Six days had passed outside by the time we escaped from the crumbling ruins.

It was just a day of crazy experiences for us on the inside!

– Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping!

“Waaaah! So fast! But I’m even faster!”

“Sand! We have to stay focused!”

“Your highness, I’m more focused than ever before in my life right now!”

– Aaarf!

Flaming arrows flying at us, spikes shooting up from the ground… Traps that will make the floor under us disappear with the lightest touch…

This tomb had all sorts of cliches you would find in a ruin exploration.

We were prepared to turn into hedgehogs but ended up instantly turning into flying squirrels and then running like racehorses in the next instant.

The divine beasts and the children screamed every so often from excitement.

Even Hanan had to say something by the end.

“I understand it is because they respected me, but this is a bit much.”

“Excuse me?!”

“That is what her Majesty said!”

Isabelle shouted with an awkward look on her face. ‘It should mean she is just as shocked as the rest of us!’

– Baaaaaaaaaang!

– Shaaaaaaaaaaa!

“We’re aliiiiiiive!”

“Grandma! Grandpa! We’re back!”

We looked like drenched rats by the end.

I don’t know how what we did was possible, but what mattered was that we survived.

“Oh dear, my dear dear child!”

“We almost died!”

“Welcome back! You must have been through a lot, my dear daughter. My goodness!”

“Hey, call Monica and Scottie over! Hurry!”

It was Viscount Rambouillet, his wife, and the desert dawn air that welcomed us.

Thinking back on it, there was no way that a party consisting of the two main characters as well as a Cardinal would have ended up buried alive.

But it was impossible to have such rational thoughts in the heat of the moment.

THe only thought that filled our minds was the thought that we may end up dead.

I could finally relax after seeing the benevolent faces of the old couple.

We all stood in line as the two of them gave each of us a tight hug. Even the Imperial Crown Prince could not escape this time.

That was earlier, and now… The sun was starting to set.

“Thank you very much for saving my sister! I will remember this for the rest of my life.”

Marian thanked us extremely maturely.

Monica, who came out with the children, bowed as well.

The staff of the Zaum caravanserai and the villagers all showed their respects behind her as well.

Christelle and I shook hands with the siblings.

Our group got a chance to clean ourselves, eat until we were full, and rested for a few hours before packing our bags and heading out.

Monica and the Viscount couple tried to stop us, telling us to rest a few days, but……

“Auntie won’t forget you guys either. You two were so smart and brave.”

“Ehehe.”

“Hehehe.”

The caravan’s schedule was already greatly delayed because of us.

Furthermore, we could not let crown princess Elise and Vicarius Generalis Ronald Rupert wait a long time.

We had an amazing experience that was a mix of ghosts, a musical, and an escape room, but our mission had not changed.

This trip had a clear political goal and people to meet.

We will end up staying in another lodging, so we could just get some shut eye along the way.

“Be healthy, Marian. India. See you again.”

“Again?”

An extremely excited India’s eyes sparkled.

Marian poked her but it didn’t seem to do anything.

I smiled brightly. ‘Eunseo would have been just like this if she was born as a twin.’

The red pandas trotted around in a circle around the siblings and grew some cute plants.

‘I guess they liked the girls too.’

“Yeah. We will stop by on our way back. Make sure you don’t make Grandpa Scottie angry and listen to Monica until we get back.”

“Hey kiddos, take this. Big sis signed these paintings for you.”

“Wow!”

“Wow!”

I was doing a pinky promise with the two kids when Joanne suddenly handed them a few pages of parchment.

They were portraits of the siblings she drew with charcoal.

There was one of Monica and Grandpa Scottie as well. We looked at her in shock.

I knew that Joanne was an emotional person like this, but when did she have the time to draw all of these when she napped for so long?

“I have nothing else to give you. Use it as an emergency fund.”

“How could they sell that, Baroness! I would keep it forever as a family heirloom.”

Sand shouted in response and everybody started laughing.

The siblings didn’t know what to do and just thanked Joanne.

Even presents were different when they came from a genius artist like her. ‘She gave them portraits that they could even trade for real estate.’

“Then we will be on our way now. We will personally inform the Vatican, so don’t worry too much about it.”

Viscount Clément Rambouillet informed Monica.

Lady Marise told her to not care about the soldiers and to be relaxed. She then tightly held Monica’s hand.

Monica looked as if she would cry.

“I truly thank you for everything. All of you…… Our Zaum Village and Caravanserai received so much from all of you.”

