People Aren't Meant to Be Fixed! - Chapter 47

This girl must have gone crazy.

“Why are you thinking of me?”

I raised an eyebrow as I asked. I couldn’t understand what sudden connection there could be between a fresh flower and myself.

It was too ridiculous to just brush off as my hair color resembling the flower petals, so I decided that if Carlyle said something nonsensical, I would smack his arm and sharply tell him to come to his senses.

“Th-that’s…”

There he goes again.

I clicked my tongue as I saw Carlyle’s face overlap with the image of him blushing to his ears while talking about being the Imperial Princess’s knight.

“Ah, what is it? I hate it when people cut off mid-sentence.”

I grumbled, annoyed at his hesitation and making me curious without explaining.

Even though this guy was several hands taller than me and had improved from before, he still acted like he had a bit in his mouth, becoming shy and trailing off mid-sentence just like his old habit.

“My apologies, Imperial Princess.”

Meanwhile, when I made an irritated face, Carlyle seemed to realize his mistake and hurriedly answered after gulping.

“The reason I thought of you when looking at this flower is because you are that beautiful, Imperial Princess.”

I’ve been perfect for hundreds of years, so why is he suddenly trying to set the mood by gently holding a flower? I looked at him with eyes urging him to say more.

“Sometimes when this flower sways in the wind, just seeing that sight makes me feel at peace.”

But somehow as I listened, his words were becoming increasingly sentimental. However, Carlyle’s expression was so serious that I couldn’t bring myself to make fun of him.

“When this flower receives the morning sunlight, its petals look particularly deep in color. So…”

Y-you should probably stop there. I felt goosebumps rising.

“Every time I see that, I’m reminded of when we used to play hide-and-seek with you, Imperial Princess.”

“Hide-and-seek? Wasn’t that 7 years ago when Sasha was ‘it’?”

I blurted out, feeling my hands and feet curl up in embarrassment.

“Yes, that’s right! You remember!”

“Of course. It was the first time I ran with all my might.”

I shrugged my shoulders as I saw Carlyle looking at me like I was some amazing person. I’m smart to begin with, so it’s not difficult for me to remember something from just a few years ago.

However, I didn’t expect Carlyle to still remember that time so vividly. Aren’t humans supposed to naturally forget old memories, especially moments from childhood, unless they left a strong impression?

“By the way, where did you hear about this flower’s meaning? Did the Marquis teach you?”

I asked naturally while looking into Carlyle’s eyes again.

“I learned it from my tutor. He said it was essential knowledge for a gentleman. If you wish, Imperial Princess, I can show you books about flower meanings in our mansion’s library.”

I hope that tutor didn’t also teach him how to converse with the opposite sex. I hastily shook my head at Carlyle’s added offer.

“No, that’s fine. I’m already reading more than enough books at the Imperial Palace.”

I firmly declined, thinking that I was already reading books as thick as a quarter of my face every day due to the high difficulty of the heir’s lessons, so why would I want to read even more?

Carlyle seemed a bit surprised by my immediate negative reaction, but he didn’t seem too disappointed and moved on.

Indeed, someone aiming to become my knight shouldn’t be narrow-minded.

“Imperial Princess!”

Good gracious. Just as I was about to quietly move on to the next area, I flinched at the booming voice that sounded like three or four trumpets blaring above my head.

“That’s mean! I told you not to leave me behind!”

Oh my, this is ridiculous.

I let out an exasperated laugh as I saw Berith sticking his head out the wide open window. I don’t understand why this guy can’t focus for even an hour of studying.

“Elder brother is the worst! I clearly asked you to wait for me, so why did you leave without me?”

With a face full of anger and pouting lips, Berith seemed to have mistakenly thought we couldn’t wait for him and went out to play first.

I grumbled that the little one was throwing a tantrum as I watched him shaking his fist vigorously.

Thwack−!!

“Don’t get distracted during class, you fool!”

“No! I won’t go back!”

Oh, perfect timing. I was just debating whether to scold that brat or try to coax him back. In the worst case, I thought Ronowe might join in whining too, but it seems she’s learned to do her job as a maid properly, which saves me from bothersome situations.

“See you later, Imperial Princess!”

After pulling on Berith’s collar, Ronowe flashed a bright smile when our eyes met, and shortly after, she slammed the wide open window shut.

‘So they came out during class.’

