The Prince Is Dead, So Let’s Start Over Everything Again! - Chapter 3.2

“Ugh. Suddenly. My head. Hurts. So much. Could it be? The dust. From the fabric.”

“Oh my! Miss! A healer! I’ll call a healer!”

In the end, that day’s commotion ended with me showcasing my perfect acting skills.

But a similar situation repeated the next day.

And as time passed, now.

The same scene from that day was repeating itself before my eyes.

“Miss, how was the one you tried on earlier?”

“It was good.”

“Then, how about the one you tried on before that?”

“It was excellent.”

“Ah! I thought the very first one you tried on would be fine with just a little adjustment! How was that one?”

“It was fantastic.”

“Oh come on! Miss, please stop doing that and help me choose!”

Some of the faster tailors we had commissioned had already made samples.

Anna insisted that clothes had to be tried on to truly assess them, and she attempted to have me wear each and every piece.

Needless to say, the dressmaking skills of people in this world were not particularly impressive.

It was countless how many layers of clothes one had to wear to properly grow up.

It was a world where they didn’t even know how to make pockets in the skirt hem, so they had to tie separate pockets inside the clothes.

To try on one dress, you had to tie ribbon strings at least dozens of times.

After trying on about five fitted dresses, I felt like I’d rather be the marble floor.

“Ah, Anna!”

“Yes?”

“I, need, a bathroom!”

Unable to endure any longer, I fled, abandoning Anna and the tailors.

Afraid that Anna might catch me, I ran, ran, and ran again down the long corridor.

Fortunately, the servants loitering in the corridor didn’t seem to care whether I was running or not.

The servants all had sickly pale faces.

It was understandable, given how much their workload had increased in such a short time.

After turning two corners and climbing stairs about three times, I spotted a familiar figure.

It was the 3rd Prince.

The 3rd Prince was walking somewhere in the distance, carrying an armful of books. His gait was so proper and neat that it caught my eye.

Should I call out to him or not?

The distance between the 3rd Prince and me was such that unless the person behind deliberately called out to stop the person in front, it would be difficult for us to meet.

I followed behind the 3rd Prince, debating whether to call out to him or not.

There was no one in the corridor except for the 3rd Prince and me.

The 3rd Prince walked briskly. If I walked leisurely, it seemed like I would lose sight of him at any moment.

That guy, he walks well.

Until recently, he was stumbling around like a newborn foal, but he’s grown up a lot already. They say other people’s kids grow up fast…

I followed him stealthily while having these pointless thoughts.

At that moment, a servant suddenly appeared from the opposite direction.

And then, a really strange thing happened.

“Ouch!”

The 3rd Prince, who had been walking just fine until now, suddenly fell down with a thud and started to make a crying face!

The servant, startled, picked up the books that the 3rd Prince had dropped.

The 3rd Prince stood still, whimpering like a child until the servant picked up all the books.

“Thank you. …And keep what you just saw a secret.”

The 3rd Prince ordered in a voice completely devoid of dignity.

And then, hugging the returned books tightly, he toddled away.

Without exaggeration, he walked slowly like a baby duck.

What’s with him? Did he just fall on purpose? He was walking just fine until a moment ago. He was almost running!

“…What is he doing?”

A voice tinged with confusion escaped from between my teeth.

The 3rd Prince, seemingly not hearing my muttering, continued to walk slowly.

The servant followed behind the 3rd Prince, offering to carry the books for him, but the 3rd Prince firmly refused his kindness.

Eventually, the servant gave up on helping the 3rd Prince and started to go on his original way.

I was standing in the servant’s path. It was only a matter of time before he discovered me.

For some reason, I felt like I shouldn’t be caught being here.

I hurriedly turned around and ran towards the opposite corridor.

“Miss!”

And I was caught right away by Anna, who had been wandering the corridors looking for me.

My brief escapade ended just like that.

***

“Anna.”

“Yes?”

“Was there anything unusual today?”

“Oh, Miss. They say he was the same as usual today. I heard he just read books in the library all day.”

Since that day, I have developed a habit.

Before going to sleep, I would ask Anna about how the 3rd Prince’s day had been.

As a result, Anna developed some strange misunderstandings, but even so, I couldn’t stop asking about the 3rd Prince.

It was because the 3rd Prince’s behavior was really, really suspicious.

“What kind of books did he read today?”

“Well, I’m not sure what books he read in the library, but I heard the titles of the books he took to his room. They were ‘Mama Duck Loves Baby Duck’, ‘Boo-hoo, I Don’t Want to Eat Vegetables’, and ‘Brave Little Deer Titi’.”

“…What’s with those titles?”

“Well, they’re books for children to read. You read all of them when you were little too, Miss.”

“I read those? When?”

“Let’s see… When you were about three or four, I think?”

Suspicious point number one.

The 3rd Prince reads books that even a five-year-old wouldn’t read.

For reference, the books he read yesterday were ‘A Chick Was Born from an Egg’, ‘The Wizard and the Little Fairy’, and ‘Mom is the Best in the World’.

Just from the titles, you could tell these weren’t books an eight-year-old would read.

However, strangely enough, the servants of the Rudbeckia court didn’t seem to notice this discrepancy at all.

“…Don’t you think it’s strange? He’s reading books that are too childish for an eight-year-old.”

“But everyone has different tastes, right? And actually, I thought it was interesting that His Highness the 3rd Prince is reading books that suit him so well.”

“Hmm…”

Suspicious point number two.

Except for me, other people don’t seem to realize at all that the 3rd Prince is doing things that don’t match his age.

Still, I could roughly guess the cause of this problem.

It was probably because the 3rd Prince seemed so childlike that people didn’t feel any sense of caution.

I’m not sure if it’s appropriate to use this expression for an eight-year-old, but the 3rd Prince looked much younger than his age.

Already a full span shorter than children his age, he was also very thin, which made him seem even smaller.

In appearance, he looked closer to a toddler than an eight-year-old child.

On the other hand, Hariella’s height was slightly above average for children of the same age.

Judging by appearances alone, the 3rd Prince and I looked almost two or three years apart.

I probably played a part in why people around us didn’t notice the 3rd Prince’s suspicious behavior.

“…But still, it’s strange.”