Baby Prisoner of the Winter Castle

I mustered up the courage to look up at those words, but—.

The boy only looked down at Clarisse sharply with a reddish-purple complexion.

There was no sign of joy to be found anywhere.

‘Mallang, are you sure?’

Perhaps he knew Clarisse was doubting it in her heart, the whisper came back.

“Cooh. (They say they haven’t seen such a bright side in the last 6 months.)”

…What kind of life has he been living for the last six months?

Clarisse looked up at the boy and dared to imagine his time.

Never mind, his eyes are scary.

But it failed.

“You.”

“…Yes! Prince, hiccups.”

Clarisse was suddenly responding and had a hiccup.

“Are you the Duchess’s maid?”

“Yes? Hiccups.”

Clarisse was about to say no after the question was asked, but the hiccups kept interrupting her speech.

“Is the Duchess using a child as her maid like this? Well, anyway, it’s good. Even if it wasn’t, I had a question.”

“No, hiccup.”

Without a chance to make an excuse, another hiccup came out and the misunderstanding deepened.

“Prince! Where are you now!”

Then, someone’s voice was heard from afar.

Prince Valentine hurriedly took Clarisse and hid her in a canal under a tree cave.

“Hiccup.”

“You, come here tomorrow too. Got it?”

“Yes? Hiccup!”

“If you don’t come out, I’ll really kill you…!” 

At the boy’s words, holding out a fist, Clarisse turned pale and quickly nodded.

“D, don’t kill… Hiccups!” 

“Yeah, if you come out quietly, I will spare you.”

He smiled broadly.

It didn’t seem to be fun— It was a scary smile for some reason. 

It was only when he saw Clarisse startled that he hurried out of his canal, satisfied.

Clarisse watched him disappear, squatting in the waterway.

“He looks like a scary person.”

“Cooh. (They say he likes you. Does he have high eyes on the subject of a kid?)”

“Isn’t the stone mistaken?”

Cooh. (They say it’s because he’s in puberty these days. By the way, who does he dare to covet?)”

While Mallang grunted, Clarisse crawled through the waterway and returned to the garden of the villa. 

Fortunately, no one found out about her little mistake.

Clarisse explored the inside of the garden again, but couldn’t play to her heart’s content because she was bothered by the prince she had just met.

* * *

In the evening, the Duke returned from his audience.

The Duchess, who met her mother at the hospital, also returned to the villa.

They asked Clarisse how her day was, but the girl couldn’t tell about Prince Valentine.

He had also said that he wouldn’t let her go if she told them. On the other hand, she felt like she had to do that to see him again. She needed to clear up his misunderstanding.

Instead, after returning to the room, she held the red stone that Noah had given as a gift and told the story of Valentine.

“He was a very beautiful boy. Although he was scary.”

[….]

“Why does he want to see me again?”

[Girl, is there any other story?]

“Eung?” 

[Listening to the story of another boy, I feel uncomfortable on a physiological level.]

“Cooh.” (There’s no physiological dimension to minerals, you fool.)

[Foreign stones are silent. This is a problem between the girl and our Noah.]

“Coo. (Don’t put Clarice and that little cat into one problem!).”

In a fit of rage, Mallang jumped up on the bed and scattered it with pebbles.

“I thought of it when I heard the word unpleasant.”

Clarisse, who had been listening to their conversation, rolled over on the bed.

“Even the Duke didn’t seem to be in a good mood this evening.”

It was when the Duchess told the story of her visit to the capital’s central hospital.

｢She traveled far from the count, and I wonder if Mrs. Woods was uncomfortable.｣

She answered with a smile to the story the Duke had told her first.

｢Yes, fortunately, Harry brought my mother with him. Ah, Harry is my good friend. How nice it was to meet him after a long time…｣

When she heard the name ‘Harry,’ which was clearly a man, Clarisse saw it clearly.

The Duke’s expression hardened.

Could that be the ‘discomfort at the physiological level’ that the red stone talked about?

‘I don’t know.’

Anyway, after a few seconds, the Duke returned to his usual calm state. 

“Why is everyone in a bad mood today?”

