I Raised Snow White!

Hearing the ridiculous news that the princess was in seclusion, I hurried to the main palace.

What on earth happened to the princess for her to shut herself in her room like this?

“Who in the world taught her such a terrible habit…!”

A certain face popped into my head—a suspect who was already dead.

But since he was long gone, there was nothing I could say to him, so I shook my head to drive away his memory.

When I arrived in front of the princess’s room, panting from running at full speed, the maids and Bainshaw were there, looking exhausted, trying to coax the princess out of the firmly closed room.

I had run so hard that my side was aching.

While holding my side and catching my breath, Bainshaw came over and started to explain the chaotic situation.

“Your Majesty… the princess has declared that she will seclude herself.”

“Hah… huh… why…?”

“Well…”

Bainshaw, looking utterly weary, ran his hand down his face and glanced at the maids kneeling on the floor.

Looking at the maids with their hands raised over their heads, sniffing and whimpering, I could guess the situation.

“…Did the princess hear the maids talking about me?”

“Yes, it seems that the princess overheard the maids saying they were saddened that Your Majesty would leave the palace. What would you like to do with them?”

What would I do…?

From the start, I knew the maids had loose lips.

There are even people who say that a true noble should know how to collect and use rumors through maids with loose lips.

And besides, the maids hadn’t insulted me; they’d simply expressed their regret over my leaving the palace, so I had no intention of reprimanding them for that.

Rather, didn’t it mean that “Vivian” was receiving a better reputation in the palace?

“Next time, just be a little more careful with what you say. Now, put down your hands and return to your rooms. I won’t punish you.”

“Th-Thank you…!”

Leaving the two maids to dart back to their rooms, I took a deep breath and approached the princess’s room.

The maids were busy trying to coax the princess to come out.

One of the maids had even piled a mountain of egg tarts and cakes in front of the firmly closed door, hoping the princess would come out.

They were indeed her favorite treats, but…

“…Alright, all of you, go back to your rooms. I’ll handle the princess myself.”

Once I dispersed the crowd of maids gathered like a marketplace, it finally grew quiet in front of the princess’s door.

I picked up a plate of egg tarts from the tray and knocked on the door.

“Princess, may I talk to you for a moment?”

“……”

Hearing no response reminded me of the nightmare when I’d frantically tried to coax the king out of a room in seclusion.

For a moment, I wondered if seclusion ran in the family…

However, having learned a thing or two from the sequestered king, I calmly placed the egg tarts in front of the door and gently coaxed the princess.

“Could you at least eat the egg tarts I brought? They won’t taste good if they get cold… I’ll leave them by the door, so you can take them whenever you like.”

After placing the plate down, some time passed.

A minute? Two?

The firmly closed door slowly cracked open, and a pair of red eyes blinked through the small gap, spotting the tempting egg tarts.

The princess, having spotted the sweet-looking egg tarts in front of the door, probably planned to quickly snatch them and take them back inside—

But I didn’t miss the chance and quickly wedged my foot in the door.

Thud!

I was faster at slipping my foot in the door than the princess was at closing it.

Unable to shut the door due to my foot, the princess looked up at me through the slightly open gap.

As she looked up at me, her expression turned pale, realizing she couldn’t close the door.

In an attempt to shut it, she pushed at my foot with all her might and tried to close the door, but no matter how strong a six-year-old girl might be, she couldn’t win against an adult.

Realizing it was futile, the princess looked up at me, close to tears, silently pleading for me to remove my foot.

But did she really think I’d let her shut the door on me?

“Got you, little rascal!”

“Eek!”

As I pulled the door open, the princess, clutching it tightly, fell backward with a thud, sliding out of the room.

Not missing the moment, I moved to scoop her up, but she quickly curled into a ball to dodge my grasp, then jumped up and dashed to her bed.

Once there, she threw the blanket over herself, covering from head to toe.

“Tsk…!”

The speed of a child…!

Watching from behind, Bainshaw clapped in admiration.

“Your Majesty, you’ve grown adept.”

“I don’t need your praise. Go on; I’ll take care of the princess.”

“Ho ho, then I leave her to you, Your Majesty.”

With Bainshaw heading back to the office, I sighed, closed the door behind me, and locked it to ensure no one would interrupt us in the middle of our conversation.

As I approached the Princess, who had wrapped herself up like a caterpillar in her blanket, using it as a secret hideout, she squirmed and crawled across the bed to avoid me.

“Princess…”

I gently sat on the edge of the Princess’s bed and softly patted her curled-up form. Then, from inside the blanket, a faint, trembling sob began to echo.

…I couldn’t say I didn’t understand the Princess’s feelings after hearing I would be leaving. Having already lost the parents who were supposed to love her, even I, who was closest to her, was now planning to go—

It must have left a bitter and painful impact on her.

I tugged the tightly bundled blanket towards me, setting the Princess on my lap. She looked almost like a sack in my arms, but I gently searched for an opening in the blanket, uncovering her face inside.

As I peeled back the blanket, her disheveled hair poked out. Her face was a mess from tears, and her clothes, still worn underneath, were wrinkled and rumpled.

With her body cocooned in the blanket, only her face peeked out as she lay in my arms, resembling nothing so much as a swaddled baby. Perhaps she didn’t even want to look at me.

She turned her head sharply away from my gaze.

And then, in an even more shocking voice—

“You’re a liar.”

“A… a liar?”

