Your Regrets Are Late

“…Baron is very kind but sometimes crosses the line. What should I say… You can’t tell what you should say and what you shouldn’t say?”

“I-I apologize…”

“How dare you to Her Majesty’s eldest daughter.”

Baron Rustel flinched at Luensir’s warning. It was because he felt the sudden chill, but he felt like he was seeing Charelize.

Thinking about Luensir’s age, he calmed his startled mind.

“Time is up. Please leave now.”

“…May the shining stars of the Elioter Empire be blessed.”

But he could do nothing about the twitching at the corner of his mouth. It didn’t move according to his will. To hide it, Baron Rustel lowered his head. That’s because Royal Prince Luensir didn’t look like a child at all. Usually, when you give someone a compliment, they tend to feel flattered and happy.

Royal Princess Charteron, who was the one who should have been angry, rather yawned and didn’t notice anything.

Baron Rustel, barely holding his trembling hand because of Royal Prince Luensir, quickly disappeared. After seeing his presence had completely disappeared, Charteron let out a sigh.

“What am I supposed to do with the boringness?  He spent half of the class bragging about himself.”

“He’s a person who considers graduating in second place in the class to be the pride of his life, so there’s nothing we can do about it. Moreover, the position in the first place is taken by a commoner. Don’t listen to him.”

Luensir patted Charteron’s head and soothed her.

“He’s a talented person who graduated second place in his class from the Eralpier Academy’s Faculty of History, blah blah blah… I knew it from the first time he said hello.”

Charteron imitated Baron Rustel’s expression and tone of voice, then stuck her tongue out in the direction he had gone.

“I think we should ask to change him with a commoner who is said to be the first place in the class.”

“Is that possible only if the commoner was given a single title or Baron title by Her Majesty?”

“…I know.”

Charteron frowned and climbed onto her desk.

“Charon, it’s dangerous.”

“Ah, it’s not entirely impossible.”

“Get down for now.”

Luensir reached out to stop Charteron. Charteron, who tried to hold Luensir’s hand, suddenly jumped.

“Charon!”

“Baron Tiles, who taught arithmetic to the daughter of Marquis Katya, was also a commoner.”

She was happy that she had found a solution.

“What if you hurt your foot when you jump? Also, in the case of Baron Tiles, it’s a bit ambiguous to say he’s from a commoner. His aunt had the right of succession to Count Luwen, so that’s a special case.”

“Really? How do you know that?”

“I heard it directly from Count Luwen when I was alone at the New Year’s festival as you were distracted by the five-tier cake.”

“Directly from Count Luwen?”

“Yes. He said that if his aunt had become the head of the family, the count family would have been more prosperous.”

“Why?”

“I heard that Baron Tiles was trying to reclaim his aunt’s right to succession because she adopted a commoner as her daughter before she was given a noble title.”

“Why did he bring that up?” Charteron, recalling Count Luwen’s serious yet polite personality, tilted her head.

“I think he was trying to find out what I think about commoners.”

“What?”

“If I answer that question positively, it means that when I have my own people, I won’t discriminate against them just because they’re commoners.”

“You mean he was testing you? The fact that he could make an issue out of it, and you just let it slide. Let’s go to Count Luwen now and—”

Luensir, who caught Charteron, stopped her. “You don’t have to.”

“I just briefly told him not to do it again. It wasn’t pleasant as I’m a human too, but he didn’t ask with bad intentions… Well… He’s a vassal who has followed Her Majesty for a very long time.”

“Still…”

“He’s also provided a lot of help to His Majesty regarding the affairs of Duke Marsetta.”

Luensir, who somehow found it funny that Charteron was angrier than him, rustled her hair and told her to just ignore it.

“It was rather fun. He took on a situation that might put him at a disadvantage. However, he was still trying to find out my thoughts on the future of the Elioter Empire. Should I say that I know why Her Majesty kept him by her side for such a long time? Anyway, I’m really fine.”

“Because Lur said so… I’ll let it slide.”

“Okay.”

“Strange. Lur, you… are you always like that? When others say something about me, I chase after them and repay them no matter what, but why do you… Damn it, you look like you’re going to cry while talking. Don’t be soft! You don’t have a good personality, so why put up with it!”

“Choose either to curse or to praise.”

“Dummy. Silly. Ugly… No, that’s not… I’m so pretty. Does it make sense that my twin, born at the same time on the day, is ugly?”

Before her tears burst out, in an effort to hold back her tears, Charteron approached the mirror, deliberately doing an awkward pose.

“Here we go again.”

“…Lur, if anyone says anything bad about you, I’ll scold them all.”

“Thank you. I’ll talk to Her Majesty about Baron Rustle. She’ll probably change it right away. Maybe we won’t see Baron Rustel at the imperial palace again.”

“Really? Honestly, I hate it when he bragged about graduating second place in his call. He was even more annoying because he’s not good-looking.”

“Is this why we’re twins? I thought that too.”

