Park Jeom-rye Reincarnated As Sophia At 98

Chapter 3:

A Bad Feeling = A Feeling of Impending Doom

At the formal dinner. Sophia and Hans had arrived early and were waiting for their guests.

Hans, who had been restless, finally spoke up.

“Sophia, you must mind your manners.”

His voice was filled with concern. Although he was only saying it out of worry, Sophia felt like she was beginning to get irritated by the constant reminders.

‘I would have figured it out on my own…’

“Don’t worry,” Sophia replied flatly. But for some reason, her response seemed to make Hans even more anxious. He quickly splashed his face with some water.

A little while later, the door to the dining room opened, and a servant entered. He announced the arrival of the guests.

“Your Majesty, Her Majesty Empress Eleonora of the Alerian Empire, and His Highness Crown Prince Leon, have arrived.”

A woman with rich brown hair, adorned with an even more extravagant headdress, entered the room. Behind her, a boy with straight black hair, sharp features, followed her in.

Sophia immediately recognized the boy. He was the same one who had called her a pig and thrown an apple at her.

He had a pretty face, but his expression was filled with annoyance.

‘Great. He’s the crown prince?’

Sophia tightly shut her eyes. If she had known, she would have been more careful.

Hans hurriedly approached Eleonora and kissed the back of her hand.

“Thank you for joining us today, Your Majesty.”

Eleonora, with her full brown hair and slender figure, carried herself with grace in every movement. She smiled gently, hiding her mouth behind a fan.

“Thank you for the invitation, King Hans.”

Eleonora pointed to Leon, who was standing a step behind her.

“This is the Crown Prince of Aleria, Leon de Romania.”

He greeted them with a stoic expression.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, King Hans. I am Leon de Romania.”

Leon greeted them with dignity and grace. It was hard to believe that this was the same boy who had once been lying around carelessly with a bag of apples. Sophia rubbed her eyes as if she was seeing things.

“Please, have a seat.”

As Hans led them to their seats, the adults’ attention shifted. At that moment, Sophia locked eyes with Leon. He subtly moved his lips and silently conveyed a message.

‘If you acknowledge me, you’re dead.’

The sense of impending disaster became a reality. The “bad feeling” she had was no longer just a feeling—it was now a fact.

After a lavish meal prepared by the chef, they all headed to the outdoor garden for tea.

The garden was filled with exotic flowers and topiaries shaped like mythical goddesses. Eleonora marveled at the scenery.

“It’s truly beautiful, Hans. How did you manage to decorate it like this?”

“Your Majesty, it’s not my doing. It’s all thanks to the gardener.”

“Your gardener is excellent. Would it be possible for you to recommend him to us?”

“Of course, Your Majesty. Feel free to reach out to him anytime.”

While Eleonora and Hans continued their conversation, the servants brought tea and snacks to the gazebo. Hans and Eleonora sat down, and it seemed they were about to discuss something important. Perhaps to avoid disturbing them, Eleonora gently suggested,

“Crown Prince, would you like to take a walk with the princess?”

Her smile was warm, but her eyes carried a chilling gaze. Leon, who seemed to shrink back, bit his lip and clenched his fist.

Sophia, sensing the tension in the air, stuck out her tongue in response.

‘The way he’s acting shows he’s not an ordinary person.’

Leon, who had walked out of the gazebo first, extended his hand to Sophia.

“Princess Belmond, let’s go.”

Sophia reached out and shook his hand, preparing to greet him with a polite response…

“Thank you…”

She stopped mid-sentence, accidentally slipping into her accent, and bit her tongue. After 98 years of ingrained habits, it was clear that breaking them wouldn’t be easy.

‘I can’t keep making mistakes like this.’

She felt a bit lost. Should she just stop talking altogether?

They walked for a while, weaving through a path lined with shrubs. The awkwardness of the situation and the feeling of impending disaster faded slightly as the weather grew warmer and more pleasant.

The fresh scent of grass and the distant smell of flowers filled the air. Sophia looked up at the sky. A bright blue sky with not a cloud in sight, and a bluebird soared by.

