Embarrassment for the Reincarnated Princess

“Lady Rosemary, shouldn’t you be leaving soon...?”

“Huh, it’s that time already?”

I’d been engrossed in my reading, and when Klaus called for me, I lifted my head out of the book. The blood drained from my face when I checked the clock.

Crap, I’ve only got ten minutes left before the time we’re scheduled to meet!

I noted my page with a bookmark and closed the volume’s cover, then leaped to my feet. After making myself a little more presentable, I exited the room.

I put emphasis on elegance as I racewalked since a princess mustn’t sprint down corridors...no matter how distressed she might be feeling. What on earth is an elegant racewalk? some might ask, but I wasn’t listening.

Today was the day—Miss Irene had set aside some time to tell us about the medicine we’d procured to counter the plague. George had expressed his desire to be there when we heard her presentation, so he’d be coming too. As would Michael, for some reason.

I’d planned to leave a little earlier, so I could be in the room ready to greet them when they arrived, but I was now dangerously close to being late.

What went wrong? I planned everything to give myself enough time... Maybe I destined my own downfall when I surrendered to curiosity and opened that book—it was from a foreign country and I’d gotten it from Lord Julius. But honestly, I thought I had plenty of time before we were all due to meet up.

I loved books, and while reading, I’d often lose track of time. Avid readers should understand. Many an afternoon I’d think, Just a few more pages... Just one more, eking out the experience bit by bit, and then two or three hours would pass me by. If someone said to me, “Well don’t pick up a book if you know that’s gonna happen,” I’d have to keep my mouth shut. But I couldn’t help being curious. This particular volume was a book from another country, and about cooking to boot.

I’d initially opened the cover with the justification that I’d only read a little...but I couldn’t recognize the letters inside. At first, I’d contented myself with just viewing the illustrations, but the text was inexplicably alluring, so I found myself looking up words.

The language seemed to belong to an island region that formed a constituent part of the Kingdom of Schner, but the words were a little different from standard Schnerian. At its core, the lexicon was similar, and the two languages clearly shared a common origin. Is it like a dialect? I wondered, and scavenged through a dictionary. While I was doing that, the time had zipped by in an instant.

I was something of a nerd in spirit—this tendency had so far been true in my previous life as well as this one, and I had a habit of thoroughly investigating everything that piqued my curiosity. What was worse, when I was researching things, I’d become impervious to the noises around me; I remembered how this trait had often earned the frustration of my friends and parents.

I’d never thought of it as a bad habit, but I might have to work a little to redress it, now that it was impeding my arrangements.

I galloped down the stairs. I was in a rush, so my gait threatened to become something fierce, but I took care to keep my footsteps as quiet as possible...

Hmm?

Because of that intent, my ears had been pricked up and attentive, and for some reason I heard the sound of bells. Kling, kling. It was a clear chime beating a regular rhythm.

After descending the stairs and rounding the corner, I glanced down and examined my outfit.

I don’t remember attaching a bell to today’s clothes or my accessories.

My floral-patterned dress was light pink and had a small ribbon on the bodice, as well as lace decorating the cuffs. However, it did not have a single metallic accessory. And there was only a small rose decoration on my lace choker. My low-heeled pumps had a very plain design too.

After I’d looked down to examine my footwear, I caught sight of a tiny shadow sliding up beside me, and my eyes shot wide open.

The adorable tip-tap of its footsteps was joined by the kling, kling sound of a bell. It continued past me as I watched on, stunned. After advancing a meter or so forward, it turned around. A black cat with lustrous fur caught me in its blue, jewellike eyes and tilted its head. A silver bell was attached to the red collar around its neck, and the metal chimed with a light clinking sound.

“Nero!” I said.

Hearing his name called, the cat replied with a lovely purr.

Oh, who’s a clever kitty?! Wait, hang on!

I knelt down and scooped him up. Nero offered no resistance and settled into my arms. I gazed into his eyes and scolded him.

“What are you doing here?” I said. “I’ve told you not to go wandering around.”

I put on a frown and tried to look stern, but Nero didn’t appear to be frightened. He just looked up at me blankly with his large eyes.

God, you’re cute! You’re such a cute kitty! You’ll make the whole world jealous with how cute you are!

He purred delightedly when I stroked the underside of his chin with one of my knuckles. This adorable little thing was called Nero. He was the cat that Michael had saved from being run over by my carriage, but I’d taken him home instead because Michael lived in the Great Temple and couldn’t keep pets.

By this point, I was madly in love. While I might’ve been the sort of hopeless owner who wanted to grant her cat’s every wish, like a grandfather doting on his first grandchild, I couldn’t permit Nero to roam inside of the palace freely.

“You’ve only just recovered from your injury,” I chided.

I gently parted the fur of his coat and found the scar on his right hip joint. This bite wound had left him unable to move, and that’s the reason he’d nearly been hit by our carriage. The injury had been quite deep, so the scar still remained.

Strangely though, the wound had already healed on the day that I’d brought Nero home, and before the week was over, he’d been prancing around my room like normal. I still didn’t understand how that could’ve been possible when the injury had been serious enough to immobilize him.

Well, I might not have understood why, but I was glad that he was better. I was just scared of what might happen if something caused the wound to reopen, so I’d been trying to get him to stay in my room.

“I don’t have the time to take you back...so I suppose I’ll ask someone else to escort you.” I muttered to myself as I walked, and Nero meowed a somewhat firm response. I wonder what he’s saying?

