The Villainess Who Looks Like a Little Girl Is in the Arms of the Ice Prince (Who Is Sometimes Cute) - Chapter 11

It was decided that my meeting with Prince Etogal would take place in the study adjacent to the Crown Prince’s office, located deep on the second floor of the imperial palace.

The study (which likely also served as a conference room) featured a tall mahogany long table with three blue velvet chairs on each side, all surrounded by bookshelves lining the walls. Through the large French window at the back wall leading to the balcony stood a table set where one could enjoy tea while viewing the rear garden. In the corner of the room sat a couch sofa suitable for napping and a circular coffee table.

I arrived at the study well before Prince Etogal’s visit.

Prince Folkhardt’s collection of books rivaled that of a library. Academic texts and magic tomes stood side by side, and just looking at their spines made me giddy with excitement.

“Incredible! Have you read all of these?”

Prince Folkhardt, who had entered the study during a break from his duties to check on me, gave a self-deprecating smile as he watched me gazing enthralled at the bookshelves.

“Yes. I also meet with foreigners here. It’s a deterrent. Is there anything you’d like to read?”

“Yes. Um, the second from the top, farthest to the right.”

“Interested in magic books? Then the introductory ones are over here.”

Picking up a thick black leather-bound book, Prince Folkhardt lifted me with his other hand.

“Eek?!”

In one fluid motion, he sat on the couch sofa and settled me on his lap.

“Uh, um…”

As I flustered, Prince Folkhardt began turning the book’s pages while holding me from behind, his breath brushing against the top of my head.

“It would be better if I explained as we go.”

“Doesn’t your lap hurt?”

“It doesn’t. Michel, tea.”

“Yes.”

Michel, Prince Folkhardt’s attendant, held the rank of count at twenty-five years old. He was a gentle man with bright brown hair and amber eyes, and I’d heard he had recently become a father to a baby boy.

Incidentally, the reason Michel was chosen was apparently “because he lacks ambition.” The other candidates were said to have been fiercely driven by career aspirations. I understood that selection criteria all too well.

Soon, the refreshing aroma of tea leaves tickled my nose.

“Oh? Is this herbal tea?”

“Yes. When I get too irritable, Michel brews it on his own.”

“My! Hehehe.”

Michel raised the corners of his mouth and shrugged toward me as I laughed. His gesture silently conveyed, “I’m troubled by my master’s irritability,” making me laugh again.

“This is lavender carefully dried from the inner garden.”

Michel’s tea-brewing movements evoked an elegant stylistic beauty compared to Enzo’s “utterly efficient practicality.” Both were beautiful.

“Indeed, this seems effective for irritability.”

“Are you knowledgeable about tea as well, Ria?”

“Yes. I like it.”

“Name your preferred types. I’ll have them all procured.”

Surprised, I instinctively turned to look back. At close range were shining aquamarine eyes. A faint scent of citrus and floral eau de toilette mixed with the lavender from the breath he’d just exhaled.

(So close!)

My heart leaped with a thump, my cheeks grew hot, and I hurriedly faced forward again. The more conscious I became, the more I noticed the strength of Prince Folkhardt’s arms, the firmness of his lap, the warmth of his body heat. This wouldn’t do.

“Ria?”

“I-I’m most grateful! Um, uh, what kind of magic is this?”

I had to calm this pounding heart quickly, no matter what.

Though Prince Folkhardt tilted his head slightly at my behavior, he carefully traced the letters with his finger while explaining. It was extremely easy to understand, and I recognized once again how intelligent he truly was.

“Kyu~! So nobleeeeeee!”

Meanwhile, Michel watched my attendant, who was likely wriggling and moaning behind us, with a deeply pitying expression that made me feel terribly guilty.

◆

“The empire is vast, isn’t it?”

To avoid disturbing Prince Folkhardt, who was handling paperwork in the adjacent office, Prince Etogal and I sat side by side on the study’s couch sofa. An imperial geography book lay open between us.

