“Ah, just let her! Why make a child cry!”

With the assistance of Cezar, who was clueless about the play, and Charl, Ivan shrugged her shoulders as if it didn’t matter.

Relieved, Nia quickly stopped crying and smiled brightly.

Now the children were in their respective positions, standing between two forts made of blocks.

If they broke Charl’s Titurian villainess fort, they would win.

Soon, Ivan’s frail shout announced the start of the hero play.

“O Dragon Knights! Assist the Kingdom of Eldalion! Please, please break that fortress and dispose of the villainess to restore peace to our kingdom!”

As if fully immersed in her role, Ivan clumsily put her two hands together and pretended to fall.

And Charl, swept up in the moment, made a vicious face from within the fort.

The escort knights felt awkward at this sight.

So began the play. The children took their respective poses and swung their toy swords at the fort, shouting the names of their symbolic techniques.

“White Wizard! Fireball!”

“Golden Knight! Gold Shield!”

“He, heh, Black Kni……! Bla, She….”

A block falls feebly.

“Stop, stop!”

Recognizing the situation, Princess and director Ivan intervened, making an X with her hands to stop the children.

“Anni! Nia, I taught you earlier! Black Shadow Poison Snake, remember! And why hit so weakly. The Black Knight may be nasty but has uncontrollable power. That’s why the technique name is long! It should explode!”

Indeed.

One reason the children didn’t want to do it was because of the long technique name.

Nonetheless, Nia mumbled the technique name with a sense of duty.

“Ooh, sorry. Let’s do it again!”

But then.

“……Hey, is this really right?”

A chilling voice made all the children sweat.

It was Charl, who was buried under blocks, trying hard to suppress her anger.

“I am at a huge disadvantage! Is this fair? How dare you, to a princess! Just you wait!? Soldiers of Titur, come forth!”

Charl winked at the escort knights, and they awkwardly looked at each other.

“Come, forth!”

At the loud command, the knights had no choice but to make monster noises and lumber around.

The children bravely attacked, but,

“Don’t let go! The White Wizard never loses!”

“Ah, save me Roy!”

“I messed up, I messed up, Nia!”

They were still futilely hanging onto the knights’ shoulders like pieces of paper.

“Aaah, even the Dragon Knights are caught, our kingdom is…… defeated. Ugh.”

Watching this, Ivan, who played the frail princess, fell.

“Ha ha ha ha! Good! Making me out to be a villainess, how do you like this! What peace! Everything will be ruined!”
At that moment, the real losers were neither the captured children nor the fallen Ivanne, but the imperial knights who would be gripped by the collar in the emperor’s report.

In a grand outing this time, all the leaders of the provinces working in the imperial palace gathered in the emperor’s office.

And in the ensuing meeting,

“Then let’s appoint the crown prince as the temporary supervisor. Announce it immediately.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The appointment of the event’s overseer ended the meeting.

Though the sudden event made the atmosphere among the officials uncomfortable, they refrained from complaining, probably due to the high status of some of the children and it being the princess’s outing.

However, among them was Federin, the most powerful man in the empire, emitting a dark aura.

The look on his forehead was scrunched up as if daring anyone to say something while he was writing something in response to the emperor’s last command.

Everyone seemed to sense that he was angry at the emperor for using the imperial palace as an outing venue, but the emperor couldn’t help but smile.

Thus, everyone left the meeting, and the two who remained burst into hearty laughter.

“Ha ha ha! Did you see that enraged face?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Indeed, he’s my son. How did he come up with the idea to catch both rabbits? Or was it already decided when we decided to send Charles to kindergarten?”

“Well, maybe?”

The crown prince grinned fiercely but playfully, a twinkle in his eye.

The emperor’s eyes reddened at this charming sight.

The crown prince had been so weak as a child and so indulged that he had once acted like a bully. The emperor never thought his son would become so sensible and align so well with him.

In fact, their relationship had only recently improved.

It improved noticeably after Lucia took over his escort and he properly accepted his education as crown prince.

But the only thing that did not sit well was that his son was so attached to Lucia.

Though Lucia was a beloved knight, accepting five years of unprecedented training was partly to detach the son’s obsession with her.

However, Lucia returned as a big fish too good to let go, and his son, who used to always sing her praises, got his wish too. There was no room for their relationship to sour.

“Now, the stage is set. Make sure you succeed.”

“Yes, Father. Ha ha ha.”

Their plot was as follows.

First, send Charles to the class where Lucia’s daughter was.

Second, invite the princess to the palace using her as an excuse.

Third, spend loveydovey time with Lucia under the pretext of overseeing the event.

Last, introduce himself on the outing day as both the friend’s older brother and the owner of this palace.

And when that splendid plan would end,

“Mom, how wonderful it would be if that dashing crown prince became Dad?”

“Really? Should we consider it?”

“Yes!”

“Hee hee hee.”

“Ha ha ha.”

The emperor and crown prince chuckled, imagining how things would surely go that way.

…It was really an absurd plan.

The crown prince, known for his intelligence, had no way to escape the loveydovey genetic disposition that he had inherited directly from both the emperor and empress.

Thus, the foolishly similar father and son scattered a hearty laugh into the air.

And then, someone was standing outside the emperor’s office.

The guards didn’t know what to do, holding the door against a highranking man pounding on it.

“Mi, Minister, are you alright? If you’re not well, we’ll call someone!”

“Ah, I’m not feeling well for a moment. I’ll lean here for a bit. Now, go to your posts.”

He moved away slowly, holding back laughter at their foolish plans leaking through the door.

‘Their bloodline is truly irrevocable, isn’t it?’

During the meeting, the minister had already sensed something from the emperor’s cheeky laughter.

But no matter what, frequent meetings between men and women can lead to unpredictable events.

His distant son was clearly going to be pushed away if this continued.

Upon hearing of the outing, he looked at the recommendation letter he’d written with a bitter smile and pondered deeply.
“There’s no other way to handle this, but he won’t listen to me. What should I do……. Ah, come to think of it, didn’t I bring the son of an administrative officer to the entrance ceremony?”

Having concluded his thoughts, Minister Federin grinned and spoke to the attendant following him.

“Immediately, deliver this document to an administrative officer named Marien.”