Mad Rosetta - Chapter 90

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Mad Rosetta

Episode 90

Land That Doesn’t Get Wet (6)

* * *

Peaceful playtime with a child can sometimes make an adult faint.

That was my brief impression upon opening my drowsy eyes to see an unfamiliar ceiling.

Still half-asleep, the moment I tried to get up with a groan, I felt something heavy on both sides and only lifted my head.

“…These men.”

I could generously overlook Hazard since he’s just a child.

But what’s with Sing, a full-grown man, draping his thick arm over my stomach while sleeping?

Hazard, sleeping soundly with his cheek pressed to one side, repeatedly had his upper body rise and fall with the deep breathing characteristic of children.

For someone born and raised in a hot country, the child’s face was pale and clear without a trace of tan.

“…This one’s frowning in his sleep.”

In contrast, perhaps having a bad dream.

Sing seemed to be sleeping restlessly, furrowing his brow and moving his lips.

But why were the three of us lying side by side on Hazard’s bed?

I clearly remember playing hide-and-seek when Hazard became ‘it’, and I was…

“Ah, you’re awake.”

I was momentarily startled by the voice that suddenly entered the bedroom.

But I felt relieved seeing Palpal approaching with a knowing smile.

“You must have been very tired from the long journey. You fell asleep while playing with His Highness.”

“Ah…”

“Since you were sleeping so deeply, Princess, we couldn’t bring ourselves to wake you.”

It seemed Hazard and Sing had agreed to let me sleep and moved me to the bed.

That explains it. I clearly remembered hiding inside the red canopy draped over Hazard’s bed, but had no memory after that, which I found strange.

As I sat up halfway and stared down at Hazard’s peacefully sleeping face, I felt somewhat unsettled.

Unlike his free-spirited first impression, listening to him speak softly suggested he had properly learned court etiquette.

It’s just that his attitude toward me was overly informal.

“I imagine His Highness gave you quite a workout today. He had been wanting to see you so much, Princess, that he may have been a bit excessive.”

“…Well, it was a bit puzzling. I didn’t expect to be welcomed so warmly. Especially since he’s the only child of Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal.”

“That’s exactly why.”

“Pardon?”

The moment I asked back, Palpal carefully lifted Hazard into his arms and straightened his back.

It was a familiar and affectionate gesture.

“Haven’t all the other princesses except Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal left the palace early to go to foreign countries?”

“…”

“So His Highness Hazard is truly the most precious descendant of the Terkikan Royal Family, isn’t he?”

That makes sense.

He would have been raised under strict and thorough protection.

Being constantly watched is a natural life for royalty and high nobility.

Hazard, born after there had been no heir for so long, would be Terkikan’s future.

Moreover, considering the Princess Royal’s age, the possibility of another heir was slim.

A child who becomes a symbol of royal stability by his very existence.

I understood both his free-spirited nature from concentrated expectations and affection, and his quick speech and behavior as a three-year-old from intensive education.

“Actually… His Highness hasn’t been aware of your existence for very long, Princess. This is separate from what he knew as knowledge while learning the royal family tree.”

“You mean since he saw the memoraph?”

“Yes, strictly speaking, that’s correct. As you probably know to some extent, Princess, all the other princesses except the late Third Princess married into foreign royal families or imperial courts. For security reasons, images of their descendants couldn’t be taken outside.”

“…”

“So His Majesty the King showed your memoraph, which he had been keeping, to young Hazard who tends to be lonely. Perhaps seeing someone like himself gave him a sense of kinship.”

For just a brief moment, I thought of Odette while listening to Palpal’s words.

Where would you find someone who readily accepts having a new family member?

I too had once felt the Epsilon mother and daughter were like strangers, though I didn’t show it.

But making that time seem meaningless, through Odette who approached me kindly, I learned the joy that siblings bring.

If even I, who doesn’t get lonely easily, was so happy…

How delighted must Hazard have been to see me, having only seen adults bowing to him?

“Oh my, I’ve talked too long. I apologize, Princess. I got a bit carried away trying to speak for His Highness Hazard’s feelings.”

“The devotion of a servant who cares for his master is a beautiful thing. I don’t mind at all.”

