Fake Cinderella

The work of a family order is diverse. And the choice of visitors and visits seems to be one of them.

Unexpectedly, I'm sorry if I said that, but Phil was a person who took his job properly seriously.

"Her Royal Highness's Tea Party, but you refuse this."

Place an invitation to the same beautiful embossed envelope as the last one at the top of the mountain of absentee envelopes.

I never knew so many invitations were coming.

The content is a lot.

An offer to see the nobility or an invitation to a tea party or night club. I've never been out at all before and still find it amazing to send invitations.

"How?

Lilia tilts her neck.

Apparently, there's no difference in saying no.

"You can just say you've got a cold. Without Nadir's permission, it would be difficult to enter the palace with Her Majesty the Queen. If you tell me you're coming to see me, just tell me you're asleep and you don't want me to. Doctors are people on this side of the spectrum, so I'm gonna make it work."

"Okay."

Perfect pseudo sickness to match your mouth to the doctor. Exactly.

"So I also reject my promise to play with Princess Nadia"

Overlay light pink envelopes on top.

Too bad. I promised to show you Nadi's secret collection.

"Yes."

Phil's decision was based on His Royal Highness's intentions, so I snapped.

"It is best not to leave this palace while His Highness is away from it. For the time being, Her Royal Highness has caught a cold, so she won't come outside, so unfortunately, you can't go peeking at the construction site."

"Yes."

Um, it's a hikikomori... that's what seems boring, but I can't help it.

Even the queen pushes through a pseudo illness, so I guess it's something I won't do thoroughly.

"... it's good to know, Your Highness"

"Normally, children your age are more selfish."

"But it's dangerous."

Sometimes I forget, but I have 33 years of life experience. I don't waste it like a child.

I'm hiding the inclusiveness of an adult woman....... I haven't been able to play it so far though.

"That kind of thing suits Nadir, I'm sure."

Phil laughs because he hates speechless children.

"Even I have something to say to myself. But the timing is right. It's expensive."

Trump cards are what you use when it matters.

"... Exactly. Even if it's a chick, she's a woman."

"Naturally."

I grin.

Selfishness is what I say here.

... and I don't really want to be treated like a child.

Phil-Lynn laughed just a little and turned to Lilia with a serious look.

"Lana Hartley would like Her Royal Highness the Queen and Her Royal Highness the Princess Nadia to create and deliver a declined card on her behalf."

"Okay. … I will deliver it directly to Her Highness the Queen."

"Say hello."

I'll also ask how it goes, Lilia tells me just her lips.

From the Tea Party in the meantime... Yeah, long before that, Lilia has doubts about Her Highness the Queen. Lilia doesn't say it in her mouth, but she did in her mouth when she spoke after the tea party during this time.

(... although not irrelevant...)

I didn't pin anything like this.

Indeed Her Royal Highness Lady Euria is suspicious. Suspicious, or definitely involved, and I have certainty.

On the face of it, Count Stazen is to be returning to his own territory. but I have actually done some research at my request and the report that has already arrived states some facts in support of it.

... but I don't think Her Royal Highness is the killer.

Hmm, I don't think she's trying to kill me.

('Cause she's the queen...)

Yes. She is the queen above all else.

Being a 'queen' before being a wife and mother, that's all that matters to her.

And being a queen, she knows how precious the presence of 'I' is to Dardinia.

If you like or dislike it, even if it's 'dislike' it is it. I can't hurt you, but I probably can't kill you.

(Because 'I', the presumed heir of Elzeveld, is an absolutely necessary part to survive a country called Dardinia)

Now, when my presence is lost, Dardinia is terribly more likely to enter a civil war. I won't even say it immediately because the contemporary Duke is still alive.

Her Royal Highness, who is the queen of this country above all else, will not be prepared to kill me until we have brought Dardinia into a civil war.

And human beings in other countries don't know the true value of being me.

Because they don't really understand the special nature of the country called Dardinia.

"Please, Lilia"

Be careful, tell him without speaking up.

Lilia grinned.

I never want you to be impossible. But the truth is, I didn't even think the Queen's place was that dangerous.

Lilia is Sion's brother-in-law. If there is anything in Lilia, we know that Sion will embark on it.

(Although Her Royal Highness gives precedence to the position of Queen, I don't think she has forgotten that she is a mother... besides, her position as Queen should not undermine the mood of the Royal Cardinal)

The National Church is bitter about granting Her Royal Highness the status of... First Queen to the princess of another country, so she must try to make it obsolete, without having to say immediately if Her Royal Highness commits a scandal.

(I'm not so familiar with the circumstances. Even I know that much, so I guess the reality is tougher)

This does not mean that Her Royal Highness's personal qualities are like this.

And the thorough Church of the Nation is not very fond of His Majesty the King, who makes His Highness the First Queen.

Because of this, His Majesty is known as a church hater.

