What’s happened twice, will happen thrice

 
 
 ☆
 
 
 His Majesty appeared at the end of the corridor.
 
 And beside him was Graham-nii-sama, who had brought along several knights.
 
 Having given a rebuke, His Majesty brought along Graham-nii and the knights, and came walking over here with quick steps.
 
 ”Y-, Your Majesty!!”
 
 With their swords still drawn, the Imperial Guards were surprised and perplexed.
 
 The idiot prince was slumped to the floor in a daze somewhere.^[1]
 
 On the other hand, the knights of the Second Knights Order who were protecting us fell to one knee, on the spot, in a snap.
 
 My father bowed while standing, and when I too tried to bow———
 
 ”…-”
 
 ”Letty?!”
 
 My legs were shaking and I couldn’t curtsey, so I plopped down on the spot.
 
 ”Are you alright, Lettie?”
 
 Hugh-nii-sama had gotten down on one knee, and was rubbing my back.
 
 ”I-, I’m fine.”
 
 As I was saying so ——— with my head hung down, the edge of my gaze affixed on the floor, and I noticed drops of water steadily dripping down.
 
 (Eh…?)
 
 Before I’d realised, tears were flowing from my eyes.
 
 Those warm drops came gushing out one after the other, and wouldn’t stop.^[2]
 
 ”Letty?”
 
 ”Letty!”
 
 I heard the voices of those two calling out my name.
 
 ”A-, aa…”
 
 My father tightly embraced me.
 
 His spreading warmth.
 The voices of those two.
 
 
 (I see, I……)
 
 
 ”Waaaaaaaah”
 
 
 (……… I was scared.)
 
 
 ”Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!”
 
 
 I buried my face in my father’s chest, and cried out as hard as I could.
 
 
 ☆
 
 
 I wonder what kind of exchange happened after that.
 
 I don’t know the details.
 
 It seems that I cried so hard into my father’s chest, that I somehow passed out just like that.
 
 According to what I heard later, the idiot prince who slashed at me was taken away to his room and confined there, and the five Imperial Guards who pointed their swords at us were thrown into the dungeon.
 
 Of course, these were temporary measures until a formal investigation could be done to determine their punishment.
 
 Even so, the fact that those savages had been constrained eased some of the fear within me.
 
 ——— well, that’s that.
 
 With this, the number of times I’ve fainted in the royal castle is three.^[3]
 And that was also all related to that idiot prince.
 
 Things that have happened twice will happen thrice, but as expected, I’d like to refrain from a fourth time.
 
 The Duke is set to be executed, and the idiot prince self-destructed.
 
 I had a scary thought, but as they say, third time’s the charm, so this problem should also be over.
 
 I guess I won’t collapse in the royal castle ever again.
 
 
 ☆
 
 
 ——— I had a dream.
 
 A warm dream.
 
 I don’t remember the details anymore, but my father was there, and my two brothers were there.
 Anna was there, and I remember Coco and Mel being there too.
 
 And then, one other person too.
 
 (That was……)^[4]
 
 
 
 I opened my eyes, and stared blankly at the ceiling.
 
 A dimly lit room with the curtains drawn.
 
 The ceiling… which was behind the bed’s canopy, had patterns of flowering plants that I hadn’t seen before.
 
 ”…… where, am I?”
 
 Having muttered so, someone seated on a chair next to me stood up all of a sudden, and reached their hand out to me.
 
 ”How are you feeling? Ojou-sama.”
 
 And the owner of that familiar voice was———
 
 ”…Anna?”
 
 ”Yes. It’s Ojou-sama’s Anna.”
 
 On that hand that gently caressed my cheek, I placed my own hand on top of it.
 
 The coolness of that hand soothed my heart.
 
 ”Where, am I?”
 
 ”A guest room in the royal castle. Danna^[5]-sama is in the next room, and Hubert-sama is also staying in yet another room.”
 
 ”But, why is Anna here? Getting permission to enter the castle is probably not simple.”
 
 I tilted my head.
 
 If this is the royal castle, then my attendant Anna being here is strange.
 
 The royal castle has suitable formalities, and those formalities are based on strict rules.
 
 No matter how many guests there are, attendants are fundamentally not allowed to enter the guest rooms.
 Though I don’t know about foreign royalty.
 
 As I was tilting my head, my attendant grinned at me.
 
 ”Yesterday evening, a messenger came from the castle. The oral message from Danna-sama was to [immediately come to the castle, to accompany Ojou-sama]. It was the first time I’d seen a castle-entry permit with His Majesty’s name on.”
 
 ”… I see. So that’s how it is.”
 
 ”Yes. That’s how it is.”
 
 In response to my muttering, Anna nodded while grinning.
 
