Chapter 42
42
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After saying that to the Celestial Steed, my father whispered into my ear in a smaller voice.
"Do you want to touch him? He likes it if you touch his forehead like I do."
Only then did I look at the white horse in front of me.
I saw its dazzling white mane, its unbelievably blue eyes, and its enormous wings that dragged on the ground.
'Come to think of it, I've never touched them before...'
However, the memory of Rosa getting hurt was so vivid that I had to ask again.
"Can't I touch the wings?"
I thought I heard that Rosa got hurt trying to touch the wings before.
"Wings?"
My father went to the side of the Celestial Steed and stroked its wings as if demonstrating.
But the Celestial Steed just stood still.
"If you get close to him, he'll let you touch his wings too. But it takes time to get close."
"Daddy..."
"Yes?"
I asked in a small voice so that the Celestial Steed wouldn't understand.
"Has he ever hurt Daddy?"
My father chuckled softly.
"Of course, he has. I first met this guy when I was about ten years old. Because I was small, he looked down on me, and because my Divinity was insignificant, Ibiza ignored me."
Ibiza neighed softly, as if understanding.
"Well... the day I tried to ride him by force, he pushed me over. It took three years for Ibiza to carry me."
But he didn't kick you, did he?
Only then could I muster up the courage.
"Then I want to touch him too."
My father moved again to the front of Ibiza.
The Celestial Steed's fur sparkled as if sprinkled with silver dust.
'He's a real Magical creature...'
As if possessed, I reached out and placed my small palm on Ibiza's forehead.
"Hello, Ibiza. You're very pretty."
Yan squeaked, somehow satisfied, and chimed in.
* * *
The next day, the entire Royal Palace was even more chaotic.
"These carts, all of them over there!"
"We're seven flower arrangements short for the banquet table!"
"Who took the crates that were here? They were supposed to go to the kitchen!"
Hiding in the Separate Palace with the curtains drawn, watching the commotion, Gabriella approached.
"Cough! I heard Your Highness will be participating in the procession... Cough, cough! It's a shame I can't see it."
Her cough sounded unusually bad today.
It's the height of autumn, so it won't be long before Gabriella is diagnosed with consumption.
I thought of the medicine bottle hidden in the closet.
'I've collected a little more than half...'
The Harvest Festival period is a holiday, so there are no classes.
With nothing else to do, I decided to heal Gabriella today.
"Then I'll show you how the procession will go. Sit here."
"Yes?"
I helped Gabriella sit up in bed and ran to the next room.
I slammed the door shut and crawled into the large closet.
I took out the long string I had seen in the sewing box and held it close to Yan, who was disgusted.
"What again!"
"Just do it once. Just pretend to pull, okay?"
"Ugh, how annoying..."
I coaxed the grumbling Yan, put the long string around his neck, and took out Gabriella's robe for going out, embroidered with gold.
The robe dragging on the floor was similar to my mother's procession.
"Ugh..."
Then, I took out the medicine bottle and showed it to the annoyed Yan.
"Look. Is this enough?"
"Enough for what..."
Yan was consistently uncooperative.
"Aren't you looking properly? I have to heal Gabi. That's the most important thing to me right now."
"Ugh, really..."
Yan reluctantly looked at the bottle and nodded.
"Can you even get her to eat it all? If she eats it all, it'll cure not just a cold but the Black Death."
"Really?"
"Hey, I'm telling you again, a cold is..."
"Thank you, Yan!"
Before he could argue that a cold is a disease that heals on its own, I quickly grabbed him and rubbed my cheek against his.
Then I went out of the room, grabbed the string I had tied to Yan, and started imitating the procession.
"From now on, I will begin the Harvest Festival royal procession."
I waved one hand elegantly like my mother during the procession, and Yan flew in front of me, carelessly flapping his wings as if annoyed.
Gabriella looked very happy.
"Thank you, Your Highness. To see Your Highness processing like this, I have no regrets now."
No regrets!
'Why would you say such an ominous thing!'
I sternly told Gabriella.
"It's not over yet. You know that after the procession, it's time for the Harvest Festival banquet, right? I'll prepare it well, so wait!"
Gabriella laughed out loud.
