I slept the whole night in peace, I even hummed in joy whenever I thought about last night. I’m optimistic about the plan, imagine if it worked, we could get a lot of information. Maybe, I’ll even find out who was trying to kill me and why.
I mean, I didn’t do shit in this world, so I can’t imagine any good reason they would be hunting me down.
So when it came for breakfast, I delightly ate my meal. The taste was duller than I expected it would be, maybe because Allie was moving into her new kitchen and didn’t get to cook.
As I ate though, I could feel the gaze of my father pointed at me. When we were all done eating, our plates clean of dishes and seemingly satisfied, my father stood up first before others.
“Everyone, let us come to my office, this is important.”
The three of us looked puzzled about Father. However, seeing how he looked serious, we followed him out of the room. Mera and Vernon were also surprised to see that we were moving out together.
They were about to follow me, but I already had an idea of what this could possibly be about, so I stopped them with my hand.
“Stay here.”
Mera seemed to hesitate, but Vernon immediately understood and placed a hand on her shoulder followed by a nod towards her.
A while later we arrived at Father’s office. He had the other servants leave and told them to have a break despite being still in the morning. It was some sort of an indirect way to say to get away from here. When all of them walked away from the proximity of the office, Estevan then proceeded to close and lock the door.
“The walls and doors are made so that no one could eavesdrop, but, for the sake of Estelia…”
For me?
He raised up his hand and then a flash of blurry wall appeared on all walls before returning to normal after a moment.
“Let us sit.”
My father sat on the back of his desk. Meanwhile, Estevan grabbed a chair from the corner and placed it beside a chair in front of the desk. My mother sat down closer to Father and I sat beside her while Estevan sat on the opposite side.
“Dear, what is this about?” Mother asked.
My father shifted his eyes towards me then spoke.
“Daughter… about what Vernon told me last night…”
As I thought, it’s about that. I faced him with a faint smile.
“Yes. Is it about the arrival of the message?”
Father nodded his head. Only then did Estevan look at the two of us, his eyes seeming to be curious.
“What message?” he asked.
“Estevan, I’ll explain to you later.”
“... Huh… This looks serious.”
“What could you two be talking about?” My mother murmured.
“Daughter, hm, that was a dangerous thing you did.”
He looked at me with strictness.
“Did Vernon tell you what I did?”
“Yes, yes he did.”
“Did he tell you how?”
“... Only the main idea, but the specific process, he omitted it, saying you do not want to disclose the method you used.”
I averted my eyes away with a blush. Good thing Vernon didn’t say it, wew.
“Father, what are you two talking about?”
“Just what Estelia did…” he said before returning to look at me with a severe gaze. “Estelia, if what I think is what you did, considering the way that message was delivered, and you were the one to do it, that was very dangerous. You could have at least told us first so we’ll figure out what to do.”
His tone was sterner than what I have heard from him. He sounded angry…?
“That was a rash action, what do you think they’ll do if they realize it was you?!”
I flinched at his loud voice.
Woah, what the hell? Am I being scolded? What gives?!
Is he thinking I did it with my voice?
“Dear! Why are you shouting towards Estelia?”
My mother frantically came to my defense and reached out for my father’s hand. Estevan also looked pretty confused now by the sudden rise of emotion from Father.
“Our daughter did something so dangerous… The servants didn’t even try to stop you, Estelia?”
I didn’t look him in the eye and lowered my head.
“F-Father, I did what I had to do, what I thought was necessary. Furthermore, any more delay will invite suspicions given the context I was conveying, therefore, I had to do it on the spot.”
“Even so, that was a risky move ultimately for you! It’s always the best option to at least tell your family the dangerous decision you’re about to make.”
I stand by my decision.
“Dear, what did she do?!” My mother asked.
“She spoke with an enemy.”
“What?”
My mother was aghast as she looked at me, disbelief clouded her eyes. Estevan also still looked very confused about the situation.
“Can anyone please explain what’s going on?”