He stretched his body up from within my arms and pawed at my cheek with his foreleg. The feeling of his paw pads lightly pressed against my skin was divine.

“Don’t ‘meow’ me,” I said. I brought the tip of my nose closer to Nero’s face. He didn’t flee but just meowed again.

Well, I have kept him locked up in my room despite his recovery, so could he be protesting that he wants me to let him outside occasionally? We won’t be conducting any official business, and I’m close to everyone who’ll be at the presentation, so I don’t think anyone’ll get mad at me for letting a cat tag along. Besides, this kitty’s really well-behaved.

“Won’t it be too noisy?” I asked.

“Meow.”

“All right, we have a deal,” I said, then chuckled and whispered, “I guess I’ll try to get everyone else on board.”

“Lady Rosemary,” Klaus called out with a reproachful tone in his voice.

“Yes, what is it?” I answered without turning to face him.

I won’t let him reprimand me for having a conversation with a cat. It’s not like he doesn’t witness this pretty much every day in my room. Klaus is supposed to be my personal guard, so it’s about time he gets used to it.

All cat owners are fated to chat with their cherished pets...and also to occasionally revert to baby talk. I considered myself prudent enough to refrain from that behavior when I wasn’t alone, but the area near the greenhouse was practically deserted due to the firm restrictions on who had access to the space, so I wasn’t worried about onlookers.

“Lady Rosemary,” Klaus said again.

“For God’s sake, what, Kl...aus?” I turned around, a little ruffled by Klaus’s incessant calls, and then I froze in place.

Klaus wasn’t the only one standing behind me, slightly off to one side.

I saw myself reflected in a pair of indigo-blue eyes that were wide open. Lutz stood there in stunned silence, his faint lips parted, leaving his mouth agape. To his side, Teo was pressing both his hands against the wall and hanging his head low. I couldn’t see his expression from where I was standing. An awkward silence permeated the area.

Oof.

Klaus stood half a step behind them, and his eyes carried the message, “I tried to tell you.”

What were you waiting for, Klaus? You shoulda told me sooner!!!

“What’s going on?” Lutz asked, his face serious, and I immediately prayed for death.

“Not sure” is the only answer I could give to that query. There isn’t some clear explanation for why people talk to cats! All I can say is that it’s part and parcel of being a cat lover!

“What’re you doing? What do you want to do? Scratch that, what are you trying to do to me?!” Lutz had started his line of questioning with a grumbling mutter, tone flat, but for some reason, he grew more and more energized, so by the end he was shouting.

“Uhh, I’m not trying to do anything to you...I don’t think.”

What am I trying to do? I’m not trying to do anything.

“Argh, what is this feeling?!” he exclaimed. “This churning sensation in my heart?!”

“Like...you wanna kill someone?” I asked. I watched his seemingly irritated behavior, and I went pale, fearing that he might be frustrated enough to turn to murder.

“No!” Lutz denied without delay. He groaned as he scratched at his chest. “Don’t ask me why because I don’t know myself...but I’m gonna come over there and dole out some serious petting, okay?”

Lutz began to make a grasping motion with his hands while fixing a steady gaze toward us, and I lurched a step back while shielding Nero, who was still in my arms.

“Uhhh, no thanks,” I refused.

Nero’s wound might’ve healed, but Lutz is acting too strange for me to hand him over. He’s being kinda scary.

“Cats are delicate,” I explained. “You’ll frighten him if you pet him too roughly.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not after the cat.”

“What do you mean?” I retreated, but Lutz closed in on me. Klaus grasped the hilt of his sword, his eyes cold.

I do want Klaus to come to my rescue, but not with something so pointy.

“Lutz,” someone called. A large hand patted the ice sorcerer on the shoulder. The person who’d cut Lutz’s irregular actions short was his partner, Teo. A moment before, Teo had been pressed against the wall acting crestfallen, so when did he perk up?

Teo’s standard cheerful and chirpy grin had been replaced by a mild smile. His eyes looked tranquil, as though he’d attained enlightenment. He made eye contact with Lutz and slowly shook his head.

“That’s not it, Lutz,” he said. “Nobody’s saying that it’s okay to be rough as long as you’re not doing it to a cat.”

Teo spoke as though he was giving advice, but his words made no sense to me.

“What?” I said.

The two of them nodded to each other, leaving me on my own, tilting my head in puzzlement. I’d completely failed to grasp the meaning of their conversation.

“Women are more delicate than even cats,” Teo said, “and they get hurt more easily. You shouldn’t even contemplate being rough with them.”

Teo fixed an affectionate gaze on Lutz, who bit down on his own lip.

“You’re right...” Lutz relented. “The truth is, all I wanna do is listen to my surging emotions and smother her with affection.”

The sheer absurdity of the situation restored most of my mental faculties. I guess it’s about time for me to take my leave? I don’t wanna keep George and the rest waiting.

I slunk a step forward, aiming to make my exit without letting my footsteps be heard. However, at that very moment, Lutz and Teo turned to look at me simultaneously, as if on cue. I went rigid, dripping cold sweat.

“Which means...” Teo started, showing me his bright, broad grin. “It’s okay as long as we’re gentle. Right, Princess?”

“What’s okay?!” I instinctively retorted after Teo began to writhe his hands in the same manner as Lutz.

Behind Lutz and Teo, my personal guard drew his sword, wearing the same broad grin as they were. “I think I’ll save myself some trouble and let both of you taste my sword at once,” Klaus said. The vein bulging on his temple probably wasn’t a figment of my imagination.

Calling anyone with common sense—urgent assistance required!