Chapter 25
:Since using the names of actual royals without permission could cause problems, most of those works described things metaphorically—but there wasn’t a single person who didn’t know that the protagonist in those stories was the Second Princess, Alexia.
‘Honestly, if this novel’s genre had been a girl-crush growth story instead of a cute childcare story, wouldn’t Alexia have been the heroine?’
Because of that, even Asphodel, the heroine of the novel, admired her older sister deeply, while also feeling a bit of envy and inferiority.
Of course, in the original story, those feelings were portrayed in a lovable way.
“Come to think of it, is this the first time we’ve seen each other since the last birthday banquet? You must have been surprised back then, right? I wanted to play with you more, Adel, but it ended so abruptly. Still, I’m glad no one got seriously hurt.”
Still, perhaps because she was only eight years old right now, the Alexia in front of me looked more cute than cool.
“Yeah, I was sad it ended so early too.”
“The gift I prepared got ruined that day, so I sent a new one. Did you see it?”
“I opened it as soon as I got it. Thank you.”
In truth, I hadn’t opened it at all, but I lied without hesitation.
I’d better ask Margaret about it once I get back to the palace.
“By the way, I heard you’ve been seeing Brother Euclide often lately?”
“Not really. Not that often.”
At my answer, Alexia stared at me for a moment as if pondering something.
“Next time, let’s meet up and play together too. Invite me when you have time. Or if I invite you, will you come?”
Ugh, what a hassle.
Still, since Alexia had been my favorite character in the novel, it was hard to respond as coldly as I did with the First Prince Euclide.
“Suuuure. If I have time.”
When I answered vaguely, Alexia smiled again.
“Second Princess, it’s time.”
Just then, someone called out to Alexia from afar.
Since she had mentioned earlier that she was training a Lycan, the owner of that voice was probably her spirit beast instructor.
“Ah, my teacher’s calling. Then I’ll be off first. See you next time!”
Just like when she had first appeared, Alexia disappeared from my sight like a gust of wind.
“Adel, were you playing nicely with the baby spirit beasts?”
After some time passed, Father came to find me.
“Lord Roxhan! You’ve arrived!”
“Yes. You’ve worked hard again today.”
As expected, my father was a legendary figure in the spirit beast world.
The moment he appeared at the baby spirit beast nest, all the workers straightened up sharply to greet him.
Their eyes were filled with respect.
After briefly acknowledging their greetings, Father immediately spotted me hiding among the baby spirit beasts and lifted me into his arms.
The people who hadn’t noticed my presence until then gasped in surprise.
“It’s time to go now. Let’s come back and play with the baby spirit beasts again next time.”
“Yes, Daddy!”
Today, I had plans to meet Karus together with Father.
Reluctantly leaving the cute spirit beasts clinging to my feet, I exited the nest with him.
Chapter 8
My Annoying Little Brother and Older Brother
“Hello, Lord Roxhan. And Lady Asphodel.”
“Hi, Papa Karus!”
“Good afternoon, Karus.”
Perhaps because he didn’t have many close people in the palace, Karus was especially happy to see Father and me.
“I’m glad you could come see the fruit with me again today, Your Highness. And thank you, Lord Roxhan, for making time despite your busy schedule.”
Today’s meeting had actually been arranged because Karus himself had sent a letter to our palace first.
I didn’t know what gave such an extremely timid man the courage to do that, but for me, it wasn’t a bad opportunity.
However, as expected, Karus’s courage didn’t last long.
He had greeted us enthusiastically at first, but on the way to the Rosarium, he gradually became more nervous and timid until he finally spoke hesitantly.
“Um… I wonder if I made an impudent request of the two of you. Still, I’m always alone when I go to see the fruit, so having companions makes me very happy…”
“Don’t say that. Both Adel and I are glad to have been invited.”
“Lord Roxhan…”
Karus’s eyes grew teary again at Father’s words.
Good grief. I already knew this, but he really is an easy person to handle.
More importantly…
‘It’s there again today, that dark energy.’
Cradled in Father’s arms, I glanced at Karus beside us.
He had been fine the last time I saw him, but today black mist was clinging to him again.
‘It really seems like energy Karus generates himself… but maybe I should check just in case.’
“Papa Karus, what did you do this morning?”
“Me? After breakfast, I cleaned my room.”
I had asked just in case the source of the dark energy was something external.
But Karus’s answer was unexpected.
Cleaning his room? That was supposed to be the servants’ job.
“This time I even dusted between the shelves and changed the carpet. The room felt much cleaner afterward, so I felt good.”
It sounded like he cleaned his room personally more than once.
Father looked like he wanted to say something too.
But perhaps thinking it might be an embarrassing question for Karus, he ended up staying silent.
Come to think of it, Karus was always alone without attendants.
Since he was from Oclante, a family looked down upon even within the imperial palace, the servants must have been neglecting him.
Which meant Mother probably never visited Karus’s residence either.
No matter how indifferent she was, there was no way the emperor would tolerate such neglect in a place she personally frequented.
From the beginning, Mother had only brought Karus into the palace to maintain noble balance, not because she cared for him.
That was probably why she showed no interest in either Karus or the fruit created with him.
And judging by how he spoke, Karus didn’t seem to find doing chores shameful at all…
Maybe such menial labor had been part of his life for a very long time.
“And after that?”
“I had a simple lunch and then came to meet Lord Roxhan and Your Highness!”
Karus smiled brightly at me.
“That’s all?”
“Yes? Was there something else I should have done?”
Judging from his puzzled expression, nothing unusual had really happened.
I ended the unproductive conversation with a casual grin.
A little while later, I stood with my back to Father and Karus, looking coldly down at the fruit.
“Kkukungi seems weaker than before. I thought it would be better today…”
“Cheer up, Karus. So many people are worrying and caring about it. It will get better soon.”
Behind me, I heard Karus muttering gloomily and Father comforting him.
Just like they said, the Fourth Prince’s fruit looked withered again today.
“Fruit, don’t be sick… grow big and strong…”
I crouched in front of it, pretending to stroke it gently.
But inside, I was thinking the exact opposite of the words coming out of my mouth.
No one would ever guess that a child like me was actually thinking about how to kill this thing.
‘But why are you always so happy to see me?’
Today as well, the joy and warmth radiating from the fruit almost made me tighten my grip.
It happened every time, so it couldn’t be my imagination.
‘Can’t you sense that I want to kill you? You used to be so sharp.’
Maybe it was because my ability to see dark energy had awakened before my holy power.
The more I looked at the fruit, the clearer it became.
This fruit was barely clinging to life.
Just the fact that it was still alive without withering away was almost a miracle.
When I placed my hand on it, I could feel how desperately it was struggling to survive.
Whenever Father and Karus looked away, I whispered coldly to the fruit.
‘Just give up. Just die already.’
Each time, the fruit trembled pitifully and leaned deeper into my hand.
It was like it knew I held its life in my grasp and was trying to curry favor with me.
Or like a dying baby bird desperately clinging to a hand reaching out to it.
Either way, it made me feel awful.
And somewhere inside, I felt uneasy.
‘Stop pretending to be weak. How disgusting.’
Maybe… just maybe, I was hesitating a little.
If it had been the grown Fourth Prince from my memories, I could have killed him without a second thought.
But this was different.
This desperation.
This pitifulness.
This dying creature, blindly craving human warmth and touch…
—The reckless life plan of the rogue princess continues.
