During childhood, Erna had been jealous of Adelaide– so much that if a nice witch from a fairy tale had granted her one wish, she would have wished that she could become Adelaide. Adelaide was the center of envy for not only Erna but all of their siblings.
Not only did everyone acknowledge that she was the king’s favorite child, but the always sweet and beautiful queen had raised her so preciously that she could not bear the slightest bit of dirt on her daughter.
Even the crown prince was attentive to Adelaide. Although he was the crown prince, he, too, had to hear the king’s lashing voice if he hurt her feelings.
Erna understood everything. Even in her own eyes, Adelaide was a very beautiful little sister. She had seen the children of royal citizens going in and out of the royal palace trying to please Adelaide somehow.
Anyone who saw Adelaide smile would smile together.
Erna recalled the maid of the royal court who had taken pity on her and given her snacks. The only person who’d even barely smiled at Erna in the royal palace was her. So, Erna had thought of her as someone on her side.
Then one day, Adelaide, who was passing by, suddenly called the maid next to Erna. Erna saw it at that moment; the way the maid who only barely smiled at her ran up to Adelaide with a smile she’d never seen before. The maid had run so frantically that she hadn’t even realized that she’d stepped on Erna’s foot.
When Erna suddenly thought of what happened then, she instantly felt a chill.
A younger sister whose presence feels like a spring breeze. Hating was not in her character, so she was just jealous that Adelaide had come here. She would smile as brightly as she had in the royal palace of Haband. If so, everyone would beam at her. Even the servants of the Grand Castle, the council members, the wizards, knights… and Kalion.
Right when Erna was about to get more depressed, Kalion suddenly grabbed her waist and lifted her before carrying her over to a mirror in the corner of the couple’s bedroom. He carefully held Erna’s chin and lifted her head.
As soon as she tried to turn her head as if she didn’t want to look at her own face, Kalion grabbed her again and said to the mirror, “What in the world are you doing to yourself, pumpkin?”
“…Hey,” Erna glowereded, her face instantly darkening as she glared at him.
When Kalion saw the expression of her original personality he kissed Erna on the cheek as if he liked her at last. “By the way, do I look like a guy who will fall madly in love with a princess who is just now crawling away from Haband? That’s ridiculous.”
“But…”
Kalion placed his lips on Erna’s mumbling lips. A long kiss ensued. When Erna caught her breath after a while, he, who’d barely pulled his lips away, clutched her hair with both hands.
“What are you doing?!”
“You’re a mess, so it’ll take a long time to tidy yourself up. It’ll be better for you to wash up.”
“You!”
Kalion giggled and opened the door to the couple’s bedroom. Sure enough, there were Erna’s maids waiting for her to come out, stamping their feet. He made an order to them:
“The duke of Hessenguard is planning to greet the princess of Haband. I don’t mind if it takes half a day. Do as much as you can.”
At his order to dress Erna as much as they could, the maids nodded with determination.
That had been three hours ago.
Meanwhile, he wondered what the hell Princess Adelaide looked like to make Erna so worried. And now, after looking at her, he sighed. The pumpkin was at least cute. He truly couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about this silly, pale woman.
“Thank you for coming out to greet me first like this, Lord Kalion. I came a bit early.”
“It’s a good thing you noticed that, Princess Adelaide. Please keep in mind that while you are here I will not accept guests before lunch.”
Cedric immediately whispered behind Kalion, “I understand you’ve been interrupted, but you can’t treat your envoy like that, My Lord!”
Of course it wasn’t that Kalion didn’t know that fact. But what should he do about Erna, who was crying with her messy hair seeing Adelaide sitting in front of him now?
Right when Kalion thought that he should have given her a few more precautions, he heard the voice of a servant that Erna had arrived in the reception room.
The moment the door opened and she entered, Kalion absently shot up from his seat.
