It was a remark that seemed to be nothing special.

To the point where I doubted my ears, wondering what I had just heard.

But my father, who was rather surprised by my surprise, let out a faint laugh.

“Did you not know? I thought I mentioned it to you occasionally.”

“What…, that I’m special?”

“Yes. Your Highness is special. You have been since the day you were born.”

As I blinked at the sudden story, my father smiled with a somewhat nostalgic expression.

“I believe you remember that I often told you Jenit was an extremely special woman.”

“Yes, you did.”

“That Jenit, from the moment you were born until just before she took her last breath, said that you were much more special than herself. Not simply because Your Highness is my daughter, not because you were precious to me just by your existence alone.”

It means that Your Highness is a special person, even more so than how special Jenit was.

My father concluded in a low voice.

Not simply because I’m his child, but literally that I’m a special person.

“Wasn’t Mother special just because she was a bit more intelligent and wanted to see the world more broadly compared to other women? In contrast, I don’t have that kind of guts or ambition…”

Why did Mother say I was special?

What ability could a newborn baby possibly have?

As a mother who passed away not long after giving birth, she wouldn’t have been able to see what abilities I had or how quickly I grew.

“Beyond simply that difference in perspective, Jenit was someone who could see special things. She would sometimes say that she saw the future in her dreams, and other times she would warn of danger, saying she had a strange feeling.”

I thought that Your Highness saying you don’t have good intuition might be inheriting that special quality of Jenit’s.

My father lifted his teacup with a gentle smile.

His face full of longing for Mother, Father had an unprecedentedly affectionate expression.

“That Jenit said our child is more special than herself. No matter how young you were, there’s no reason I shouldn’t listen to Your Highness’s words, is there?”

Father said that while looking at me and smiling.

Not for any other reason, but simply because the person who was most special to him said that I was more special.

Just based on that, he believed the words of a young child that might seem absurd, and still believes them now.

I looked at my father and drew a faint smile on my lips.

To smile more deeply, there was something surging in my heart.

“It seems Mother was extremely special.”

“Of course. Jenit was a truly special woman. Come to think of it, although she’s not in the empire now, it seems your maternal grandmother was like that too.”

“My maternal grandmother as well?”

Just as I was thinking it was simply a touching story, Father brought up a story about my maternal grandmother, whose face I no longer remember.

That my maternal grandmother was also special, similar to Mother.

“The first time I went to greet her, she suddenly said. ‘Yes. I knew it would be like this even before you two met.'”

“She knew you and Mother would get married even before you two met?”

“Yes. Well, I brushed it off as trivial at the time, but the more I thought about it, the stranger it was.”

Later, when I married Jenit, I realized it wasn’t simply an elder’s intuition or something like that.

Father put down his teacup, reminiscing about happy memories.

“So perhaps that’s why Your Highness’s intuition didn’t seem strange to me at all.”

Seeing my father laughing happily, I had a different thought.

Perhaps, this might be the real reason I was able to regress.

It was a moment when a question I had forgotten for a while came to mind again.

How did this happen? I wondered.

I started to think again about the ‘magic’ that the person who sold this bracelet I was wearing on my arm had mentioned.

At that time, the owner of the street vendor stall called me a ‘beneficiary of magic’ when he saw me.

And he said to turn a blind eye once if I meet another beneficiary of the same magic in the future.

Whether they did something wrong or right, just turn a blind eye.

I looked at the bracelet faintly glowing on my wrist, recalling those words.

Why did those words suddenly come to mind?

Is it because I suddenly thought that the ‘specialness’ my father spoke of and the ‘magic’ the owner of the street vendor stall mentioned could be the same?

But if that’s the case, it means both my mother and maternal grandmother were people who could use magic, but I don’t have the ability to foresee the future, let alone use magic.

I just have an intuition to sense whether things are good or bad to some extent, feeling ominous or drawn to something.

Even that didn’t seem to be of much use when it came to people.

Seeing how I was infatuated with a man like Lloyd and couldn’t come to my senses.

Anyway, I decided to focus a little more on the bracelet that I had been wearing without much thought.

Who knows.

‘If a real beneficiary of magic appears, it might sparkle and glow.’

