Chapter 36: I’ll Take My Past Dreams as a Lesson!

The conversation between the priest and Citrin did not last very long.
When Citrin came to fetch them, Faustina followed behind Ludmilla as they left the waiting room.

They descended the stairs and passed through the lower sanctuary.
There were still many people inside.
At that moment, the people began to bow their heads.
Faustina widened her eyes when a gentle voice descended from above her head, saying, “Did I startle you?”
When she looked up, the priest was there.

“Priest-sama.”

‘Father feels a little strange today.’

Normally, he never lost his calm demeanor no matter who he spoke to, yet toward the priest alone he wore a slightly bitter expression.
When Faustina glanced at Ludmilla, she saw the same expression on her face.
Faustina looked up at the priest.
Sensing her gaze, the priest noticed and smiled softly.

“It would not do to neglect seeing off the ducal family.”

It sounded reasonable, but Faustina could not shake the feeling that the priest had another reason.
Judging from her parents’ reactions, she wondered if something had happened in the past, but as far as Faustina’s memories went, there was nothing she could recall.

In the end, they were seen off by the priest all the way to the carriage stand, where they boarded the carriage.
The priest waved through the window, so Faustina waved back.

“Stop that, Faustina!”

Ludmilla suddenly closed the curtain and scolded Faustina in a harsh tone.
She was told that waving from inside a carriage was not proper behavior for a noble lady.
Her mood plummeted.
She wanted to protest that simply waving from the carriage should be fine, but when she saw Ludmilla’s “ah…” reaction, she became certain that something had happened in the past involving the church—no, that priest in particular.

Inside the moving carriage, Faustina placed her hand against the opposite window and gazed at the passing scenery.

‘For the old me, the church was nothing more than a place to receive birthday blessings.’

She could not recall ever praying there for her feelings toward Bernhard to be fulfilled.
Rather than relying on the goddesses, she had wanted to manage things through her own efforts.

On the way back, not a single person spoke.
Only a strangely heavy atmosphere lingered.
Faustina continued thinking as she stared out the window.

The carriage arrived at the ducal residence.
They were welcomed by the head butler and the maids, then entered the mansion.
Faustina greeted Rinsu with a “I’m home” and walked down the corridor toward her room.

“How was it?”

“There were so many commoners there.
I wonder what kinds of prayers they made.”

“That is something meant to be kept secret.
There is still some time before lunch, so please relax in your room.”

“Okay.
Ah.”

“What is it?”

“Rinsu, could you prepare some stationery later?
I want to send a letter of thanks to His Highness.”

“Understood.
What kind of stationery would you like?”

“Well…”

She tried to recall what kind of flowers Bernhard liked.
He had once said that the red roses blooming in the southern garden of the royal castle were the most beautiful.

Elvira.

‘Ah… I feel like crying again…’

She was confident she could answer what Bernhard liked.
Yet she had inadvertently forgotten that Elvira was involved in every single one of those things.

Suppressing the tears that threatened to spill, Faustina told Rinsu to prepare stationery with a rose pattern.
Returning to her room, she sat down on the sofa with a deep sigh.

“Hm?”

On the table sat a small box wrapped in unfamiliar pink paper.
There had been no such box among the presents she received that morning.

She untied the ribbon of the same color and carefully removed the wrapping paper.
She opened the lid of the white box.

“A mug.”

Wondering who it was from, she took out the mug—and froze.

The mug was pink, with long, wheat-grain-like eyes painted on it.
It had a distinctive pig nose.
Below the handle was something resembling a tail.

“……”

Could the giver of this mug possibly be…?

Suddenly sensing a gaze, she looked toward the door.
From the gap, Lyun was peeking in, staring at her with eyes full of expectation.

…During that tea party with Cain some time ago, he had passionately advertised the cuteness of piglets.
To think he would give a pig-themed birthday present…

She could feel Lyun’s affection for piglets.
Unlike Cain, there was no teasing involved.
He genuinely believed Faustina was cute like a piglet, which made it hard for her to get angry.

Faustina shifted her gaze back to the mug.
The longer she looked at it, the more endearing its face seemed.
She could not decide whether it was cuter than the call duck she wanted to keep.
For Faustina, the call duck was still the cutest.

“Fufu.”

If this had been a present from her brother, she would have puffed up in anger, thinking she was being teased again.
But because it was from Lyun, she felt genuinely happy.

“Thank you, Lyun!”

“Yes, Lady Faustina!”

Even though he had been caught peeking, being thanked with such a lovely smile made Lyun answer without thinking.

Smiling happily as she decided to use the pig mug starting today, Faustina did not know—

“…What are you doing in front of the young lady’s room?”

“R-Rinsu!?”

That Rinsu, who had prepared the stationery Faustina requested, was glaring at Lyun with the expression of a wrathful demon.

Sitting at her desk, Faustina spread out the rose-patterned stationery and began writing with her quill.
The former Faustina had gone on and on about why he had not come to her birthday party.
This time, there was no party to begin with.
She wrote politely and concisely, careful not to take up too much of the busy Crown Prince’s time.
She folded the letter neatly into thirds and placed it into the matching envelope.

“All right.
Rinsu, please seal it and deliver it to His Highness the Crown Prince.”

“Yes.”

She handed the letter to Rinsu.
Rinsu bowed and left the room.

