Normalizing the Princess
In the game, the Emperor had children like crazy.
Regardless of what happened to all those children, the way was to pass the throne to the single most outstanding one.
'It had the logic of the survival of the fittest.'
Although I don't remember having conversations with him, it was information I had learned by devouring the world-setting collection.
What was important to the Emperor was not the number of children, but which one among them was the most outstanding.
There was even less reason to pay attention to Adelia, the illegitimate daughter.
"What do you have to say to this body?"
Adelia asked quietly, looking at me.
She was trying to hide her trembling eyes and hands.
Seeing that, the contradictory actions came together.
'It's a fake personality.'
The stress that started right away was now understood.
Adelia was currently in an emotionally isolated state.
In such a state, my upbringing method wouldn't be useful.
If I left her like that, it would end in a bad ending.
At the very least, I had to make her open her heart to me.
'How to open it?'
What I chose was the direct method.
"Princess, stop acting now."
By kneeling on one knee to match eye level, I said it directly.
Adelia's body stiffened at my words, and she stammered with a panicked expression.
"W-what are you saying."
"Princess, make the choice you truly want."
"Shut up, what do you know? I'm going back to my room right now."
Adelia tried to push me away, but I was guarding the door.
"What is so frightening about it?"
Adelia, bursting out the anger she had been holding back at my words.
"If you don't step aside immediately, I will execute you! Get out of the way!"
I handed her the sword I was carrying to such an Adelia.
"If that is truly the choice you want, behead my head."
With 70% evil acts, one wouldn't easily kill a person.
In the game, it was like that, but....
'I won't really kill her, right?'
Even now, I thought of retrieving the sword, but Adelia already had the sword in her hand.
"I-I know I can't do it!"
The sword flew towards my neck in an instant.
I just closed my eyes tightly and uttered the words I had prepared.
"As long as I am alive, no one will be able to ignore the princess."
A tingling pain on my nape. It seemed like a cold steel blade had touched it.
"Why, why aren't you dodging..."
Adelia's voice trembled finely.
I felt the sword on my neck but didn't dodge.
"How could I dodge the sword swung by the princess."
"......It's a lie."
"It's not a lie."
I slowly opened my eyes.
Adelia in front of me had a face that looked like she would cry at any moment.
"If the princess really wanted to kill me, there would have been many opportunities since a while ago."
"......"
"But the princess didn't do that."
The small hand holding the sword trembled.
"H-how..."
"Because I am the princess's butler."
I looked straight at Adelia.
"Even if the princess is abandoned by the whole world, at least I will stand on the princess's side."
"......"
"So, from now on, live as the princess wants."
After finishing the words, I closed my eyes again.
In the room filled only with silence, a small sound was heard.
Thud.
Something fell to the floor.
Fortunately, my neck wasn't cut.
"I-I can't..."
When I opened my eyes, Adelia was silently crying.
"From now on, there's no need to hide your emotions in front of me."
"Hic... ugh."
Perhaps the last words were decisive, and Adelia started opening her heart to me.
Adelia Ebrund
Emotional Sensitivity: 20 → 40
The traits "Ferociousness" and "Unreasonable" have disappeared.
New traits have been added.
Kind Heart, Dependence, Affection Deficiency, Obsession
'Kind heart is fine, but why are the others like this?'
Adelia has opened the closed heart!
From now on, growth abilities in all fields will increase significantly.
'Significantly increase?'
With 875 days, new abilities appeared that I had never seen.
"Wait..."
Adelia grabbed my sleeve.
"Sorry for saying bad things before..."
"It's okay, princess."
"Also, sorry for hitting you last time..."
I think this is from before transmigration.
"I have forgotten. It's okay."
"And again..."
Adelia's continued apologies.
"Princess, were there many such incidents with other servants besides me?"
"......"
Adelia, who couldn't continue, barely nodded.
She had to apologize to the servants too.
'Before that, I should check what changed properly.'
My move worked, and there were many changes in Adelia.
First, looking at the game system, stress and evil tendencies almost disappeared.
Adelia Ebrund
HP: 25 E-
INT: 40 E-
CHA: 30 E-
EMO: 40 E-
STRESS: 10%
LAW/CHAOS: 30%
HEALTH: Normal
HAPPINESS: 0%
The new status window for happiness was added.
I don't know the detailed abilities, but the higher you raise them, the better.
'Why are there so many things I couldn't see in the game?'
Even after playing over 20,000 hours, there are still many things to farm, so it's a god game in terms of content volume.
"Wait."
