Chapter 04
Cherina was about to say something to me, but Rosy stopped her. I rolled my eyes and stared at Rosy.
“Stop it. Enough. Your Highness, Crown Princess Evelyn. You seem to have forgotten while you were here. How did you say I should behave to get candy?”
“…Candy?”
“Yes. Candy. You said I had to behave well to get candy…”
“I don’t like candy!!”
What a joke. Now, just seeing candy would make me freak out.
My embarrassing past.
The jar of candy Serden sent was now rolling under the bed.
Just seeing the candy reminded me of the red saliva that fell from Serden’s hand…
Ugh! I remembered it again!
“Y-you liked candy!”
“I don’t like candy! You can have it!”
Cherina and Rosy looked at each other, confused. Then Rosy turned to me, with a strange expression, and asked in a low voice:
“…Then what about cookies?”
Rosy’s brown eyes looked dark and sharp. Her lips curled in a nasty, sly way.
The cursed cookie.
In the novel, it was that cookie that killed the Empress and the Princess. Duke Spellman used Evelyn to feed them poisoned cookies slowly, so they would die quietly.
“Cookies? I love them.”
I smiled widely and said it.
“Right? I can give you cookies. How about giving them to the Princess and the Empress too? They will like Evelyn as well.”
“No.”
“Eh?”
“They’re all mine. Evelyn will eat them all. Well, I’ll give some to Rosy and Cherina specially. We’re friends, after all!”
Anyway, no matter how much I ate those cookies, I wouldn’t die. Only the Empress and Princess would be poisoned.
Now that I had decided to stop the villain’s plan, I had no intention of giving those cookies to the Empress or Princess. They had to live somehow.
I couldn’t trigger the villain’s trap.
The maids looked confused and took a step back. They didn’t want poisoned cookies. How selfish. Giving to others is fine, but they were scared to eat themselves?
“What? Aren’t Rosy and Cherina Evelyn’s friends? You’re not going to eat the cookies? Hee. Then Evelyn will be sad. If you’re not friends, you can’t live here with Evelyn.”
Cherina and Rosy stared at me like they wanted to punch me.
Why? I had already warned them inside my head. Whatever they thought, it wouldn’t be easy.
“If you won’t eat the cookies with me, go away. I’ll be alone. We’re not friends anymore. We can’t be together.”
“No! I like cookies too.”
“Of course! I love cookies too.”
I decided to watch what they do carefully from now on. Since they failed to feed the cookies, they would surely try something else, whatever it is.
They seemed to think they could say anything in front of me and I wouldn’t understand.
That meant they were relaxed and careless around me.
That’s actually good for me.
Cherina and Rosy prepared cookies, shared them with me, and read the picture book with the saliva ten times before leaving me alone. Their faces were pale as they went out.
Tsk tsk. They’ve never taken care of a 5-year-old. Tomorrow, I’ll show them “hellish childcare.”
“Hasn’t Evelyn changed a little while we were gone?”
Rosy bit her lips nervously.
“What do you mean?”
Cherina lay on the bed and asked back.
“To me, she seems the same. Still asking to play and all.”
“…Maybe?”
“She’s just sensitive. It wasn’t easy to get in here. And there’s work to do. Ugh. How do we even know the guard shift time? That little girl won’t let go, nothing is easy.”
Cherina grumbled and rubbed her face on the pillow. Duke Spellman was always looking for a chance to attack the Crown Prince.
The amazing part? He had never been caught. In front of the Emperor, he acted like a loyal official who cared for the empire.
“I’m more scared of disobeying Duke Spellman than anything else.”
“Ah.”
Rosy shivered.
“Let’s take turns from tomorrow. We need to buy time.”
“If possible, let’s do that.”
Rosy and Cherina made a firm decision. Since they had a heavy mission, they had to do something before Duke Spellman’s wrath reached them.
Duke Spellman was strict even to his followers. He could replace them anytime.
Honestly, Evelyn wasn’t a big problem. That’s what Rosy and Cherina thought… until she trapped them the next day.
Blinking, I grabbed Cherina’s skirt.
“Why?”
“Huh?”
“Why do I have to eat this? Why?”
“…Well. Hah. Aren’t you hungry?”
“No. Evelyn is hungry, but why do I have to eat this?”
“…Then eat something else.”
“Why?”
Cherina’s lips trembled.
‘Have you heard of the “why” hell?’ It’s a disease all children get once. Everything makes you curious and you want to know everything.
“Then eat it. It’s good for your body.”
Rosy interrupted. It’s a crime to mess with good food, but it’s funny.
Now I understood why kids do this.
“Why is it good for me?”
“…It just is good for your body.”
“Why just ‘just’?”
“The book says it’s good for your body. Good for your eyes…”
“Why good for my eyes?”
I asked innocently, eyes wide, smiling. Cherina and Rosy looked like they were going crazy.
For thirty minutes since they came for lunch, I only said “why” over and over.
They came to kill the Empress and Princess, but instead, their blood will dry up.
I’m very sure of that.
“Why won’t you answer? Why?”
Crazy, right?
Frustrating, right?
Infuriating, right?
At the same time.
Roselina was calming herself before entering the palace after a long time. Her face was full of jealousy and anger, but she managed to control it.
She couldn’t let Serden see such ugly emotions.
Roselina pressed her left chest.
‘This bond won’t last long anyway. How long will that wretched girl stay there? After all, she’s just a fool.’
Who in the world didn’t know about Duke Spellman’s troublemaker daughter? Even the minor son acted like his sister didn’t exist.
Who would accept a woman denied even by her family as Empress?
Soon, she would be chased out of the palace, and her place would be hers, as promised.
Roselina believed that without doubt.
Click clack.
Roselina, walking softly, met a man at the end of the hallway. She looked surprised, then smiled gently.
“Hello, Mortega.”
Roselina smiled kindly. Mortega was the Crown Prince’s aide, the man who always encouraged her that she would become the Crown Princess.
As long as her beauty lasted, he would probably always support her.
She saw his cheeks flush faintly at her smile.
No wonder Roselina was called the swan of the social circle.
“Long time no see, Lady Roselina. I know you were upset by matters in the royal family. Still, thank you for responding to the Crown Prince’s call.”
Mortega flattered her, unaware he was undermining the Crown Prince’s dignity.
To refuse the Crown Prince’s call for no reason? Especially now, Serden was a war hero loved by the people.
Thanks to this, even Spellman’s fool avoided criticism and was loved.
The Crown Prince was packaged as a romantic hero who even forgives his wife’s shortcomings.
Roselina smiled sadly.
‘Silly fool. If only you had done this before that happened, I could have seen you every day, the one you love.’
She lowered her eyes, keeping her true feelings hidden, looking even more delicate and innocent.