Holding the pig mug Lyun had given her, Faustina picked up the pitcher of orange juice placed on the table in front of the sofa.
She poured the orange juice into the mug.
The sound of liquid filling the cup was oddly calming.

After finishing, she sat down on the sofa.

“Delicious.”

She sipped the orange juice and glanced at the clock.
There was still some time before lunch.

Her eyelids felt heavy.
She placed the mug on the table and lay back on the sofa.

“You’ll wake me up when it’s time, right…?”

Obedient to her drowsiness, Faustina fell asleep.

――

The Faustina who should have been asleep was somehow outside.
With the all-too-familiar royal castle behind her, she stood in a lush, green place devoid of people.

“This place is…”

She remembered it.
This was where her former self often came after finishing her queen-consort education.
A place few people visited, perfect for being alone.

A large tree stood before Faustina.
Its thick trunk was big enough to hide a child.
Just as she stepped forward, intending to circle behind it—

‘Lady Faustina.’

“!”

Neige approached from the side.
She nearly stumbled but managed to steady herself.
Neige took her hand from behind the trunk and led her into view.

The dress she wore then was not the sky-blue, practical one she had on now, but a pale pink dress with many frills.
She often wore dresses that did not suit her at all, just to look even a little cute in Bernhard’s lapis-colored eyes.

She must have been around ten years old when Neige found her crying here.

Neige gently wiped the corners of Faustina’s tear-filled eyes with his sleeve.

‘I knew you’d be here.
You were crying here before, so I figured it out right away.’

‘I-I’m sorry…’

‘No, you don’t need to apologize.
The one at fault is my brother.
You’re desperately trying to fix your faults and striving to become Crown Princess.
He refuses to see that and keeps holding onto your past mistakes forever—that’s what’s wrong.
Come on, don’t cry in a place like this.
Come with me.
I’ve prepared some sweet treats you like.’

‘B-But if you worry about me, Prince Neige, His Highness the Crown Prince will scold you again…’

‘That doesn’t matter.
I’m doing this of my own accord.
Come on.’

……

Even though she was only watching her past memories as a dream, Faustina felt like she was about to cry.

“It was always like that…
Whenever I cried, Prince Neige was always the one who came.”

Bernhard probably never knew.
That Faustina always cried in this place.

Sometimes she cried because she could not endure the harshness of her queen-consort education.
Sometimes she cried because she could not bear Bernhard’s icy attitude.

When she cried and cried within the royal castle, the only one who ever reached out and warmly came to fetch her was Neige.

When she cried at the ducal residence, the ones who came were Cain, Citrin, Rinsu—people who had always watched over her.
…Her mother was never among them.

From around that time, Bernhard and Neige’s relationship began to deteriorate little by little.
When Faustina was not involved, they were normal as ever.
Even if she mentioned it, Neige would only smile and say, ‘I’m doing this of my own will, so there’s no need for you to worry.’

She had caused discord between brothers who had once been close.
She had always reflected deeply on that, feeling truly sorry from the bottom of her heart.

The two figures from her memory passed before Faustina.

‘I’ve prepared your favorite orange juice too, so drink as much as you like.
And don’t cry anymore.
Your smile is very beautiful, Lady Faustina.’

‘You’re the only one who ever says that to me, Prince Neige.’

‘I don’t lie.
Your smile is very beautiful and cute.’

‘…Thank you.’

(If only it had been His Highness Bernhard who said that…)

Her eyes were wet with tears, yet she smiled, happy at Neige’s straightforward feelings.

She remained there, watching until the two disappeared from sight.
But somehow, she felt as if someone else was present.
She looked around, then glanced upward—and froze.

“E-Eh…?”

From an open second-floor window, Bernhard was looking down at her.
Faced with this shocking revelation for the first time, Faustina blinked repeatedly.

Bernhard’s lapis-colored eyes were extremely sharp.
His gaze was fixed on the two figures growing distant from behind.

From behind Bernhard, a retainer spoke to him.
Faustina could not hear the words, but having learned some lip-reading, she read the retainer’s lips and tilted her head.

“‘The tea is ready’…
So His Highness was supposed to have tea, but when he looked outside and saw the person he hated most—me—with Prince Neige, he got into a bad mood, huh…”

This was what bad timing truly meant.
She wanted to clutch her head at the thought that she had unknowingly ruined Bernhard’s mood.
Curious about what Bernhard would say, she kept watching.

“‘I never ordered that’…
Ah… well, that would certainly sour his mood.”

After saying just that, Bernhard disappeared from the window.

“On my birthday of all days, I didn’t need to have such a shocking dream…
No, that’s not it.
This is a lesson, isn’t it?
A reminder not to break the bond between His Highness Bernhard and Prince Neige.
And for that, I need to break off my engagement with His Highness as soon as possible.”

Raising one fist, Faustina pumped herself up, determined to see it through.

――At that point, Faustina woke up.
The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was Rinsu, which startled her so badly that she screamed.
She nearly fell off the sofa, but Lyun, who had come to wake her together with Rinsu, caught her just in time.

“Th-Thank you, Lyun.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Rinsu, you scared me!”

“I was about to wake you, but when I saw your eyelids twitch, I thought you might wake up on your own and…”

“Honestly…
Eh, is it already lunchtime?”

“Yes.
Your parents are waiting, so let us go to the dining room.”

With Lyun helping her stand and Rinsu straightening her dress, Faustina headed off to have lunch.