Though she was still awkwardly holding the Crown Prince’s hand, she soon stopped caring about it.

“The weather is really nice, isn’t it?”

Caught up in the beauty of nature, Sophia spoke without thinking.

As a pleasant breeze blew, she closed her eyes and felt the warmth, but Leon’s sharp voice soon interrupted her.

“I don’t like it.”

Sophia was startled and looked down, meeting his gaze. She couldn’t understand why he was so upset after having just eaten, but his face was full of anger.

“What?”

“I don’t want to be engaged to you.”

Leon immediately pulled his hand away from hers.

Why was he so upset? Sophia clicked her tongue and nodded her head in response.

“Yes, I guess that could be the case. You might not want to, or maybe you do.”

Sophia hummed as she looked up at the sky again. The pretty bluebird had already flown away, and she felt a bit disappointed.

“I told you I don’t want to. Getting engaged to you?”

Leon was irritated by her indifferent response. He started to argue forcefully with her.

“Even if you don’t want to, what can you do? It’s what the adults decided.”

“Don’t you ever think about anything? Isn’t it frustrating to live a life like livestock?”

‘Ah, the recklessness of youth…’

Leon looked like he was around middle school age, the peak of adolescence. A time when all sorts of confusing thoughts race through the mind.

Having raised two children and three grandchildren, Sophia knew well what that age was like. She understood how turbulent it could be.

The idea of an arranged marriage at such a young age was almost laughable. But what could she do? As the older one, she had to soothe him.

Sophia lightly tapped Leon’s arm and spoke gently.

“Your Highness, you’re still young, so you probably don’t understand yet. Don’t get so worked up. After all, everything in this world is like the saying, ‘You come with nothing, and you leave with nothing…’.”

“Come with nothing, what?”

“Does it matter if it’s a chicken or a pig? If you have something, then that’s enough.”

She thought this would calm him down, but to her surprise, Leon’s face turned bright red.

He let out a deep breath through his nose, stamping his feet angrily. Was something wrong?

Sophia tilted her head and asked him.

“Why are you so… upset?”

“Are you calling me a fool?”

“Calling you a fool? No! Your Highness, you’re still very young, and I just said that because you’re going through puberty… that’s all.”

She was trying to calm him down, but her speech was making it difficult. As Sophia stumbled over her words, Leon rolled his eyes and got even angrier.

“Am I young? How old are you?”

“I’m ninety… no, seven years old.”

“Seven? Are you out of your mind?”

“No, no. I’m seven years old….”

“I’m twelve!”

Leon straightened his shoulders and said firmly. Sophia nodded in response.

“Oh, I see… I see. You’ve grown up. No wonder you’re so smart.”

“You’ve been treating me like a fool this whole time…!”

“No, no. You’re just at that age, you know? Going through puberty, so you have all these random thoughts, and even falling leaves make you sad, right? That’s why I said it. I didn’t mean to treat you like a fool.”

Sophia’s behavior, as if she could see right through him, annoyed Leon.

She was small for a seven-year-old and chubby like an idiot. It angered him that such a child was treating him like a fool.

‘How should I smack her?’

It felt like the situation was on the verge of exploding at any moment.

Leon, with his teeth gritted and glaring at Sophia, was losing his temper. Sophia, trying to calm him down, patted his back.

“You’re still so little. So, of course, you want to rebel against the adults, right? But you have to listen to them to become a good person… you’ll realize that when you’re older. You’ll think, ‘I should’ve listened to the adults sooner.’”

Leon’s face turned a deep red, and veins stood out in his eyes. He clenched his fists and trembled, grinding his teeth.

“You… you… I’m the crown prince… and your speech is so weird…”

He wanted to argue back, but couldn’t find the words. As he stumbled over his words, Sophia tilted her head and asked him again.

“Huh?”

“Ahhhh!”

In the end, Leon couldn’t hold back his tears. His pride was crushed by being mocked by a small child, and he burst into tears.

The servants who were following behind rushed to console him.

Sophia clicked her tongue as she watched them.

“Kids… how am I supposed to deal with them? It’s so hard to keep up with their moods.”