Frida’s room, which Jill was visiting for the first time, was a cute room filled with lots of stuffed animals.
The wallpaper’s cream-colored base floral pattern matched the curtains. The long-legged sofa was lined with round cushions and small stuffed rabbits. There were cute ribbons and frills, but they were all in harmony, and didn’t spoil her elegance as a princess.
Jill, who came bringing a large basket, looked around her and exhaled.
“What a nice room. There are a lot of stuffed animals…”
Frida, who wore a stern expression upon spoting a soldier supervising her from the doorway, relaxed her expression some.
“To prevent me from being lonely, older brother always brought me a plush toy whenever he was about to leave the imperial capital. But this time… his departure was so sudden, I didn’t get a new one…”
Before the tea party could even start, Jill suddenly stepped on a landmine. Jill halted, but she thought that it’d be rude to treat Frida like a child. As such, she attempted to the drink the tea first. Frida, who had prepared the tea and was waiting for her arrival, saw it and asked.
“Is it good…?”
“Yes! Very! Thank you for giving me some of your time, Your Highness Frida.”
“Y, you’re welcome, Your Highness the Dragon Princess…”
While hesitating, Frida also properly returned her greeting. She had just stopped Vissel.
“I’m sorry for the delay in introducing myself. My name is Jill Saber. I’m betrothed to His Majesty the Dragon Emperor, and I hail from the Kingdom of Kratos.”
The soldier made an expression dissatisfaction, but Jill ignored him.
“I’m not familiar with the Rave Empire, so I’m afraid I’ll cause a lot of trouble, but thank you… no, I must first apologize for staying silent.”
“It’s okay, I also pretended to be sick… so we’re even.”
“I’m glad to hear that. I want to get along with His Majesty’s siblings! Moreover, Your Highness Frida is extremely cute!”
Frida blinked bashfully.
“For you to say that…”
“Above all, you’re truly amazing. I was impressed when you tried to cover for Her Highness Natalie!”
Frida shook her head.
“…The one who’s amazing is older sister Natalie… I hope that she stays safe…”
“It’s okay, Her Highness Natalie is an important hostage. She shouldn’t be treated badly.”
“…I wish I could do something for my older brother…”
Jill’s eyebrows furrowed, but she mustered a smile.
“It’ll be fine. His Highness Listeard is a very capable person. He can clear this problem in the blink of an eye, and return just as fast. I’m sure he’s planning to bring you yet another stuffed animal.”
When she said that, Frida smiled happily. That reminded Jill of something.
“That’s right, there are other people I’d like to introduce to Your Highness Frida.”
Jill put down her cup, and put her basket on the table. Then, she opened it so Frida could look at its contents. Coming out side by side were none other than Sauté and Haddy. They both gave Frida a salute.
“They are Sauté and Haddy.”
“A, a chicken and a teddy bear?”
“Koke!”
When Sauté replied to her, Frida quivered for a moment. But her gaze was that of wonder. Jill wondered if Frida was curious, and only being shy about it.
“Mr. Chicken, you’re quite… smart…”
“That’s only to be expected, after all, Sauté is a fighter chicken! Meanwhile, Haddy is a battle stuffed animal! Both are my precious treasures—given to me by His Majesty the Emperor!”
Frida, who showed a troubled expression, was probably not good at dealing with Hadith. Regardless, Jill smiled.
“Yes, His Majesty is very nice! Just look at this bear!”
Removing Haddy from the basket, Jill handed him to Frida.
The soldier, whom was on lookout, looked defensive. Perhaps the soldier was kicked by Sauté during the baggage inspection.
“…Cute.”
“Right!?”
Frida touched and stroked Haddy’s crown while smiling.
“The sewing is quite intricate…”
“That’s right. It was handmade by His Majesty, you know. He’s very good at sewing.”
Frida’s expression distorted with an indescribable emotion, as if she had discovered an unknown creature.
“H, handmade? He, sew this, even though he’s the emperor?!”
She eventually began to scream as if she had caught a fever.
“Y, you don’t have to force yourself to face reality! Please calm down! I just want to tell you that we’re the same!”
“T, the same?”
Jill smiled at the confused Frida.
“His Majesty gave them to me before we came to the imperial capital so that I wouldn’t be lonely. It’s the same as how His Highness Listeard gives you a new toy every time he departs… As I am now, I can’t meet with His Majesty.”
In addition to the kidnapping of Princess Natalie, the signs of rebellion within Radea territory forced the emperor to strengthen his personal protection. As such, Hadith had moved from the palace where he used to sleep together beside Jill.
As of the present, let alone meals, they slept in different rooms.
Although it was said to be for his personal safety, Vissel did it to keep Jill away from Hadith.
Nevertheless, no one could argue against Vissel’s perfect reasoning. “The two of you haven’t been engaged yet. The two of you shouldn’t be sleeping in the same room for no reason.”
Surprisingly, Hadith didn’t try to oppose him. While fidgeting, he agreed to Vissel’s suggestion, “That might be a good idea.” However, due to Hadith’s mysterious request, “I don’t want Jill to sleep outside my palace.” he was the one who had to move out.
Over the following few days, Jill hadn’t seen Hadith at all. Sneaking past his guards would be easy for her, but she decided not to do it—especially since there was no urgency. If anything were to happen to the emperor, Jill would be informed about it. Jill had also heard from Elynsia that Hadith was doing well.
Rave didn’t come to see Jill, either. Therefore, Hadith must have been planning something. She was also foretold that they were running out of time. In a sense, it was exactly as Hadith had expected.
However, she didn’t expect him to be so thorough about it.
Hence, her real intentions leaked out.
“—This may sound selfish, but… rather than a stuffed animals, I much prefer the real thing. Hence why I said that we’re the same.”
After recovering from her shock, Frida asked Jill.
“Do you, love His Majesty very much?”
Thinking she was sick, Jill felt her own cheeks. She realized that they were getting hot.
“T, this is a secret, but if His Majesty were to show his cute face to me, I’d be in good shape right away…!”
Perhaps her embarrassment was contagious, Frida nodded with flushed cheeks.
“This is also a secret, but I like being spoiled by older brother Listeard…”