“Haaah… A Puppet Courier came to Oryn’s room, and Estelia went on and did something.”
“W-What? What something?”
Judging from what Father said, this place was safe from eavesdrops, and he also seemed to have cast a spell to further support it. So, it must be safe to speak more about this.
“F-Father,” my voice gave a hint of courage built up. “The method — how I did it was never mentioned to you but it was a safe method for me! Believe me. Furthermore, it has a higher chance of success compared to what you are thinking of what I did.”
“What?” My father tried to slowly regain his calm. “Then, how did you do it? What way? What makes you think it has a high chance of success and you’re going to be safe?”
So, am I gonna tell him? Nah. I have my own dignity to protect. ‘But Estelia it’s alright to tell him and it’s stupid not to’ — Shut it! I don’t want to, and this situation exactly had no threat to my life that I would compromise. I can convince Father just fine! Hmph!
“There’s a reason why I ordered my servants to keep it a secret… but I will give you a hint,” I paused for a moment to indicate my hesitation. “I tried to deceive them.”
“Deceive?”
“They should be deceived, whoever they are. And there will be a chance that they will fall for it, depending on their relationship with Oryn and what they decide. But I think there is a high chance for success…”
“But? How? I don’t see, I can’t imagine what you did.”
“That’s why it’s a secret, father. And, from now on, I will be relying on you. Please do not let the opportunity slip but take this chance, even if it is not completely assured.”
I grasped my own hand stiffly and avoided their strong gazes. The pressure was too much for me as a pure princess.
Then, my father sighed.
“We won’t let this chance slide, Vernon also looked confident from what you did. But, why don’t you want to tell us what you did?”
Not gonna tell them at all, that was a weird talent to have.
“For certain reasons. But you just have to trust me… the rate of success is high.”
I mentioned this had a high chance of success. Saying otherwise wouldn’t be good and would show a lack of confidence. This is like how you promote or show a product. If you’re not even confident about it, or didn’t show you are, then how can you expect people to buy it?
Even if you know your product sucks, just show some confidence, and it will urge people to buy from you. It’s like that.
Of course selling was different from actual fighting and trapping, since on the latter you need to think on both sides and what could potentially happen, so there’s a chance that something might happen that you never expected. But saying it has a high rate of success would be pretty convincing. Saying that “I am certain this will happen” without any conclusive materials would just be idealistic — and for this case, I know nothing of the enemy, so I cannot say it will happen a hundred percent, just that it has a high chance.
So there’s also a difference between that and selling a product — but eh you get the idea.
“Alright. I will send a strong force to deal with this and have them prepare a trap in the time you gave.”
“Wait, Father! This sounds like a big deal! We are fighting someone? Are you sending the knights?”
Father pondered about it for a short moment.
“No, I will not be sending the knights?”
“What?”
“I will send people that are more compatible to this situation. They have been the ones I ordered to handle this.”
“What else are there to…”
Yeah, what else? Hm, not the knights. So what could Father be talking about?
Wait, where else had he been visiting? And the ones he ordered to handle it?
I could only think of one place that he had put his attention to.
“The church?” I quietly asked.
“Mm, yes the Church.”
“Wait, the church?”
“Estevan, you know there are other sides of the church, yes? I trust that they will be able to handle this.”
“But…”
Estevan must have thought of leading the operation with his knights if Father was assembling a force.
But later on, he gave up given that apparently Father wouldn’t change his mind. If that was what Father decided, then it must be for the best. I’m curious about this Church though.
“Understood, Father, if that’s what you want. However, please explain what happened with Estelia that made you agitated.”
“If it’s alright, may I take my leave?” I said all of a sudden.
Come on, I have other things to do.
My family blinked a few times at me. They must have expected I would stay since this involved me. But I already knew what they were going to talk about, so there was no point in staying here.
“It’s fine daughter, you are free to go.”
“I thank you ever so much, Father. Please excuse me.”
Good thing Father let me go.
