“Wow…!”

The moment our carriage entered Broad Square, one of St. Berte’s plazas, an exclamation burst from my lips.

The square, paved with neat ivory-colored blocks spread out like an enormous carpet, featured a circular fountain in its center, shooting water high into the air as if welcoming our arrival.

Tall buildings with gleaming glass windows, countless small shops, and carriages gliding smoothly past pedestrians stretched out in all directions.

Unable to contain my curiosity, I opened the carriage’s glass window and poked my head out.

I lifted Odin, who was nestled in my arms, just enough for him to peek out without risking falling. He rested his tiny chin on the windowsill and closed his eyes gently as the breeze hit his face.

“I wasn’t happy about incarnating as this tiny cub, but considering it allows me to come out like this, it’s not so bad after all.”

Odin soon opened his eyes and gazed outside with his glossy blue eyes.

As I lifted him higher so his front paws could rest on the windowsill for a better view, Madame Mariette, who was riding in the carriage with me, looked back and forth between Odin and me with an unfamiliar gaze before offering an awkward smile.

“That… Odin, you called him? His cry sounds just like…”

“Pardon?”

When I looked at Madame Mariette with a puzzled expression, she spoke in a tone that showed she found Odin quite adorable.

“He sounds like a chick.”

His cry resembles a chick?

Come to think of it, while I could hear what Odin was saying, to others it must sound like the cries of a young animal.

Being a lion cub with such a small body, he had limitations in making sounds loud enough for prolonged vocalizations.

I couldn’t help but laugh at this unexpectedly cute description, but Odin, displeased with the comment, slapped the windowsill with his front paw.

“Ridiculous!”

“Oh my, how cute!”

But all he received was enthusiastic applause from Madame Mariette.

Bang! Bang!

The more Odin grew angry, the more Madame Mariette and Randolph, sitting beside her, clapped their hands with bright faces, encouraging his antics.

“That lady has no idea who I am…”

Though he had only struck the windowsill a few times, Odin quickly tired due to his young animal body. He smacked his lips bitterly and blinked his eyes slowly.

“He must need a lot of sleep as a baby lion. May I hold him?”

“No! Kyaaak!”

When Odin dug his claws into my dress to avoid being separated from me and bristled his fur, Madame Mariette hurriedly withdrew her outstretched hand back to her lap.

While stroking Odin’s head and pretending to soothe him, I asked for her understanding.

“Haha. I’ll keep holding him. Odin is a bit prickly.”

“I see. Does he already recognize only his owner? Now I want to bring a lion home too. They’re so loyal, aren’t they?”

You can’t just bring a lion home as easily as installing a boiler, can you?

I looked at her in bewilderment, and Odin also squinted his eyes with an expression suggesting he’d never heard such an outlandish request.

“Look over there.”

While we were briefly arguing, the carriage seemed to have already passed Broad Square and approached our destination, Mertid Square.

Looking in the direction Odin pointed, I saw the wide walls of the “Danube Museum” built with pretty caramel-colored bricks.

“The Danube Museum operates with works donated or loaned by the Hedegen family. It’s the largest museum in the Empire. See that building made of red brick? That’s the Reben Art Gallery, the oldest in the Empire. The building barely visible behind it is the St. Berte Tourist Information Center. And…”

Odin, knowing I had amnesia, explained various parts of Broad Square to me like a tour guide.

“Oh, among those tall buildings, the tallest one is Hedegen’s holding company. The building that just appeared on the right is the Hedegen Trading Company. Next to it is Hedegen Shipping. That’s the St. Berte Post Office. Buildings named after the Hedegen family without St. Berte are typically found in other regions too. Ah, I can see Langchester Bank over there as well.”

“There’s Langchester Bank, Your Highness!”

Madame Mariette’s tone was highly excited as she pointed to the Langchester Bank that Odin had just spotted.

Her pride in Langchester Bank was evident.

“……”

In the original story, when the Hedegen family fell, the nobles who had supported them also walked a lonely path of decline.

After the downfall, the male protagonist Clint met with various people to gather witnesses and evidence to reclaim the Hedegen family’s assets.

In that process, he implicated and eliminated at once most of the nobles who had participated in framing the deceased Grand Duke Hedegen.

However, too much time had passed, and the nobles who had supported the Hedegen family never returned.

Norbert had said that all the branch manager couples were nobles and famous figures in society, so Madame Mariette’s family was likely among the fallen nobles mentioned in the original work.

Looking at Madame Mariette, who had approached me with a warm attitude throughout our meetings, and Odin proudly explaining the Hedegen family’s achievements, I hoped once again that everyone would avoid the path of the original story.

For that to happen, I needed to reveal that the Azanie comital family and the imperial family had attacked the Grand Duke Hedegen.

“…Apothecary.”

As I refocused and looked outside, the alley of apothecaries stretching out to the left from the main street of the square flashed before my eyes.

