“……”

The legs visible underneath the carriage stiffened. The only person I knew who walked around the Imperial Palace with a bag of fresh-baked bread was the Captain of the Fleur-de-lis. He himself didn’t seem to know about it, but the stories were frequently told around Juliette Palace.

‘It seems clear that it is Little Bacary, but who is the person next to him?’

“Captain Bacary. Please come forth and show your respects to his Royal Highness.” David, who had been quiet the whole time, said something. Even he seemed to be certain that it was the seer.

All of our friends were now looking in that direction. The little troublemakers were twitching their wings and tails. Gerrit couldn’t stand it any longer and trotted over to the back of the carriage. Sir Johann just smiled, probably because he determined that the person was not a threat.

“Hehehe.”

“Please let go of me.”

The child who became ‘it’ for hide and seek pulled out the hiding seer. He was carefully holding a bag of bread the size of his body in one arm. The bread on top seemed to have gently touched the ground, so I quickly wiped it off for him. Even the crumbs were precious on the bread baked by our Laurence.

Crown prince Cédric was looking at me with a questioning gaze.

‘Hey, it’s fine. It’s the three second rule.’

“……I greet the little sun of the Empire and the Moon of the Almighty God.”

“I as well……” I received the perplexed Bacary’s greeting when my jaw dropped at the unexpected identity of the other person.

It was young lady Bérénice Mendy!

“Hello to you both as well. What a coincidence to meet you here like this.” Our MC’s pink hair fluttered as she cheerfully greeted them.

Bérénice’s cheeks flushed red and she lowered her head. It was not a weird reaction because Christelle was quite popular. Sand and Sir Johann asked about their wellbeing as well. The young lady’s face looked as red as a nectarine.

‘What has brought the two of them together? Have they always known each other?’

“What brings you here together……”

“It’s nothing.”

“It’s nothing.”

They answered at the same time as if they had discussed it in advance. I blinked my eyes. The crown prince scowled while Christelle squinted.

‘This is suspicious.’

“I, I”m sorry if we interrupted a lovely moment……”

“It’s not like that.”

“It’s not like that!”

Sand commented and the two of them gasped as they cut him off. I was thinking the same but, unfortunately, that did not seem to be the case. Little Bacary’s silver eyes looked disgusted while Bérénice looked wronged. The two peeked at each other before seeming to come to some sort of agreement as they slightly nodded their heads. The young lady looked as if she would cry at any moment, but she seemed to have agreed for now.

The seer extended a white envelope toward me. It was the thing he dropped earlier.

‘Hmm?’

“This is for you, your highness.”

“Me? Did you write it, Little Bacary?”

‘Is it to thank me for the bread?’ I felt touched despite never having baked any bread before.

“No. Young lady Mendy wanted to give it to you through me, your highness.”

“Ah.”

“I just happened to get caught on my way back to the office and ended up hearing this request.” A sharp response was returned. Bacary haughtily motioned with his eyes. I followed his gaze to see an item that looked like a square book by the gate.

Benjamin answered in a low voice, “This is the way used by the high-ranking administrators, your highness. This is Bancel Palace.”

“I see.”

‘No wonder so many people were going into that building.’

I returned the bag of bread to the seer and blankly looked at the young lady. Bérénice was the same color as her red dress now. I even felt pity for her because her face looked as if it would burst if I poked it. Her shaking gaze was directed at the floor and she couldn’t look up.

Christelle understood the situation and was mean to me. “Wooooow. You’re so skiiiiiilled, your highness! Dreams do come true!”

“You are amaaaaaazing, your highness!” Ganael, who only picked up these kinds of things quickly, clapped as well.

But it made no sense. ‘Such a shabby plan actually worked……?’

“T, the age gap. Umm…” I was as stiff as a broken robot. I should be sternly rejecting it, but I didn’t know how as I had no experience.

‘How do I do it so as to not hurt her? Next time…… No. I’ll see you in the next life? Is that okay?’

“All mail should be directed to Romero Palace.”

“Excuse me?” I immediately looked up toward the problematic crown prince.

The punk was gathering his pressure as a swordsman toward an eighteen year old civilian. My jaw dropped in shock. ‘What are you doing?’

“Juliette is under my jurisdiction. You seem to be lacking in education.”

“Ah, umm. That……”

Bérénice’s eyes instantly turned teary after hearing the crown prince’s outburst. I quickly punched his arm with a fist.

“Ow!” I couldn’t help but shout, but thanks to that, Christelle saying ‘trash……’ was buried as a mumble.

I covered my pained fist and glared at the male lead who tilted his head. He seemed to be asking what the issue was. ‘How are you going to get married like this? Huh?’

