CH 2

Homecoming

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

A few days after the commotion at the Prime Minister’s residence. A large black carriage was slowly moving along a road in the northeastern part of the kingdom, where plotted fields could be seen on both sides. The body of the car is trimmed with a not-so-flamboyant amount of gold, and its door bears the crest of the Clanetta family, with a lion and a unicorn, Ricorne, facing each other across a silver shield. The farmers stopped their work and bowed deeply. The gesture was very natural and heartfelt.

◆

「Turnip leaves are growing well. Looks like things are going well this year.」

「All of this is thanks to you, Princess.」

Inside a horse-drawn carriage entering the Clanetta territory, which covers most of the northeastern part of the kingdom. Emily, a dark-haired maid waiting in the seat across from me, smiled at me as I peeked through the peephole into the field where I had led the reform.

「I just had the opportunity to learn knowledge. It’s the result of everyone’s hard work. And Emily, please call me Eliza when we’re alone.」

Father did not ride with me on the way back to our territory. After that fiasco, me and father made a formal apology to the royal family, and he stayed at his residence in royal capital to finish the various tasks that had been delayed because of that. I had gone ahead with only my own servants to show my family and retainers, who were anxiously waiting for me back home, that I was safe.

「You are the only one who thinks so in the Clanetta territory. Eliza-sama. Everything changed because of you. These fields, the lives of your people, and ……I am as well.」

She closed the window and turns to me. In the darkened carriage, Emily’s slightly upturned white face, dressed in a maid’s outfit, came into view.

Emily. She is my nanny’s daughter. When I was two years old, she was introduced to me as my caretaker and playmate, and she has continued to serve me from that time until today.

She’s a beautiful girl. I have thought this many times since we first met, but now that Emily is nineteen, she seems to have added a somewhat more gentle charm to the mix. Her long hair, which reaches down to her shoulder blades, shines a wet-feather color, and her two wide-open eyes are a quiet, warm black that reminds one of the ocean on a summer night.

It didn’t take long for me to develop feelings for the woman who reminded me of my hometown and who was working so hard for me. And she, one of the few people who knew my secret, responded in kind.

I moved to the seat across from her and gently hugged her, burying my face in her ample breasts. Her bangs, parted to the left and right and held in place with a white ribbon, tickle my cheeks. Emily also put her thin arm gently around my back. Whenever this happens, I melt into the warmth of the enveloping touch and close my eyes.

For me, Emily was an irreplaceable and precious person, as a dependable confidant, as a close friend with whom I could discuss my innermost feelings, and as a lover, even though we had a clean relationship as we do now.

「By the way, Princess.」

My title comes back again, and the hand that had been around me snaps to my back. Cold sweat ran down my immobilized body, and I felt the shade of my scarlet dress darken. Whenever Emily dares to call back, even though we are alone, it is when she is terribly angry.

「I heard that you were naughty at the ball the other night…… and I heard through the grapevine that you had a lot of fun before the ruckus.」

「…What it’s all about?」

「Surrounded by lovely aristocratic daughters, I heard that they were secretly turning up their noses at you.」

My face was pressed against the soft chest. Gradually, I felt the strength of the arm behind me being squeezed.

「That was a noble kind of association——」

「Please answer truthfully.」

Then she smiled at me and gave me a flowery smile. It’s spring now, and that smile is worthy of it, and yet I get a freezing shiver.

「I’m sorry. Also, I’m sorry for worrying you.」

「Please take care of yourself. Eliza-sama. You are indispensable to Clanetta and…… to me.」

Emily immediately hugged me back softly as I squeezed the hand that was around her waist and said, and meant it. She was a little bit jealous, but she was still adorable as she cried a lot on the day of the commotion, worrying for my well being.

◆

「The princess has returned!」

Cheers enveloped the carriage as it entered Ameen, a city located in the center of the Clanetta territory.

Citizens living in the city wave to the carriage with cheers. I leaned out the window and swung back, too, and their voices got louder. Reassured by the healthy smiles on everyone’s faces, we headed for the central consulate. Listening to Emily’s diatribe about almost falling out of the carriage for riding out of it so abruptly.

When we arrived at the estate, a group of vassals was already lined up in front of the gate, with my mother and younger siblings waiting in the center of the crowd.

As soon as I stepped from the carriage to the ground, two even smaller lumps than me, wearing light green culottes, jumped into my chest. I stumble backwards and Emily is quick to support me.

「Welcome back, Onee-sama!」

「Welcome back!」

「I’m back. Adolf. Mireille」

Adolf and Mireille, twin siblings who turned six this year, greet me with big smiles. As I stroked my hands through the silver and gold hair of my cute little siblings, the twins tickled me, squinted my parents’ blue eyes, and laughed. Grabbing my arms from both sides, I head toward my mother, who is dressed in a white, fragile dress, while I chide the two of them for talking about the royal capital. She stood there just smiling, so young that it was hard to believe that she was nearly 30 years old.

「I’m back. Mother. I’m sorry for your concern.」

Even if you don’t blame me, I should say this. I lowered my head deeply and my mother hugged me gently.

「I’m so glad… you’re safe.」

A warm drop of water trickles down my neck. I guess she have been trying my best to keep my young siblings from knowing how important I am to them. The number of them increased one by one and then another.

「Mother, I am so sorry.」

「It’s okay. You did what you had to do to protect the pride of the ducal family. It was just a bad turn of events.」

The tears that trickled down my neck unceasingly made me realize how much I had caused my mother’s heart to ache and how much she loved me, and tears welled up in my eyes, just as they did with my father’s.

「Onee-sama. Okaa-sama. What’s wrong? Does your stomach hurt?」

Mireille peeks at me with concern. Adolf was also about to cry, even though he didn’t know why.

「I’m fine. It doesn’t hurt anywhere. Mireille. Adolf. I am crying because I am happy to see you and Mother again.」

「Do you cry when you are happy Why?」

Mireille tilts her head adorably.

「Yes…… for example, if you won’t be able to see your loved ones for a while, that would be very sad.」

Adolf and Mireille nodded at the same time.

「But wouldn’t you be more than happy if you met someone who thought so, sooner than you thought?」

「I’m so happy!」and I continue my words, smiling at the twins as they join my voice.

「And when that happens, when my heart moves so strongly, I cry, even though I’m happy.」

「Oh, yeah~!」

While Mireille nodded her head in interest, Adolf’s expression clouded.

「Are you going somewhere, Onee-sama?」

I should have been a little more blunt. Adolf seemed to have dimly perceived the crisis that was looming over me just from the analogy I just gave. As if to calm the twins, who begin to look anxious, I hug them and whisper in their ears.

「Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere. I will be there for you when you are lonely.」

「Really?」

When Adolf’s fearful question was answered, I hugged them both tightly and, perhaps relieved at last, they began to ask me to talk about royal capital again. Mother and I laugh with each other.

——Hopefully nothing will come of this.

Secretly concerned about the hateful glare I received at the ball, I returned to my home with my family.