Even while lying in her large, snow-white bed, Marigold often found herself missing the fields of the Dante territory.
More than the feather-stuffed blankets, the soft mattress, or the pleasantly scented bedroom of the Imperial Palace.
She often missed the simple mat at the edge of those fields where green leaves released their fresh scent into the air.
Lying still, she would remember how insects would crawl up her arms and legs, butterflies would land on the bridge of her nose fluttering their wings, and a boy's small palm would stroke her hair. She missed those days.
'Lancel.'
No.
To be precise, she desperately missed the presence of the boy knight, Lancel Dante, who had always stayed by her side.
"Waaaaaah!"
"Eek! What's wrong, Young Lady?"
"I miss Lancel so muuuuuch!"
"Just give up for now. They've told you that you can't go out until you've mastered the proper conduct and mindset of a princess."
"Uuuuugh!"
The tiny fairy Pina fluttered her wings beside Marigold.
To Marigold, who had no suitable conversation partners in the palace, Pina was like a newly found friend.
The fairy had appeared on the night of her 10th birthday, or more accurately...
-I've always been by your side, Young Lady!
It would be more precise to say she had started to become visible.
"Lancel might be angry."
"I doubt it. He seemed like a mature person."
"We fought, and I left without apologizing, and it's been a year since then..."
"Well, that's..."
"..."
"Maybe he's found another girlfriend besides you...?"
"Aaaaargh!"
Bang-!
At Marigold's scream, the door burst open. Imperial servants rushed in with startled expressions.
"Your Highness! What happened?!"
"N-nothing at all. Ahem."
"I thought I heard something..."
"Y-you can leave now. Nothing happened! Ha ha ha! No, I mean, oh ho ho ho!"
A stiff laugh.
Pina muttered beside her, "Don't laugh so awkwardly." Marigold's court etiquette lessons still had a long way to go.
The servants wiped away nervous sweat and bowed their heads.
"Yes, please call us if you need anything. We are at your service anytime."
As soon as the servants withdrew, Marigold began pulling at her hair again.
"Aaaaargh!"
"They'll come back if you keep that up."
"It's all over now. Lancel will be disappointed in me and do all sorts of things with other girls... waaaaaah!"
"I-I don't think he's that kind of person."
"I miss him so muuuuuch!"
"Ugh, it's so noisy I could die. If you want to meet him that badly, just hurry up and pass your etiquette test, manners test, history test, social test, court test, nobility test, dining test, imperial geography test, horseback riding test, swordsmanship test, imperial law test, and so on. Then you can go out whenever you want."
"...It's not easy..."
"The only ones who haven't passed yet are the 3rd Princess and you. The 1st Princess passed everything when she was only five!"
Marigold showed an odd reaction, washing her face like a cat, and grumbled, "But I've only been taking lessons for a year..."
"Didn't the Head Lady-in-waiting scold you yesterday? For not being able to walk with a teacup on your head for five hours."
"Ugh."
Marigold buried her face in her pillow, avoiding Pina's steady gaze.
"Waaaaaah! I haven't even made up with Lancel yet. What if he forgets about me?"
After struggling on the bed for a while, suddenly.
"A letter!"
She lifted her head as if she'd just remembered something.
"Is anyone there?!"
"Yes, do you require something, Your Highness Marigold?"
"I want to send a letter."
.
.
.
===============
[Playtime 0 years 0 days]
—Time remaining until entering the Succession Room: 4 years 364 days 11 hours 33 minutes 15 seconds.
===============
.
.
.
Marigold who became a princess.
A succession chosen without an ending. A 5-year grace period.
A letter containing only the words "I miss you."
'I wonder what state Marigold is in right now?'
At the same time, Lancel was thinking about Marigold while sipping his tea.
1.
Though the imperial family might seem to live carelessly—and in fact, they did—at least during childhood, that wasn't entirely the case.
There was much to learn.
It wasn't hard to imagine what kind of hardships Marigold, who had been preoccupied with cooking, picnics, walks, fishing, and collecting insects, would be facing in the Imperial Palace.
For her, who had become a princess overnight, there would be mountains of things to learn. She would surely be overwhelmed by court nobles swarming around her.
'Even if she says she misses me, it's probably impossible for both of us right now.'
The same was true for Lancel. Though his body had recovered, his physical abilities hadn't fully returned.
Even going to the capital wasn't something he could do alone. Lancel was still too young for that.
It would only be possible after assembling guardians, escorts, servants, and maids—a proper entourage.
"We need to make a grand entrance so those condescending nobles won't look down on us. If our Highness has summoned us, we must prepare adequately to avoid embarrassment."
"...Didn't you say you disliked the capital, Mother?"
"When did I ever say I disliked the capital? People should live in the capital, ho ho ho!"
"..."
Was this the same Lady Dante who had complained dozens of times a day that the capital was full of women like prostitutes and men like hooligans?
To her, Marigold was already "our Highness."
"I'm already excited to see what expressions those damned women will make when they see my face again, ho ho ho ho!"
Well.
Anyway.
She seems pleased?
'About one year.'
About one year until he could meet her again.
'I should focus on training hard.'
Lancel's swordsmanship skills were still severely lacking. His muscles had atrophied during his bedridden period, and his sword skills had regressed along with them.