“It, it is not that kind of letter, your Royal HIghness. You don’t need to worry……”

“Excuse me?”

Bérénice slowly interjected. Christelle and I reacted at the same time. She was shocked as soon as Sir Johann handed her a handkerchief and carefully touched the cloth as she continued. Her voice was gently shaking.

“I, I do admire his highness, but I dare not have any disrespectful emotions. He just seemed so distressed the other night that…… I wrote something to hopefully help his highness in some way.” Her voice became extremely quiet by the end. My eyes opened wide.

The night she was talking about was the feast where I pleaded to go to the neutral region multiple times and was rejected. I remembered Bérénice looking at me with a lot of pity that night. But for that to be on her mind so much that she even wrote me a letter… She even entered the palace to hand it to me. It was something to be thankful for even if it had nothing written on it.

“……Thank you very much, young lady Bérénice. I’ll make sure to read it thoroughly.”

“Y, yes your highness.”

I smiled in response and Bérénice’s face lit up a bit.

Christelle mischievously added on, “Don’t worry, we won’t show it to his Royal Highness.”

“What?” The punk asked back with annoyance, but we all pretended not to hear him. Even Gerrit pretended as if he was reading his father’s palm. The young lady finally smiled a bit.

It was at that moment.

“Oh dauuuuughter. Are you all done? Shall we goooooo?”

I heard a warm voice from the other side. We all turned our gazes. The Duke’s House of Mendy’s elegant carriage was not too far away. The face looking out through the open door was familiar. His unique proud look was the same as the one I saw last night. Duke Florian Mendy politely bowed toward us.

Bérénice jumped in shock and held the hem of her dress. Her movements suddenly became rushed.

“I, it’s my father. My apologies, but I must head o……”

“Do you have a lot to discuss? Daddy can wait looooooonger.”

“No! I’m coming!”

The young lady shouted loudly as if she was extremely embarrassed (it was my first time seeing this side of her), bowed multiple times and quickly rushed away. She must have been extremely flushed as her breath was even whiter than ours in the cold.

All of our heads followed her movements.

“This Duke has a loooot of time.”

“Please be quiet!” The young lady shouted again.

I ended up laughing out loud. The Duke seemed to be a total daughter simp.

‘What an affectionate daddy-daughter relationship.’

“It looks wonderful.”

“Yes it does.”

I answered Christelle’s comment without thinking before quickly turning to look at her. Her blue-gray eyes were faintly sparkling as our eyes met. They seemed to be saying that she was okay. Or that she will end up being okay eventually.

“Umm, then I’ll be heading out as well now.”

“Oh right! We came to see Sand off. We almost disbanded like this.”

“Haha yes, we almost did.” Christelle instantly changed topics.

While I packed Bérénice’s letter away, Benjamin and Ganael placed numerous snacks into the priest’s bag. The young priest didn’t know how he was going to carry it all, but he still happily received all of it. He tightly hugged Gerrit and the divine beasts last, bowed deeply, and got on the imperial family’s carriage.

We were rowdy even until right before the door closed. Numerous nobles and staff peeked at us as they walked by.

“Sand-nim, I heard there are lots of poisonous organisms in the neutral region. Please be careful of scorpions and centipedes!”

“I will, Ganael-nim!”

“Please be wary of ghosts with grudges as well.” Sir Johann jovially added on. Sand’s face turned pale.

“Excuse meeeee…….?”

“Hahaha. It is not a joke, but you should be fine, Mr. Priest.” He tried to calm the situation with a smile.

‘Wait, hold on. It doesn’t seem to have calmed it at all? He doesn’t seem to be paying any attention anymore?’

“I, I’ll be back soon everyone!”

– Click.

The priest’s eyebrows sank down as he waved. The door then closed. The imperial family’s coachman, who waited for our discussion to end, joked with us. ‘People might think you are saying goodbye forever.’

Gerrit laughed out loud and dangled around Christelle’s waist.

I stared at the disappearing carriage for a long time. All the way until the black gate opened wide and closed again like iron bars.

“Woaaah!”

– Clack, clack……

Honestly speaking, I was jealous. Very jealous.

*

‘Huh?’

– Rustle!

After returning to Juliette Palace, I urgently hid the letter I was reading under the table. Then I looked around as if I got caught doing something wrong. I was flustered that Bérénice had written this. ‘Nobody should have se……’

“What’s the issue now?”

“Prince Jesse?”

Of course that wasn’t possible. All of my friends were gathered here!

“It’s nothing. The contents were just peculiar.”

“Hmm.”