“It was nothing.”

I shook my head. We just happened to be here.

Crown prince Cédric silently headed toward the wagon at that point.

He must have decided that this was enough talking.

This punk cared nothing about things like this at one point, so he did grow quite a bit in a year.

I smiled and waved my hand.

“Goodbye. Oh right! Even though ghosts are no longer there, make sure you don’t go near the ruins. The ground around it should be much weaker because of all of that crumbling.”

“We will keep that in mind, your highness. We will pray that your path is full of the Almighty God’s grace.”

“We’ll be praying for you, your highness!”

“Goodbye, your highness! Thank you very much!”

“Thank you very much……”

The old man tightly holding the siblings’ hands was the last to bow toward us.

Christelle and I bowed toward him a few times and started moving.

The children waved their arms until they could no longer see us.

We turned around to see the familiar desert greeting us.

The golden sand carrying mystique and treasures… The long cries of the camels… The endless caravan and happy friends.

Parting was always such sweet sorrow, but I was starting to smile again.

*

A golden carriage stopped.

“Your Royal Highness, we have arrived at the lodging.”

He heard the voice of a young attendant outside the carriage.

The man carefully carried his sleeping daughter and prepared to alight.

The old attendant moved quickly to attend to him.

Click, the door opened and the pearl blinds were pushed back. Chhh……

“This is the Giegold Village’s Giegold caravanserai, your Royal Highness.”

The introduction was short. Werner flicked his chin and took a step.

One of the attendants urgently placed a golden stepping stool.

The Prince Consort stepped down the steps and onto the sand.

Behind the golden carriage carrying the royal Prince Consort and the second princess were fifty Personal Guards who had followed them from the Royal Palace.

There were also multiple wagons with royal servants and chefs as well as wagons with clothes and provisions.

The stuffy taste and smell of the desert was all around him.

The man gently scowled and looked at the building in front of him.

He did not like it at all.

The devilish heat, the bland scenery, the extremely shabby lodging…

But he could endure it all. He could do anything to see his eldest daughter.

“Mm, Royal Father……”

“My dear dandelion. You’re awake?”

Cornelisse woke up around that time. The man smiled beautifully and put the child down.

The princess looked around before her face quickly brightened.

“Wooooooooooow! This third lodging is the largest and most beautiful, Royal Father!” Her voice sounded excited as well.

Werner did not like it as it seemed similar to what that lowly thing used to do, but he did not let it show.

He just decided to treat it as his daughter being excited because this was her first trip ever.

He was weak against his second daughter’s cuteness. Unlike his eldest daughter, who was born from the love and trust between a husband and wife……

This child was born solely out of his own greed.

“Hello, Christa. It’s been a while.”

8 years ago.

Werner dressed the same as ‘Michael’ and waited for Christanne all night.

He was wearing a wig that did not suit him and he had paid a lot of money to dye his eyes.

When the extremely drunk Queen returned from the dining room, he sat on the bed and mimicked the priest’s speech pattern and actions.

It was the most humiliating experience of his life. When she caressed his left cheek, tears were dripping out of his right eye.

He was scared that the Queen would find out his true identity and pull out her sword.

But his instincts were telling him that he needed to do this to retain his position as the Prince Consort.

The price of getting rid of Michael was severe and his sister was taking a step back to observe the situation.

She did help him, but she did not actively defend him.

That was why he needed an existence that would protect his authority. Elise was not enough.

He bet his life on the line to survive. He threw away his honor and dignity.

‘Michael, I was waiting for you…… I waited for you for so long.’

His wife was crying in the darkness.

When she started to lay him down, both faces were wet from pain.

An indescribable emotion pierced through Werner’s heart. He……

‘I missed you too.’

He wanted a son who looked like Christanne.

That would help lessen the popularity of ‘that thing.’

“Excuse me? You promise, Royal Father?”

Flinch. Werner barely escaped from the stinky swamp of his past.

What filled the man’s view was a pair of bright and clean light green eyes.

Her ivory-colored hair, which looked as if a ray of sunlight was placed on her head, sparkled beautifully.

Although not a son, this was his treasure who had saved him once already.

Cornelisse.

“……Could you please repeat what you said, my dear daughter? Your father was deep in thought and did not hear properly.”

“Oh, pooie.”

The child groaned before folding her finger and answering.

“I really want to buy presents for my sister and my brother while we are here. For Royal Mother as well. I asked the attendants earlier and they said that there is a very large market here. And mm… I also want to do a ‘transformation walk’ with Royal Father as well.”

