Who Made Me a Princess?

Chapter 5

The Ruby Palace staff may have been wary of Claude in the beginning, but alas, out of sight had become out of mind. As their fears waned slowly but surely, they began siphoning money out of the budget.

And since, for some reason, no new women had ever entered the Ruby Palace—or Claude’s harem, that is—since the incident, there really was nothing stopping the thieves.

It had been hard to tell at first, but later on, their tactics became so bold that one couldn’t have missed it unless one was blind. They had started taking the furnishings and even the gems set into the walls.

Wow. Unbelievable. They’ve really gotten reckless now that Claude has been so quiet and hasn’t really killed any more people.

I noticed before Lily did that all the expensive items were disappearing from my room.

Why? Because I had been fawning over them, devising a plan on how I was going to steal them myself! Ah, how mortified I had been when I’d realized my treasures were disappearing one by one.

I wanted so much to rat them out on their cocky conduct.

“Daddy! They’re picking on me!”

But of course, Claude wasn’t the type of person who would have responded, “Who’s picking on my little girl?!”

Rather, his response would have been, “Huh? You’re still alive?” before he slit my throat instead.

Terrifying.

Of course, there was also the possibility that this was all my own delusion. So maybe what I was worried about wasn’t actually happening. I didn’t necessarily want to take such a risky gamble regardless.

Because I’m precious!

So I had been forced to watch my gold get stolen right before my eyes!

All I could do at the time was cry as loudly as possible every time the maids came into my room and secretly slipped something like a gold candlestick into their apron.

Aahhh, my precious gold! Haaa.

Anyway, Lily had been furious when she learned what had been happening. She’d had to resolve the matter in a showdown with Madam Housekeeper.

The fact that Lily had brought me gold toys since I was a baby, and the way the other maids spoke in honorifics to her, suggested that perhaps Lily was actually the most powerful person in the Ruby Palace, not me.

Not that it mattered because I liked her so much.

Anyway, those maids had ended up getting kicked out of the Ruby Palace and forced to return every single item they had taken. But strangely enough, those items never made it back to me.

Where did all my gold evaporate to?!

At the time, I suspected it was Madam Housekeeper, but all I could do was cry and whine both furiously and unintelligibly.

Oh, I knew it from the moment you refused to buy me a new toy because of “budget issues.”

The only consolation I had was the ability to also do some looting here and there myself without it being noticed because of all the empty spots.

Wait, let me correct myself. It’s not considered stealing since this is my palace; I’m simply storing it. Yup, I’m just putting all the gold and gems away somewhere else for safekeeping!

But that approach also had its limits because these days, Lily seemed to be inspecting the palace very thoroughly. The palace interior looked a bit empty even to my eyes, so it was definitely weighing on my conscience.

I had intended on saving up my escape fund very gradually... but I guess I had been working too hard.

What if Lily thinks it’s a repeat of what happened three years ago and flips the palace upside down again? I’ll have to be more cautious for a while.

“Where are you off to, Your Highness?”

“Hehe. I’m gonna see Lily!”

“Oh-ho! Let’s wipe your mouth before you go. Looks like you really enjoyed that chocolate.”

The maids who had been passing by in the hallway called me over and wiped my mouth with the handkerchiefs they always carried.

The handkerchiefs were now very clearly stained with the chocolate I had devoured moments before. I had been in such a rush to eat it before getting caught by Lily that it had gotten all over my mouth.

The maids smiled at me, but I felt ashamed.

Have I really become a child after being in this body and acting like one for so long? Ugh, so embarrassing.

“Don’t tell anyone Athy ate choco!”

“Of course, Your Highness.”

But I was more scared of getting scolded by Lily than of being embarrassed. I waved goodbye to the maids and left.

Jeez, there’s chocolate all over my hands, too.

I almost just wiped them off on my clothes, but I happened to be wearing white, so I stopped myself.

It’s fine. There’s a fountain nearby.

There was an abundance of picturesque locations such as lakes, fountains, and flower gardens—perhaps because this used to be the place where the emperor’s concubines lived.

But again, no one really took care of them…

It was against the law for men who were not blood relations to enter a concubine’s residence, so there were only female courtiers in the Ruby Palace.

After running into three or four more maids, I reached the fountain with angel statues.

Sure, they were supposed to be “angels,” but these statues were completely naked. This showcased their voluptuous bodies in poses so seductive that they had always looked more like temptresses than angels.

Then again, all the statues in this palace were like that. Was it because this had been the concubines’ palace?

In any case, it wasn’t the best place to raise a child during their formative years. Though it was a feast for my eyes any day of the week.

Whoo! Killer bods as always, ladies!

*Splash, splash*

I rinsed my chocolate-covered hands in the fountain water. I wasn’t able to make it down to the lake in my current body, so tip-toeing over the edge of a fountain was my best option.

But perhaps I was pushing into the ground too hard, because I ended up leaning into the fountain a little too far.

Oh my god, that scared me! I thought I was going to fall into the water.

Being momentarily startled left me a little wobbly. As the ripples slowly started to fade away, a clear reflection presented itself to me. I forgot that I was struggling to get back on my feet as I lost myself in what I was seeing.

