The fake princess hides her scheme

Episode 7

“Then, will you guide me around the west side of the castle tomorrow?”

“If that’s what you want, then of course it is. There’s a zoo on the west side, which is more interesting than the garden-filled east side. But seeing you today, I think you might like Princess Alexandra’s street in the center better.”

I was tempted by the words “The Path of the Princess,” but I answered lightly at first.

“Oh, I saw it when I entered the palace. It was a wide street decorated like a market street, right?”

“A market street? Haha. Princess Alexandra was His Majesty the Emperor’s younger sister. She was like a great-grandmother to me. She was so generous that she even brought the entire street stalls of the capital city to the palace. There were even small shops selling food and other necessities, so I often visited there when I was young.”

“Wow, I’m really curious. This is my first time in the Empire, and I came straight to the Imperial Palace so I didn’t even get to see the system.”

“Well, then shall we start by looking at Princess Alexandra’s path tomorrow?”

“I really like it. Thank you for your consideration, Your Majesty.”

As I spoke happily, Calrissian smiled gracefully.

“It’s something that should be done.”

“Why are you so late?”

As soon as I entered the room, a rat came running towards me and whined.

Don’t wipe the spit from your mouth before you speak! You were just dozing off comfortably in the corner!

“Would I have wanted to do that? How could I have the Crown Prince dragging me around like that?”

“Really? I didn’t make any mistakes, did I?”

Clementine asked rather sharply.

I remembered, in order, the time I got caught absentmindedly looking around the garden while only observing the barrier, the time I messed up a game of dominoes, and the time I almost fell down in the hallway a little while ago.

However, it is all in the past, and listening to the fairy’s nagging will not bring about a solution.

So I shouted out loud.

“Of course. Just like you said, I behaved well, innocently yet elegantly like a nineteen-year-old princess! Don’t worry!”

But still, Jwibangul seemed to be suspicious of what I said.

“really?”

It’s pointless to just be quick-witted.

“Really, really.”

I added, urging again and again.

“We agreed to meet again tomorrow? You said you would show me the way to Princess Alexandra!”

Then, the rat’s eyes narrowed.

“The path of Princess Alexandra? Did you really make a mistake?”

“Why, why do you think so?!”

Clementine explained with a serious face as I shouted even louder, my conscience prickling.

“Princess Alexandra’s Way is not a place that is usually introduced to a distinguished guest. As I said before, the pride of this palace is its garden and zoo.”

Am I being too obvious about not liking gardens that I left out the zoo too?

Crown Prince, you’re colder than you look.

How are plants and animals the same?! Animals move and make sounds!

Although I was a little worried inside, I continued to push through.

“I told you that I was sick when I was young and stayed in the castle, so you said I would enjoy it more.”

Then I tried to sneak a peek at the fairy.

“You must be thinking I’m a princess, but the crown prince is much kinder than you think. By the way, is there a pocket you’re trying to hide in that room… .”

But before I could ask anything, Jwibangul got angry and interrupted.

“What? Is the crown prince a good guy?”

The guy suddenly started making such loud noises that I was startled, so I covered my ears and shook my head.

“Shut up, you ignorant fairy! Do you want to get arrested for insulting the royal family?”

But the rat continued to grumble.

“The crown prince is not a good person! He is evil by nature! He pretends to be kind, saying things like “Saetbyeol” and all, but it must all be a setup! It’s just like you are a fake princess!”

No, even if the crown prince is a bit of a coward, isn’t it too much to compare him to a fake princess like me?

I was on the Crown Prince’s side like any good citizen of the Empire, but Clementine was so excited that I just kept my mouth shut.

Instead, he asked quietly.

“What… is that story based on something?”

“Of course! Their mother told my sister before… …!”

But after Rat-Ball finished speaking, he vomited and collapsed.

Haa, here we go again… … .

In fact, this is the very reason why I hate rats, but I can’t completely push them away and just meow at them.

The Rat-Ball guy is inherently subordinate to his master, so if he tries to reveal a secret or doesn’t follow orders, he will immediately suffer side effects and pass out.

In other words, the guy ends up being used by a vicious master.

The endangered fairy tribe.

It is widely known that their nature is not that evil, so of course I know that.

It may be useless in the imperial city, but if the few fairies with magic had been a little more cunning, they would not have been endangered.

In any case, Rat-Ball wouldn’t wake up for several hours, and the affair between his older sister and the deceased empress would remain a secret.

It seems like there was something… … .

I carefully picked up the tiny mouse, which barely reached my belly button, and carried it to the bed.

As I realized that I was completely alone, I felt a sudden emptiness in the back of my neck.

Because you can’t bring magical tools into the Imperial Palace, you had to leave your friendship necklace behind. Of course, even if you brought it, it wouldn’t work because of the barrier.

Necklace, Raphael will be watching over me well… … .

Millie, are you okay?

Are you willing to wait for me to work here for a month?

I sat on the floor, hugging my knees, giving the rat a large bed.

The spacious and splendid rooms of the palace were actually quite frightening.

Actually, I, April Bayswater, have a pretty intuitive name.

A child abandoned at a Bayswater orphanage around April, that’s me.

As is often the case with these stories, the director of the daycare was not a good person.

We often went hungry, and had to beg on the streets as soon as we learned to speak.

But even at the bottom of my misfortune, I was able to gather happiness as small as glass beads and skillfully string them together. This was because I had been with Raphael since I was a child, a time I can’t even remember.

Raphael was smart, loving, and my only family.

But when we were six years old, Raphael was adopted into a lower-class noble family.

Left alone, I became discouraged and decided to die.

That seemed better. After all, I’m not as smart as Raphael, so I wouldn’t be adopted into a noble family.

When I started refusing food, the director of the daycare laughed at me.

“Have you decided to save on food now? I was worried about how I would raise you, a pretty face, and sell you to a blind man, but this is the best idea you’ve ever come up with!”

It didn’t matter whether he thought I was great or not.

I had lost my only family member, and I knew she would never come back to this hell to see me again.

When I made up my mind like that, Milligent came. The child who came to the orphanage after her only grandmother passed away was brave only in front of others.

Be that as it may, I was about to die, so I didn’t tell her my name no matter how much she asked.

A puppy abandoned in Bayswater in April.

I didn’t think names like that were important anyway.

But Milligent was a child different from me, who spent her short life rolling around in the abyss of misfortune. She was like a ray of sunshine, having grown up with her grandmother’s love.

A few days later, when Milligent finally found out my name, he smiled brightly as if he had won the lottery.

“I knew it! In April, you can pick wild strawberries in the mountains. They’re a pretty color, just like your hair!”

“raspberry……?”

Who would have thought that, looking at my hair, which was all covered in dust.

But even though I had never seen a raspberry before, I felt an inexplicable hunger at those words.

Milligent smiled and took something out of his pocket. It was a dried strawberry.

For me, who had only been drinking water for a week, strawberries tasted like heaven for the first time. I didn’t cry when Raphael left me, but I cried like an idiot.

Milligent gave me all the strawberries he had in his pocket.

“When April comes, let’s go pick strawberries together. There are also lots of other fun things to do!”

I ate the strawberry right there in a hurry. It was the last strawberry Milligent’s grandmother had left, and I didn’t even realize it, like an idiot.

Then I made a promise to Milligent.

I decided to live until April when I could pick strawberries again.