Chapter 41
I Want to Be Scolded
"What? What are you talking about??"
Mia was dumbfounded.
To think there was a child in this world who wanted to be scolded.
At the girl's vehement reaction, the little child finally welled up with tears.
"Ivanne... always gets scolded by Mommy. Because she's my real mommy, she won't kick me out anyway. I guess that's it...?"
The girl opened her mouth in disbelief at the child's words.
It was absurd.
"...Good heavens. What kind of thought is that? Who would kick you out? Really, absolutely, absolutely not! I guarantee it!"
"Nia was a bad girl all day today. But because I'm not her real daughter, she doesn't scold me. It's different from Ivanne."
The child didn't seem to want to listen.
She had always known that Nia had a strange stubbornness, but she never thought it would manifest like this.
However,
'I can't exactly tell her that because she's a Saintess, she can't be kicked out even if they wanted to.'
The kind-hearted child probably only wanted to be scolded for leaving food, or not doing homework. Oh, or maybe eating snacks like a meal?
Mia, who knew exactly what was going on, finally started to use her head.
"Haa, fine. Nia. If you're so suspicious, then do as I say."
The so-called, Making Nia a Delinquent.
Graffiti on the wall was basic, bursting pillows to scatter feathers, messing up toys, spilling juice on the carpet, etc.
The children spread out all sorts of things that would get them scolded.
'At this point, even her dull personality will get a little angry.'
Now all they had to do was wait for Lucia to come up to this room.
But,
"Oh, oh no, what do we do, what do we do with all this..."
However, before Lucia even came up, Nia was already fidgeting as if her feet were on fire.
A bedroom dirtied in a way that was obviously difficult to clean.
"Tsk, you have to do this much to get scolded. You wanted it, didn't you?"
Mia then took a deep breath and started stomping her feet as if causing noise between floors.
It was a call for Lucia.
"Uh-oh, Sister, no, no...! Quiet, be quiet...!"
In the end, Nia, not knowing what to do, busily moved her small hands and started putting the feathers back into the pillow.
And finally, the door opened.
"No...! No!!"
The child hugged the pillow and ran to close the door, but unfortunately, she fell and feathers poured onto Lucia's face.
"......"
As the feathers, which had cleared like mist, sank to the bottom, the scene came into view.
Lucia, seeing that, was speechless.
Mia, watching her reaction, glanced around the room again.
Mia's clumsy drawings scribbled on the wallpaper, small feathers stuck to the juice, crumpled blankets scattered everywhere.
'...Was this a bit too much?'
But even with Mia's cautiousness, Lucia was just quietly recalling the words written in the parenting book.
'First, when a child makes a mistake, empathize with them first. So,'
"...It's a wonderful, mural?"
"Waaaaah!"
In the end, Nia burst into tears at the praise.
"It's not right this time either! Mia Sister is bad! What do we do with this...!"
As Nia cried and blamed her, Mia felt quite resentful.
And somehow, she had to make the woman in front of her angry.
The girl glared at the dull Lucia and swept her arm across the top of the dresser.
Then, the placed flower vase fell and the floor became soaked.
"Even with this?"
"......?"
When Lucia just stared again, she tore down the curtains in the bedroom.
"Even with this!?"
'Why is she doing that?'
Lucia just rolled her eyes, not understanding the girl's strange behavior at all.
'Was working at the Imperial Palace more difficult than I thought?'
The reason Lucia wasn't getting angry to this extent was because she lacked a sense of everyday life to the bone.
That meant she didn't expect herself to clean up the mess that had been made.
So, rather, the one getting angry at Mia at this moment was Nia, with her small, clenched cotton-like fists.
"No! Don't do it. Mia Sister, bad. Don't do it!"
"Ah, ouch. Why are you doing this! You stay still! Lucia, don't you feel anything? Why aren't you getting angry!"
Mia ran around the bedroom, dodging Nia's cotton fists, and the feathers flying around in a mess made the room more and more like a bird's nest.