“I’m grateful if you see it that way. If you’d like to return to your room now, I’ll call a maid for you.”

“Yes, please do that. I’ll try to wake up this… Youngsik who’s been sleeping soundly.”

“Haha, would you please?”

Palpal chuckled softly and turned away from me.

As I grabbed Sing’s shoulder and shook him vigorously, one question that had been mysteriously nagging at me came to mind.

So I had to call out to stop him as he was leaving the bedroom.

“But why Palpal?”

“Pal… Pardon?”

As if asking how even the Princess could call him that, he looked quite comically dismayed.

I did feel a bit sorry.

But since I couldn’t remember his real name anymore, I looked at him carefully.

“…Because of that.”

“Pardon?”

“Because you’re energetic…”

“…”

“Ah, my father told me not to act rashly and to calm down a bit. His Highness Hazard happened to overhear him calling me that…”

Looking at Palpal mumbling with his face bright red, I momentarily wondered if he might be Count Athos’s son who was supposed to be at the palace.

No wonder he got along strangely well with young Hazard…

I really regretted asking.

* * *

It was now exactly the fourth day of staying at Terkikan Palace.

“His Majesty has decided to refrain from audiences for the time being due to state affairs.”

“…I… see.”

“…Please understand the circumstances with your generous consideration.”

As I replied with gritted teeth and a forced smile, the protocol officer hunched his shoulders and politely conveyed the refusal, as if reading the mood.

Four days. Since arriving at the palace and having that conversation with the King, I had been continuously refused meetings.

‘This old man… He said we’d talk again next time! How many days has it been now!’

It took over ten days just to reach Terkikan Capital, and several more days had passed since staying at the palace.

There were no problems with my accommodations. In fact, thanks to the thorough treatment as an honored guest, Sing and I had nothing but time.

But if this were a time to enjoy leisure, it would be different – we had come here to refuse my betrothal, hadn’t we?

I was quite troubled since I hadn’t expected him to employ such stalling tactics.

Clearly, he was acting this way because talking with us further would only result in having to send me back to the Empire due to Taran being held hostage.

‘But does he think just stalling for time will solve everything? We’re people with mountains of work to do back home!’

After that deep nap in Hazard’s room last time, I immediately sent a letter to Father upon returning to my room.

It was a letter of regards containing my determination to finish the schedule quickly and return.

Though I had Odette confined, I couldn’t live with the anxiety that the impatient Lianna and Lawrence might attempt to harm Father.

“…Very well, Your Majesty the King. Let’s see who wins this one.”

I deliberately stomped my heels loudly as I walked down the corridor, heading straight to Hazard’s palace.

I heard that Hazard’s daily routine had also changed during my stay, so he would be with Sing around this time.

“Your Highness. Princess Benitra requests an audience.”

“Sister!”

The moment Hazard saw me through the crack in the door, he ran over and hugged me like a puppy.

“Darling, how did it go?”

But why are you sitting on the floor like that.

As expected, it seemed he had been playing with Hazard, as Sing was wedged among all sorts of toys scattered about.

“What were you doing?”

“Oh, nothing much-“

“Actually, Sister-in-law…! Please say something to the Montague Duchess! She keeps demanding trades for the memoraph!”

“Hey now, Your Highness? I told you there’s someone who really needs this, right? And you said you enjoyed playing with me during the engagement ceremony, so you were pleased. Does a man go back on his word?”

“S-Sister-in-law…!”

“…”

Sing grumbled petulantly that she had promised to pay generously, so where was the sense in running off to tattle so quickly.

While someone else was racking their brains trying to figure out how to get home!

Good grief, adults and children alike were all equally childish.

Tired by this disagreeable scene, I pressed my fingers firmly against my eyes once, then lowered myself to match Hazard’s eye level as he whined to me.

“Hazard.”

“Y-Yes.”

“You said you care about me, didn’t you.”

“Yes, yes! Of course!”

Hazard was adorable as he clenched his tiny fist spiritedly in response, but I smiled somewhat ominously due to the schemes busy embroidering my mind.

“Then there’s something I’d like Hazard to do for me, since I’m in trouble…”

“…?”

“It would be incredibly easy for Hazard to do.”

The King would come running at full speed if it’s about his grandson, most likely.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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