After leaving the room and closing the door, I halted and moved back towards the door and pressed my ear into it.
I was just curious, but there was really no sound from the other side.
I’ll learn that shit.
Contented, I walked away and through the corridor, at the far end, I saw Vernon and Mera standing at a corner.
The moment she saw me, Mera’s expression turned bright in a flash and quickly walked towards me, while Vernon casually strode behind the girl.
I gave them a smile.
“Father was displeased.”
I said to them when they arrived close to me.
“I imagine so, he was particularly surprised and agitated when he heard it from me last night.”
“But, everything ended well. Come, I have to check on Allie.”
We descended down to the first floor, and on the opposite side of the palace from the kitchen I frequently visit, there upon Allie's new kitchen was situated. This way, she could now officially be recognized as a Royal Head Chef in the palace.
When we arrived at the newly opened kitchen, inside what we saw first was Allie sitting alone by the table. She somewhat looked a bit on the gloomy side. When she saw me, it seemed like her eyes glinted and immediately stood up to greet me.
“Greetings, your highness.”
“Hello, Allie,” I walked inside and headed to a chair next to her. “Hm, it does look a bit lonely. But don’t worry, once we find new cooks, you’ll finally have someone to accompany you.”
“Thank you, your highness, but there’s no need to rush. It’s not like it would be the death of me to be alone here.”
I smiled gently.
“Don’t worry, I’ll visit frequently.”
“Please, you have no need to trouble yourself.”
“No.”
I reached out for her hand.
“It’s not a trouble at all. I don’t like seeing you sad and alone, therefore, I decided to stay by your side whenever possible.”
“Princess…”
Her eyes went wide as though she was touched by my words.
Now, I wonder…
“Princess, I will be cooking later. Will you come and taste the dish I’m trying to improve? At lunch.”
“Of course.”
Oh I will, can’t miss some good food after all! Sooner or later, she’ll catch up to the level of my old world. And I am so looking forward to it.
She has a bright future ahead of her.
I slept the whole night in peace, I even hummed in joy whenever I thought about last night. I’m optimistic about the plan, imagine if it worked, we could get a lot of information. Maybe, I’ll even find out who was trying to kill me and why.
I mean, I didn’t do shit in this world, so I can’t imagine any good reason they would be hunting me down.
So when it came for breakfast, I delightly ate my meal. The taste was duller than I expected it would be, maybe because Allie was moving into her new kitchen and didn’t get to cook.
As I ate though, I could feel the gaze of my father pointed at me. When we were all done eating, our plates clean of dishes and seemingly satisfied, my father stood up first before others.
“Everyone, let us come to my office, this is important.”
The three of us looked puzzled about Father. However, seeing how he looked serious, we followed him out of the room. Mera and Vernon were also surprised to see that we were moving out together.
They were about to follow me, but I already had an idea of what this could possibly be about, so I stopped them with my hand.
“Stay here.”
Mera seemed to hesitate, but Vernon immediately understood and placed a hand on her shoulder followed by a nod towards her.
A while later we arrived at Father’s office. He had the other servants leave and told them to have a break despite being still in the morning. It was some sort of an indirect way to say to get away from here. When all of them walked away from the proximity of the office, Estevan then proceeded to close and lock the door.
“The walls and doors are made so that no one could eavesdrop, but, for the sake of Estelia…”
For me?
He raised up his hand and then a flash of blurry wall appeared on all walls before returning to normal after a moment.
“Let us sit.”
My father sat on the back of his desk. Meanwhile, Estevan grabbed a chair from the corner and placed it beside a chair in front of the desk. My mother sat down closer to Father and I sat beside her while Estevan sat on the opposite side.
“Dear, what is this about?” Mother asked.
My father shifted his eyes towards me then spoke.
“Daughter… about what Vernon told me last night…”
As I thought, it’s about that. I faced him with a faint smile.
“Yes. Is it about the arrival of the message?”
