IWBAACTWITOS Chapter 16

My male lead with the perfect conditions of black hair and red eyes.

He had slightly upturned cat-like eyes, but maybe because he was still a child, he didn't look that sharp.

Now that I actually saw my favorite, I felt strangely about it. With Asher, he was so pretty I'd just gaped with my mouth open.

Rayan was extremely pretty too, but his atmosphere and gaze bothered me oddly. Unlike Asher, who acted mature but whose eyes were exactly those of his age, Rayan's eyes were deeply sunken.

I chewed the bread in my mouth diligently to speak to him.

Roxana seemed to be watching how I would act. Rayan looked at me briefly, then fixed his gaze on the bread in my hands.

Grumble. A sound came from his stomach. I readily offered him the bread in my hand.

"Wan' shome?"

"..."

"Ish okay. I washed my hands."

My pronunciation got mushed because bread remained in my mouth.

Rayan didn't take the bread and glanced at the gaunt woman behind him.

"Your Highness, one does not refuse others' goodwill. That young lady is a princess of House Remetio."

With that permission, Rayan accepted the bread. He must have been very hungry—he bit into the bread eagerly. I handed the other bread to Roxana.

"This is for Mom."

"Really? Our Tilly is so kind."

Roxana took the bread from me and patted my head. Rayan, who'd been eating frantically, suddenly stopped and stared at Roxana and me.

Roxana noticed Rayan's gaze too and hardened her expression. But soon she smiled brightly again and introduced Rayan to me.

"Tilly, this is Prince Rayan of the Celis Kingdom. He came to the Empire to study, but something happened so he'll be staying at our house for a while. Your Highness, this is my eldest daughter, Thaleia. She'll be five years old like you next month."

I knew how ridiculous it was for a five-year-old to come study abroad, but I pretended not to know about adults' circumstances and smiled.

"Hi!"

I deliberately greeted him unnaturally brightly, but Rayan just stared at me blankly while holding bread.

When awkward silence flowed, the gaunt woman standing behind Rayan cleared her throat deliberately.

At that throat-clearing, Rayan flinched, glanced at her, then greeted me.

"...How do you do, Princess."

"..."

At Rayan's stiff greeting, Roxana's smile deepened. But her smile wasn't the affectionate smile she always showed me.

I looked at Roxana's smile, then turned my gaze to the gaunt woman. When our eyes met, she smiled brightly and bowed her head slightly in greeting.

It was a different attitude from when she'd been pointing out Rayan's behavior strictly.

'The surveillance person the queen attached.'

"My name's not Princess."

"...Huh?"

"Of course I'm Remetio's princess, but my little sister's a princess too... So if you call us both Princess, it'll be confusing, so wouldn't it be better to use names...?"

I put my hands behind my back and spun circles around Rayan, making him dizzy.

Rayan's attendants also looked like they didn't know how to deal with me, a child acting however I wanted.

The subtle "...?" I added belatedly was an action that pretended to be polite while teasing them.

"My name's Thaleia. If the name's too long to say, call me Tilly. But if you call me Tilly, you have to be my friend. If we're friends, you don't need to use annoying formal speech."

"..."

"That casual speech just now was a sample. So, Rabbit Prince from the neighboring kingdom, want to be friends with me?"

"..."

Rayan just looked at me with a dazed expression without giving any answer. Feeling awkward from the excessive silence, I started babbling anything.

"As a sister set, one of the Demon King's Four Heavenly Kings positions is open. In other words, also called a flunky. Not interested in that either?"

"...Whatever."

"Huh?"

"Whatever doesn't matter."

'Whatever doesn't matter...'

Deep resignation already occupied Rayan's red eyes.

Maybe because it was our first meeting, there were no immediately visible signs of injury or abuse, but I could tell what treatment he was receiving from his eyes and the eyes of those looking at him.

From the attendants' perspective, they'd been dropped into a foreign country with no guarantee of when they could return because of the prince, so there was no way he'd look good to them.

Of course it absolutely wasn't Rayan's fault.

'He would have had to keep traveling by carriage among those people for months.'

Considering the distance between the kingdom and empire, Rayan's arrival should have been several months later than now. But arriving this early meant someone had considerably accelerated the schedule.

I couldn't tell whether it was with the intent to protect or torment Rayan, but there was considerably insufficient consideration for a young child.