There was a laugh that resembled each other as if to prove what they had just said.

* * *

Returning from dinner with Charelize, Charteron rocked herself on a chair.

“Your Royal Highness.”

“I’ll stay still…”

“Are you bored? You just need to do it a few times.”

Martin called Charteron briefly, fearing her hair would get tangled as she was brushing her hair.

“Martin. I’ll do it.”

“Ah, yes. I understand.”

Luensir, who was watching it, took over the comb from Martin. Perhaps because this happens often, Luensir is good at brushing hair. He braided Charteron’s hair loosely on one side so that she could sleep comfortably.

“It’s done.

“Umm…”

“Are you hungry?”

“…We just had a meal!”

“No way… Is it because of what Baron Rustel said earlier?”

“Enough… Like Her Majesty said… It’s my fault for falling asleep anyway.”

“Are you sick?” Seeing Charteron obediently admitting her mistake, Luensir was visibly shocked.

In fact, during dinner, Charelize got angry at something Baron Rustel said. She didn’t take their side right away, saying it was wrong for her to sleep during class.

Luensir, who thought that Charteron was in a bad mood, wanted to improve her mood and joked with her. Charteron snorted, displeased with Luensir’s exaggerated attitude.

“So ugly.”

Luensir let out a low laugh at the sight.

“…Enough, I’m busy thinking about something. Can you please stop talking to me?”

Luensir, who was amazed at the sight of Charteron, quietly passed by without saying a word. It was a rare sight that he only saw a few times a year, so he planned to write it down in his diary.

In fact, the thing that Charteron was seriously concerned about was the embroidery on the handkerchief she wanted to give for Arensis’s birthday, which was more crooked than she expected. So she was trying hard to turn her thinking circuit as to what to do.

She thought for a while and eventually ran into the bedroom to get help from Luensir.

“Lur! Lur! Hey!”

“…Ah, yes. Why?”

At Charteron’s call, Luensir hid something behind him in surprise.

“What? Are you eating something delicious alone? Let’s eat together. Actually… I didn’t have enough dinner earlier.”

“It’s nothing.”

“Lur, I know your sins. Speak quickly. If you turn yourself right now, I’ll cut you some slack.”

“W-what are you saying? Let’s go to sleep quickly.”

Frustrated, Luensir hurriedly blew out the candle and covered himself with a blanket. Charteron, who saw him with hazy eyes, climbed on Luensir’s body and tickled her.

“Charon! Ah, come on, stop, please… stop!”

“I will keep doing it until you tell me.”

Charteron focused on the soles of his feet. Luensir’s only weakness was being tickled. Her Majesty, His Majesty, or even Martin didn’t know this. Only Charteron, who was always with him, knew about it.

“Letter!”

“What?”

In the end, Luensir pointed to his pillow as a sign of surrender. Charteron, who got the answer she wanted, searched the pillow. As Luensir said, there is a letter. But nothing was written. She thought it was strange and shook her head, but what caught her eye was a bunch of papers on the floor. Soon, she realized it was the same paper as the letter on the pillow.

“I saved it to use later. There’s nothing.”

“Yes. Nothing… There’s really nothing.”

Somehow, Luensir wasn’t the kind to obediently let her know. Judging by his reaction now, he seemed to have forgotten what he had thrown away, but she couldn’t back down like this.

“You’re heavy. Get off now…”

“On the pillow.”

“?”

“But what about on the floor?”

“Charon!”

“It’s too late, Lur.”

Luensir, who noticed too late, tried to stop her, but Charteron was a few seconds faster.

“Hmm, let’s see.”

Charteron quickly picked up a bunch of paper and quickly unfolded and began to capture the contents.

[To Your Majesty Father.

I wish you a happy birthday. Thank you for raising me and Charon for 6 years.]

“Uh, what’s this?”

It was the same as the other one.

[To Your Majesty Father.

Happy birthday. Since you have more than me, I wasn’t sure what to give you, but I remembered you said you wanted to receive a letter last time.]

All of the contents were strange.

[To Your Majesty Father.

I wish you a happy birthday. I’m using the music box given to Charon and me for our birthday. Thank you. So…]

It all started with similar content and ended without continuing for more than a few lines.

[To Your Majesty Father.

Hello. Did you have lunch? Of course you did. The birthday banquet starts in the evening, and I plan to send you a letter then…]

There were also things that he crossed out and erased while writing. Anyway, they were letters congratulating His Majesty on his birthday.

“…Lur.”

“I’m so embarrassed right now. So, Charon. Please don’t say anything. Don’t even laugh.”

Suddenly closing his eyes, Charteron drew the sign of the cross.

“…What are you doing?”

“I am begging for forgiveness. Because this is an insult to trees. You do it too.”

“…”

Even though it may seem like this, it resulted from hard work for days.

“But I really mean it.”

Luensir was further hurt by the confirmation of Charteron, who patted his back.