Lucia, watching the scene, was still trying to figure out the situation.
Get angry? For what reason?
But more than that question,
"Stop. Horse stance. Begin."
At Lucia's steadfast voice, the children's bickering gestures stopped for a moment.
And Nia, who noticed something, mumbled.
"......Begin......"
"......What? What's Horse stance?"
Despite Mia's question, Nia glanced around and went to one corner and took a Horse stance.
'What, what is this? Is this a punishment? Isn't it usually raising your hands? What does she know and why is she doing that?'
Nia was familiar with the posture, perhaps because she watched Vernon, Gilli, and Heath do it every day.
Dumbfounded, Mia went next to her and awkwardly stood in the same stance.
And Lucia, who had been watching sternly, finally nodded.
'Anyway, friends shouldn't fight.'
Watching her mother take out a clock and time them, Nia lowered her head.
And even while shaking her small hands and legs in the difficult Horse stance, she secretly smiled, showing her front teeth as if she was finally satisfied.
Funnily enough, the child would one day recall today's events and blush.
The reason was that she would only realize when she grew up that the premise of doing this was because she knew she would no longer be kicked out.
And at this moment, Mia, the biggest victim, shook her head at Nia's secret smile.
'They're really a strange mother and daughter...!'
.
.
.
"Huu, she finally fell asleep. Ugh..."
Mia looked at the sleeping Nia and rubbed her shoulders.
Watching that, Lucia, feeling guilty for no reason, hesitated and said.
"...Should I give you some ointment for muscle pain?"
It was unavoidable that the children had dirtied the room, but she seemed to think that punishing the child was a bit too much.
However, Mia snorted primly.
"Ha, do you think it's because of doing the Horse stance? I was already tired from having so much work all day, but to come here and clean up. Ugh."
"Is that so? I heard you're being treated well at Her Majesty the Empress's residence, but I guess not."
"No, it's usually quite comfortable. Today was special because of the banquet hall for the meeting tomorrow... Ah? Come to think of it, that's why I came here!?"
Mia clapped her hands in surprise, as if she had remembered something.
As Nia tossed and turned at the sound, she stepped back and whispered to Lucia.
"I saw the list. You're coming tomorrow, right?"
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
At her counter-question, Mia's eyes widened in delight.
"Ugh, I was half-expecting it, but you didn't know. I'm glad I came to find you. First, look at the Notification slip quickly. It must be written there."
At the girl's incomprehensible words, Lucia opened her small yellow bag and took out her notebook.
And she looked at the words written below the Notification slip written during the week.
"Class representative meeting. Location, the Imperial Palace's West detached palace. This is..."
It was an invitation from Charles's mother, that is, the Empress who had become a parent.
After a business trip, Leon, who had returned to work after the holidays, got off the arriving carriage.
The servant who came with him in the Ruins family's fancy carriage unloaded the luggage and asked Leon.
"Young Master, should I move this to the royal guard administrative office?"
"Ah, please leave just this one out."
Leon put a small, long box among the many luggage into his pocket.
In fact, Leon had ordered everything that Ren and Pin had made in the area he visited on his business trip and brought it here, including rose, citron, lemon bath bombs, cookies with leaves drawn on them, and dried fruit, a local specialty from the neighboring village.
It was partly because Marien and Jaina had asked him to, but it was much more likely because he was grateful to Ren for lending him his love.
He asked the servant and immediately moved his steps.
As always, he took his own way to work to avoid people as much as possible.
As expected, the back of the royal guard building, a small path where there were no people.
At the end of this path was a small, shabby door that young servants passed through, but there was no door more comfortable for him than this.
But today, for the first time, the door opened first.
And someone in a light dress popped out and scanned the surroundings.
Leon habitually hid himself, but the person recognized him like a ghost and approached him first.
"Good morning. Commander Leon."
"Ah......"
"Then."
Lucia disappeared quickly, even with Leon's flustered appearance of not being able to respond properly.
