Chapter 45

Since everyone was already gathered, they decided to have a tea time.

Including Kal, who'd been sneakily trying to slip away.

Kal didn't talk much and rarely joined conversations, so Iberin made a point of reaching out to him.

"Kal, what kind of drink do you like?"

"…Something cold would be fine."

"Something cold? Should I get you an ade?"

"Yes."

Iberin's preference was fruit tea with honey, served warm.

The truth was, she liked cold things like Kal did, but her body couldn't handle anything chilled, so she'd given up on them.

"Mommy, Ether likes milk tea."

"Mommy knows everything Ether likes."

"Hehe."

Looking pleased, Ether nuzzled his cheek against Iberin's forearm.

It was a very cat-like little gesture.

"Rozelia likes milk with sugar."

"Yes, hehe."

"Your Highness, you'll have the same as me, right?"

"Yes. That's right."

Iberin wasn't the one preparing any of it, but just naming what they wanted was enough — the garden never ran out of laughter.

"Oh, that reminds me — is Rozelia doing well?"

"No."

Lyssel was also in charge of Rozelia's holy power training.

"I heard she's been working hard?"

"Her will is full to the brim."

"It's okay to take it slow."

"Hmph. Don't talk about my training. Like Ether's actually good at anything?"

"I am too!"

"Yeah, right."

Somehow the two of them had started bickering again.

Iberin watched them for a beat, then asked Lyssel,

"Were they fighting like this before I got back?"

"No."

So that was a no.

"Then why are they fighting this much now?"

"I think it's probably because of you, Iberin."

"Me? Why?"

Iberin's eyes flew open in surprise.

"Because Ether keeps trying to keep you all to himself!"

"Mommy's Ether's mommy!"

But really — if they were going to fight like this every single day, when were they ever going to fall in love?

Iberin kept feeling this faint, unplaceable unease.

The original story had already been twisted past saving, hadn't it?

Still — Ether had always been the sub male lead anyway, so as long as Rozelia and Yel got together, that would do the trick. Right?

Iberin told herself.

Just then, Rozelia asked,

"Honestly, I don't think I can win against Ether. But you like me better than that mister, right?"

Lyssel twitched.

"Why are you dragging me into this?"

"Then who am I supposed to drag?"

Ether was grinning nonstop, apparently delighted by the news that she couldn't beat him.

Rozelia couldn't stand the sight and snapped,

"Next time I'm gonna win!"

"Hee-hee. I don't know, Ether feels so good right now."

Unable to contain his happiness, Ether smacked little kisses all over Iberin.

"Rozelia. I really do love you too."

"I know. I'm lovable."

"…Yes."

"And I'm gonna beat Ether someday, but still — you like me more than the mister, right? Just tell me that, please?"

"Of course!"

Iberin answered without missing a beat, and Rozelia shot Lyssel a wicked little smirk.

"Yes! See that? See? You're third place, mister."

"…Iberin."

"Sorry…"

Iberin let out a sheepish laugh.

---

These days, Lyssel was so busy you couldn't catch sight of him unless Iberin went looking for him in person.

It wasn't about managing the Forest of the World Tree. If anything, the forest had been pushed to the back burner.

Before, once he set foot in the Forest of the World Tree, he wouldn't come back for at least a week. Now he handled room and board at the main building and spent almost all his time at the estate.

Then, only once Iberin was asleep, he'd slip out to the forest for a bit, hunt some monsters, and come back.

His hunting time had gotten so short she was starting to worry.

The Seed of Evil was, after all, something close to poison for Lyssel.

"Your Highness, I heard you went into the forest again last night."

"Yes."

"Are you sure that's all right? You used to stay out longer, didn't you?"

"I'm managing it well."

Lyssel said it like a don't worry.

Then again — if anything had been off, he wouldn't have come back to her side.

"How do you usually manage it?"

"When I kill a monster, I release demonic energy. The energy's powerful enough that even monsters can't handle it."

True — it was demonic essence carved into a seed laced with divine power.

It wasn't your run-of-the-mill seed.

"But you have to be tired, going out every night."

"I'm not tired at all."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"If you ever do get tired, don't push it."

"Understood."

In any case, going out to chip away at the monsters every night had piled the bodies up into a small mountain.

Lyssel had even started taking on the work Iberin used to handle.

Financial management and running the estate.

She'd recovered enough to work, but Lyssel's "let's hold off for now" wasn't an opinion she could brush aside.

So while Lyssel worked, Iberin sat on the office sofa studying imperial language and going through history books.

And Lyssel had taken charge of Iberin's lessons as well as Ether's and Rozelia's.

The tutors the imperial court would send couldn't be trusted, and as for finding new ones — who'd come to Lecashe?

Even if someone did come gladly, there was no guarantee they weren't the emperor's hooks in the door.

Which was why these days, Lyssel was running himself ragged.