“The worst people in the world are the ones who lie about snacks. I don’t trust Your Majesty the Queen anymore. You’re both a liar and a bad person.”

“Th-that’s…”

As the Princess spoke, tears streamed down her face, and guilt pricked my heart sharply. For a moment, I considered bringing in the snacks waiting outside—

But then the Princess cried out at me, her voice trembling with anger.

“I told you not to come in! I told everyone not to come in! I said I wouldn’t come out of here!”

“P-Princess…”

The Princess pulled her hands out of the blanket and started to push me away. Her small fists pounded against me, each touch filled with sorrow.

“Why doesn’t anyone listen to me?! The maids, Ellie, Bainshaw, Her Majesty the Queen! And, and…”

Drip, drip.

The large tears pooled in the Princess’s eyes and then rolled down her cheeks, dampening the blanket wrapped around her. She continued in a trembling voice.

“Mom… and Dad, too…”

Her sniffles quickly turned into heart-wrenching sobs.

The Princess buried her face and sobbed bitterly, calling out for her mom and dad in a hoarse voice as her tears fell. In response, all I could do was hold her quietly in my arms.

“Mom… Dad…”

“……”

After the Princess’s shoulders finally relaxed, I took out a handkerchief to wipe her face. Her eyes looked sore and swollen from rubbing them with the blanket.

…How should I tell her?

Should I say that I won’t leave until she’s an adult? Even if I end up leaving her eventually? Wouldn’t saying so only hurt her more right now?

But still…

“Princess, could you look at me for a moment?”

Right now, all I wanted was for the Princess to stop hurting.

Just as there’s such a thing as a white lie, it felt like I had to lie for the Princess’s sake right now. Even if she found out later and came to hate or despise me for it.

I firmly believed that this was the right thing to do.

As I wiped the tears from her eyes with my fingers, I tried to meet her gaze. The Princess, still not wanting to look at me, averted her eyes.

“The maids must have been mistaken. Where would I be going, hmm? Just as this is your home, this is my home, too.”

“……”

“…What can I do to make you believe me, Princess…? Would making a promise help?”

At the mention of a promise, the Princess nodded. Her gaze was as wary and untrusting as a stray cat’s, as if she wouldn’t trust anyone otherwise, and I smiled gently, stroking her head.

“Princess, who am I?”

“Your Majesty the Queen…”

“No, before that, what did I tell you I am?”

The Princess thought deeply for a moment, then opened her mouth as if she had remembered something.

“A… a kind? Witch…”

“That’s right. A kind witch. Did you know? Witches can’t break a ‘promise’ once they make one.”

I held out my pinky finger to the Princess. She stared blankly at my extended finger, then tilted her head as if she didn’t understand.

Is there no pinky-promise tradition here? Feeling it was actually fortunate, I made the Princess hold out her pinky finger like mine, aligning her hand with mine.

“Do you know why a witch can’t break a promise? Because if they break a pinky promise, they’ll face a very dreadful punishment.”

“A-a punishment…?”

I said it with a slight hint of warning, and the Princess’s shoulders flinched in fear. Scaring her a little was necessary for her to believe I would keep my promise.

“Yes, if they go so far and break the promise—”

“And… if they break it…”

“They have to swallow a thousand needles as punishment.”

At the mention of swallowing a thousand needles, the Princess’s expression turned to shock. Even though it was an idiom, the Princess seemed to believe it was real; her face turned pale as she stared at me.

“Princess, do you want to swallow a thousand needles?”

The Princess shook her head furiously.

“I don’t either. If I broke a promise and had to swallow a thousand needles, it would hurt terribly, wouldn’t it?”

The Princess nodded her head vigorously.

Her exaggerated reaction was so endearing that I couldn’t help but laugh. When I offered my pinky to her again, she hesitated, still haunted by the thought of swallowing a thousand needles, but—

“Come on, a promise. ‘I will always be by the Princess’s side!’ Can you trust me now?”

I hooked my pinky around hers and gave it a little shake. The Princess gasped and tried to pull her finger away, but our intertwined pinkies wouldn’t come undone easily.

“But… if you break it… a thousand needles…”

The Princess looked at me with genuine worry, her concern shifting to me, having forgotten her earlier tears.

“As long as I don’t break the promise, nothing bad will happen, right? Now, your thumb too.”

After I pressed her thumb onto mine to seal the promise, the Princess stared at our entangled fingers and then back at my face, looking uncertain. Soon, her eyes filled with tears as if she might cry again.

“…Really, you’re not going anywhere…?”

“Of course. We even made a promise, didn’t we? A fearsome witch’s promise, where breaking it would mean swallowing a thousand needles.”

Hearing that, the Princess buried her face in my chest and hugged me tightly. I wondered if this was the first time she had clung to me like this. I patted her back as she lay against me.

Watching the Princess sobbing in my arms, it felt as if the guilt were pricking my heart like needles. But even so, I had no choice but to tell this lie.

If I told the truth and said I had to leave the palace, the Princess might have truly crumbled.

So even if someday she discovers this lie and calls me a liar, hates me, despises me, and rejects me—

I would not regret telling her this “white lie.” I had made up my mind to do so.

I held the Princess tightly in my arms and smiled bitterly.

As I continued to hug her, a rumbling sound echoed from the Princess’s stomach to mine. Embarrassed by the sound, the Princess stayed hidden, her face buried in my chest.

Patting her head as she blushed, I chuckled softly and made a suggestion.

“It’s late, but shall we have a snack together?”