He just stood still at the surprise event from the morning and only looked at her back.
After watching for a long time, he suddenly questioned her outfit.
'Judging from the kindergarten entrance ceremony incident, it seems like she's hiding her identity, but where is she going dressed like that?'
First, he erased his presence with magic without hesitation and followed her.
It was because he wanted to protect her if an incident that could expose her happened like before.
However, the road she was taking was quite far from the Imperial Palace.
She was also hiding whenever she encountered people.
'Is there someone she's going to meet that she has to go to such lengths for?'
While admiring her splendid infiltration despite being in a dress, green fences appeared under the evergreen trees.
The only green fence in the Imperial Palace.
At the end of this fence, there would probably be a detached palace where the Empress resided.
And soon, as the guards guarding the detached palace came into view, Lucia checked her surroundings as expected.
At that time, Leon immediately hid himself.
He was lucky enough not to be caught, perhaps because he had erased his presence with magic and teleported, and he saw her lightly jumping over the fence with a nimble body from afar.
'She's definitely going to the detached palace, but what is her connection with Her Majesty the Empress...'
Just as he was deep in thought, he suddenly felt someone's gaze and quickly raised his head.
"Commander?"
"......!"
"Why are you so surprised?"
"Ah, ......Marien."
It was really fortunate. If it had been someone else, he would have been busy coming up with excuses.
It's not that he doesn't feel uncomfortable with that gaze even now.
It was Marien, who had her usual persistent flounder eyes, as he had expected.
"Commander, could it be that you're looking for... Luci... Ah!"
Marien was startled by the small box that suddenly appeared in front of her.
It was the small gift box that he had quickly taken out of his pocket.
He smiled sheepishly at Marien, who was glaring at him.
"Quiet, please."
"Oh my, I understand. But what is this?"
Marien received the small gift box and opened it.
"......This is, a fountain pen?"
"Yes, I felt like I didn't properly thank Cezar, so I prepared it separately."
"Oh my, my son will love it! Commander, you're so kind. It's such a waste to only have a crush!"
Leon smiled bitterly at her reaction and guessed why Marien was in this deserted place.
"Marien, were you perhaps coming from that detached palace just now?"
"Yes. That's right. I was going to tell you when I got to work, but there was a kindergarten picnic meeting at Her Majesty the Empress's detached palace! So I came to greet a close class representative's wife!"
"Ah, I see."
Leon answered for now, but he didn't understand.
Why was the Empress at a kindergarten picnic?
"But, why is the meeting being held at Her Majesty the Empress's detached palace... Is there any reason?"
"Huh? Princess Charlotte goes to kindergarten, right? And our Cezar and Nia are in the same Sparrow class."
"......Yes? Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte?"
He had a bad feeling for some reason and his face darkened.
"Oh my, you didn't know! His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Commander Lucia even came to pick them up from school together a while ago."
"......!"
Leon's atmosphere suddenly sank, and he unknowingly hardened his face and clenched his fist at the Crown Prince's actions that kept bothering him.
Marien, who didn't miss the veins popping out on his hand, was watching.
Marien, with her hawk eyes, couldn't know all the circumstances, but she could sense this one thing.
'Finally, the war has begun!'
The match between the angel and the mischievous younger man that Jaina and she had imagined so much!
The most important element that cannot be left out of that war, witnessing the blackening of jealousy.
The blackening of the usually gentle Commander who seemed like he would only watch from afar.
Marien's beating heart couldn't stop at that precious sight.
"Commander! Trust us. No matter what waves come, we will definitely defeat His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. Then let's go to work!"
Marien, who had been sparkling her eyes, was walking very fast at the thought of sharing this fact with her soulmate Jaina.
A one-sided love story that is most fun to meddle in.
Marien, who became the chief of staff there, had an even greater sense of duty with the appearance of a rival to defeat, and her eyes flashed at the thought of waging war, unlike the previous playhouse.
......In fact, it's just a sweet motivation to forget the boring work life.