 Although I think my [that’s how it is] and Anna’s [that’s how it is] have different meanings.
 
 It would have been tactless of me to mention it, so I instead switched my words with something else.
 
 ”It’s a relief to have Anna here…. Thanks for being here together with me, Anna.”
 
 When I said that without meeting her gaze because I was embarrassed, Anna’s eyes went wide, she drew in a breath, and,
 
 ”Ugh, Leticia-Ojou-sama, that’s too cute!!”
 
 Doof, she embraced me with great vigour.^[6]
 
 
 ☆
 
 
 Twenty minutes later.
 
 Inside my guest room, there were two visitors.
 
 ”Are you alright, Letty?”
 
 My father seemed worried as he asked me this.
 
 ”Have you calmed down?”
 
 Hubert-nii-sama smiled anxiously.
 
 I nodded at the two of them.
 
 ”Yes. I’m sorry for worrying you, but I’m fine now.”
 
 Saying so, I smiled and pumped both fists tightly.
 
 ”Letty…”
 
 That me got hugged by my father.
 
 ——— so warm.
 
 And also, embarrassing.
 
 ”Papa, Onii-sama, I’m seriously fine.”
 
 ”You don’t have to push yourself, it’s fine.”
 
 Saying so, Hugh-nii-sama patted my head.
 
 ”I-, I’m not pushing myself!”
 
 I protested with puffed cheeks, and the two finally smiled.
 
 
 
 ”His Majesty would like to speak with you in private once you’ve recovered, but what will you do?”
 
 Sitting around the round table, the three of us enjoyed the refreshments brought to the guest room.
 
 I nodded at my father’s question.
 
 ”I don’t mind. Once I’m dressed, we can immediately go visit.”
 
 I need to apologize for yesterday’s matter, as well as for the accommodations.
 
 By the way, I was currently still in my nightgown.
 When I tried to get dressed, everyone stopped me, saying [it’s fine, don’t be in such a hurry].
 
 ”Then, I’ll inform His Majesty once we’re done with this food.”
 
 ”Yes. Please do so.”
 
 When I replied so, my father gently nodded.
 
 
 ☆
 
 
 But then, that happened.
 
 Round about once we were done eating, and I had just about finished getting dressed.
 A person came knocking on my guest room’s door.
 
 Anna and I exchanged glances.
 
 ”Is it Otou-sama, or Onii-sama?”
 
 ”Should I open it?”
 
 ”Yes. Please.”
 
 Nodding at my request, Anna turned towards the door.
 
 ”Please wait. I’ll open the door now-…”
 
 Saying so, Anna opened the door, and was stunned.
 
 ”Huh…?”
 
 My attendant literally froze.
 
 ”I’d like to meet with Lady Leticia, but is it a bother?”
 
 Hearing the familiar voice, I vigorously stood up from my chair.
 
 And then after half-running to the door and seeing the character standing there, I unintentionally shouted out.
 
 ”Yo-, Your Majesty?! Why are you here????”
 
 From behind His Majesty, I saw my father shrugging his shoulders.
 From that, I somehow figured out what was going on.
 
 ”What. It’s just something I^[7] decided to do.”
 
 As the ruler of this country, he was the supreme authority.
 
 The King of the Heielland Kingdom, His Majesty Conrad the Second, said this with a smile.
 

TL Notes:

[1]lol, she can’t even care to look where he is at this point ↩

[2]A girl capable of taking on 4-5 dragons with specially-trained soldiers mounted on them, breaks down when merely faced with 5 incompetent knights. Ladies and Gentlemen, I hereby judge our MC as [traumatized]. ↩

[3]I guess she’s counting the training ground’s fight as well. ↩

[4]spoiler, but………… I also don’t know who this was. Nor has it been mentioned yet (we’re at 69 chapters in the raws, and possibly a whole arc has already passed), so brace yourselves for the possibility that the author forgets to come back to this. ↩

[5]It means “head (of the house, organisation, etc.)”. Typically gets translated as Master or Husband. ↩

[6]I’d like to stop commenting on the light yuri content, but I can’t. It’s too cute. ↩

[7]he used “washi”, which is an ancient self-respecting(?) way of referring to oneself. I honestly couldn’t be bothered trying to substitute it for the appropriate pronoun, as I’ve tried that in a previous story and it was a nightmare. If lucky, I’ll write the “me”‘s as “Me”, but unfortunately, “I”‘s can’t be changed really. ↩

 

Well, this chapter was rather long, but I somehow managed to get through it in good time thanks to all the action packed in. Also, someone remind me to give an omniscient, somewhat spoiler-ish point of view in the next chapter’s footnotes about the politics going on here and the ulterior meaning behind each of the king’s actions up till now.