Training, and more training, was the only answer. After all, an era of knights was coming to the Empire.
"An era of those who wield swords..."
The Empire had a strong tendency to get excited about knights' heroic tales, in addition to affairs and romance. Whether it was swords or magic, there seemed to be an atmosphere of romanticizing and worshipping the art of killing others.
Why?
Lancel found the reason by chance in a book that had fallen to the floor of the study.
-First, because the knight class themselves were the founders of this great empire. Since every aspect of the founding history was knights, knights, knights, and more knights, it's only natural that all people in the Empire who learned this would become obsessed with knights.
-Second, the achievements of His Majesty the Emperor...
'I'll skip this.'
The third point was key.
-Third, sadly, this empire is experiencing an unstable era behind the name of peace. All houses constantly compete over how many strong knights they can raise, frequently engage in pride battles against each other, and sometimes display behavior reminiscent of wars between ruffians—how lamentable!
"Oh my, Young Master! You shouldn't be reading that!"
Just as the author finished lamenting, a maid snatched the book from Lancel.
"Such a valuable book that I can't even throw it away. I should put it somewhere high where you can't reach it."
"I'm not interested anymore, so it's fine."
His curiosity about why the book was labeled as "subversive literature" had already been satisfied.
'Nothing angers people more than stating the plain truth.'
Nobles would be uncomfortable hearing that the Empire was a land full of ruffians who were nobles in name only. Wasn't this the world they created?
In fact.
If all this was due to the influence of a game director who thought of knights as merely "men with good physiques" and randomly placed them throughout the story... would you believe it?
His sister perceived knights as "handsome men with good bodies who happen to be nobles" and mercenaries as "handsome men with good bodies who happen to be commoners with wild charm."
All that mattered were the abs and broad shoulders of the male characters with good physiques; sadly, what kind of world would result from these men being scattered all over the Empire was none of her concern.
Right.
Anyway, it's all his sister's fault. She's the bad one.
Since he would never see her again anyway, Lancel could only feel better by criticizing his sister to his heart's content.
* * *
"Lancel, I'm bringing your personal teacher tomorrow. Since it's too late for you to enter as a squire, you'll need someone to teach you swordsmanship."
"I was planning to learn on my own."
"What nonsense! Learning the sword through self-study is something only mercenaries do. I'd like to teach you myself, but as you know, I'm busy preparing to settle in the capital..."
Viscount Dante continued while chewing his meat noisily.
"Before we leave for the capital, you and your brothers should at least pass the Apprentice Knight Examination, understand?"
"That's just a show test."
"You brat! Where did you learn to talk like that?!"
"Gack!"
Once again, that day's conversation ended with a lump rising on his head.
The next day, the sword instructor appeared. Surprisingly, it was a woman. Around 30 years old, tall, with tightly bound hair.
"Nice to meet you, are you Lancel? I'm Wedley Orland."
"Pleased to meet you, Miss Weo."
"Please don't abbreviate like that."
She was someone who had been wandering the outskirts of the Empire, calling herself a "Free Knight."
It was suspicious that she called herself a Free Knight rather than a Knight Errant or Wandering Knight, but according to his father, she had war experience, so Lancel just accepted it.
"Viscount Dante. If I may be so bold, your son is a genius. If I teach him, he will surely make his name known throughout Rodnis."
"Is that true?"
"How many knights do you think I've seen in my life? I guarantee it. Your son is as brilliant as if one of the great founding heroes has been reborn in this era. He is the material that will become a new star in this Empire, illuminating the entire capital!"
"Oh, my..."
For reference, at the point of saying this, sword instructor Wedley had neither seen Lancel's swordsmanship nor particularly wanted to see it.
But Lancel's father, Viscount Dante, had already fallen for her completely, seemingly unable to extricate himself.
"Lancel Dante, truly a genius, you say!"
"..."
Lancel felt a bit bitter as he realized how this so-called Free Knight had been melting the hearts of nobles to make her living.
Still, having someone watching over him made training more enjoyable than before.
At least she made things less boring.
"Yes, you're working hard, Lancel. When you succeed later, be sure to tell everyone I taught you!"
"Yes..."
"I'm going to take a short nap, so keep doing that. Hurry! The harder you work, the longer I can stay here."
She was certainly a Free Knight. She was exceptionally free-spirited among knights.
Lancel gritted his teeth as he listened to her snoring beside him. Swinging his sword again and again, before he knew it, the sun had set.
'Argh, the limit of my total effort!'
Honestly.
Training without Marigold by his side was much more boring than he had expected.
In a sense, Lancel realized then that she was the driving force behind his efforts.
And as for the new sword instructor.
"Lancel, could you tell them I want duck for dinner tonight? I suddenly want to gnaw on some greasy duck legs. It'll be good for both of us to eat. Right?!"
"..."
"Hurry!"
She was a rather irritating substitute for Marigold. Better than nothing, but still.
Anyway.
Days repeated like that.
Yes. At least until summer passed.
.
.
.
As time passed and autumn of his thirteenth year arrived, when his physical condition had almost returned to its original state.
Lancel's daily life was facing another change.
"...Ah..."
She appeared.
From thirteen-year-old Lancel's perspective.
So tall he had to look up.
The one-horned Marigold.