The fading and sad voice did not belong to Theodore.
The owner of the voice is surprisingly Alseid Halias.
And what Alseid calls me so fondly is probably my mother's name.
Even though I thought about it all night, a new possibility flashed through my mind, which was dark the whole time.
Maybe Alseid knew my mother.
As Theodore claims, and according to Dorian's old story, the two may have been friends.
'On the last day of my previous life, did you ask me about my parents?'
It's not just here, but maybe it's really a safe place for me.
'Shall we hold on to this man?'
If you call my mother's name so sadly, you might feel sorry for me.
I remembered my past life of pointing a knife at this man.
'Was that all useless?'
I want to live properly.
I want to survive and take proper revenge.
I want to take revenge on the royal family who abandoned my family just for taking advantage of me, and for trying to manipulate me into a puppet when I was young.
'What do I have to do to do that?'
After that brief and intense thought, I finally opened my eyes.
His sad gray eyes trembled when they saw me.
I reached out my small hand to him and muttered softly.
"...Dad."
Then, I closed my eyes again, pretending not to notice Alseid's eyes opening in surprise.
I wished more fervently than anything else in the world that I would look like a poor orphan looking for her parents in her sleep.
Finally, his large palm covered the back of my little hand, and I heard a fading sigh.
Your Excellency, if you a friend of Cecilla Le Meridy?
Please have pity on her daughter.
Don't abandon me.
***
Did I fall asleep again?
When I woke up again, I saw Dorian.
"I'm sure Alseid held my hand..."
I blinked my eyes blankly, but the nanny said goodbye with a sad face.
"Dear baby, you have to leave now to go to the funeral and the conferring ceremony."
"I don laik... (I don't like it...)"
I reflexively shook my head, and Dorian cried and hugged me.
"If only it weren't for Meridy's baby... "
What if it wasn't Meridy's baby?
'Wouldn't Alseid have abandoned me?'
I was curious, but I couldn't hear the afterword.
After washing my face, there was a black dress on the bed where I slept.
"I'm sorry, baby. But you still have to wear mourning clothes. I couldn't find any clothes to match, so I hurriedly got a ready-to-wear suit."
What? Am I going to be sent to the royal palace in mourning clothes?
I was relieved for a moment because of Alseid, who came to visit me in the early morning, but I was a fool.
This is not the time to do this.
'I have to meet Alseid again and convince him.'
Please don't abandon me. I'll give you whatever you want, whether it's a flame or whatever, so I have to beg for that.
If I go to the royal palace, it's over.
I wonder if he knows that day and avoids it on purpose. When I arrived at the banquet hall, the table was empty.
Shion tried his best to joke with me...
"If you go to the royal palace, you'll become a Duke? I won't be able to say half a word next time, hey."
I couldn't help but smile and drop my head.
If I am sent to the royal palace like this, there will be no next for us.
If I forget everything and come to burn Halias Castle again, everyone in Halias will regret this day.
Today, when I was young and incompetent, I was saved and sent back.
Perhaps because of my somber mood, the banquet hall was quiet.
Footsteps came from the hallway, and Alseid appeared.
He stopped the servants who were moving quickly to prepare a meal with a simple gesture.
Then I came to the empty table and sat down.
"Good morning, Father."
He just tilted his head at Shion's greeting and opened his mouth to everyone.
"The decision to send the Princess to the royal family."
I looked up at Alseid with a throbbing heart.
"Reverse."
***
"Yes, father?"
I looked up at Alseid in surprise, but it was Caliph who asked him first.
Alseid didn't know what I was looking at, so he explained it to Caliph.
"The more I think about it, the more wasteful it is. The Princess who will manifest as a pyromancer in the future is lucky enough to come under my control, and I dare to bring it to the royal family."
It was foolish to expect sympathy from him. Alseid Halias seemed to have calculated more about my usefulness in the morning.
Fair enough.
If it didn't work, I was going to ask him to buy my abilities.
Even if you live as a poker player, at least there will be no oblivion in this castle.
Caliph immediately protested.
"So, are you going to risk a dispute with the royal family to keep her in hiding?"
Alseid scowled at his son in displeasure.
"Then?"
"Yes?"
"What will happen if you send Princess Meridy to the royal family? I think there is a good chance that they will reject the Princess. But the opposite is worse for us. The royal family can use her to seize Meridy's territory and even the one and only pyromancer."
