From the moment the baby’s first cry rang out, the long crack that had formed in the fairy seed Iver was holding began to widen.

“Oh? Oh!”

The startled Iver didn’t know what to do and paced anxiously while holding the fairy seed. While trying desperately to stick it back together, the seed split in half with a crack resembling a walnut shell breaking.

“Oh my!”

Iver, pushed back by the force of the seed, put it down on the floor and took a step back. A faint pink light leaked through the crack. It was such a subtle light that you wouldn’t notice it unless you looked carefully.

Iver looked at his friends who were distracted by the baby, then approached the cracked seed again.

Inside the fairy seed that had split in two lay a tiny earth fairy curled up in a ball. Everything about the child was pink – from the hair to the eyelashes to the clothes made of flower petals.

“So cute…”

Iver couldn’t help but exclaim as he looked at the earth fairy lying with its thick, long pink hair spread out like a blanket. He called his friends while wondering if he should wake the child who seemed to be sleeping peacefully.

“Hey, guys.”

“Be quiet, the baby was just born!”

However, the fairies who were distracted by Stella’s baby didn’t even look back. Meanwhile, the earth fairy who had been curled up in the fairy seed yawned, stretched, and suddenly opened its eyes.

Goodness! Even the newborn fairy’s eyes were a beautiful pink.

“P-Pinky, hello?”

Iver approached the pink baby earth fairy and greeted it kindly. The baby fairy seemed slightly startled when it saw Iver, but soon got up and hopped out of the shell.

Unlike its cautious head-raising earlier, it moved very energetically and boldly. The pink fairy came to Iver and hugged him tightly. The pink fairy was much smaller than Iver.

“H-hey guys… Look over here for a moment.”

Iver, being hugged by Pinky, called out to his friends again.

“Oh come on! How many times do I have to say we’re busy!”

Esta, who had answered irritably to Iver’s urging and turned his head sharply, stopped mid-sentence when he saw the baby fairy hugging Iver.

Meanwhile, the pink fairy, having finished hugging Iver, scampered over to Esta and hugged him too.

Pinky’s head only came up to Esta’s chest.

“See? I told you to look quickly.”

Iver scolded Esta, who was as dumbfounded as himself, with an I-told-you-so expression.

Esta couldn’t answer and just stood there after hearing Iver’s reproach, then pulled on Oton’s arm who was standing next to him. Oton, who had turned her head back with a fierce frown, also gaped when she saw the baby fairy.

The baby fairy walked over and hugged both the dumbfounded Oton and Ark, who was still distracted by the baby, in turn before approaching Stella.

Though the baby fairy was small enough to fit in one hand, its presence loomed large. For a moment, everyone in the room focused their attention on the baby fairy.

After the earth spirit incident, Kai had made everyone in the imperial palace eat glowfruit.

Since those who didn’t want to were made to work outside the palace, everyone currently in this room could see earth fairies.

“Hello.”

When Pinky, who had hopped over to the pillow side, greeted her, Stella, who had been catching her breath, opened her eyes with difficulty.

Though Stella was also surprised by the appearance of an unfamiliar earth fairy, she had no time to be surprised. This was because the midwife had just placed the baby in Kai’s arms.

“May I hold her?”

Kai clearly hesitated while holding the baby, who was smaller than he had expected. He worried that holding too tightly would hurt the baby, but holding too gently might make him drop her and seriously injure her.

“Your Majesty, you’re the father, so you should hold her. Hold her like this.”

When the gray-haired midwife warmly smiled and showed him in detail, Kai held the baby with a very tense expression.

At that moment, Kai felt an indescribable emotion washing over his entire body like a huge wave. A different kind of love than what he felt for Stella instantly consumed Kai’s soul.

The baby, who had been crying loudly, stopped crying the moment she was held in her father’s arms, appearing to have never cried at all, and wiggled around. The baby frowned deeply, seemingly bothered by something, and smacked her tiny lips.

“She’s so tiny.”

Stella reached out her arms toward Kai holding the baby. Kai carefully placed the baby next to Stella.

“She’s so beautiful.”

Stella said in an emotional voice as she held the child in her arms. Kai had been so happy from the moment he heard the child was a girl that he didn’t know what to say.

He was already overjoyed just by the fact that it was a girl, but the baby looked exactly like Stella, practically a carbon copy. Even if he had the whole world in his hands, he didn’t think he could be happier than this.

“Riella.”

“What?”

Stella was startled by the name Kai called out softly. It was because it was the same name that Uhu had called after kissing the large flower petal in her dream.

“It’s a name combining my mother’s and your name. What do you think? Do you like it?”

“I really like it. It’s such a beautiful name.”

Stella couldn’t control her overwhelming emotions and tears streamed down her face. Kai carefully wiped Stella’s eyes with a soft handkerchief.

From her soft, light golden hair to her delicate, pretty features, and her hazel eyes that resembled a fresh forest – Riella looked so much like Stella that it would be harder to find parts that weren’t similar.

Though she was just born, she wasn’t very wrinkly at all.