“I presume that means walking around in a disguise?”

“Yes, that!”

The princess laughed out loud and shook her legs. The Prince Consort returned a calm smile.

He then checked the Giegold caravanserai once again.

He could see the manager and the staff all waiting outside to greet him.

This was the last resting place for the father-daughter duo. Their next destination was the Temple of Boundaries, the spot Elise was said to have gone.

He would travel through the desert all day and all night if he had his way, but……

The horses and camels needed to rest. Most importantly, Cornelisse’s happiness was important.

“Of course. I promise I’ll do all of those things.”

This child would protect him until the end.

“Wow, I’m so happy!”

The princess gave her father a kiss on the cheek in joy. He gave a long hug to his beloved daughter.

*

That night… The procession that had traveled through the desert for a long time settled for the night in the middle of the desert.

“Wow……”

“It’s so pretty.”

We pulled up a thick blanket and laid down in a wagon. We hadn’t slept out in the wild in a long time.

Fake stars were glowing like real stars on the wide ceiling of the wagon.

This was the result of Joanne purchasing some glowing paint from Viscount Rambouillet.

She got excited as she had never seen something like this before and immediately attacked the ceiling with her paintbrush.

The finished painting was naturally magnificent.

Although it could not be compared to this painting, it was fun remembering the glow-in-the-dark stickers that had been in our room when I was a kid.

– Hoot hoot hoot hoot……

We could hear owls hooting in the distance.

I couldn’t tell if it was an owl or a night owl, but Sir Johann said that it was an owl.

‘How does he even know things like this?’

“Good job today, everyone. Have a good night.”

“Have a good night, your highness.”

“See you tomorrow. Good night, our precious guests.”

“Yes, good night, Viscount Rambouillet.”

– Cruuu.

– Aarf.

We quietly closed our eyes for a while, waiting to fall asleep.

“Slurp. Sss. Sssp.”

But I heard some weird noises next to me. I flinched and looked over at Christelle.

“Does your teeth hurt?”

“It doesn’t hurt, but I keep tasting medicine, your highness.”

“Hahaha.”

“I’ll try to lessen the amount of medicine tomorrow. I wasn’t very well informed because this is my first oral treatment.”

“It’s okay, your highness. You would probably do well if you opened a hospital, your highness. Especially a children’s dentist office.”

She whispered some compliments toward me. I felt embarrassed and just brushed it off with a smile.

I recalled how the MC had called her grandparents and mother over to sit by her side and tightly held Perry and Tithé at the same time as she laid there extremely scared.

It had only happened a few hours ago.

‘Say ahhhh.’

‘Ah.’

‘Bigger please.’

‘Aaaaahh.’

The two divine beasts had opened their mouths as well. I held back a laugh and seriously treated the issue.

‘It looks like you don’t need to extract it. It isn’t as bad as you think it is.’

‘Sooooob. Thank you very much, your highness!’

‘We are so grateful, your highness. You saved our granddaughter……’

I even got to say some lines that I never expected I would ever say.

‘Please raise your hand if it hurts.’

‘It’s not like you’re going to stop, your highness.’

‘…….’

That was correct. I treated a cavity of a Romfan’s female heroine.

Thankfully, the healing circle I had recently been learning had to do with the mouth.

I heard it was an extremely tricky area so I was extremely tense as I did it.

Thankfully, the ‘Blessing of the Blue Sea’ inside Christelle’s body gave her extreme healing abilities.

I would need to check it once more in the morning, but she would probably heal even with a half-baked treatment.

I also found the best medicine in the caravan just in case as well.

The Rambouillet caravan truly had everything except what it doesn’t.

“Okay then, sleep well, Christelle.”

“Your highness.”

I chuckled and said good night when Christelle called out to me.

Her voice was very quiet but serious. I suddenly had an ominous feeling.

“Yes?”

“Umm, I heard what Queen Hanan said in the ruins.”

“……”

The corners of my lips slowly went down. I did my best to keep my ether calm.

I did my best to hide my expressions as well. I could see her beautiful blue eyes in the darkness.

I could not avoid that gaze.

Maybe it was like this from the first day we met.

“She said that you and I were similar, your highness.”

‘Is your situation common these days? This is the first time this Queen has seen it.’

“She said that the outside and the inside are playing separately.”

“……”

I felt like I could not breathe. I didn’t even remember how to blink.

—
Translator’s Comments

Oh SNAPS! Guuuuuurl, you being called out!