Chapter 7

“Guys! I- I- I saw the princess! I mean, the new princess. I met her while coming here!”

“What?! I want to see her too!”

“She’s over there. She’s going to the dining room in the arms of Sister Rosa.”

“I only saw her back. Her hair is white and fluffy!”

“How did she look like? Tell me more!”

“She’s like a doll. The Princess has round eyes and is so cute.”

“But why is she here? She’s wearing a priest’s uniform.”

“Is it possible that the royal family didn’t accept her?”

“It’s said, that they don’t know who her father is?”

“Shh!”

Murmuring.

In a temple where the same routines are repeated every single day, my appearance seems to have become a pretty hot topic.

The people of the temple dine in the large dining room, regardless of gender and age. I too went out to have breakfast with Yuzu and Rosa, who carried me in her arms.

“Sister Sierra has been out since early morning because she is volunteering outside the temple grounds today.” “I’m sorry. Today’s menu is pancakes.”

Pancakes? It’s a sweet word I haven’t heard in a while. As I drooled imagining the fluffy texture, I came back to my senses.

‘This is not the right time for this.’

I quickly looked inside the dining room. Fortunately, I was being held in Rosa’s arms, so the problem of not being able to look around and see the other people’s faces due to my short stature was avoided.

And I found him right away! His appearance was so striking that he could be recognized from a thousand feet away.

It was the first time I saw Phaeon wear a white outfit. He was dressed in a white tunic with prettily embroidered seams. It was quite a refreshing sight, because I’ve always only seen him dressed in his uniforms before. But … no one was sitting at his table.

‘…Is it because of bullying?’

[T/N: as in, ‘is he sitting alone because the other people bully him?’]

If you look around, at most six or at least two people are eating together… Sitting alone at that big table, he looked a bit lonely. Well, I wouldn’t eat with my superior as well.

I got my food from the back and quickly walked to the table where he sat. Yuzu and Rosa hesitated and began to panick.

“I, Prin… Princess! Let’s just… Let’s sit somewhere nearby…”, Rosa was speechless and hesitant, but I didn’t care, walked over to his table and set down my plate on the table.

“Good morning Papa.”

He opened the newspaper without knowing anything and raised his head in surprise: “W- what… ”

I could feel the people around me buzzing behind my back.

“Pa- Sir Parciel. May Lux-sama’s light dwell today as well. Good morning.”

Only reluctantly did Rosa and Yuzu follow me and sat down next to me to greet him.

Unnies, I’m sorry for making you suffer…

“… May Lux-sama’s light dwell.”

They greeted each other bluntly.

I quickly offered a pre-dinner prayer and glanced at his plate: “Huh? Papa doesn’t have hotcakes.”

He seemed to have brought only vegetable soup and coffee. Well, I can’t imagine he’d cut a hotcake and eat it, but still…

“Aigoo, would you like to have a bite from Asha?”

I quickly sliced ​​the pancake and handed it to him.

“No need. I don’t like sweets”, he frowned and avoided my fork.

“okay? But … this honey looks like papa’s hair color. It looks like sweets.”

“…”

Yuzu and Rosa’s facial muscles trembled, as if they were unsure whether to laugh or not. If I were to stumble, the table would be enveloped in terrible silence, so I kept talking: “Does Papa drink anything? It’s black water huh.”

“…the princess cannot drink this yet.”

“Is it okay if I try only a small sip?”

Rosa couldn’t stand it and let out a gasp. Meanwhile, he raised his eyebrows as if in shock.

“Only a small sip”, as I begged with fervent eyes, he reluctantly handed me his cup.

“…just one sip.”

I took the cup from him and drank the coffee inside it. Ummm, it’s bitte…… bitter. So bitter! You drink it like it’s honey. He is able to always stay awake all by his own, so why is he drinking this?

“… take it back.”

When I got fed up, Yuzu looked at me as if she didn’t know what to do because she saw something cute.

“The princess still needs to drink milk. Now, I’ll add honey to it. With this it will taste even better.”

I was excited and enjoyed my breakfast, regardless of how much milk covered my lips.

“My angels and I are all eating together like this, I like it. It’s very moving.”

Rosa and Yuzu both said: “Me too.”

They agreed kindly, but Phaeon stopped eating without a word and got up from his seat: I’ll have to go. Have a nice meal.”

I stopped him from lifting the plate and said solemnly: “Papa, you left some food on your place. If you don’t eat up, Lux will punish you.”

“… ”

His face turned a little red. Yuzu and Rosa looked at me in embarrassment, but they didn’t really stop me.

“Eat everything. Asha will watch over you.”

He stood still, noticing hundreds of eyes staring at him, and sat down again. His face was visibly red. I thought he knew the shame, so I was a little startled, but I pretended not to know, took his spoon and handed it to him: “Papa is such a kindhearted person.”

He eventually ate the rest of the soup, and I finished the rest of the meal leisurely, enjoying the joy of victory.

༻﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡༺

What had happened that morning immediately spread beyond the temple into the royal palace.