When I stared at Rayan, he hung his head deeply. When I looked at Roxana as if asking what to do, Roxana gave a sad smile.

It wasn't hard to guess that her will had greatly influenced Rayan suddenly coming to the ducal mansion. Then as her daughter, I should become a good friend.

"Good. Then from now on you'll be my Heavenly King. I may look like this, but I'm a Demon King who takes care of subordinates, so I'll treat you well."

Having sharply changed course from tyrant to benevolent ruler, I smiled and held out my hand to Rayan. Rayan hesitated briefly, then took my hand.

"Mom, I'm hungry! Let's eat."

"What about Dad? Won't you wait for him?"

"Tell Dad to eat on his own."

"Dad will cry again."

"It's okay. Mom can comfort him."

At my words, Roxana chuckled, then said to eat snacks instead of dinner.

"Today you can eat ice cream, sherbet, cake—whatever you want. Even if you're too full to eat much dinner, I won't say anything. Though of course our little glutton will eat dinner deliciously."

"Huh? What's the occasion?"

"There are days like that."

I looked at the bread in Rayan's hand and fell into thought. It wasn't hard to deduce that Rayan had been starving all day.

'Until awakening his ability, he survived by stealing food.'

"Then let's have a picnic in the garden. Take sandwiches and Nanny's bread and this and that. We can play and wait until Dad comes."

At my suggestion, Roxana nodded as if it was a good idea. She wondered what to do about the prince's attendants, then smiled brightly and spoke politely.

"I apologize. Since this was decided hastily, the annex for His Highness and everyone to use isn't ready yet, so how about we all spend some time in the garden together? Everyone must be tired from two months of forced marching..."

Roxana said this while staring at the gaunt woman. The gaunt woman looked down at me and Rayan with wary eyes.

I put the remaining bread in Rayan's mouth, turning his attention away.

"Understood. However, I must manage the party arriving later, so please take good care of His Highness."

"Yes, you can discuss managing the annex with our butler."

At Roxana's guidance, Chaemberg, who'd been quietly holding his position, stepped forward.

Chaemberg was the ducal household's head butler and the person managing the intelligence organization under Julian.

The standard black-hearted old man who appeared regularly in novels—he always had a smiling face in front of me, but I knew very well he was a frightening person.

"Butler Grandpa!"

I gestured at Chaemberg as if telling him to bring his ear close, and Chaemberg willingly knelt on one knee and bent down.

"From now on, His Highness is the Demon King's subordinate. I'll let Grandpa be one of the Heavenly Kings too, so let's do bad things together."

At "bad things," Chaemberg smiled as if understanding and said it was an honor. As expected, a quick-witted old man. I kissed Chaemberg's cheek with a smack, then took Rayan's hand and led him upstairs.

"Before the picnic, I'll introduce my little sister. She's really ugly!"

"Tilly, I told you not to say 'ugly' to Rona. Even babies understand everything."

Roxana pretended to scold me while signaling Chaemberg to take the others to the annex. I confirmed the two exchanging signals, then pulled Rayan's arm, urging him on.

"Tilly, if you pull like that, your friend will hurt."

"Not a friend. A flunky."

"Where did she learn words like that?"

"From Dad."

I released the strength from the hand gripping Rayan's arm, then belatedly flicked my tongue and licked my lips.

Roxana let out a hollow laugh, then scolded us to go slowly or we'd fall as we finished climbing the stairs and started running.

As if Roxana's words were a signal, Rayan's and my feet tangled at the same time and we fell together. As soon as Rayan fell, he jumped up and helped me up.

'Ugh, this damn body. Doesn't listen at all.'

I really wished I could control my limbs as I wanted, even just for one day.

Fortunately, soft carpet was laid throughout the entire corridor for me, so I wasn't hurt anywhere and it didn't hurt much.

"See, Mom told you not to run. Are you hurt anywhere? Are you alright, Your Highness?"

"Mom, carry me."

"You should walk on your own."

"Don't want to, carry me."

Roxana lifted both me and Rayan at once as if she couldn't help it. Lifting two young children simultaneously was difficult work, but she wasn't captain of the knights for nothing. When the view suddenly rose, Rayan looked up at Roxana with a bewildered expression.

"Should I put you down?"

"...No."

Rayan's voice was very small, but being close, I heard it well. Roxana and I exchanged glances, then grinned at the same time.