Even busier than back when he'd spent whole days in the forest.

"Iberin, did you take your medicine?"

"Yes — I took it earlier, remember?"

"Ah, right. Should I tell them to bring some dessert?"

"Had that too."

"Ah."

"Am I bothering you, being here, Your Highness?"

"Not at all. If there's anything you don't understand, ask me whenever, however you like."

"You're busy, Your Highness."

"I'm not busy."

"If something comes up I don't know, I'll ask. Anyway, when you're tired, just say so. I'll help."

"Thank you."

A small smile touched Lyssel's mouth.

---

Rozelia loved Iberin.

Loved her too much.

At first Iberin had figured the girl was just trying to stay on her good side — given that everyone at Lecashe couldn't tell her no.

But over time her behavior crossed into territory that couldn't possibly be an act.

"Rozel."

"Yes."

"You said you liked it here. Because everyone treated you so well."

"Yes."

"Then why do you only ever stick to my side?"

Rozelia blinked for a moment, as if trying to work out what the question was getting at.

Then her face went absolutely scandalized.

"Whaaat?! Don't tell me this lovely, adorable Rozelia is being a bother to you?"

"What?"

That startled Iberin too.

How had her mind jumped there?

"That's not it!"

"Then why ask?"

"Well — because when you first said you wanted to stay here, it was because everyone was being nice…"

"You were jealous!"

"……."

Iberin lost the ability to speak.

The girl bounced from one place to another — and then some.

Granted, it was charming…

"Right? Jealous, right?"

"Sure, jealous."

At that, Rozelia could've died of happiness.

"And the reason?"

"Just because I like you!"

"Why do you like me, though?"

Liking someone and wanting to stick close to them made sense, but Iberin had a hunch there was something else underneath.

Sure enough, after a small silence, Rozelia said,

"Mm, you feel like a real grown-up."

"A real grown-up?"

"Yes, the kind of grown-up I thought only existed in my imagination."

What kind of adults had this girl been around?

Iberin could tell she didn't mean it in a bad way, but it gave her a condensed, undiluted picture of how rough Rozelia's life had been.

She'd suspected as much.

The girl had said she'd come from the orphanage to the temple.

Nine years old, and adults had passed her around with no thought for what she might want.

And once her holy power wouldn't perform, they'd thrown her away.

"I don't know what kind of grown-up you imagined, but from now on, only good things are going to happen. Everyone here is a good person — you can see that."

"Yes. Honestly, at first I just wanted to butter you up so I could stay, but you turned out to be even better than I thought. And I can tell the others are good too."

"Thanks for thinking that."

The truth was, Iberin didn't know much about Rozelia's childhood in the original.

She hadn't even known the temple had judged her useless and thrown her out.

When the novel started, Rozelia was already the saintess and the adopted daughter of Duke Cherity.

Duke Cherity hadn't married, and he had no children, so Rozelia was also the sole heir of that house.

The heroine in the original carried so many titles.

She'd been a character in a book, so whether she'd been happy was something you only knew from the narration.

Iberin had always assumed she had been — but maybe that wasn't true.

"So, Rozel — are you happy?"

"Yes! The happiest of my whole nine-year life!"

The Rozelia she had now, the one who lived with "I'm pretty and lovely and adorable!" permanently on her lips, wasn't the bright, sunny heroine of the original.

She could be a little impudent at times… but she did seem clearly better off here.

"That's good."

Iberin reached out and gave the back of Rozelia's head a few soft pats.

If her plan was to make Lecashe happy, why shouldn't the heroine be part of it?

The original would sort itself out somehow. It was already a wreck anyway.

---

She was past bored — she was bored.

Everyone treated Iberin like spun glass, and she couldn't do anything herself without someone fussing.

Lately she was a little annoyed at how thoroughly her hands and feet had been tied, but she could put up with it.

She knew they were doing it for her.

And just in time, Iberin had found herself a new hobby of sorts.

That hobby was being good to Rozelia.

"Rozel."

"Lady Iberin!"

Ether, who couldn't bear to see Rozelia hogging Iberin to herself, was always part of the package.

Aside from training time, Ether seemed to spend almost every waking moment beside her.

Kal had recently started sword training alongside Ether.

He'd started learning from the butler, more as health and conditioning while he worked, but he'd turned out to be more talented than expected, so they'd gone ahead and made it official.

Kal seemed to be enjoying it too — he was pretty serious about it.

"What were you doing?"

"Hero game with Ether and Kal!"

"Hero game?"

"Yes! I'm the hero!"

Rozelia broke into a wide grin and threw a little fist in the air.

She'd probably won at rock-paper-scissors, which had become one of the games that had caught on at Lecashe thanks to Iberin.

That said — if Rozelia was the hero…

"Then Ether's the villain?"

"…Hngh."

Ether didn't seem at all pleased about being the villain — he stood there limp, wooden sword in hand.