They said that the new princess seized ‘that’ Sir Parciel, gave him instructions and that Sir Parciel couldn’t keep up in front of a little girl. There were even speculations that Sir Parciel was the king’s illegitimate son, all because of the princess …

“No, didn’t he go too far for something like that?”

Stella cheered: “To be honest, it’s disrespectful. Sending her completely to the temple even though she didn’t possess the dignity or anything else that a princess should have. God, what was father thinking?!”

“It sounds like a pretty good strategy”, spoke Aquila softly after taking a sip of the tea.

“A strategy? Whose strategy is that?”

“Who is there but the high priest.”

“Be… Belus-nim?” Stella leaned close to Aquila and whispered carefully: “After all, you don’t believe in her oracle, do you?”

“So. Rather than believing in that, I believe in the gods of some distant eastern continent.”

“Ha… But what if that kid is really a ‘child of God’? To be honest, she is a child and it looks like she isn’t that religious.”

“That’s about the extent of what education can provide. But…”, Aquila’s deep green eyes gleamed sharply, “I heard a very strange story from Judithium.”

“Juditium? The dungeon on the outskirts of the capital?”

“Yeah. The kid’s adoptive parents and their son were brought there. They said she knew how to use magic!”

“What? She’s only four years old?! Even Triss, who used to be the genius of the century, only developed mana sensitivity at the age of seven…”

“Yeah, she used the image stone to prove that she was abused. However, before the image stone can record by infusing it with mana, the stone must first be turned into a magic tool. That’s something that no great genius of any century would be able to do at this age. “

“…Then what is it?”

“Is it the work of the high priest? First, he obtained a sympathy vote to win father’s favor, and then pushed him out with fake oracles and pietism to put him under the full control of the temple. Now that he knows how to use magic, he spreads it. He’s going to solidify his position!”

“Then you mean he’s working together with Sir Parciel? After all, he too belongs to the temple…”

Aquila said firmly: “Anyway, I can’t wait to see their attempts to make the royal family their puppet. Their power has already grown so much because of our father… Once the balance is broken, it takes only a moment for them to gain full control.”

Stella’s expression became serious. In the last few days, her stress has reached its peak. She admires her clever older sister, who has the same hair color and eye color as herself. Finally, she got close to the place she deserves, but a stone rolled in and is now trying to get in her way. Not only that, but now Stella realized that the stone was the seed of a great disaster that could even overthrow the Santra dynasty.

“It can’t be. Older sister often says she’s not interested in succession, but no one can deny that she’s the best fit for the position! There will be no one in this kingdom, who can beat my beloved sister’s right for the thrown of the country, she cares so deeply about!”

“Thank you for saying that, Stella. But I’m not really greedy for it”, said Aquila while grinning.

“Still, it’s hard for this aunt to see her poor niece playing in their hands.”

What’s this about that bastard sissy? As Aquila heard Stella’s disgruntled murmurs, she puts down her teacup: “First of all, we should put to rest the nonsense about her being a child of God.”

༻﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡༺

After that morning, as expected, Phaeon stopped going to the dining room.

‘H would rather starve than meet me!’

Sierra comforted me as I repeated that every day when I looked for him in the dining room and was depressed to find out he wasn’t there: “Princess, don’t be so upset. Sir Parciel … um he… he’s busy and can’t come.”

“No. Papa … doesn’t like Asha.”

thud!

The three priests’ faces turned pale at the bombshell1 remark.

“Oh, Princess! Hating you…? Is there anyone who doesn’t like the Princess?”

“You’re implying that Asha is a sinner.”

“She’s not a sinner!”

“Papa knows that Asha is in the temple, so he’s avoiding Asha because he doesn’t like me.”

As I mumbled sadly, the three priests left the room and discussed quietly: “Sierra unnie, please. You are the closest to him…”

“What are you talking about? I only spoke a word or two with him during the war…!”, Sierra was upset and protested. But after a few more words, Sierra eventually turned her back on them.

‘Can Sierra do it?’

༻﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡༺

“Lord Parciel, it’s not difficult.”

“Again, no”, despite Sierra’s earnest request, Phaeon remained stubborn, “It’s so difficult to eat together at least one meal a day…”

Sierra sighed and added: “What is it about the princess? It’s clear that she has imprinted on Sir Parciel. It’s like a duckling thinking that the first person they see is their parent. You were the one who saved the princess from that terrible situation, Sir Parciel. You are serving Lord Lux so eagerly, so, even if it makes you feel uncomfortable, can’t you just be a little more careful?”

“Then we have to keep away from each other even more. If that condition lasts for a long time, it’s not good for either of us.”

At his brick-and-mortar-like persistence, Sierra heated up and uttered words she would have never said normally: “… In fact, are you ashamed of getting mad at the princess?”

“!”

Phaeon’s face turned a little red, but he quickly regained his composure.

“If there is nothing more to say, I will leave.”

At that moment, a young knight in a white knight uniform hurried towards them: “I… Commander, did you hear about the rumors?”