“I deeply apologize for what I’ve done.”

I was currently in Prince Rashmere’s room in the inner palace, prostrating myself. I didn’t know if this gesture worked in this world, but I nevertheless apologized. I had pointed a sword at the royal family. This was bad. I would be sentenced to death. I’d thrown a huge wrench into my wonderful plan to run away from home… My baby brother, your big sister will do her best to make sure that you don’t get executed.

“This event was the result of my ignorance. My family is completely unrelated, so please…”

“Hey, just calm down.”

“I alone will be punished!”

“Lucie! What are you saying?!”

Father, be quiet!!!

“I beg for your forgiveness.”

“I told you to calm down!”

Smack!

“Ow! Please don’t hit me!!!”

The prince landed a chop on my head. I knew that he held back quite a bit, but it hurt nevertheless. I held my head.

“Shut up. It’s because you were saying such stupid things!”

Then Prince Rashmere grabbed my arm and pulled me up.

“Prince Rashmere, I—”

“Shut up already. I heard what happened. You didn’t do anything wrong this time.”

“…But—”

“Enough already. Stop talking.”

“No, I won’t. I—”

“Like I said, no one is going to punish your family. I’ll even call Father and get him to write it on paper.”

“Please don’t! But—”

I was about to make things worse again when Princess Eiry stopped me.

“Lady Lucie, I’m the one at fault, so you don’t need to apologize.”

The one I had encountered who posed as Prince Rashmere was actually the first princess, Princess Eiry. She had changed clothes now from the prince’s clothes into a dress. She clearly looked like a female now instead of a male, but her face was still the same as her brother’s. I was shocked to learn that they weren’t twins.

According to Father, Princess Eiry looked exactly like Prince Rashmere to the point of being confused for twins, so she often stole her brother’s clothes and played pranks on their tutors and maids. It seemed that Father caught onto this, but no one else had. Why didn’t he tell me this?!

“Still, I’m sorry for what happened… You know…for also insulting your knights…”

Now that I had thought about it, I was quite rude with my words before. I was sure they saw me as a damned brat.

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that matter either.” The one who answered was Father. “It’s just as you said, Lucie. They’ve failed as knights if they mistook the one they’re supposed to guard with a body double…”

“Are you going to fire those knights…?”

“It’s fine. In fact, there are hardly any people who can tell the difference between the two royals. If such a rule was in place, half of the castle’s knights would have to be fired. So don’t worry about it.”

I was relieved.

“Lady Lucie, I haven’t introduced myself, have I? I am the first princess, Eiry Sarah Asteria. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

She showed a lovely curtsy.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am the eldest child in House Listell. My name is Lucie Lina Listell. I apologize for the trouble I have caused you today.”

I introduced myself in return.

“No, rather, I’m amazed that you didn’t fall for my trick. You have my admiration. As expected of the sword that protects the king.”

Princess Eiry looked composed as she observed me with sparkles in her eyes.

“The only ones who can tell us apart are the Listells and our parents. Isn’t that great, Brother?”

Prince Rashmere blushed and looked away.

“It’s only natural. She’ll never mistake me for someone else. That’ll be outrageous.”

Why do you have to sound so haughty, Your Highness?

“Oh my, Brother, you must really love Lady Lucie.”

Lady Eiry’s face lit up.

“How did you come up with that?!”

The siblings appeared to be quite close with each other. What a wonderful thing.

“Then, I should head back now. Eiry, don’t cause too much trouble for Lucie.”

“What? I would never! How rude.”

Eiry pouted, puffing out the cheeks of her lovely face.

“Please be her friend,” the prince softly said to me as he left the room.

He didn’t have his usual arrogant look; instead, his eyes showed his concern as an older brother for his younger sister. How adorable could this boy be?! Although it was still a bit disgusting.

“Then, Princess Eiry—”

“Just Eiry. We’re the same age, after all.”

“…Then Lady—”

“Just Eiry.”

“…Eiry.”

“Yes, that’s good,” she said with a smile. Wow, as expected of an adorable girl who resembled His Highness. Her face was so beautiful that I couldn’t help but be in awe.

