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Translated by Momo. Unedited.

Yuina had a dream since she was small.

Someone might think it was a normal and naive dream for a girl. Even so, people around her didn't think much of it.

However, Yuina has always longed for it since she was a child.

To meet her own prince, have a wonderful love story, let him have her first time, and get married, and then they would live happily ever after.

That was the only thing she yearned for.

"Isn't this normal!?" Yuina thought about it and felt like it was a common dream that every girl longing for love had before. All her female friends had probably expressed that same wish at least once. However, before she could notice it, she was the only one left behind.

"Yuina fantasizes about love too much." That was what she got tired of hearing from her friends as they got older. "What's wrong with dreaming about love!" She thought to herself.  On the contrary, she was impressed by the fact that they could easily do it with a person who wasn't their 'fated partner', break up, and then just move onto the next person.

Yuina decided that she only needed to be with one person in her entire life. To find and be with that person would be her ultimate happiness. Everyone would tell her, "Don't worry so much and just have some fun!" but Yuina couldn't have her first time with someone she didn't really love. She thought she could only expose herself fully to the person she was going to marry.

It was probably because Yuina was extremely timid. She has always been a shy child, and even now she was still a little hesitant and anxious when dealing with others.

"It doesn't matter, the prince who will only love me will surely appear someday!" While daydreaming like that, Yuina had already turned eighteen years old.

All of her friends already had a relationship with men. Of course, they also have had that other kind of experience. The more precocious would already be married and a good number of them were engaged.

In other words, Yuina, who hadn't even experienced her first love, had been left behind.

***

“That's exactly what I like about you, Yuina. If I were a man, I would love to become your prince, you know.”

Yuina, sitting curled up on the bed, looked up to the person who said those gentle words. The owner of the room, Kokone, smiled as she looked back at her.

"I'm sorry for annoying Kokone all the time."

"What are you talking about? I'm always having fun with Yuina."

Kokone laughed, swaying her glossy black hair. She was one year older than Yuina and was a beautiful lady. Not only she had good looks, but she was also smart and had a good personality. She has taken good care of Yuina since childhood, and while being like an older sister, she was also a close friend. For the shy Yuina, she was the most reliable companion.

"Rather, it's amazing that Yuina wasn't taken by anyone until now. You are so adorable."

"...Hmm...thank you?"

Yuina tilted her head a little troubled. She couldn't really refute it and say, "I'm not adorable!" Certainly, she was often deemed cute by other people. Fluffy whitish blonde hair and big green eyes. Yuina, who was petite and a little shy, looked like a small animal, and she was loved by her female friends like a pet. And guys would also tease her about it. When she was still a kid, they used to play pranks at her in order to catch her attention, and now they would strike with date invitations as casual as greetings.

For Yuina, who longed for sincere and honest love, the loose attitude of those men was unacceptable. So even though she yearned for love, she also felt that men were untrustworthy.

Of course, she had also received some honest confessions. Sometimes a man with a bright red face would seriously ask, "Please go out with me!" But Yuina didn't feel like she was destined to be with any of them so far.

Yuina had faith in it. Certainly, she will know who her prince was at the moment they met. The moment they meet, they will fall in love.

That was why every man she had encountered until this moment wasn't meant for her.

When she said that, her friends would answer with a wry smile.

"Yuina, how can you be so absorbed in your fantasies?! You can't understand men unless you sleep with them!"

She wondered when did her friends learn to speak such brazen words. When did everyone change from a girl to a woman?

Yuina felt like she was really the only child left behind. Even though she was already eighteen.

At times like this, she was disdainful of the way people in this kingdom were so bold over these matters. Looking at foreign lands, there were places where it was natural to keep your chastity until marriage, so why did the Lucott Kingdom have to be so liberal about sex. She was a bit sad when she thought she was born in the wrong place.

"Maybe I should really try to go out with someone after all."

