Chapter 83

Livra, who was earnestly “thinking about the problem,” suddenly felt her legs go weak. Her face turned pale, and she sat down dazedly on the ground in a duck-like posture, her eyes vacant.

“Princess!!”

“I… I’m fine… Don’t come over… I need a moment alone, all of you… just leave.”

Livra’s tone was still fairly composed and didn’t sound like anything serious.

Although the Royal Knights of the Kingdom were worried about the princess’s safety, since she had already spoken, they couldn’t remain here any longer. They had no choice but to leave the council chamber in small groups.

As they departed—

Only Livra remained in the council chamber.

—Actually, Sheffy and Xiarette hadn’t left.

But Livra’s emotions were in a state of panic… her thoughts were in disarray, and she hadn’t even noticed they were still present.

So much so that the composed and dignified Third Princess just now believed no one else was around.

At first, she choked up…

Then slowly brought her hands to cover her face.

Tears began to fall in large drops.

Finally, her terrified cries—like a child’s—slipped out from between her fingers!

“Uwahhh…!! I was so… so scared!!! I thought I was going to die… going to be killed! It was so terrifying… truly terrifying… Say one wrong word and everyone dies… Say one wrong word, and Father, you’ll never see your daughter again!! You’ll never be able to uphold justice again…! I…!”

“Cry later, Livra. Do you need a tissue? Seeing how much you’re crying, I think you definitely need a tissue.”

“Eh?”

Through misty eyes and rain-like tears, Livra looked up and saw Miss Shaya offering her a tissue.

Miss Shaya’s tilted-head smile was heartwarming, yet it also seemed like a mischievous stifled laugh… Was that just her imagination?

No—!

Just now… her disgraceful crying face had been seen?!

Seen by Miss Shaya?!

“Um… Princess, please don’t be afraid, it’s all over now.”

And Miss Xiarette too?!

Livra took the tissue and covered her cheeks again.

This time she simply collapsed to the ground.

And cried even harder!

7. Don’t Be Afraid!

“Ah alright alright, stop crying, stop crying, I heard it all. That Belith girl, the way she talks is really devilish! But you can’t just be scared into crying like that. You’re a princess, after all, have a bit of pride, save some face for yourself!”

“Wuuu… Miss Shaya! I… I’m not crying because Princess Belith is scary… Right now, it’s because you keep going on and on about me… That’s why I have no face left, that’s why I can’t control my tears…!”

At first, Livra’s face-covered sobbing was truly from being overwhelmed by the atmosphere of the negotiation, and after suppressing it for so long, she had to cry to release all the unspeakable pressure and fear.

But as Miss Shaya came over with tissues to comfort her, occasionally standing on tiptoe to ruffle Livra’s hair or lightly pat her head, Livra felt her dignity as a princess was vanishing at an alarming rate!

“Ugh… Miss Shaya, please don’t comfort me anymore, I feel so miserable.”

“Hey! How can you be so ungrateful? Treating kindness like a liver of a donkey—I give up.”

“Ugh!”

Seeing that the princess was on the verge of bursting into tears again from Sheffy’s humiliating antics—

Xiarette quickly lifted Sheffy by the armpits and set her aside to stop her from tormenting the princess further.

In a way, Sheffy was even scarier than Belith!

Once Sheffy’s divine mouth-of-chaos was finally silenced, Livra could finally use the tissue to dab her tearful eyes and return to her seat to rest.

She patted her chest to ease the whirlwind of emotions, and even with her trembling hand, she politely gestured for Xiarette and Shaya to sit as well.

The council chamber was now empty and quiet.

It was hard to imagine that just a short while ago, this place had hosted a crisis debate that concerned the fate of the entire kingdom.

Xiarette tidied up the messy documents on the table and also gave Livra recognition for her earlier performance.

“Princess Livra, please have more confidence. Your performance just now was excellent. Everything you said—I hadn’t even thought of. To be honest, it exceeded my expectations.”

“Th-thank you, Lady Xiarette! You flatter me! I… I still have a long way to go!”

“…”

Just one compliment made Livra spring up flustered and bow repeatedly to Xiarette in gratitude. Seeing this, it did seem like Livra still had a long way to go.

Some things wouldn’t be appropriate for Xiarette to say given her position.

But Sheffy wouldn’t have such reservations.

Miss Shaya folded the unused documents on the table into the shapes of various magic beasts—her skill was so refined that Livra was left wide-eyed in astonishment.

Before Livra could even express her amazement at how Miss Shaya always had such strange talents, Shaya had already said what Xiarette had been holding back.

“Livra, I’m not saying you’re usually an idiot, but you do suddenly get really smart sometimes, huh? Like just now—both Xia and I thought you were about to say something wrong and mess everything up, but you didn’t. In fact, what you said was actually pretty good! That was surprising.”

“Miss Shaya, aren’t you just saying I’m usually an idiot…?”

“No, no. The fact that you realize that shows you’re not that dumb after all.”

Livra pouted and muttered quietly, clearly a bit upset.

But being upset was pointless—Livra knew what kind of person she usually was. Her little brain didn’t exactly turn very fast.

Livra also tried folding some paper into other shapes on the table.

But in her clumsy hands, after a long while of folding, it still remained just a wrinkled sheet of paper.

