opened wide.

“Okay. Continue to be vigilant. If the Emperor of Podia has something he wants to gain, he’s the type to tell others to make it happen. Otherwise, we might even have to fight a war.”

“Father, shouldn’t we then decide to be more accommodating to his demands? Realistically, it would be too reckless to fight the Podia Empire.”

“This is not an acceptable request.”

“What kind of request is it? Rumor has it that he’s digging around about elves, is this related to that part?”

Yeah. Is it because of the elves?

In the original story, it was briefly described that Thierry’s mother was an elf, and it was never taken seriously.

‘Like this again, the original is getting farther away… As far as I know, Thierry met the female lead and fell in love with her, and he became the emperor at the age of twenty, but he became the emperor at the age of seventeen this time. Anyways, he’s so different.’

My father seemed worried about whether he should continue talking. However, after worrying for a while, looking at his family member one by one, he opened his mouth as if he had made up his mind.

“Fine.”

“…”

“The Emperor demanded the location of the elves.”

“That’s absurd! Elves are extinct!”

“So, war may become even more inevitable because all the countries that could not give the answer the emperor wanted have disappeared.”

***

Astad Kingdom was a quiet country surrounded by snow-capped mountains and blue lakes.

Although it was difficult to reach outsiders at the northern edge, there was another reason why Astad, a small country, was able to keep peace without being invaded by other countries. It could also be because the country was very nature-friendly.

Was that why Thierry was convinced that there might be elves in Astad?

Since the royals here have a highly nature-friendly lineage, maybe there was a secret interaction with the elf race.

“Why does he want to find elves?”

To find traces of his late mother? But if that’s the reason, don’t you think it’s unnecessary to turn the whole country into a shaggy field?

Even if you approach peacefully, the elves will want to hide themselves deeper if you use such a brutal method.

‘Why am I here among so many countries? When I woke up this time, I thought I was completely out of the original, but that’s not it either.’

I thought it was a terribly bad relationship.

In fact, the most terrible thing may be me who keeps moving from body to body, but…

‘Even if I try to search about it in a book, I haven’t found a book that explains possession. If I want to get a clue about being possessed, I need to meet Thierry at least… If a real elf exists, shouldn’t I be more desperate to find and meet them than Thierry?’

In order to organize my thoughts, I even came to a trail where people rarely visited, but my mind became more complicated.

‘I’m not born again. This is just… It’s frustrating, really.’

Soon I muttered something else to change my mind.

“By the way, Alicia couldn’t wake up because of her low affinity? I heard that the first was the spirit of the wind, and the second was the spirit of the earth.”

I wonder if my parents spoiled me more because they felt sorry for their youngest daughter, who couldn’t wake up.

I repeatedly grabbed and unfolded the empty palm as I lowered it. Then soon, I dropped my hand and raised my head, wondering what I was doing.

“Did I go too deep? I can only see trees everywhere.”

Was there a place like this? Obviously, at first, it was a road with flowers with a wide view, but as I walked along the road blankly, it seemed that I came to the forest road connected to the back gate.

“Let’s hurry up and go back. Everyone must be worried.”

Crunch.

‘Huh? I think I heard something just now…’

Crunch.

“…”

My mouth closed automatically. I looked everywhere as my pupils shook.

Tap, tap.

The unknown sound got faster and closer to this side. It was clear that something was running to me. I faltered down and turned toward the road I had come.

“Ahh!”

At that moment, a black object blocked my view and attacked me. I closed my eyes tightly.

The crying sound of the beast in front of me made my heart flutter.

‘What should I do? What should I do? Should I pretend to be dead?’

I was shaking while lying on the ground, and then I opened only one eye in the quiet atmosphere to check my opponent.

“…Huh?”

A big dog covered with black fur was staring down at me.

‘What dog is it? Is it a dog? It’s too big.’

It was when our eyes met, the black dog cried sadly and carefully rubbed its nose against my cheek.

‘Will it be okay?’

I blinked with a puzzled look and moved my hand. Rather, the dog actively put its face into mine as my hand hesitated in the air as if it was about to touch its head.

‘Unlike how it looks, he’s very gentle.’

It was quite overwhelming because it was large enough to completely cover me from above, but the sparkling yellow eyes somehow loosened my bad thoughts.

“Where are you from? You look like you have an owner, but the owner is alone somewhere.”

I whispered softly as if to soothe the black dog. The dog couldn’t understand, but it was just an act to loosen each other’s boundaries even a little.

“Awoo…”

However, as if strangely understood what I was saying, the black dog cried helplessly and rubbed his head on my hand, and soon began to lick it.

“Haha, it tickles. You’re cute when I keep looking at you. It feels very familiar.”

I petted a black dog and recalled the wolf I was taking care of with Thierry.

In the beginning, to narrow the psychological distance with Thierry, I sometimes secretly went on a picnic with a lunch box, where I met a baby wolf who collapsed after being hurt on the forest road.

We hid behind the tree and watched for a long time in case the mother wolf appeared, but the forest was cool and still.

“Your highness, shall we take him?”

“…Us?”

“Yes. To the house. Of course, I’m going to take care of it! I will never let your highness suffer. I just want to take him home because I think he’ll be lonely if he’s left alone like that. Can’t I?”

“…We can do it.”

Thierry, who was staring at me, mumbled a little and nodded his head. Then he grabbed my hand and dragged me to the wolf cub.