A Tearful Game of Hide-and-Seek, Part 2
“Please stop crying, Your Highness.”
I sighed, watching Edwin show no sign of stemming his flood of tears.
“I apologize for being late, but in any case, did I not find you?”
“Snrrk—!”
I had never intended to grant him permission to blow his nose, yet the little brat went ahead and wiped it straight into my sleeve. Watching the thick mucus cling and stretch gooily against the fabric, an involuntary grimace pulled at my face. I discreetly hid the ruined sleeve behind my back before speaking again.
“Cease your weeping. The head maid caught me midway, so I was unavoidably delayed.”
On my way back, the head maid had chewed my ear off, demanding to know where I had abandoned the prince while enjoying a leisurely stroll. The sheer exasperation in her eyes when I told her we were in the middle of a game of hide-and-seek lingered fresh in my memory. Meanwhile, upon hearing my explanation, Edwin looked up at me with tear-brimmed eyes.
“…Why did you look for me?”
Why did I look for him? Isn't hide-and-seek only over when the seeker tracks down the hider? It was a truly baffling question.
“Because the game only ends once I find Your Highness.”
When I answered as if it were the most obvious truth in the world, his lips twitched silently. Just what had this boy wanted to hear?
After setting Edwin on his feet, I stood up and gave Emilia's little bottom an affectionate pat. Unlike her crybaby brother, the young princess had dried her tears with ease.
“In any case, since I won, you must eat all your vegetables.”
In that instant, just as his sniffling subsided, Edwin's face drained of color until it was white as a sheet.
“It's completely cold! How am I supposed to eat this?! Cold vegetables taste even weirder!”
Back in the dining hall, the boy pulled a miserable face at the mountain of greens heaped high on his plate.
“I shall have them warm it up again.”
“Eek, forget it!”
After glaring daggers at his plate for a long while, he scooped up a mouthful of greens with his spoon and shoved it straight into Emilia's mouth. Unlike her older brother, the imperial princess had quite a healthy appetite and happily munched away, chewing with relish.
“A bet is a bet, Your Highness.”
When I gently steered Emilia out of his reach, Edwin glared up at me.
“Do you enjoy tormenting me so much?!”
“Tormenting you? Not at all. Vegetables are good for your health.”
“What good is health when it tastes awful?!”
“Your Highness, the realm of competition is inherently ruthless. A loser must honor their word, no matter how foul the dish may taste.”
Scowling deeply at the word loser, the boy finally stuffed a spoonful of his own greens into his mouth.
“Urrghhh—!”
He shuddered from head to toe in utter, pitiful agony. Having finished his meal through such trials and tribulations, the prince sprinted straight out toward the rear gardens without once looking back.
“Brother! Wait for Lia!”
Romping across the lush green lawn with his little sister, the boy was bursting with so much vitality that one would never guess he had been bawling just a short while ago.
Standing still beneath the cool shade of a tree with my arms crossed, the morning's conversation drifted back to mind.
She's dead.
Edwin had said unequivocally that his previous nanny had passed away.
Considering how reluctant the servants are to mention her, it couldn't have been an honorable death.
I tilted my head, watching the prince scamper across the grounds.
From the way he speaks, he seemed quite close to her.
To endure the loss of someone so close and still run around so bright and carefree...
Is it simply his natural disposition, or is he just utterly thoughtless?
Just then, something caught the light on Edwin's wrist as he flung his arms toward the open sky. It was the bracelet I had reclaimed from those insolent servants. Even under the direct sun, the pale pearl bracelet looked strangely familiar upon second glance.
Why did it keep nagging at the back of my mind?
It's just a common trinket you could find anywhere.
Indeed. It was nothing more than a cheap ornament one could stumble upon in any bazaar. The real puzzle was why an imperial prince of the realm carried such an ordinary bauble on his person like a sacred talisman.
Unable to quell my curiosity, I did something uncharacteristic and approached him first.
“Your Highness, I have a question.”
As I drew near, Edwin turned around with a thoroughly petulant scowl. He was evidently still stewing in fury over being forced to finish his greens.
“What question?”
“That bracelet—is it precious to Your Highness?”
Edwin paused at my inquiry, then raised his eyebrows defensively.
“Why do you care?”
“Because both before and now, it seemed like something you cherish dearly.”
At my words, the boy fell silent.
Then, Emilia piped up on her brother's behalf.
“Brother's bracelet used to be Emma's! Emma gave it to Brother!”
“Lia! You don't have to tell that woman anything!”
Edwin scolded his sister with a flustered flush on his cheeks, but the young princess merely blinked with wide, innocent eyes that said, I don't know anything.
Watching his sister, Edwin let out a soft sigh before turning back toward me. Staring at me intently, he spoke in a prickly, guarded voice.