Clarisse only got to know the handsome Prince Valentine.

The Duchess was just reunited with an old friend.

“It’s really strange.”

* * *

Valentine, who escaped from the waterway, quickly ran to the servant who was looking for him.

‘It was a strange girl.’

He thought again of the amber-eyed girl who jumped out of the black water canal. 

The mysterious pink hair matched the round face very well. 

That doesn’t mean he thought she was particularly pretty, though. 

‘She’s a very cheeky girl.’

How dare she look straight into the Prince’s eyes and answer clearly. 

‘Still… She knew who I was.’

Valentine was very curious about that.

Even though he was the third son of the previous king, not many people recognized him.

He hadn’t been properly introduced to people yet, and no nobles were looking for him on purpose.

The reason why he, second in the line of succession, was so neglected was related to the fact that Lysander married at the same time as he ascended the throne.

The nobles thought that the young royal couple would soon have an heir, and then Valentine would become more and more distant from the throne.

In addition, the Great Queen had never accompanied her young son to any official place, so very few people knew his face.

‘How did you know me?’

It was the first time.

Who recognizes him at a glance and calls him ‘Prince.’

They were usually only asked, ‘Which family are you from?’

Somehow a laugh came out.

“You are here, Prince.”

“Oh, yes! Why did you look for me?”

“Her Highness the Great Queen is looking for you.”

“M, mother?” 

It was so rare that Valentine couldn’t hide his joy and asked back.

“Yes, she wants to meet you right now. You’d better hurry.”

As soon as the attendant had finished speaking, Valentine almost ran and headed for the palace of the Great Queen.

He had lived all his nine years of life inside the third wall, so he knew every road that connected each building.

Both the officially used path and the secretly used path.

Through the fastest road he knew, the boy arrived at the huge palace called the Heart of Heiden.

Even after the death of the former king, the Great Queen didn’t retreat to her detached palace, and she was the owner of this huge main palace.

King Lysander, a son known for his filial piety, never went against his mother’s will.

Valentine shrank his shoulders slightly, a little nervous in front of the nature that had been coming for a long time.

In fact, he had been living in a small detached palace a little far from here, so it was difficult for him to act confidently in the main palace where so many people came and went.

The boy arrived in front of his mother’s office with trembling steps.

Soon after the servant’s announcement, the door opened, and Valentine made use of the elegant manners he had learned so far to raise a wonderful greeting to his mother.

The door was opened as soon as the servant spoke, and Valentine, using the elegant etiquette he had learned so far, gave a nice greeting to his mother.

“I, I greet Your Highness, the Great Queen.” 

Ah, what should I do?

Valentine wanted to pinch his mouth, which stuttered like a fool.

As expected, he could feel the servant standing next to the Great Queen’s monument secretly looking at him disapprovingly.

‘What if my mother is also disappointed…?’

Over his nervous head, the Great Queen’s kind reply soon returned.

“Welcome, my son.”

My son.

At the affectionate title, Valentine raised his head with a flushed face.

There, Amelda Sapher, the royal rose that is said to never wither, was smiling softly.

Even at the age of fifty-four, with her already grown son, she still had her own qualifier of beauty.

Valentine was always proud of his mother above all else.

Especially the blue eyes shining like jewels—.

It was the greatest treasure Valentine had inherited from his mother.

Every time he looked in the mirror, he was glad that the traces of his mother seemed to be left on him. 

‘What… did she call me for?’

Is she going to compliment him? 

Valentine started preparing for the official exam on his own some time ago.

In fact, there was no reason for the royal family to take such a test because they didn’t have to worry about eating for the rest of their life.

But he wanted to become a good grown-up who was liked by his mother, so he wanted to prove his usefulness somehow. 

If he gets a good score in the official exam, he will be known in the newspaper and recognized as the best talent in the country.

Valentine wanted to put himself in the position and began to devote himself to his studies.

‘It’s embarrassing to be expected too much.’

Even as he thought so, he clasped his hands neatly together in vain.

“Do you remember what I told you before?”

Amelda carefully set her glass down on her table.

“Why did I give birth to a son?”