Chapter 8

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Chapter 8 : My Start Will Be Small (3)

“Your Highness Legina. Those two are…”

“Hey, don’t you dare speak!”

It was Theore who cut off the head attendant. He stood with his fists clenched tightly, eyes cast down, biting his lip. Legina, surprised by this unprecedented sight since the regression, paused for a moment, then her eyes fell upon her young brother’s trembling, tightly clenched fists.

“Theore, you…”

“Be quiet! Shut up! Don’t say anything!”

The child’s eyes, stubbornly fixed on the ground, were red-rimmed. The moment she saw him, Legina felt her heart grow cold. He was the most incorrigible troublemaker, best at infuriating his sister, yet there was one single moment, one instant, when this child would weaken. Legina knew this better than the Emperor, who believed himself to be the one who loved Theore most in the world. That’s why she was certain what her brother’s face was conveying right now.

“…You two. Speak for yourselves.”

“I told you there’s nothing to worry about!”

“Theore, be quiet.”

Her voice was neither high nor low. Yet, a single phrase, like a massive rock crushing the listener’s soul, flowed from Legina’s lips. Theore flinched, trembling at her chilling voice, which he had never heard before in his life. Slowly, he lifted his head.

And for the first time in his life, Theore saw Legina’s angry face. In his memory, Legina had always been a gentle-faced, boring, and tedious person. Only today did Theore realize that his sister could have such a cold gaze.

“How long must I wait for your words?”

“We, we just…”

The two attendants, who had been clinging to her leg, screaming for their lives, began to tremble. The thought that the one they believed to be their lifeline might, in fact, be the grim reaper come for their necks, simultaneously occurred to them. However, they vigorously shook their heads, casting off the ominous thought. The Legina they knew was a ‘good’ person. So, she would surely save them.

“We merely… exchanged words… about a circulating ru-rumor…”

“Th-that’s right. Just a rumor… a rumor…”

“A rumor, you say…”

“It’s a rumor that everyone knows, not just us!”

“Yes, yes!”

The two attendants desperately made excuses, but Legina’s expression remained coldly composed. She knew all too well what “rumor” they were exchanging.

“Is that rumor about the ‘Imperial Prince who devoured his mother at birth’?”

At her low voice, Theore’s body flinched, and the two attendants subtly nodded, watching Legina’s expression.

“How outrageous.”

Legina clicked her tongue and looked at Theore. His usual demeanor was gone; a child his age was hunched over, staring at the ground. In a month, his birthday banquet would be held, and he would still be only eleven. It was not a rumor that a child who had only seen his mother’s face in portraits could handle. The Emperor had declared that anyone spreading false rumors would be severely punished, but careless words spread faster than the wind and survive more tenaciously than poisonous mushrooms.

That’s why, before her regression, whenever Legina saw Theore like this, she could do nothing but keep the servants’ mouths shut and console her brother. No, it wasn’t that she couldn’t; she just didn’t know what she could do.

But was that still true now? Legina, having regressed, still didn’t know how to completely eradicate rumors, but she knew how to attach a heavy weight to a rumor, sinking it into the water so it could never resurface.

“We have committed a capital offense! Please save us, Your Highness!”

“If you’ve committed a capital offense, you should die.”

“…What?”

Theore, who had expected Legina to console him and tell them to forgive them as she had before, opened his eyes wide in surprise at her unexpected reaction. It seemed his accompanying maids were similarly shocked, staring at Legina with undisguised astonishment.

“Theore. Where is your escort knight?”

“Huh? Oh, over there…”

“His Highness Theore’s sword, Jesse Tarahan, greets Your Highness Legina.”

Legina couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh as she watched the man with neatly combed red hair step forward and bow. Judging by the smiling face he maintained in this situation, the man was clearly lacking in intelligence.

“Just now, your master was insulted in this very place. Yet you stand idly by and smile. How am I supposed to take this?”

“…What?”

At her cold rebuke, cracks began to appear in the man’s smiling face. Legina read “injustice” in the man’s expression. From Jesse’s perspective, it was probably natural. Theore always caused trouble for everyone, and it wasn’t something he, as an escort knight, could stop. What was he, who served the Imperial Prince, supposed to do? Furthermore, he was also the son whom the Emperor cherished terribly. So, he simply chose to watch.