I hear that even the minimal rituals required are thorough and absent due to ill-health, and that since the crowning, I have stepped into the church countless times.

(Conversely, you favor His Highness Nadir.)

This is because Your Highness is married to me, Lilia said.

The blood of the Dardinian royal family is darker on me than on His Highness. I guess the National Church sees that as an orthodox blood muscle.

"Yes, sir."

Lilia pinches the hem of her skirt and leaves in a gratuitous manner. I grew up in the palace from a very young age. Lilia's measures are very graceful, and I actually imitate them sometimes, too.

Although it is difficult to understand what this means in words, when I can show it in front of me, I can see it clearly. It's just that it's hard to imitate that elegance.

As the door slammed shut, Ho. Phil-Lynn sighed loudly.

"Are you that nervous?

"... well"

Fill or gently shrug your shoulders.

"Like, I'm just not used to it... because I've been a man's belt ever since I got my mind on it"

"Is there no woman near His Highness?

"Yeah, not at all.... This may be misleading, because there's something about him that I hate about women."

"Really?

"Yep.... I might hate a man who hates women"

"But you never put it in your mouth..."

"Yes."

Me and Phil grin face-to-face.

I'm sure me and Phil can get along.

Because we love each other, His Highness Nadir.

"I'd like to make sure."

"What is it?

"Someone, I don't know, someone who's after me... well, maybe that's the way to go... but you're coming, right? While His Highness is away."

"Yes."

Phil nods as if it were a settled fact.

"Is that who you're trying to kill me? Or are you not?

"... really, awesome"

I can sigh in unintentional ways.

"You are the best queen for Nadir."

"Thanks"

I'm very glad to be praised that way, although I'm not sure what that word means.

That is all the more so because of Phil's words of His Highness's daughters and brothers.

"Probably if you're trying to kill me... sometimes I get lost in judgment, but if you're trying to kill me, it's not like I'm really going to kill you every time, is it? Well, it can be as successful as it was the other day… Next, it was a pretty rough raid…"

Look, I knew there was a lot going on out there that I didn't know.

"... but Nadir, I'm going to settle this one, so please take it easy and wait for it"

"Right."

... Perhaps His Highness has a killer's eye star on him.

There is no evidence or confirmation at all, but there is also a name that I can somehow come up with that is overwhelmingly less informative than His Highness. Though maybe I'm wrong.

But I also feel like I'm not as wrong as that.

Finally, maybe I just don't want to admit it.

(But given that His Highness, who would have supreme power, is said to be the substantial supreme power of this country in the first place and has never been disposed of, the culprit is limited, isn't he?)

I had no doubt, as strange as it may be, that His Highness knew the killer.

So if His Highness Nadir is going to settle, just wait for it.

Because what I promised.

He said he'd wait here.

Well, I promise I won't exactly get out of here.

"Oh, can I make sweets?

If you're banned until then, hysterical!

"If it's not a big deal. I just need to say the ladies are making it."

"Good."

"If I'm serious, I want to eat, too. … Your Highness, your Highness, you can be the best confectioner."

"Thank you. If it wasn't Princess Wang, I'd definitely do a confectionery shop. Princess Wang can't have a confectionery shop, but the Duke of Elseveld can!

"Well, there's nothing you can't do. A lot of houses do business."

"That's strange. It seems foolish that nobles should engage in commerce."

Not least, in countries other than Dardinia.

Dardinia is a little different though.

For example, the vast majority of the Northern Marquis are engaged in forestry, and the Southern Marquis are both large farmers. So, they are very aggressive when it comes to economic activity that they have their own sales route or pioneer.

"No, there's hardly any direct commerce, after all. But it is the belief of the Dardinian aristocracy that it is only those who can hold that their duty as nobles can be fulfilled… The idiom 'it is ineffective for a distressed lord to administer good governance to his people' is as good as Dardinia could have done."

Phil's idiom, 'It doesn't work if a troubled lord exercises good governance on his people', is widely used all over the continent in the sense of 'pointless'.

It is true that this idiom was born because it is Dardinian.

Nobility is rich and gracefully partying threesome! It was an image, but that's not all at all.

"It would be nice if the treats I made for the recipe were sold all over Dardinia."

"Recipe?"

"How to make it.... It's a delicate formula or something"

Dardinia, after all, is a little different in another country in another world, even if it is very similar, than it is over there.

That slight difference can affect the treat, so I quite enjoy arranging the other treat into the Dardinian stream.

"Heh."

"One day, I'm gonna make chocolate."

"What is this?

"That's..."

I eagerly breathed into Phil how delicious the "chocolate" was.

Look, Phil near His Highness might get a lot more than me in the hikikomori!

I thought it was a day without any weird philosophy.

Nothing happened again. Today was over. I slept and thought I would welcome the next morning.

At midnight, until Lilia's cuff was thrown into my room.