VOLUME 1

Chapter 4. Our Own Secret

“Why…. Why is everyone in my room?”

Adelia sighed deeply.

Despite her words, the three men just turned their heads without saying anything.

‘I wish they would at least make some excuse….’

Adelia, pressing her forehead and shaking her head, reflected on the situation.

Why has this room become a meeting place?

It’s been a week since she entered the palace. She started taking care of the inner palace duties and attended the dinner every evening.

The princess seemed to like Adelia quite a bit, marking her attendance in her room every day.

Consequently, the number of uninvited guests in her room increased.

‘Is Ariana here? Can I stay too?’

The prince asked cutely, so I allowed it.

‘I came to discuss something. Oh, Ariana is here too, I see.’

Lucian, who brought a suitable excuse to discuss housing issues and magic stones, also entered the room.

‘Ariana is here, they say. There’s no place in the palace I cannot go.’

How could anyone stop the emperor, the owner of the palace?

Eventually, the entire imperial family gathered in her room.

Initially, admiring handsome faces wasn’t too bad. Although she liked the princess the most, she had affection for them all since they were characters from a novel.

‘What are we going to do if this happens every day!’

There’s so much to do.

Adelia sighed as she looked at the mountain of paperwork piled up.

There were many documents to check since she had just started the inner palace duties, along with trading duties and magic studies. There were not just one or two things that needed careful attention.

Of course, it was more relaxed than when she was forced to take care of the domain work at the count’s house.

‘Busy, but… How could I give up playing with our princess.’

Adelia turned her gaze to the pink-haired head fidgeting in front of her.

The princess preferred being in the same space rather than playing with Adelia.

They often read books together or did homework.

As a compromise, they sat at a slightly separate table from them, while she sat with Ariana.

Thus, she managed to work through the backlog, but there was a limit due to the three pairs of red eyes felt from behind.

‘No! Guys, these are top-secret trading documents!’

Adelia screamed inwardly every day.

The main duty of the trading master was final approval. She had a summary of the trading company matters in her hands.

They might only let the princess in their eyes, but these were people who could memorize documents at a glance; she couldn’t be careless.

‘This is going to mess up everything about trading.’

Her sighs increased as the days went by.

But what could she do? She liked the cute princess.

Even now, she was focusing on drawing while sitting on a low chair.

The sight of her tiny hands drawing was quite cute.

Her round head had chubby cheeks that jiggled mercilessly.

The smile that appeared when she liked her drawing was also cute.

A smile naturally spread across her lips.

‘Let’s work overtime. It’s okay if I go to bed late. I won’t grow taller anyway.’

Thus, Adelia fell into work addiction again today.

Eventually, what she chose was a magic book that even the imperial family couldn’t understand.

Fortunately, they were quite distant from magic. They especially, terribly dreaded magic books.

As soon as Adelia took out a book, their faces contorted. Ignoring their incomprehensible looks, Adelia calculated magical formulas.

The magical formula was a mixture of computer language and formulas from her previous life. Since her major was computer science in her previous life, she could learn it quickly. Moreover, using methods from her previous life allowed her to create many new formulas.

Then Ariana tapped on the desk while drawing.

“Sister. Do you have any stationery? I want to write you a letter!”

“It’s in the first drawer of the desk. Choose whatever you like. Oh, do you want me to bring it?”

“No! I can go.”

Ariana, now familiar with the room, said as she clenched her fist.

Adelia chuckled and said okay before turning her gaze back to the book.

‘Pretty stationery!’

Ariana flipped over her drawing so Adelia couldn’t see it and went to choose stationery.

There were various kinds of stationery at the place where Adelia mentioned. Ariana laughed merrily as she browsed through them.

Pink, blue, purple. The colorful papers had pretty drawings on them.

While she was feeling the soft texture and choosing, it happened.

Ariana’s hand stopped while happily flipping through stationery.

‘This is…’

She pulled out a sky-blue piece of stationery from among the papers.

It was a piece of stationery with waves drawn on it, which Adelia often used when sending letters to the trading company.