But was he the only one who did that? No. Legina did too. Hadn’t she also just watched Theore’s troublemaking without stopping it?! Legina read his sense of injustice but decided to be brazen. For Jesse, it was recent, but for Legina, it was a long time ago. There was no reason for her not to be shameless and confident.

“These are individuals who dared to speak false rumors, explicitly forbidden by His Imperial Majesty, defaming a member of the Imperial Family. Yet why do you stand idly by?”

“Th-that is…!”

“I asked how you could let those who insult your master live, and how you could smile in front of me.”

“Forgive me, Your Highness!”

“Even the object of your apology is wrong.”

“Fo-Forgive us…!”

“Selma! Summon the Imperial Guard at once!”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Legina looked down at Jesse, who was kneeling and sweating coldly, and the attendants, who had been trembling with pale faces for some time. It would have been good if Johan were here, but he was currently acting on the Emperor’s orders. When an escort knight was away for a long time, another knight from the Imperial Guard should temporarily fill his place, but the Emperor had not allowed it. Yet he called for her morning and evening; how ridiculous. The Emperor probably didn’t even remember giving such an order.

Anyway, I need to adjust my plan a little.

She had thought it would be enough to just prevent her brother’s reformation. It was better for him to remain a troublemaker than to become a pushover, so she only intended to hold the leash that restrained that troublemaker. However, that wasn’t enough. Legina discovered the lacking part of her plan.

He can’t just be a troublemaker. Unless I’m constantly with him, holding his leash, but I’m going to leave.

Theore needed to become a competent troublemaker. At the very least, he needed discernment and the ability to command his subordinates without killing them for this empire to remain safe. Legina revised one of the plans she had made after her regression and turned her gaze towards the offending attendants.

“Y-Your Highness, please have mercy!”

“I don’t think I’m the one you should be clinging to and pleading with, am I?”

“Your Highness Theore! Forgive us!”

“Please save us, Your Highness Theore!”

“Your Highness Theore, please save us!”

“Huh? Huh?”

Theore, who had been blankly watching Legina’s actions, looked down at his escort knight kneeling before him and the two attendants tearfully rubbing their hands together, and was confused, unable to comprehend the situation. He had a feeling his sister had changed, somehow. He had merely thought she had gone crazy, but seeing her now, directly scolding others and punishing them on his behalf, made his chest tingle, a very strange sensation.

“Theore.”

“Huh?”

“You are an Imperial Prince.”

“Uh-uh… R-Right?”

Theore, brought back to his senses by Legina’s re-gentle voice, looked at his sister’s face. Seeing her familiar face smiling softly, he felt somehow relieved; this was the sister he knew.

“It’s good to get angry, but you can’t achieve anything that way. No matter how much you rant, others will only see it as your usual troublemaking; they won’t recognize that you’ve been unfairly treated.”

It would require much effort and patience to turn her wild, unbridled brother into a competent troublemaker. However, effort and patience were Legina’s greatest strengths, ones she could boast about. She smiled kindly at her brother, who was looking up at her with a bewildered expression, and gently continued, “Yelling doesn’t raise your authority. Next time this happens, lower your voice. Lower your voice, straighten your back, and puff out your chest. Then clearly inform them of the crime they’ve committed and hand down their punishment.”

This was the first comfort and encouragement Legina had ever given him, when before she had only ever told him to tolerate things. Just those few words made his chest tingle again, and he couldn’t look Legina straight in the eye.

“Do you understand?”

“Huh? …Yeah, I get it.”

“Good, my brother is smart after all.”

Theore bowed his head at Legina’s soft stroke on his hair. The tips of his ears were flushed red, suggesting he found this situation awkward and embarrassing. Finding his reaction endearing, Legina stroked her brother’s head for a while longer, then her eyes sparkled as she spoke again.

“But Theore?”

“Huh? Why?”

“You didn’t ignore your sister’s command to come to the training ground quickly, wasting time on something like this, did you?”

“…What?”

A chill ran through Theore, and he jerked his head up.

“Surely not. Right?”

“Hey, hey! Wh-Why that again?!”

Theore now noticed the wooden sword in his sister’s hand. Why hadn’t he seen such a menacing thing earlier?! Remembering his sister throwing a chair at him just recently, Theore gulped and began to step backward, one step at a time.

And in his violet eyes, Legina smiled brightly.