Chapter 12 — The Doll Shop
Chapter 12 — The Doll Shop
Translation: Godtl
"Our Roseberry Empire's downtown is better."
"There's nothing much to see... what a hassle."
"Still, it's quite neat."
Listening half-heartedly to the three people's conversation, Lelia looked around while sightseeing. She looked like someone seeing downtown for the first time.
'They said she's sickly, so maybe she's never been outside the castle to look around?'
Romeo thought as watching Lelia, who looked particularly excited.
Just then, Lelia's steps stopped in front of a shop.
Thanks to this, the other children walking under the holy knights' tight guard, and the holy knights themselves, stopped and turned their heads.
"What, it's a toy store?"
"And it's a doll shop."
Lelia looked at the large rabbit doll reflected in the show window.
"Hey... you're a papa's boy, and on top of that, you sleep hugging dolls?"
Kalix asked, scrunching his face in disgust.
"Ugh... seriously... captain?"
Romeo also had an expression like 'this is a bit...'
"Quiet down."
Lelia scolded her subordinates, then stepped into the doll shop.
Thanks to this, the three boys and even the holy knights crammed themselves into the narrow shop.
"Gasp...!"
The shop owner seemed surprised when children in priestly robes and holy knights suddenly burst in.
'What, what is this?'
Children in priestly robes might look like young priests, but ordinary young priests wouldn't have holy knights trailing behind them like this.
'Definitely royalty.'
The shop owner's eyes gleamed. It was a chance to increase sales.
The neutral zone didn't have a small population of children. Business wasn't nonexistent, but the customers were royalty. It was a chance to sell expensive toys that had been sitting unsold—that is, to clear inventory.
However, contrary to the owner's expectations, what Lelia chose was a very small doll.
"Blegh. Rabbit doll..."
Kalix criticized Lelia's choice.
"...."
Lelia, who would normally get angry, fell into thought for a moment.
Scenes from the original work suddenly came to mind.
There were two episodes related to dolls...
One was the original female protagonist, Julianna, giving a doll to Oscar Hraesvelg.
Oscar had already killed his father and become emperor. Like a fish trapped in a pond, he remained hopelessly in love with Julianna.
When he heard that Julianna was going to marry the original male protagonist, Oscar immediately teleported to see her.
He confessed his love too late, but Julianna gave him a gentle yet firm rejection.
Then she gave Oscar a small doll and said:
"This is one of the dolls my dad and brothers bought me, isn't it cute? It feels strange to receive a doll even though I'm all grown up. But I liked it... somehow, it felt like it would protect me forever. I'll give it to you as a gift. But it's a secret from my brothers! My brothers are a bit... uncomfortable with you, Oscar."
She said it with a lovely smile.
At that time, Julianna had so many dolls from her father and brothers that she was giving them away.
She gave dolls to children throughout the capital and even to people she happened to meet.
It was a warm episode in which her generosity brought smiles to children throughout the capital.
'Of course, when Emperor Perseus and his sons found out, they pounded the ground and trembled with anger.'
Oscar returned to his country with the doll. Though Julianna gave dolls to many people, this one was particularly meaningful to him.
Rejected, Oscar returned home and stared at the doll with a self-mocking smile.
He was a man who had killed his father and taken the imperial throne.
Julianna did not fear him at all; she had simply handed him such an innocent gift.
If anyone else had shown so little fear of him, he would have made them understand fear firsthand.
Yet Julianna's lack of fear somehow comforted him.
The cruel labels that had tormented him—red-eyed ghost, monster who killed his father—seemed to fade whenever he looked at it.
Even when thoughts of kidnapping Julianna and locking her in his castle crossed his mind, the small doll helped calm him.
From that day on, Oscar was able to put a little distance between himself and the nightmares that had tormented him all his life.
'Maybe giving a doll now would help a little?'
This was the first thing that came to mind when Lelia wondered what might help the young Oscar.
'What if it has no effect since the original female protagonist doesn't give it?'
Still...
Lelia wanted to help Oscar somehow. She wanted the frightened child to escape, even briefly, from that pain and fear.
He was still young; perhaps sleeping with a doll in his arms would give him a little comfort.
"Really buying that? Captain likes dolls...? Not even girls..."
"Hey, is there a law that only girls have to like dolls?"
At Romeo's words, Lelia preemptively retorted, "Hey!"
'But then...'
"Do you guys have money?"
Lelia asked cautiously, though the request itself sounded almost like a shakedown.
'Come to think of it, I don't have any money.'
There had been no need for money inside the temple, and the Emperor certainly had not sent her there with spending money.
"Me? I don't have any."
"...I definitely brought some. Where did it go?"
It seemed Kalix and Romeo also didn't bring money. Lelia looked at Romeo like he was pathetic. The person who suggested going out didn't bring money?
Lelia turned her eyes, looking at the last hope, Griffith.
"Griffith, do you have some? You're smart, so I trust you have some."
"Yeah, I have some."
"Good. I knew I could count on you. Lend me some. I'll pay you back later."
"What do you mean pay back? It's not much."
"Thanks, you're a good kid. So... can we buy one more doll?"
Lelia patted Griffith's back as she asked. Griffith made a sour face at being called a 'good kid,' but...
"Buy whatever you want."
That was his answer.
Lelia brightened and began choosing another doll.
"The first one you chose is for Oscar, right?"
"That's right, quick to notice."
Lelia nodded at Griffith's question.
"What, really? Then can I buy one too?"
"No for you."
"Hey! That's cheap!"
Kalix grumbled. Romeo, who had been listening quietly, blinked and asked with a smile:
"Then what about me?"
"Not you either."
"...trash."
Even Romeo's cutting remark didn't faze Griffith.
"...just pick one each."
He said it in a deliberately cold voice, though in truth he was much kinder than he looked.
At that, Kalix and Romeo began choosing in earnest.
"Hmm..."
Lelia also examined the dolls carefully, her eyes gleaming.
The second doll episode Lelia remembered centered on Emperor Perseus and Julianna after Perseus reclaimed the Auraria throne. Julianna had suffered under her biological father, so even after becoming an imperial princess she remained cautious around the stern man who had become her stepfather.
Wanting to grow closer to him, Julianna once worked up the courage to take Perseus's hand. Perseus, uncomfortable with unexpected physical contact, pulled away on instinct. He had not meant to reject her, but the small gesture hurt Julianna badly enough that she became subdued whenever she stood before him.
When Perseus finally realized something was wrong, he sought advice on how to make amends. He was told that Julianna loved dolls, so he took her to a toy shop and bought her one. More important than the gift itself, he deliberately reached for her hand this time. Julianna's smile broke through his reserve, and from then on his awkward concern for her quickly turned into open doting. Before long, her father and brothers were giving her so many dolls that she practically had a storeroom full of them.
The memory carried Lelia farther into the original story. After the old regime fell, Lelia herself returned to the imperial palace and became a political problem. Some nobles argued that the former ruler's child should be eliminated as a possible seed of rebellion; others suggested using her in a political marriage instead.
Perseus could hardly look at her without remembering the younger sister who had tormented his late wife. Rather than decide Lelia's fate immediately, he postponed the matter and left the child isolated in the tower where she had lived before. In the original story, that delay led directly to another incident involving one of Julianna's dolls.