“Sho pretty,” I mumbled in a daze.

It felt a bit narcissistic but, man, my reflection in the water was... so very pretty.

Wow. I can’t believe I’m this cute and adorable!

If this kind of baby had been in front of me I would’ve wanted to bite it for being so cute.

My cheeks were just plump enough and so soft that people wanted to pinch them. The way my facial features clustered together on my fist-sized face was absolutely perfect.

My naturally wavy hair was soft without any frizz, my eyes were large and clear. Even my eyelashes were long.

It was the kind of face that would have been a massive success if I had been a child actor or model. My fine, platinum blond hair and overall features were said to be the spitting image of my mother, Diana, but apparently I had gotten my unique jewel-like eyes from my father.

I lost myself for a moment in my eyes reflected on the water, completely mesmerized.

“Heh.”

I may have been a darling, beautiful child at first glance, but it was really my eyes that were so beautiful it made me gasp.

Lily told me that only direct descendants of the imperial family ever inherited these jewel-like eyes. The author of Lovely Princess especially used all sorts of flowery rhetoric to praise Jennette’s eyes.

When I had read them on the page, I had scoffed at what cheesy, middle-school nonsense it was.

But seeing them in real life made me realize how necessary the descriptions had been.

As the name suggested, my eyes changed based on which angle you looked at them from, going from a fresh, verdant green to a crystal-clear blue to an elegant, deep-blue ultramarine. They were incredibly mysterious and wonderful.

I was told that Claude and I were the only members of the imperial family at present, so only the two of us could have possessed these gem-like eyes.

But I knew that was inaccurate, for somewhere out there, in the home of Duke Alpheus, Jennette would be living her childhood surrounded by love.

I mean, not that I’ve completely lost hope that this still might not be the world of that damn novel!

Nevertheless, the inhabitants of this world each possessed a certain inherent magic.

People said that magic reverberated in a special way within the imperial family, thus engendering eyes like mine. The explanation in the book that Lily had gotten me was so complicated that I couldn’t understand much more, but whatever.

They’re pretty!

“Your Highness! Be careful!”

At that moment, someone grabbed me and lifted me up. My eyes initially widened in surprise, but I was able to recognize the familiar grip in no time.

“I told you not to wander off alone. You don’t listen to me anymore.”

I settled into Lily’s arms, just like I always did, and giggled at her.

“Missed you, Lily!”

Lily let out a sigh at my flattery. She still boasted the same elegant beauty she had four years ago. I had always been a sucker for a pretty face, so I found myself acting very playful around her.

“You had chocolate today, didn’t you, Your Highness?”

Gasp.

I hardened like a rock with the smile still on my face.

H-how did she know?

“I heard everything from Hannah. No snacks for one week.”

Waaaah. Impossible! Hannah, you traitor! No chocolate for a week?!

But no matter how hard I tried to look sad to trigger her sympathy, Lily was ironclad until the very end.

Nooo, my chocolate!

***

A while later, I found myself picking flowers in the palace garden.

“Your Highness, would you be so kind as to give me one?” Hannah asked.

“No! Go away!”

After lunch, Hannah had come to chase me around. She had free time after swapping shifts with another maid, but I noticed she seemed to be getting bored.

She adored me so much that she always carried around treats to give to me, but now she seemed to coveted the flowers I was holding.

If it had been any other time, I would have happily given her at least one. But today was different because she had confessed to Lily that I had eaten chocolate!

Of course she’d never meant to do it. She had explained to me that it had slipped out by mistake while she was griping about Ces being the only one who had gotten a kiss from me. But still, what’s done was done.

“You’re too harsh, Your Highness.”

Despite Hannah’s cries, I stood my ground and continued to pick the pretty wild flowers all around me. I was planning to make a large flower crown for Lily, who had gone to meet with Madam Housekeeper.

Don’t think that I was doing this to try and reverse the chocolate ban or anything because I wasn’t…

Anyway, after collecting all the white flowers that I thought would look nice on Lily, I fell into a boring dilemma.

I feel like it would be a bit plain if I made a crown with just these. Oh, that’s right! It would be nice to have one big flower to be the focal point!

“Hannah, what color flower do you think would be pretty here?”

Hannah’s eyes sparkled now that I was finally speaking to her after having been upset that whole time.

God, this woman is obsessed with me.

“It’s for Ms. Lilian, isn’t it? Then I think blue or purple would be nice. Hmm, yellow would be pretty, too.”

After a moment of serious deliberation, Hannah went off in search of flowers that would suit the crown best while I decided to explore the garden further.

If I find something that suits Hannah while looking for flowers for Lilian, maybe I could make her a small flower crown... Ugh, I’m too nice.

But knowing how much Hannah adored me, I felt like I should stop being grumpy.

“All of the flowers live in the garden, la la la.”

I hummed a children’s song while I diligently rummaged through the flower garden.

“All of the kids live in kindergarten, la la la.”

After a while, I realized that I had ventured beyond the Ruby Palace.

“Huh?”

What? Where am I?

I looked around, bewildered.