Chapter 68

Wow, this granny sure held grudges.

With my temper, I wanted to grab her beak and spin her around, but the fault was in the parent who had put their child in her care.

Afraid that Haniel might get any kind of disadvantage once she began going to school again, I only nodded my head like a silly girl.

“Of course. That was just so inhuman, I wondered how someone like him could exist!”

[Please be careful of what you say. It is clear disloyalty to say such things about the royal Highness of the Empire!]

“…..oh, okay.”

Even though I’d taken her side.

As befitting for the embodiment of etiquette and law itself, Lady Melleo strongly scolded me.

Being kicked was being kicked; apparently she hadn’t thrown away her loyalty to the Emperor.

[Pheww, the matters of that day have been a shock to me as well. Anyhow, I wonder why His Majesty came all the way to Palladium Lake for.]

“Th-that, I’ve also no idea. Haha.”

I tried to laugh as innocently as I could, but Lady Melleo maintained her frostiness. Even as she peered at me suspiciously, trying to see if she could glean some kind of indication from me, she feigned ignorance until the very end.

‘…she’s definitely the type to get revenge.’

Looking at the lady who’d gone as far as to wrap herself in bandages where she had been kicked, as if to show it off, I couldn’t bring myself to say anything to her.

Even if she was loyal to the throne, if she knew that it was me who’d brought the instigator, who knew what harm would go to Haniel.

Let’s not forget, this year’s goal is a perfect attendance award!

“A-anyways, Haniel fell sick at the shock of drowning, so it won’t be considered an unexcused absence but a sick leave, right?”

[That is indeed true, but to have a swan drown in water. It’s a very big disappointment.]

“But that wasn’t Haniel’s fault…”

It still wasn’t too late to grab her beak and open her up wide, but I forcefully tamped it down.

For Haniel, who was tilting her head next to Selene in the corner over there, unaware of everything, I could endure this any number of times, be it ten or a hundred.

“A-anyways, once she learns she will be able to follow again very soon. She’s just very young.”

[If the Duchess says so, I cannot deny, but I will be watching her very carefully in the future. To have such chaos at the admissions ceremony– this is the first time this has happened since this school was founded.]

“Ahh, I see.”

[Hmph! Please wait here. I will bring in her homeroom teacher.]

“Thank you very much.”

For not marrying and remaining single,

And therefore not becoming anyone’s mother-in-law and ruining the life of a precious daughter from another house.

“…..”

I gently gritted my teeth as I watched her turn away, still holding the grudge. Since she wasn’t marking it as an unexcused absence, I would keep it down.

I quickly headed to where Haniel was with Selene and gave her this good news.

“Baby, Teacher Melleo said she’ll take you back.”

[Weally? Whyy? Oh oh, I know!]

Her small chest fidgeting at the awaited news, Haniel shyly came near my ear.

[Be-because Haniel pwetty?]

“….that’s right!”

That’s exactly right.

I clutched at my chest as I looked at Haniel, with her red ribbon and a glowing face, her chest rising gently with each breath. She’d chosen that ribbon with her very own wing from the basket full of ribbons.

It was the same red ribbon from that day, but its sheen and fabric was much more luxurious than that had been.

“As expected, our princess has good taste.”

[Mommy, is Haniel pwetty?]

Haniel tilted her head to the left, as if she was embarrassed but also didn’t dislike it. Doing that was probably a habit she didn’t even know of, and the thought made me burst out laughing.

“Of course. Let’s ask nanny, too. Right, Selene? Isn’t she really pretty?”

[…..very much so. A spectacular sight. Just magnificent. A gift from god, umm.]

She, who had been rambling on while staring someplace else, then hid her face under her wing a beat later.