Father nodded his head. Only then did Estevan look at the two of us, his eyes seeming to be curious.
“What message?” he asked.
“Estevan, I’ll explain to you later.”
“... Huh… This looks serious.”
“What could you two be talking about?” My mother murmured.
“Daughter, hm, that was a dangerous thing you did.”
He looked at me with strictness.
“Did Vernon tell you what I did?”
“Yes, yes he did.”
“Did he tell you how?”
“... Only the main idea, but the specific process, he omitted it, saying you do not want to disclose the method you used.”
I averted my eyes away with a blush. Good thing Vernon didn’t say it, wew.
“Father, what are you two talking about?”
“Just what Estelia did…” he said before returning to look at me with a severe gaze. “Estelia, if what I think is what you did, considering the way that message was delivered, and you were the one to do it, that was very dangerous. You could have at least told us first so we’ll figure out what to do.”
His tone was sterner than what I have heard from him. He sounded angry…?
“That was a rash action, what do you think they’ll do if they realize it was you?!”
I flinched at his loud voice.
Woah, what the hell? Am I being scolded? What gives?!
Is he thinking I did it with my voice?
“Dear! Why are you shouting towards Estelia?”
My mother frantically came to my defense and reached out for my father’s hand. Estevan also looked pretty confused now by the sudden rise of emotion from Father.
“Our daughter did something so dangerous… The servants didn’t even try to stop you, Estelia?”
I didn’t look him in the eye and lowered my head.
“F-Father, I did what I had to do, what I thought was necessary. Furthermore, any more delay will invite suspicions given the context I was conveying, therefore, I had to do it on the spot.”
“Even so, that was a risky move ultimately for you! It’s always the best option to at least tell your family the dangerous decision you’re about to make.”
I stand by my decision.
“Dear, what did she do?!” My mother asked.
“She spoke with an enemy.”
“What?”
My mother was aghast as she looked at me, disbelief clouded her eyes. Estevan also still looked very confused about the situation.
“Can anyone please explain what’s going on?”
“Haaah… A Puppet Courier came to Oryn’s room, and Estelia went on and did something.”
“W-What? What something?”
Judging from what Father said, this place was safe from eavesdrops, and he also seemed to have cast a spell to further support it. So, it must be safe to speak more about this.
“F-Father,” my voice gave a hint of courage built up. “The method — how I did it was never mentioned to you but it was a safe method for me! Believe me. Furthermore, it has a higher chance of success compared to what you are thinking of what I did.”
“What?” My father tried to slowly regain his calm. “Then, how did you do it? What way? What makes you think it has a high chance of success and you’re going to be safe?”
So, am I gonna tell him? Nah. I have my own dignity to protect. ‘But Estelia it’s alright to tell him and it’s stupid not to’ — Shut it! I don’t want to, and this situation exactly had no threat to my life that I would compromise. I can convince Father just fine! Hmph!
“There’s a reason why I ordered my servants to keep it a secret… but I will give you a hint,” I paused for a moment to indicate my hesitation. “I tried to deceive them.”
“Deceive?”
“They should be deceived, whoever they are. And there will be a chance that they will fall for it, depending on their relationship with Oryn and what they decide. But I think there is a high chance for success…”
“But? How? I don’t see, I can’t imagine what you did.”
“That’s why it’s a secret, father. And, from now on, I will be relying on you. Please do not let the opportunity slip but take this chance, even if it is not completely assured.”
I grasped my own hand stiffly and avoided their strong gazes. The pressure was too much for me as a pure princess.
Then, my father sighed.
“We won’t let this chance slide, Vernon also looked confident from what you did. But, why don’t you want to tell us what you did?”
Not gonna tell them at all, that was a weird talent to have.
“For certain reasons. But you just have to trust me… the rate of success is high.”
I mentioned this had a high chance of success. Saying otherwise wouldn’t be good and would show a lack of confidence. This is like how you promote or show a product. If you’re not even confident about it, or didn’t show you are, then how can you expect people to buy it?