“I really don’t have many…no, I don’t have any friends. And while I do have my hobby, it’s…” she said, dragging her words.

I looked at her, thinking that she must have felt alone. But, for her to have no friends… Well, I guess that was bound to happen with royalty. It was only natural that other children kept their distance, and their parents might have ulterior motives. The other aristocratic girls weren’t being nasty or anything, but to children, the words of their parents were absolute. Also, I didn’t have friends either. I mean, I had never been to a tea party and Father had never told me to go to one. To be honest, I was glad that I didn’t have to attend those bothersome aristocratic gatherings. Since kindergartens didn’t exist during these times, I had no other chances to meet other children. I thought that was normal, but it didn’t seem like the case now. I had no idea.

And did she say hobby? Oh, did she mean disguising herself? Oh, but I thought that in itself it was amazing. I even thought it was Prince Rashmere in the beginning. Cosplay was a normal thing for a modern kid like myself. Although, I’d never actually done it.

Sorry, I went off-topic.

I guess she really was feeling lonely. I could understand her feelings. Girls were usually surrounded by their friends.

“I can understand why you feel lonely. To tell you the truth, I believe I have it worse than you. After all, I thought the only one around my age was His Highness.”

She responded to my statement with shock. Huh? Was there really some kind of kid network around here? I didn’t really care about it to learn about it, but it might be better to know for Glen’s sake. I’ll ask more about it later.

“Are you also lonely?”

“Not really? Everyone at home is nice.”

Luca was always by my side, and the maids and butler cared about me. Father, Mother, Grandfather, and Grandmother were all kind. I never felt alone.

“You’re strong, Lucie…”

Really? I only thought that I was a bit more mature than others because I was mentally twice as old as the other children my age.

“This is all normal for me, so I don’t really see myself as so. Besides, you’re not alone, Eiry.”

“Huh?”

“I mean, I’m here, right?”

While I may not be with her all the time, I could at least be by her side until she found people who could understand the difference in their positions and would still call her their friend. This wasn’t really my intention, but I felt like the isolation I felt in the beginning when I came to my senses in this world was lessening.

“Also, about your hobby, Eiry, I think it’s amazing. I was really surprised. I want to try disguising myself next time.”

In addition, if I could successfully disguise myself, the skill will prove useful when I run away from home.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

I mean, the dress I was wearing right now already felt like cosplay to me. What was wearing another costume at this point? Oh, but I did miss wearing jerseys…

“Wow, I’m glad.” Princess Eiry brightly smiled. “Then, let’s head to my room.”

“Okay.”

It was my first time in a real princess’ room, and I was really interested in how much it resembled those in the fairy tales I knew. Would she have a canopy bed? By the way, the bed in my room was normal, albeit huge.

“This is my room!”

She guided me to her room with a beaming smile, but the moment I entered, my own smile stiffened. I should be praised for not screaming.

Everyone, please imagine what the princess’ room looks like. Unfortunately, this one wasn’t normal. There was a mannequin head with what looked like a wig that had slightly fallen off. That itself was extremely scary.

“Oh, I’m sorry about that. I left Brother’s wig like that.”

Oof, that was a wig of Prince Rashmere? Oh, but I guess the color matched.

“O-oh, I see.”

“I’ll return it to the closet.”

She said and opened the door to the next room. I took a peek in the meantime, but I decided to forget all that I saw. I could understand why she had a maid uniform, but why a set of armor? What was she going to use that for? Did she want to set up some kind of haunted house attraction?

Well, there were other points I wanted to talk about, but in conclusion, this was a room fit for a princess, having a mirrored dresser you would see in fairy tales, a canopy bed, and a cute, elegant chair and desk set.

I sat in the chair in front of the desk that had the mannequin head on it before. Then, the door was suddenly opened and milk tea and cookies were brought out.

“Enjoy.”

I was about to say thanks when I froze. Black hair!!! The one who brought out the tea was a young boy with black hair.

“Oh, Lady Lucie, let me introduce him. This is my servant, Joshua.”

The boy named Joshua faced me and deeply bowed.