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Who is she?

The unknown girl whom I have no idea of existing even in my glimpses in dreams before caught me off guard. I should have expected there to be little changes in this timeline.

"It's a surprise to meet you atlast, Beatrice." The Empress replied, motioning her hand to the young lady. "What brings you here?"

"I've arrived to inform the result of the war." The young lady replied, showing us a white envelope with a red seal on it. "My father, the Duke, has secured the empire's boundaries that no Arhams and slaves of Caners are left to wander around."

The Empress narrowed her eyes before one maid took the envelope and had it opened for us, then handing it to Aureus. The moment she scanned its contents, she let out a satisfied hum as if she's given an award. "Excellent."

"Is it a victory on our side, mother?" Klydeur asked.

She glanced at him and gave a simple nod. Klydeur ended up in an awkward situation due to his obliviousness, since it is obvious that we already won.

I took a sip from my mint tea again before commenting. "The 50-50 war victory percentage that Eldest and her majesty talked about last time must be the problem of this result."

"Indeed." The Empress replied, closing the envelope and giving it to one of her butlers to keep. "We had secured everything and wiped out an entire race of traitors. There is no single miscalculation."

With that said, relief dawned on me. Arhams and the Caners if combined might be a nuisance or worse, our nation's strongest rival. I had a hunch that maybe they'll try to fake war and have the victory faked too.

But then again, with both Eldest and Aureus leading the battle, there's no way they'll be able to execute a plan. In the end, both parties died with a victory in our part.

The thing is, I also feel pity for the unfortunate people. They may have died an unworthy death, and if only they didn't ever try to betray our Empire, the Empress might have still taken the Arhams under her reign.

"For such a young lady to deliver a message about war, you must be preparing to become one of the Duke's successor." The Empress commented, making the young lady smile.

"I'd take it as a compliment, your majesty." She surprisingly glanced at me, and I tried not to flinch in surprise. "Ah, pardon me, your highness. I must have not introduced myself yet."

I smiled back politely, not wanting to say anything at the moment.

"I am Beatrice Roa Lethilde, daughter of Duke Lethilde and soon to be future Duchess." She introduced herself with a curtsy.

"It's nice to meet you, Lady Beatrice." I replied politely, trying to divert the awkwardness in our area when I recalled such a familiar name. It was the same Duke who barged into my room last time. If it weren't for Eldest there who shooed him away, I might have had a head ache dealing with him.

And then here's his daughter.

"I'm afraid I shall take my leave." Lady Beatrice stated as she glanced at her pocketwatch necklace. "At another time, your majesty, your highnesses. May time make haste to the Vermillion Empire."

That made me sigh in relief. She then took her leave while being escorted by some of the knights. And just as she was about to leave, the latter that I've been anxiously waiting for has arrived at the same time!

Both of them glanced at each others for a moment before they walked past each others. Eldest grinned and greeted us with a slight bow and a hand to her chest. "May time make haste to the Vermillion Empire."

I tried to maintain my normal smile, ignoring the suspicious stare of the Empress and the oblivious Klydeur. "Eldest? Long time no see." My brother greeted with a small smile.

The latter forced a smile. "Yep. It's been a while since I last saw you, your highness."

"What brings you here?" The Empress asked, rather impatiently as she tapped her fingers on the table. "...I feel like having indigestion from all these visitors."

You what?

Did I hear that right? I tried to pretend like I didn't hear my mother's words. It was a surprise that even I was the only one able to hear it!

"Apologies, your majesty. But I am only here because the crown prince had told me so." Eldest casually replied with hand gestures, dismissing the fact that she can't see me almost hissing at her.

"Ah, about that—" I almost stammered when the Empress glanced at me, probably asking for an explanation. "—I asked her for a favor and I told her to come here when she's finished."

Klydeur, being the ever curious brother of mine, asked. "What favor?"

"Stop being nosy and grow up." Eldest grimaced, and I almost panicked about it, but there was something wrong. Klydeur didn't have any reaction to what she said, and Eldest spoke again. "I assume it would be best to ask the crown prince."