“Actually, I’m not too sure myself. Sometimes, I feel like I ‘should do something,’ and then my mind becomes really clear. It feels like… maybe I really can do it…! Hmm… or maybe it’s just an illusion, or maybe I’m usually just too lazy and don’t think about anything? That’s why I said I don’t really know what’s going on myself…”

“Oh oh, I know how to explain your situation!”

“Hm? Miss Shaya, you know something?”

“Isn’t this just the classic ‘fools have their own fortune’?”

“Ugh…! Miss Shaya…!”

“?!”

Good thing I dodged in time. Livra, of all people, dares to imitate Xiarette’s hand chop and try to whack my head?

Too bad that slow and feeble hand chop never even reached Sheffy’s head.

With a graceful sidestep, she easily dodged it, jumped off the chair, made a funny face at Livra, and ran off laughing.

Livra, unable to stand it, chased after her.

The two childish girls ran in circles around the negotiation table, making Xiarette dizzy just watching them.

Tsk… Sheffy doesn’t even need to be mentioned—she had always been this playful and nonsensical.

But Princess Livra…!

The way you’re acting now is completely different from the Third Princess who sat at the negotiation table just earlier!

In fact, Xiarette had her own theory.

Many royals of the Kingdom of Aurus throughout history possessed all sorts of strange talents—some could shoot arrows with perfect accuracy, some had unparalleled sword skills, others had incredible magical potential, and some could even catch fish out of thin air!

Princess Livra had trained diligently since she was young, but her growth in strength had been slow—she was still at the third rank. Maybe this precisely meant that she had some kind of potential in other areas…?

Her occasional flashes of quick thinking might be linked to that hidden potential, though Xiarette couldn’t say for sure.

Shaking her head to push that thought aside, Xiarette felt there was no need to mention it to Livra. Sometimes, the more you focus on a potential you might have, the harder it is to develop it.

Better to let Her Highness the Princess discover and grow on her own in time. After all, even Xiarette couldn’t say what unique ability she might possess.

More importantly—

“Shaya, Princess Livra, please stop fooling around.”

“Ah…! Of course we can stop, but Xia! Livra the dummy actually said my folded lava monster fish looks bad!”

“That’s only because Miss Shaya’s folding is so good! I was too jealous, that’s why I said the opposite of what I meant! Actually, your lava monster fish looks amazing! I really like it!”

“……”

Oh… if you put it like that, I’m not mad anymore.

Livra, face flushed red, stomped her feet in frustration—almost like she was in a state of helpless rage. Sheffy really wanted to pat her on the head and say it’s okay.

As a token of reconciliation, Sheffy reluctantly raised both hands to offer the folded paper lava monster fish to Livra.

“Ah… Livra, take this. Believe in your own hands—one day, you’ll be able to make one too.”

“Miss Shaya… why are you suddenly… Can I really… can I really accept this?”

“Of course… Livra, take this as proof of our friendship. As for returning the favor… I won’t demand it. You just need to give me a real lava monster fish, and our friendship will become indestructible.”

“Ugh… Miss Shaya, you’re so kind! I’ll go look for a lava monster—uh? Wait, something feels off…?”

Indeed, something was off—though not your goofy head; that’s perfectly normal.

“Hmm… can I trade the lava monster fish for a frost monster fish instead? I’m kinda scared of lava.”

“Hm? Who’s speaking?”

Livra heard an unfamiliar voice and turned around.

But behind her, aside from Lady Xiarette, there was no one else who had spoken.

Only, Lady Xiarette was currently tapping her Holy Sword’s scabbard with her hand—what was that about?

Just then, Shaya stepped forward again.

“It’s nothing, that was my ventriloquism. I can imitate other voices—just like just now. Pretty impressive, right?”

“Seriously… Miss Shaya, you have even more talents? Not even geniuses go this far! Ugh… I’m so jealous.”

“That’s right~ Oh, and about that lava monster fish, let’s forget it. Let’s go with a frost monster fish instead. Here, I’ll fold it for you—done.”

“……”

With just a few swift moves, Miss Shaya took back the lava monster fish and refolded it into a frost monster fish, then handed it back to her.

Livra, being the simpleton she was, of course had no idea what had just happened.

Only Xiarette understood…

—Sheffy had just done something incredibly gentle.

Look—the Holy Sword’s magic had become so quiet and calm.

Even though one couldn’t see Sylatrella’s form, it almost felt like one could sense the innocent and grateful smile of the blue-haired little girl.

Livra held the delicate paper-folded frost monster fish in her hands, eyes shining, reluctant to let go.

This was the first time in her life someone had given her a “token of friendship”!

It was obvious that Livra truly treasured it—she would probably enshrine this piece of paper in the castle once she returned.

But now, Xiarette still had something important to say.

The playfulness would have to wait.

Xiarette shook the golden hair that fell over her shoulders and made a subtle gesture with her palm, signaling Sheffy to quiet down for now.

Once Sheffy stood at attention and promised to behave, Xiarette turned her gaze to Livra, who was carefully stowing away the frost monster fish.

“Your Highness, what do you plan to do next?”

“Next… I plan to return to the castle.”

“And then?”

“Return to the castle and enshrine this paper…”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep