Chapter 17

When she returned to the White Dragon Room, Attil was sitting there as if he were the master. Bran stood beside him, holding a teapot and a tray.

"Are you here?"

"Have you arrived, Your Highness?"

Attil and Bran's words left Lirika bewildered.

"Seems like I'm the guest here. Where are my maids?"

"I found it annoying to have them fawning around, so I chased them away."

"Attil."

Lirika frowned. Knowing that Bran was the only attendant in the Black Dragon Room, she felt sorry for him.

Lirika had four maids, led by Brin, and countless maids for chores and miscellaneous tasks. It was heartbreaking to think that Bran had to do all the work of four maids alone.

She was a worker too, wasn't she?

Even if she came to the White Dragon Room as a guest, Bran should have been treated properly, not pushed aside and made to serve her.

Lirika quickly climbed up the footstool and stretched out her hand to pull the bell cord.

"Bran, sit down. Attil, please stop harassing my maids."

"I didn't harass them. I just let them rest."

What are you talking about? Lirika frowned. Brin narrowed her eyes.

"I'll be excusing myself for a moment, Princess."

"Ah, okay."

Lirika nodded. As Brin disappeared with a swish of her skirt, Bran smiled wryly.

"The maids will be scolded."

"The maids?"

"The owner of the White Dragon Room is you, but they were pushed out because of His Majesty."

"Well, Attil is... higher than me."

"But that's not right."

Bran calmly said this and refilled Attil's empty cup. Lirika's eyes narrowed. She stood up straight and approached Attil.

"So you just came in and acted like the owner of the White Dragon Room?"

Attil nodded, holding his cup.

"Sure."

"That's a matter of my dignity."

"What? We're family, aren't we?"

Is that so?

Lirika was puzzled, and Attil pulled her onto his lap.

"Your Majesty!"

Surprised, she exclaimed, and he pressed her cheek, saying,

"Attil."

Correcting the form of address, Lirika called his name again.

"Attil."

Lirika frowned. She had experienced this before.

Lirika said,

"Attil really resembles His Majesty."

Attil's expression became strange.

"Resembles?"

"Yes, you do."

Lirika nodded vigorously. His actions were exactly the same.

While touching Lirika's cheek, Attil fell into thought. He muttered,

"I've never thought of it that way."

An emperor of unknown origin.

Was he really her uncle? His appearance, which seemed to mix the blood of a foreigner rather than a pure Taka, contributed to this thought.

The rumor that Altears' mother was from the desert was also due to this.

Thinking about it, that might be the only thing they had in common.

Their mothers' status.

Neither Altears nor herself were from the collateral royal family.

—A bastard

She knew that the Barat Duke's family called her that. Then Lirika grabbed Attil's cheeks.

Surprised, Attil looked up. Lirika said with a serious face,

"It's unfair to only touch my cheek."

"Did you do this to His Majesty?"

"Huh?"

"Did you do this to His Majesty?"

"His Majesty never touched my cheek like this."

"Really?"

Satisfied, Attil pulled her cheek once more and let go. Lirika stood up from the sofa with a discontented look and stood straight.

Attil leaned back on the sofa lazily, raising his teacup, and Bran quickly refilled it.

Then the maids, who had stiffened, entered one by one. One maid stepped forward and took the teapot from Bran. The other maids quickly set up the tea and snacks while observing Lirika's mood. Seeing this, Attil sneered.

"What's the point of noticing now? Get lost."

The maids flinched and looked at Lirika. Lirika said to Attil,

"Let my maids serve me."

"If you say so."

Attil looked at each maid as if trying to remember them. His gaze finally landed on Brin.

"It's fine if Sol is here."

At this, Bran smiled, and Lirika nodded.

"I rely on Bran a lot."

"You shouldn't say you rely on a subordinate."

Attil whispered, and Lirika, bewildered, whispered back,

"Trust is mutual, I think."

Besides, Bran wasn't a subordinate. She was her precious friend.

Attil raised an eyebrow. Before he could comment on Brin, Lirika quickly changed the subject.

"By the way, Mother said to pick a guard."

"You need one."

"Attil also needs to pick one, right? Why don't we go to the Royal Guard together?"

"I'm fine. You pick one."

"Huh? But—"

"Enough."

He waved his hand. Concern filled Lirika's expression. She sat beside him and picked up a cup.

Looking at the small teacup that fit her hand perfectly, Lirika turned her gaze to Attil.

"But you need one."

"After the guy who was my guard for eight years tried to kill me?"

"Isn't that why you need one more?"

Attil shook his head at Lirika's words and roughly ruffled her hair.

His rough touch almost dislodged her hairpins, but Lirika didn't flinch.

"I'm worried."

Attil paused at Lirika's words. In his life, he hadn't heard such a straightforward "I'm worried about you" since his father passed away.

His retainers dared not say such things to him, and Altears wasn't the type to say it.

"You couldn't sleep properly that night because of a nightmare. What if it happens again? What if you don't have a guard then? Just thinking about it keeps me awake."

"What if the one you pick is the same kind of guy?"

Without hesitation, Lirika answered,

"I'll pick with you."

"With me?"

"Yes, my intuition is really good!"

Lirika quickly emphasized her strength. Attil had a strange expression.

"Intuition?"