“Yeah. It's very precious to me. It's Emma's memento.”
He fiddled with the bracelet circling his small wrist.
“She said this was her last wish.”
“A wish, Your Highness?”
“Yeah. Emma told me she wished for me to be happy. That's probably her dying wish.”
To pray for the happiness of someone else's child in one's final moments...
...Her way of thinking was just like that woman's.
Just then, someone tapped gently against my hand. It was Edwin.
“Here. A present.”
He extended his clenched right fist toward me. He had seemed so furious only a moment ago, yet suddenly offered a gift? Was he actually a commendable boy who knew how to show respect to his elders after all?
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
The moment I offered my gratitude and reached out my palm, a sly grin split across his face.
“Bwahaha! Revenge!”
Edwin dropped a large, green creature onto my hand. Boasting a long, slender silhouette, its true identity was...
None other than a long-headed locust.
“……”
The boy watched me with breathless anticipation, clearly waiting for me to shriek and faint in sheer terror. Unfortunately for him, I had zero intention of dancing to his tune.
“I am not particularly fond of insects. Allow me to return it to you.”
With utter politeness, I pinched the locust by its hind leg and gently deposited it right onto the crown of Edwin's head. Both Edwin and the insect stared blankly back at me in complete bewilderment.
“Aaargh! What are you doing?!”
Only then realizing what had happened, he thrashed his head wildly to shake it off, huffing with indignant rage.
“You're no fun at all! I'm going back to my room!”
“As you wish.”
“Emilia, come on! Let's go play inside!”
Taking his sister in tow, Edwin stalked back toward the palace. Just as I was about to follow them inside, a prickle of heat crawled up the back of my neck.
I quietly turned my head.
Behind me stretched nothing but a long stone wall, towering trees, and dense shrubbery.
So even for a Penniless Prince, there are watching eyes.
You really had to hand it to the imperial family; their paranoia was truly boundless. Gazing toward a canopy in the distance, I curved the edge of my lips.
Well, his skills don't seem particularly impressive, anyway.
As I stood there holding my gaze, a sharp, petulant shout broke the quiet.
“Hey! What are you doing not following us?!”
Edwin and Emilia. Two pairs of innocent, round eyes were fixed on me.
“Coming.”
It wasn't as though I intended to linger in this place for long; there was no reason to fret over petty surveillance. Straightening my skirt, I turned on my heel with light steps.
Is today my unlucky day?
Walking alongside the imperial siblings, I ended up running straight into the head maid. She paid me no mind whatsoever. Glancing toward the prince, she offered a curt nod before raking him with a razor-sharp gaze.
“Your Highness, did you by any chance step outside the Prince's Palace yesterday?”
Edwin shrank back visibly at her inquiry, looking exactly like a terrified fawn cornered in the woods.
And yet he was so high and mighty cursing her as an old hag in front of me.
Edwin hesitated for a long while before finally squeaking out a faint reply.
“N-No. I didn't go out...”
“Speak the truth, Your Highness. Did you truly not leave?”
At the head maid's chilling tone, fear gripped Edwin's face completely.
“Lying is wicked, Your Highness.”
“Th-That is...”
“The maid attending Your Highness explicitly reported that you visited the stables yesterday. Is that not so?”
Ah, that maid who brought the wash water. Now that I thought about it, I believed I had mentioned the stables right in front of her.
Tattling in that brief window of time... what remarkable loyalty.
I clicked my tongue internally at the nameless maid's swift devotion to the head maid.
“I shall ask one more time, Your Highness. Did you truly not go outside yesterday?”
“I just...”
“In that case, I have no choice but to reprimand the maid who gave me a false report.”
At her words, Edwin hurriedly raised his voice.
“I-I only stepped out for a moment! It was just a stroll!”
Why was he so terrified? From my perspective, his reaction made no sense. Why was the boy who had recklessly charged at burly stable hands with sheer guts trembling like a leaf before this woman?
Meanwhile, having heard Edwin's admission, the head maid's expression turned even harsher.
“A stroll? I believe I explicitly instructed you never to wander about without my permission.”
“He went with me.”
When I cut in without warning, a sharp crease formed between the head maid's brows. The same went for Edwin; the boy seemed utterly flabbergasted that I had stepped in to take his side.
“What is the meaning of this, Lady Brown?”
“His Highness felt stifled staying cooped up inside the Prince's Palace, so we went out for a stroll together.”
Nice. That sounded quite like a proper nanny.
Just as I was feeling thoroughly satisfied with my answer, the head maid's face twisted into an even uglier contortion. She looked far more displeased than on the day I first opened my eyes in this place and she had come looking for me.
“How utterly ridiculous.”
Narrowing her eyes, the head maid sneered coldly.
“Lady Brown, by what right do you presume to take His Highness outside on your own whim?”