Chapter 70

No matter how much Vincent prepared his mind, he couldn’t help but be shocked.

“At least you should know about negligence!”

“Why?”

“At least if you’re human!”

Vincent sat down on a nearby chair and wiped his face. It looked like he was carrying all the worries of the world.

“Can you get up?”

“Sir gives me a fresh shock every time it makes me think that I’ll lose my mind.”

“As expected, the Prince seems to be too weak. Don’t just read books, do exercise in your spare time.”

“Why are you nosy! …Wait, do you understand the word nosy?”

Then, Cloud made a face as if he knew what a fool Vincent was.

“I’m worried about the Prince, not just the nose. If you just study at a young age, your head will be damaged.”

“I don’t think it’s going to be damaged worse than Sir’s …”

It was when Vincent mumbled in a very low voice.

Marronnier, who had been watching the scene from afar, muttered a little as if to herself.

“Festival… it will be fun.”

Aria stared at her, put down the brush, and got up from her seat.

[Let’s all go together.]

Then the painting teacher gave a blatantly relieved expression.

***

She tried street food for the first time.

It was salty and spicy, unlike Baker’s dishes that preserved the natural taste as much as possible.

‘What is this taste!’

Very stimulating and intense.

Aria felt like being struck by lightning and ate one of the skewers in an instant.

“If you eat a lot of that, you will get sick.”

Vincent chuckled and this time presented a skewer topped with a sweet sauce.

Firecrackers shot into the sky and flickered brightly in the night sky. It’s spectacular.

Marronnier was mesmerized by the brilliantly lit fireworks.

“It is said that when you kiss on the cheek under the flames, your first love will come true.”

Is she old enough to believe that?

If the flower water dyed on your nails in summer remains until the first snowfall, your first love will come true, something like that.

Marronnier glanced at Aria’s cheek as if regretfully.

“Even so, you shouldn’t even think about surpassing the one who owns it…”

She put her hand on her conscience and said.

“It is an act of abandoning humanity.”

Then Vincent smiled and added.

“And it is the act of abandoning one’s own life. One day you will disappear without a sound, a rumor or a trace.”

Hearing those words, Marronnier sighed and trembled as she took a deep breath.

‘What kind of fairy tale are you talking about.’

Aria felt they were unnecessarily serious about kissing on the cheek, making them cute.

Considering all the promiscuous cultures seen in the noble society, that was close to a light greeting.

“You must be sad that he didn’t come.”

Then Vincent said teasingly.

“Even if you couldn’t share the kiss of the oath, it would have been an opportunity to try the kiss of the oath.”

He must have been talking about what happened at the wedding.

Aria wrote a new note on her card instead of raging at the little boy’s blatant provocation.

[Sir Cloud, Sir Vincent have something to talk to you over there.]

Then she handed the card to the knight and pointed at the bottom of a tree far away.

Even though it was far away, it was in a high place, so it was a position where he could see the situation from where Aria stood at a glance.

In other words, it meant that it was not too much for him to leave the spot for a while.

“I have to escort the Young Madam, so please keep it short.”

“What nonsense… ack!”

And Vincent was dragged like a piece of paper with Cloud’s ignorant grip.

***

Winter at the age of 11.

Aria walked on the pure white snow that no one had stepped on and climbed the steep hill.

Not long after that, the hunting grounds keeper’s hut appeared, covered in white from the snow piled up to the roof.

“Young Madam! Welcome!”

On the hill, the hunting grounds keeper waved his arms and shouted loudly.

The stable keeper, who was quietly walking behind Aria, grumbled, ‘If he’s going to jump up and down with that size, then there’s going to be an avalanche.’.

‘Cold.’

With each exhalation of her pale breath, the hazy breath obscured her vision and then disappeared.

Dana said as Aria gripped her coat tighter.

“Warm yourself up in the hut by the fire, I’ll make you some cocoa.”

She added ‘Oh’.

“And the marsh-’melon’ too.”

Now she knows it’s a marshmallow. Aria blushed and pouted her lips.