There was a very short note left in the corner.

[Why me?]

Ariana looked at the meaningless note with a blank face.

Because it was scribbled in Korean.

The familiar letters found in an unexpected place brought confusion to Ariana’s face.

But she quickly hid her surprised expression as much as possible because of her family, who could keenly notice even small movements.

‘Should I ask…’

Ariana slightly turned her head to look at Adelia, who was scribbling magical formulas with a quill pen.

She quietly pondered. Should she talk about it? Should she act as if she knew?

She was afraid that secrets might be revealed. But curiosity overcame fear.

She took another piece of stationery to cover that note and casually returned to her seat.

And carefully placed that piece of stationery on the desk.

Ariana swallowed nervously.

“Sister. This is so pretty.”

She naturally smiled and subtly pushed forward the piece of stationery with the note.

The gaze that had been fixed on the book moved down to the letter.

‘Oh no….’

Adelia couldn’t tear her eyes away from it, looking troubled.

Who knew that a note scribbled unconsciously would create such an awkward situation.

‘I didn’t expect to reveal it so soon.’

When Adelia looked up, she was met with the clear gaze of bright red eyes.

Given the situation, she had no intention, nor the ability, to hide it from the princess. It was a secret she intended to share eventually, just not with others yet.

Sigh. Adelia, having let out a short breath, spoke up.

“Your Highness. I’ve brought some new clothes from the merchantry for you. Would you like to try them on?”

“Clothes…?”

Ariana blinked, puzzled by the question.

“Didn’t I mention it before? Have you forgotten?”

Adelia added with a teasing lift of her eyebrows.

Only then did Ariana realize it was an excuse to have a moment alone.

“Oh, right. Yes, I’d like to try them on.”

She answered cautiously after a moment of consideration.

The situation was unsettling, but she wanted to share, feeling a sense of camaraderie,

‘Could she have been reincarnated like me?’

If so, could she know what I’m curious about?

Seeing the princess’s determined face, Adelia turned and approached the imperial family.

“Would you mind stepping out for a moment?”

“If that’s the case, there’s a dressing room next door. It should be fine to stay here. New clothes? I must see.”

The emperor responded, looking at Ariana instead of Adelia.

He imagined his daughter bouncing around in beautiful clothes.

If Adelia prepared it, it must be from Eileen’s clothing shop.

A place well aware of Ariana’s preferences would surely suit her perfectly.

The emperor’s red eyes sparkled with anticipation.

That anticipation was shattered by Adelia.

“Unfortunately, we’ve decided to try on my clothes as well. There is a dressing room, but you’ll still need to leave.”

Even if they were changing in the dressing room, it was against manners to stay in the same room unless they were closely related or married.

Adelia smiled brightly, ignoring the sharp looks directed at her.

The first to rise was the emperor.

“Make sure to call me when you’re done.”

He sighed deeply and left after giving Adelia a sharp look.

Soon after, the prince also left, promising to return shortly.

With two uninvited guests handled… Lucian showed no sign of leaving.

He continued to sip his tea while watching Ariana.

“Aren’t you leaving, Your Highness?”

“Since you are my fiancée and she is my sister, it is not against etiquette for me to be here. Please change in the dressing room.”

“Ha ha….”

How passionate.

Unable to voice her sarcasm, Adelia grimaced slightly.

She pondered briefly on how to get rid of the overly confident crown prince.

Soon, a smile spread across her face.

“That’s true. There’s no issue with Your Highness staying.”

Adelia stood and fixed him with a stare.

Her smile was charming yet filled with mischief as she slightly squinted her eyes.

Lucian did not avoid her gaze. In response, Adelia filled her blue eyes with only him.

She stared directly at him as she fumbled at her nape with one hand.

Her fingers quickly found the zipper, and it didn’t take long for it to unzip down to her shoulder blades, revealing pale skin as the front of the dress parted smoothly.

“What… what are you doing!”

Lucian exclaimed in a flustered voice.

His ears turned slightly red as he covered his eyes and turned his head away.