Even if you know your product sucks, just show some confidence, and it will urge people to buy from you. It’s like that.
Of course selling was different from actual fighting and trapping, since on the latter you need to think on both sides and what could potentially happen, so there’s a chance that something might happen that you never expected. But saying it has a high rate of success would be pretty convincing. Saying that “I am certain this will happen” without any conclusive materials would just be idealistic — and for this case, I know nothing of the enemy, so I cannot say it will happen a hundred percent, just that it has a high chance.
So there’s also a difference between that and selling a product — but eh you get the idea.
“Alright. I will send a strong force to deal with this and have them prepare a trap in the time you gave.”
“Wait, Father! This sounds like a big deal! We are fighting someone? Are you sending the knights?”
Father pondered about it for a short moment.
“No, I will not be sending the knights?”
“What?”
“I will send people that are more compatible to this situation. They have been the ones I ordered to handle this.”
“What else are there to…”
Yeah, what else? Hm, not the knights. So what could Father be talking about?
Wait, where else had he been visiting? And the ones he ordered to handle it?
I could only think of one place that he had put his attention to.
“The church?” I quietly asked.
“Mm, yes the Church.”
“Wait, the church?”
“Estevan, you know there are other sides of the church, yes? I trust that they will be able to handle this.”
“But…”
Estevan must have thought of leading the operation with his knights if Father was assembling a force.
But later on, he gave up given that apparently Father wouldn’t change his mind. If that was what Father decided, then it must be for the best. I’m curious about this Church though.
“Understood, Father, if that’s what you want. However, please explain what happened with Estelia that made you agitated.”
“If it’s alright, may I take my leave?” I said all of a sudden.
Come on, I have other things to do.
My family blinked a few times at me. They must have expected I would stay since this involved me. But I already knew what they were going to talk about, so there was no point in staying here.
“It’s fine daughter, you are free to go.”
“I thank you ever so much, Father. Please excuse me.”
Good thing Father let me go.
After leaving the room and closing the door, I halted and moved back towards the door and pressed my ear into it.
I was just curious, but there was really no sound from the other side.
I’ll learn that shit.
Contented, I walked away and through the corridor, at the far end, I saw Vernon and Mera standing at a corner.
The moment she saw me, Mera’s expression turned bright in a flash and quickly walked towards me, while Vernon casually strode behind the girl.
I gave them a smile.
“Father was displeased.”
I said to them when they arrived close to me.
“I imagine so, he was particularly surprised and agitated when he heard it from me last night.”
“But, everything ended well. Come, I have to check on Allie.”
We descended down to the first floor, and on the opposite side of the palace from the kitchen I frequently visit, there upon Allie's new kitchen was situated. This way, she could now officially be recognized as a Royal Head Chef in the palace.
When we arrived at the newly opened kitchen, inside what we saw first was Allie sitting alone by the table. She somewhat looked a bit on the gloomy side. When she saw me, it seemed like her eyes glinted and immediately stood up to greet me.
“Greetings, your highness.”
“Hello, Allie,” I walked inside and headed to a chair next to her. “Hm, it does look a bit lonely. But don’t worry, once we find new cooks, you’ll finally have someone to accompany you.”
“Thank you, your highness, but there’s no need to rush. It’s not like it would be the death of me to be alone here.”
I smiled gently.
“Don’t worry, I’ll visit frequently.”
“Please, you have no need to trouble yourself.”
“No.”
I reached out for her hand.
“It’s not a trouble at all. I don’t like seeing you sad and alone, therefore, I decided to stay by your side whenever possible.”
“Princess…”
Her eyes went wide as though she was touched by my words.
Now, I wonder…
“Princess, I will be cooking later. Will you come and taste the dish I’m trying to improve? At lunch.”
“Of course.”
Oh I will, can’t miss some good food after all! Sooner or later, she’ll catch up to the level of my old world. And I am so looking forward to it.
She has a bright future ahead of her.