Adelia called out to me who was thinking useless thoughts.
"What if I don't get forgiven?"
"If the princess sincerely apologizes, I will forgive everything."
It was a very delicate worry that I couldn't believe she had a violent personality just a moment ago.
This must be her original personality.
"Even if I don't get forgiven, just by apologizing, the princess has grown a lot."
Adelia looked at me with teary eyes.
It was sad that such a kind and cute girl had to act as a gangster.
With my words, she gained courage and took a step outside.
"This body said too harshly, sorry."
Whenever I saw passing servants, Adelia ran to apologize for her wrongs.
Adelia used her original tone with others.
'Well, if she changes abruptly, that's also a problem.'
Most servants accepted the apologies.
Originally, Adelia didn't go out much from the room, so there were few points of contact.
'Fortunately, it didn't cross into good.'
The only one worried about was the maid who was slapped from the first transmigration.
"Why did the princess come here?"
The maid was trembling like a herbivore that saw a beast upon seeing Adelia.
"Sorry for all the things that happened before..."
Adelia, since she was the one who acted the most harshly, hesitantly apologized.
The maid, upon hearing the request for forgiveness, said nothing and ran in the opposite direction.
Adelia, realizing she hadn't been forgiven, looked at her with a 'what should I do?' expression.
This was Adelia's karma.
What I could do was pat her shoulder.
Adelia Ebrund
Emotional Sensitivity: 40 → 45
After that day, Adelia changed noticeably.
When I tried to leave the room, she would grab me once in a while, and when eating, she would check if I was beside her.
'Because of the traits?'
At first, I thought it was just because of simple anxiety.
***
The day after Adelia's apology show.
The atmosphere inside the villa changed noticeably.
First, the gazes of the servants looking at Adelia became softer.
Adelia, feeling the changed atmosphere, treated the servants more comfortably.
And another changed point...
Knock knock
"Excuse me, I'll come in."
It was lying on my room's bed staring at me fixedly.
"Pr, princess?"
"Eh? Why did you call?"
She used a friendly tone because she opened her heart only to me.
"I am curious about the reason you came to my room. Did something happen in the princess's room?"
Adelia shook her head left and right at my words.
"I just wanted to come."
Is it because of the newly created traits? It didn't happen in the game either.
'I don't hate Adelia...'
Still, it's better to be alone.
To resolve the inconvenient situations in various ways, I hastily made a schedule.
"Princess. The weather is nice too, how about going for a walk together?"
I, who was recommending a tour of the imperial palace to raise Adelia's stamina.
"If it's going together, I like it."
Adelia nodded at my suggestion.
We finished the simple outing preparation and went out of the villa.
The imperial palace towering far away, I could gauge Adelia's political position.
'She doesn't even think of me as a competitor?'
I had promised to make her the best successor in three years, even though it's far now.
"Where are we going to play?"
Adelia asked cheerfully.
The place to go today was already decided.
When I told Adelia what I was going to do today, she was surprised and asked again.
"Really, you're teaching me swordsmanship?"
It was the most reliable schedule to raise stamina.
After walking a bit, we arrived at the destination where there were a few scarecrows and wooden swords.
At first, I was at a loss for how to teach swordsmanship.
The body I transmigrated into now is the character called the sword saint, but my soul is an ordinary modern person.
"Here, you should attach your feet a little more."
But when I actually grabbed the sword, I felt an odd sensation.
Knowledge about swordsmanship naturally came to mind as if breathing.
To be precise, it seemed like the body remembered it.
"Is this how?"
"Perfect posture. Now, swing the wooden sword."
"Aaaah!"
Adelia swung the wooden sword and lost balance and fell.
In the game, it was a failed action.
The side effect was only a small increase in stats, but Adelia seemed to be very embarrassed.
"This body is... no, I guess I have no talent for swordsmanship."
Adelia, who blamed herself immediately after one failure.
"Everyone makes mistakes and grows at the beginning."
"R-right?"
Adelia stood up again and swung the wooden sword with my encouragement.
After several attempts, Adelia succeeded in a proper swing.
"I did it! I did it!"
Although the luxurious dress was soaked in dirt, Adelia's expression looked brighter than ever.
"As expected, it's the princess."
Adelia jumping around excitedly from the first success was too cute.
"This body, I have talent!"
I unconsciously patted Adelia's head while checking her status window...
"From now on, growth abilities in all fields will increase significantly."
Perhaps because of the growth correction status window I saw earlier.
'What is this? Why did the stats increase so much?'
The stamina increased much more than I expected.