“I’ve delivered countless babies in my life, but I’ve never seen a baby as beautiful as the princess.”

Kai was delighted by the midwife’s words about the baby, feeling as though he had received the compliment himself.

“Right? Riella is quite pretty, isn’t she? She’s the spitting image of her mother.”

Kai laughed loudly, expressing his joy with his whole body. Though Stella had wanted to give birth to a son who looked just like Kai, the moment she held her daughter in her arms, she forgot she had ever had such a wish.

The emotion and happiness the child gave her overwhelmed all other emotions and thoughts. Stella held Riella tightly in her arms and kissed her small, round head. That’s when it happened.

“Riella.”

The pink-haired fairy who had hopped over to Stella’s side earlier called Riella’s name with a bright smile.

* * *

“My daughter must be a genius. So I want you to take responsibility for teaching our Riella well.”

Kai spoke seriously to Crot, who had dark circles under his eyes. Despite being given such an important task as becoming the princess’s teacher, Crot’s expression showed no change.

No, rather, he appeared so uninterested that he showed neither expectation nor curiosity.

“I’m entrusting you with the very important task of becoming my daughter’s teacher, so why do you have such an expression?”

Kai’s expression cooled as he looked at Crot.

“Your Majesty, of course there’s no doubt that the princess is very intelligent and beautiful.”

Crot answered in an exasperated voice. Sighs punctuated his words.

“Then what’s the problem?”

“Your Majesty, you do know that the princess is only two hundred days old?”

“Two hundred and three days.”

“Yes, two hundred and three days. Anyway, what exactly am I supposed to teach a princess who isn’t even a year old yet?”

“Our Riella will learn everything quickly.”

“Of course she will. The Empress is such a brilliant person after all.”

“Why are you leaving me out?”

When Kai frowned and asked, Crot answered without hesitation with an expression that seemed to say ‘why are you even asking that?’

“I hope you won’t take this the wrong way… but honestly, Your Majesty didn’t particularly love academics. You were always running around outside with a sword.”

Though Kai wanted to argue against it, he couldn’t find any words to refute and just glared at him sourly.

It was a glare that would have made others’ blood run cold, but Crot, who knew Kai inside and out, seemed completely unfazed and continued speaking.

“But! When I first met the Empress, I could tell she was no ordinary person. And she read so many books too. She stood out among all the princesses I was teaching then. Ah! I’m so fortunate that the Empress became the Empress. Thanks to…”

Crot, who was about to say that thanks to her the imperial family’s standards would rise significantly, decided that might be going too far and promptly shut his mouth.

“Thanks to?”

But Kai wasn’t one to let it go just like that.

“Thanks to… Your Majesty became very happy. Hahaha!”

Though it came with an awkward laugh, it was a fairly perfect recovery. Kai seemed satisfied with the answer too, as he didn’t probe any further.

Crot’s eyes, which had been dazed from staying up for three nights, sparkled the moment he started talking about Stella. He too thought about how nice it would be to become Princess Riella’s teacher.

But no matter how he thought about it, all he could teach a one-year-old baby was how to s*ck on a pacifier without straining her mouth and how to shake a rattle without straining her wrist.

Kai, who had been happily listening to Crot praise Stella, started to look troubled belatedly. He should have felt purely happy hearing Stella being praised, but somehow it felt odd.

“Anyway, you will be Riella’s first teacher.”

“I’ll be counting down the days until then, Your Majesty. But before that!”

“Speak.”

“Please let me go home. After not sleeping for three days, Your Majesty’s desk is starting to look like my bed.”

“Go.”

Crot felt secretly satisfied at Kai’s expression that seemed to have given up on everything as he bowed deeply to him. And his fatigue completely disappeared the moment he left the office.

“Since I’ve come to the palace after so long, I should pay my respects to the Empress before leaving.”

Just thinking about visiting Verdura Castle made Crot’s steps feel light, giving him the sensation he could fly to the sky. Even the dark circles that covered half his face seemed to flutter away in the gentle breeze.

Verdura Castle, which he was visiting after several months, had become even more beautiful.

There were several plants that he had planted together with her before, and new crops that had been brought in during that time could be seen here and there. Crot’s eyes immediately filled with curiosity as he looked at the plants.

Rather than having the garden full of beautiful flowers with amazing fragrances, Stella preferred having sturdy crops growing and food that anyone could eat.

Thanks to this, it had recently become fashionable among nobles to plant crops in their gardens following the Empress’s example.

At tea parties, there were gradually more noble ladies who subtly bragged about the crops they were growing in their gardens. Thanks to this, the treatment of farmers was also gradually changing. All of this had started because of one person – Stella.

Crot took a slow breath as he walked through the garden like taking a stroll. Though it was under the same sky, somehow the air felt different just by entering Verdura Castle. It felt like his internal organs were becoming healthier.

“This place really is the best.”

When the officials suggested moving the Empress’s quarters, Crot was the only one who opposed it from the start. Even now, he thought deciding to make Verdura Castle the Empress’s quarters was really the right decision.