“Heh! Alright! I like lobster!”

I vigorously nodded my head.
“My father’s cooking is definitely trustworthy!”

But it was right at that moment.

A man in palace knight attire quickly entered the building.

“Sir Matias.”

“…What’s the matter?”

“Her Highness the Princess has come to visit.”

The princess… she was the woman who would become Axel Mirmod’s wife in the future. She was also the younger sister of the Crown Prince and played the role of a friend to Saint Melodia in ‘Melodia’s Life.’
“After a period of silence, why has someone from the palace suddenly appeared in Mirmod? Moreover, there were rumors that even ‘he,’ Axel Mirmod, had been embroiled in a faltering civil war near the demon realm for a staggering five years.

The villains threatening Mirmod had been forgotten in the depths of memory.”
However, the sudden appearance of the princess here meant that another unexpected event had occurred.

The palace and the temple were at odds, and Mirmod had a hostile relationship with them.

Nevertheless, despite all that, they hadn’t meddled in the Mirmod family for the past five years.

Except for small fry like Count Yotter, the prince’s aide, they hadn’t really interfered, which allowed me to successfully raise the upper class.
With a puzzled expression, I cocked my head, and my father raised one corner of his mouth quizzically and asked, “So?”

“…Princess, uh, Her Highness has come… and she says there’s something important she must discuss with Martius.”

“She can wait. Unless it’s a prearranged meeting.”

I glanced at my father and the person who appeared to be one of his subordinates.

It felt intense.
“…Dad?”

I quickly realized the reason.

Come to think of it, my dad was using a rather strange tone.

It didn’t sound like our dad. It was as if he had become sinister and cold, like a villain!

“Dad is speaking like a villain…!”

Over the past five years, I had been watching my dad’s increasingly suspicious behavior closely.

He seemed to be gradually embracing his role in the villainous family, and he was slowly adopting the tone of a villain.
“As expected, there was no lack of progress over the past 5 years! Very desirable!”

How long had I suffered while receiving etiquette training from Dad during that period! The moment I realized this with a satisfied expression, Dad’s face froze like ice that Alaskan penguins rode on.

“No, no. No…”

I raised an eyebrow.

Then Dad spoke. His lips seemed to tremble slightly.
“So, she said she’ll meet us shortly. She hasn’t had her meal yet as she just arrived, so let’s have a quick meal and then meet her. Let’s go, Sien.”

The subordinate’s expression seemed dejected.

But with my brain overloaded from reading numerous resumes, it was difficult to pay attention even to my subordinate.

I blinked and tried to organize the situation.

“…Is that okay, though?”

“Well, she’s a kind person, so she’ll wait for us.”

‘A kind person, doesn’t seem like it…’
I stayed quiet, even though I raised my eyebrows, because my dad was holding my hand and leading me. Right now, his tone was still polite and innocent, just like the good-natured and gullible dad he used to be, no matter how you looked at it.

But my momentary confusion about my dad’s unusual tone soon faded.

The fact that the princess had come to see my dad was a bit strange. Because the princess was the woman who was supposed to marry Axel Mirmord and become the queen.
“Why did that person come to see Dad?”

“Well, I guess they came to do something good.”

Dad remained calm.

“But unlike Dad, I can’t stay calm.”

I looked up at Dad and tightly grabbed his coat.

“Dad.”

“Yeah?”

“I want to see the princess!”

Dad looked at me with a puzzled expression.

“Huh?”

I giggled innocently, pretending to be a harmless child. My chubby cheeks puffed up.
Of course, I had a very dark intention in my mind, like ‘I need to figure out what the princess is up to,’ but on the outside, I must have appeared incredibly cute, right?

“No.”

…Dad was very firm.

I looked at Dad and shrugged my shoulders. I was curious about why the princess suddenly came to see our dad and what she was planning to do! We needed to know to possibly avert any potential trouble!

“Really, not at all…?”
When I slumped my shoulders as if I were upset, Dad sternly asked, “Sienn, are you curious?”

“Yes!”

With that said, I tried to think of what else to say.

I genuinely wanted to persuade Dad. I wanted to ask him to let me go meet the princess.

But…

The princess was a close friend of Melodia.

Melodia really disliked the Mirmod family.
However, it was quite suspicious for a mere ten-year-old child to know about the power struggles of the empire. So, I couldn’t openly express my concern to Dad about whether the princess might do something bad to him.

Dad pinched my cheek like a pinch of sugar and whispered sweetly, “Don’t worry. Dad will explain what happened later, okay?”
Of course, Dad had his own business to attend to as an adult.

I understand that I can’t just whimsically take me along for the meeting with the princess. No matter how many times I’ve lived my life, adults are adults, and children are children.

What if I had a different dad? What if he had scolded me, asking why I was following along with what the adults were doing?

But our tender-hearted dad seemed to be a bit upset that I was keeping silent, so he affectionately froze me again.
“Our daughter, Dad will be back soon, and he’ll buy you some cotton candy while telling you everything.”

“…Okay, got it!”

There might be other ways to find out.

While still holding onto Dad’s hand, which was pinching my cheek, with my small and soft hand, I said, “Have a safe trip!”

This time, I decided to respect and trust Dad’s decision.

“Yeah, Sienn.”

After all, Dad was an adult.
I firmly held onto Dad’s hand, full of calluses, while nodding my head vigorously.

It was time for me to go hire a magician as well.