When I requested something even a seven-year-old could understand, I was handed what resembled a large picture book with the comment, “It’s not entirely accurate, but it should suffice for a general understanding.” It featured map-like illustrations spread across its pages. By studying terrain, one could specifically grasp who came from where. Climate and specialties would become apparent. Prince Folkhardt had understood my thinking that, once achieved, I could hold conversations with anyone, both within and outside the empire.

“Where is Ria’s country?”

“Around here, I think.”

I pointed to what seemed to be the sky beyond the eastern territories of the empire.

Prince Etogal then compared my fingertip to his own.

“If the imperial capital is here…?”

Prince Etogal apparently had never left the imperial capital. Still, he knew intellectually that even traveling to nearby towns would take several days by horse or carriage.

Discussing while looking at the pictures seemed to help him concretely imagine the vast territory, and he knit his brows tightly.

“That’s incredibly far.”

“Yes. Moreover, compared to the empire, it’s a very small country.”

“You came here all alone, didn’t you?”

“It seems so.”

“…I see.”

Prince Etogal was biting his lower lip again. What inner conflict was he grappling with this time?

“Ria, you’re amazing.”

“Amazing?”

“When I was four, I clung to my mother and wet nurse.”

I swallowed the words “that’s normal” back down.

“Aren’t you lonely?”

—When asked again, I found the answer difficult. No matter how I looked back, I could only think there had been no place for me in that country. My memories consisted solely of several life-threatening crises and desperately avoiding them. As Enzo said, I regarded myself with detachment, like “the inevitable death-bound villain.”

If I had to say, the fact that I wasn’t lonely felt lonely in itself.

“Well, I have Lord Hal.”

I said this thinking it was the correct response now, but it also reflected part of my true feelings. Because I sensed that my fiancé with cold-colored eyes possessed a heart that was by no means cold.

“Hey, Ria.”

“Yes?”

“I’m here too.”

From beside me, he tightly grasped my hand. Whether due to a child’s body temperature or something else, it felt hot.

“I’m here too, you know.”

When our eyes met, he repeated it as if emphasizing his point.

This was a far cry from his initial attitude. Wondering if the education had been too effective, I glanced sideways at Enzo, who appeared deeply moved and was trembling uncontrollably. A completely useless guard. I’ll ignore him.

“I’m most grateful, Lord Gal.”

I simply smiled and raised the corners of my mouth, whereupon Prince Etogal’s cheeks turned bright red, while simultaneously, Prince Folkhardt’s face, peering out from the office, grew visibly pale.

“Lord Hal. Are you taking a break?”

When I called out worriedly, he growled, “Let go of that hand,” and stomped over.

“What’s wrong with a little bit?”

As the pouting Prince Etogal protested, Prince Folkhardt childishly declared, “A little? I won’t allow any of it,” and unceremoniously lifted me up.

“Eep!”

In an instant, the floor grew distant, and I reached eye level with the tall Prince Folkhardt, broadening my field of vision. And then, what caught the corner of my eye was.

“Ah! That is!”

The numerous tea labels piled on the side table next to his office desk.

“Ria. I’ve had them procured from every production region.”

“Amazing! Lord Hal!”

Overwhelmed with gratitude, I tightly hugged his profile, but the sensation of our cheeks directly touching flustered me, and I hastily pulled away.

“Fuh. What, is the reward already over?”

“R-reward?”

“You can hug me tighter, you know.”

“Enough!”

“Haha.”

At the melting smile of the Ice Crown Prince at close range, I pounded his shoulders in a fluster to hide my embarrassment. Suddenly, flames enveloped the back of that hand.

“!?”

“Lia!”

Prince Folkhardt immediately cooled it with ice magic, so no serious harm occurred. However, echoing through my stunned mind was the gentle voice of the Witch of Time, Castehelmi:

‘If you return to age four, you can redo your entire life. You will likely awaken new abilities as well.’