Vol. 1 - Chapter 25 - Katariona Reunites with her Former Best Friend
An attendant of the royal court led my brother and me down the corridor to the royal palace\'s courtyard where the tea ceremony was to be held.
My uncle\'s words regarding Her Royal Highness\'s participation, Princess Christina, in the tea ceremony, cleared my gloomy mind a little.
"What was Princess Christina\'s relationship with Rio in her previous life?"
Leon, who is still beside me, asks me telepathically.
"Princess Christina... Chris was my best friend. She was the only friend besides my family who believed I had been falsely accused..."
Princess Christina is the Crown Prince\'s younger sister. She is the same age as me, and we became best friends since we first met when we were ten years old. We’d study and play together during our school days.
To be honest, Princess Christina was more talented than the Crown Prince, both in talent and magic power... Besides, her capability as a monarch was greater than that of the Crown Prince. This is why there were factions of nobles who wanted to support the princess as queen.
Between the Crown Prince\'s faction and the Princess\'s faction, the Princess\'s faction was the overwhelming majority. My family also wanted to belong to the princess faction, but that didn\'t work out because I was the Crown Prince\'s fiancée.
\'...I see. Do you want to be friends with her in this life?"
"Yes. I\'d like to be her friend if I could."
She is a very amiable person. If I ask her to be my friend, she will probably agree. However, I\'m dealing with royalty. It\'s difficult for me to ask her to be my friend.
"No, it\'s not. If you want to be her friend, just say so directly."
The fact that Leon responded suggests that he was speaking in telepathy.
But in aristocratic society, it\'s hard to be open and honest.
Bargaining and probing each other—nobles are really troublesome.
In the tea party\'s venue prepared in the courtyard, the daughter of a nobleman who received a magic attribute judgment today was also invited. That\'s one more thing I can take off my shoulders. Yes, I will be a wallflower!
I thought as such, but—
Our reserved seats were placed at a table with His Highness, Prince Richard, Her Highness, Princess Christina, Brother, and me. Awkward...
There were so many delicious sandwiches, scones, and cakes at the table, yet I couldn\'t eat them.
"Thank you for coming to my tea party today. Siegfried and Katariona, it\'s nice to see you again."
"Thank you, Your Highness. Crown Prince."
Brother sends his greetings on our behalf.
"I\'m exhausted from the magic attribute assessment. However, Siegfried\'s wind attribute magic power was amazing. It glowed a bright blue."
"Thank you very much. I believe that Your Highness, the Crown Prince, is the amazing one, possessing dual attributes. The magic power of the fire attribute was especially beautiful, burning red like a flame."
The two people smiling at each other with angelic smiles are very beautiful to look at.
"I would prefer you to call me Rick, rather than being so formal. As for Siegfried, can I call you Sieg?"
"Of course. I will address Your Highness by your first name whenever we are not in public."
"Un. Can I call Katariona, Rio?"
I know I can\'t say no there! But, I don\'t like it. I don\'t like being called by the same nickname as in my previous life...
As I was struggling, a helper came in.
"Brother. Don\'t be too hard on her. Look, Miss Katariona is very troubled."
Her Highness, Princess Christina, admonished her brother as she placed the teacup on the saucer with a clink.
"That\'s terrible of you, Chris. I\'m just asking if I may call her by her first name."
"Do you not understand the gravity of the implications of royalty asking for consent?"
You\'re the same age as me, but you\'re amazing. She already understands the weight of royalty.
“Ah... Um! How about Kate? You can also spell my name Katariona as Kaitlyn.”
After a brief pause, Princess Christina broke out in a fit of giggles. She held her mouth with her hand and looked down. I know that\' she was trying to hold back the urge to laugh out loud. She\'s the type of person who laughs a lot.
"I like you. Come! I\'ll show you to my favorite greenhouse.”
And, grabbing my hand, Princess Christina starts walking away at a very brisk pace, dragging me along with her.
"Hey! Chris!"
She turns back to the Crown Prince, who is trying to stop her, smiles, and waves her hand in the air.
"It\'s a good thing that you\'re here, Brother. We\'re still too young to be judged on our magical attributes."
I was dragged along by Princess Christina, who winked at me as if to say, "It\'s okay.”