And if I meet such a person, I might be able to ask whether I was the target of the magic or if I can use magic myself.

I might be able to learn more about the ‘specialness’ my father spoke of.

On one hand, I also thought I should try to find my maternal grandmother, who no longer lives in the empire.

My maternal grandmother might know more details about this matter.

I thought I should ask Betty to find out about my mother’s family home and got up from my seat.

My father’s seat, who had gotten up first, was empty, and the tea had cooled from sitting and thinking alone for a long time.

Since pondering alone any further wouldn’t give me answers, I got up from my seat and left the drawing room.

“It’s already gotten dark.”

Meeting Empress Her Majesty and Leoprick in the morning and my father in the afternoon made the day pass by quickly.

Regretting the time that passed by without even knowing how it went by, I put down my quill pen.

“Indeed. Go and rest, Betty.”

“Yes, I will. After seeing Your Highness rest.”

Betty put down the documents she was looking at and got up from her seat.

Perhaps because there was a lot of work here and there today, deep fatigue was evident on her face.

“It’s fine. Just escort me to my room and rest. You can ask the other maids to attend to my bath.”

“Please let me do my job properly, Your Highness. This is also my job, and attending to Your Highness is also my job.”

Betty said, tapping on the desk.

The fatigue was evident even in the smile lingering on her lips, which was a bit worrisome, but no one could keep up with Betty’s passion for work. Instead of dissuading her, I decided to finish everything a little hastily.

“Then let’s go quickly. I’ll hurry a bit today too.”

“If you do that, I’ll be grateful. It’s an honor, Your Highness.”

Betty said, jokingly bending her waist.

Seeing Betty like that, I giggled softly and got up from my seat, heading out of the office.

“Was there no separate contact from the merchant guild?”

“No, there wasn’t. It seems Ms. Hayley is also busy with this business deal.”

“Nothing from the North or East either?”

“Yes. Well, regular contact is coming from the monastery, but there was no mention of any significant progress. Every time, it’s just stories like what they did today, what they did, that reclamation isn’t easy, things like that.”

“Okay. If they say they need anything, support them generously.”

“I will, Your Highness.”

We talked in a small voice while walking down the corridor.

The matters of the North and East that Betty was checking, the matters of the merchant guild and the progress of the business we took from the merchant guild this time, and even the movements of other branches of the merchant guild.

Betty, like a competent assistant and maid, fluently answered my questions without ever being stuck.

I really am lucky when it comes to people.

“Thank you, Betty. Can I ask you one more favor while we’re at it?”

“Say anything. Don’t talk as if you haven’t asked for a favor before.”

Betty laughed and shrugged at my words.

At her words that she would do anything, I smiled at Betty and spoke in a small voice.

“Can you find out about my mother’s family home?”

“You mean… the Viscount Arte family?”

Betty’s eyes widened at my words.

It was eyes full of doubt as to why I was investigating the family of my mother who had already passed away.

I nodded at Betty like that.

“Yeah. There. I heard they’re not in the empire now?”

“Yes. I heard they left the empire when Madam passed away. There were rumors that they went to the neighboring Kingdom of Ben, but I don’t know the details.”

“Find out where they’re living now and if I can meet them if I go. There’s something I want to ask.”

“Hmm… okay. I’ll do that.”

Betty nodded with a reluctant face.

It was a face that seemed to wonder why, but I entered the room without answering anything.

It’s because I didn’t want to do that as I would have to tell the entire conversation I had with my father today to explain it.

Leaving the puzzled Betty behind, I gave a nod to the maids who were waiting to prepare for the bath.

“Please hurry a bit today. I’m a little tired.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

The maids answered briefly and prepared the bath with Betty as the main axis.

I entrusted my tired body to them and quietly received their service.

“You have to wake up early tomorrow. It’s Empress Her Majesty’s birthday.”

Betty seemed to tell important stories in between, but for some reason, I couldn’t remember what came after very well.

Did I doze off while taking a bath?

Feeling a bit dazed, I wore the nightgown the maids dressed me in and let out a small yawn.

“It’s done now. Everyone, go and rest.”

“Yes, Your Highness. Rest comfortably.”

As the maids flocked out, drowsiness washed over me.

I nearly collapsed onto the large bed and fell asleep like that.