CHAPTER15
I quickly rubbed my cheeks.
“Alright, come here and say hello to each other. This is my niece, Aika. And this is Luspe, the nephew of Marquis Reguier. You’re both seven years old, so I think you’ll get along well.”
Without hesitation, I reached out my hand.
“Hi, nice to meet you! I’m Aika!”
But the boy quickly hid behind the Emperor and hesitated.
I held out my hand and waited patiently.
After a while, the boy slowly stepped forward and lightly grabbed my hand.
“…I’m Luspe.”
I was so happy to have made a friend that I held his hand tightly—and his ears turned bright red.
“Who did you come with? I came with my uncle. This place is really big, isn’t it?”
“I—I came alone. Well, with my attendant.”
Luspe said he was the same age as me but came to the palace often, even alone.
“Wow, that’s amazing.”
“…Not really…”
Now it looked like his whole face had turned red.
He must be really shy.
I thought I should be extra nice to him.
I gave him the brightest smile I could make.
“I was worried Luspe would be shy, but I’m so thankful Aika welcomed him first,” said the Emperor kindly.
“She says hi even to passing butterflies,” my uncle added with his arms crossed.
I glared at him.
What’s wrong with saying hi to butterflies?
“Your Majesty, it’s time to return to your duties,” the attendant said.
The Emperor let out a quiet sigh.
“Yes, I’ll get up in a moment.”
I blinked up at the Emperor, who suddenly looked gloomy.
“Your Majesty, do you not want to work?”
Warmth returned to his face.
“Hmm, there are times like that. And especially today, since you came to see me, Aika.”
“Do you want me to help you?”
“How?”
I raised both hands like earlier and made a gesture for him to lend me his ear.
The Emperor smiled again and leaned toward me.
I whispered softly,
“When you don’t want to do something, pretend your stomach hurts. Then they tell you to lie down and rest.”
“Your stomach?”
He asked with a chuckle.
I whispered even more quietly,
“Yeah, but you can’t do it all the time. Only when you really don’t want to do something. It’s a secret.”
“That’s a very good tip. I’ll try that when I really don’t feel like working.”
The Emperor lowered his voice too.
I nodded seriously and added one more tip.
“But you have to say it only hurts a little. If you say it hurts a lot, they make you take medicine.”
“Haha! I’ll remember that. Just a little, right?”
“Right! And this is still a secret.”
“Okay, another secret. That makes two secrets now.”
“What are you two whispering about?”
Startled by my uncle’s voice, I quickly stepped back and put my hands behind my back.
“Nothing! I didn’t say anything!”
I glanced at the Emperor nervously, and he winked at me.
I wanted to try winking too, but both my eyes ended up squeezing shut.
“The garden connected to this room is safe, so feel free to play there. Cassel, sorry, but I’m counting on you to watch the kids. I’ll see you at the next meeting.”
Uncle nodded.
The Emperor finally stood up to leave.
But instead of just walking away, he bent down on one knee like when we first came in and held both of my hands.
I blinked and looked at him, not sure what to say.
“Aika.”
“Yes, Your Majesty?”
“Don’t get sick. Don’t get hurt. And if you ever feel troubled, come find me anytime, okay?”
“Yes!”
I nodded eagerly.
“I hope you always smile like this. Then, I’ll see you again next time, Aika.”
“Okay! You too, Your Majesty! See you next time!”
“Good.”
With that, the Emperor left with his attendants, and only me, Uncle, and Luspe were left.
“Alright, you two peanuts stay here where I can see you. Don’t cause any trouble and go play.”
Uncle sat with his legs crossed and lazily waved us off toward the garden.
He looked super annoyed.
“You’re not coming? I don’t know this place…”
“Just stay near the front.”
“But I want to look around…”
I wanted to see this place and that place too.
But no matter how much I begged with my eyes, Uncle didn’t budge.
So mean.
Just then, someone gently tugged on my hand.
When I turned my head quickly, I saw Luspe’s hand.
“Um…”
“Oh, Luspe!”
His face turned red again.
“I-I’ll show you around.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I come here a lot.”
I smiled brightly, thrilled.
“Wow, thanks! You’re so sweet, Luspe. Then let’s go play and look around!”
Luspe nodded quietly.
I stuck my tongue out at Uncle behind his back and quickly followed Luspe.
As soon as we opened the big glass doors to the garden, the smell of flowers tickled my nose.
Luspe and I ran through the wide garden paths nonstop.
There were lots of adults in dresses and uniforms, too.
The garden didn’t have any tall flowers or trees, so even a small tiptoe let you see really far.
“Wow! My favorite yellow flowers! Come here, Luspe!”
I crouched down in front of the long-necked yellow flowers stretching toward the sun.
Still staring at them, I motioned for Luspe to come over.
“Luspe, do you like flowers?”
“…I never really thought about it before, but today… I think I do.”
Luspe mumbled while crouching beside me.
“Huh? You don’t like them?”
“N-No. I do like flowers.”
“Really? Then we like the same thing!”
Luspe nodded eagerly.
“Oh! Look at this!”
I found a tiny purple flower hiding between the yellow ones.
Mom always told me not to pick flowers carelessly, but I really wanted to show this one to Luspe.
Out of the three little purple flowers, I picked one and held it up to him.
“Look! It’s the same color as your eyes.”
“My eyes?”
“Yeah. Same as the Emperor’s too. Want to see something cooler?”
Luspe nodded curiously.
I carefully poked a little hole in the flower stem with my nail, then gently folded it into a loop and tucked one end inside the hole.
I proudly held out the purple flower ring to him.
“Here! A gift!”
Luspe took it with both hands and stared at the flower on his palm, unsure of what to do.
I picked it up again and gently placed it on his second finger.
“This is how you wear it. Isn’t it pretty?”
“Ah…”
Luspe stared at the flower ring on his finger for a long time.
Suddenly—chill.
As I reached for the yellow petals again, a strange tingly feeling rushed through me.
I quickly looked around in surprise—but saw nothing.
I stood up and looked at Luspe, who was still staring at the flower ring.
“Let’s go somewhere else.”
Flinch.
But the further we went, the more strange the air felt.
It was like a cold chill—or the same strange feeling I got when I was about to see the future.
Was it just me?
Luspe seemed totally fine.
“Are you okay?”
I asked him just in case.
“Huh?”
“Never mind…”
Guess it was just me.
Flinch.
The more steps I took, the colder it got—like fear was creeping in.
It felt like something was pushing me forward without my control.
“Ah…”
It was like icy wind. My ears tingled, and I shivered hard.
It wouldn’t go away.
I hugged myself and stopped walking.
What’s going on?
If I let my guard down, I felt like I might get pulled away somewhere.
“…Ka.”
“…Huh?”
“Aika, are you okay?”
Luspe looked at me and asked.
I turned around quickly, my face pale.
Nope. I had to go home.
The only thing on my mind was getting back to Uncle.
“Luspe, I’m sorry! I have to go find Uncle!”