* * * * *
Princess Christina dragged me out of the house half forcefully, but it was a relief because the tea party was very awkward. I\'m grateful to her.
"Ah! That was so stuffy!"
Princess Christina stretched out her arms upward and groaned. Fufu. You haven\'t changed at all since you were a child, have you? You\'re still that generous, friendly, smart, kind, and strong person.
"Excuse me... Her Royal Highness, Princess Christina. Thank you very much."
"Chris!"
"Yes?"
"I want you to call me Chris. I don\'t need you to add a -sama or anything like that. And, I\'ll call you Rio."
This time, I was the one to burst out laughing. As I thought, she hasn\'t changed. While saying things like, "The gravity of the royal family...." No. That\'s her own charm. She\'s forceful, and yet somehow, I can\'t bring myself to hate her.
"Eh? Did I do something strange?"
"No. It\'s just because Your Highness...er... Chris is so cute."
Chris puffed up her cheeks. She looks like a little chipmunk with her cheeks puffed out, which looks very charming.
"Do you think I\' m cute? My brother always says I\'m too sassy.”
Chris has the same golden hair and bright blue eyes as the Crown Prince. In my previous life, I liked the Crown Prince\'s blue eyes, but now I prefer your blue eyes. I also enjoy watching your ever-changing facial expressions and cute gestures.
"Chris is adorable."
"Rio is prettier. That dress is custom-made by Sandorion, isn\'t it? I thought it looked good on you when I saw it, and I think you are cute. Not only the dress but you yourself."
Oh! I wonder if Chris also likes Sandorion\'s products?
"Do you like the Sandorion products?"
"Yes! Don\'t you think their dresses and hair ornaments are really cute? Next time I\'m planning to have something custom-made, I\'ll go to that store.”
"I\'m sure Laura will be pleased."
"Oh? Do you know Sandorion’s owner?"
I guess I can tell Chris. I told her that I was working with Laura on a joint project.
"What? Was Rio the one who came up with that rose soap and perfume? I used some of the rose soap and perfume I stole from the gift given to Mother, and it was great.
She stole the queen\'s gift... Well, that sounds just like her.
"Well, my maidservant and I did, to be exact..."
Chris held up her index finger to her mouth with a mischievous expression, shushing me.
"If that\'s the case, then I\'d like to show Rio around the greenhouse even more."
"I\'ve never been to the palace\'s greenhouse. I wonder what\'s there?"
The greenhouse is very small and cozy.
* * * * *
There were herbs, flowers we had never seen before, and stalks of grass that seemed to be medicinal plants in the small greenhouse.
"Wow! There are so many different kinds of flowers that you can\'t find in the botanical books."
"Most of them are from the far east, from a country specialized in pharmaceutical science. They were among the tributes, but they said they didn\'t need the seeds and wanted to throw them away, so I took them back and grew them.”
That would\'ve been such a waste. I would\'ve done the very same thing Christ did.
"Did Chris grow them?"
"Yes, I did. According to Big Brother\'s appraisal, I have the attributes of earth and wind. He made fun of me because he said I was good at messing around in the dirt, but I thought that was fine."
Come to think of it, Chris was also a dual magical attribute magician. Using Flare-sama\'s bracelet, I appraised her and got the result, "Magical Attributes: Earth, Wind (Thunder). The one next to wind (lightning), what is that?
\'Leon. I got an appraisal result of (lightning) next to Chris\' wind, what is that?"
"Mm! Indeed. This is very unusual."
Leon, who had been quiet until now, seemed to look at Chris with his God\'s eyes.
"How unusual?"
\'Lightning magic is one of the magics from when there used to be five major attributes. The Thunder God went to another world a long time ago. Now, the Wind God doubles as the Thunder God as well.’
‘Is that why it\'s thunder?’
I\'m not sure. It\'s rare to find a person who has the wind attribute with thunder.’
"...Rio. Are you listening?"
I came back to the present situation. It seems that Chris was saying something to me while I was talking to Leon telepathically.
"Sorry. I was lost in thought. Do you mind if I ask you one more time?"
"Were you thinking of an idea for a new product? That\'s okay. I may be able to help you with your collaboration. I\'ll provide you with this greenhouse."
That would be wonderful, but does that mean I would have to come to the palace?
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