Theodore cautiously agreed with his father.
"If the kidnapper was on his way to Lausanne, as the Princess claims, then the problem is actually serious. Lausanne is a de Haan territory, but it's a place where pirates come and go like a home. It's hard to imagine that pirates could have infiltrated Meridy Castle, but we can't rule out the possibility."
Alseid nodded.
"The atmosphere on their side is also unusual. Ever since he lost his only son last year, he has been openly provoking us. It's not his fault that his son died, but he lost his reason."
de Haan lost his son?
Is that why he needs a puppet?
I kept the information in my head.
Caliph shook his head again.
"She must be about two or three years old now. You never know when your abilities will manifest, and it's too much to expect them to be as strong as Cecilia le Meridy's. There hasn't been a great pyromancer like her in hundreds of years."
Alseid didn't respond to my mother's name coming out of Caliph's lips.
I thought maybe he was friends with my mom, but I was wrong.
I finally got into the conversation of the rich people who treated me like an invisible person.
"Dividing flocks. If you're a tall girl, you're going to be happy."
I was willing to sell my powers, but everyone's eyes were on Shion.
Shion spoke up.
"The Princess is three years old. And it manifests itself at the age of five?"
Caliph asked me directly.
"How do you know that?"
"My mom is old."
When he hit it properly, Caliph wrinkled his face in disbelief.
Alseid asked.
"Did your mother ever tell you about your abilities? You were born with a flame."
I nodded my head in agreement.
"Don't let me go. The garden that I divided is mana."
Caliph shook his head, but Alseid had the right to decide.
I stretched my butt out and barely got down from the high dining chair.
I walked to the toddler fireplace and put my hand into the furnace as I had done the day before.
And I put a handful of embers in the palm of my hand.
This would hurt a little, but it would be better than going to the royal family.
A small ball-like flame burned in one hand.
I showed the flame clearly to everyone and then tapped it off.
"Take the pillar of fire north. (I'll set up a pillar of fire on the north wall.)
Caliph opened his lips blankly, startled by the flames, and Alseid chuckled.
"A pillar of fire?"
"No!"
I nodded my head again,
"Ko, congcharu."
Caliph seemed to come to his senses and intervened.
"Father, this is a child's nonsense."
Theodore intervened cautiously.
"But brother, look at the Princess's affinity for fire, since she was three years old, she has been touching fire with her bare hands, so how can she not manifest herself as a sorcerer?"
Even Shion took my side.
"I'll get along well without fighting, Father. She's a bit cocky, but I don't hate her. It's amazing."
The last sentence is a bit unpleasant, but I'll ignore it for now.
Alseid Halias' lips made a clear arc for the first time, and he looked at me.
"Princess Meridy."
"Yes?"
"Make one more promise."
I nodded unconditionally.
I'm saving lives.
If I am taken to the royal family, I am looking for a situation that is worse than a lamp in front of the wind.
"If you manifest as a pyromancer, never, at any moment."
I swallowed hard and looked at Alseid.
"Don't use flames against Halias."
I nodded deeply.
After all, it was something I had done once in my previous life, so I wasn't interested in it at all.
***
"Bring Garcia."
"Father!"
Caliph seemed to want to dissuade him, but when his father's nonchalant gaze turned to him, he reluctantly lowered his head.
'Who the hell is Garcia?'
Come to think of it, I think I heard his name a few days ago when Suziebethel was chattering.
After a while, what appeared was a curly old woman with white hair.
She had made him wait for a long time, and as soon as she entered the banquet hall, she came to me as if she were possessed.
Yellow eyes, which looked empty, approached me and whispered to me on the forehead.
"Poor Meridy. Don't extinguish it, let it burn. Pravasi protects you."
I saying.
Grandma, do you know what that ancestor did to me now?
But the old woman's eyes fell from me and turned bright green.
'What is it...?'
Alseid asked me.
"Princess, what did Garcia tell you?"
"What? Huh... Pravadi is going to leave me alone."
Alseid somehow nodded to those cloud-catching words.
The old woman who turned into green eyes finally greeted him.
"I was late because my legs were not comfortable every day. Why is the lord looking for this old woman in the back room since morning?"
"Garcia."
Alseid's voice was the softest I had ever heard.
"Can you see if she is born with Meridy's flame?"
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