She tried to say those words of advice to herself, even though she wasn't convinced at all. She wasn't exactly proud of it, but with Yuina's appearance, she could probably arrange a lover by the next day. Of course, she would at least want to choose her partner. She wanted to focus on their personality, not appearance. Of course, she wouldn't refuse if it was a good looking person, but above all, a sincere person would be nice. Men who were rumoured to be dating various women at the same time were absolutely out of the question.

"Don't give up, Yuina. You shouldn't start dating someone for such a trivial reason. It's okay. Yuina will definitely meet a good catch. If you don't, I'll bear the responsibility and find you a good man."

After having her own statement refuted, Yuina exhaled. She knew herself. She only tried to voice it out loud. She knew Kokone would tell her otherwise, so she wanted to act a bit spoiled. And Kokone, as always, supported her.

"I really adore her.", Yuina looked affectionately at her best friend.

The two of them became friends because they happened to live next to each other. Kokone was one year older than her, so she pampered Yuina like a little sister.

Kokone was the daughter of a well-known merchant, and Yuina was only a commoner, but her family wasn't poor. Since her family had a prosperous business, Kokone was well educated and resourceful. In the near future, as the only daughter, she would marry someone who would take over their family business. The fiancé had already been decided. It was the second son of another merchant who had a business at the same level as her family. Yuina had met him before, and he was a very nice person who looked good with Kokone.  She was certain those two people would be able to protect their family patrimony.

Kokone was working as a court lady in the royal palace as part of her studies. Although her family had good connections, the fact that she was able to work in the Royal Palace was purely her own achievement.

This room where Yuina was in now was located inside the castle, and it was an exclusive place for the attendants. Yuina often stayed there.

Yuina, a servant, wouldn't be given a single room for herself. She wasn't that far from home, but when it became late, Kokone would just let her stay with her.

Indeed, it was only thanks to Kokone that Yuina could work at the Royal Palace as a servant. Kokone, who earned the trust of her peers, introduced Yuina. As expected, this wasn't a workplace that accepted anyone. They would usually be people from respected families, or who had recommendations from trusted sources and extraordinary talent.

At the same time, Kokone simply recommended Yuina because she knew she admired the workers at the Royal Palace. She must have been worried about her introverted friend that lacked life experience. Yuina knew her friend wanted to expand her horizons and made arrangements so that she could be there.

The Royal Palace was always very busy, and Yuina herself never stopped moving around all day even though she was only a servant. Still, she was really happy that she was able to work there. She had never set foot in the central area, but she would still see high ranking officials walking around occasionally, and in the laundry baskets there were fine clothing that she had never seen before, and there were the court ladies who worked very hard and there was even a female chief.

Seeing and being a part of such a world, Yuina's perspective expanded. For the romantic Yuina, the royal family, knights, heretical mage, genius civil officer,^[1] and so on, that she could occasionally get a glimpse at, were exactly like the people in the storybooks.

Just looking at those people from a distance made her feel very excited.

Well, even among such wonderful people, there were many men who were accustomed to playing around with women and tried to seduce Yuina. They did look nice. But the players from the Royal Palace had an even more shady atmosphere than the ones among common people.

Even Yuina, who wasn't used to this kind of approach, could tell that they acted as they have 'done it' with countless women from their accustomed attitude.

When such men called her out, Yuina's daily routine was to look down, say nothing and try to escape desperately. While seeing Yuina like that, the other servants around her started to sympathize and said "This child just can't play around." and started to protect her. Every time that happened, everyone was kind to her and it warmed her heart.

Yuina's job was mostly trivial chores. Even so, she couldn't handle it well sometimes. When she looked at Kokone and other court ladies handling their busy jobs, she realized her low ability level.

However, because she worked hard, everyone got along well with her. Feeling happy about that, Yuina ran around as a servant of the Royal Palace day by day.

1. Yeah, some Cleatt cameos coming soon. The heretical mage is the ML of the 3rd story xD

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