And she soon confirmed the identity of the carnivorous rabbit.

No matter how she looked at it, she couldn’t get used to the sight of the cute little rabbit scurrying around and eating meat.

“Isn’t it really cute?”

The hunting grounds keeper squatted down in front of the rabbit pen and asked with a happy smile.

Well, it looks cute, on the outside.

“Would you like to throw some meat?”

Something feels odd. The basic common sense that rabbits should eat hay collided in her head.

So, instead of answering, Aria had no choice but to show a bitter expression.

But has he misunderstood her expression?

“What are you showing the Young Madam!”

Dana screamed.

“Why, why are you angry? It’s the cutest rabbit in the world.”

The hunting grounds keeper tried to explain, flinching his big body at Dana’s insistence.

But even that was not successful

Because when their master was threatened, the cute rabbits suddenly showed their teeth and started to inflate.

‘Why are they so big….?’

Suddenly, the rabbit inflated like a balloon and became the size of a kangaroo.

Wherever the cute and cuddly figure went, it suddenly started to make a ferocious cry while biting the iron bars with its teeth.

The stable keeper clicked his tongue.

“Right, didn’t I say that it’s a monster. I’m sure it’ll eat people too.”

“What, they don’t eat it!”

“Is that so? But, if today’s event remains a nightmare for the rest of her life, how are you going to take responsibility?”

Then, the face of the hunting grounds keeper who gave a vicious impression turned into tears.

“That… it’s actually the cutest animal I know, so I thought the Young Madam would like it…”

How sad it was to see the large size getting intimidated. She seemed to feel his desperate efforts to somehow win Aria’s favor.

Dana hugged her tightly as if protecting Aria’s front.

“Young Madam, you must be scared, aren’t you?”

But Aria stuck her head out of the warm embrace. And she fearlessly shoved her hand into the iron bars.

“Young, Young Madam! You’ll get your finger cut off!”

The hunting grounds keeper was terrified.

Until now, he insisted that it was the cutest rabbit in the world.

“You crazy punk! If a rabbit that eats off fingers isn’t a monster, what is it!”

The stable keeper was terrified at the same time.

When Aria’s hand touched the top of the meat-eating rabbit’s nose, both of them put on an expression that seemed to run out of breath.

However, the rabbit only sniffed and smelled Aria’s hand. Then it suddenly shrank like a deflated balloon and returned to its original compact shape.

“Uh… it was a more gentle monster than I thought.”

The stable keeper made a stunned sound.

“No, it’s not that gentle…”

The hunting ground keeper secretly spat out the truth unknowingly, then took a breath and looked into Dana’s eyes.

Dana stared at him for a moment, but somehow, Aria was unharmed, so she seemed to have softened more than before.

The carnivorous rabbit twitches its nostrils at Aria’s touch.

“Ugh, I get scared every time even when I know that wild beasts follow the Young Madam well.”

The stable keeper, who watched the scene anxiously, stroked his chest.

“It’s not a beast, it’s a rabbit…”

“You shut up.”

And he condemned the hunting grounds keeper who made excuses to the end.

“Well, The Grand Duke and the Grand Prince also tamed them, so still it is a monster rabbit…”

He unconsciously intertwined the Grand Duke and the Grand Prince with the monster, but belatedly shut his mouth.

A quick glance reveals that, fortunately, no one has heard of him. The stable keeper stroked his startled chest.

“Phew.”

Aria stroked the carnivorous rabbit’s head, and she pretended not to hear the sigh.

She had saved one life today.

***

“Ah, Grand Princess.”

Gabriel turned his head, as he looked out at the snow fluttering outside his window. He could feel a presence.

“You came to pray today.”

Aria took the key out of her arms, put it in, and turned the doorknob.

They came in and out often, so there was a warm atmosphere in the prayer room.

It was thanks to Carlin who cast a heating magic for Aria.

[Wasn’t it cold to wait outside the door?]

Aria asked.

It’s winter, when the toxic chill permeates to the bone.

The world outside the window is all white, but what was he looking at while standing still alone?

“Today is a special day.”