"Yes, don't make that face. Intuition, what are you talking about? But I'm really good at sensing bad things. In fact, when that guard appeared, I just felt bad."

Lirika raised her head proudly and continued,

"It's not just that. When I was little, there was a grandmother who was kind to children and gave out candies. All the children loved her, but I didn't. I refused to go when she called and didn't eat her candies. It turned out she was a human trafficker."

Attil's expression hardened. Bran and Bran, who were listening, also had strange expressions.

Lirika pushed her chest out and continued her story.

"And there was an uncle who helped children carry things and gave them pocket money. He gave quite a large coin for light tasks, and the children followed him. But I didn't like him. And sure enough, he was a bad guy."

Lirika said in a low voice,

"He sold children after doing bad things to them."

"Bad things?"

Attil asked, and Lirika answered seriously,

"I don't know exactly, but maybe he starved or beat them. And—"

Lirika counted on her fingers, listing the incidents she had luckily avoided.

"There are also masters who don't pay their workers. I've never fallen for those people. Well, except when I ignored my intuition."

Lirika shrugged. Even when she thought something bad would happen, she sometimes had to do it.

When she did, she braced herself, and inevitably, something bad happened.

Lirika sighed softly and said,

"I only avoid really bad things, not good ones. But isn't this better?"

What do you think?

Trust my intuition once.

Lirika looked at Attil with such a face. Attil bit his lip and then roughly tousled her hair.

"Ah? Ow?"

No matter how she tried to resist, she couldn't. Her body swayed back and forth.

"Attil!"

Finally, as Lirika struggled, he let go and pulled her into a tight hug.

"Ugh!"

He hugged her so tightly that Pega made a strange sound. Attil laughed.

"Ugh?"

"Ah, it's because you're hugging me so tightly!"

Lirika scolded, and he said in a relaxed voice,

"I'll deduct one strawberry."

He said he would deduct strawberries instead of apologizing, and he was using it now.

Lirika, annoyed, shouted,

"I'll deduct two!"

"Sure, sure."

Attil loosened his arms around Lirika. She was still surprisingly small and delicate.

Her body temperature was high, and her heart beat rapidly. Even when she was angry, she didn't feel threatening but rather cute.

But.

'You lived so dangerously. Human trafficking.'

Serfs had long disappeared in the empire. It was more efficient to squeeze tenant farmers than serfs.

Slaves were officially gone but existed unofficially.

'I need to investigate the Capital Guard.'

Attil narrowed his eyes and gently pushed her away, looking at her face. Lirika hesitated and said,

"It's okay if you don't deduct two strawberries. Will you really not go with me to pick a guard?"

"I'll go."

"Really?"

Lirika jumped up from her seat. Attil laughed.

"Yes, really. But not today, later."

I need to review the Capital Guard reports today.

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

He stood up and tried to smooth her tousled hair, but failed.

"I'll do my hair."

Bran quickly stopped him and stood beside Lirika. She had to prevent the hairpins from getting tangled.

Attil took his hand away and nodded.

"See you later."

"Yes, go in!"

With her fluffy hair, Lirika escorted Attil to the entrance. Bran smiled and bowed deeply before following her master.

Bran quickly sat Lirika in front of the mirror and picked up a comb. Removing the pins and combing her hair, Bran said,

"I didn't know the Princess had good intuition."

"I'm good at sensing bad things. The problem is I can't do anything about it."

She could only avoid it, not do anything. Still, she knew how much running away helped and how grateful it was to avoid the worst.

Bran nodded, carefully moving the silver comb through Lirika's hair.

"Even being able to avoid or prepare is enough."

Bran's neatly combed Lirika's hair, which shone like a craftsman's polished wood, and then tied it up neatly. After that, Bran stepped back.

Lirika stood in front of the mirror, admiring herself. Though not as much as her mother, she felt a sense of pride, thinking, "I'm quite cute now."

Lirika spun around in front of the mirror and said brightly,

"I'm going to the library now. I need to find out what plants are in the secret garden."

I have to make the garden so beautiful that Attil will be surprised and give me the key back.

* * *

The library was as quiet as always. Lirika was looking through books in the study to find one related to the garden.

Bran was browsing the shelves on the opposite side.

'Seedlings... acidic... soil...?'

Unfamiliar words kept popping up. Lirika knew nothing about farming. She pushed the large book back and took out the next one, but a small booklet fell out.

'What's this?'

The palm-sized booklet had a black cover with gold letters that read, "A Throbbing Magic Book for Girls."

Lirika was surprised.

'A magic book!'

She clutched the book and looked around. Bran was still on the other side. Lirika quietly opened the book.

How to make a charm for your loved one

How to make your crush appear in your dreams

How to keep a secret

Seeing the table of contents, her heart raced even more. She quickly slipped the book into her pocket.

'I'm borrowing it secretly. I'll read it secretly and return it secretly.'

A magic book.

Why was this here? Lirika was curious and turned her gaze to another book.

"Princess?"

"Huh? Oh!"

Lirika, startled, turned to Bran, who smiled and held out a book.

"This book might be good. It has detailed illustrations and explanations."

"Ah, really! Thanks, Bran. This should do!"

"Shall we take the book and go to the garden? It would be good to compare the illustrations with the actual plants."

"That sounds great."

Forgetting the magic book in her pocket, Lirika nodded vigorously.