"Your Highness, it's not customary for royalty who have finished the procession to prepare the banquet. I'll prepare the banquet, cough!"
"No! I'm royalty who does the procession and prepares the banquet. The Harvest Festival is all up to the royalty."
"Cough, cough, that's right."
Before going to prepare the food, I warned Gabriella one more time.
"It's rude for guests to come to the kitchen. You have to wait quietly."
Gabriella readily replied.
"Yes, Your Highness."
Fortunately, there were snacks in one corner of the room.
'Gabriella must have prepared them in advance, so all I have to do is transfer them to a plate.'
I placed a few cookies and almonds on a small plate and moved the plate onto a tray.
'Now, let's mix the tears into the teacup.'
I was quite nervous when pouring tea into the cup, afraid of spilling it, but I managed to pour a little without spilling it.
Then I opened the lid of the medicine bottle hidden in my arms and poured it all into the teacup at once.
'The color of the tea has become a little lighter... but it's not too noticeable, is it?'
I carefully walked back to Gabriella, step by step, lest the tea spill.
"Really, cough, cough! It looks delicious."
I lifted my chin and said solemnly.
"Guest, there's a certain order to eating the banquet food."
"Is that so?"
Then I handed Gabriella the teacup without incident.
"First, you have to drink the tea. This tea is made with flowers grown diligently in our Royal Palace garden, so if you leave even one drop, it's very, very rude."
"I see."
As Gabriella drank the tea, the hardships she had gone through flashed before my eyes.
The days I cried, reminiscing about the pain of the past, and the days Yan pulled my hair!
'Can you be healed? You will be healed, Gabi, right?'
Fortunately, she didn't seem to notice that anything was mixed in the tea at all.
I barely controlled my gaping lips and held out the plate.
"Next, it's good to eat almonds. After that, you can choose what you want to eat."
Gabriella crunched on the almonds as instructed and then picked up a cookie.
"Mmm. It's really delicious, would the precious royalty who prepared it like to eat together?"
"Yes!"
I hugged Gabriella tightly and climbed onto the bed.
'It's a success...!'
We had a happy Harvest Festival banquet together.
She didn't seem to know it, but after the banquet, Gabriella didn't cough even once.
Really, not even once.
'Ea, thank you.'
I am the Princess of Ruelle, who inherited Healing Power from Ea, the God of Water.
'It was real...! It's no longer a wish, but the truth...!'
Squeak, squeak, Yan cried out on my shoulder as if to say, "See?"
* * *
Finally, the day of the Harvest Festival.
Not long after Gabriella took Rosa out, Beatrice barged in.
'Surely they didn't run into each other?'
Worried, I closed my eyes, and then I heard Beatrice's voice.
"Your Highness, can you get up? Today is quite busy with Harvest Festival preparations."
Oh, I can't live like this.
It seemed Beatrice had come out early on her own accord to prepare.
'This is going to be a disaster.'
To give Beatrice the impression that there was no point in her coming out early, I wriggled as much as possible while lying down.
"Ugh, Tritz... I'm sleepy."
"I heard you're riding in the golden carriage with Grand Duke today? I'm going to make Your Highness shine brighter than the Celestial Steed...!"
How...?
'The Celestial Steed literally shines, though.'
It was an unwelcome enthusiasm, but I had to move my body anyway.
I barely got up, washed my face, and styled my hair.
Then Beatrice took out a dress decorated with opals.
'That looks like the heaviest one...'
I must have frowned without realizing it.
Beatrice quickly explained.
"Don't you like it, Your Highness? You have to wear the most extravagant one today because of the procession. You can wear many other dresses during the rest of the festival period."
What...
Come to think of it, the others aren't much better.
I silently put on the dress, and then Beatrice hesitated to reach out to me.
"Your Highness, would you be able to walk to the audience chamber? It's an important day, and if I hug you, the dress will get too wrinkled."
"Of course."
I'm confident I can somersault to the audience chamber.
'If it weren't for this opal dress.'
I extended my gloved hand to Beatrice, and she giggled and took it.
"Our cute and lovely Your Highness, let's captivate the kingdom's people in earnest today."
"Sure, whatever."
I answered as seriously as I could, but Beatrice burst out laughing.
'Don't laugh, Tris...'
I'm completely serious right now.