I was relieved to have narrowly avoided a headache and glanced sideways behind me.

“It seems Berith was just excited to see you after a long time, Imperial Princess. Please forgive his rudeness.”

“I’m used to it, so don’t worry about it.”

Carlyle must be seeing this as cute because he’s lived with strange kids for so long. He didn’t look annoyed at all, so I judged that living with odd fellows for a long time must have influenced Carlyle to sink into that abyss as well.

“Anyway, let’s go inside and wet my throat a bit.”

By the way, my throat was starting to feel dry, so I suggested we hurry back to the reception room to replenish some fluids. Carlyle also seemed to know that I had difficulty walking for long periods, so he just smiled and agreed without saying anything.

Whoosh−.

As we walked quietly, retracing our steps back, suddenly a strong wind blew, tossing my hair that I had sleepily styled early in the morning.

I really hated being unkempt, so I tried to grab my hair with one hand, hoping it wouldn’t get too messy.

I stayed in place until the wind died down, but a flower petal that had fallen from the flowerbed brushed against my face, making me frown for a moment.

“What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”

“No, Imperial Princess!”

This guy is acting like he has arrhythmia or something, it’s concerning. I fixed my disheveled hair and turned around, finding it strange that Carlyle was so quiet.

When I did, Carlyle had a dazed look on his face, so I hopped in front of him and waved my hands around.

“It would be troublesome if someone aiming to be a knight is so weak.”

“I apologize for causing you concern.”

It’s a relief he’s not completely crazy, but he’s acting so peculiar that I really want to hit myself for internally rating him highly as general material earlier.

If Carlyle ends up becoming an incompetent person while acting like this, it would make my judgment look terrible, since I had said I would use him to the bone in the future, calling him talented.

I absolutely did not want anything to happen that went against my self-esteem, pride, and standards.

“You’re not pushing yourself too hard trying to pass the knighthood exam, are you? Don’t overdo it, there’s still a year left.”

I probed a bit, wondering if he might have damaged his body by overdoing it.

Carlyle took this seriously and said he would be careful, so I figured if I said this much, he’d take care of himself unless he was stupid, and changed the subject.

“When we get to the reception room, could you prepare some cookies to eat with tea?”

“Yes, I’ll do that.”

I decided to rest in the reception room while waiting, to avoid getting tired if Berith later complained about why we were late.

After that, we reunited with the children, toured the bedrooms, and safely returned to Bowellian Castle.

I thought my work would decrease a bit after visiting House Fleur, but the position of Imperial heir was just as busy as that of the Emperor.

No sooner had I finished my tour of visiting territories than an invitation arrived from the Ariel Temple.

“I’m not going.”

My mood soured upon receiving the letter while enjoying tea time with Jeff after a long while.

“Darjeeling, being invited by the temple is a very meaningful event. Won’t you reconsider? It’s a good opportunity to gain their support.”

I wanted to ask if he was in his right mind, but right now I am Jeff’s daughter.

Since he wasn’t the previous emperor who would declare war at the drop of a hat, I barely managed to suppress my rising anger, but I couldn’t hide my displeased expression. The aversion was just too great.

“Isn’t the temple in Randel the one the previous emperor destroyed? Even though I’m not his descendant, there’s no way they invited me with good intentions.”

What if they put poison in the drinks? I reacted irritably, pouting my lips like a carp.

“The new high priest is a good person. Don’t worry.”

“Still…”

They seem to have forgotten how much they cursed me when I destroyed their temple.

Besides, when people hold grudges, it lasts for so long! I found Jeff’s nonsense ridiculous.

“Daughter, won’t you go just once for daddy’s sake?”

But if I stubbornly refused to go here, that guy would annoy me again by crying.

“Alright. I’ll go.”

“Thank you, Darjeeling. Daddy will invite the Fleur children to make sure your journey isn’t boring.”

Do as you like.

I already felt tired, but I didn’t say anything more.

I would need someone to talk to anyway, since the long journey to the temple would be boring.

And a few days later.

“It is an honor to accompany you, Imperial Princess.”

“Very well.”

Since it was my first time going to a foreign country, more imperial knights accompanied us than usual. Even the carriage and attire required much attention, as they reflect the national prestige in others’ eyes.

“I’m so excited to visit a temple for the first time!”

“There might be huge paintings hanging on the walls!”