I awkwardly answered, making Christelle look at me with an extremely suspicious gaze. Even Vice Captain Élisabeth, who was off duty today, sat right next to her and tilted her head. She entered the palace late because of work in the County, so Ganael whispered to her to explain everything that happened earlier.

The crown prince who did not return to his own palace (his Royal Highness, the great and mighty ruler of Romero Palace and the supreme overlord of Juliette Palace) glared at me with a piercing gaze.

‘Since when did he not go home after everything was done?’

“Please drink the rest, your Royal Highness.” I pointed toward the punk’s espresso with my chin. The punk clicked his tongue and picked up his cup.

I immediately lowered my gaze. I opened the letter again to see the cute rounded handwriting. She wrote so neatly that I could understand every single letter.

‘I offer this letter to Prince Jesse Venetiaan, may he receive eternal blessings from the Almighty God.

It is now February and spring will soon be upon us. I pray that you are healthy and well, your highness. Since your esteemed highness has come to the Empire, this place has turned into a land of miracles, a place where purple tulips bloom in the middle of winter and where first snow and a phoenix advent together at the same time……’

Everything sounded fine until then.

Some of it was embarrassing to read, but I could understand it as she was sending it to someone in a higher position than herself.

But the mood changed the farther I read.

‘My aunt, Chief of Staff Laura Mendy, has cherished me quite a bit since I was young. At one point, she wanted me to become a Chief of Staff like her to oversee the Imperial Palace. Honestly speaking, she still maintains such hopes. As such, under her Majesty’s grace that is as vast as the waters of the rivers and the seas, I had learned the duties of the Chief of Staff by my aunt’s side until two years ago. I resided in the Imperial Palace for about three months to learn all sorts of things.

‘Anyway, with the hope that my tiny bit of knowledge may be the slightest of help for someone I respect so much……’

I could sense some solemnity in her writing. And reading a bit farther……

‘At 4:30am: The gate on the side of the Imperial Palace will be open. Luggage carriages with fresh ingredients will enter. It is a duty completed by people whose families and identities are confirmed and have been doing it for generations, so the search is pretty relaxed in comparison. They first check when the goods are being unloaded. Then they check the carriages again once everything is unloaded. After that, nobody opens it again until after they have left the Imperial Palace. This takes exactly 50 minutes to complete.’

I couldn’t help but gulp. ‘This is clearly information to help me escape.’

‘At 5:20am: All luggage carriages leave the Imperial Palace at the same time every day. The majority of them head toward the regional portal in the east or west. Please be advised that there are rare occurrences where some of the carriages head toward Legault Central Commerce Center instead. You must get on a carriage heading to the east in order to head to the border. At the public parking area of the regional portal……

‘You must use a shortcut if you wish to start late and meet up with the Rambouillet caravan……’

I folded the letter while making as little noise as possible. The information was chillingly specific. It was an extremely alarming leak of information if I chose to do something bad with it. It was to the point I couldn’t help but worry about Bérénice.

There were multiple pages and there were maps as well as connections between the multiple people involved. The times were recorded by the minute as well. Finally, there was a 3D character wearing a priest’s robe waiving at the end of the map. ‘This is probably…… Me.’

“Everyone.”

I seriously called out to my friends. They were all huddled up looking at word search but they all immediately turned to look at me.

The crown prince was reading as if he wasn’t interested but he gave the right answer whenever Vice Captain Élisabeth asked him (“Oberon.”). The red pandas who had been biting at a doll in the corner slowly walked over as well. This was a secret that could not get out at all. I whispered in an ASMR-like voice.

“If…… If I said we should cross the border on our own… What would you say?”

“Excuse me? Are you planning on running away from home?” Christelle whispered with an extremely amused look on her face.

The young Countess looked anxious, but she seemed to pity me more. She probably saw me as a prince who made up his mind to do something that was wrong because he wanted to see his older sister.

My heart started to thump as I was about to suggest something wrong. “I know it is reckless. Her Majesty will be extremely angry if we are caught. But what if I already had a way…… And it just needed to be supplemented a bit?”

Honestly speaking, I was feeling guilty. I was trying to do all of this for my own greed. I was coercing precious children of other families to leave this safe and secure Imperial Capital to go somewhere dangerous. I felt like I had turned into the worst friend possible.

However, I was certain that they would do it with me.

Christelle smiled extremely brightly and nodded her head. Her hair and mine softly intertwined from the movement.

I desperately looked toward the crown prince.

‘What about you?’

“……”

‘You trust big bro, right?’

—
Translator’s Comments

Jesse the scoundrel of the Holy Kingdom up to his team rocket ways…

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