Wait, did Klydeur not hear what Eldest said? And earlier, what Aureus said, am I the only one who heard it too?

Just what is the meaning of this!?

"Oh, it was a favor to prepare a gift." I simply responded, beaming a smile, ignoring my crisis. "Since I can't possibly be empty-handed, and I want to give something in return."

"That's thoughtful of you, brother."

One thing that also changed is the fact that Klydeur calls me brother and no longer hyung. I guess he grew up or he changed the way he speaks. But that alone made me think that maybe he is fluent with the Korean language, but I wonder if that language exists in this world?

I mean, I don't even know what country or where we are located. All I know is that this is the Vermillion Empire from the historical days. Damn, I should have studied about this kind of thing.

There were a lot of reincarnation stories my sister used to read, but I never knew it will ever happen to me!

I took a deep breath and focused on reality. "It isn't much but, here it is." As I motioned for Eldest, she nodded her head and waved her hand. A simple yet elegant box popped up from the air and into her hand. It has a golden ribbon on top wrapped in light purple wrapper.

As she placed it on the table, Aureus squinted her eyes in curiousity of whatever is inside the box. "Quite fascinating. I'm surprised you decided to bring something, yet alone a gift."

"I just wanted to celebrate another occassion this day aside from our 3 months vacation." I replied.

"And what would be?"

"You'll know if you open it, mama." I grinned, ignoring the surprised face from Klydeur who almost dropped his fork from slicing a cake.

The Empress didn't mind my playful personality as she knows I'm just a mere 10 year old kid, but I suppose I might have lost my head if she knew about my real identity. She carefully untied the ribbon and opened the lid of the box.

"......" The moment she opened the box to see its contents, she fell silent for a moment. That got me a bit worried.

I mean, the thing that I prepared for her is a gift that Klydeur gifted her from my glimpses before. Is it no longer working as a charm?

It was a simple set of flowery diamond-shaped earrings paired with a silver necklace with the same design as its pendant. Those were the kind of jewelry the Empress adored, but because of her position, she chose to wear those that better suit her as an Empress and not a simple noble lady.

I smiled awkwardly. "If you don't like it, I can prepare a new and better one—"

"It's the festival season, isn't it?" The Empress asked as she took the earrings from the box, staring at it carefully before looking at me. "Where did you buy it?"

"From the brandiest jewelry shop, your majesty." Eldest replied for me as she grinned. "Ofcourse, your son wouldn't buy something out of context."

I blinked my eyes as I glanced towards Klydeur. "Oh, yes. It is the time of the festival." I responded to the Empress' question before placing another box as a gift for him. "And here is yours, brother."

He smiled before opening the box carefully, and then looking inside the contents. "Brother, thank you." He replied before closing the lid of the red colored box.

"Ofcourse. How could I forget a gift for you, brother?" I replied with a bright smile, but soon noticed the Empress and Eldest suspiciously looking at us. "Well, is there something wrong?"

"I suppose you care about your brother a lot." Eldest commented with a shrug.

I glanced towards the Empress, who surprisingly had a small smile on her face. I blinked my eyes a few times, only to see her with a stoic face all of a sudden. Was I mistaken? "I like it." She stated.

"Uh, I'm glad you like it! Ehehe." I beamed, still clinging into my plan of desperately living and avoid death at all costs.

In the end, Eldest had no choice but to also join our every day tea party in the garden while I had my time to relax and do anything I want to the whole 3 months. But ofcourse, whenever you get to rest, your mind will also fly by to your former problems.

May time really make haste to this empire.

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I'm sorry if the updates are taking a bit long and shorter, I was planning to write more drafts before posting one but here it is. And also, while waiting, you may try some of my other works that are mostly fanfictions.

• Reincarnated in a Fictional World | KnY

• Servamp: Two Sloths are Tiresome

• No Hero | Weak Hero

• Voltage | Eleceed (NEW)

You can check it out in my profile. I hope you guys can give it a try and enjoy reading! Thank you and stay safe everyone.

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