As planned, the Fleur children who came along on the journey to Randel were very excited. They must be thrilled since they had only stayed within their territory until now, with outings limited to family villas, the Imperial Palace, or somewhere else within the empire.

Still, I hope they don’t cause a commotion thinking it’s a vacation, when it’s not meant to be a fun trip today. I quietly watched the rabble chatter away while eating snacks.

“I saw in the newspaper that there’s an enormous whale painting in the temple! And the building is supposed to be incredibly huge too!”

My goodness, are you that happy?

I felt like I was being forcibly dragged along against my will, so watching the children laugh constantly was torturous.

To avoid taking out my frustrations on the kids by asking what’s so great about an important day, I decided to just eat more snacks and endure.

So I diligently put my hand in the basket and rummaged around, but…

Peck−!!

“Ouch!”

While I was distracted by other thoughts, Poppy had run over without me noticing and pecked my hand with his beak.

“Do you want to be punished?”

“Squawk, squaaaawk!”

Although I wasn’t bleeding, it hurt quite a bit, so I yelled at Poppy with all the annoyance that had built up, thinking “You’re in trouble now.”

Even if it wasn’t intentional, Poppy had essentially attacked me, so he couldn’t make excuses and just flapped his short wings frantically while sweating nervously.

It was as if he was hurriedly trying to explain that although he was at fault given the circumstances, he absolutely didn’t mean to hurt me.

“Poppy, do you want to eat a lot of snacks? Don’t steal from the Imperial Princess, come over here.”

Meanwhile, Berith, who had assessed the situation, immediately reached out towards Poppy, gesturing for him to come to him, and I quickly handed Poppy over to Ronowe who was right in front of me.

“Eat a lot~”

“Squawk!”

You probably think you’re safe now that you’ve escaped my grasp.

Afterwards, I inwardly sighed as I watched Poppy sitting on Ronowe’s lap, happily savoring the snacks Berith was feeding him.

“Ah, that’s right!”

“What’s wrong?”

After quenching my thirst with a small water bottle from the chair basket, Berith suddenly made an expression like he had remembered something he had forgotten.

“Imperial Princess, we have a lot of snacks, so should we play rock-paper-scissors and give them all to the winner?”

What now? I folded my arms as I looked at Berith, who was coming on strong.

“You better not cry if you lose later.”

“Of course not! I’ve grown up now!”

What do you mean grown up, you brat. I remember everything you did when I visited the Fleur territory before! While inwardly grumbling that just having a big head doesn’t mean you’ve grown up, I went along with him.

“Rock, paper…”

“Scissors!”

In the rock-paper-scissors game that quickly unfolded, I alone threw scissors while everyone else threw paper, making me the winner.

“Please leave me just one.”

Shortly after, Berith didn’t throw a tantrum or get angry, probably because of what he had said earlier, but he seemed sad about losing all the snacks and begged for a few back. I gave him just enough for a snack because I didn’t want the noise.

* * *

As time passed, the excitement of playing noisily earlier died down, and Ronowe and Berith fell asleep with the snack basket between them.

Their stamina wasn’t enough to stay awake through the long journey to Randel, and this time was usually when they would take a nap after finishing their morning etiquette lessons.

Thump!

“!”

I wasn’t particularly sleepy and thought someone should stay awake to handle any situations that might arise, so I was on alert when I felt a weight gently pressing down on my right shoulder and turned my head.

‘You must be very tired.’

I wasn’t surprised, since there was only one person who could lean on this shoulder – the Imperial Princess.

Slurp−!

I felt sorry seeing the Imperial Princess drooling as she fell into a deep sleep, snoring softly.

Recently, after becoming the Imperial heir, there were fewer days we could meet, and she said she was learning very difficult subjects, so I wondered if she wasn’t sleeping properly at night because of this.

That’s why I smiled gently, hoping that even now, leaning on my shoulder, she could rest comfortably for even just a few dozen minutes.

The Imperial Princess was cute, beautiful, and cool in any appearance, so the longer I looked at her, the more my feelings of respect and various emotions mixed together, making me smile involuntarily.

“Squawk…”

“?”

But was it a problem that I stared at the Imperial Princess too intently?

“Squawk! Squawk squawk squaaaawk!”

For some reason, Poppy was looking at me with a face full of discontent, furrowing his brow.