Hugging the soft Odin tightly, I quickly memorized the path I needed to take.

“Have a happy day, beautiful madame.”

A pretty-faced young girl handed us flowers one by one from her basket, greeting us in a cute voice.

All the branch managers had said they would smoke cigars at the cafe terrace, while the ladies were on their way to the boutique boasting the largest scale in the Empire after visiting the Science Design Hall.

“Come here, little one. You need to take the money.”

When Madame Mariette tried to take money out of her clutch, the cute little girl shook her head.

“It’s a gift, madame.”

The child, wearing a dull gray, tattered dress, curtseyed and quickly ran into an alley.

Madame Jeanette wore a deeply touched expression.

“St. Berte really is different. They even give away flowers like this?”

As she clutched her chest and tilted her head halfway with a dreamlike expression, Madame Mariette met my eyes and smiled faintly.

“From my perspective, you’re just happy about going to Swan’s Boutique, aren’t you?”

“That’s true too. How much new silk and lace must have arrived! Nowhere else gets expensive foreign fabrics faster than here.”

Madame Jeanette hurried her steps as if eager to go.

I sighed deeply, estimating how far I would need to run from that boutique to Carrisford’s apothecary.

The fortunate thing was that both Carrisford’s apothecary and Swan’s Boutique were so large and famous that they were located at the entrance of each alley, like landmarks of the square.

Though the shops were large, the distance was manageable enough to make a quick trip if I sprinted.

“Your Highness? This way.”

“Yes!”

When Madame Mariette guided me, I nodded quickly.

Just then, Odin narrowed his eyes and got up, repeatedly burying and withdrawing his face in my arm while stretching languidly.

Upon arriving at the boutique, the owner recognized the VIPs and welcomed us with a bright smile.

Soon the ladies began shopping, and everyone from the owner to the clerks mobilized to show all kinds of beautiful fabrics.

“How do you plan to slip away?”

While I pretended to be engrossed like the other ladies, letting out a few exclamations of admiration, Odin asked quietly.

“I’ll say I have a headache.”

“Good idea. If you say that, they’ll arrange a separate room for you.”

Odin nodded, seemingly satisfied with my answer.

While the owner and manager enthusiastically explained, I subtly clutched my head.

“Your Highness? What’s wrong?”

“Ah… I have a headache.”

“Are you not feeling well? You must have overdone it.”

“Please don’t worry too much. I’d just like to rest for a moment…”

Perhaps recalling my fainting spell yesterday, the ladies immediately asked the boutique owner to prepare a place for me to rest before I could even finish speaking.

The owner hurriedly guided me to a space furnished with a sofa.

“I’ll rest quietly by myself, so please show the ladies more of your fine silks.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

After the polite owner left the room, Odin wagged his tail and tapped me with his front paw.

“I’ve checked the back door.”

“Me too!”

I quickly slipped out through the back door and left the shop. In the distance, I could see Carrisford’s apothecary.

“Can’t you run any faster?”

Frustrated with my pace, Odin tilted his head back from my arms and looked at me.

“Huff, huff, it’s not easy running in this dress, you know?”

“Tsk tsk. You need to build more stamina. You look like a sickly chick.”

“You’re the chick, Odin. They just said your cry sounds like a chick! And this dress is really heavy!”

“Your dress looks the lightest of them all. Is that all you have for dresses?”

“Why?”

“It’s too shabby compared to the other ladies. I wonder if you lack taste or money.”

“Both!”

I shouted in annoyance at Odin, who was calmly criticizing my clothes while I ran with my breath reaching my throat.

Ding-a-ling—

When I hurriedly flung open the door, a bell rang loudly. The apothecary owner came running at the sound.

He approached me with a welcoming face but hesitated and frowned upon seeing Odin in my arms.

His eyes seemed to ask what kind of woman carries a baby lion around.

“Hello. Could you tell me what this powder is?”

Ignoring his look, I took out a thick envelope from my dress pocket and placed it in front of the apothecary owner.

“Hmm… So you’re not here to buy medicine, but to ask for identification?”

“What? Yes…”

The apothecary owner, who had come out from behind the counter and was examining the powder with wrinkled eyes, made a displeased expression before picking up the envelope with a slow hand.

“He doesn’t like you. You brought something that won’t make him money. He doesn’t know who you are.”

Odin growled and looked up at the apothecary owner.

“Well… coming just for identification, not to buy anything… this doesn’t bring in any money…”

Odin’s prediction was correct.

“I’m sorry…”

“Well, let’s open it and see.”

I wanted him to move faster, but as the old man said, this wasn’t a profitable matter, so I wasn’t in a position to rush him.

“Let’s see, let’s see… what might this be…”

Ding-a-ling—

Just then, as the bell rang behind me, the apothecary owner paused in opening my envelope and turned his gaze toward the entrance.