Chapter 66

In the end, I implicitly grabbed Alice and asked a question.

“Hey, Alice, it’s a little out of the blue, but I have a question for you. I want to know when your birthday is.”

Alice, who was carefully touching the hem of her skirt as if the clothes were different than usual, raised her head in amazement.

“My birthday……?”

After hesitating for a while as if she could not remember easily, she quickly answered in softly.

“I think it is in December.”

“Winter, when it’s snowing!”

“……Yes, that is correct.”

Alice smiled shyly and then asked me back.

“When is your birthday, Emir Young-ae?”

“It’s August for me. Hehe.”

My birthday was in the hot summer in my previous life, and so is my birthday in my reincarnation. It was a strange coincidence. Well, I do like it if it’s a bit hot. Anyway, it was time for the afternoon class to begin. The mustard sauce commotion at lunchtime made the kindergarten livelier than usual. Before going to our respective seats, I heard Alice muttering to herself, “August, I’ll definitely remember… Lady Emir’s birthday.”

***

After kindergarten, as usual, she went in Cedric’s carriage and they rode together. She closed her eyes as if she had fallen asleep in the sunlight pouring in from outside the window.

“Snooo……reeee”

At the same time, the snoring of a person who had truly fallen asleep was being heard from the other side. Alice opened her eyes for a moment and saw Cedric sitting opposite to her. Cedric isn’t tired even after the hard swordsmanship practice, but strangely, he takes a nap, and snores every time he goes to kindergarten. Even in the carriage. Well, she didn’t wake up to check Cedric’s well-being, so it didn’t matter.

Alice soon realized that it was time for herself to get off the carriage. The faint scent of pomegranate flowers seeping through the gaps in the carriage. This scent was coming from the orchard near the Duchy of Rose’s residence.

“Lady Alice, we’re here.”

Indeed, Alice’s senses wereguess was not wrong. Not long after she opened her eyes, she heard the coachman’s voice. She looked lonely inside the carriage as if she knew no one other than the coachman. When the carriage left with Cedric, she was truly alone.

“……”

The Duchy’s gatekeeper didn’t even greet Alice with the usual ‘Welcome back’. He only pulled the door, which opened with a blunt, mechanical movement. Alice never found it strange either. However, she only felt lonely in the mansion, where she stepped her feet alone. The  mansion didn’t seem neglected. She could see the busy employees live up to the prestige of being a Duchy and the decorations inside the mansion were splendid, far from desolate. Only Alice seemed to be the distant one among them. But this time, it felt a little different from usual.

As Alice walked inside the mansion, she was first conscious of her surroundings and then of the clothes she was wearing. It might have been because the clothes she was wearing were different from the usual. She was wearing a gorgeous dress lent by Emir, and it gave the illusion that she was the real princess of this Duchy’s house.

Alice’s room was not in the main building, but in the corner of the annex. It was a narrow closet. As she walked that far away, she met several employees, but no one cared about her. Alice finally arrived in her room and lay on her bed.

‘Lady Emir.’

She lay on the bed, staring at the old ceiling and the old lights hanging from the wall. She closed her eyes and thought of a girl. Emir’s face.

‘I think she’s a really nice person. She’s so to me, to someone who is a nobody.’

She was grateful. Somehow, she felt like she was about to burst into tears.

I’m not sad, but why do I cry?

Alice unknowingly wiped her tears with the sleeve and looked down, stopping abruptly after realizing that it was the borrowed clothes. In fact, she had thought of this before. It was her first day in kindergarten. Emir handed over to her caramel in a wrapper saying it was a gift. She was afraid that it might melt or break, so she had put it in her bag without touching it.

‘It’s my first gift. I got a gift from someone.’ Alice thought at that time. She, too, was able to get a gift from someone.

……amazing.

Of course, since Emir gave caramel to everyone in kindergarten, the gift itself may not have a significant meaning, but she was very happy nonetheless. This was because Alice was always the child who was excluded from the choices of those around her. Lady Emir not only gave her a present, but also gave her a handkerchief. She shouldn’t cry in the kindergarten because other people are watching, but she was so moved that she cried. However, Emir did not get mad at Alice, rather she calmly comforted her and even handed her a handkerchief.

‘Like an angel…’

A face that smiled brightly at her, and beautiful gray hair overflowing with luster. And round, sparkling green emerald eyes. Emir looked just like a little angel to her. She was very happy to be able to attend kindergarten with someone like Emir, who is so kind, nice, and lovely. Maybe Alice didn’t even know that she had already thought about it in her mind since then. She wanted to be close friends with Lady Emir.